Title: Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino v.2/3, 1836-1840 - Second Series
Author: Dino, Dorothée, duchesse de, 1793-1862
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.


*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino v.2/3, 1836-1840 - Second Series" ***


Transcriber's note: Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the
original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors
have been corrected.



    MEMOIRS OF THE
    DUCHESSE DE DINO



[Illustration: CHARLES MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND-PÉRIGORD, PRINCE OF
BENEVENTO, 1754-1838]



    MEMOIRS OF THE

    DUCHESSE DE DINO

    (_Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan_)

    1836-1840

    _Edited, with Notes and Biographical Index, by_

    THE PRINCESSE RADZIWILL

    (_NÉE CASTELLANE_)

    WITH FRONTISPIECE

    SECOND SERIES

    NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
    LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
    1910



_Printed in England_



CONTENTS


CHAPTER I

    Paris, January 2, 1836--Dispute with America--Country
    Life--Politics in Paris--Ministerial Crisis--The New
    Ministry--The "Imitation"--Spring--Lacordaire--M.
    Thiers--Prince Royal's Tour--The Abbé Girolet--The
    Princes at Berlin--Spanish Affairs--Mme. de Lieven--The
    Tour of the Princes--M. de Talleyrand--Address to the
    King--Alibaud--Cardinal de Retz--Duc d'Orléans
    Marriage--Letter from Vienna--Duchess Stephanie--Moral
    Reflections--Revolution at Lisbon--The Queen of Spain--The
    Political Prisoners--Outbreak at Strasburg--Death of
    Charles X.                                                         1


CHAPTER II

    Paris, April 17, 1837--A Dinner-Party--The Princess
    Helena--The Ministry--The Review--London Gossip--The
    Abbé Dupanloup--Marriage Preparations--Fontainebleau--The
    King in Paris--English Politics--Duchesse
    d'Orléans--Appointments--At Valençay--Queen
    Victoria--The Pantheon--M. de Salvandy--Private
    Theatricals--At Rochecotte--Champchevrier--Retrospect.            81


CHAPTER III

    Rochecotte, January 1, 1838--Life at Paris--At
    Saint-Roch--Villemain--Bonnétable--Princess of
    Denmark--Marriage Proposals.                                     146


CHAPTER IV

    Amiens, May 16, 1840--Travel in Belgium--Aix-la-Chapelle--The
    Art of Travel--Berlin--Life in Berlin--Princess
    Albert--The King's Illness--Tegel--Death of the King--The
    King's Will--The Funeral--Silesia--Günthersdorf--Wartenberg--News
    from Paris--Countess Dohna--Start for Berlin--At
    Berlin--Court of Condolence--Dresden--The
    Castle--Carlsbad--Löbichau--Nuremberg--Baden--Egyptian
    Question--Umkirch--France and England--Foreign
    Politics--Mgr. Affre--Peace or War?--The Lafarge
    Case--Events in Prussia--Madame Lafarge--French
    Politics--Prospects of Peace--Queen Christina--The
    New Ministry--The King's Speech--Thiers and Guizot--News from
    Berlin--Napoleon's Funeral--Russian feeling.                     190

APPENDIX I                                                           321

APPENDIX II                                                          332

APPENDIX III                                                         335

APPENDIX IV                                                          343

APPENDIX V                                                           357

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX                                                   361



MEMOIRS OF THE

DUCHESSE DE DINO



CHAPTER I

1836


_Paris, January 2, 1836._--M. de Talleyrand is working hard to advance
the claims of M. Molé to a seat in the French Academy. He is supported
alike by M. Royer-Collard and by the Ministers; hence M. de Villemain
found occasion to say, yesterday evening, that all the most _diverse_
and _inverse_ influences were in combination to _transport_ or to
_export_ M. Molé to the Academy, and that he himself was strongly in
favour of _importation_, as a seat in the Academy was no obstacle to
other posts. This play on words was no less pointed than malicious.

There was much talk of the various speeches delivered before the King
on New Year's Day, and in particular of M. Pasquier's speech, which
was remarkable for the boldness he displayed in his use of the word
"subject," which M. de Villemain called a _progressive_ term.

The King was delighted with Count Apponyi's speech, and the Diplomatic
Service were equally pleased with the King's reply. In any case,
Fieschi and Mascara[1] were so much treasure-trove to all the
speech-makers; emotion and sympathy in every degree were noticeable,
and M. Dupin was moved even to sobs!

  [1] Mascara, in Algiers, was captured by the French in 1835.

Concerning M. Pasquier, a notice was inserted by some jester in a
low-class newspaper to the effect that his recent illness was caused
by his recognition of Fieschi as his natural son! The old Comtesse de
la Briche, who is falling into her dotage, went off in all seriousness
to relate this piece of folly with sighs of profound emotion in the
_salon_ of Madame de Chastellux, the Carlist headquarters. Such want
of tact is almost inconceivable, and great merriment was aroused!


_Paris, January 4, 1836._--The illness of Madame de Flahaut's second
daughter has become critical, and provided me yesterday with an
illustration of that truest of parables, the beam and the mote, when
Madame de Lieven said to me, in reference to Madame de Flahaut: "Can
you conceive that she talks politics to me at a time like this and
orders her carriage to visit Madame Adélaïde? She will even leave her
daughter's room to discuss public affairs with her visitors, and asks
me to dinner to-morrow to distract her thoughts, as she says, and not
to be left alone in her anxiety!" Apparently people cannot see
themselves as others see them, and such incidents give one startling
cause for introspection.

The much-discussed communication from President Jackson,[2] which has
been expected with great impatience, has reached the Duc de Broglie,
by way of England. He went to the King five hours later, to inform him
that the communication had arrived; when the King asked to see it the
Duc de Broglie told him that it was of no importance and that he had
already sent it to the newspapers! He made the same observation to his
colleague, M. de Thiers, who told every one he met during the evening,
on the faith of this information, that the message was of no political
significance. The next day the King and M. Thiers were able to read
the message in the papers, and found that it was very cleverly
conceived, very insolent to M. de Broglie personally, and exactly
calculated to terminate the existing dispute. Council after council
was then held, and lively discussions took place; at length the royal
will has triumphed, with the support of M. Thiers, and the
communication will be declared satisfactory. The intervention of
England is to be declined, and a statement will be made that France is
prepared to pay the sum of twenty-five millions as due under the terms
specified. M. de Broglie eventually yielded, though his surrender was
delayed by the wound to his self-esteem. At first he refused to submit
for approval his note thanking England for her offer of intervention,
but it was eventually shown to the King yesterday. It was criticised
as being too long, too diffuse, and too metaphysical. There was a
vigorous discussion in the council, but the King concluded the matter
by giving his hand to the Duc de Broglie with a kind word. At the same
time a considerable amount of ill-temper remains on both sides.
However, a war with the United States would be very disadvantageous to
French commerce; so this conclusion will probably have a good effect
upon public opinion.

  [2] _See_ Appendix. In 1834 Jackson had claimed an indemnity of
  twenty-five millions, in very haughty terms, from the Government
  of Louis Philippe as compensation to the United States for the
  loss of ships seized under the Empire; in the event of refusal,
  confiscation was threatened of all French estates within the
  territories of the Union. While the claim was entirely
  legitimate, the insulting form in which it was presented delayed
  a settlement, until President Jackson retracted his words in the
  communication to which reference is here made.


_Paris, January 11, 1836._--Yesterday morning I had a call from M.
Royer-Collard. He had just left M. de Berryer in a state of
considerable vexation and disgust; their conversation had dealt with
Prague. M. de Berryer said that at Prague M. Royer was in many men's
minds and was well spoken of; that Charles X. had several times
repeated his fear that he had not sufficiently considered several
things which M. Royer had told him in a long conversation at the time
of the much-discussed address[3] of 1830. The curious point is that
when the old king attempted to recall these important points, of which
he had but a vague recollection, he found himself unable to remember
them. The incident is very characteristic of the man's good intentions
and incompetency.

  [3] The Address of the 221 (March 3, 1830). This was a reply to a
  speech from the throne, and plainly expressed the displeasure of
  the 221 Deputies at seeing M. de Martignac deposed from the
  Presidency in favour of the Prince Jules de Polignac.


_Paris, January 16, 1836._--M. Humann, Financial Minister, delivered a
tirade yesterday in the Chamber of Deputies, in which he very
imprudently raised the question of the reduction of the State bonds,
without previously consulting his colleagues. It was thought that a
dissolution of the Ministry would be the consequence, but the
difficulty has been settled, and matters remain as they were, for the
moment.

The King has personally seen Count Pahlen and soothed his feelings,
and it is hoped that the speech of the Duc de Broglie in the Chamber
of Deputies will not lead to any outburst.[4]

  [4] The speech to which reference is made will be found in the
  Appendix to this volume.


_Paris, January 24, 1836._--The Chamber of Deputies remains disturbed
and restive. Apathetic as the session was at its opening, it provides
vexation enough to those responsible for the government. The
prevailing ill-temper is especially manifested against the Duc de
Broglie, the tone of whose speeches displeases the Deputies. His
observation in the Chamber the other day, "is that clear?" is regarded
as almost unpardonable.[5]

  [5] M. Humann submitted to the Chamber as a necessary measure a
  scheme for the conversion of Government 5 per cent. bonds, which
  had already been attempted in vain by M. de Villèle in 1824. The
  Chamber was inclined to receive the idea favourably, but the
  Cabinet showed some ill-temper as it had not been previously
  consulted, and M. Humann resigned. A question was asked in the
  Chamber on this subject on June 18, and discussion was opened by
  the Duc de Broglie. "We are asking," he said, "whether the
  Government intends to propose the measure in the course of this
  session. I answer, No; is that clear?" This last remark excited
  general disfavour, and was the subject of adverse comment
  forthwith.


_Paris, January 28, 1836._--Yesterday we were dining with Marshal
Maison. It was a remarkable dinner for many reasons, but especially
for the stories told by the Marshal's wife, one of which amused me for
a long time afterwards. They were speaking of crowded balls and saying
how difficult it was to discover the exact number of guests actually
present; thereupon the Marshal's wife observed in her high, shrill
voice: "I have an admirable method which has always worked
successfully in all the balls I have given; I put my chambermaid
behind the door with a bag of beans at her side, and I say: 'Mariette,
when any one comes in, you will take a bean out of the big bag and put
it in your handbag.' Thus the numbers are exactly known, and that is
the best way of doing it." So strong an inclination to wild laughter
overcame me that I nearly choked, and Mmes. de Lieven, von Werther,
and von Löwenhielm, who were present, were in the same predicament.


_Paris, February 1, 1836._--If I were at my dear Rochecotte, as I was
last year, I should think that spring was beginning on February 1,
whereas here one can say nothing of the kind. My old dislike of Paris
has been growing upon me for some time. Not that people are in any way
disagreeable--indeed, the contrary is the case; but life at Paris is
too exhausting, the atmosphere is too keen, attractions are too
numerous and widely spread, while at the same time they are not
sufficiently strong. There is no leisure, constant worry, and a
continual sense of want.

At London I lived amid a society at once high and simple-minded;
social success and leisure were possible at the same time. M. de
Talleyrand there enjoyed good health and was occupied with important
business. The excitement which I then experienced had its
compensations; I had time for my own occupations, for reading,
working, writing, and thinking, nor was I pestered by every idle
person. If calling is a tax upon one's time, calls can be paid at
London with an empty carriage and with cards; in short, life was then
a pleasure. Hence my deep and melancholy regret for those years which
will never return; hence my longing for the calm and sweetness of
Rochecotte, with its wide horizon and its pure sky, for my clean
house, my kind and simple neighbours, my workpeople, my flowers, my
big dog, my little cow and goat, the good Abbé, the modest Vestier,
the little wood where we used to gather fir-cones--the place, in
short, where I am at my best, because I have time for valuable
introspection, for enlightenment of thought, for the practice of good
and the avoidance of evil, time to unite myself in simplicity of heart
and mind with the beauty, the strength, and the graciousness of
nature, which there gives me shelter, refreshment, and repose. But a
truce to these self-complainings, which are useless and ungrateful.

Yesterday I saw Dr. Ferrus, on his return from Ham. His account of
what he found there is as follows: Both the orders and the attitude
of the doctors were extremely kind, but it was necessary to find some
excuse for action, and the two ex-Ministers who were really ill, MM.
de Chantelauze and de Peyronnet, insolently refused to permit a visit
from the doctors; while the others, MM. de Polignac and Guernon de
Ranville, though very compliant, submissive, and anxious to take
advantage of the kindly attitude of the Government, were unfortunately
unable to plead any malady. Hence it was necessary to postpone the
desired attempt to improve their condition.[6]

  [6] This is again a reference to the former Ministers of Charles
  X. Certain people were energetically striving to secure the
  liberation of these unfortunate political prisoners.


_Paris, February 6, 1836._--Yesterday morning I went to the session of
the Chamber of Deputies, with the Countess Bretzenheim, who had
invited me to accompany her; there I heard for the first time a speech
by M. Thiers; he spoke admirably, in opposition to the much-discussed
proposal for the conversion of the stock, so imprudently put forward
by M. Humann. While M. Thiers was speaking I thought I noticed him
spitting blood several times; I wrote to ask him how he was, and the
following is an extract from his reply: "I am exhausted; I did not
spit blood, but in those few moments I shortened my life by several
days; I have never encountered so strong an opposition of opinion, and
an iron will is required to overcome an obstinacy so plain as that
displayed by the Chamber. I am very sorry that you should have heard
me speak, as the figures must have wearied you, and have given you a
poor idea of our public oratory. We should be heard and judged only
upon days of excitement, and not when we are discussing accounts. In
any case, I am doubtful of the consequences, and were it not for the
King I should be inclined to wish that the Ministry would resign. The
struggle against such imprudence and foolishness is an unbearable
task."

This letter prepared me to some extent for the events of the evening.
However, M. Royer-Collard, who came to me in the course of the
morning, believed that the Ministry would emerge triumphant, for the
reason that the Chamber would find difficulty in using an advantage,
if they gained one. He was overcome with admiration for the speech of
M. Thiers, and had told him as much in the Chamber. On this occasion
they spoke to one another again, for the first time since the
discussion of the September laws.

My son, M. de Valençay, came directly from the session of the Chamber
of Deputies to dinner with us. He told us of the stupefaction produced
in the Chamber by the strange conclusions of Humann, and the
excitement of the Ministers because the project for converting the
Government stock had been postponed by a majority of two votes only.

The _Journal de Paris_ announced the resignation of the Ministry at a
later hour, and General Alava, who had just seen the Duc de Broglie,
told us at eleven o'clock in the evening that the King had accepted
their resignations, and had sent for MM. Humann and Molé.

At that moment I received the following note from M. Thiers: "We have
resigned in full freedom and seriousness. The King knew beforehand,
and agreed with every one, and myself in particular, that this result
was the inevitable consequence of our intention to oppose the scheme
for conversion. Our honour would be compromised if we did not persist
in our action and force a new Ministry to take office. It matters not
if that Ministry be weak and helpless; the burden of proving the fact
will rest upon the Third Party. No other action is possible, either
for the King or for ourselves, and would in any case be a deception in
the style of Charles X."


_Paris, February 7, 1836._--There is no news of the Ministry except
the fact of resignation, which is definite. It is thought that M. de
Broglie will never take office again, as the animosity of the Chamber
is chiefly directed against himself.

M. Thiers made no attempt to oppose resignation; he was actuated
rather by the desire to secure an honourable withdrawal and to
dissociate himself from colleagues whom he did not like than by any
special devotion to the point at issue, though his defence was marked
with great skill.

The King summoned M. Humann, who _refused_, M. Molé, who _declined_,
M. Dupin, who _spoke at random_--shades of meaning which are worthy of
note. In short, nothing has been done, nor can any action be regarded
as probable. The friends of M. Molé say that he will no longer be sent
from pillar to post or put up with requests, refusals, and vexations
such as he experienced in November, and that if people will not submit
to his views he will decline to interfere.


_Paris, February 8, 1836._--Yesterday I had a call from M.
Royer-Collard. He explains the attitude of the Chamber towards the
last Ministry as follows: The Ministry had lasted for three years and
was worn out, especially the doctrinaire members of it, while the
Cabinet had wearied the Chamber by too constantly pressing for
decisions and making personal matters Cabinet questions; moreover, the
Chamber had gone beyond its powers in the announcement issued at the
time when the laws concerning intimidation were passed;[7] it had been
by no means popular in the provinces, while the disdainful folly of M.
de Broglie had filled the cup to overflowing. Finally, as the country
was prosperous and peaceful both at home and abroad, the Chamber had
thought the moment opportune to enounce its rights and to show the
Ministry that it was not indispensable; while a popular question in
the provinces had provided it with an opportunity for displaying its
power, in which determination it was supported by its political
ignorance, which will not allow it to foresee the extent of the
crisis. M. Royer-Collard added that the only two Ministers who could
have preserved their reputation in the Chamber were MM. Thiers and
Duchâtel, but that here again some small period of exile would be
necessary.

  [7] In 1835, in consequence of Fieschi's attempt, the Ministry
  proposed three severe legal enactments dealing with the jury and
  the sentences in cases of rebellion, and, most important of all,
  with the Press. The discussion upon these laws continued in the
  Chamber from August 13, 1834, to September 29, and ended in a
  complete success for the Government.

Yesterday we dined with M. Thiers in fulfillment of a long-standing
invitation. He was highly delighted and fluttering whenever he
pleased. He proposes to travel, and to visit Vienna, Berlin, Rome, and
Naples; he will start in April. M. de Broglie, who was also at dinner,
appeared sad and downcast, and I was astonished that he made no
attempt to hide his feelings; it was not the devil, but the doctrine,
that he was burying.

In the evening I paid a visit to Madame de Lieven and made the
acquaintance of M. Berryer. M. Royer-Collard, who sees him constantly,
told me in the morning that M. Berryer was very anxious to make my
acquaintance. We were on our best behaviour. He talks simply and
kindly.


_Paris, February 9, 1836._--Yesterday we dined with the Sardinian
Ambassador.[8] I was told that nothing had been yet decided concerning
the Ministry, and M. Molé, who was sitting near me, confirmed this
statement. He has declined to join the Third Party, in spite of the
universal desire that he should do so. I believe that, for want of a
better leader, M. Dupin will eventually profit for the time being by
this state of affairs; as, however, the little group which he leads is
very weak, he will be obliged to base his power upon the Left, and
this will cost him dear. His position will be analogous to that of the
English Whig Ministry confronted by O'Connell. I hope that this state
of affairs will be of no long duration, though a short time is quite
enough in which to take many retrograde steps. At the Château sadness
prevails, uneasiness in the diplomatic world and anxiety in public
opinion.

  [8] The Marquis de Brignole-Sale.

The young and beautiful Queen of Naples died on January 31, a few days
after the birth of her child. The news arrived yesterday.[9]

  [9] Marie Christine, Princess of Savoy, died in giving birth to
  the prince who was afterwards Francis II., the last King of
  Naples.


_Paris, February 10, 1836._--The judges in Fieschi's case, and the
audience, take a remarkable interest in this man. He is an
unprecedented character; he has a fine intellect and a real genius for
strategy, while the terrors of his situation never obscure his memory,
his self-possession, or his penetration; he is a man of strong
passions, especially where women are concerned. His affection for Nina
Lassave is remarkable; he constantly writes to her, and when he
learned that she had been unfaithful to him he reproached her for not
waiting a few days and sparing him this last bitterness, as his
execution would have set her free; all this was written in the most
touching style. Another point is that when M. Ladvocat sent money to
Fieschi, that he might provide himself with some small dainties in
prison, instead of spending the money, he sent it to this woman Nina.
She wrote to thank him more or less in the following terms: "I thank
you for thus depriving yourself for my sake; with what you have sent
me I have bought a few decent things to do you credit before your
judges, but as you will soon be unable to send me anything more, I am
economising, and am now mistress of forty francs."

This remark concerning economy is disgusting. Moreover, she wrote to
Fieschi to assure him that she had remained faithful to him, which is
untrue. Everybody seems to have been far more interested by these
amorous details than by the actual crime. What a strange time it is!
Fieschi's correspondence, in passing through the hands of M. Decazes,
became the amusement of the House of Peers; but the truly astonishing
fact is the notoriety which the whole story has given to Mlle. Nina,
who was formerly resident in the Salpêtrière. It is asserted that
monetary proposals have been made to her by men of high position;
there is no doubt that one hears the strangest descriptions of her
beauties and her imperfections, and it is a positive fact that she has
only one eye.

If Fieschi is a lover, he is no less attracted by religion. When the
almoner of the Chamber of Peers asked those under trial if they wished
to hear Mass, Fieschi alone replied yes, and said that he was anxious
to hear it as he was neither a heathen nor an atheist; that if he was
not a theological expert he had nevertheless read Plutarch and Cicero
and firmly believed in the immortality of the soul; as the soul was
not divisible it could not be material, and that, in short, he
believed in the spiritual nature of man. He asked the almoner to come
and see him again and not to leave him after his sentence had been
pronounced. In view of such inconsistencies, how is it possible to
pass any absolute judgment on men?

I believe the following to be an accurate bulletin of the Ministerial
crisis: Yesterday morning the King sent for Dupin, Sauzet, and Passy,
and commissioned them to form a Ministry upon two conditions only:
firstly, they were not to give a post to any one who had voted against
the repressive laws; secondly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs must
be a man who would reassure European opinion and be agreeable to
himself. The three men replied that they understood the King's wishes,
but that they could not bind themselves until they had consulted their
friends; they then withdrew. At the Chamber they sent round a list,
which was drawn up nearly as follows: Dupin to be Minister of Justice
and President, Passy to be Minister of Finance, Flahaut of Foreign
Affairs, Molitor of War, Montalivet of the Interior. I have since
learned that Montalivet refused the post in spite of the King's
wishes, and that the King refused to accept the nomination of Flahaut.
The King wished to appoint Rumigny or Baudrand to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and would have declared for the latter, if there had
not been a wish to retain him as a companion to the Prince Royal on
his travels. The Prince is very pleased at the fall of the last
Ministry: I believe he is wrong; the Flahaut party are delighted. The
Ministerial party hope to secure the election of M. Guizot as
President of the Chamber of Deputies; the Opposition will support M.
Martin du Nord.

In the evening I accompanied M. de Talleyrand to a dinner given by M.
de Montalivet. Counts Pahlen and Apponyi were pale with fear inspired
by the sight of M. de Flahaut's name on a list of Ministers. Marshal
Maison was regretting the loss of his ambassadorship at St. Petersburg
with cries of rage which were not in the best of taste.

We then went to the last Ministerial reception given by the Duc de
Broglie. M. de Broglie believes himself to be fully in touch with the
requirements of the time; he has no suspicion of the actual truth,
that he is the sole cause and object of the squabbling which is going
on, that he is the man rejected by the Chamber, and that if he were to
say to his colleagues, "I see that I am myself the real
stumbling-block; I will withdraw, but I beg you to remain," M. Molé
would take his place and everything would be settled to the general
satisfaction.


_Paris, February 11, 1836._--Madame de Rumford died yesterday morning
after breakfast; she had had some friends to dinner the evening
before. She had been much changed for some time, but has always
refused to acknowledge herself an invalid, and remained as
discourteous to death as she was to those about her. The loss of her
_salon_ will be felt; it was a meeting-place, and there are very few
that are habitually regarded as such. Every one found something there
to remind him of this or that period of his life. This loss has
saddened me; it is not well to have reached the age of eighty-four.
But M. de Rigny was fifty, Clémentine de Flahaut sixteen, Yolande de
Valençay two! Life is threatened at every step of the ladder, and one
must always be ready.

That old cat Sémonville, whose claws are always ready, reached the
Luxembourg yesterday with the announcement that the Ministry was at
length settled. He was surrounded with questioners, and gave the list
as follows: "President of the Council, Madame Adélaide; Justice and
Public Worship, the Duchesse de Broglie; Foreign Affairs, the Duchesse
de Dino;[10] Interior, the Comtesse de Boigne; War, the Comtesse de
Flahaut; Marine, the Duchesse de Massa; Finance, the Duchesse de
Montmorency; Commerce, the Marquise de Caraman!" I sent this piece of
wit to Madame de Lieven, in reply to a note asking for certain
information; she replied that the King's condition at least was
fulfilled, and that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was not likely to
disturb Europe.

  [10] The author of these memoirs.

This is poor stuff, but poorer still is the fact that it is impossible
to form a Ministry, in seriousness or otherwise. Yesterday I was at
the Tuileries. The Ministers who had resigned were all grouped about
the King, but, I think, with no particular object. It is deplorable!


_Paris, February 12, 1836._--Of Ministerial news there is none; all
that I have learned yesterday is as follows: Dupin, Passy, and Sauzet
spent three hours with the King, and told him that they could not
undertake the formation of a Ministry, as various intrigues had made
the attempt impossible; they were, however, ready themselves to enter
the Ministry, if their services were agreeable to the King. They then
withdrew, and the King sent for M. Molé in the course of the evening,
but I cannot say what passed at this interview.


_Paris, February 13, 1836._--I have the following information as
regards the events of yesterday concerning the Ministerial crisis. M.
Molé declares that he will not take office without M. Thiers, who will
not come in without M. Guizot; he, again, will not act without M. de
Broglie, unless the latter recognises that he is himself the only real
obstacle, insists that his colleagues should take office without him,
and writes them a letter to that effect, dated from Broglie. M. de
Salvandy attempted to enlighten him upon this point, but met with a
very poor reception. A lively scene is said to have taken place
between MM. de Broglie and Guizot; certainly M. de Broglie is
obviously agitated, and so ill-tempered as to rouse the pity of his
friends and the contempt of other men. Some people think that the King
will summon de Broglie and request him with greater authority than
Salvandy used to put an end to this deplorable state of affairs, which
is only continued on his account.

Dupin's chance has entirely disappeared. During the two days when it
was thought that he would be Minister, Thiers and Guizot both entered
the competition for the Presidency, and so gained an opportunity of
counting the votes in their favour. M. Guizot received eight, M.
Martin du Nord fifteen; the remainder of the Ministerial party would
have voted for M. Thiers and secured for him the refusal of the
position.


_Paris, February 16, 1836._--Fieschi and his accomplices have been
condemned to death; M. de Mareuil came yesterday to tell us of the
sentence, at eleven o'clock in the evening.[11]

  [11] The sentence which condemned Fieschi, Pépin, and Morey to
  death. They were executed at the Barrière Saint-Jacques on
  February 19.

It seems that many of the peers gave long explanations to justify
their manner of voting. A small fraction of the Chamber considered
that the circumstantial evidence against Pépin and Morey was
inadequate to justify the extreme penalty, and preferred to inflict
penal servitude for life. Fieschi was condemned to death unanimously,
and M. Barthe asked that the punishments reserved for parricides
should be added to the death penalty.

The newspapers announce the death of Madame Bonaparte; her
great-granddaughter--that is, the daughter of Joseph, who married the
son of Lucien--was the only member of her numerous family at her side.
Cardinal Fesch has been very attentive to her, and she leaves him her
pictures; it is also thought that the division of her inheritance will
cause fresh dissensions among her children, who are by no means at
harmony with one another, for it seems that during her lifetime she
gave considerable sums to Lucien, Jérôme, and to Madame Murat, which
sums they are not willing to repay.


_Paris, February 17, 1836._--Yesterday the King assembled his former
Ministers and announced that in the first place he would not accept
their resignations until another Cabinet was formed. Furthermore, he
said that it was only by an accident that a majority in the Chamber
had been against them; their system was that of the Chamber, although
certain individuals in the Cabinet might not be agreeable to the
Chamber, and he would therefore be delighted to see them all remain in
office; if, however, they thought that any of their members were
likely to keep the Chamber in a state of exasperation, he asked them
to consider the matter among themselves and then to let him know upon
what he could rely. M. de Broglie said that the King should make trial
of the Third Party, to which the King replied: "It may please you,
sir, to restate the weakness of that Third Party, but it does not
please me to make so disastrous an attempt; I have had enough of three
days' ministries; the majority is not to be found either in the Third
Party or in the Left, but with you, gentlemen, or, if not with all of
you, at any rate with some. Your arrangements and mutual engagements
ought to give way before the gravity of the situation: so much I
expect from your honesty and your desire for the general welfare; for
my own part, gentlemen, I shall fold my arms and bide my time at
Saint-Cloud." MM. de Broglie and Guizot replied that no member of the
Cabinet was exactly bound, but that there were certain conventions
which they must respect in each member's case. This was a very
inopportune reply at such a moment, especially from the first speaker,
who could have cut the Gordian knot at one word and have simplified
the position. No one knows what the result will be, unless matters
should turn out as M. Royer-Collard predicted to M. Thiers last
Friday: "You are impossible to-day, but in a week you will be
necessary, indispensable, and absolute."

M. de Talleyrand and myself visited the Queen yesterday. The fact that
the Court was in mourning for the Queen of Naples, together with the
trial of Fieschi and the Ministerial crisis, made it impossible for
the Château to take part in the pleasures of the carnival, and a very
serious spirit prevailed. The King's attention was occupied by
thoughts of the punishment which awaited the prisoners condemned the
previous evening, and he had not ventured to go out, because he knew
that Madame Pépin and her children were lying in wait for him. The
Château was mournful indeed, and formed a painful contrast with the
joyful tumult in the streets. M. Pasquier came to tell the King that
Pépin had asked to see him that morning, so that the execution must be
postponed until the next day.

Before going home I spent half an hour with Madame de Lieven. No one
was there except Lady Charlotte Grenville and M. Berryer, who said
that when one knew nothing one was able to say anything one liked,
and that he had no hesitation in asserting that Thiers' was the only
possible combination, and alone likely to be agreeable to the Chamber.


_Paris, February 19, 1836._--Yesterday morning I had a call from M.
Thiers, who had definitely accepted the task of forming a Cabinet and
acting as President. He proposed to spend the rest of the day in
making up his list. He has too much common sense to underrate the
difficulty of his new position, and too much courage or blindness to
be dismayed by it. M. Molé failed to secure election to the Academy;
it has been a disastrous week for him.


_Paris, February 20, 1836._--The following are the actual words
written by the King beneath the signature which he was obliged to
append to the death-warrants of Fieschi, Pépin, Morey, &c.: "It is
only a profound sense of duty which induces me to give an approval
which is one of the most painful acts of my life; however, considering
the frankness which Fieschi showed in his confession and his conduct
during the trial, I intend that the subordinate parts of his
punishment shall be remitted, and I deeply regret that my conscience
will not allow me to do more."


_Paris, February 21, 1836._--M. Thiers is finding difficulties in the
way of his attempt to combine a Ministry; every one is willing to work
with him or under him, but not in company with others. At the same
time it is important that the Cabinet should be both strong and
reputable. There are difficulties everywhere, even for superior
mortals.


_Paris, February 22, 1836._--M. de Talleyrand is in a very bad temper:
the newspapers and public opinion all regard him as responsible for
the new Ministry: the names have at length appeared in this morning's
_Moniteur_.[12] He, however, has had nothing to do with it, and as the
sudden rise of M. Thiers has not met with universal approval, the
English being particularly incensed, M. de Talleyrand is aroused to
great irritation by all that he hears upon the subject, and vents his
anger upon Paris, his age, and his position, and keenly regrets that
he ever left London.

  [12] The Cabinet was as follows: M. Thiers, President of the
  Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Sauzet, Keeper of the
  Seals; M. de Montalivet, Minister of the Interior; M. d'Argout,
  Financial Minister; M. Passy, Minister of Commerce and Public
  Works; M. Pelet de la Lozère, Minister of Education; Marshal
  Maison, Minister of War; Admiral Duperré, Minister of Naval
  Affairs.


_Paris, February 23, 1836._--Yesterday, on returning home at the end
of the morning, I found M. Berryer at my door; he had just left the
Chamber of Deputies, where Thiers had been speaking. Berryer has a
high opinion of the talent, the intellectual power, and the capacity
of Thiers. Berryer is himself the most unprejudiced, impartial, and
simple of characters; there is nothing artificial, affected, or
extreme about him; it is difficult to think of him as a party man. In
my opinion, no one was ever less a party man, and perhaps he would be
glad if he could avoid the necessity of taking sides entirely. The
ease, the lightness, the gentleness, and the simplicity of his
conversation are the more creditable to him by contrast with his
profession and his position. The justice of his judgment and the
kindness which is most constantly characteristic of it compel
confidence in his opinions and his statements.

Thiers' speech was received with marked coldness by the Chamber. The
fact is fortunate for him, in my opinion. There is some danger that
the intoxication of success might lead to his fall, and anything which
will keep him from disaster can only be useful and for his good.


_Paris, February 24, 1836._--M. Molé dined here yesterday. His bearing
shows some traces of coldness and disappointment. He was unwilling to
act in concert with M. Dupin in the matter of the Ministry;
consequently the latter, who commanded several votes in the French
Academy, withdrew them, and so brought about the rejection of M. Molé;
he then observed: "M. Molé would not be my colleague, and I do not
care for him as my fellow Academician."

Paris is likely to become increasingly difficult as a place of
residence. Apart from the two great dynastic divisions which separate
society, we shall now have to deal with all the factions caused by
disappointed ambition, the Molé, Broglie, Guizot, and Dupin factions,
and finally the Thiers faction. These will all be as bitterly hostile
to one another as the Legitimists are to the Moderate Party. All these
factions will never find any such common point of amalgamation as the
Château might and should become; on the contrary, some object to the
King, others to our house. Detestation and malignancy are mutual, but
no one is willing to examine himself or to recognise that there are
faults on all sides, and that the real causes of blame are to be found
in himself. How strange is the blindness and how great the ill-faith
of men, especially of those who are involved in public affairs and
interests!


_Paris, March 4, 1836._--Yesterday, at the house of M. de Talleyrand,
M. Mignet related that Marchand, a former _valet de chambre_ under the
Emperor, proposed to publish a commentary upon the "Commentaries" of
Cæsar, which Napoleon had dictated to him in the last weeks of his
life in St. Helena. Marchand often spoke to M. Mignet of Napoleon's
last moments, of the loneliness and emptiness of his life; in
illustration, he said that one evening when the Emperor, who was then
very ill, was in bed, he pointed to the foot of the bed and said to
him: "Marchand, sit down there and tell me something." Marchand said
to him: "Dear me, sire, what can I tell you who have done and seen so
much?" "Tell me about your youth; that will be simple and true, and
will interest me," replied the Emperor. There is something very
pathetic about this little dialogue. What teaching might not Bossuet
have drawn from these few words--Bossuet, who did not disdain to
introduce the somewhat trivial anecdote of the fowl into the funeral
oration upon the Palatine! Surely the greatest homage to Bossuet is
the fact that every great misfortune, every triumph or failure, makes
us turn towards the Eagle of Meaux, who alone could extol, lament, and
immortalise them worthily.


_Paris, March 5, 1836._--Yesterday morning MM. Berryer and Thiers met
at my house. I think it would have been impossible to have been
present at a conversation more animated, sparkling, witty, surprising,
kind, sincere, free, and true, or more devoid of all party spirit,
than that which then arose between these two men, so different and so
highly gifted. I also thought that it would never finish; they did not
go until after six o'clock.


_Paris, March 7, 1836._--M. Royer-Collard introduced me yesterday to
M. de Tocqueville, the author of "Democracy in America." He seemed to
me to be a nice little man, simple and modest, with an intellectual
expression. We talked a great deal about England, and our views upon
the destiny of the country were quite in harmony.


_Paris, March 9, 1836._--I had several times glanced at the "Imitation
of Jesus Christ." Whether it was that my knowledge of others and
myself was only superficial or that my mind was ill-prepared and too
wandering, I had seen no great difference between this famous work and
the "Journée du Chrétien" and the "Petit Paroissien." I had often been
surprised at the great reputation which this book enjoyed, but had
never found any pleasure in reading it. Chance led me to open it the
other day with Pauline; the first lines caught my attention, and I
have since been reading it with ever increasing admiration. What
intellectual power beneath the highest simplicity of form! What
profound knowledge of the deepest recesses of the human heart! What
beauty and enlightenment! And yet it is the work of an unknown monk.
Nothing humiliates me more than a failure of self-knowledge or shows
me more clearly in what darkness I was sunk.


_Paris, March 10, 1836._--Yesterday I went with the Duchesse de
Montmorency to a ball, given by Madame Salomon de Rothschild, the
mother. The house is the most magnificent that can be conceived, and
is therefore known as the Temple of Solomon. It is infinitely superior
to her daughter-in-law's house, because the proportions are higher and
greater. The luxury of it is indescribable, but in good taste--pure
Renaissance, without any mixture of other styles; the gallery in
particular is worthy of Chenonceaux, and one might have thought one's
self at an entertainment given by the Valois. In the chief room the
armchairs are made of gilt bronze instead of gilt wood, and cost a
thousand francs apiece. The dining-hall is like the nave of a
cathedral. All was well arranged and admirably lighted; there was no
crushing, and every courtesy.


_Paris, March 11, 1836._--Yesterday I went to Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, to
hear the Abbé de Ravignan, formerly the King's _procureur_; he is a
friend of Berryer, who praises him greatly, and a brother-in-law of
General Exelmans; I had known him in the Pyrenees, where I had been
struck by the beautiful expression of his face. He is a good preacher,
with an excellent delivery, while his style is pure and refined, but
rather logical and argumentative than warm or sympathetic. He
therefore lays more stress upon evangelical dogma than upon morality,
and seemed to me to be a man of talent rather than a great preacher.


_Paris, March 18, 1836._--With regard to my reflections upon
Bossuet,[13] you praise my attitude somewhat unduly. I have, indeed, a
love of truth, and the world, with the dreadful misery which it
contains, fills me with disgust; I have learned to fear the contagion
of the world, under which I have suffered too long; I examine myself
seriously, and am horrified to find myself immersed in the sorrow and
grief which are the lot of worldly people and are the destruction of
peace of mind, charity, and purity. I make some attempt to burst my
bonds and rise to a purer region; but none the less my efforts are
usually impotent, and my struggles vain and futile. As a rule I cannot
tell whether the moral weariness which overwhelms me is due to the sad
sight of the deplorable agitations amid which I live, or to the no
less deplorable agitation of my inward life. When we have spent years
amid the struggles of life and desire to change our path, however
remote may be the road which leads us forward, we find ourselves a
burden to ourselves; we can neither go forward with our load nor throw
it off straightway; we stumble and retrace our steps; we prove
ourselves but feeble travellers, and our goal recedes as our desire to
reach it increases. Such is my case....

  [13] Extract from a letter.

Yesterday, towards the end of the morning, M. de Tocqueville came to
pay his call; I like him. The Duc de Noailles also called; he is not
so attractive, though by no means disagreeable. Another caller was
Berryer, who might be most agreeable if his mind and bearing did not
betray traces of low life, which have struck my notice. However, the
conversation never flagged, as the first visitor has sound views, the
second good judgment, and the third that mental alacrity which enables
him to apprehend a point at once. The conversation of these
distinguished men was concerned only with facts, and not with people:
names were not mentioned; there was no gossip, no bitterness or
extravagance. The talk was as it should always be, especially at a
lady's house.


_Paris, March 20, 1836._--How deep a melancholy may be inspired by the
first fine spring day, when it fails to harmonise with one's own frame
of mind! For forty-eight hours the weather has been mild and lovely,
the atmosphere filled with sweetness and light and breathing joy and
happiness; new life, new warmth and pleasure are springing into being,
and I feel suffocated in this town. The public promenades cannot take
the place of the country, and nothing can bring back the sweet
springtime of last year, with its flowers, its wide horizon, and its
freshness, in which it was so easy to take breath. I would worship any
one who could give me back these things! And instead I drive with
Madame de Lieven through the Bois de Boulogne in a closed carriage!
Such was my occupation yesterday, while M. de Talleyrand was at the
Academy of Moral and Political Science, voting for M. de Tocqueville,
who failed to secure election.


_Paris, March 24, 1836._--The Princess Belgiojoso is rather striking
than beautiful: she is extremely pale, her eyes are too far apart, her
head too square, her mouth large and her teeth discoloured; but she
has a good nose, and her figure would be pretty if it were somewhat
fuller; her hair is jet black, and she wears striking dresses; she has
intellect, but wants balance, and is full of artistic whims and
inconsistencies; her manner is intentionally and skilfully natural,
sufficiently to hide her affectation, while her affectation seems to
counterbalance a certain innate vulgarity, which her flatterers style
an untamed nature. Such is my impression of this personage, with whom
I have but the slightest acquaintance.

M. Royer-Collard found me reading the "Imitation" the other day, and
brought me yesterday a pretty little copy which he has had from his
youth, and has almost invariably carried about with him. I have been
deeply touched by this gift, and regard it as a most precious
possession. My only objection to this little book is the fact that it
is in Latin: I never knew Latin well, and I find that I have now
forgotten it. I think I shall have to take it up again.

M. Royer asked me to give him in exchange some book which I had
constantly read. I gave him a copy of Bossuet's "Funeral Orations,"
deeply scored with my marks; the ribbon-mark is torn away, but a
hairpin happened to be marking one of the passages in the oration on
the Princess Palatine, which had a special meaning for myself. M.
Royer accepted the little volume most gratefully.

Yesterday evening I went to the Italian Opera, and Berryer paid a
visit to my box. His mind was full of the morning session in the
Chamber of Deputies and of M. Guizot's _formidable_ speech. M. Thiers
proposes to reply this morning, as, indeed, he must, unless he wishes
to see M. Guizot become paramount in the Chamber; in short, we are to
see the real adversaries engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle. This is
an event, and is so regarded. Berryer described the whole affair
marvellously well, without bitterness against any one, and without a
word more than was necessary to make the situation clear. In ten
minutes he had told me everything.


_Paris, March 27, 1836._--Yesterday morning I had the honour of seeing
the King with Madame Adélaïde; his conversation was charming. He was
kind enough to tell me stories of his marriage, of the Court of
Palermo and the famous Queen Caroline. I also heard that Prince
Charles of Naples and Miss Penelope arrived here within the last two
days in a state of complete destitution. This was an embarrassing
event, and in a sense discreditable, especially to the Queen.[14]

  [14] Prince Charles of Naples, brother of the Duchesse de Berry,
  was the nephew of Queen Marie Amélie.

I have reason to believe that Thiers did not reply forthwith to
Guizot's great speech the other day for reasons of prudence, and in
obedience to the orders of his superiors; but he will lose nothing by
waiting, and we shall see a striking explosion upon the next
opportunity. I think the authorities were unwilling to regard the
question as a duel between two individuals, and have preferred to let
the effect of the first speech wear off before offering a reply. In
any case, an enormous majority responded to the effort that was made.
The only vexatious point is the number of concessions offered by M.
Sauzet in his speech, and on this subject I have noticed some strong
discontent.

M. de Tocqueville's name was proposed, without his knowledge, to the
Academy of Political and Moral Science by M. Cousin; M. Tocqueville
has told me that he did not wish to seek election again. As the
grandson of M. de Malesherbes, he has no desire to join an Academy of
mere figureheads, of which, for the most part, this institution is
composed.


_Paris, March 29, 1836._--It is certain that all idea of intervention
in Spain has been abandoned by every grade within the Governmental
hierarchy; some had never entertained the project, and others have
dropped it. I think there is no reason to fear any imprudence whatever
in this direction.

Rumour is entirely occupied with a conversation between the King and
Guizot, in which the former is said to have expressed his extreme
displeasure with the dates which were given as marking the good system
of administration. The King said that the system was not the work of
any individual, but was his own, and that the only date he would
recognise was his own date, August 9. He added that it was bad policy
to attack the only Cabinet which could command a majority at that
moment. Guizot replied that if the King cared to test the matter he
would see that the majority was to be found elsewhere. "Not so,"
returned the King; "it is you, sir, who are deluded, and you fail to
see that the course you are pursuing rather divides you from the
points at issue than brings you nearer to them. If you continue, you
will perhaps force me to take a measure which I detest, and which will
assuredly be more displeasing to yourself; that measure is a
dissolution of the Chamber, please remember." I believe this
conversation to be literally exact, and I think it will induce people
to consider their words and deeds more carefully, the more so as the
doctrinaires, who know perfectly well that they have no chance of
re-election, will shrink from a dissolution.

M. de Chateaubriand has sold his works, unedited or as yet unwritten,
for a hundred and fifty thousand francs cash, in addition to a yearly
income of twelve thousand francs payable to his wife upon his death.
He is said to be completely upset by the payment of his debts, and his
future existence which is thus defined and circumscribed seems to him
a heavy burden. Everything he writes, even apart from his memoirs,
will belong to his publishers in return for a scale of payment now
laid down. The manuscripts of his memoirs have been solemnly sealed up
in his presence in an iron box, which has been deposited with a
solicitor. He says that his thoughts have suffered imprisonment for
debt in place of himself.


_Paris, March 30, 1836._--I have certainly heard more music this year
than last; as I am deprived of all my favourite amusements, I have
devoted myself wholeheartedly, without reserve, to music, and have
sought opportunities for hearing it. As the advance of years or
circumstances diminish my tastes, the pleasures which are left to me
are intensified by the disappearance of others; affection takes the
place of coquetry and music of dancing; reading and meditation replace
idle conversations, with their malignity or indiscretions; I drive
instead of calling, and prefer rest to excitement.


_Paris, April 13, 1836._--I took Pauline yesterday evening to a
charity lottery at the house of the Duchesse de Montmorency, where
there was a crowd. All the Faubourg Saint-Germain were there,
including even the Duchesse de Gontaut, formerly governess to the Duc
de Bordeaux; she condescended so far as to bow to me very politely.
Pauline was interested by everything, as girls of fifteen usually are.
She was very pretty; her hair was simply done, but dressed by the
great Edouard; she wore a sky-blue dress, and looked fresh as a rose,
with her calm and dainty bearing and her happy little face; in short,
she met with general approval, consequently I felt well disposed to
every one; the slights formerly inflicted upon me by this or that
person were forgotten when a pleasant word or a kind look was
addressed to Pauline. It is certainly better not to live in hostility
with society, and if one is so wrong-headed or unfortunate it is very
pleasant to make one's daughter a means of reconciliation.

I have letters from England telling me that the Duchess of Gloucester
has become the happiest person in the world; Lady Georgiana Bathurst
is her lady of honour; she is at home every evening, and her house is
the meeting-place of the high Tories; all the news is to be heard
there, and gossip goes on, with which the Duchess delights the King
every morning. The King of England sees his Ministers only on
business, and has no social intercourse with them. Lord Melbourne does
not care or complain, and goes his own way without worrying the King,
which seems to me to be a sound plan.

Yesterday morning, thanks to a special ticket, for which I sent to ask
the Archbishop, I was able to hear the last of the series of lectures
given at Notre-Dame by the Abbé Lacordaire. He is starting for Rome
to-day, and will be absent for two years. There were at least five
thousand persons in the church, nearly all schoolboys and girls. Among
the men who came in with the Archbishop and were favoured with seats
on the Banc de l'OEuvre I recognised the Marquis de Vérac, the Duc
de Noailles, and M. de Tocqueville. I was placed just behind this
bench, with some fifty ladies, none of whom I knew; I was opposite to
the pulpit and did not lose a single word. Imagination, vigour, and a
style far removed from that of the seminary are the distinctive
qualities of the Abbé Lacordaire; he is a young man with a good
delivery. His use of metaphor, however, seemed to me to be slightly
confused and somewhat too daring, while his doctrine allowed no room
for the beautiful and humble theory of grace. I think that St.
Augustine, the great apostle of grace, would have found matter for
criticism in his words. On the whole, I was interested and struck with
the attentive attitude of his audience. The Archbishop concluded the
lecture with some suitable words of thanks and farewell to the young
preacher, and with a blessing at once appropriate, simple, and gentle
upon the congregation, which was received with surprising respect by
his young hearers. It must be said that when the Archbishop avoids
politics and the commonplaces of the seminary he can produce, as he
did yesterday, a noble and touching effect, with his fine face and
gestures and his appealing tone, in his splendid cathedral and from
his exalted position, whence he looked down upon these many young
faces. M. de Tocqueville, who called upon me towards the end of the
morning, was even then moved by the scene.


_Paris, April 13, 1836._--MM. Hyde de Neuville, de Jumilhac, de Cossé,
Jacques de Fitz-James, and de Montbreton have all started for Prague,
to ask Charles X. to give up the Duc de Bordeaux. In the event of a
refusal they have resolved to carry him off, and flatter themselves
that they will have the co-operation of the young Prince in the
attempt. They wish to find a home for him in Switzerland, where he is
to be educated, and so brought nearer to France in every sense of the
term. This project, which is in itself somewhat visionary, is reduced
to absurdity by the boasting and gossip with which it has been
announced. Another plan, of which the police have been informed, is to
carry off one of the young princes of royal blood and to keep him as a
hostage. The Minister of the Interior has been somewhat disturbed by
this proposal.


_Paris, April 21, 1836._--A courier arrived yesterday from Vienna
bringing a reply conceived in the most gracious terms to the
insinuations which have been made concerning the Duc d'Orléans and his
proposed journey in Austria. All that was avoided under the Duc de
Broglie has been welcomed under M. Thiers, to whom personally the
reply referred in very kind terms. Something of the same kind is now
expected from Berlin. The departure of the Prince and of his brother,
the Duc de Nemours, is fixed for May 4, but the fact will not be
announced for another five days, when they will have returned from
Chantilly. The return journey is to be made by Turin. The Sardinian
Court, which feels the want of some support, is inclined, after much
hesitation, to look to France. My son, Valençay, will accompany the
Princes; he will be the only unattached member of their suite with
them. It was proposed to give him a title and an official position,
but I objected, as my son is sure to be well received anywhere.

Yesterday at dinner at the house of M. de Talleyrand a quarrel arose
between M. Thiers and M. Bertin de Veaux, the result of which, I
think, has been the opposite of what was expected: instead of pacific
explanations a duel became the consequence. I was on tenterhooks, and
eventually checked the dissension almost brutally. Every one, I think,
approved my action, which I would have taken earlier if I had not
thought that M. de Talleyrand was the proper person to intervene; he,
however, did not even exert himself to change the conversation. Bertin
de Veaux was constantly aggressive, while Thiers for a long time was
perfectly calm, until he grew excited and angry, and at length they
hurled political defiance at one another.


_Paris, April 23, 1836._--Mrs. Norton has written a letter to Mr.
Ellice, which is a kind of manifesto, and has sent it to me with
orders to communicate it to her foreign compatriots. I have read the
letter, and, if her words are to be believed, she emerges from this
foul story as pure as Desdemona.[15] I hope indeed that it is so. The
whole business seems to me very vulgar and in very bad taste.

  [15] Reference is here made to an action for divorce brought
  against Mrs. Norton by her husband, which made a great stir in
  England at this time. The intimacy of Mrs. Norton with Lord
  Melbourne was well known. However, the verdict given in the
  following June acquitted Lord Melbourne, but Mrs. Norton and her
  husband separated.

The Duchesse de Coigny, who has always come to England for her
confinements, in order to ensure the birth of girls, was to start this
morning to London for the same reason, but owing to mistaken
calculations she was yesterday confined of a fine boy, which is a
bitter disappointment.


_Paris, April 26, 1836._--Visitors returning from Chantilly were most
enthusiastic yesterday about the beauty of the spot, the extensive
society to be found there, the excitement of the races, the brilliancy
of the hunt, and, in the case of those who were at the Château, the
graciousness of the Prince Royal. The English say that apart from the
races themselves, which, however, are by no means bad, these three
days at Chantilly are much superior to Ascot, Epsom, and any meeting
of the kind in England.

Hunting was carried on with the pack of the Prince of Wagram, and some
four hundred young men rode out; but only thirty were in at the death
of the stag.

The Prince Royal is to start on the 3rd or 4th, and will go straight
to Metz to visit the School of Artillery; he will not stop at any of
the small Courts, which he proposes carefully to avoid by taking all
kinds of unusual routes under the pretext that they are more direct.

Yesterday I dined with Madame de la Redorte, and met several people,
including General Alava, who told us the story of the duel between
Mendizabal and Isturitz, in which neither combatant received a
scratch.

He seemed to expect a Ministerial crisis at Madrid which might affect
his position as ambassador.

Alava is so inclined to exaggerate that when he was at the house of M.
Dupin at a reception of Deputies the host asked him, touching M.
Berryer on the shoulder, whether he knew this Deputy. Alava
straightway exclaimed: "Certainly I know M. Berryer, and _I share all
his opinions_."


_Paris, April 27, 1836._--The route of the Prince Royal passes through
Verdun, Metz, Trèves, Düsseldorf, Hildesheim, Magdeburg, Potsdam, and
Berlin. All the Ministers of Saxony, Hanover, and Bavaria have brought
pressing invitations from their Sovereigns asking the Prince to make a
stay with them. These have been declined under the pretext of want of
time, but in reality owing to some ill-feeling caused by the continued
affronts and insults from Munich; if the Prince refused one invitation
he obviously could not accept others without a declaration of
hostility. He is sorry, however, to hurry by Dresden, whence there has
never been any cause of complaint. From Berlin he will proceed to
Vienna, by way of Breslau and Brünn.

For some days I have been reading a few volumes of the "Essais de
Morale" by Nicole; our curiosity concerning this work was aroused by
Madame de Sévigné. They are doubtless excellent, but I think one must
be somewhat more advanced than I am to admire them keenly. There is a
certain dry austerity apparent which somewhat repels me. To these many
philosophical arguments I prefer the touching phrase of St. Augustine:
"If you are afraid of God, throw yourself into the arms of God."
Eventually, perhaps, I shall learn to appreciate Nicole, as one's
mental tastes change with one's age and circumstances.


_Paris, April 28, 1836._--Pozzo has received the order of St. Andrew
in diamonds, and at the same time unlimited leave of absence to travel
in Italy. I imagine that he will soon pass this way.

The journey of the Prince Royal has been arranged to begin a day
earlier, and he is to start on the 2nd. Berlin will not be reached for
ten days, as he is to put up every night, while each day's journey
will not be too long, as they wish him to arrive fresh and alert and
ready to undergo military fatigues, the manœuvres, festivities, and
other duties. This seems to me very sensible. The Prince Royal has
received a formal invitation to the manœuvres at Berlin. Hence his
reception cannot be anything but excellent. The invitation has
certainly been sought, but it is undoubtedly an invitation, and
accusations of importunity or rashness are therefore out of place. The
Duc and the Duchesse d'Angoulême will naturally have left Vienna when
the two Princes arrive there.

Yesterday I accompanied the Comtesse de Castellane to a reading given
by M. de Rémusat upon historical incidents in the style of the
"Barricades"; "The Night of St. Bartholomew" was his subject. It was
clearly and brightly treated, and the author assures us that much
historical research has been devoted to it, but it was so long that
the second part had to be postponed until Tuesday. To sit through a
reading is an exhausting business.


_Paris, May 1, 1836._--Yesterday was Pauline's ball--a pretty scene
and entirely successful. There was no crowd, plenty of light, young
and pretty people in full gaiety, and polite young men acting as
partners to the ladies, all in excellent style and taste, and the
company most carefully selected. It was not exactly exclusive, but the
Faubourg Saint-Germain were in preponderant numbers. My cousin, Madame
de Chastellux, for instance, went to the trouble of coming. In short,
I was well pleased with our little success and with the delight of
Pauline.


_Paris, May 2, 1836._--Yesterday news arrived from Berlin of the
preparations made to receive the young Princes. The King said that
they should have the kind of reception given to his son-in-law, the
Emperor. They are to stay at the old palace. An hour after their
arrival all the princes will come to pay their first calls; in short,
everything is to go off as well as possible. The Carlist faction is
overwhelmed, and the aggressive members of it are quite ill in
consequence; the moderate members are casting tender glances at the
Château des Tuileries, and yesterday M. de Chabrol, formerly Naval
Minister, and M. Mounier went to the Château. M. de Noailles would be
ready to do the same were it not for his wife, whose feelings he has
to consider--and reasonably, for she, though a most worthy person, is
very extravagant in her political ideas.


_Paris, May 4, 1836._--Yesterday I went to hear the conclusion of M.
de Rémusat's "Night of St. Bartholomew."[16] It is clever and
talented, but I repeat that this style of performance is a mistake,
and a good historical narrative would be much more interesting to me.

  [16] This work was published after the death of the Comte de
  Rémusat in 1878, by his son Paul.

I have seen M. Royer-Collard, and also M. Thiers. The former said that
the doctrinaires were decisively defeated in the Dupin dispute, as the
Chamber had pronounced against them. The second is very pleased with
his reports from the Russian Ambassador and from the Court of St.
Petersburg, which are beginning to become flattering. I believe he is
on the way to another reconciliation which he thinks of more
importance, with Bertin de Veaux, but this is still a profound secret.


_Paris, May 6, 1836._--I have been deeply affected by the death of the
good Abbé Girolet. He followed the fine precept of Bossuet, and the
only precaution which he took against the attacks of death was the
innocence of his life, for all his interests were so neglected that he
has left me a fine complication to unravel, which demands my immediate
presence at Rochecotte. I shall start the day after to-morrow, and
they are only waiting for me to take the seals off his property. A
will in which he has left me everything has been found, but where or
what may this everything be? This is as yet unknown, and there is some
fear that there may be more debts than property, which fact would
prevent me from beginning the charitable foundations which I promised
to take in hand after his death. I shall find a very obvious void at
Rochecotte, and shall miss that gentle look which clung so
affectionately to me. And then how sad are the details of his death!


_Rochecotte, May 10, 1836._--No interesting news can be expected from
me in this retired corner of the world, where I can boast only of
peace and silence and of solitude--three excellent things which I
appreciate the more as I have left, in the words of the "Imitation,"
"the tumultuous commerce of men, which arouses vanity even in the
simple-minded, and eventually enslaves the soul."

I spent the evening with M. Vestier, my good architect, over plans and
arrangements for the vault of the Abbé and for my own. This will be
arranged quite simply in the parish cemetery on the hillside before
that beautiful view, in the pure air, looking out upon the rising sun.
The vaults are to be very simply surrounded by shrubs and an iron
railing; there will be nothing more than names and dates. Thus his
last resting-place will be as simple as was his mind, and I trust that
mine will be equally so. The wishes of men are so rarely performed
after their deaths that during our lifetime we should act as far as we
can. I had considerable difficulty in inducing Vestier to undertake
this simple work. He says it is horrible to be giving orders for the
digging of my grave, and at length the poor fellow began to weep, but
he yielded at last, for he is very obedient to me.[17]

  [17] This plan was not entirely carried out; the Abbé alone was
  buried at Saint-Patrice.


_Rochecotte, May 13, 1836._--Yesterday I received a long letter from
my son, Valençay, from Coblenz. Full honour has been done to the
Princes; M. the Duc d'Orléans has invariably invited to dinner the
authorities commissioned to welcome him. He speaks German with a
fluency which is much appreciated. In every town regimental bands are
constantly playing under the windows of the Princes, and, in short,
all due attention is shown to them.


_Valençay, May 18, 1836._--I have been here since the day before
yesterday, and am expecting M. de Talleyrand and Pauline to-morrow.

I have been reading a narrative written by one of the chief nuns of
Port Royal, about the reform of their establishment, which was carried
out by the Mother Marie Angélique de Sainte-Madeleine Arnauld, and
about their persecution, in the time of their celebrated abbess, the
Mother Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld, a niece of the foregoing and a
daughter of M. d'Andilly. They were great minds and strong souls, and
how remarkable are the details of the story! What a race were these
Arnaulds, and M. Nicole and the Abbé de Saint-Cyran! All these names
are to be found in the writings of Madame de Sévigné. Her friend, M.
de Pomponne, was Arnauld, the son of M. d'Andilly. This was a peculiar
family, even in its own time, and it was said that Pascal was quite a
nonentity compared with Antoine Arnauld. They must have been giants
indeed; and if giants at their time, what would they seem now?


_Valençay, May 22, 1836._--Yesterday I had a letter from my son,
Valençay, from Berlin. He is delighted, and with reason, for apart
from the generally satisfactory character of the journey, he is
treated with especial kindness, which is particularly touching to me
as it is due to consideration for myself. The Prince Royal told him
that he had always regarded me as his sister, that he would treat him
as a nephew, and that my letter was delightful. He objected, however,
that there was not enough of the nursery about him. The Duchess of
Cumberland and my godmother, Princess Louise,[18] have been quite
motherly, and the Queen of the Low Countries has also been very kind,
together with M. Ancillon, Herr von Humboldt, and the Countess of
Redern. M. de Valençay assures me that the Crown Prince of Prussia was
neither cold nor repellent in his reception of the Duc d'Orléans, but,
on the contrary, kind and cordial; the Crown Princess and Princess
William the younger were equally charming; every one else behaved very
properly, as also did the sight-seers along the routes, and our
Princes showed perfect prudence. There was some trouble in inducing
the young French officers to take off their Belgian decorations; the
Duc d'Orléans was anxious that they should not wear them at all at
Berlin, but they showed some reluctance, and eventually it was agreed
that they should remove them when meeting the Queen of the Low
Countries.[19] A courier came to Berlin with an urgent letter from the
King of Saxony inviting the Princes to pass through Dresden. I do not
know whether that will induce them to change their route. The two
Princes attended service in a Catholic church in Berlin on Sunday, and
their action produced an excellent effect.

  [18] The Princess Louise was the daughter of Prince Ferdinand of
  Prussia, the youngest brother of Frederick the Great. She married
  Prince Antoine Radziwill in 1796.

  [19] Queen Wilhelmina of the Low Countries was the daughter of
  King Frederick William II. of Prussia, and sister of the king
  then reigning, Frederick William III.


_Valençay, May 23, 1836._--Yesterday, the Day of Pentecost, was spent
as follows, and will give an idea of our usual mode of life in this
place: First of all came high mass at the parish church, which lasted
for two full hours, thanks to a sermon from the vicar, who took the
more pains as he saw me in the Castle pew. The heat was extreme, and
the smell unpleasant, while the crowd was almost as great as at
Saint-Roch. The result for me was a severe headache, which passed off
to some extent during a long drive which I took with M. de Talleyrand,
to the ponds in the Forest of Gâtines. Several people from the town
dined with us. I walked for a little after dinner, while Pauline went
for a drive with her uncle; I wrote until nine o'clock, when the post
goes, and when M. de Talleyrand came in. The day was concluded with
newspapers, tea, and piquet.

These days are very pleasant when I am not alarmed about M. de
Talleyrand's health, and I thank God for them as I go to bed. I no
longer consider the amount of amusement or interest or pleasure to be
gained; one day perhaps that will return; now that M. de Talleyrand
and my children are well and my mind is free from anxiety, and my
temper sufficiently kind to make life pleasant for those around me, I
ask for nothing more. When we are able to perform a complete
renunciation of self, we find our burden lightened, and the low and
heavy flight of selfishness is replaced by the rapid sweep of
outstretched wings, which is a pleasure in itself. My courage and my
self-possession only disappear when I see sickness threatening or
striking down my family, for I have only reached the threshold of that
stage of resignation in which one sacrifices one's self to the things
of heaven. I doubt if I shall ever pass within it. But enough of this,
or I shall be thought as religious as a lady of the Faubourg
Saint-Germain. I am very far from that point, which I shall never
entirely reach, for my independence will never allow me to follow the
beaten track or confine myself to particular practices, attitudes, and
observances; at the same time, given my natural taste for good books,
the natural seriousness of my mind, my wide experience, and the
sincerity of my judgments upon myself, it will be hard if I do not
learn to draw consolation at least from the one perennial source.

The Carnavalet residence is for sale at a price of a hundred and forty
thousand francs. If I dared, I would buy it, and I am, indeed,
extremely tempted.


_Valençay, May 26, 1836._--The correspondence between M. de Talleyrand
and Madame Adélaïde continues animated and very affectionate, and
gives me some work.

The following news reached us from Paris by letters of yesterday's
date: Alava is overthrown, and Miraflores proclaims himself the
successor; Alava says that the affairs of his country reduce him to
despair. As a matter of fact the newspapers mention some strange
affairs in the Assembly of the Procuradores, and great is the
confusion caused by the whole business of the change of Ministry. Some
people who declare themselves well informed, assert that Isturitz, to
relieve himself of embarrassment, would be inclined to come to an
understanding with Don Carlos and to arrange a marriage between Queen
Isabella and her cousin.

Lady Jersey has given orders for copies of her correspondence with
Lady Pembroke to be sent to her. It seems that this correspondence is
beyond all that could be imagined in maid-servant style. She also
wishes M. de Talleyrand to read all these details.

I have a letter from Princess Louise of Prussia, my godmother, which
speaks in very high terms of the young French Princes. Princess Louise
is a clever woman, naturally inclined to sarcasm and severity, and her
appreciation is therefore the more valuable. M. de Valençay writes to
me that he has been greatly struck by the beauty of the Princesses, by
their jewels and the elegance of their dress. Herr von Humboldt took
the Princes and their suite to see the museums and the artists'
studios. The Crown Prince of Prussia has a taste for art, and has
greatly stimulated these matters in Berlin. The Duc d'Orléans has
given great pleasure by ordering a statue from Rauch, the chief
sculptor in Prussia, and the King's favourite. The shyness of the
Queen of the Low Countries is even greater than that of the Duc de
Nemours. This mutual defect seems to have brought them together, for I
am told that the Queen has conceived a friendship for the young Prince
and that long conversations have taken place between them.


_Valençay, May 29, 1836._--Yesterday I read the new play of M. Casimir
Delavigne, _Une Famille au Temps de Luther_. The work contains some
fine lines, but is quite unsuited for the stage, and nothing is colder
than its theological discussions, even when they conclude with crime;
moreover, these forms of fanaticism are somewhat wearisome, discordant
as they are with the spirit of our time. Finally, the dreadful
massacre of St. Bartholomew has become even tiresome, and the best
proof of the fact that both it and the atrocities of the Atrides have
lost their power to thrill, is their recitation with songs and dances.

Madame Adélaïde informs M. de Talleyrand that the Crown Princess of
Prussia has written to her mother, the Queen-Dowager of Bavaria,
saying that she was _forced to agree_ to the proposal to show honour
to the French Princes, and that a very good friend of Louis-Philippe
had advised them to show themselves in public.

The King of Naples has now left home, some say to marry a princess of
Modena, and others to pay court to the daughter of the Archduke
Charles, and others, again, to have a look at the young princesses of
Paris.

The King is having a full-length portrait of François I. painted for
Valençay, and another of the Grande Mademoiselle; the former built the
Castle, and the latter visited it and praised it in her memoirs. The
King is also sending M. de Talleyrand the chair in which Louis XVIII.
was wheeled about, and he has informed us through Madame that if he
should go to Bordeaux, as is possible, he would pass this way.


_Valençay, May 31, 1836._--It seems that neither intellect nor years
can shelter people from foolishness, and a great act of folly has been
committed by M. Ancillon in his marriage with Mlle. de Verquignieulle,
if what we hear from Berlin is true. M. de Valençay also informs me
that the entertainment given by M. Bresson,[20] at which the King of
Prussia was present, was a very brilliant affair; all the servants
were in full livery, blue, gold, and red, and Bresson said to him:
"These are my colours," an amusing remark, and one worthy of the
present time. "We shall see," as M. de Talleyrand says.

  [20] M. Bresson was the French Minister at Berlin.


_Valençay, June 1, 1836._--The young French gentlemen who went to
Prague have returned after a very short stay. They were especially
struck by the atmosphere of boredom which is the environment of life
in that town. They said the Duc de Bordeaux had a very pleasant face,
but his figure was not attractive and his mind but little developed,
like that of a child brought up in the midst of old men.

At a dinner given on May 22 to the two French Princes by the Crown
Prince of Prussia, Princess Albert,[21] to the great rage of Bresson,
the great disgust of the King, and the general horror of the company,
appeared with an enormous garland of lilies in her hair; up to that
point her behaviour had been quite proper.

  [21] Princess Albert of Prussia was a princess of the Low
  Countries.

The presents distributed by the Duc d'Orléans at Berlin were most
expensive, and in money and diamonds amounted to more than a hundred
thousand francs. It is rather too much than not enough. Prince
Wittgenstein received a box containing not only the portrait of the
Prince Royal, but also that of the King and Queen--a very marked
attention. M. Ancillon, plastered with the great Cross of the Legion
of Honour, swelled himself out and strutted about, and appeared ready
to trample upon any one and every one. His behaviour is explained by
his middle-class origin and his Calvinistic views.

The parting was affectionate, some professing to love the Princes as
their sons and others as their brothers; in short, no success was ever
more complete. The ladies were all struck with the handsome appearance
of the Duc d'Orléans. My authorities for these statements are
reliable, as I quote not merely M. de Valençay, but other letters
which came in yesterday, written moreover by natives of Berlin. The
accident which nearly befell the Duc d'Orléans at the manœuvres was
caused by his politeness to the Princesses; he was reining in his
horse near them, when he was nearly thrown, but the skill with which
he recovered himself gained him many compliments; and on this question
the Duchess of Cumberland writes as follows: "Imagine what would have
become of us if any misfortune had happened to him; I should be ready
to leave my sick body upon my bed and be changed into a guardian angel
to hover over them during their stay at Berlin, and thus to answer the
confidence of your Queen, who begged me in a charming letter to treat
her sons as my own."

Upon the day when our Princes were at home to the Diplomatic Body M.
de Ribeaupierre, the Russian Minister, sent his excuses, alleging a
swollen face. Contrary to the old etiquette of Berlin, the whole of
the Diplomatic Body was invited to a ball at the house of Prince
William, the King's brother. Of this entertainment I am informed: "The
ball given to the French mission by order of the King, Louis-Philippe,
was a great success; the French Princes were so tactful as to do the
honours themselves, and received the King and the Princesses at the
foot of the staircase."


_Valençay, June 2, 1836._--The Princess de Lieven arrived here
yesterday in a feeble state of health. We took her in and looked after
her as well as we could, but towards the evening I began to feel that
she had some presentiments of a tiresome stay, and that if the journey
hither lay before her at this moment she would hesitate to undertake
it. This I can understand. Here she will have no news and will not be
able to see the shadow-show of life, which are both necessities to
her. The novelty of the outer world, recollections and historical
traditions, natural beauties, the domestic life of a household,
reading, thought, and work are by no means to her taste, and in other
respects Valençay has never been more poverty-stricken than at this
moment.

The verses which M. de Peyronnet has sent to me are not very
excellent, but that point is of no account in comparison with the
actual circumstance and the whole question. During the winter I
worked pretty hard for these poor people, and obtained some definite
alleviation for M. Peyronnet, who was the worst of all in health, and
this he found very agreeable; I hope that I may be able to do more for
him as soon as the session is over. It was this charitable work which
inspired the verses in question.[22]

  [22] We have been unable to find them.

My sister writes to me from Vienna saying that great preparations are
made to receive the French Princes, and in particular Paul Esterhazy
is working for that purpose; there will be an entertainment at his
house at Eisenstadt. Unfortunately many people are in the country and
many in mourning.


_Valençay, June 4, 1836._--We have had two days of bad weather, but
yesterday morning a better prospect fortunately allowed us to take
Madame de Lieven for a drive in the forest and past the warren, the
quarries, &c. In the evening, however, M. de Talleyrand had an attack
of palpitation, which was but slight, though it is evident that the
enemy is still there. Madame de Lieven yawned to desperation. The poor
woman is bored, which fact I can very well understand and pardon. The
truth is that, with her frame of mind and habits, she is not likely to
endure our solitude or the dull and quiet atmosphere of the household
which is due to the mental and physical state of M. de Talleyrand.
Moreover, the Princess is not an easy guest from a material point of
view; she has twice changed her room, and now wants to go back to the
first room she occupied, in which is the bed of Madame de Staël. Lady
Holland could not have given us more trouble, and Pauline says that
the Princess is "rather whimsical."

A caricature has appeared in London of Lord Melbourne and Mrs. Norton
on the very day of the eclipse; it represents the sun and Mrs. Norton
as the moon passing over it, while beneath is the word "Eclipse." The
reference is to the scandalous law-suit which Mr. Norton is bringing
against his wife, and in which Lord Melbourne is unpleasantly
compromised.


_Valençay, June 5, 1836._--The poor Princess de Lieven is greatly
bored, and expresses herself on the subject with strange openness.
Yesterday she asked me, as if she were talking to herself, why we had
invited her at a time when we had no one staying in the house. I began
to laugh, and replied very gently: "But, dear Princess, you yourself
were so kind as to ask to come. We would have invited the whole world,
but the session is not yet finished, so that diplomatists, peers, and
Deputies cannot leave Paris." "That is true," she replied, and later
on, when she saw that M. de Sercey had just arrived at Paris, she was
full of regret that she could not be there to ask him questions; she
also thought her _salon_ would have been very interesting that evening
during the discussion of the foreign service vote. I like
straightforward persons, because with them at any rate one knows
exactly where one is.


_Valençay, June 10, 1836._--The Princess de Lieven received letters
yesterday from her husband, telling her that she has been represented
in a very bad light to the Emperor Nicholas. Conversations and whole
speeches have been sent to St. Petersburg as though they emanated from
the Princess, which are certainly fictitious, for she is very zealous
in her master's service; but those who talk a great deal and see many
people are always compromised sooner or later. The Princess is greatly
agitated in consequence.

The Prince d'Orange is quite obviously showing signs of madness, which
take the form of such sordid economy that his wife and children have
not even enough to eat; he keeps the key of the pantry himself, and
the Princess has to send out her chambermaid to buy cutlets. The
eldest son is said to be a young scamp. He is now at London with his
younger brother, where they are known as the "unripe Oranges." The
Dutch are said to be much perturbed about the future of their country,
and are praying that the life of the present King may be prolonged.


_Valençay, June 13, 1836._--Yesterday I had a long letter from the
Crown Prince of Prussia, with a kind sentence concerning the French
Princes and their father, the King, though with a qualification
against revolutions which shows his true opinion. It is a curious
letter. I have had another from M. Ancillon in most laudatory terms,
with no qualification, concerning the travellers, the union, the
peace, and M. de Talleyrand; also a curious letter. Finally I have two
very long letters from M. de Valençay written from Vienna; he had
stopped at Günthersdorf, of which he gives full details.[23] At Vienna
he had seen the Count of Clam at the house of his aunt of Sagan, from
whom he had learnt that the first interview had given great
satisfaction and that our Princes had said everything that was proper.
The Archduchess Sophie spoke very kindly of her remembrance of me and
treated my son very well. He thinks that the Austrian princesses lack
that grace and distinction which is so striking in the princesses of
the Prussian royal family. Princess Metternich was at the first
evening reception given by M. and Madame de Sainte-Aulaire; she
behaved most discreetly, and stayed very late; the Duc d'Orange only
talked to her for five minutes, and then upon the subject of
homeopathy! She deserved a small lesson.[24]

  [23] An estate belonging to the Duchesse de Dino in Silesia.

  [24] Princess Metternich had used some discourteous terms
  concerning the assumption of the crown by Louis-Philippe in 1830.

The great diplomatic reception of the nobility and the garrison seems
to have been superb. M. de Valençay was especially delighted by the
races at Baden, where he was entertained by the Archduke Charles, who
spoke to him very warmly of M. de Talleyrand. The Archduke received
all the Frenchmen most cordially. They dined with the Archduchess
Theresa, who is described by M. de Valençay as of an agreeable
appearance, with pretty manners, and an attractive face. She is very
dark and small. The Duc d'Orléans was seated near her at dinner, and
their conversation was vivacious. Prince Metternich was also there. He
has been reconciled, at any rate outwardly, with the Archduke.[25] The
latter has retired to the pretty town of Baden, where he grows
flowers; he told M. de Valençay that, like all old soldiers, he loved
his garden. The Duc d'Orléans was to dine there again by himself two
days later. The Archduke adores his daughter, and will leave her free
to choose her own husband; she has refused the Crown Prince of
Bavaria, and is to inspect the Kings of Naples and Greece. The Russian
alliance alone causes her father some fears.

  [25] The Liberal ideas of the Archduke Charles had induced Prince
  Metternich to remove this prince from the Court and to regard him
  with suspicion. They had almost quarrelled.

M. de Valençay was also delighted with the entertainment at Laxemburg,
and the water-parties, with music everywhere, which reminded him of
Virginia Water. All the society of Vienna was there informally, and
the scene was correspondingly animated.

It is quite clear that all this causes ill-feeling at Prague. The
Dauphine was speaking to some one who asked her, when she was about to
start for Vienna, at what time they would have the honour of seeing
her again; she replied that any one who wanted to see her henceforward
would have to come and fetch her. A Vienna lady, a strong political
opponent of France, said before M. de Valençay, in speaking of our
Prince Royal, that he was so kind and gracious it was to be hoped that
he was not something else!

The travellers are to start on the 11th and make their way to Milan
through Verona, devoting ten days to the journey.

The Prince of Capua and Miss Penelope are at Paris. The former has
seen the Queen; he will go to Rome, and there open negotiations for a
reconciliation with Naples.

All the Coburg family and the Belgian King and Queen are coming to
Neuilly.


_Valençay, June 17, 1836._--It seems that every day must be marked by
some tribulation. Yesterday evening we had a terrible fright, the
consequences of which might have been most serious; they seem to have
been but slight, though the doctor says that we cannot be certain for
nine days that no internal shock has been sustained. M. de
Talleyrand's mania for staying out late brought him back yesterday in
his little carriage when it was pitch-dark; moreover, he childishly
amused himself by steering a zigzag course, so that he twisted the
front wheel. This checked his progress, and he could not perceive the
cause in the darkness, so he told the servant to push harder, which he
did. The result was a violent jolt, which shot him out of the carriage
and threw him head first with his face on the ground upon the gravel
of the Orange Court at the entry of the _donjon_. His face was badly
bruised, but fortunately his nose bled freely; he did not lose
consciousness, and wished to sit in the drawing-room and play piquet.
At midnight he put his feet in hot mustard and water, and is now
asleep. But what a terrible nervous shock at his age and with his
weight, and when he is suffering from a malady which demands that he
should be spared every emotion and disturbance!


_Valençay, June 18, 1836._--M. de Talleyrand's face has suffered
considerably, but otherwise he seems to have escaped miraculously from
this remarkable fall.


_Valençay, June 21, 1836._[26]--Do you remember that it was you who
refused any form of conversation upon the subject of religion? Only
upon one occasion at Rochecotte did you give me any outline of your
ideas upon this subject; at that time you were more advanced than
myself in respect of certain beliefs. My experiences since that date
have brought me more rapidly along the road, but my starting-point has
been my recollection of that conversation, in which I saw that you
admitted certain fundamental principles of which I was not sure. In
any case, my speculations have not advanced beyond that point, and
only in points of practice do I attempt to guide my movements by this
compass; I have never busied myself with dogmas or mysteries, and if I
prefer the Roman Catholic religion I do so because I think it most
useful to society in general and to States; individual religion is a
different matter, and I think any religion based upon the Gospel is
equally good and divine. Since I have seen all supports falling away
around me, I have felt my own weakness and the necessity of some
support and guide; I have sought and found; I have knocked and it has
been opened to me; I have asked and it has been given to me; and yet
all very incompletely hitherto, for when one thus walks alone and ill
prepared it is impossible to avoid wrong paths, or to avoid slipping
in the ruts with continual stumbles. Nor would it have been wise to
arouse myself to excessive zeal and fervour, which would have prepared
a reaction, perhaps fatal; I therefore advance step by step, and when
I consider my progress am humiliated to see how little I have risen; a
little more kindness, patience, and self-command is all that I have
acquired. I have the same delight in the things that please me, the
same repugnance for those that weary me, my dislikes are not extinct
and enmity remains keen, my mental anxiety is often wearing, my
energies are inconsistent, my speech often too hasty and its
expression inconsiderate. I have, too, a thousand modes of
self-flattery; I am wounded by blame, and too pleased by approbation,
which I sometimes seek and would be ready to arouse at necessity; in
fact, there is no task so long and difficult and none that demands
more exertion and perseverance than to satisfy one's conscience.

  [26] Extract from a letter.

Apart from the practical methods which I have felt must be followed as
a thread to guide me through the labyrinth, I have also been helped by
a great sense of gratitude. One day in England I was suddenly struck
by the thought of the innumerable favours which had been granted to
me, though I had made so ill a use of my powers and my advantages. I
admire the patience of God and the long-suffering of Providence
towards me; to have found what I have found seems to me so real a
blessing and so ill-deserved that it has filled me with gratitude.
This sense has continually increased, and partially supports me in
accomplishing the sacrifices which I am making. The deep instruction
to be daily derived from the old age of M. de Talleyrand; the death of
Marie Suchet;[27] her mother's grief; the successive deaths of so many
of my acquaintances of different ages, sexes, and positions; of the
granddaughter whose eyes I have closed,[28] and who brought death so
near to me; the close reading of good books; the lofty conversation
of M. de Royer-Collard, who is ready to throw aside philosophic doubts
and is slowly succeeding--all these influences have made me consider a
thousand matters hitherto unnoticed, and have directed me towards a
lofty and a certain goal. Such is the story of this side of my life.
My attitude, however, is not that of outward profession, and I can say
that I am more advanced in reality than in form; in the latter
respect, I doubt if I shall ever change.

  [27] Daughter of the Marshal of Albuféra.

  [28] Yolande de Valençay.

What a long answer this is to one small page of your letter! If it
seems to you too long, say so, and we will reserve all these
revelations for evenings at Rochecotte.

The Duc d'Orléans gives a glowing account of a conversation with
Prince Metternich, by which he was delighted.

The Princesse de Lieven has just gone away, to the general relief. I
think that the Princess and her proud niece[29] came to feel that they
had been somewhat ridiculous here, as they went to some trouble on
their last day to utter innumerable thanks and excuses for the
inconvenience they had caused, &c.

  [29] The Baroness of Mengden, niece of the Princesse de Lieven,
  afterwards lived at Carlsruhe, where she was abbess of a noble
  chapter. She was very tall, especially in the upper part of her
  body, and any one seated by her side at dinner was obliged to
  raise his head in order to see her face. As she was very
  good-natured, she became to some extent her aunt's drudge; at
  Valençay, when the Princesse de Lieven stayed there, she gave her
  niece her jewel-box to keep when she was out driving, so that the
  Baroness of Mengden could rarely take part in these excursions.


_Valençay, June 24, 1836._--How stupid ill-nature is! Madame de Lieven
has been unkind enough to write to Paris groaning and lamenting over
the profound boredom which she felt here, and her correspondents have
been laughing at us or using her words against us; the fact is widely
known and commented upon. Our friends told us of it with great
indignation. This small ingratitude on the part of Madame de Lieven,
which apparently arises on this occasion from want of social
experience, is real stupidity; in any case, I am not surprised; I
would have made a bet that it was so; her weariness was too profound
to be concealed, and I clearly saw that the need of revenge was felt
in her correspondence. I do not reproach her for being bored, for
saying so, or even for writing the fact, but for prolonging her stay
here under the pretext of illness. She was afraid of travelling alone,
afraid to be isolated at Baden, and dared not stay longer at Paris,
and so she stayed here, to die of inanition and to rouse our
ill-feeling. This did not prevent her from weeping like a penitent
when she went away; her tears were sincere, for she shed them, not for
us, but for herself, her wandering and lonely life. On that point I am
not deceived.

Yesterday I had a letter from M. de Valençay from Leoben. They were
very pleased with Vienna in every respect. However, the Prussian royal
family showed to better advantage than the Imperial royal family. The
Prussian princesses were thought more striking for their youth, their
beauty and good style, and notwithstanding the garland of lilies,
which seems to have been the result of a teasing or coquettish
conversation, our Prince Royal and Princess Albert began an obvious
flirtation. The Empress of Austria and the Duchess of Lucca, her
sister, are very beautiful, but in a cold, austere, and imposing
style. Our Princes distributed the same presents at Vienna as at
Berlin, but instead of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour which
was given to Ancillon, Prince Metternich, who has long possessed all
the French orders, was given a magnificent service of Sèvres china.


_Valençay, June 25, 1836._--M. de Barante[30] writes from St.
Petersburg saying that there is great feeling against Madame de
Lieven, on account of her long stay in France. Some ill-temper has
also been aroused by the successful journey of our Princes, but
nothing of the kind has been shown to our ambassador, who is treated
personally with great politeness.

  [30] French Ambassador at St. Petersburg.

It is said that Mrs. Norton was most angry, in the course of the
strange trial--of which _Galignani_ gives a far too detailed
account--because the servants who were called to give evidence said
that she rouged and dyed her eyebrows.


_Valençay, June 27, 1836._--Another attempt upon the King's life.[31]
What a dreadful mania it is, and will it be always futile? Such is the
sad question which one cannot help asking. We know nothing yet beyond
the news telegraphed to the centres of the neighbouring departments,
whence the prefects have sent messengers for our information.

  [31] On the evening of June 25, 1836, a young man aged
  twenty-six, named Louis Alibaud, shot at the king in the court of
  the Tuileries when Louis-Philippe was reviewing the National
  Guard and the drummers were beating a march.


_Valençay, June 28, 1836._--Our Princes have been told by letter not
to hasten their return on account of the attempt upon the King's life.
They should reach Turin to-day, and are expected at Paris on the 8th.
It seems that Lord Ponsonby[32] has gone mad. He insists upon the
dismissal of Reis Effendi[33] and the chief of the Guard. He has
written two notes to the Ottoman Porte in which he even threatens the
Ottoman Empire with disruption if satisfaction is refused. Admiral
Roussin himself writes that Lord Ponsonby is mad. All the Ministers,
including the Russian Minister, are working to prevent a rupture; the
Court of Vienna is explaining the matter to the English Government in
London, and it is hoped that Lord Ponsonby will be recalled.

  [32] English Ambassador at Constantinople.

  [33] Reis Effendi was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Turkey.


_Valençay, June 29, 1836._--Yesterday I had a letter from our
travellers, dated from Roveredo, where they were detained by the
indisposition of the Duc de Nemours. It was a somewhat serious attack,
of which they made light in their letters to his parents, but which
greatly frightened the Duc d'Orléans. He was also greatly vexed by the
hurried departure of General Baudrand. It seems that this departure
was provoked not so much by the necessity of a rapid journey to the
waters as by some ill-temper at the fact that the Prince Royal did not
show sufficient confidence in him.

The Princes were about to make their way to Florence, as the Grand
Duke of Tuscany had been especially pertinacious in asking for a
visit, but the illness of the Duc de Nemours stopped their journey.
They have met the Archduchess Marie Louise,[34] cousin-german of our
Prince Royal. She asked M. de Valençay for news of us, as she is his
godmother. He thought she was not so aged as she has been described.
They have also seen the Princess of Salerno and the King of Naples.
The latter is described as having a fine head, but a coarse and clumsy
figure. He is in despair at the death of his wife, with whom he lived
on very bad terms until she was with child, in giving birth to whom
she died. He is said to be very whimsical.

  [34] The widow of Napoleon I.

The Archbishop of Paris was at Neuilly at eleven o'clock on the day
when the King's life was attempted. It is unfortunate that he can
never appear before the King except immediately after an attempt at
assassination, and I therefore think that his visits are not very
popular, as they are made under conditions with which one would
readily dispense. He refused to admit the body of Sieyès to the
church, and it was taken straight to the cemetery.[35]

  [35] Sieyès died at Paris, June 28, 1836.

My deepest grief concerning the attempted assassination of the 25th is
that I fear the pistol-shot has killed our Princess Royal. Many say
that Alibaud is another Louvel, an isolated fanatic, a natural product
of newspaper extravagances and bad teaching. The King wishes to pardon
the assassin, but it is thought that the Cabinet will not suffer him
to do so. General Fagel[36] has been at Neuilly, notwithstanding the
presence of the Belgian King and Queen; the King treated him very
kindly.

  [36] General Fagel had been the ambassador of the King of the Low
  Countries in France under the Restoration.


_Valençay, July 5, 1836._--My chambermaid's serious illness forces me
to wait upon myself. I have felt a little awkward, but shall get used
to it. It is not always pleasant, but it is useful, and I do not
complain. I have, indeed, my moments of discouragement, but then I
chide myself and it passes away. At times great nervous fatigue
results from want of practice, but this will disappear, for we are not
upon earth to amuse ourselves, or to rest, or to be well and happy and
comfortable; that is our chief illusion; we mistake our object, and
are then angry that we do not attain it; if we tell ourselves that the
object of life is work, struggle, and sacrifice we avoid
misunderstandings and escape the most painful of fates.

The examination of Alibaud will not be printed; so much the better, as
all this is bad food for public curiosity. Yesterday I had a letter
from the Duc de Noailles, who is one of the judges; he told me that
the crime was obviously prompted by want. As the man had not a
halfpenny he wished to kill himself, but he thought his death should
be made interesting and useful. Such is the influence of bad teaching
derived from the republican age and society in which he has lived. He
is not a gloomy fanatic like Louvel, nor a modern Erostratus like
Fieschi, but is merely a beggar of considerable self-possession and
badly brought up.

All the newspapers, Carlist, Radical, and Moderate, are greatly vexed
by the mandate of the Archbishop of Paris. To appear at Neuilly is too
much for some; unwillingness to use the term "the King" in the mandate
is a platitude which does not deceive others and irritates many; the
Jesuitical and equivocal phrase at the end is thought very pitiable.
In short, the outcry is general and deserved. I am sorry, for at
bottom he is a man not without good qualities, but with a deplorable
want of tact.

I have a letter from M. de Valençay written from Milan; the horseraces
in the arena, where twenty-five thousand people collected, and the
illumination of the theatre of La Scala were admirable.

The Mayor of Valençay came to consult M. de Talleyrand about an
address to be presented to the King concerning the last attempt upon
his life, and begged M. de Talleyrand to draw it up. He commissioned
me with the task. Here it is, as it has been passed and as it was sent
to Paris yesterday. To fall from diplomatic to municipal language is a
great proof of decadence. That at any rate is what little Fontanes of
Berry has produced, and of all the addresses drawn up on this occasion
it is undoubtedly the most monarchical both in form and substance.

   /* "With the confidence of children, the respect of subjects, and
   the gratitude of the friends of true liberty, the inhabitants of
   Valençay venture to place at the foot of the Throne the
   expression of their delight at the miraculous preservation of the
   sacred person of the King and their wishes for the permanent
   happiness of the Royal Family. Insignificant and remote as is the
   quarter of your realm whence these loving hearts yearn towards
   your Majesty, your goodness is our guarantee that our token of
   respect will be indulgently received. Our town, moreover, is not
   without its claims upon the interest of the King, and the claim
   which we are most pleased to assert is the honour which we have
   had in receiving His Royal Highness Monseigneur the Duc
   d'Orléans, and the recollection of the kindness which he has
   shown amongst us," &c. &c.

Then follow the signatures of the Municipal Council, including that of
M. de Talleyrand.


_Valençay, July 10, 1836._--My son, Valençay, arrived yesterday; he
told us nothing new about his travels, and only confirmed his previous
letters. We have also the Prince de Laval, by whom M. de Talleyrand is
wearied to death, and with good reason. At Paris the Prince is
tolerable, and sometimes even amusing, but in the country his want of
judgment and his snobbishness, which induces him to say, for instance,
that the orange-tree, pruned, clipped short, and planted in a box, is
the aristocracy of nature, his continual practice of asking questions,
of stammering and spitting before one's face, and always looking on
the insignificant side of things, are most wearing; and he does not
say a word of his departure.

The Duc d'Orléans writes to say that only for reasons of state would
he be sorry not to marry the daughter of the Archduke Charles, for her
attractions for him are entirely moral; in person he thinks her, if
not ugly, yet insignificant, and he is not attracted. In any case, the
father and daughter readily assent to the proposal of marriage; the
Emperor of Austria says nothing; but his brother the Archduke Francis
Charles and his sister-in-law the Archduchess Sophie say "No."


_Valençay, July 13, 1836._--Yesterday evening we had a visit from the
Duc Decazes[37] and the Comte de la Villegontier, who stopped for tea
on their way to their foundry at Aveyron. M. Decazes was sad and
sorrowful concerning the King's dangers and the open sores in society,
as revealed by the trial of Alibaud. He also complains, and with
reason, of the organisation, or rather the non-organisation, of the
police. He says that the King alone has preserved his calm and
presence of mind, but that around him all are sad, anxious, and
agitated, and that the Queen and Madame are very unhappy. Marshal
Lobau has persuaded the King that the National Guard would take it ill
if his Majesty did not review them on the 28th of this month. He will
therefore pass under the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, where the
National Guard will march before him. But this is too much. The July
festivals will be confined to the opening of the Arc de Triomphe, and
the Obelisk from Luxor will be unveiled. No further commemoration
would be required, in my opinion.

  [37] M. Decazes then acted as chief referendary to the Chamber of
  Peers.

Alibaud yielded to the exhortations of the Abbé Grivel. He confessed,
and therefore has repented. On the scaffold he kissed the crucifix
before the people, but when one of the servants took away his black
veil he flew into a rage and turned suddenly round to the multitude,
red in the face, crying, "I die for my country and for liberty," and
then he submitted.

M. Decazes also told us that every day brought him anonymous letters,
denunciations, and revelations, and that it was impossible to get a
moment's peace. He left me in profound sadness.


_Valençay, July 16, 1836._--The Prince de Laval, who is still here,
admiring everything and evidently well pleased in spite of our
political differences, has a certain form of wit which consists in
saying smart and clever remarks now and then, but these are wanting in
taste and balance. His class snobbishness recalls that of M.
Saint-Simon, his caste prejudice is carried to a ridiculous point, his
curiosity and gossip are unexampled, and his selfishness and
absorption in his own importance and amusement are inconceivable; he
advances every claim on his own behalf, and is therefore unbearable
when taken seriously. Taken the other way, there is something to be
got out of him, the more so as, though he is a tease, he is not
ill-tempered, and the very extravagance of his poses forces him to
live up to them.

The Duc de Noailles, whom we also expect here to-day, is very
different; he is reasonable, self-possessed, cold, polite, and
reserved, asking no questions, never chattering nor wearying anybody;
but though he is unpretentious his claims to consideration are none
the less real, and he is absorbed, first of all by his position as a
great lord, and then as a politician. His position as a man of fashion
and fortune, of which Adrien de Laval boasts his past possession, as
they are now gone, has no attraction for him. I might even say that if
M. de Laval is a quondam young man, the Duc de Noailles is an old man
before his time. He is only thirty-four or thirty-five, but his face,
his manners, and his life in general make him appear fifty.


_Paris, July 27, 1836._--I think more and more of the Duc de Noailles.
He is a man of good judgment, sound taste, with a sense of honour and
excellent manners. He is also dignified and possessed of common sense,
while his goodwill is valuable, and his high position may be useful in
the world in which he is a figure. But my high opinion of his good
qualities and the value which I set upon his goodwill and friendship
do not prevent me from seeing his pretentiousness. His chief ambition
is political, and is not, perhaps, sufficiently supported by the ease
of temperament which is quite indispensable at the present time. The
whole family has remained what it was two hundred years ago. The
Noailles are rather illustrious than ancient, rather courtiers than
servants, but servants rather than favourites, intriguers rather than
ambitious, society people rather than lords, snobs rather than
aristocrats, and above all and before all, Noailles. I know the whole
of the family existing at the present time; the best and most capable
of them is undoubtedly the Duc, whom I judge perhaps somewhat
severely, but for whom I have always a real esteem.

I left Valençay the day before yesterday at six o'clock in the
morning; my dear Pauline was very sad at being left behind; I slept at
Jeurs with the Mollien family, reaching their house at eight o'clock
in the evening, and arrived here in pretty good time. I found M. de
Talleyrand in fairly good health, but much disturbed by the state of
affairs. The King will not be present at to-morrow's review, and has
given it up because of a discovery that fifty-six young people have
sworn to kill him. As it was impossible to arrest these fifty-six, it
has been thought more advisable to abandon the review. In what times
we live!

The death of Carrel[38] has also thrown a gloom over us. He made many
mistakes, but his mind was distinguished and his talent remarkable.
Even M. de Chateaubriand, the author of the "Génie du Christianisme,"
wept as he walked in the funeral procession of the man who refused to
see a priest and forbade the holding of any Church ceremony at his
funeral. The desire to produce an effect usually ends in some loss of
taste and propriety in the most essential details.

  [38] A violent newspaper quarrel brought about a meeting between
  Armand Carrel, editor of _Le National_, and Emile de Girardin,
  editor of _La Presse_. A pistol duel took place on July 28 in the
  wood of Vincennes. Armand Carrel was severely wounded in the
  stomach, and died the next day, after expressing a definite wish
  for burial in a cemetery without any Church service.

Affairs in Spain are going very badly. The supporters of intervention
are growing active, and many of them are influential and leading
spirits, but the supreme will is in active opposition to them.

During my journey yesterday I was in very good company, with Cardinal
de Retz, whose memoirs I have taken up again; I had not read them for
many years, and then at an age when one is more attracted by the facts
and the anecdotes than by the style or reflections. The style is
lively, original, strong, and graceful, while the reflections are
thoughtful, judicious, elevating, striking, and abundant. What a
delightful book, and what insight, and often more than insight, in
judgment, if not in action! He was a political La Bruyère.


_Paris, July 28, 1836._--Yesterday the Duc d'Orléans came to see me.
He is in very bad health and somewhat melancholy; he too is obliged
to take an infinite number of precautions which sadden his life. The
King had resolved to go to the review, but was at the same time so
convinced that he would be killed that he made his will, and gave full
orders and directions to his son concerning his accession to the
throne.

At the end of the morning I also had a call from M. Thiers, who was
very pleased with the news he had just received from Africa, with the
political situation at home and abroad, and, in short, with
everything, apart from the great and continual dangers which threaten
the King's life. There were to have been several attempts upon the
King's life on the day of the review; these attempts were to be
organised separately and without connection. One was to be delivered
by a group of men disguised as National Guards, who were to fire a
volley of twenty shots at the King as he passed, one of which would
certainly have found its mark. Two of the young men who have been
arrested--and the arrests amount to more than a hundred--have already
made important confessions. Yesterday morning a man was arrested in
whose house was found a machine like Fieschi's, but more perfect and
smaller in compass, with more accuracy and certainty in its working.


_Paris, July 29, 1836._--Yesterday evening I was with the Queen. She
seemed quite natural in manner, though she said very bitterly: "We can
testify to ourselves that we are entirely upright, and yet we are
forced to live amid terrors and with the precautions of tyrants."
Madame Adélaïde urges her not to sadden the King's temper. He was with
his Ministers, and did not come in till later. His manner was quite
ordinary, but his features bear the mark of gloomy thoughts; the
greatest vexation he ever experienced in his life was his inability to
go to the review. Moreover, he thinks that his days are numbered, for
the day before yesterday, when taking leave of the Queen of the
Belgians, who was returning to Brussels, he told her that he would not
see her again. The young queen was in ill-health, and nothing was more
heartrending than their farewells. Poor people!

A remarkable fact which is vouched for by all the officers of the
legions of the National Guard is that during the last fortnight a
number of unknown or notorious people, such as Bastide, and others,
have put down their names on the rotas of the National Guard and take
sentry duty; this was in order that they might find a place in the
ranks which were to march before the King upon the day of the review.

Nothing sadder can be conceived than the Tuileries. I stayed there two
hours with an inexpressible sinking of heart, a melancholy and an
inclination to weep which I could hardly restrain, especially when I
saw the King. I shall start early to-morrow morning for Valençay.


_Chartres, July 31, 1836._--I left Paris yesterday, but much later
than I intended, as the Duc d'Orléans sent word that he wished to
speak with me again. I cannot say how much I have been touched by his
perfect kindness to me. He came to see me every day, and showed that
he counted me as his best friend--and he is certainly not mistaken. He
has made remarkable progress in every respect, and if heaven preserves
him to us I am sure that his reign will be brilliant. I hope that a
good marriage will clear our political horizon, which is very dark.

What is his marriage to be? That question will be decided next week,
for I think that he certainly will marry; circumstances make it
entirely necessary to consolidate and strengthen that which crime
threatens and attacks daily, and a continuation of the line becomes
even more important than the greatness of the alliance. The latter,
however, is not to be despised. Search is made, but if no success
results the only object will be to find a wife who can bear fine
children, without any idea of a morganatic marriage, which is not
required for many sound reasons, any more than a marriage with any
member of the Bonaparte family. Religion is a matter of no
consequence. It is absolutely necessary to deliver Paris from the
mournful condition into which it has fallen. I know the French, and if
they are shown a young and engaging bride they will be delighted,
while the foreign political world will perhaps be more considerate to
us when it has no further matrimonial snare to spread before us.

Yesterday I stayed a few minutes at Versailles with Madame de Balbi,
and a few minutes more at Maintenon, with the Duchesse de Noailles. I
am now starting for Châteaudun, and shall go on from thence to
Montigny, where I have promised to visit the Prince de Laval.


_Montigny, August 1, 1836._--I left Chartres after hearing mass in the
cathedral, which, as far as I could see, has not suffered from the
fire.[39] The wood- and lead-work have gone, but as the vaulting
within, which was made of stone, has not suffered, nothing is to be
seen from within the church. The work of repair is now in progress.

  [39] In the month of June 1836 a conflagration, supposed to be
  caused by the carelessness of some plumbers, completely destroyed
  the chestnut beam-work of the cathedral, which was the admiration
  of visitors and was known as "the Forest." A great number of old
  windows were broken or melted, and the bells were seriously
  damaged. For several hours the fire threatened to spread to the
  whole of the lower town. The important work of repair lasted for
  several years.

I stopped at Châteaudun in order to go over the whole of the old
castle, including the kitchens and the dungeons. Though greatly
ruined, some beauties yet remain, and the view is splendid. The Prince
de Laval came to meet me, and brought me here in his carriage. He is
making a charming spot here, arranged with good taste, care, and
magnificence. The situation is beautiful, and the Gothic part of the
castle has been well preserved and carefully restored. The castle
would give a very good idea of the owner to anybody who did not know
him. I must admit my astonishment at the fact that the spot could have
been arranged as it was by Adrien de Laval; the truth is that he has
an excellent architect; and then the Baron de Montmorency has arranged
the court, and has had several consultations with me concerning the
arrangement of the rooms, for this is not my first visit. In short, it
is charming, and though things are much better at Rochecotte, there
are some here which outrival ours. In respect of size and proportion
the two places can be well compared.


_Valençay, August 2, 1836._--I have now returned to my lair, and am
delighted to be far from the uproar of Paris, but I should like time
for a good rest, whereas M. de Talleyrand has also just come with
people who are to surround us from to-day. If I could choose a coat
of arms which really meant something I should prefer a stag at bay
with the dogs around him.

It is impossible to be more hospitable than M. de Laval has been, and
I am slightly ashamed of the small ingratitude of which I may be
guilty in relating one of the most ridiculous affairs which I know.
Adrien possesses the order of the Holy Ghost, which is no longer worn;
he had several medallions, and will any one guess what he has done
with them? He has had them sewn on the middle of one of the velvet
counterpanes which cover the chief beds in the castle. I was never
more surprised than to wake up in the morning and find a large
inscription of the Holy Ghost across my figure.


_Valençay, August 6, 1836._--I have a letter from M. de
Sainte-Aulaire, dated July 22, from Vienna, which begins as follows:
"I am now writing to you, as this letter will be taken by a courier
who will start in two days and tell the Ministry I really do not know
what. The attempted assassination by Alibaud has evoked unexpected
manifestations of interest for the King here, and wishes no less
sincere for his accomplishment of the great work with which Providence
has entrusted him; but we need not be surprised that this incident has
also increased the terror which is felt or which people seek to rouse
concerning the condition of Paris. 'Everything comes to him who
waits.' On this condition I would have answered for his success, but
it is one of the cases where people will not wait, and possibly with
reason." This letter from M. de Sainte-Aulaire must have come by the
courier who brought the important answer concerning the proposed
marriage between the Duc d'Orléans and the Archduchess Theresa; hence
this answer must have arrived at Paris, and I am the more inclined to
think that it has been received, as Madame Adélaïde informs M. de
Talleyrand that her nephew will write to him personally upon his own
affairs. It is from no curiosity, but with a keen desire to see the
fate of the young Prince happily settled, that I impatiently await his
letters. I should also like to see the King of Naples make one of our
princesses his queen.


_Valençay, August 7, 1836._--By way of continuing the quotation which
I gave yesterday from M. de Sainte-Aulaire's letter, I will say that
the reply has been received and that it has been unfavourable. I am
sorry, for our sakes, but if it is a setback to our Prince Royal I
regard it as possibly a political error on the part of those who have
declined. Their repentance may yet be speedy, for the incident may
change the appearance of the world and bring once more into opposition
the two forces which were inclined to amalgamate.


_Valençay, August 9, 1836._--Yesterday at lunch-time we saw our
cousins arrive, the Prince de Chalais and his brother.[40] The former,
in my opinion, has the most charming face that I know, a fine figure
and noble manners. I talked a great deal with him, as he did not leave
until after dinner. He has sound sense, simplicity of mind,
uprightness of heart, curiosity upon useful matters, and a sensible
and reasonable interest in everything that can strengthen the fine
position of a great landowner.

  [40] The Comte Paul de Périgord.

I am informed that the decree which is to liberate the prisoners of
Ham has been signed. I am truly pleased to hear it, as I have worked
hard to secure it. They are not given full liberty, but a change of
residence with some relaxations preparatory to full freedom, which
will allow them to recover their shattered health more readily and
under better conditions.

Every one is well pleased at Neuilly with the King of Naples. Our King
has been much worried by people who would like him to intervene beyond
the Pyrenees, against his wish, but hitherto he resists vigorously.
This mental anxiety, together with the precautions which people wish
to impose upon him to secure his safety, is poisoning his life.


_Valençay, August 11, 1836._--M. de Talleyrand is informed that the
Spanish problems, which are growing more and more acute, are causing
bitterness at Paris, where nothing of the kind should exist--namely,
between the King and his Minister of Foreign Affairs,[41] who is
supported by the Prince Royal, as these two men are anxious for
intervention. We may wonder who will emerge victorious from this
domestic struggle.

  [41] M. Thiers.


_Valençay, August 22, 1836._--I can well understand the reflections
made concerning the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden; her want of tact
is due to her early education. She was brought up in a pretentious
boarding-school,[42] where she learnt much except that exquisite sense
of propriety which may be transmitted hereditarily or implanted in
youth but can never be taught. For instance, she asked M. Berryer to a
ball at her house, though he had not been introduced and had not asked
for an introduction. Then she talks too much, as a rule, and attempts
to bring herself into notice by conversational brilliancies which are
not always properly calculated or adapted to her position. Princesses
are not obliged to be kind; they must, however, be obliging and
dignified; but to understand the limits of propriety and not to go
beyond them they must have acquired certain habits from infancy; here
the Grand Duchess Stephanie was wanting, and Madame Campan has not
been able to amend the defect. I believe her to be at bottom an
excellent person. Her life shows devotion and courage in the
misfortunes through which she has passed with great credit. I think
that Madame de Lieven, who criticises her so severely, would not
emerge so unscathed from the crises caused by her difficult position
with respect to her husband. The Grand Duchess had a nice manner and a
pretty, alert, and graceful bearing; she needed youth, and as she lost
youth her defects became more obvious. This, unfortunately, is every
one's case, and for that reason it is wrong to say that people are too
old to amend; on the contrary, when charm passes away it is most
essential to replace it by capacity; charm of youth calls forth
indulgence and provides excuses which disappear with those charms and
graces, and are replaced by a severity of judgment which can only be
opposed by more self-control, more self-renunciation, and more
self-respect.

  [42] The institution of the famous Madame Campan, now the school
  of Ecouen.

We are officially informed that the refusal from Vienna was expressed
in polite terms, but no reason was given. The possibilities of
Princess Sophia of Würtemburg have not been considered, in spite of
what people say. Our Prince Royal has started for the country,
somewhat thin and changed, but entirely convalescent.

From Madrid we hear that Isturitz has resigned. Calatrava takes his
place as President of the Council. Everything is going very badly.

The King of Naples starts for Toulon on the 24th, and goes, as he
came, unmarried.

The ex-Ministers are still prisoners at Ham, in consequence of
difficulties which have arisen among the Ministers in power. The
Minister of the Interior wishes to keep the prisoners under his
supervision, and the President of the Council wishes them to remain in
the fortresses, under the milder regulations, but in military
strongholds; but so long as they are there, the Minister of War claims
supervision over them. It is quite time that this treatment came to an
end, for the unhappy people are ill.

Madame Murat has obtained permission to spend a month at Paris. She
will arrive in a week, and is said to be taking no part in her
brother's intrigues.

Yesterday I had a letter from Madame de Lieven, who announces her
return to Paris as a positive fact. I am afraid she may be making a
great mistake. Yesterday I had a letter from St. Petersburg in which
she is said to be in very bad odour at Court. On the other hand, M. de
Löwe-Weimar is very well treated at Court, and poses as an aristocrat.
Horace Vernet is also spoiled and petted in a most inconceivable
manner. Why, in view of that, should Madame de Lieven be thus
harassed? Can it be that she is suspected of being something of an
intriguer? The English are certainly right to include the capacity of
keeping quiet among a person's best qualities.


_Valençay, August 24, 1836._--I have a comical and unexpected piece of
news to the effect that M. Berryer has been playing in a vaudeville at
Baden with Madame de Rossi. This must be a strange occupation for a
politician, but it is better for him than bad company in Switzerland.
Yesterday the newspapers announced the death of M. de Rayneval[43] at
Madrid. This will increase the difficulty of a question which is
complicated enough already.

  [43] French Ambassador in Spain.


_Valençay, August 27, 1836._--We have no details from Paris, but
obviously some Cabinet crisis is in preparation. Meanwhile M. Thiers
seems to have been anxious to involve the King in the Spanish
difficulty against his wish, and to have acted for that purpose
without consulting his colleagues. The result has been a considerable
amount of ill-feeling which is difficult to quell, and should lead in
a few days either to the submission of Thiers to the King or to the
formation of a new Ministry, which, however, would contain some
members of the present Cabinet, and in particular, I think, M. de
Montalivet. All this is a matter of speculation, for we know nothing
definite.


_Valençay, August 28, 1836._--A letter from Madame Adélaïde yesterday
informed M. de Talleyrand as follows: "The Ministry is dissolved, to
my profound regret. I am especially sorry for Thiers, but he was
obstinate upon the question of intervention in Spain, and this has
spoiled everything. The King wished to disband the new body that was
formed at Bayonne, and demanded a formal undertaking that there should
be no question of intervention hereafter; Thiers refused, and
resigned. Any Ministerial crisis at this moment is very vexatious, for
we have so small a circle from which we can choose. The King has sent
for M. Molé, but he was in the country. He will require time to come,
and no doubt he will ask for Guizot. It is all very distressing, and
we know by experience how long and difficult is the task of forming a
new Cabinet. Pity me, for I am heartbroken!" Such was the position of
affairs the day before yesterday in the immediate neighbourhood of the
crisis. I am very sorry it should have occurred, in the first place
because I have a real interest in Thiers, and because I regret that
his revolutionary instincts should have overcome his devotion, his
gratitude, and the recognition which he owed to the great wisdom, the
prudence, and the long experience of the King. Moreover, constant
changes of Ministry are Governmental misfortunes and shake public
opinion too frequently; besides, Thiers' dexterity, alertness, and
promptitude, apart from his energy and his intellect, are useful to
the State. What use will he make of these powers when he has full
liberty of action? Madame Adélaïde, as the extract from her letter
shows, has no great love for the Doctrinaires, but it is inconceivable
that M. de Broglie should be recalled, with whom M. Guizot considers
that he has settled accounts for ever. Apart from these disadvantages,
I think it is obviously beneficial for the King to have given a fresh
proof that on questions of real importance he cannot be shaken and
will not be driven into action against his wish. Thus in February he
resisted the arrogance of the Doctrinaires, and has now overthrown the
infatuation of Thiers. This seems to be a fair warning for the future
Ministry, whatever its political colouring, and an excellent guarantee
to all right-thinking men in Europe.


_Valençay, August 29, 1836._--M. de Talleyrand ought to regard the
accidents that happen to him without disastrous results as a guarantee
that his life is certainly assured, and in my place I think that this
warning would rather turn my thoughts upon what they portend and
induce me to thank God for the respite granted to lighten our burden
of responsibility. Sometimes he reflects upon death, but not often.
Yesterday evening there was a violent storm which threatened the
Castle. After a loud clap of thunder he asked me what I had been
thinking of at that moment, and I immediately replied: "If a priest
had been in the room I should have confessed myself, for I am afraid
of sudden death. To die unprepared and to carry with me my heavy
burden of sin is a terrifying prospect, and however careful one may be
to live well we cannot do without reconciliation and pardon." M.
Cogny, our doctor, who was there, and who is terribly afraid of
thunderstorms, added somewhat foolishly that he was performing an act
of contrition at every flash. M. de Talleyrand said nothing at all,
and we went on playing piquet. I take every opportunity of
strengthening my belief, and thus attempting to arouse his, but never
until I have an opening. In such a matter a light touch is
indispensable.

Yesterday I had a long, interesting letter from the Duc d'Orléans, and
a letter which I think the more satisfactory as he has returned to
more reasonable opinions upon the Spanish question. His opinion of the
Ministerial crisis corresponds entirely with my own. I have also a
letter from M. Guizot written from Broglie on August 24. When writing
he had no news of the resignation of Thiers, which took place on the
25th. He informs me that he has just bought a small estate near
Lisieux and is going to turn farmer.[44] I presume that I shall next
hear that he has left the plough to resume the pen and speechifying.

  [44] This estate was the Val Richer, where M. Guizot lived until
  his death.


_Valençay, September 1, 1836._--I am strongly inclined to accede
entirely to the opinion concerning the Emperor Nicholas which states
that the only royal quality in his possession is personal courage. His
chief deficiency seems to me to be that of intelligence, not only in
conversation and judgment, but in general.

M. de Montessuy, who accompanied M. de Barante to an entertainment at
Peterhof and passed the night there, writes that he saw the Empress at
a distance in the gardens and respectfully withdrew, but that in the
evening she reproached him for so doing, saying that she had come down
in order to speak to him and that it was wrong of him to avoid her.
All this story seems to me to be very unlikely.

Madame Adélaïde writes to M. de Talleyrand on August 30 that nothing
has yet been done with regard to the Ministry. M. Molé has opened
communications with MM. Guizot and Duchâtel, both of whom have arrived
at Paris, but unanimity between them is rendered difficult by their
respective sense of dignity. The King and Madame seem greatly to
regret their forced separation from the retiring Ministers and the
necessity of calling in others.


_Valençay, September 3, 1836._--Yesterday I learned a piece of news
which is causing me much anxiety and is likely to involve me in
embarrassment: the death of my man of business in Germany, Herr
Hennenberg, who died at Berlin on August 23. I am thus obliged to
replace a most upright and capable man, a strong and respected
character who had full knowledge for twenty-five years not only of my
business, but of all my intimacies, past and present, who has thrown
himself heartily into every interest of my life and performed immense
services, and, in spite of the many pecuniary shocks which I have
experienced, has restored my fortunes and brought them to visible
prosperity, often to my own astonishment. He was, in short, a man to
whom I had entirely handed over the control of my affairs, as, indeed,
was necessary, in view of the long distance which separates me from
the centre of my interests. Such a man cannot be replaced by
correspondence or blindly, nor can I remain in uncertainty and
unsettlement for any length of time without suffering incalculable
loss. Hence a journey to Germany seems an absolute necessity; but, on
the other hand, how can I leave M. de Talleyrand alone in view of the
present state of his health? It is not to be thought of, and I pray
that Providence may deliver me from this inextricable complication.

Letters from Paris say that attempts to form a Ministry are so many
successive failures, that the King is growing tired of it, and that
Thiers is beginning to say that Spain is past all remedy. Perhaps they
will end in patching the matter up, but the shock that each party has
received will weaken their harmony, apart from the paralysing sense of
mistrust and rancour which will remain. It is all very sad.


_Valençay, September 4, 1836._--We have letters daily from Paris, but
no word regarding any solution of the difficulty. Yesterday I thought
the breach might be healed; I am less inclined to think so to-day. It
is even possible that the journey to Fontainebleau may take place
before the reconstruction of the Cabinet. M. Thiers would like to
start for Italy, to which the King has replied that his resignation
will be accepted only when he has nominated a successor. Molé and
Guizot are possibilities which seem to be exhausted without result.


_Valençay, September 7, 1836._--We are told that the _Moniteur_ of
to-day will contain the names of a Guizot-Molé Ministry, recruited
entirely from among the Doctrinaires under the influence and by the
efforts of M. Guizot. I had a letter from M. Thiers yesterday, and am
sorry to see some ill-temper displayed against all who do not share
his ideas about that wretched Spanish question. In particular he
thinks that the signatories to the Quadruple Alliance should have
agreed with him. This remark is addressed to M. de Talleyrand, who
proposes to reply that a fresh reading of the treaty will show that it
was drawn up in such a way that France is not under obligation in any
direction. M. Guizot persisted in objecting to the retention of M. de
Montalivet as Minister of the Interior, and as the latter thought it
inconsistent with his dignity to leave this post for another, as
Guizot had proposed, he has resigned, to the King's great regret, and
will go to Berry, where he has property. Sauzet and d'Argout are said
to be going to Italy, once the refuge of dethroned Sovereigns and now
the inevitable touringground of ex-Ministers.

The following fact is certain: On the 4th of this month information
was received that the _Société des Familles_, the most numerous and
best organised of secret societies at this time, proposed to make some
attempt to raise a public disturbance. Their intention was perfectly
clear; the fear of discovery doubtless prevented them from putting it
into effect. They proposed to advance upon the prison where the
political prisoners are confined, to set them at liberty, to seize the
Prefecture of Police, and thence to march upon Neuilly. The Ministers
assert that their intentions were quite serious.


_Valençay, September 9, 1836._--The newspapers are already declaring a
terrible war upon the new Ministry, which will be settled before the
Chambers.[45] The Opposition journals predict a breach in the
Cabinet, which seems a not unlikely possibility. Then perhaps we shall
see M. Thiers return to the head of affairs, but with a certain
opposition to confront him, after making war upon a system which he
had long supported and entering into obligations with men inclining to
the Left, in which case he would be likely to draw the Government into
dangerous paths. I do not really know, but in general things seem to
me to be growing dark. In any case it is fair to recognise that the
new Ministerial combination can display to the country and abroad
honourable names, distinguished talent, and recognised capacity. Let
us hope, then, that it may rest upon a solid basis. Eight or ten days
before the last crisis M. Molé, after a considerable silence, wrote a
very sprightly letter to M. Royer-Collard and to myself.

  [45] The Ministry was composed as follows: M. Molé, President of
  the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Guizot, Minister
  of Public Instruction; M. Persil, Minister of Justice; M.
  Duchâtel, Financial Minister; M. de Gasparin, Minister of the
  Interior, with M. de Rémusat as Under-Secretary of State; M.
  Martin du Nord, Minister of Commerce and Public Works; General
  Bernard, Minister of War; and Admiral Rosamel, Minister of Naval
  Affairs.


_Valençay, September 10, 1836._--Yesterday M. de Talleyrand received a
nice deferential little note from M. Molé upon his accession to the
Ministry. The burden of the letter was as follows: As the new Cabinet
had been formed upon a question and with ideas which M. de Talleyrand
had wisely made his own, the new Ministers might congratulate
themselves upon his approval, and for himself he trusted that it might
be so, as he relied upon M. de Talleyrand's counsel and opinion. M. de
Talleyrand immediately replied. It is not my business to praise the
answer, but I think it should please M. Molé, though he will find no
criticism in it of the man whose place he takes. M. de Talleyrand may
regret the blindness of M. Thiers upon the Spanish question, but it is
not for him to blame M. Thiers in definite terms, as he has long shown
and felt goodwill for him.


_Valençay, September 11, 1836._--I shall not quote Madame de Lieven as
testifying to the accuracy of the story told by M. de Montessuy,[46]
but I admit that I cannot understand so strange an incident. If one of
our princesses or our Sovereign had so acted, a revolutionary
interpretation would immediately have been put upon it at St.
Petersburg, and if the Emperor Nicholas admits Horace Vernet, and
especially M. de Löwe-Weimar, to his favour, his intimacy, and his
confidence, I do not see why the King should be reproached for dining
at the Tuileries with his National Guards. The truth is,
Louis-Philippe cannot use the knout or Siberia, which are two stern
precautions against familiarity, though it is fortunate for each of us
that these weapons are not in his hands; in Russia, neither age nor
sex nor rank nor merit is any protection.

  [46] _See_ above, p. 63.

I have a letter from M. Guizot couched in most sprightly terms,
telling me of his entrance to the Council. The friendship of the King
for M. de Talleyrand and the confidence with which he honours him
forbid any Minister to be on bad terms with him; our intentions are
identical, so that between ourselves and these gentlemen all should go
well.

I have a long letter from the Comte Alexis de Saint-Priest from
Lisbon. He writes from time to time, though I only send short dry
notes by way of answer; but he seems determined to regard them as
proofs of friendship. It is merely a case of calculating
self-interest. He knows that the Duc d'Orléans shows me some kindness,
and he believes himself called upon to play a part when this Prince
comes to the throne, and therefore desires in any case to be one of my
friends; any one reading the opening sentences of his letter would
think that I was a great deal to him and he to me. I am somewhat vexed
in consequence.


_Valençay, September 13, 1836._--How is it that people are so often
found ready to report ill-tempered speeches to the persons affected by
them? It is a strange and too common frame of mind. To myself it is so
hateful that while I believe myself incapable of it, I always receive
very coldly those who bring me confidential remarks of this nature. I
think that the first condition upon which one can live in peace is to
speak evil of things only when they are bad and as little as possible
of people, and the second condition is to disregard evil spoken about
ourselves unless it be spoken to warn one of some trap or actual
danger, but it is very rarely that such information is actuated by
this good and laudable intention. These moral reflections are evoked
by the slanders which Lord Rosse is said to have uttered about Madame
de Lieven and the information brought to her concerning them. In any
case I see that social habit, knowledge of the world, the necessities
of conversation, and, in short, the thousand and one considerations
which make hypocrisy a virtue, or at any rate a social quality, allow
these two people to meet on good terms, and if that be so, my theories
are of little or no importance.


_Valençay, September 16, 1836._--The following is an extract from a
letter received by M. de Talleyrand yesterday; it was not sent by
Madame Adélaïde, but the writer is generally very well informed. "M.
Molé is ill. He has not yet been able to pay any calls, nor to receive
any ambassador, nor has any council yet been held by the King. It is
said that his health will not allow him to remain long in office, and
that he will never establish himself there with any certainty. If he
should resign, it is thought that the Ministry would not be entirely
dislocated, and that Montalivet would probably take his place. There
is also a rumour that the Ministry is ready to confront the Chambers
fearlessly, and expects to secure a majority, that it is ready to be
contented with a small majority in the hope of seeing it grow, and
that it does not intend to make every point a Cabinet question.
Marshal Soult is not to be Minister of War. He was anxious to be
President of the Council, but this was refused, and the post will
probably be given to Molitor, Sébastiani, or Bernard. The Ministry is
entirely dominated by the King's policy upon the Spanish question. The
body which was gathering on the Pyrenees frontier will be disbanded
and the Foreign Legion abandoned. In any case that legion is at the
service of Spain, and we have no right to use it for our own purposes.
Strictest adherence will be maintained to the limits laid down by the
treaty of the Quadruple Alliance. At the same time an ambassador at
Madrid will be appointed, though the death of Rayneval might have
enabled us to dispense with this; but the appointment will be made
from respect to England. A rumour has gone abroad, but it is a great
secret, and the appointment is not yet settled, that this ambassador
will be the Duc de Coigny. The King is a little doubtful of the
attitude which Thiers will adopt. He is also much displeased with him,
and has expressed his displeasure several times. At one time Thiers
took some steps to return to the Ministry, and the matter was
discussed. He then submitted himself wholly to the King's opinion and
will upon the Spanish question, but the style of the King's expression
showed that he was very far from reposing confidence in Thiers, and
that he would only take him back perforce and in a difficult and
unavoidable position. The true cause of Thiers' resignation is not so
much difference of opinion between the King and himself as the
deceitful course by which he wished to draw the King into intervention
against his will. Since he has gone several facts have been discovered
of which no one had any suspicion. Thiers went away announcing that he
would only return for the following session if he saw his policy
attacked. He is said to be really very despondent about his fall, and
has the more reason for despondency as he is sole author of it. The
mode of his resignation has greatly diminished the reputation which he
first achieved, and the public opinion is not in his favour."


_Valençay, September 21, 1836._--Yesterday we heard that the
Constitution of 1820 had been proclaimed at Lisbon. It is asserted
that this event was prepared at London, and the fact remains that
Admiral Gage, who was in harbour with three ships of the line,
remained a passive spectator. The queens of the South are not destined
to enjoy unbroken slumber, for at Lisbon, as at Madrid, the Queen was
forced to sign the new Constitution at two o'clock in the morning. The
army took the side of the people and of the National Guard. The poor
little Prince of Coburg has made a sad marriage indeed. If he remains
in private life with so heavy a burden as Doña Maria he will collapse.
It is impossible to avoid some feeling of dismay at these military
reactions, and we are deeply anxious to see our Cabinet completed by a
_real_ Minister of War. General Bernard was the last chance, and would
be the best choice, as Marshal Soult persistently refuses.


_Valençay, September 23, 1836._--Our festival of St. Maurice[47] was
held yesterday, and was most brilliant. Numbers of neighbours came,
and our cousins came over from Saint-Aignan. The gamekeepers with
their early trumpet-blasts, fine weather, a long drive, the banquet in
the Castle, and dinner to the little school-girls, the three courts
lighted up, and a most pretty entertainment, cheerfully and
delightfully played, completed our festivity.

  [47] St. Maurice was the patron saint of the Prince de
  Talleyrand.


_Valençay, September 25, 1836._--It is certain that Charles X., to
please the Duc de Bordeaux, has requested Don Carlos to receive his
grandson into his army, and Don Carlos has very wisely refused. The
truth is that this would have been the only thing that could have
induced France to intervene.

A letter from Strasburg gives me many details concerning the Abbé
Bautain and MM. Ratisbonne and de Bonnechose which interest me
greatly, for it was these men who carried on the correspondence
concerning the philosophy of religion which I read last winter. This
book is preceded by their biographies and the story of their
conversion, so that my knowledge of their case is complete. M.
Royer-Collard, to whom I have spoken several times concerning the Abbé
Bautain, told me that when he was high master of the university he
knew the Abbé, then quite a young man; that he had a distinguished
mind and a lively imagination, but that his mother was at Charenton
and that there seemed some likelihood of his following her, though at
the same time he thought a great deal of him for many reasons. I trust
that the death of Mlle. Humann will not relax the precious bond which
unites all these young people, with their goodness and sincerity. The
manner of Mlle. Humann's death was like that of Queen Anne of Austria,
a description of which I have just read in the _Mémoires_ of Madame de
Motteville; this queen also died of cancer. I know few incidents so
touching and edifying, so curious and well described, as the death of
this princess. I have finished these memoirs; a book which
counterbalances, from the political standpoint, the memoirs of
Cardinal de Retz. By way of restoring my equilibrium, I am reading
the _Mémoires_ of the Grande Mademoiselle. I read them before my
marriage, at a time when I did not know France, and therefore knew
even less the district which I now inhabit, and in which this princess
lived for a long time; consequently her book has an entirely new
attraction for me and interests me deeply.


_Valençay, September 28, 1836._--A few days ago a Spanish courier
arrived at Paris from Madrid. He had been stopped by the Carlists, who
had taken all his despatches except those directly addressed to King
Louis-Philippe. In these despatches Queen Christina announces that she
proposes to leave Madrid, leaving the two Princesses behind. The next
day a telegram came in stating that the Queen is to leave Madrid, with
all the Ministry, for Badajoz. This town was chosen as being nearest
to Portugal, and because the Queen would be unable to travel in the
direction of Cadiz or the Pyrenees or to any seaport. Unfortunate
creature!


_Valençay, October 2, 1836._--M. de Valençay, who is at the camp of
Compiègne with the Duc d'Orléans, writes that everything is going off
well and that the King's visit has had an excellent effect. The
Ministers, who all accompanied the King to Compiègne, followed him on
horseback to the great review, but M. Molé felt uncomfortable after a
few minutes and got into the Queen's carriage. The camp is said to be
very fine; the King was excellently received, and the young Princes
make a good appearance. I am the more pleased to hear this as it is
the first time that the King has left his confinement since the case
of Alibaud. His presence in camp must have been thought very
necessary, as the Duc d'Orléans answered for the King's safety with
his own life, begging him to go and show himself to the troops; and
only then did the Council, which had at first opposed the plan,
consent to the King's journey.


_Valençay, October 5, 1836._--I must copy the following passage about
the castle of Valençay, which I found in the _Mémoires_ of the Grand
Mademoiselle, vol. ii. p. 411, in the year 1653: "I continued my
journey to Valençay, and arrived there by torchlight. I thought I was
entering an enchanted house. The rooms are the most handsome,
delightful, and magnificent, in the world; the staircase is very fine,
and is reached by an arcaded gallery that is superb. It was
beautifully lighted up; there were plenty of people, including Madame
de Valençay, and some local ladies with handsome daughters, and the
general effect was most perfect. The room corresponded with the beauty
of the staircase, both in decorations and furniture. It rained the
whole day that I was there, and I think the weather must have done it
on purpose, as the covered walks had only just been begun. From there
I went to Selles; it is a fine house."

I have a letter from Alexander von Humboldt about the death of my man
of business, Herr Hennenberg. He offers his services in a most
obliging and careful letter, marked by the utmost flattery and
wittiness, a curious document which I shall keep among my precious
autographs. The death of this man has aroused the interest of all my
friends. Were it not for the anxiety which would pursue me if I were
to leave M. de Talleyrand and my daughter, a journey to Prussia would
suit me entirely.


_Valençay, October 18, 1836._--Yesterday I had a letter from the
Prince de Laval, written from Maintenon, where he was staying with M.
de Chateaubriand and Madame Récamier. He told me that a messenger from
the Princesse de Polignac had just arrived begging the Duc de Noailles
to go to Paris to try and remove the fresh obstacle which prevented
the accomplishment of the promise to improve the condition of the
prisoners. The Prince de Laval adds that the Duc de Noailles was about
to start, and that he would return to Montigny, whence he would come
and pay us a short visit and tell us of the new complications which
have arisen concerning the poor prisoners of Ham.


_Valençay, October 20, 1836._--Yesterday we had a pleasant visit from
M. Royer-Collard, who came over from Châteauvieux in spite of the
deplorable state of the roads. He was very indignant that any one
should be bargaining with the prisoners of Ham about their liberty. He
left me a letter which he had received from M. de Tocqueville, who had
returned from a journey in Switzerland. In it I found the following
passage: "I have closely examined Switzerland for two months. It is
very possible that the present severity of the French Government
towards it may force this disunited people to submit, but it is
certain in any case that we have made implacable enemies there. We
have accomplished a miracle by uniting in common feeling against
ourselves parties hitherto irreconcilable. This miracle has been
performed by the violent measure of M. Thiers, and perhaps even more
by the pride and haughtiness of our ambassador, M. de Montebello, and
his mania for interfering in the domestic affairs of the country upon
every possible occasion."

I have recently been thinking a great deal of what has been done or
left undone for the prisoners at Ham. All the newspapers with the
exception of the _Débats_ unanimously blame the last measures, the
favours offered as a bargain and the degrading conditions imposed upon
these prisoners, who are a class by themselves and unexampled in
history. These unfortunate men, moreover, are not asking for liberty,
but are only requesting some alleviation on the score of their health.
It seems that our present Ministers do not share the opinion of
Cardinal de Retz, who said: "Everything that seems dangerous and
really is not, is almost always a wise measure." Some one else makes
another observation which seems very applicable to recent events:
"There is nothing finer than to do favours to those who are against
us, and nothing weaker, in my opinion, than to receive favours from
them. Christianity, which enjoins the first action upon us, would
certainly have enjoined the second if it were good." Here we have a
clever saying in the style of that fine period when everybody, even
the least perfect, had some grandeur about him. I do not know whether
vice is now any less, but as for grandeur I can find none.


_Valençay, October 23, 1836._--I have decided to write a short note
concerning the castle of Valençay, describing its foundation and
history, &c., which I shall dedicate to my grandson, Boson, in the
following words:[48]

   TO MY GRANDSON,

   "All are agreed that it is disgraceful to know nothing of the
   history of one's own country, and that undue modesty or undue
   presumption are possible dangers if one is ignorant of one's
   family history, but few are aware how greatly the pleasure of
   inhabiting a beautiful spot is increased by some knowledge of its
   traditions. Of these three kinds of ignorance the last is
   undoubtedly of least importance, but it is also the most common;
   schoolmasters may create the first, parents the second, but only
   individual taste can lead us to inquire into dates and facts
   connected with places which are not generally recognised as
   famous. This inquiry may seem trivial if it is not justified by
   any interesting recollections of the past, but in such a case as
   that of Valençay, where the house is well known for its connection
   with celebrities, it is the less excusable to disregard or to
   confuse its history, as we are specially called, if not to
   perpetuate these famous events, at least to respect them.

   "It has been a pleasure to make this piece of history easier for
   your study. May it encourage you to remain as noble in heart and
   thought as are the glories and the traditions of the ancient place
   of which I propose to tell you the story."

  [48] This note upon Valençay was printed in 1848 by Crapelet, Rue
  de Vaugirard, at Paris, with the dedication to which the author
  here refers. This curious work is quoted by Larousse in his great
  "Dictionnaire universel du Dix-neuvième Siècle," under
  "Valençay." It has become scarce, but several copies exist.


_Valençay, October 24, 1836._--Yesterday I had a very kind letter from
the Duc d'Orléans, telling me of the departure of his brother the Duc
de Nemours for Constantine. He envies him his dangerous enterprise.

M. the Prince de Joinville was at Jerusalem.


_Valençay, October 28, 1836._--All our letters from Paris say that no
ceremony has been more imposing than the erection of the Obelisk of
Luxor.[49] The royal family was welcomed with delight. It was their
first public appearance in Paris since Fieschi's attempt, and the
people showed their pleasure. The Cabinet hesitated, as in the case of
Compiègne, but the royal will carried the day, and with successful
results.

  [49] The Obelisk of Luxor was given to King Louis-Philippe by
  Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt. It was removed from its place before
  the Temple of Luxor, carried to Paris, and erected in the Place
  de la Concorde in 1836.


_Valençay, October 30, 1836._--To-morrow I propose to start from here
at eight o'clock in the morning; I shall lunch at Beauregard,[50] dine
at Tours and sleep at my own house at Rochecotte, where M. de
Talleyrand and my daughter will join me on November 2.

  [50] With the Comtesse Camille de Sainte-Aldegonde.


_Rochecotte, November 2, 1836._--I have not had a moment's rest since
my arrival here, as I had to put everything in order before the
appearance of the guests whom I am expecting, and to examine the
changes that have been caused during my absence by the construction of
the artesian well; these changes have greatly improved the immediate
neighbourhood of the Castle, though much remains to be done.

I am inclined to think that M. Thiers has uttered some very
ill-advised remarks concerning all of us. Ill-temper and despondency
usually find unmeasured expression in the case of persons whose early
education has been deficient. It was the Spanish question which drove
M. Thiers from the Ministry, and on this point he was absolutely
opposed to M. de Talleyrand; hence the result. I have no ill-feeling
against him; it was bound to be so. Moreover, there are very few
people of whom I am sufficiently fond to hate them profoundly.


_Rochecotte, November 4, 1836._--What is the meaning of all this
Strasburg disturbance?[51] I am inclined to think there is something
serious in this mad Bonaparte enterprise, from the fact that a similar
movement took place the same day at Vendôme. Six sergeants began the
affair, which was immediately crushed, though one man was killed. I do
not know whether the newspapers have anything to say of it, but it is
quite certain, as the two prefects of Tours and Blois related it to
M. de Talleyrand, who told me the news when he arrived. The Grand
Duchess Stephanie will be uneasy concerning the expedition of her
cousin, Louis Bonaparte.[52] I am sorry for the Duchesse de Saint-Leu,
although I think she had some knowledge of the affair and is more
inclined to intrigue than to act a part; but she is a mother, and has
already lost her eldest son, and she must feel terrible anxiety; it is
a just though bitter punishment for her miserable intrigues.

  [51] On October 26, 1836, Prince Louis Bonaparte, accompanied by
  his friend M. de Persigny, and supported by Colonel Vaudrey,
  attempted to begin a military revolt and to overthrow the king,
  Louis-Philippe.

  [52] Afterwards Napoleon III.


_Rochecotte, November 7, 1836._--Yesterday I had a letter from Madame
de Lieven, who tells me that the Emperor Nicholas is indisposed. When
a Russian admits that the Emperor is indisposed he must indeed be ill.
His death would be an event of very different importance from the
outbreak at Strasburg. I do not think the French would have any great
reason to regret him.


_Rochecotte, November 10, 1836._--Madame Adélaïde informs M. de
Talleyrand that the King has resolved not to bring the young Bonaparte
to trial; he will simply insist upon his immediate departure for
America and exact a formal promise that he will never return to
France. Madame de Saint-Leu has written to the King to beg for her
son's life. She is known to be hidden at Paris, where the authorities
are unwilling to leave her; nor will they allow her to live in
Switzerland. Apparently she will go to the United States with her son.
What foolishness it is which can lead to such a result!


_Rochecotte, November 11, 1836._--Madame de Lieven was saying recently
before Pozzo that she would perhaps spend the next winter at Rome.
"What on earth would you find to do in Italy?" cried Pozzo. "You could
ask no one to tell you the news except the Apollo Belvedere, and if he
refused you would say, 'Wretch, away with you!'" This sally of Pozzo's
made every one laugh, including the Princess; she is, in fact, quite
frivolous.


_Rochecotte, November 20, 1836._--Yesterday's letters told of a
reversal in the affairs of Portugal. The counter-revolution seems to
have failed at the moment when success was thought certain, and the
mishap was due to a want of understanding between the little Van de
Weyer and Lord Howard de Walden. The disaster is complete.

Madame Adélaïde tells M. de Talleyrand that the Court will certainly
not go into mourning for the death of Charles X., as no notification
of the event has been received.[53] She quotes several examples in
which mourning was not worn for this reason, though near relatives
were concerned, including the case of the late Queen of Naples; she
was aunt and mother-in-law to the Emperor of Austria, and died in the
Imperial castle near Vienna, but the Austrian Court did not go into
mourning because the King of Naples, who was then in Sicily, did not
send a notification of his wife's death. Such precedents are
invincible.

  [53] Charles X. had just died at Goritz, in Austria, on November
  6, 1836.


_Rochecotte, November 21, 1836._--The death of Charles X. has divided
society in Paris upon every point. Every one wears mourning according
to his own fancy, from colours to deep black by infinite gradations,
and with fresh bitterness about every yard of crape that seems to be
wanting. Some refer to him as the Comte de Marnes and Henry V., others
as Louis XIX. In short, the place is a perfect Babel, and they are not
even agreed upon the disease of which Charles X. died. Yesterday's
letters speak of nothing else, except the affairs of Portugal. We are
informed that the clumsy attempt might easily shake the position of
Lord Palmerston.[54]

  [54] The Queen of Portugal had been forced, after several
  outbreaks, to accept the Radical Constitution of 1820. In
  November she began a counter-revolution, helped by Palmella,
  Terceira, and Saldanha, believing, at the instigation of England,
  that the population of Lisbon would support her, and proposing to
  dismiss her Ministers. She had been wrongly informed concerning
  the popular feeling, and was forced to abandon the struggle.


_Rochecotte, November 22, 1836._--The Prince de Laval writes that M.
de Ranville is staying with him at Montigny, while M. de Polignac[55]
is on the road for Munich and Goritz. I do not know at all how this
business has been arranged, nor do I know the meaning of this meeting
of Paris clergy summoned to the house of M. Guizot, the Minister of
Public Worship. They say that the Archbishop is preparing a manifesto
in consequence, but I have not yet received the answer to the riddle.

  [55] M. de Polignac, who was a prisoner at Ham, had demanded from
  M. Molé his transference to a sanatorium.

Only the Abbé de Vertot could tell the full story of the revolutions
in Portugal. Lord Palmerston would not be the hero of it, nor Lord
Howard de Walden either. What can one think of the base methods
employed by such diplomacy?


_Rochecotte, November 28, 1836._--Differences of opinion concerning
the question of mourning for Charles X. have found their way into the
royal family; the Queen, who had voluntarily assumed mourning the
first day, was vexed because the Ministry forced her to abandon it.
The Cabinet is afraid of newspaper controversy, but has gained
nothing, as all the newspapers are in rivalry according to their
political colouring. I am much puzzled to know what shade of white,
grey, or black I shall adopt when I reach Paris; generally speaking,
the ladies of the neutral party who are also of society wear black in
company and white at Court. The position of our diplomatists abroad
will be very embarrassing.

M. de Balzac, who is a native of Touraine, has come into the country
to buy a small estate, and induced one of my neighbours to bring him
here. Unfortunately it was dreadful weather and I was forced to invite
him to dinner.

I was polite, but very reserved. I am greatly afraid of these
publicists, men of letters, and writers of articles. I never spoke a
word without deep consideration, and was delighted when he went.
Moreover, he did not attract me; his face and bearing are vulgar, and
I imagine his ideas are equally so. Undoubtedly he is a clever man,
but his conversation is neither easy nor light, but, on the contrary,
very dull. He watched and examined all of us most minutely, especially
M. de Talleyrand.

I could very well have done without this visit, and should have
avoided it if I had been able. He aims at the extraordinary, and
relates a thousand incidents about himself, of which I believe none.

The Prince de Laval informed me that M. de Polignac has not yet been
able to profit by the freedom which was granted him, as he was too ill
to move at the moment arranged for his departure.[56] He asks to be
transported to the nearest frontier, Mons or Calais, to avoid any
route of which he could not endure the fatigue.

  [56] His punishment had been commuted to perpetual banishment.


_Rochecotte, December 2, 1836._--The Archbishop's letter concerning
the convocation of the clergy is a bad one, because of its
fault-finding, which is an unsuitable characteristic in an
ecclesiastic whose finest quality is evangelical simplicity; but we
must also admit that he must have been shocked by the attempt to
influence the clergy directly, and that the prohibition of prayers
instituted by the Church is somewhat too revolutionary, and I wish we
could reform revolutionary ways more definitely. We cling to them out
of fear, and this timidity, which is too obvious, brings us into
isolation abroad and encourages enemies at home.

The Duc d'Angoulême will certainly style himself Louis XIX. and his
wife the Queen; she wished it to be so. However, immediately after the
death of Charles X. they sent all the insignia of royalty into the
room of the Duc de Bordeaux, declaring that even if events were
favourable they never wished to reign in France. In any case the
notifications were issued under the incognito title of Comte de
Marnes. The young Prince is called Monseigneur at Goritz. He and his
sister are staying with his uncle and aunt.

M. de Polignac wrote to M. Molé after the death of Charles X., saying
positively that he would be grateful to the King of the French for
permission to leave Ham, and thus obtained his permit. M. Peyronnet
wrote in charcoal on his prison wall, "I ask mercy only from God,"
which I think he had hardly the right to say, since he left his prison
in very lively spirits. He would not see M. de Polignac again, even at
the last moment.


_Rochecotte, December 15, 1836._--I shall certainly leave here
to-morrow evening, and shall be at Paris in the afternoon of the day
following.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [The two correspondents whose letters furnish material for these
  memoirs spent a few months together at Paris, so that the memoirs
  were interrupted, and recommenced in 1837.]



CHAPTER II

1837


_Paris, April 17, 1837._--The new Ministry, which entered upon office
the day before yesterday, and is destined to immortalise the date of
April 15, as different Governments are designated by such dates, will
have a stern conflict to wage, and I hope, for the sake of its leader,
M. Molé, that it will emerge with honour from the struggle. The
_Journal de Paris_ offers a frank Doctrinaire opposition; the _Journal
des Débats_ pronounces a funeral oration over the last Ministry and
offers peace and support to the new one. All this promises neither
reality, sincerity, fidelity, nor stability, and I hardly know to whom
or to what it is reasonable to trust in the sphere of political
relations. M. Royer-Collard came to see me this morning before going
to the Chamber of Deputies; he did not seem to think that the new
Ministry would survive one session.[57]

  [57] The Ministry was composed as follows: M. Molé, President of
  the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Barthe, Minister
  of Justice; M. de Montalivet, Minister of the Interior; M.
  Lacave-Laplagne, Financial Minister; M. de Salvandy, Minister of
  Public Instruction. General Bernard, Admiral de Rosamel, and M.
  Martin du Nord retained their portfolios; M. de Rémusat,
  Under-Secretary of State, followed his Minister into retirement.

M. Thiers came to dine with us, among other guests, and talked
largely, as usual. He came from the Chamber, where they had in vain
awaited the official proclamation of the new Ministry which had been
announced. The King was to take the Electress,[58] who is at Paris at
this moment incognito as the Comtesse d'Arco, to visit Versailles,
but as the council lasted from ten in the morning till five in the
afternoon the King was unable to go out or the Ministers to appear
before the Chamber. The incident produced a bad effect upon the
Electress, who is said to be irritable and scornful.

  [58] Marianne Leopoldine, Archduchess of Austria-Este, born in
  1771, married the Elector Charles Theodore of Bavaria. After her
  husband's death she married the Grand Master of his Court, the
  Comte Louis Arco. This princess died in 1848.


_Paris, April 19, 1837._--Madame de Castellane, who came to see me
this morning, was very painfully affected by last night's session in
the Chamber, and told me that the extreme length of yesterday's
council was due to a keen discussion concerning the complete repeal of
the law of appanage and the advisability of leaving blank the appanage
of the Duc d'Orléans in the law which was to be presented to the
Chamber on the occasion of his marriage with Princess Helena of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin; the Duc d'Orléans, who was present at the
council, was anxious that a blank space should be left, and eventually
gained his point.

Hardly had Madame de Castellane left my house than Madame de Lieven
came in; she came to ask me to dinner to-day. She told me a saying
which is current concerning the new Ministry, and is borrowed from a
new invention; they call it the deodorised Ministry.

Towards the end of the morning I had a visit from M. de Tocqueville,
who came to me from the Chamber, where he had witnessed the solemn
entry of the Ministry. He said that the entry took place amid the most
absolute silence; there was not a word or a gesture, as if the benches
had been empty, and as if one had been in the middle of the ice upon
Lake Ladoga, to quote a later remark by Madame de Lieven. The same
silence prevailed during M. Molé's speech, and when the Ministry
retired in a body to make their way to the Chamber of Peers there was
a murmur of dissatisfaction which drove back MM. de Salvandy and de
Rosamel, who had come to resume their places upon the Ministerial
bench. In the ensuing debate Marshal Clauzel seems to have cut a poor
figure, but M. Jaubert was most incisive, and at his remarks upon the
provisional state of affairs malicious laughter against the Cabinet
burst out on all sides. On the whole the impression was most
discouraging for the new Ministry.

After our dinner the Duc de Noailles came in his turn to give an
account of the Ministerial entry into the Chamber of Peers. M. Molé
said a few short and confused words; M. de Brézé said that he thought
the speech too vague, and asked for some explanation of the reason for
the dissolution of the last Cabinet. M. Molé attempted to reply
without committing himself, with the result, doubtless by mistake,
that he used the word "categorical" to characterise the brevity of his
words. Thereupon M. Villemain said maliciously that the speech of the
President of the Council was anything rather than categorical, and
that he would like to know what was going to happen concerning the law
of non-revelation. M. de Montalivet then got up, and is said to have
made an excellent speech. He would have left the Chamber with a
thoroughly good impression, had not M. Siméon, the promoter of the law
of non-revelation, announced that his speech was ready. This will be a
great embarrassment for the Ministry, as they would have preferred to
allow this proposed law to be forgotten.


_Paris, April 22, 1837._--Yesterday I had a visit from the Duc
d'Orléans, who had just learnt the vote of the Chamber concerning his
marriage dotation, and was satisfied both with the form and matter of
it. He seems to me inclined to spend half of the million allotted to
household expenses in charity to the workmen of Lyons, in bank-books
bought for unfortunate people in the savings-banks of the country, in
clothes for a large number of children in orphanages, and, in short,
in good works. He is very pleased with his marriage, and in an
excellent temper. The Princess Helena wishes to be escorted from
Weimar by an envoy of France, and a suitable person is being sought
for this mission. I should be glad to see the Baron de Montmorency
obtain the honour. The Princess will see the King of Prussia at
Potsdam. Her portrait has not yet arrived. There are still hopes that
the marriage will take place before June 15. As the Princess is not to
be married by procuration, and is not yet, consequently, the Duchesse
d'Orléans, her household will not go to meet her at the frontier.
There she will be met only by some member of the King's household, and
perhaps by one of the Queen's ladies; in any case, she is coming
accompanied by her step-mother, the Dowager Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg.

Meunier will probably be pardoned on the occasion of the marriage.[59]
The trial of Meunier presents no interest as regards the character of
the individuals concerned, nor is their language in any way dramatic.
The affair is much inferior to that of Fieschi, or even of Alibaud,
and the only effect produced has been one of disgust, which is the
best effect upon the public that could be produced.

  [59] On December 27, 1836, at the opening of the Parliamentary
  session, another attempt was made upon the life of King
  Louis-Philippe as he was driving to the Palais Bourbon with three
  of his sons. The criminal was Meunier, a young man aged
  twenty-two, who was condemned to death by the Chamber of Peers;
  but the King eventually secured a commutation of his penalty to
  perpetual banishment on the occasion of the marriage of the Duc
  d'Orléans.

The ridiculous compliment of M. Dupin to the Prince Royal is well
commented upon this morning in the _Journal de Paris_. The King would
not allow his son to receive the congratulations of the Chambers
except in his own presence, which induced M. Sémonville to say that he
would have thought he was abdicating if any other course had been
followed.

I dined at the house of M. and Madame Mollien with M. and Madame
Bertin de Veaux, M. Guizot, and M. de Vandœuvre. There was much talk
of the halting speech of M. Barthe, at the end of which he suddenly
came to a standstill, of the extremely poor appearance of the
Ministry, and of the almost inevitable possibility of a duel between
MM. Thiers and Guizot in the course of a session which will bring up
so many burning questions. The two champions will deliver their blows
upon the backs of the Ministry, which will probably succumb under
their assault. This remark is fairly general, and is not my property.
Yesterday nothing more than skirmishing went on.


_Paris, April 26, 1837._--I hear of discussions in England upon the
Spanish question. M. Thiers gave assurances the other day that the
English Ministry was ready to leave Spain to its destiny. He deduced,
with some fear for the reigning French dynasty, the conclusion that
Don Carlos would be triumphant. It is true that this question is
concerned with that of intervention, upon which he used to lay so much
stress.

The Duchesse d'Albuféra has been greatly agitated by the duel of her
son-in-law, M. de La Redorte, who fought the editor of the _Corsaire_
on account of an insulting article which appeared two days ago in this
wretched newspaper, apparently attacking both the person and the
opinions of M. de La Redorte. The duel was fought with pistols, and
the editor was wounded in the hand; it is thought that he will lose a
finger. Social distinctions are destroyed by the excesses of the
Press.


_Paris, April 27, 1837._--This morning I saw Madame Adélaïde, who told
me that the King had just signed the commutation of Meunier's penalty.
She also told me that the Princess of Mecklenburg and her step-mother
would reach the French frontier on May 25; on May 28, St. Ferdinand's
Day, there would be a birthday celebration for the Duc d'Orléans at
Fontainebleau, and the marriage would take place on the 31st.

Our guests at dinner were the Princesse de Lieven, the Duc de
Noailles, Labouchère, M. Thiers, and Matusiewicz, who has returned
much aged from Naples, of which he gives a bad account, both for its
climate and its social resources. Thus the guests were somewhat
heterogeneous, which was due to M. de Talleyrand's absence of mind,
but all went off very well and the conversation was lively, especially
between M. Thiers and Madame de Lieven. She was positively coquettish
towards him--I use the word advisedly, because no other would express
the fact. M. Thiers gave an account of the Chamber, continually
repeating in a special tone of voice which evoked involuntary
laughter, "Poor Ministry!" At the same time he patronises the
Ministry, though he would never consent, I think, to be patronised at
that price. It would suit him to keep the Ministry alive until the
next session, but his success is doubtful, for, as he says himself, an
invalid can be kept alive, but not a dead man. In yesterday's session
the Ministry equivocated, as usual, and eventually decided against
Marshal Soult, which caused much ill-temper on the Left because the
Doctrinaires shouted on every side, "Settle it!" "Settle it!" They
said that the scene was quite scandalous. After Madame de Lieven took
her leave the gentlemen stayed on for some time, and talked of the
changes which the schism had introduced into society, even into the
neutral body of it. They discussed the influence of the _salons_ and
of the women who controlled them. M. Thiers classed them as follows:
The _salon_ of Madame de Lieven is the observatory of Europe; that of
Madame de Ségur is purely Doctrinaire, with no concessions; that of
Madame de La Redorte is entirely in the power of M. Thiers; with
Madame de Flahaut the convenience of the Duc d'Orléans is the general
desire, and with M. de Talleyrand the convenience of the King; the
house of Madame de Broglie is for the 11th of October and for the
concession, though the most bitter of concessions; the cabinet of
Madame de Dino is alone guided by the most perfect independence of
mind and judgment. My share is thus by no means the worst, though, to
tell the truth, it was pronounced in my presence.

The German newspapers announce the death of M. Ancillon, who had been
ill for a long time, when the doctor ordered him a draught and a
liniment; he explained the matter to Madame Ancillon, who was starting
for a concert. When she came back she perceived that a mistake had
been made, and a few hours afterwards the invalid was dead. The poor
man was unfortunate in marriage. He began by marrying a wife who might
have been his mother, then one who might have been his daughter, and
finally this Belgian beauty, who was, I think, the worst of the three.


_Paris, April 29, 1837._--This morning I saw M. Royer-Collard, who
spoke of the session in the Chamber of Deputies on the previous
evening, when a million had been voted for the Queen of the Belgians.
The result, for which he also voted, was doubtless good, but the
debate seems to have been very ominous for the Government, and M. de
Cormenin by no means received a thrashing, but held the upper hand.
The same impression was given to me by two others who were present at
the session.


_Paris, April 30, 1837._--M. Thiers came to see me this morning before
the session of the Chamber. He confirmed the general report of the
session which discussed the grant to the Queen of the Belgians; but
the object of his visit was to complain of the Princesse de Lieven. He
has suddenly seen what I had foreseen long ago, that she did not take
him seriously, but brought him out and put him forward as an actor. He
has too much common sense not to see the ridiculous side of this and
not to feel it. He asked if I had noticed it and if others had seen
it. I told him that no one had mentioned it to me, but that I thought
a little more reserve in his language in a _salon_ which he himself
called the observatory of Europe would not be out of place. I advised
him, however, to remain on good terms with the Princess, who is really
fond of him, and whose wit and easy conversation please him also. I
think he found an opportunity the other day of letting drop a few
words to her that frightened her considerably. There is no harm in
that, as she is a person with whom one must remain upon good terms and
yet keep in check.


_Paris, May 1, 1837._--The Duc de Broglie is going to meet the
Princess of Mecklenburg at Fulda, on this side of Weimar, not to marry
her, but to offer his compliments and his escort. The wife of Marshal
Lobau will be the Princess's lady-of-honour.

Yesterday I had a letter from the Archbishop of Paris, who sends me a
copy of the answer from Rome, which he had just received, concerning
his last difficulties with reference to the archiepiscopal estate.
Rome entirely approves his conduct, and leaves him free to conduct any
transaction which may satisfy his general interests. This last phrase
is distinctly vague. I shall probably go to-morrow afternoon to thank
the Archbishop and to learn some further details. He adds in his
letter that he is certain that the Government have received an answer
similar to that which he communicates to me.


_Paris, May 2, 1837._--I am assured that the Prussian Minister here,
Baron von Werther, will take the place of M. Ancillon at Berlin. He is
offering some objection to the proposal, but it is thought that he
will accept.

The Marquis de Mornay has been nicknamed the Sosthenes of the July
revolution--amusing, but very true.

I have seen M. Royer-Collard, who thought that the law concerning
secret funds would pass, but would be a mortal blow to the Cabinet.

Yesterday evening I went to the Court reception held on the 1st of
May.[60] There was an enormous crowd, including every type of beauty
and ugliness, of well and badly dressed people. The Duc d'Orléans did
not appear, as he is suffering from a severe sore throat and
inflammation of the eyes. He is wise to take care of himself, as he
has only three weeks for that purpose.

  [60] The birthday of Louis-Philippe.

I was told at the Château that in a morning session of the Chamber M.
Jaubert had positively flayed the Ministry, and that to-day's session
might easily end in their overthrow. I hardly think so, as no one is
anxious to seize their inheritance.

Rumours are also current of an important victory said to be won by Don
Carlos.

Apparently I did not mention what Matusiewicz told me about the new
Queen of Naples, concerning whom I asked him many questions. She is
the Archduchess Theresa of whom so much was heard last year. He says
that she is agreeable, witty, kind, and nice, with no haughtiness or
fine manners, and nothing of the princess about her. The King is said
to be deeply in love with her.


_Paris, May 4, 1837._--Yesterday I went to the Sacred Heart to see the
Archbishop. I found him delighted with the answer from Rome, and not
anxious to make any public parade of it. Whatever formalities the
other side might raise, he was anxious to use the liberty given him
from Rome to handle the whole question in a pacific spirit; in short,
he was calmer and gentler than I had seen him for a long time.


_Paris, May 5, 1837._--M. Molé, who dined here yesterday, said that
his colleague, M. Martin du Nord, would make a kind of apology to-day
to the Chamber for his outburst of the day before yesterday. M. Thiers
has harangued his forces and calmed their feelings.

The ratification of the marriage contract of the Duc d'Orléans has
come to hand from Mecklenburg; the illness of Herr von Plessen, the
Mecklenburg Minister, had prevented him from travelling to the spot
where the ratifications are to be exchanged, and some delay was
feared, which would have been the more prolonged as the Minister has
since died. M. Bresson therefore sent a bearer to him with the Act; he
was almost at his last gasp when he signed it, and died three hours
afterwards.

Herr von Lutteroth says that the portrait of the Prince Royal which he
was commissioned to take to the Princess Helena produced an excellent
impression. Two attacks of influenza made it impossible to finish the
portrait of the Princess; in her place I would not send anything. Herr
von Lutteroth is full of the delightful qualities of the Princess,
although he admits that her nose is by no means distinguished and her
teeth rather bad. Otherwise she is admirable, especially her figure,
which is charming. When he dined with her her gloves were too large
and she wore black shoes which obviously were not made at Paris. The
vexatious point is that the Duc d'Orléans has an obstinate cold on his
chest; he coughs a great deal and his voice is very weak, but he is
taking care of himself, and wisely.

Mecklenburg princesses have no dowry, but when they marry the States
vote them two or three hundred thousand francs as a voluntary gift.
The Duc d'Orléans has refused this vote, to the great delight, it is
said, of the people of Mecklenburg. The Duc de Broglie will be
accompanied upon his mission by the Comte Foy, son of the famous
General, the Comte d'Haussonville, MM. Léon de Laborde, Philippe de
Chabot, and Doudain, the last-named with the title of First Secretary
to the embassy.[61]

  [61] This embassy of honour was sent to meet the royal bride; the
  meeting took place at Fulda on May 22, 1837.


_Paris, May 6, 1837._--After a visit from M. Royer-Collard, and as
though by way of contrast, I went yesterday morning and waited for a
long time at Madame Bautrand's, the famous costumier. I wanted to
choose a few things for the entertainments at Fontainebleau, and spent
an interesting time over it. In the first place there were the most
delightful articles, then there was a crowd of people waiting for some
mark of favour, and messages were coming from the Château hastily
summoning the great personage. One really might have thought one's
self in the rooms of a party leader.

Yesterday evening I had a note from Madame de Castellane written after
the session of the Chamber, giving the following account of it: M.
Martin du Nord offered a reasonable explanation; M. Augustin Giraud
vigorously attacked M. Molé, who returned an admirable reply; M. Vatry
challenged the great champions to enter the arena by proposing an
amendment; M. de Lamartine, in a wearisome speech entirely off the
point, aroused M. Odilon Barrot, who then delivered one of his finest
speeches; M. Guizot in his turn made an excellent reply.

I was awakened just now to receive a note from M. Molé, telling me
that M. Thiers, shaken and almost converted by yesterday's session, is
anxious to overthrow the Ministry and so force M. Guizot to come
forward with his friends, with the object of overthrowing him in turn;
he adds that M. Dupin reminded M. Thiers of his obligations, telling
him that such action would be dishonourable. M. Thiers seemed to waver
once more, and announced that he would summon his friends again. M.
Molé sends me this news, asking me to discuss it with M. Thiers from
Dupin's point of view. He has applied to the wrong person, for the
burnt child fears the fire, and I have too keen a recollection of last
year's scene to put my hand into a wasp's nest of that kind. I prefer
not to meddle with what does not concern me, but in any case to-day's
work will decide the case of the Ministry.


_Paris, May 7, 1837._--I did not go out yesterday morning, and left my
door open, so certain visitors came in: M. Jules d'Entraigues, the Duc
de Noailles, and the little Princess Schönberg. All were full of the
session of the previous evening and of M. Guizot's magnificent speech.
He really performed admirably, and aroused the deepest parliamentary
emotion in the Chamber.

About five o'clock M. de Tocqueville arrived. He came from the session
and had just heard Thiers, who had replied to Guizot. It seems that no
one ever showed greater power; it is he who saved the Ministry and
secured the passing of the law.[62] He added that Thiers spoke quietly
and coldly, seeming to avoid any oratorical effects, and not
attempting to outdo his rival in dramatic display, but anxious only to
deliver a blow, and he is said to have succeeded.

  [62] The reference is to a law concerning the estimates for the
  secret police fund.

At dinner our guests were the Duchesse d'Albuféra, M. and Madame de La
Redorte, MM. Thiers and Mignet. M. Thiers was well pleased with his
day's work, and gave a warm tribute to Guizot, roundly asserting that
he would never have been so foolish as to try and eclipse him, seeing
that that was impossible; he had attempted only to make his position
impossible, and that he had done. He then gave us his speech, which
seemed to me to be strikingly clear, sensible, and practical. He told
me that M. Royer-Collard had almost fallen upon his neck, saying, "You
have killed them!"

In the evening I went to Madame Molé's, to a dinner given in return
for that which I recently gave when the Electress was present. The
only subject of conversation was the session in the Chamber. The
Ministry were as pleased as if they had been successful, though there
is no possibility that they will triumph. As I came back I called upon
Madame de Lieven. She had heard Guizot on the previous evening, but
not Thiers in the morning. Thus she had remained entirely under
Guizot's influence, which was the more appropriate as he came in
himself delighted with the concert of praise by which he has been
received; but in reality he felt the blow had been struck. I, who know
him well, thought his feelings quite obvious.

As I write I am quite deafened by the noise of the drum which is
continually beaten for the great review of the National Guard which
the King is to hold to-day. Heaven grant that all goes off well. I am
most anxious.

I know that Herr von Werther and Apponyi are but moderately satisfied
with the political doctrines expressed by M. Guizot in his speech of
the day before yesterday; they were expecting a less limited and less
middle-class system. There they were wrong, for M. Guizot's social
ideas are alone appropriate to the age and to the country as it is now
constituted.


_Paris, May 8, 1837._--I should be delighted if the last piece of news
I have heard were true, that the Grand Duchess Stephanie is to marry
her daughter to the Duke of Leuchtenberg; there would then be no
possibility of her marrying one of our princes, and I should be
equally pleased because I am not anxious to see among them a nephew of
the Prefect of Blois.[63]

  [63] The Comte de Lezay-Marnesia.

The day before yesterday, in the evening, I met the Marquis of
Conyngham at the house of Madame de Lieven. He related that the
Duchess of Kent, who is always doing tactless things, recently invited
Lord Grey to dinner together with Lady Jersey. Their respective rank
required that Lord Grey should take Lady Jersey into dinner; Sir John
Conroy requested Lord Grey to do so, but he absolutely refused, and
Lady Jersey was taken in by some one of lower rank. Both were keenly
irritated in consequence.

It seems certain that the Duchesse de Saint-Leu is dying. The
physician Lisfranc, who has returned from Arenenberg, says so. The
poor woman has mismanaged her life and her position, and she is
expiating her fault most cruelly. It is dreadful to survive her eldest
son and to die far away from her second son, entirely cut off from her
family; this misfortune disarms the severe criticism which one might
be tempted to utter concerning her.

Yesterday was held the great review, and all my rooms were filled from
eleven o'clock in the morning. From our windows we had a perfect view
of the march past, which followed the Rue de Rivoli, and then passed
in front of the Obelisk, where were the King, the Queen, the Princes,
and a very numerous following. Sixty thousand National Guards and
twenty thousand line troops marched past. Previously the King had gone
round the ranks within the Cour du Carrousel and on the Esplanade des
Invalides. The National Guard shouted "Vive le Roi!" most vigorously,
and the line troops still more so. The wind was cold and sharp, but
the sun was bright. The King returned to the Château across the garden
of the Tuileries. Thus the King's state of siege has come to an end,
and a good thing too. We must hope upon the one hand that it will not
often be thought necessary to renew this form of proceeding, and that
on the other hand some relaxation may be possible of those excessive
precautions which spoilt the effect of the show, and which were
carried to such an extent yesterday that I have never seen anything
sadder or more painful; the embankments, the Rue de Rivoli, the
square, and the Tuileries were forbidden to every one except men in
uniform, and men, women, children, little dogs, and every living being
were driven away; it was a complete desert, and every one was
blockaded in his house. My son Valençay, to get from his house in the
Rue de Université to mine, was obliged to go by the Pont d'Auteuil!
This state of things was maintained until the King returned to his
rooms. All the police were on duty, and the posts of the National
Guard were doubled upon every side by a row of police and municipal
guards surrounding the royal group. The town looked as though deserted
or plague-stricken, with a conquering army marching through without
finding a stopping-place or inhabitants.

After our dinner I went to inquire for the Queen and to say farewell
to Madame Adélaïde, who is starting for Brussels this morning. There
had been a great military dinner of two hundred and sixty people in
the Hall of the Marshals; all were in full dress, pleased and
animated.

I concluded the evening with Madame de Castellane, where I found M.
Molé, who was very pleased with the result of the review.

In my wanderings I discovered that the last speech of M. Thiers was
gaining an increasing hold on men's minds. It is thought that, without
abandoning his general theories, he was pointing to a practical
solution which would satisfy all positive spirits; people are much
obliged by the fact that in this speech he had twice separated from
the Left without hurting their feelings; in short, his clever words
have dissipated some of the fears which he inspired and removed some
of the obstacles which stood between himself and the power. This
impression I have received from many different sides, and except the
Doctrinaires and the extremists on the Left every one is feeling it.


_Paris, May 9, 1837._--Yesterday I had a long visit from M.
Royer-Collard, whose admiration for the speech of M. Thiers is at its
height. He praises the occasion, the propriety of it, and above all
the truth, not only its personal truth--that is to say, its individual
sincerity--but its truth with reference to the actual state of
opinion, which the speaker alone has correctly appreciated. He said it
was one of those speeches over which one could never think too long,
which grips the reader more and more, and the effect of which will
steadily increase. He admits that the session when MM. Odilon Barrot
and Guizot spoke was more interesting to watch, and that the two
actors played their parts very well, but that they were merely acting;
that they showed themselves good orators, but not statesmen; that both
relied upon extremist opinions which were worn out; that M. Guizot in
particular was no longer a man of his age, but an _émigré_; and that
this point had been admirably brought out by Thiers. M. Royer-Collard
thinks the speech of Guizot imprudent and irritating, in which respect
he says that Guizot followed his arrogant disposition. In short, he
says many things; he says them in my sitting-room, but repeats them
in the Chamber, at the Academy, to each and all, and makes it his
business to do so. This is very useful to M. Thiers, in whose speech
there is something too fine and subtle to be understood without a
commentary.

I did not go out after M. Royer's call, but stayed at home to read the
life of Raphael by M. Quatremère; the book is lacking in warmth and
vivacity, but it is well written. It is most restful at the present
time to return to the exquisite art of an age when men of genius were
complete, because they possessed every shade of genius, if one may use
the phrase. Books of this kind give me an inexpressible longing for
Italy.

In the evening I looked in at the Austrian Embassy, where Madame de
Lieven told me a large amount of gossip from London. One of her
stories was as follows: At the last Levée the King thanked the Turkish
Ambassador aloud and through an interpreter for postponing a dinner
which he was giving, on account of the death of Lady Delisle, his
natural daughter, and thus showing him a respect which his own family
had refused; this remark was aimed at the Duchess of Kent. At the last
Drawing-room the Queen could not be present, as she was ill, and it
was held by Princess Augusta; the Duchess of Kent arrived with her
daughter; the King heartily embraced the latter without noticing her
mother, and seeing Sir John Conroy in the throne-room he ordered the
Chamberlain to send him out. Finally, when the Prince of Linange came
to his mother's house, the Duchess of Kent, with his wife, who is not
his equal in birth, the King sent Lord Conyngham to the Duchess to say
that he would receive his daughter-in-law, but could not permit her to
enter his private apartments; the Duchess declined to receive Lord
Conyngham, and sent a message to say that if he came to pay a private
call she would see him with pleasure, but that she would not receive
him as the King's messenger, and that he need only write down what he
had to say. Lord Conyngham then sent her a letter, to which she
replied by an epistle of twelve pages, enumerating all her supposed
grievances against the King, and concluding with the statement that if
her daughter-in-law were not received as a princess she would never
set foot in the King's house again. She had several copies made of the
letter, and sent them to all the members of the Cabinet. Lord
Conyngham, who told all this to Madame de Lieven, in spite of his Whig
principles, went on to say that the position of the English Ministry
was unpleasant, as their relations with the King were disturbed and
they were unpopular in the country, and that the difficulties
concerning the Bank and the progress of affairs in Spain were very
unpleasant incidents for the Cabinet.

It is settled that the Duc de Coigny is to be knight-of-honour to the
Duchesse d'Orléans. He is naturally impolite, his habits are
uncivilised, and he has only one hand, so that he will not be able to
offer his hand to the Princess. An equally certain appointment is that
of the Comtesse Anatole de Montesquiou as first lady to accompany the
Princess, and to take the place of the lady-of-honour, whose delicate
health will often prevent her from performing her duties.[64] This is
an excellent choice. Madame de Montesquiou is forty-six years of age,
her reputation is unblemished, she has been pretty and is still
pleasant to look upon, her manners are quiet and simple and are the
exact expression of her life and character. No better choice and no
person better suited for the position could be found.

  [64] The Comtesse de Lobau.

The newspapers say that a subscription is being raised in the Chamber
of Deputies to print fifty thousand copies of M. Guizot's speech. M.
Martin du Nord, one of the members of the present Cabinet, has given a
subscription, and thus confirmed the generally accepted opinion that
he is secretly a Doctrinaire and a traitor to the Cabinet. Thereupon
M. Molé went to the King to ask for the removal of M. Martin du Nord
or to offer his own resignation. I have not yet heard the conclusion
of this fresh complication.


_Paris, May 10, 1837._--At the time of writing yesterday I had not
read the _Moniteur_, which announced the amnesty.[65] I knew that M.
Molé had long been anxious to see this measure passed, but I think
that the speech of M. Thiers encouraged him in his design and
accelerated the execution of it. I have heard people talking of
nothing else all day. Men's minds are entirely occupied with it, and
their attention is thus diverted from the peerage given to M. Bresson,
which again is to be explained by this marriage. What a fortunate man
he is! Undoubtedly he is capable, but circumstances have helped him
with a speed and consistency rarely found in human destiny. To return
to the great event of the amnesty, I will say that high society
strongly approves of it, the more so as it has arrived unexpectedly
and not been extorted by party importunity; so it is an act of mercy,
and not of weakness. The sharp-sighted regard it as another act of
hostility to the Doctrinaires rather than an act of kindness to the
political prisoners--as much as to say that the measure could not be
passed while the Doctrinaires were in office, but now that we have
separated from them we hasten to grant it. This will isolate them yet
more in the country. I repeat there are people who regard this measure
as a consequence of M. Thiers' speech, and even as directly due to his
influence. The Doctrinaires are most infuriated, and those peers who
are friendly to them announce that all the contumacious persons will
come up for judgment, and that the peers will then go off to their
country seats instead of taking their places. The following story had
a wide circulation yesterday: M. Jaubert, in speaking of the amnesty
to M. Dupin, said to him: "It is a little hard that after leaving to
us all the odium of the severe measures which we have courageously
defended during the crisis and danger we should now be deprived of the
credit of showing mercy." M. Dupin replied: "It is very sad, but you
have one consolation, namely, that Persil will order the medal to be
struck." (M. Persil is a Doctrinaire and Comptroller of the Mint.) The
saying is a smart one. Those who approve the amnesty also urge, and
with some reason, that it will obliterate the ill-effect produced by
the excessive precautions on the day of the review.

  [65] On the occasion of the marriage of the Duc d'Orléans an
  amnesty was granted by ordinance dated May 8 to all who were in
  prison for crimes or political delinquencies.

Yesterday I was at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where Sigalon, who has
just arrived from Rome, had placed the magnificent copy of the _Last
Judgment_ of Michael Angelo, that masterpiece which is fading, like
all the frescoes in the Vatican. The copy is the same size as the
original, and forms the background of a hall, to which has been given
the form and dimensions of the Sistine Chapel. It is the most
beautiful and surprising thing that can be imagined. I was quite
overwhelmed. Variety, richness, and boldness of composition are so
combined that one rests stupefied before the power of such genius. In
the same room have been placed casts of different statues by Michael
Angelo which also have arrived from Italy, and complete one's
admiration for this great man. The statue of Lorenzo de' Medici and
the statue of Day and Night are admirable. We then saw the charming
gateway to the castle of Anet and the beautiful door of the castle of
Gaillon, both masterpieces of the Renaissance; then came the interior
courtyard, adorned with fountains and fragments of ancient work, which
was very fine. The building in itself is in excellent style; it
contains fine models of all classes and ages of art, which will be
added to. They form a collection as curious as it is interesting, and
add a new attraction to Paris.

Thence we went on to the new Church of Our Lady of Loretto. It seemed
to me extremely heavy and full of motley ornaments, and had it not
been for some fine pictures I should have found little agreeable to
look at. It is said to be in the style of the Italian churches, which
I do not know; but to judge from this specimen I would rather say my
prayers under the lofty, bold, and austere vaults, the hewn stone and
Gothic arches of Notre-Dame and of Saint-Etienne du Mont, than amid
the glaring colours of this Southern imitation. We finished our
wanderings by a visit to the Church of the Madeleine. The interior at
present is in exact correspondence with the outside, and it seems that
Calchas is about to sacrifice Iphigenia upon it, to such an extent
have mythological subjects apparently pervaded this fine building.
They are already beginning to gild the arches and the capitals of the
columns, pretending that the white stone, though it is much enriched
by different kinds of marbling, is too cold to the eye. Thus they are
preparing a disagreeable contrast between the outside and the inside.
I cannot understand the vagaries of Christian worship.

In the evening at Madame de Lieven's house I saw Berryer, who does not
yield to M. Royer in his admiration for M. Thiers' speech. I heard
that M. Martin du Nord had given way upon the question of his
subscription for printing Guizot's speech, as upon other points. For
one who calls himself a member of the Opposition, he does not seem to
oppose very strenuously.


_Paris, May 11, 1837._--Yesterday I had a call from the excellent Abbé
Dupanloup. We were mutually anxious to meet, in the interests of
Pauline, before the general departure for the country. As usual, I was
touched and pleased by his kind and spiritual conversation. We talked
of our hope that the amnesty will inspire the Government with courage
to reopen the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, the closing of
which is the greatest scandal of the July revolution; seeing that acts
of mercy extend from Ham to the Republic and to la Vendée, continued
vindictiveness towards the church and to leave the Cross broken would
seem to me most inconsistent. The church should be reopened without
considering any difficulties that the Archbishop may raise. He should
thus be forced to appoint a reliable priest, and then to go and
express his thanks to the Tuileries, but he should set to work at once
while the effect of the amnesty remains all-powerful; at such a moment
there is no fear of any movement in the district, and this action
would only be the strongest answer to the Doctrinaires, whose tactics
are to represent the amnesty as the price of the compact made with the
Left. To reopen the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois would restore
the balance. I think it would be a politic move as well as a religious
restoration; if we delay too long the religious newspapers and people
will begin to cry out, with reason, against the injustice of it, and
any later action will seem like a concession to their complaints; then
the Opposition will pounce upon it and foment irritation with the
measure. Everything, therefore, should be quite spontaneous, the
religious restoration no less than the royal mercy. I think they will
take the matter in hand; it should have been done already, in my
opinion.


_Paris, May 14, 1837._--The _Moniteur_ of yesterday, heaven be praised,
contains an ordinance by which the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois
is to be restored for worship. I am delighted. The Baron de Montmorency,
who came to see me in the morning, had dined yesterday at the Château,
where the Queen wept with joy at the news.

In the evening I went to pay a farewell visit at the Hôtel de Broglie,
where the amnesty was very unfavourably received, as Madame de Broglie
is very anxious to fortify Princess Helena in her Protestantism.

I then went on to the Duchesse de Montmorency, where I heard very bad
news of the Prince de Laval. He had caught a slight cold and had taken
no care of himself, but had gone to the races at Chantilly in very
bitter weather. His malady grew worse, and now causes great anxiety. I
should be grieved indeed if any misfortune happened to him, for in
spite of his absurdities and foolishness he has a good heart and is a
good friend.

I finished the evening with Madame de Castellane. M. Molé came in and
told us that the Archbishop, accompanied by two of his Vicars-General,
had called upon him that evening and upon the Keeper of the Seals
after a visit to the King. It seems that his appearance in the
Ministerial _salons_ made a great sensation. Before his visit the
Archbishop had quietly had the church blessed. Mass was said there
this morning. A week will be spent in necessary repairs, and next
Sunday the new vicar will be installed. As M. Dupanloup has refused
this post, the choice has fallen upon M. Demerson, the priest of
Saint-Séverin, undoubtedly the most distinguished ecclesiastic in the
diocese. He is the confessor of Madame Andral, and the friend of her
father. M. Royer-Collard has often spoken to me of him and thinks a
great deal of him.


_Paris, May 15, 1837._--Yesterday evening I was at the Tuileries. I
found the King delighted with a visit that he had paid in the morning
to the Botanical Gardens to see the new hothouses they have been
setting up. He was well applauded as he went by; in short, he seems to
have grown young again. Everybody about him is well pleased. He went
there without an escort, and spent two hours walking with the Minister
of the Interior and of Education, with the Prefect of Police and one
_aide-de-camp_. The crowd kept on increasing, and these gentlemen, who
saw all the horrible faces from the Rue Mouffetard and that quarter
thronging round the King, were dying with fear, but the King was
delighted, and it was impossible to induce him to go indoors. He was
most heartily cheered by all the crowd. I think, however, that it
would not be advisable for him often to make such trials of his
popularity.


_Paris, May 16, 1837._--The Prince de Laval is not getting on well. He
has been bled a second time, and the doctors say that his condition is
serious.

It is possible that M. Dupanloup is ambitious; I do not know him well
enough to be positive. He is gentle, discreet, moderate, with a
knowledge of the world, a fine command of language and conversational
tact, and, in short, possesses every quality which the spiritual
director of a society personage should have. All his penitents and all
their mothers think a great deal of him. But this does not exclude
ambition. I know that he lays great stress upon keeping apart from
politics, but when confronted with the Archbishop he committed the
venial sin of urging him to go to the Tuileries and of going with him
to the incumbent of Saint-Roch, whose curate and friend he is. But the
robe of ambition is like the chameleon's skin, the colours of which
change according to the observer's position. I can therefore answer
for nothing except that he has refused two important livings at Paris.
I know that the Archbishop secretly destines him for the Madeleine
when that living becomes vacant, and, in fact, it is a society parish
which will suit him best.


_Paris, May 18, 1837._--Yesterday morning I was with Madame Adélaïde,
where I saw the King. Every one at the Château is busy with
preparations for the marriage and for the journey from Fontainebleau,
which is to be a splendid affair. I am delighted, and should be still
more so if I had not heard that not only the mothers but also the
daughters are expected. I have done my best to have my daughter
excused, to avoid the infinite vexations which I foresee, but M. de
Talleyrand came in to Madame in the middle of our discussion, and
instead of supporting my views he opposed me. It is very annoying.


_Paris, May 19, 1837._--The death of the poor young Count Putbus is a
very sad event for his family and for the unfortunate Countess Buol. I
am very sorry for her, and her husband seems to me to be wanting in
feeling and tact. In his position with reference to his wife, he may
separate from her with as much uproar as he pleases, but if he will
not do so from pecuniary considerations he should behave himself
quietly or at least humanely. In any case I assert that for her it is
better to lament her lover as dead than faithless, and that, unhappy
as she is, she would be still more so if Count Putbus had abandoned
her. A woman's danger when she finds her lover faithless is that she
may be roused to vengeance and may lose those illusions which shelter
her, not only against faults, but against hardness of heart and
frivolity, properly so called. Death leaves us all our illusions, and
even encourages them.


_Paris, May 21, 1837._--M. de Talleyrand, M. and Madame de Valençay,
Pauline, and myself are invited to stay at Fontainebleau throughout
the festivities--that is to say, we are to come on May 29 and to stay
till June 3, inclusive. This is a favour, as nearly everybody else has
been invited at successive intervals of twenty-four hours.

One of my German friends, a canoness, and a clever and intelligent
person,[66] writes to me as follows concerning the Princess Helena of
Mecklenburg: "The most amiable, the best educated, the kindest of the
German princesses is to adorn the throne of France. I am sure that she
will please you greatly. She is as cheerful as a child of fifteen,
with as much sense as a person of thirty. She combines the charm of
every age."

  [66] Fräulein Sidonie von Dieskau, of whom mention will be made
  later on the occasion of the Duchesse de Talleyrand's journey to
  Germany.

The Marquis de Praslin and the Duke of Treviso are the two
knights-of-honour in subordination to the uncivilised Duc de Coigny,
who will lead them.


_Paris, May 22, 1837._--The Duc d'Orléans will first go to Verdun, to
see without being seen, and then to Melun to be seen. Henry IV. in
disguise went to the frontier to see Marie de Medici at supper, and
Louis XIV. did the same at Fontarabia.

Among the persons invited to Fontainebleau there is one who certainly
could not have been forgotten, in my opinion, and this is the great
Mlle. Palmyre, the famous dressmaker. The fact is that she has been
working upon a pattern sent from Mecklenburg, but I am by no means
certain that this pattern is a good one or well made. Thus the eighty
dresses of the trousseau may fit badly, and it is just as well to have
some one there to make readjustments when necessary. Merchants,
workmen, omnibuses, and post-chaises are all in confusion; the
expenditure, the orders, and the activity are inconceivable. It is
impossible to get anything, and tradesmen certainly have not the right
to complain, for every one is on the move. A crowd of foreigners have
also arrived at Paris, most of them English.

The Werther family have resolved to leave immediately after the
marriage of the Prince Royal, without waiting for the festivities, for
Herr von Werther has agreed to take M. Ancillon's place. They are very
good people, who will be regretted at Paris, and who are also very
sorry to leave.


_Paris, May 25, 1837._--For the 29th and 30th, the days of arrival and
marriage, the Marshals have been invited to Fontainebleau, with the
officials of the two Chambers, the Ministries of October 11, February
22, September 6, and all the present Cabinet. I have always said that
Fontainebleau was a chronological castle. It was resolved not to go
further back than October 11, to avoid the necessity of inviting M.
Laffitte. All the chief presidents of the courts have also been
invited, and of the Diplomatic Body Herr and Frau von Werther,[67] M.
and Madame Lehon.[68] The rest are invited for the other days, two at
a time.

  [67] Baron Werther was Prussian Minister at Paris from 1824.

  [68] Comte Lehon was Belgian Minister.

I must mention an incident concerning Madame Molé, who vegetates
rather than lives. The other evening at the Duchesse de Montmorency's
people were saying how sorry the Werthers were. She asked why. "At
leaving Paris, of course." She replied: "But to go to Fontainebleau is
not very sad nor very tiring." "But, madame, Herr von Werther is going
to Berlin to take the place of M. Ancillon." "Oh, then M. Ancillon is
coming here?" I do not think that after such an experience any one
will accuse M. Molé of betraying diplomatic secrets to his wife.

The Queen of England has written a charming letter to the French Queen
concerning the marriage of the Prince Royal, and, in view of her close
relationship with Princess Helena, has sent her a magnificent Indian
shawl, one of the most beautiful that has ever come out of the wealthy
storehouses of the Company. It is said to be a marvel. I shall see it
at Fontainebleau, where the wedding presents will be displayed.


_Paris, May 26, 1837._--The King of England held the last Drawing-room
seated; since then he has felt worse, and people are anxious about
him. It is said that he wished to live long enough to thwart the
desires of the Duchess of Kent, by not leaving her to act as Regent
for a single day, and the Princess Victoria attained her majority two
days ago.

They say that anarchy is at its height at Madrid, and also that Don
Carlos is at his wits' end.

The Duc de Broglie and the gentlemen of his suite are writing
enthusiastic letters about the Princess Helena. All say that she has a
very pleasant appearance; all seem to be in love with her, and cannot
speak enough of her delightful manners, while she is said to be
excellently dressed. The trousseau, which has been ordered here, is
said to be very magnificent.


_Fontainebleau, May 30, 1837._--Writing here is a feat of some
ingenuity. The weather was too fine yesterday, and a great storm
followed; it burst in the morning, and cleared ten minutes before the
arrival of the Princess, who was received in bright sunlight and with
much emotion. Her arrival was a fine spectacle; a family scene amid
the most royal splendour. The Princess showed much emotion, no
embarrassment, nobility and grace, and was equal to the occasion. I do
not know if she is pretty; she is so gracious that people have not
considered that point. She reminds one a little of Madame de
Marescalchi, but is of a much more German type, while the lower part
of her face recedes a trifle. She has beautiful hair, a good
complexion--in short, she looks very well, and the Prince Royal is
well pleased.

Pauline never left my side even at dinner, to which I was taken in by
the Baron von Werther. He was placed between the Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg and myself. M. de Talleyrand was far from well yesterday,
yet by force of will he kept a smiling countenance. I was very anxious
about him the whole time.

Until to-morrow we shall number two hundred and eighty at table.
Yesterday the day began for me at half-past five in the morning at
Paris, and finished here at one o'clock at night. At ten o'clock I
must be fully dressed for the Queen's mass.


_Fontainebleau, May 31, 1837._--The two most exhausting days have
passed, for which I thank heaven, as I have been trembling the whole
time for M. de Talleyrand, who has been so incredibly rash as to
undergo these severe trials. However, he has seen everything, and has
come through with little more than fatigue.

Those who wish to be correct follow the Queen to her private mass in
the morning. Pauline has just taken me into a charming little chapel,
in memory of Louis VII., the Young.

The two German princesses were not visible yesterday for the whole
morning. The time before dinner was filled up by walks, for those who
were tempted, of whom I was not one, and the inspection of the
wedding presents for the rest, of whom I was one. The presents and the
dresses are most fine and magnificent, especially the case by Buhl
which contained the shawls, which was one of the finest things I have
seen. The whole was exhibited in the rooms of the Queen Mother. The
diamonds are beautiful, and the jewels numerous, in different styles,
but there are no pearls. The Duc d'Orléans does not like them, and the
Princess can also wear the Crown pearls.

The royal family dined in private. Madame de Dolomieu and General
Athalin presided at the table of two hundred and eighty guests in the
Diana Gallery. Pauline was again near me at dinner, and M. Thiers on
the other side.

At half-past eight the civil marriage took place in the room of Henry
II., a superb spectacle in the most beautiful surroundings imaginable,
and magnificently lighted. The Chancellor, M. Pasquier, who was
recently appointed to this post, was in his ermine robes at a great
red and gold table, around which stood all who were witnessing the
ceremony, with the bridal pair in front of him. We made our way there
in procession. Then we went on to the great chapel, ornamented with
the shields of France and Navarre. The exhortation given by the Bishop
of Meaux[69] was both short and well weighed. Unfortunately, in the
case of mixed marriages many ceremonies have to be omitted which would
add to the picturesqueness of the scene. The priest of Fontainebleau,
who is the famous Abbé Lieutard, and hitherto one of the chief
opponents of the present Government, assisted the Bishop, and even
claimed to do so as a right. The hall, which was arranged as a
Protestant church, could hardly hold us, and the crowd was
suffocating; the exhortation of the pastor, M. Cuvier, was very long
and very dull, going back to the creation of the world, with continual
references to procreation. It was puritanism itself. Before the
blessing he asked the bride permission to perform a duty with which he
had been entrusted by the Biblical Society, and offered her a Bible,
in which he urged her to read constantly. I thought the act quite out
of place at such a moment, and very disrespectful to the Queen, who is
making a great sacrifice from the religious point of view.

  [69] Mgr. Gallard.

The Princess was perfectly calm the whole time; I noticed no
nervousness, and less emotion than at the time of her arrival. She was
perfectly well dressed. Unfortunately she has no colour, and thus
wants a certain lustre, but in spite of her thinness she is graceful
and charmingly simple. Her feet are long and well made and her hands
are white and delicate; in short, she is a person of much attraction.

After all these ceremonies we separated. I went to look after M. de
Talleyrand, about whom I was anxious, and whom I found very well. M.
Molé came in, in a bad temper. It is indeed strange that throughout
this affair he has obtained no favours of any kind.


_Fontainebleau, June 1, 1837._--There is no political news to be
learnt here. The Princes are absorbed in themselves; M. de Salvandy,
the only Minister on duty near the King, is in the same state.
Curiosity is turned away from politics, and there is enough here to
arouse it and satisfy it.

Yesterday was spent as follows: After lunch came a very long drive in
the forest; twenty-six carriages, each with four horses, the great
royal coach with eight horses, and then eighty riding horses, all
conducted by the richly liveried servants of Orléans, were assembled
in the great courtyard of the Cheval Blanc, and provided a general
opportunity for excursions. We hastened to follow the King and to
traverse the most beautiful parts of the forest. Many sightseers who
were seen galloping most imprudently among the rocks joined the royal
procession, and gave the wood an animated and charming aspect.

I forgot to say that lunch had been preceded by a mass said by the
Bishop of Meaux in the great chapel. Every one was there, including
the royal family and the Duchesse d'Orléans. I should have been glad
yesterday, when there was no mixed marriage to consider and when only
the King's mass was being said, if the service had been finely
rendered with appropriate music. Instead of that there was nothing of
the kind; there were no clergy and not a sound of music; even the bell
for the moment of elevation was forgotten. Methodists display much
more trickery in their pretentious simplicity and their affected and
solemn speech; but at mass, where the words cannot be heard, outward
show is necessary, with incense, music, flowers, gold, and bells, and
all that can stir the soul by uplifting it to God without the
necessity of hearing the words pronounced.

Many people have gone and others have come, including the Turkish
Ambassador,[70] who sat by Pauline at dinner. The theatre hall has not
been restored, and looks faded; the orchestra, which was not from
Paris, was abominable; Mlle. Mars has grown old, and no longer played
her parts properly; the other actors were very poor, and the choice of
plays was not happy. These were _False Confidences_ and _The
Unexpected Wager_. The Princess Royal was in the great box at the back
of the hall, between the King and Queen. She listened attentively, but
her face does not express her feelings, and does not change. She is
always gentle and calm to the point of immobility, and makes no
gestures, which is a mark of distinction. Perfect repose gives a sense
of dignity, and when she walks or bows she does it with perfect grace.

  [70] His Excellency Mohammed Nouri Effendi.

M. Humann, when he went away yesterday, was run away with by the
post-horses down the hill of Chailly. He jumped out of the carriage,
bruised his face, and put his shoulder out.


_Fontainebleau, June 2, 1837._--Yesterday was not so full as the
preceding days, as after mass, lunch, and the gathering after lunch,
we were left with a few hours' freedom. I spent them with M. de
Talleyrand or in the town. M. de Talleyrand went to see Madame
Adélaïde, to whom he wished to give a piece of news which reached us
from the Bauffremont family, who were interested by it, and which, to
speak truly, has produced a sad effect here. It is the announcement of
the marriage of the Count of Syracuse, brother to the King of Naples,
with Philiberte de Carignan. This young person is the granddaughter of
the Comte de Villefranche, the prince of the house of Carignan who
married, in a fit of folly, the daughter of a boat-builder at St.
Malo, Mlle. Magon Laballue. The Sardinian Court only consented to
recognise the marriage on condition that the children of it should
enter religious orders; the revolution destroyed this obligation, and
the son entered the army and married Mlle. de La Vauguyon, sister of
the Dowager-Duchess of Bauffremont, who was burnt to death in 1820. It
was only after her death and the accession of the present King of
Sardinia that the last two children were recognised as princes of the
blood and treated as such. The eldest daughter was married before this
concession to a private individual of high family, the Prince of
Arsoli, a Roman family. Philiberte, the daughter and granddaughter of
marriages contested or doubtful, thus becomes Princess of Naples. The
marriage, by licence, must have taken place the day before yesterday
with much haste and precipitation. The displeasure it will cause here
is obvious. The King of Naples is at the bottom of it.

Yesterday after dinner we went to hear Duprez in part of the opera
_William Tell_, and the Esslers danced in a pretty ballet. I was
surprised that the Princess Royal never lost her calm, even at the
most exciting points of Duprez' acting. I never saw a movement of her
head, a gesture, or any greater animation in her face. The same was
true during the ballet, which I can better understand.


_Fontainebleau, June 3, 1837._--M. de Talleyrand started this morning
with Pauline. They wish to keep me here until to-morrow. No one could
have been surrounded with greater regard and attention than has been
shown to M. de Talleyrand; he was quite overcome as he went away. The
King and Madame Adélaïde have insisted that he shall return to Paris
for next winter, but I do not think that he will give up his project
of going to Nice.

Pauline's stay here has done her no harm. She has always behaved
perfectly and pleased me much. She was delighted to be in the same
room with me. Her dress was in excellent taste, and she has gone away
very pleased to have been here, but also glad to go and in no way
dissipated in heart or mind.

Nearly every one has gone, and only those on regular duty and intimate
friends remain. I am starting to-morrow at the same time as the Queen
and the Duchesse d'Albuféra, who came here yesterday. The country
drive was very pretty, animated and popular. We then went into the
prettiest part of the forest, called the Calvaire, whence there is an
admirable view. From the depths of the ravines over which we hung
singers who had been stationed there raised their song. It was
delightful, and the weather, wonderful to relate, lent such a charm to
the drive that it was prolonged. We eventually returned past the large
vine arbour and the canal.

After dinner we had a tiresome comic opera, _The Flash_, followed by
_The Caliph of Bagdad_, for which the King had asked as an old
favourite. It was very late before this was over, and as I stayed up
with M. de Talleyrand my sleep was cut short, the more so as his early
departure obliged me to be ready in good time. The King and Madame
came to say good-bye to him in his room. After lunch the King amused
himself by showing the Château to three or four guests. I was
delighted both with the Château and with our guide.


_Paris, June 5, 1837._--I came back yesterday from Fontainebleau. Mass
was said at six o'clock in the morning, and then the departure took
place. I was included in the royal company, and thus arrived in
excellent time, not leaving them until they turned off for
Saint-Cloud. The last day at Fontainebleau, the day before yesterday,
was occupied much to my taste, by a historical excursion, and in the
evening we had a theatrical performance by actors from the Gymnasium.
The whole stay at Fontainebleau was very pleasant, as I received much
attention and kindness.

As soon as I arrived yesterday I went to the Champs Elysées to Madame
de Flahaut's house; she had urgently begged me to come and see the
royal entry, for which the weather was magnificent. There was a vast
crowd and a most brilliant procession, the Princess bowing with
perfect grace. The view from the Place Louis XV. and the Champs
Elysées was magnificent. All went off very well, but there was not
enough cheering and more curiosity than enthusiasm. People opened
their eyes but not their mouths. The main point is that there were no
pistol-shots, and that the King was able to show himself to the crowd
without any _apparent_ precautions.


_Paris, June 6, 1837._--Yesterday I saw M. Royer-Collard, who was
somewhat displeased with the marriage of the Prince Royal, as a man of
the Faubourg Saint-Germain might well be. I was vexed with him, and we
had a small quarrel. He is partial in his views, and his conversation
is intolerant to an extraordinary degree.

The day before yesterday in the garden of the Tuileries there were
more than sixty thousand people present from eleven o'clock in the
morning to eleven at night, and such real enthusiasm that the King was
obliged to leave his state dinner in the Hall of the Marshals and come
out upon the balcony with his family, whence he uttered a few words of
thanks, which were received with infinite delight. From the moment of
entering the garden until the march past of the troops the royal
family remained in the Pavillon de l'Horloge, whence there was a
magnificent view. The setting sun gilded the top of the Obelisk and
the Arc de Triomphe, and was reflected upon the arms and cuirasses of
the troops; the benches of the National Guard were adorned with
flowers. I am assured that it was a real transformation scene.

There seems to be much inclination towards a dissolution of the
Chamber, at any rate on the part of M. Molé. M. Royer-Collard is
vigorously urging him in that direction.

The Turkish Ambassador here can speak a few words of French. This
discovery is due to myself, for every one took his professed ignorance
so literally as not to speak a word to him. He looked so dull that I
felt sorry for him, and made a venture. He replied in a few words, and
the result is that I have been allowed to see the portrait of Sultan
Mahmoud, who seems to be very handsome.


_Paris, June 7, 1837._--Yesterday I called upon the Queen to thank her
for Fontainebleau. The Duchesse d'Orléans was with her mother-in-law,
gracious, pretty, and amiable. She is a real treasure, and is
generally popular. She delighted the Council of State, the peers, and
the Deputies by adding a kind phrase to the answer which her husband
returned to the different speeches. She has spoken individually to
each peer, and never in commonplaces. They are all delighted.

My awakening this morning was a sad one, as news was brought to me of
the death of Adrien de Laval. He was a sincere friend, and they are
scarce. I am very sorry, both for him and for his aunt the good
Vicomtesse de Laval, who is hardly able to bear such a shock; and if
she also should be carried off it would be a heavy blow to M. de
Talleyrand.


_Paris, June 8, 1837._--The popularity of the Princess Royal increases
steadily. She has even been talking to General Neigre, of the Antwerp
Artillery. The Duc d'Orléans is extremely proud and happy at the
respect shown to her. It is certain that the personal influence of his
wife increases his own importance, and I already see that the Pavillon
Marsan will rise superior to the Pavillon de Flore.[71] I am not sure
that some small jealousy has not already arisen.

  [71] At the Palace of the Tuileries the Pavillon Marsan was
  occupied by the Duc and Duchesse d'Orléans, while the Pavillon de
  Flore was occupied by Madame Adélaïde, sister of King
  Louis-Philippe.

The following story is related as a fact: The Duchesse d'Orléans saw
her husband turn his opera-glasses for a long time in the direction of
Madame Lehon. She then turned to him and took away the opera-glasses,
saying, half jestingly and half seriously: "That is no compliment to
me, and is not polite to the person at whom you look." He is said to
have offered no objection to her action, and if this is true it is
noteworthy.

M. de Flahaut is furious because he has not received the Grand Cordon
of the Legion of Honour. He had proposed to resign his post as First
Equerry, but has changed his mind. It is said that the Duc de Coigny
refuses him any authority except over the stable.


_Paris, June 11, 1837._--I cannot give many details concerning
yesterday's festivity at Versailles. I started about one o'clock in
full dress, with the Duchesse d'Albuféra, and we came back together
at four o'clock in the morning. The weather was beautiful, the spot
admirable, the gardens in regal state, the inside of the house
splendid, and the sight magnificent. It lasted for five hours. My eyes
are smarting with the glare of the lights. Fifteen hundred people were
invited, and yet some are displeased; I admit that I should have drawn
up the lists in another way.

I had the honour of dining at the King's table, for whom it was a
great day. At the last set piece there was a tremendous shout of "Long
live the King!" and it was well deserved.

Count Rantzau, who is escorting the Dowager Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg, was deeply touched to see in an honourable position the
portrait of Marshal Rantzau, who served under Louis XIV., and whose
descendant he is. He sat by me at dinner, and I drew a great deal out
of him concerning the Princesses, whom I esteem more highly every day.


_Paris, June 12, 1837._--I am starting to-morrow to rejoin M. de
Talleyrand at Valençay.

The King of England is most seriously ill, and is only kept alive with
curaçao and raw meat. He knows that he is dying, and is calling his
family round him: the FitzClarences, and even Lord Munster. Mr.
Caradoc is said to be taking Sir John Conroy's place with the Duchess
of Kent. He sends for presents for her, the cost of which is paid by
the Princess Bagration. It is said that if the King dies the Duchess
of Kent will summon Lord Moira to the post of Prime Minister, who is a
great Radical; others say that King Leopold is advising his niece to
take Lord Palmerston, but the little Princess is inclined to Lord
Grey.


_Valençay, June 14, 1837._--I have just arrived, after a tiring
journey in dreadful heat and two thunderstorms. M. de Talleyrand is
very well, as also is Pauline.


_Valençay, June 17, 1837._--Madame Adélaïde has sent M. de Talleyrand
details of the accidents which took place upon the day of the
fireworks; twenty-three persons were suffocated in the crowd and
thirty-nine are injured. This has naturally caused much grief. The
Duchesse d'Orléans was anxious not to go to the entertainment at the
Hôtel de Ville and to cancel the balls; but it was pointed out to her
that many people would be disappointed and much expense needlessly
incurred. Festivities have therefore been postponed until after the
funeral of the victims.

It seems that the fireworks, the illuminations, and especially the
sham fight, were remarkably beautiful. Popular festivities are hardly
ever held without accidents, and I am always afraid of them. The
victims all belong to the working class, which makes their case still
sadder, and some of them leave their families in poverty.


_Valençay, June 18, 1837._--Pauline has made a conquest of the
Archbishop of Bourges, Mgr. de Villèle, who called here before my
arrival. She is said to have done the honours of the Castle remarkably
well, with unusual self-possession, grace, and propriety. I am not
sorry that she was obliged to try.

Considerable restorations are being made in our great castle. The
northern part of the moat has been cleaned out, and the wretched
little gardens which blocked the approach to it have been cleared
away; there is now a walk all the way round. The belfry upon the town
church looks very well, and in general the place seems improved.

Hostile newspapers try to draw comparisons between the accidents at
the fireworks and the sad scenes upon the marriage of Louis XVI., and
the catastrophe at the Schwarzenberg ball at the time of the Emperor
Napoleon's marriage. They draw omens from these coincidences. But what
more disastrous coincidence could there be for the elder branch of the
Bourbons than the assassination of the Duc de Berry and the revolution
of 1830? Yet no misfortune happened at the marriage of this Prince. It
is not in consequence of such special incidents that kings lose their
thrones.

The Municipal Council at Paris has voted a hundred and fifty thousand
francs for the further expenses of the festivity. Everything is on so
large a scale that the hire of glasses and water-bottles costs four
thousand francs. Ices and refreshments to the amount of twenty
thousand francs were distributed on the day when the festival was
postponed to the workmen and to the hospitals. The patients will have
a feast, and smart sayings are in circulation concerning the
indigestion they are likely to get.


_Valençay, June 19, 1837._--A German newspaper has a story of a vision
which the Duchesse d'Orléans is said to have seen, and speaks of her
idea of playing the part of a second Joan of Arc. All this is
doubtless ridiculous; at the same time there is some mysticism in her
desire to come to France, for M. Bresson, the most prosaic of men, has
several times told me this: "She thinks she has a vocation, and has
seen a special call of Providence in this marriage proposal; her
mother-in-law, who is inclined to the Pietist sect, was swayed by the
same idea."

The following has also been told me by Count Rantzau: Upon the day
when he learnt of Meunier's attempted assassination of the King,
negotiations for the marriage had been already opened. He was unable
to hide from the Princess his fear of the fate towards which she was
inclined. She then replied: "Stop, sir; the news that you give me, far
from shaking my will, only confirms it. Providence has perhaps
destined me to receive a shot intended for the King, and thus to save
his life. I shall not shrink from my mission."

There is thus a strong strain of fanaticism in her, which in no way
spoils her extreme simplicity of manner or the remarkable calm of her
bearing. This is so unusual a combination that I have been more struck
by it than by any of her other good qualities.


_Valençay, June 22, 1837._--Madame Adélaïde has written a long letter
to M. de Talleyrand, with full details of the entertainment at the
Town Hall, which seems to have been the most beautiful thing of this
kind, and far more magnificent than anything else that has yet been
done. The King was admirably received as he passed through the streets
and at the Town Hall. There were five thousand persons at this
entertainment. Princess Helena thought the diorama of Ludwiglust[72]
perfectly like the original.

  [72] The Castle of Mecklenburg, where the princess had been
  brought up.


_Valençay, June 25, 1837._--So the old King of England is dead. I was
interested to read the manner in which the young Queen was proclaimed
at London, in her own presence from the balcony of St. James's Palace.
This beautiful and touching scene is marked by a very pleasing
restraint.


_Valençay, June 28, 1837._--A widely circulated rumour at Paris
asserts that Mr. Caradoc intends to secure a divorce from Princess
Bagration--an easy process; that he will be made a peer and will
become the husband of the young Queen. He asserts his descent from the
Kings of Ireland. All this I believe to be nonsense, but meanwhile the
young Queen is so charmed with him that she will do and say nothing
without his consent.

Here is another story: Charles X. had given the Duc de Maillé a
picture for the church of Lormois; the family has just sold it to a
dealer for fifty-three thousand francs; the result has been a dispute
with the Civil List officials, who assert that Charles X. had no right
to present the picture. Pamphlets have been printed setting forth the
case on either side. If the dealer is obliged to restore the picture
he will force the Maillé family to return the fifty-three thousand
francs. Apart from this picture, the family found that the inheritance
of the Duc de Maillé consisted solely of debts. It is certain that if
the picture came from one of the museums or one of the royal castles
Charles X. had no right to give it away. It is all very unpleasant.


_Valençay, June 29, 1837._--M. de Sémonville was introduced in the
evening by the Queen herself to the Duchesse d'Orléans at the Round
Table. He told the Princess that only the kindness of the Queen could
have induced him to show her so old a face. "You mean so old a
reputation," replied the Princess. The old cat sheathed his claws and
was pleased.


_Valençay, July 1, 1837._--I hear from Paris that the situation of
public affairs is regarded as satisfactory at the moment, although the
Ministerial elections have generally shown opposition. At Strasburg,
Grenoble, and Montpellier they were absolutely Republican. Many people
assert that the Ministry should dissolve the Chamber, as it is worn
out. They urge that the marriage of the Prince Royal and the amnesty
make the present moment favourable, that later on circumstances will
not, perhaps, be so advantageous, but that the King refuses to
consider the idea. M. Royer-Collard writes to me on the same subject:
"I think that M. Molé is inclined to dissolution, and the King, though
he will not yet accept it, will be led to it by force of
circumstances. The Chamber is exhausted and can carry on no longer."
As a postscript he adds: "I have had a long interview with M. Molé,
and I am to see him again; he has decided to propose, and therefore to
carry out, the plan of dissolution. I did not urge him, but I am of
his opinion. The Chamber can no longer go on, and a dissolution need
only be desired and accepted to become necessary."

Finally Madame de Lieven writes to me as follows immediately before
starting for England: "M. de Flahaut was anxious to secure the
complimentary mission to London. He has been obliged to give way to
General Baudrand, which has increased the bad temper both of the
husband and the wife. Sébastiani is so ill that he is useless at
London; I really do not know who keeps your Court informed. Madame de
Flahaut is working as hard as she can to secure the recall of
Granville from Paris and the appointment of Lord Durham to his post,
with the double idea of removing a competitor from Palmerston's path
and having an ambassador at Paris inclined to intrigue. Granville's
chief merit was that he had no such tendency. In my opinion Durham
will have to have his way, as he will no longer stay at St. Petersburg
and wants something better. Your Deputies are said to be dispersing in
uneasiness and discontent. M. Molé says that he wants a dissolution,
but that the King does not.

"M. Molé's last reception was well attended. A hundred and fifty
deputies came to M. Guizot's party. M. Thiers has written from Lucca
that his wife suffered severely from sea-sickness."


_Valençay, July 6, 1837._--The following is an extract from a letter
from Madame de Lieven dated from Boulogne: "I have seen M. Molé and
M. Guizot at the last moment; the former had received a letter from
Barante. My Sovereign's ill-temper is in no way improved, and is even
worse than before. It is a hopeless case, as he is going mad. M. Molé
is certainly jealous of Guizot. I have some very amusing things to
tell you on that subject, which have all happened since your
departure. There are some strange characters in the world, and as I
naturally have a sense of humour, I laugh."

I should like to know the details of this rivalry, which seems to me
so improbable, from the nature of its object, that I am inclined to
think the Princess has been led astray by feminine vanity. She
confuses jealousy with the susceptibility native to character.

I have a letter from Baron de Montmorency, the executor of the Prince
de Laval, telling me that the latter, in a pencilled note, written the
evening before his death, has left me a souvenir which he is sending
me. I am deeply touched by it.


_Rochecotte, July 11, 1837._--I arrived here yesterday, and am obliged
to go out on business. The valley of the Loire is superb. The spring
is late this year, and the foliage is therefore unusually green for
this season. My plants have all grown very well, the climbers
especially, and the flowers are abundant; everything seems in
excellent order.


_Rochecotte, July 12, 1837._--Yesterday I went round my house; small
improvements are slowly being carried out.

I was much struck by the effect of the Sistine Madonna in the
drawing-room, which has taken the place of the Corinne, which has gone
to the drawing-room of the Abbé's house. The change is almost
symbolical, and shows the difference between the spirit of my past and
that which now dominates me, or, to speak more accurately, is gaining
ground; progress is by no means rapid.


_Rochecotte, July 13, 1837._--Yesterday it only rained for half the
day, and I was able to go round my little empire, which I found in
very good condition. I shall be sorry presently to tear myself away
from it. I propose to dine and sleep at Tours, and shall be back at
Valençay to-morrow.

I was able yesterday to visit my hydraulic rams.[73] Nothing takes up
less room or produces a better result. Many workmen come to see them,
and several landowners wish to imitate them; it is really an admirable
invention. I have now water for the kitchen, the stables, and
everywhere, and next year I shall present myself with a fire-engine.

  [73] As Rochecotte was without any water-supply, and the hillside
  upon which the castle was built was quite bare, hydraulic rams
  were introduced. These were the first imported to France. The
  Duchesse de Dino had them made in England, and insisted that
  French measures should be transposed exactly into English, and
  English into French, with the result that when they were set up
  at Rochecotte, where they still stand, the measurements were
  found to be exact.


_Valençay, July 15, 1837._--I left Tours yesterday morning. Before
starting I saw the sad sight of a man killed by lightning. His
companion only had his legs broken, and was being taken to the
hospital for a double amputation.

I had lunch at Loches, where I visited everything: the tomb of Agnès
Sorel, the oratory of Anne of Brittany, and a curious church, the
prison of Ludovico Sforza. I admired the magnificent panorama from the
top of the towers. We then stopped at Montrésor, to inspect one of the
prettiest Renaissance churches I have seen. It is built by the side of
an old castle, which was begun by the famous Foulques Nera, the
greatest builder before Louis-Philippe.

At the ironworks of Luçay[74] I found horses from the house, which
brought me here very quickly.

  [74] Luçay de Male is a dependency of the estate of Valençay. By
  its architecture the castle of Luçay seems to belong to the same
  age as that of Valençay. It is in a fine situation, overlooking
  the ironworks, the fine lake which provides it with water, the
  town of Luçay, and picturesque ravines.


_Valençay, July 18, 1837._--With regard to the trial of General de
Rigny, I can say that the General was deeply hurt, and reasonably so,
because the Government wished to punish him after his brilliant
acquittal before the Council of War; he declared to the Minister of
War that if they chose that moment to deprive him of the command of
Lille, he would accuse Marshal Clausel before the civil courts, and
without in any way sparing him, as he had felt obliged to do at
Marseilles. The Minister of War told him that he had wished to give
him the command, but that the King objected. M. Molé and the whole
Council said the same, and Baron Louis, uncle of General de Rigny,
thought it well to go to Neuilly and demand an explanation from the
King. The King said that the General had been proved guilty of
insubordination, to which the poor old uncle replied: "But your
Majesty is surely ready to recognise the judgment that has been
passed; the Council of War admitted that the remarks attributed to my
nephew were libellous; all that we can now do is to prosecute the
Marshal." The King then replied: "Ah, I did not know that. I will look
into the details of the trial, and then we shall see."[75]

  [75] In 1836 Marshal Clausel, who was then Governor of Algeria,
  attacked the Bey of Constantine unsuccessfully; upon his failure
  the army, which was weakened, was obliged to raise the siege of
  the town and to retreat by forced marches in the midst of
  continual attacks from the Arab troops. General de Rigny, who was
  stationed in the rearguard, bore the whole weight of this
  disastrous retreat. In spite of his efforts he found that his
  general had singled him out in an order of the day for a formal
  accusation of treacherous insinuations and advice, and had
  declared him a rebel and an unworthy officer. General de Rigny
  demanded to be judged by a court-martial, and secured a verdict
  of acquittal, which was unanimously given in 1837.

The fact is that at the Château anybody called Rigny is in bad odour,
for the opposite reason from that which has made the fortune of M.
Bresson. It is not enough to be a devoted servant of the Government;
one must also be, and always have been, an Orléanist.

I have received Madame de Lieven's first letter from London. She seems
delighted with the magnificence of her hosts' style of living, the
Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, and also by the attentions of her
friends. She says that the young Queen is a marvel of dignity and
industry, and is not to be led, even by her mother. She manages her
whole Court herself, and as the Duchess of Sutherland is Mistress of
the Robes the Princess sees the notes that the Queen writes on the
occasion of the Court functions, which are models of good arrangement
and propriety. The Duchess of Sutherland is in charge of all
arrangements, and is even above the Lord Chamberlain. Apparently she
can become a second Duchess of Marlborough if she likes. When the
Queen receives addresses on her throne the Duchess of Sutherland
stands at her right hand, while the Duchess of Kent, the Queen's
mother, is seated below the steps. The Queen wishes to review the
troops on horseback, and what she wishes she does. Lord Melbourne is
all-powerful and the Whigs are triumphant; the elections will be
keenly fought; it is the Tories' last chance. Lord Durham has resumed
his power over the Radicals, who flatter him, and the Queen does not
share her mother's liking for him.

The English crown has no diamonds. The very beautiful diamonds of the
Queen-Dowager are her own property, and came to her from her
mother-in-law, the old Queen Charlotte, who bequeathed them to the
crown of Hanover. As this crown is now separated from the English
crown, the Duke of Cumberland, as King of Hanover, reclaims the
diamonds. Thus Queen Victoria has none, and although she is in no
hurry to send back these jewels she will not wear them.

Count Orloff has been sent to London to compliment the Queen. Madame
de Lieven hopes to learn from him how far she can defy the Emperor,
her master.

M. Thiers wrote to her from Florence that he was not satisfied with
the treaty concluded with Abd-el-Kader.


_Valençay, July 26, 1837._--Letters received this morning seem to show
that the resolution to dissolve the Chamber has been retracted, or has
given rise at any rate to hesitation. The audacious declaration of the
King of Hanover, the success of Don Carlos, and the fear of seeing the
English elections turn in a Radical direction is said to give rise to
apprehension here of definite mandates and republican tendencies in
the coming general elections.

The Court is at the town of Eu, and from thence will go on to
Saint-Cloud. The Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg accompanies its
movements. She is liked and respected, and, feeling that her position
will not be agreeable in Germany, she is in no hurry to return, and is
somewhat afraid of the solitude that there awaits her.

Yesterday I had a letter from M. Royer-Collard, who is in Paris, from
which the following is an extract: "Dissolution resounds throughout
all correspondence, even in that from the Minister of the Interior.
Conditions, however, are laid down: if Don Carlos does not reach
Madrid, if the King of Hanover is not overthrown, if the English
elections give no cause for terror; these reservations are due to the
character and policy of the King, who does not care to run risks, and
who spares the Doctrinaires by leaving them some hope. The decision is
to come from M. Molé, who would leave them nothing. In neither case is
there any consideration as to whether the step in itself is good or
bad: 'It will all pass over.' For my part, if I am allowed to express
an opinion, it is precisely those cases which are considered capable
of postponement that I would never postpone. I do not know what the
new Chamber will be like, nor do I expect miracles from it, but I
regard the old Chamber as inadequate and entirely incompetent, if any
important resolution is required."

I have also a letter from M. Thiers from Florence. He seems to be sad
and uneasy about his wife's health; he speaks of her with warm and
tender anxiety, and says that this is his only trouble and that he
defies politics to disturb his equanimity henceforward. He adds: "I
have returned to literature and philosophy; like the classical
Bossuet, I enjoy the spectacle of human affairs in monuments and
books--that is to say, in the memorials of men of former times. I
claim the power of discovering the truth from a mere hint, and as this
is the method of historical investigation I believe I have a good
knowledge and understanding of the past. This presumption of mine,
which harms nobody, neither M. Guizot nor King Louis-Philippe, nor
Prince Metternich, would enable me to live very happily and busily if
I were spared family cares. I shall therefore do all that I possibly
can to remain as I am; I wish to improve, to increase my intellectual
and moral powers, and this can be done better in retirement than
anywhere else, as one then has time for reflection and study,
undisturbed by selfish considerations. If some fine position should
appear some day when I have made myself what I can become, well and
good; but to spend one's life bandied about between the King and his
demands for an appanage and the Chamber with its refusals, to be
constantly harassed by the Tuileries and the Palais Bourbon, by people
who are never grateful and make you the butt of their grievances
without the only recompense for the troubles of position, the power to
do good--all this is simply not worth while. I say this with full
meaning, and as I am happy enough to see that my feelings are shared
by those about me, I shall maintain my point of view; so that this
winter you will see me in entire freedom."


_Valençay, August 1, 1837._--M. de Vandœuvre came to pay us a visit
yesterday. He told us an amusing story of Madame de Boigne, who had
been invited to dinner with M. and Madame de Salvandy. When she
arrived she found only the lady of the house, who apologised for her
husband and said that he could not appear at dinner because he was
ill. They sat down without him, but when they went back to the
drawing-room they found the young Minister, as he calls himself,
carelessly reposing in a long chair, in Turkish slippers and a fine
flowered dressing-gown, with a smoking cap embroidered by ladies'
hands cocked over one ear. The sharp and prudish face of Madame de
Boigne at that moment is said to have been indescribable.

The daughter of the Duchesse de Plaisance has died of typhoid fever at
Beyrout, in Syria; her father told me the news. The fate of the
unhappy mother, of whom at present I know nothing, causes me grief and
anxiety. She was a good friend to me at a time when I had but few
friends, and I cannot forget it.


_Valençay, August 4, 1837._--I have read the article upon Madame de
Krüdener in the _Revue des deux Mondes_. She was a Courlandaise, and I
have seen her at my mother's house, with whom she struck up a small
friendship. My mother also thought, and rightly, that it was her duty
to take some notice of all her compatriots. Madame de Krüdener was an
adventuress by nature, and if she had not been well born she would
have been recognised as such long before her final absurdities. From
1814 until her death she lived surrounded by a gang of scoundrels, who
followed her about Europe and presented an unpleasant sight which was
anything rather than evangelical. They were a strange company of
apostles.

People who are easily excited, animated and changeable, ready for
anything, attracted in the most opposite directions, are often
regarded as hypocrites, simply because they are changeable, and one is
always tempted to doubt their sincerity. Such is the case of M.
Thiers. I am sure he is very happy as he writes in his villa at
Careggi,[76] amid recollections of the Medici, and that he is also
entirely disgusted with Paris. Ardent and impetuous natures, equally
ready for any enterprise, are unfortunately often misjudged by
characters more happily balanced. I know something of this from my own
experience. We shall undoubtedly see M. Thiers once more in the arena
of politics and ambition, but to-day he sincerely believes that he has
left it for ever. The advantage of such natures as his, and perhaps as
mine, consists in the fact that they are never wholly cast down and
are so supple and elastic that they accommodate themselves to the most
different situations; but it must be admitted that corresponding
inconveniences are involved. Their judgment of things and of people is
often too rapid, and their execution is often too quick and too
complete; by springing from rock to rock they are always in danger,
and sometimes fall; they then descend to an abyss, which is regarded
as their proper position by those who have been able to maintain
themselves steadily at one height, are by no means sorry to see their
overthrow and are disinclined to offer any help. How many times have I
seen and experienced this! The worst part of it is not the accusations
of folly, but of hypocrisy. There is, however, for these natures one
infallible resource, when they have the strength to fall back upon it:
they can force themselves to recover their equilibrium and follow the
golden mean. It is a long task, which will continue necessarily
throughout their lives, but that is the advantage of it, as the end of
it can never be determined.

  [76] Careggi forms part of the town of Fiesole, near Florence.
  Several villas stand about the neighbourhood, the most famous
  being that which was built by the Medici, which contains several
  Renaissance masterpieces. The Grand Dukes of Tuscany offered the
  use of it to distinguished foreigners who stayed at Florence. In
  this way M. Thiers occupied it in 1837. In 1848 the Princess of
  Parma sought refuge there in her flight from the revolutions.
  This villa still belongs to the house of Lorraine.

The Duc de Noailles writes to us that his uncle has died within a few
hours, with every symptom of cholera. I do not know whether I am
wrong, but for me everything is shrouded in a veil of darkness, and I
instinctively fear some catastrophe. If only it does not fall upon M.
de Talleyrand or upon my children! For myself I trust in the will of
God and prepare myself as well as I can. But how many arrears remain
to be paid, and how terror-stricken I should be were it not for my
full confidence in the Divine mercy!


_Valençay, August 5, 1837._--M. de Montrond writes from Paris to M. de
Talleyrand that the following story was told of the young Queen
Victoria at the house of the Flahauts: The Duchess of Sutherland had
kept the Queen waiting; when she arrived the Queen went up to her and
said: "My dear Duchess, pray do not let this happen again, for neither
you nor I ought to keep any one waiting." Was not that very well said?


_Valençay, August 8, 1837._--Yesterday I had a letter from Madame de
Lieven, which was begun in England and finished in France in the
course of her journey to Paris. She has seen Orloff in London, and
thinks that through him she has settled her business so well that she
can venture to return to Paris. She tells me some curious things of
the young Queen. "Every one has been taken in by her; she has secretly
prepared herself for a long time for her destined position. At the
present moment she gives her whole heart to Lord Melbourne. Her mother
wished her to enter into obligations with the Radicals, and also with
Conroy personally. It seems that Conroy, who dominates the mother, had
behaved very rudely to her daughter, and even threatened her with
confinement three days before her accession if she did not promise him
a peerage and the post held by Sir Herbert Taylor. She gave him a
pension of three thousand pounds and forbade him the palace. The
mother only comes to see her daughter when she is sent for. The
Duchess of Kent complains bitterly, and is obviously overcome by
vexation; and Caradoc, who had miscalculated his possibilities in that
quarter, has shared in this disgrace and has left England. The young
Queen is full of affection and respect for her uncle, King Leopold,
who did not like Conroy; he used to take the girl's part against her
mother. Melbourne is all-powerful, and adores his young Sovereign. Her
self-possession is incredible. People are quite afraid of her; she
keeps every one in order, and I assure you that everything looks very
different as compared with the old King's time. The Queen wears every
day the Order of the Garter as a medal upon her shoulder, and the
motto upon her arm. She has never grown tall, and therefore wears a
dress with a train even in the morning; she has a distinguished
appearance; her face is charming and her shoulders superb. She issues
her orders as a queen; her will must be obeyed at once and without
contradiction. All the courtiers seem overwhelmed."


_Valençay, August 15, 1837._--I knew Madame de Lieven's taste for
planting herself at Paris, but I did not think it went so far as to
induce her to monopolise the Russian Embassy, and from every point of
view this is a false move; with whatever kindness she may meet in her
present position, which is regarded as neutral and without influence,
an official position would bring her into inextricable difficulties.


_Valençay, August 17, 1837._--The following is an extract from a
letter from Madame de Lieven received yesterday: "For the moment
Conservatism is very fashionable in England. The new House of Commons
will be much better composed than the last; I hope and I believe that
this will produce an agreement with the moderate Tories; they are
prepared for it. I can answer for Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of
Wellington, who are ready to give their help and support for the
moment without any return. If Lord Melbourne accepts he will lose the
support of the Radical Party, and will find himself obliged in a short
time to bring Tories into the Cabinet; but that is the best bargain
open to him, and Lord Melbourne is more inclined to it than his
colleagues. We shall see if he is bold enough to take the step; when I
left him he seemed ready for it. The Queen will not be married or
think of marrying for a year or two at least. You may rely upon the
accuracy of this statement. The Duchess of Kent is a complete
nonentity, and even put somewhat on one side by her daughter. Conroy
dare not appear before the Queen. The Queen is astounding! Most
astounding! With so much power at eighteen, what will she be like at
forty?

"The Clanricardes have quarrelled with the Ministry. She is happy,
because she can now be as Tory as she pleases.

"Diplomacy is in a poor way at London, since you and I are no longer
there. The members look shabby indeed; they seem mere nobodies,
receive no respect, have no position, know no news, ask everybody for
news, and come and whisper a Court affair a fortnight after it is
forgotten. I blush for my late profession.

"Esterhazy has gone to Brussels. This is producing an effect at
London, as it is the first act of recognition to the Belgian royalty;
but from that source Queen Victoria's policy is inspired."


_Valençay, August 20, 1837._--We hear from Paris that the Duc
d'Orléans has a cold and is growing thin. There is some fear of his
lungs, and it is said that he takes too much exercise. It is thought
the exertion of the camp at Compiègne may be too much for him. His
wife is literally adored by the royal family, and by all who come near
her.

I have a charming letter from the Duchess of Gloucester. These old
princesses seem to have been deeply saddened by the death of the late
King.


_Valençay, August 25, 1837._--The King and Queen of the Belgians will
be at London on the 26th of this month--that is, to-morrow. It is
supposed that the King will have full influence over his niece, but
that he will not restore relations between the Duchess of Kent and the
Queen, or go out of his way to spare the former, as he finds their
disunion in accordance with his ideas.

The Princess de Lieven is very angry with her husband, who will not
appear at Havre, where she has arranged to meet him. She is doing her
utmost at St. Petersburg to gain some means of reviving her husband's
spirits, of which, to use her own expression, very little remain. She
repeats that she cannot leave Paris without risking her life. I think
that she has no great desire to meet the poor Prince again. She tells
me that M. Guizot is at Paris, that he comes to see her every day, and
that he drives M. Molé away as soon as he comes in. M. Molé is invited
to the camp at Compiègne from the 1st to the 4th of September, and M.
Guizot from the 5th to the 8th. The whole of France will be invited in
turn.


_Valençay, August 29, 1837._--I had a troublesome day yesterday.
Madame de Sainte-Aldegonde came to us, bringing her daughters and M.
Cuvillier Fleury, tutor to the Duc d'Aumale and a contributor to the
_Journal des Débats_. I had to put myself out and show them
everything, and was very glad when they started back for Beauregard at
nine o'clock in the evening. M. Fleury has left his pupil for the
moment to travel for six weeks, and is contributing articles to the
_Journal des Débats_ about the castles that he visits. There is
nothing so disagreeable as this kind of thing, and he has received a
strong hint here that we do not care to see ourselves in print.

Madame de Sainte-Aldegonde says that the Duchesse d'Orléans is
certainly with child. She also says that Princesse Marie is to marry
Duke Alexander of Würtemberg next October, and will live in France.

M. Mignet, who has been here for two days, tells us no news. He
confines himself to long historical dissertations, which are sometimes
interesting, but generally somewhat pedantic.

Madame de Jaucourt writes that Baron Louis is dying of a stroke of
apoplexy. This has been largely brought on by fretting over the
business of his nephew de Rigny.[77]

  [77] _See_ p. 120.


_Valençay, September 2, 1837._--I have a letter from the Duc de
Noailles, who gives me some small news. I never saw any one of
importance stay at home less than he does. At Paris he pays a daily
round of calls, morning and evening, which take up the whole of his
time, and he never refuses an invitation to dinner. In the summer he
goes the round of the country houses and the watering-places, and is
continually making excursions to Paris, as his residence is close at
hand. Barren characters, when they are naturally intelligent, feel a
greater need of change than others; in any case, the consequence is
that he always knows the news. At Paris he keeps it to himself, and
asks more questions than he answers; but when he writes he tells all
that he knows, so that his letters are always pleasant.

I have also a letter from M. Thiers, from Cauterets. He is
izard-hunting with the Basques, of which sport he is very fond,
although the Pyrenees seem to him but poor scenery after the Lake of
Como. He is less anxious about his wife's health, and talks of coming
here for the end of the month, but with all his impedimenta, as he
cannot leave the ladies whom he is escorting. I am not altogether
pleased, but how can I refuse?

It seems that the expedition to Constantine is actually to take place,
and that the Prince Royal will lead it. This campaign seems to me a
very foolish one for the Prince Royal.

I have just read the so-called memoirs of the Chevalier d'Eon, which
are tiresome, improbable, and absurd; the idea in particular that he
could have had a love-affair with the old Queen of England, the
ugliest, the most prudish and austere woman of her time, is too
ridiculous an invention.


_Valençay, September 6, 1837._--The newspapers now say that it is the
Duc de Nemours, and not the Prince Royal, who will command the
expedition to Constantine. This seems to me a better arrangement.

The Princesse de Lieven writes as follows: "There is talk of a double
marriage: the Princesse Marie with Duke Alexander of Würtemberg and
Princesse Clémentine with the eldest son of the reigning Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Here, however, a difficulty appears. The children
of the marriage should be Lutherans, which the Queen does not wish;
and in the case of the first marriage there is also the possible
difficulty that the King of Würtemberg might not give his consent. It
is said that the negotiations, though not broken off, are not far
advanced. I have a letter from my brother which shows me that Orloff
has kept his word. He says that Paris is the only place to suit me,
and that no one protests against it. Now I have only my husband to
think of, and how can he be likely to offer objections as the Court
has raised none? This difficulty is bound to disappear, but not for a
month or six weeks, for my husband will require advices from the
Emperor, and the whole troublesome affair will have to go round
Europe, from Paris to Odessa and from Odessa to Ischl and from Ischl
to Paris. Just think of that!" So much from this great and aged spoilt
child.


_Valençay, September 8, 1837._--The news given us by Madame de
Sainte-Aldegonde was premature. Madame Adélaïde writes to M. de
Talleyrand that the Duchesse d'Orléans is not with child, that the
King will not go to Amboise this year, and that the marriage of the
Princesse Marie with Duke Alexander of Würtemberg is possible, but not
absolutely settled, though negotiations are going on.


_Valençay, September 9, 1837._--I have come back from an excursion to
Châteauvieux and Saint-Aignan which occupied the whole of yesterday
and to-day. I was marvellously well and in high spirits with M.
Royer-Collard, but to-day I feel broken down and miserable. There is
no sense in it; I do not know what does me good or what makes me feel
ill; I suffer from what I think should do me good and recover from
that which should lay me low. I am a very strange little creature. The
doctor tells me every day that it is the result of my nervous,
fantastic, and capricious disposition. What is certain is that I have
fits of cheerfulness, of gaiety, and of sadness; that I look after
myself, or my nerves look after me, very badly; and that I am
exceedingly tired of myself, and to some extent of other people.


_Valençay, September 11, 1837._--What is to be said of the mandate of
the Archbishop of Paris, and of the article in the _Journal des
Débats_ which follows it? The desecration of Sainte-Geneviève is
obvious, and the scandal of the pediment has been felt by all
right-thinking people.[78] In the face of such an enormity it was
difficult for the plaintive voice of the chief pastor not to utter a
cry of pain, and the absence of any protest would have been
blameworthy, in my opinion. But his cry has been uttered with violence
and bitterness, and with none of the apostolic respect for the
feelings of others which it is always wise to keep in view. In M. de
Quélen we shall always have an excellent priest with the courage and
devotion of his convictions, but he will never learn tact, and will
constantly injure his position by his words and his actions. I am
sorry for him, as I am interested in him, and also for the cause of
religion, which is even more wounded by these unhappy events and
Governmental scandals. The want of thought which permitted this
pediment, the obvious hesitation of the Ministry to know whether it
would be disclosed or not, the weakness which showed it to the eyes of
the public, and the tone of indifference with which newspapers speak
of it, are so many disavowals of the system of order and energy which
they have claimed as theirs. Next to the pillage of the archbishopric,
the destruction of the crosses, and the rejection of the fleur-de-lys,
nothing seems to me more hopelessly revolutionary than this hideous
pediment. It frightens right-thinking people far more than usurpation.

  [78] It was proposed to erect upon the Pantheon a colossal statue
  of Renown to replace the cross removed in 1831 from what was at
  that time the Church of Sainte-Geneviève. Cortot was commissioned
  with this work, and set up a model in carton-pierre. Criticism
  unanimously condemned it, and the statue was taken down after
  some time.


_Valençay, September 12, 1837._--The Carlist party are very wrong to
accuse the Duc de Noailles of inclination to support the present
Government; he is very far from anything of the kind. I have seen that
he was somewhat tempted to that course for two or three months during
the journey of the two Princes in Germany and when the marriage of the
Archduchess Theresa was discussed. Since Alibaud's pistol-shot and the
refusal of Austria he has given up the idea, and I think he is more
determined than ever to follow his present line of conduct, although
his impartiality in thought and language will always prevent him from
joining the hot-headed members of his party.

Madame de Lieven writes as follows: "I have a letter from my husband
proposing the right bank of the Rhine and asserting that he cannot
possibly cross it. We shall see. I hope and believe that he will
change his mind. M. Molé and M. Guizot meet at my house, and are
beginning to talk. The consent of the King of Würtemberg to his
cousin's marriage has come to hand. M. Guizot has returned from
Compiègne delighted with the wit and intelligence of the Duchesse
d'Orléans. Madame de Flahaut is kept very much aloof from the
Princess, and is vexed in consequence. She had her four days at the
Château, like the other guests, and then returned to her rooms in the
town of Compiègne. Lady Jersey writes that she will come and spend the
winter at Paris to see the Prince de Talleyrand. My husband has seen
their Hanoverian Majesties at Carlsbad."


_Valençay, September 18, 1837._--Yesterday I had a very kind letter
from M. Molé. He tells me that he has been obliged to postpone the
diplomatic affair. He wishes to create some peers, but is somewhat
hampered by the stupid social classification. He speaks bitterly of
the great attention paid by M. Guizot to Madame de Lieven, and readily
accepted by the latter.

Alava, who has been here since yesterday, told me that the hunchbacked
daughter of the Duc de Frias has married the Prince of Anglona. Mlle.
Auguste de Rigny is certainly the only heiress of the Baron Louis, who
leaves seventy thousand francs income. She has already an income of
eighteen thousand of her own. The will is quite simple, and so
definite that it cannot be attacked.[79]

  [79] Baron Louis died at Vry-sur-Marne, near Paris, on August 26,
  1837.


_Valençay, September 19, 1837._--M. de Salvandy, whom M. de Talleyrand
had invited here, appeared yesterday at dinner-time. He is going back
this evening, having sandwiched this excursion between two meetings of
the Council. I have exhausted myself in graciousness of manner and in
making conversation, which is not an easy matter with a man who is
undoubtedly intellectual, but emphatically so, and constantly anxious
to produce an effect. In any case, he has been very attentive to me.
He told me that the Duke Alexander of Würtemberg had an income of only
fifty thousand francs, and that the King of Würtemberg showed much
politeness and readiness throughout the affair, though the alliance is
a poor one for our young Princess; we gain nothing more than a husband
for her. It is not true that she will stay in France; in the summer
she will live in her husband's castle, fifteen leagues from Coburg,
and in the winter in a little palace at Gotha. When they visit Paris
they will be put up at the Elysée. They are going to Germany
immediately after the marriage, which will take place in the first
fortnight of October.

The French elections will take place on November 15, and the Chamber
will meet on December 5.

M. de Salvandy also talked much of the Duchess d'Orleans, whom he
believes, and I think rightly, to be an eminently clever person, and,
as she has to govern some day thirty-two million souls, is working
daily to win their hearts one by one.


_Valençay, September 20, 1837._--M. de Salvandy left us yesterday
after dinner. During our morning talk he quoted an instance showing
the growing influence of the Duchesse d'Orléans over her husband.
Before his marriage he troubled so little about mass that last May, a
few weeks before his wedding, he went to the races at Chantilly on the
Day of Pentecost, and never even thought of attending mass. Recently
at Saint-Quentin he went there _in fiocchi_, telling the National
Guard that they might follow him or not as they pleased. The Guard
went in a body. Saint-Quentin, however, like all manufacturing towns,
is by no means religious.

The Pope is deeply vexed about the business of Sainte-Geneviève, and
is going to offer a severe remonstrance through Mgr. Garibaldi. The
King, who has been much distressed by the scandal, is embarrassed in
his relations with Rome because he yielded to M. de Montalivet, who is
unfortunately surrounded by the wretched troop of hostile newspapers,
to which he pays homage and deference. M. Molé, who is opposed to the
pediment, has also yielded. M. de Salvandy is also fulminating, and I
imagine when he has uttered one sonorous phrase he will think his duty
done.


_Valençay, September 22, 1837._--M. de Salvandy has written, upon his
arrival in Paris during the session of the Council, telling M. de
Talleyrand that he had found everybody much excited at the news from
Spain; all are expecting to hear of the arrival of Don Carlos at
Madrid. It is possible that this news will somewhat disturb
arrangements for the dissolution and the elections.


_Valençay, September 28, 1837._--Madame Adélaïde writes that the
marriage of her niece to Duke Alexander of Würtemberg will take place
at Trianon on October 12. Madame de Castellane tells me that the
Lieven-Guizot flirtation is unparalleled. He is making her read Dante
and Tasso, and never leaves her house. Since he has been in the
country he writes letters to her of ten pages. During his absence the
Princess went to his house, gained admission to his rooms, and
examined everything carefully. She has written curious but sensible
articles on the subject. An article has appeared concerning the whole
affair in _Le Temps_. This has made her furious, and she has had a
very lively interview with M. Molé, because _Le Temps_ is said to be
considerably under Ministerial influence; hence relations between the
Prime Minister and herself are somewhat strained. It is all very
ridiculous, and I am glad to be away from Paris and all this gossip.

In any case, a retired life is delightful. In society one squanders
too much energy; instead of laying up a proper store of provisions for
the great journey, we scatter them broadcast, and find ourselves
lacking when we have to start. Terrible is our want and disgraceful
our indigence! I am sometimes really terrified at my wretched
condition.

Yesterday I had a sad piece of news--the death of the young Princess
of Arsoli, daughter of the late Madame de Carignan. She was carried
off by cholera in the same week as her mother-in-law, Princess
Massimo. I had seen her born.


_Valençay, September 29, 1837._--The Baron de Montmorency, who arrived
here yesterday, thinks that there is some hitch in the Würtemberg
marriage. The King of Würtemberg seems to have suddenly refused his
consent, except on condition that all the children should be
Protestants, while our Queen wishes them all to be Catholics. If the
Duke Alexander yields to the Queen there will be a marriage the more
without the head of the family, which never looks well. If France
gives way to the King of Würtemberg the Princess will have to go to be
married at the frontier, as was Mlle. de Broglie, for the French
Catholic clergy will only allow mixed marriages on condition that all
the children are brought up as Catholics. It is really inconceivable
that so important a question was not decided before the announcement
of the marriage. It will lead to any number of vexatious ideas, and
show with what difficulty business can be conducted at our Court.

It is said that Von Hügel, the Austrian Chargé d'Affaires at Paris, is
going mad.


_Valençay, October 1, 1837._--Yesterday our theatricals took place,
for which we had been rehearsing for a fortnight; I played my part in
spite of a headache. People kindly said that I entirely concealed my
suffering on the stage, but as soon as it was over I was obliged to go
to bed at once. The performance was quite successful, and Pauline
played two totally different parts so admirably that I begin to wonder
whether I ought to allow her to continue this amusement. Our scene
from the _Femmes savantes_ went very well, and M. de la Besnardière,
who is an old theatre-goer, asserts that he never saw it so well
played. I really think that it went with a certainty, a unity, and a
correctness that were quite remarkable. M. de Talleyrand was
delighted. There was supper and dancing after the performance, but I
was not there.


_Valençay, October 2, 1837._--All the neighbours about us went away
yesterday after mass, but in the course of the day a certain Mr.
Hamilton arrived, who is an American, and the son of Colonel
Hamilton, who was well known during the War of Independence in the
United States; M. de Talleyrand often speaks of him, and was very
intimate with him in America. The son did not wish to leave the Old
World, where he has been making a tour, without seeing his father's
friend. He brought his own son with him, a young man of twenty-one.
Neither of them speak French, so I exhausted myself in making English
conversation. They are starting again this morning. In his own country
Mr. Hamilton belongs to the Opposition party. He is a sensible man,
but with that tinge of Americanism which is always somewhat
disagreeable in the best of them.


_Valençay, October 7, 1837._--I hear from Paris that the difficulties
with Würtemberg have been smoothed over. The marriage is to take place
on the 14th, and everything is going on to the general satisfaction.
Our Princess has been invited to Stuttgart. The Duc d'Orléans is said
to be the only member of the family dissatisfied with this union, and
we are told that he treated his future brother-in-law more than coldly
at Compiègne.


_Valençay, October 9, 1837._--The Duc Decazes arrived here
unexpectedly at dinner-time yesterday. He was on his way from Livorno,
full of the Bordeaux affair, which he seems inclined to visit upon the
Prefect, M. de Pressac. After dinner he continued his journey to
Paris, where he is summoned by the marriage of the Princesse Marie. He
had left M. Thiers and all his family at Tours. We are expecting them
to-day.


_Valençay, October 10, 1837._--M. and Madame Thiers, Madame Dosne and
her young daughter arrived yesterday an hour before dinner-time. They
came by Montrichard, and so they were all shaken and weary. Madame
Thiers does not show any sign of exhaustion in her face; she is
perhaps a little thin, but nothing else; I think it is largely a
matter of nerves, and that if she were in good spirits her
indisposition would quickly disappear. In any case, for a person of
her kind, I think her quite anxious to please, but, like her mother,
she has a vulgar intonation and trivial expressions to which I cannot
get accustomed. It was a dull and heavy evening, in spite of the
enthusiasm of M. Thiers for Italy. He seems to be greatly struck by
the beauty of Valençay, and I think they are all very glad to be here.
Fortunately the weather is fine; I have never prayed for sunshine so
earnestly.


_Valençay, October 11, 1837._--Madame Thiers was very tired yesterday;
she went upstairs after lunch and did not reappear until dinner-time.
She would not go for a drive, and her mother kept her company. We took
the husband out with us, and he was in excellent spirits, with no
bitterness or hostility. He wishes to go from here to Lille without
crossing Paris, where he only wishes to arrive just in time for the
Chambers; he was also very sarcastic about the repeated proposals that
have been made to him for the greatest embassies.


_Valençay, October 12, 1837._--M. de Talleyrand yesterday took M.
Thiers to see M. Royer-Collard. They returned both well pleased with
their walk, whence I infer that they left their host equally pleased.
I have no great trouble with the ladies. The young wife appears for
meals, lolls in a drawing-room armchair for half an hour after lunch
and for an hour after dinner, then goes up to her room; she will not
drive, and only wishes to be left alone. Her mother is with her a
great deal, and her husband most attentive. The young wife governs
them all, but like a spoilt and capricious child, and I think that the
poor husband finds the path of marriage a somewhat thorny one.


_Valençay, October 13, 1837._--The Duchesse de Saint-Leu is dead. What
will become of her son? Will he be left upon our frontier?

Madame Murat continues to remain at Paris. General Macdonald,[80] who
was thought to be her husband, and who was greatly devoted to her in
any case, has died at Florence. To the universal surprise, this event
has not so far saddened her as to prevent her from going to the
theatre, nor does she show any of the grief that might have been
expected.

  [80] Francis Macdonald had been appointed Minister of War at
  Naples by King Murat in 1814.

Here people talk of nothing but the approaching elections; they seem
to be still very uncertain and to defy all calculations. I have always
noticed this to be the case at every dissolution of the Chamber. The
instructions of the Ministry are very capricious; on the whole the
Doctrinaires and progressive parties are to be proscribed, but with so
many exceptions here and there that unusual points of contact are
created. M. Thiers is quite calm, in excellent political spirits; he
talks a great deal of his forty years and of the frost of age;
however, I would not trust to that, and if he were provoked he would
be quite capable of entering the fray most vigorously. He has quite
abandoned his ideas of Spanish intervention, not as regards the past,
but for the present moment. I have never seen him so wise and
self-controlled--a condition only to be attained by those whose
inclinations are definite, and who have enough self-satisfaction not
to be ambitious for power. His wife unbends a little; she danced
yesterday evening in excellent spirits.


_Valençay, October 15, 1837._--The whole of the Thiers family went
away yesterday. Although the mother has been anxious to please, the
young wife amiable in her manner, and her husband witty, animated, and
tractable, as usual, I am not sorry to see them go.


_Valençay, October 22, 1837._--We are to have a second theatrical
performance. I rehearsed my part yesterday with M. de Valençay while
the rest of the company were out driving.

I have a very carefully written letter from Madame Dosne, from which
the following is an interesting passage: "Since our arrival the house
has been stormed by friends, inquirers, and interested people, who
wish to learn the attitude of M. Thiers. He has seen M. Molé and M. de
Montalivet, who are struggling for his friendship, and has been
effusively received by the royal family. You know better than any one,
madame, to whom he owes that. In short, his move to Paris has been
quite politic and successful. He is ready to defend the Ministry as
long as it lasts and to help it as long as he can, if they will
support his view with regard to the elections. To-morrow we shall
start for Lille, where we shall stay as long as my daughter wishes."


_Valençay, October 26, 1837._--Madame de Lieven writes to say that her
husband has sent his son Alexander to her to carry her off dead or
alive, but she has refused to stir, and that the son has gone back
again provided with all possible certificates from the doctors of the
Embassy stating the impossibility of moving her. She is loud in the
praises of Comte Pahlen and of my cousin Paul Medem. It seems that the
Autocrat told M. de Lieven that he would crush the Princess if she
persisted in remaining in France. I think she has some private means
which no one can touch, and which help her to hold out. Before long it
will become a regular drama.

I have a long letter from the Duc d'Orléans, in which he tells me that
his sister, the Duchess of Würtemberg, did not go immediately to
Stuttgart on leaving Paris, but went first to Coburg, and will not go
to Würtemberg till later. The Duc d'Orléans gives me excellent
accounts of his wife, and seems to regard her as a perfect friend,
which is the best certificate a woman can have from her husband, and a
guarantee of the most desirable future for her.


_Valençay, November 2, 1837._--I shall start presently to dine and
sleep at Beauregard. To-morrow I shall pass through Tours, and reach
my house at Rochecotte in time for dinner.

I have a kind letter from M. Guizot, who tells me that the new Chamber
will be like the last, and that if there is a difference it will be to
the advantage of his own views.

M. Thiers writes from Lille saying that the general electioneering cry
is "Down with the Doctrinaires!" and that he is asked by five
different departments to become a candidate, but that he will remain
faithful to Aix. Finally, M. Royer-Collard writes from Paris saying
that M. Molé has been tricked in the elections; that it does not,
however, follow that the elections will go in favour of the
Doctrinaires, but that they will not lack Ministerial support. Of
these three versions which is the most credible? I am inclined to
accept the last.


_Rochecotte, November 4, 1837._--Since yesterday I have been in my own
home. As I passed through Tours in the morning I found the poor
Prefect grappling with the electoral fever.

The confusion of the instructions is incredible, continually modified
or contradicted as they are by intrigues at Paris, alternating between
the influence of Guizot or Thiers; consequently I think the result
will be very far removed from that which was proposed at the
dissolution of the Chamber. Fortunately the country is calm, for the
dissolution was decided upon, not for patriotic reasons, but simply
for personal interest, and miscalculation upon that ground is a matter
of indifference. At the same time it is foolish uselessly to stir up
an infinity of local passions which, though they do not rise to the
danger and violence of political strife, none the less injure public
spirit by dividing the country more and more into parties.


_Rochecotte, November 5, 1837._--The comedies which we acted at
Valençay brought some life into the great castle, of which there has
been a prodigious lack during June, July, and August. I admit, to my
shame, that for the first time in my life since I rested from the
fatigues of Fontainebleau and Versailles I have been very bored. The
illness which we have all suffered one after another brought anxiety
in place of boredom, and I am glad of some small diversion to bring me
out of the groove.


_Rochecotte, November 11, 1837._--A letter from Madame Adélaïde
reached me yesterday. She seems fairly pleased with the elections, and
would be more so were it not for the infamous alliance between the
Legitimists and Republicans, which has brought success to the latter
party in several places. I use her own expressions. She also says that
Princesse Marie is delighted with her husband and her journey, with
Germany and with the reception which has so far been given.


_Rochecotte, November 24, 1837._--I am sorry for the Grand Duchess
Stephanie on account of the wrongdoing or misfortune of her daughter,
the Princess Wasa.[81] I never liked her, and was struck by her bad
appearance when I saw her at Paris in 1827 with her mother; moreover,
her husband, whom I also know, is a very ordinary person, and by no
means the man to guide a young wife.

  [81] Princess Louisa of Baden, the eldest daughter of the Grand
  Duchess Stephanie of Baden, had married a Prince Wasa. Her
  household was constantly disturbed by quarrels, which the Grand
  Duchess was continually trying to heal, though for a long time
  without success.

The Duchess of Massa speaks with delight in her letters of the
hospitality and the distinction at the Court of Coburg, and of the
happiness of the Princesse Marie. I also hear that the Duc d'Orléans
constantly talks of his domestic happiness, in which he is entirely
absorbed. He is to give an entertainment upon the return of his
brother, the Duc de Nemours, the victor of Constantine.

I am more and more delighted with the life of Bossuet by Cardinal
Bausset. How fortunate it is that I put off reading this book at a
time when the taste for reading had passed away, and is now revived by
this excellent work! I have ordered a fine engraving of Bossuet which
I wish to possess; it is absurd that he should not have his place here
with my other friends of the great century, Madame de Sévigné, Madame
de Maintenon, Cardinal de Retz, and Arnauld d'Andilly. Although I
admire every personage of that great age, I have my preferences. I
want a portrait of the Palatine to complete my collection.


_Rochecotte, November 30, 1837._--My sister, the Duchesse de Sagan,
writes to say that she will come here shortly; I do not know whether
she will carry out her plan this time--not that I am altogether
regretful if she should fail, for I am never entirely at my ease with
her. I was accustomed to be afraid of her in my youth, and am still
somewhat overawed; but as the matter has been announced and arranged,
it is better that she should come.


_Rochecotte, December 2, 1837._--Yesterday in the _Journal des Débats_
I read the great memorandum of the Prussian Government against the
Archbishop of Cologne.[82] We must suspend our judgment until we hear
his defence; but the fact remains that so strong a measure as to
arrest an archbishop and imprison him does not look well in the case
of a Protestant Sovereign when dealing with a Catholic prelate in a
Catholic country. It has too strong an appearance of persecution, even
if it be justified at bottom. I am very curious to know the end of
this affair; it seems to me of serious import.

  [82] The Archbishop of Cologne and the Prussian Government
  differed on the question of mixed marriages. The Archbishop
  wished to appeal to the Pope, and the Government had him arrested
  on November 28, 1837. He remained a prisoner for four years at
  Minden, and never re-entered his diocese, where his coadjutor
  took his place on his death in 1845. The Archbishop of Cologne,
  Baron Droste de Vischering, was born in 1773.

M. de Montrond tells M. de Talleyrand that the whole family of Thiers
profess such a redoubled affection for us since their stay at Valençay
that we shall be regarded as responsible for the acts and deeds of M.
Thiers during the coming session. I have urged this upon M. de
Talleyrand as an argument for staying here as long as possible, but
with what success I do not know.

M. Guizot is to be found at Madame de Lieven's house from morning to
evening, to the general amusement.

Madame Adélaïde's letters begin to urge more strongly our return to
Paris, which is exactly the reason why I should prefer to stay here.


_Rochecotte, December 4, 1837._--M. de Sainte-Aulaire informs me that
the Grand Duchess Stephanie has solved her daughter Wasa's domestic
difficulties. I fear she has only postponed the evil day.


_Rochecotte, December 6, 1837._--Yesterday I carried out an enterprise
which I had long been anxious to perform. I went with my son Valençay
to see the Comte d'Héliaud and Madame de Champchevrier. We started in
fine frosty weather, lunched with M. d'Héliaud, and spent an hour at
Champchevrier on our return with the nicest people in the world, in a
fine old castle, with moats and avenues, and a well-wooded country of
preserves; old tapestry, stag-horns, and hunting-horns hung from the
walls are the chief ornaments in this noble but not very elegant
mansion. It is inhabited by a simple, upright, and respected family,
who live comfortably but not luxuriously, hunting and farming
throughout the year. At certain times forty or fifty of the
surrounding families meet there for amusement. The whole establishment
is well worthy of a description by Walter Scott, especially an old
grandmother of eighty-two, upright, alert, imposing, and polite, in a
surprisingly antique dress. We were very kindly received. By the time
we reached home I was frozen, but very glad that I had paid my calls
and fulfilled my neighbourly duties.

The Duc de Noailles writes to say that he met M. Thiers one morning at
Madame de Lieven's house, where he spoke like a little saint and a
great philosopher.


_Rochecotte, December 10, 1837._--My sister and my son Alexandre at
last arrived here yesterday, after a long and tiring journey. My
sister has grown very stout, and looks much older; none the less she
is astonishingly well preserved for the age of fifty-seven. She talks
a great deal and very loudly. The Vienna strain in her is predominant.


_Rochecotte, December 11, 1837._--I took my sister for a long drive
yesterday. She thinks this place very pretty, and, as other persons
have already told me, assures me that nothing recalls to her so much
_la bella Italia_. We had hardly returned from our long drive than I
began it over again for M. de Salvandy, who dropped in unexpectedly at
dinner, and after a short stay continued his journey to
Nogent-le-Rotrou, where he is going to an electoral banquet. He told
us that the Duc de Nemours had reached Havre with a broken arm, in
consequence of an accident upon board of a wretched steamship. He
travelled by Gibraltar, in order to avoid a great ball that the town
of Marseilles had prepared for him, and over which great expense had
been incurred. The King is very displeased by this prank.


_Rochecotte, December 19, 1837._--Last spring when I consulted
Lisfranc and Cruveilhier they both told me that I was threatened by a
tendency to feverishness. Since that time my life has been arranged
to avoid the danger, and with success; but since the arrival of my
sister I have felt a great and steadily increasing nervous agitation,
so much so that yesterday inflammation was pronounced, with violent
fever. I am much distressed, and think I shall have to spend some days
in bed or upon my sofa.


_Rochecotte, December 20, 1837._--The doctor says that I am better
to-day. I never remember having felt so ill as the day before
yesterday. I am still keeping my room, and feel very poorly, but the
doctor repeats that there is no danger, and that with a few days' more
care I shall be quite well.


_Rochecotte, December 25, 1837._--The pain in my right side is growing
less, and I am not so weak. When I am stronger I shall speak of my
thoughts during these days of danger through which I have passed. The
mental life becomes the clearer when the outward eye is veiled and
obscured.[83]

  [83] The Duchesse de Dino suffered from a much more severe
  illness than she relates. It is to this period that she ascribed
  those inward changes which then took place in the case of M. de
  Talleyrand, and gradually brought him back to the Christian
  faith.


_Rochecotte, December 26, 1837._--I am better, and very grateful to
Providence which has delivered me from so grievous a state; but I
shall not recover from the shock for a long time. I was deeply touched
to learn that yesterday during the service I was recommended to the
prayers of the congregation. All my neighbours and the whole
countryside have been most kind; my servants have watched and worked
with infinite zeal, and the two doctors, MM. Cogny and Orie, have been
very attentive.


_Rochecotte, December 28, 1837._--The weather is magnificent, and at
midday I shall be wheeled on to the terrace for a moment.

I have no news from Paris, and am greatly ignorant of the affairs of
this world. It seemed to me during the two days that I was ill that I
saw something of the things of the next world, and that it was not so
difficult as might be thought to rise towards one's Creator; that
there was even a certain sweetness in the idea that one was to rest at
length from all the troubles of life. Providence can soften all the
trials which He sends to us, by giving us the strength to bear them,
and one can never feel too thankful for all the Divine favours.


_Rochecotte, December 31, 1837._--This last day of a year, which upon
the whole has not been entirely agreeable, induces me to throw a
retrospective glance upon my life--an effort which produces a not very
pleasant result. However, it would be wrong to complain; if
misfortunes are not lacking for me, there are also blessings which it
would be ungrateful not to recognise; and one may feel despondent and
serious and yet have no right to feel or to call oneself unhappy. May
God preserve for myself and for those whom I love, honour, health, and
that peace of mind which keeps the soul from care, and my thanks will
be heartfelt.



CHAPTER III

1838


_Rochecotte, January 1, 1838._--In spite of my weakness I remained
until midnight in the drawing-room, to embrace M. de Talleyrand, my
children, and my sister as the new year came in. I am to go out in the
carriage to-day, to come down to dinner, and, in short, to return to
life by degrees.


_Rochecotte, January 2, 1838._--The whole countryside passed this way
yesterday; people were still here in the evening. I am no worse this
morning, but the contrary, and if this marvellous weather will last a
few days longer I hope that I shall soon be quite myself again. M. de
Talleyrand, unfortunately, already speaks of returning to Paris.


_Rochecotte, January 5, 1838._--I have no good opinion of the year
upon which we have entered, from a political point of view. My mind is
despondent, my soul sad, my nerves are weak, my heart is full, and, to
use the language of the chambermaid, I wouldn't give twopence for
anything. We have been plunged in fog for the last few days, but none
the less I have been to pay my farewell calls in the immediate
neighbourhood.


_Rochecotte, January 6, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand and Pauline have just
started for Paris. No one is left in the house except my sister, my
son Alexandre, and myself. I must make up my accounts and prepare for
departure, as we are all three going the day after to-morrow.
Notwithstanding the sad recollections of the illness which darkened my
last weeks here, I shall leave this pleasant little spot with regret.


_Paris, January 11, 1838._--I arrived here yesterday at ten o'clock in
the evening after a journey which nine degrees of frost and constant
snow made extremely unpleasant. However, we had no accident, and the
change of air, sudden as it has been, has rather strengthened me and
given me a little appetite.

Yesterday I dined at Versailles with Madame de Balbi, whom I thought
had grown very old. My sister at the same time was eating fowl with
Madame de Trogoff, whom she knew very well long ago.

We found M. de Talleyrand in good health, but anxious about our
journey. He told me that the Ministry was absorbed in work upon the
Address, so that none of the members are visible for the moment.


_Paris, January 12, 1838._--Yesterday I was very busy with my sister's
dresses, my own, and those of Pauline. We have all three arrived in
rags. Then I went to see Madame de Laval, who is greatly changed. In
the evening I took my sister to hear _The Puritans_, in the same box
at the _Théâtre Italien_ as I had last year. Rubini has certainly lost
something of his voice, and Madame Grisi has begun to shriek.

I believe there is great agitation in the political world, but I ask
no questions, do not even read a newspaper, and preserve my beloved
state of ignorance, partly through idleness and partly as a
precaution.


_Paris, January 13, 1838._--My sister wished to go for once to the
Chamber of Deputies, which is a new sight for her. The Russian
Ambassador gave us his tickets, and we spent our morning yesterday at
the Palais Bourbon. M. Molé surpassed my expectations. He delighted my
sister and charmed myself. There could be nothing more dignified,
nothing clearer, better thought or better expressed than his speech.
His success was quite complete. I saw Madame de Lieven at the Chamber;
my sister and she will not look at one another; they detest one
another, though they do not know one another. This is inconvenient
for me.[84] M. Guizot came up into our seat, and I thought him greatly
changed.

  [84] A book recently published by M. Jean Hanotau, _Letters of
  Prince Metternich to the Comtesse de Lieven_ (1818-1819), shows
  that it was Prince Metternich who set these two ladies against
  one another.

I am quite overcome by so different a mode of life from that of the
last six months.


_Paris, January 14, 1838._--Yesterday I had a very long and very kind
visit from the Prince Royal, who was quite calm and in a placid frame
of mind.

I then called upon the Princesse de Lieven, who gave me full details
of her domestic situation, which excluded conversation upon any other
topic and reduced me to the position of audience. She thinks she will
certainly be able to stay here _ad vitam æternam_ without molestation.
I hope she may. In the evening I went to the Tuileries, to pay my
respects to the Queen.


_Paris, January 15, 1838._--Great fires are becoming quite
fashionable. The burning of the London Stock Exchange will form a
counterpart to the destruction of the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg,
with the difference that a hundred persons perished in Russia, while
no loss of life took place in England. Paul Medem told me that the
Winter Palace was three times as large as the Louvre, and that six
thousand persons lived there; that the Imperial pharmacy was situated
in the middle of the castle, and that an explosion resulting from a
chemical experiment had caused the conflagration.

I did not go out yesterday. M. de Sainte-Aulaire came to lunch with my
sister and myself, after which I had a call from M. Royer-Collard, who
is much better this year. I saw MM. Thiers and Guizot with M. de
Talleyrand. We had a long and tiresome family dinner, after which my
sister and myself found nothing better to do than to go to bed at
half-past nine. I have not entirely recovered my strength. A
conversation with Dr. Cruveilhier, only too similar to that which I
had at Tours with Dr. Bretonneau, has done much to bring back my
despondency and listlessness.


_Paris, January 16, 1838._--Yesterday when I was writing I had heard
nothing of the conflagration which destroyed the _Théâtre Italien_ the
preceding night. The under-manager and four firemen lost their lives.
It is a great catastrophe, and disastrous for poor people like myself
whose only pleasure was the Italian Opera. I feel it quite deeply.

Lady Clanricarde came to lunch with me yesterday, and it was a great
pleasure to see her again. She is very nice, and we talked over "dear,
ever dear England," an inexhaustible subject for me.

In the evening I took Pauline to a ball given by the Duc d'Orléans; it
was charming and delightfully arranged. We went away after supper at
two o'clock in the morning, which was late for me. However, apart from
a bad headache I need not complain of the way in which I got through
my task. Unfortunately there are many others of the kind, and the
prospect of their multiplicity frightens me. I saw nothing noticeable
at the ball except the delicate appearance of the Duchesse d'Orléans,
which unfortunately is not to be explained by any prospect of a child.
I think our excellent Queen looks older, and the Duc de Nemours is
terribly thin. He has grown a beard in the modern style, but so fair
that it is frightful to behold.


_Paris, January 17, 1838._--Yesterday I spent the morning with my
sister in doing what I detest more than anything else--making a full
round of indispensable calls. In the evening I took her to the
Tuileries. The arrangements were most noble and magnificent. She was a
little astonished at the forms of presentation here, and I was more
than usually struck by them.


_Paris, January 23, 1838._--I have caught a cold as a result of
sitting in a draught which blew straight upon my back at a concert
yesterday at the residence of the Duc d'Orléans; this was the only
thing of which to complain at an evening's entertainment where there
was no crowd and where the music was delightful, well chosen, and not
too long.

M. de Talleyrand is very well, except for his legs; their weakness
does not matter so much, but they are becoming painful, especially
the toes of one foot, which are not always their natural colour. This
is an ominous sign. I am very anxious, and so is he; in short, I am
greatly depressed, and everything weighs heavily upon my mind.


_Paris, January 28, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand is not ill, but his mania
for dining out has not agreed with him. Yesterday at Lord Granville's,
when giving his arm to the Princesse de Lieven, he trod upon the folds
of her dress and nearly fell; he did not actually fall, but his knee
gave way, his weak foot turned, and he twisted his big toe. I was
deeply anxious when I saw him come back in this state. What a sad year
it is! The fact is that since last April nothing has gone right, and
if I did not regard all this as a trial and preparation for a better
world, I should be quite disgusted with this one.


_Paris, January 30, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand's foot gives him pain,
and the worst of it is the difficulty of finding out whether the pain
is the result of the sprain or the general weakness of the foot;
otherwise he is calm, with people always about him, and plays his game
of whist every evening.

I was with the Queen this evening, who had received the sad news that
morning of the burning of the palace in Gotha in which her daughter,
Princesse Marie, was living. Princesse Marie nearly lost her life, and
has lost much valuable property, albums, portraits, books, her
diaries, in fact everything. Her diamonds are melted out of the
settings, which are mere lumps of metal; the large stones alone
resisted the heat, and these must be repolished. And then many
precious objects which money cannot replace have gone. This first
cloud which overshadows her young happiness is especially cruel,
because it raises distrust and destroys the sense of future security.
It is a real grief to the Queen, the more so as the shock might have
done the Princess some harm, as she is with child.


_Paris, February 1, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand is anxious about the
state of his leg and the consequent change necessitated in his mode of
life. I wish his foot would get strong enough to allow him to get
into a carriage, but he cannot yet put enough weight upon it to mount.
Want of fresh air and exercise, if this continues, may have serious
consequences. Meanwhile he is not alone for a single moment from ten
o'clock in the morning till after midnight.

Lady Clanricarde came to lunch with me yesterday. In a few days she is
returning to her dear England, of which I think daily with deep
regret. I knew all that I was losing when I left it, and I have at any
rate counted the cost.


_Paris, February 2, 1838._--The state of M. de Talleyrand's leg is
pretty much the same, though it was slightly less swollen yesterday.
He is rather despondent, and, I think, too far-sighted not to realise
all the possible ill-results. I cannot say how despondent I feel and
what a weight is upon my mind.


_Paris, February 3, 1838._--Yesterday was M. de Talleyrand's birthday,
and he is now eighty-four. Fortunately his leg has seemed much better
during the last day or two. This fact was the best birthday present he
could have, or I either.


_Paris, February 5, 1838._--My sister collected some Austrians and
Italians yesterday evening at her house, and engaged a band of
Neapolitan musicians who are here. She got them to sing some of their
national airs, which are very pretty. M. de Talleyrand was carried up
to my sister's rooms, and played his game there. His leg improves in
appearance, but the sprained foot is weak and painful. I do not know
if he will ever be able to walk again. If he could only get into a
carriage! His inability to get fresh air makes me anxious.

He is sad and worried. Strange to say, he has expressed a wish to make
the acquaintance of the Abbé Dupanloup, and has asked me to invite him
to dinner on my birthday. I did so at once. The Abbé at first accepted
and then refused. I suspect the Archbishop's hand in this. I shall see
him to-morrow and get an explanation. When M. de Talleyrand heard that
the Abbé had refused he said: "He has less intelligence than I
thought, for he ought to be anxious to come here for my sake and his
own." These words have impressed me and increased my vexation with the
Abbé's refusal.


_Paris, February 7, 1838._--Yesterday, in spite of the keen cold, I
went to the Archbishop, who was very gracious. He gave me, for St.
Dorothea's Day, my birthday, which was yesterday, a splendid copy of
the _Imitation of Jesus Christ_, and another for M. de Talleyrand; for
my sister a portrait of Leo XII., the Pope who had received his
renunciation, and for Pauline a handsome religious work. He was
greatly surprised and vexed that the Abbé Dupanloup had refused to
dine with us; in short, I came away quite satisfied.

I was still more pleased at the way in which M. de Talleyrand accepted
the Archbishop's present and listened to my account of our
conversation. He would like the Archbishop to use his authority to
induce the Abbé Dupanloup to come here. I cannot help ascribing his
excellent frame of mind to my own feelings in my last illness, and to
the words which I was then able to speak to him. I bless God for the
sign that He has been pleased to send me by His hidden and always
admirable means of working and if to complete this great task I should
have to make a yet greater sacrifice I shall readily do so.


_Paris, February 9, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand went out yesterday for
the first time for a drive, which did him good, or, more correctly,
pleased him. The effects of his sprain are rapidly passing away, but
the same is not true of the general condition of his foot, which is
unsatisfactory. He was carried into the carriage and helped out again,
which was not so difficult as I thought, but this obvious infirmity is
painful to look at--more painful than I can say. Rumours are believed
that the Duchesse d'Orléans is with child; however, I think we shall
have to wait a little before the story can be confirmed.


_Paris, February 10, 1838._--It is said that the quarrel between the
Flahauts and General Baudrand will be settled, but I do not think
permanently.[85] Madame de Flahaut comes to see M. de Talleyrand in
the evenings, and her husband every morning; they are kind and
gracious, as threatened people are.

  [85] M. de Flahaut and General Baudrand were in constant rivalry
  with one another. They were continually quarrelling about their
  official duties in attendance upon the Duc d'Orléans, and in
  February 1838 they were intriguing to be sent to the coronation
  of Queen Victoria.

M. Royer-Collard, whom I saw yesterday for a moment, was delighted to
find that his speeches the other day had shattered the position which
people wished the Deputies to resume. There was some friction between
us on this occasion. There is too strong a strain of bitterness in his
nature, which sometimes makes him quite mischievous, though he does
not know it.


_Paris, February 11, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand was able to visit Madame
Adélaïde yesterday, the chief event of his day, and therefore of mine.
The event of to-day is the snow, which is falling heavily and
incessantly, and brings us back to the middle of the winter.

The Abbé Dupanloup came to see me yesterday, and paid a long call. I
was quite satisfied with the result, and he will dine with us in a
week.

We also had some people to dinner; the whole of the Albuféra family,
the Thiers, the Flahauts; and some people come in every evening.


_Paris, February 15, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand is very busy with a
small laudatory speech upon M. Reinhard which he proposes to deliver
at the Academy of Moral and Political Science at the beginning of next
month. He is taking trouble with it, and spent several hours over it
yesterday.

The Baudrand and Flahaut business is not yet concluded. Claims,
hesitations, and equivocations have been forthcoming from either side,
with the result that the two rivals have become ridiculously bitter,
and, what is worse, the Prince Royal has been involved.


_Paris, February 23, 1838._--We are still in the midst of cold and
snow.

The Duc de Nemours has had a sore throat, which threatened to become
quinsy, but his indisposition has not postponed any of the Court
festivities, and the day before yesterday he was present at the
Queen's ball.

M. de Talleyrand has a cold and his legs are weak. These are his two
weak points. The former is only a transitory trouble; the other,
though its remote consequences may be serious, is not threatening at
present. Such is the true state of affairs.


_Paris, February 25, 1838._--I was informed early this morning that M.
de Talleyrand was suffering from a kind of suffocation. This was
purely due to outward circumstances, for he had slipped down in his
bed and was practically buried by his vast bedclothes, with the result
that a kind of nightmare was the consequence. I have just left him
sleeping peaceably in an armchair. What I do not like is the fact that
for the last two days he has been more or less feverish, and that he
will eat nothing or very little for fear of increasing the fever. He
is very weak. The absence of Dr. Cruveilhier, who is at Limoges, is
also a trouble, and though I feel no immediate anxiety, I am far from
confident concerning the result of this invalid condition, which seems
to point to a general break-up.


_Paris, March 3, 1838._--In two hours M. de Talleyrand is going to the
Academy in cold and most unpleasant rain; I also fear the effect of
the excitement upon him. There will be a large audience, but no women,
as this Academy will not admit them. I hope that to-day will go off
well, but I wish it were to-morrow.


_Paris, March 4, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand is very agitated and very
weak this morning. He made a great effort, and whatever his success, I
fear he will have to pay dearly for it. His success was beyond my
expectation; the accounts of some fifty people who besieged my room
after the session leave me no doubt upon that point. He had recovered
his vocal powers, read excellently well, walked about, seemed younger
and entirely himself, and two hours afterwards he was overthrown and
incapable of making an effort. I do not know what the newspapers will
have to say of the speech, but if anything can disarm them I think it
should be the fact that a man at such an age and with so full a past
should display such energy in delivering in public farewells so noble
and so full of justice and good teaching.[86]

  [86] For the speech of M. de Talleyrand _see_ Appendix.


_Paris, March 5, 1838._--The day has gone off better than I expected
for M. de Talleyrand. The _Journal Général de France_, which is a
Doctrinaire organ, contained the best, cleverest, and pleasantest
article upon M. de Talleyrand's speech. Some ascribed it to M. Doudan,
others to M. Villemain. The article in the _Débats_ was kind, but
dull; that of the _Journal de Paris_ good; of the _Charte_ stupid and
badly written; the _Gazette de France_ fairly good; the _Siècle_ and
the _Presse_ insignificant; the _National_ of no account. Against my
custom, which has been not to open a single newspaper since my return
from the country, I read them all yesterday, and shall do the same
to-day; then I shall resume my state of ignorance.


_Paris, March 6, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand had a fainting fit yesterday
before dinner. I think it was due to the excessively rigorous methods
of his dieting and to the catarrh of his chest and stomach, which
takes away his appetite. The blister which will be placed upon him
will relieve him, I hope. Yesterday's newspapers were not equally
satisfactory concerning his speech, but he was not disturbed on that
account, for the intelligent and right-minded members of his audience
have been really pleased. The house is constantly full of people
coming to congratulate him. M. Royer-Collard said to me yesterday: "M.
de Talleyrand has solemnly disavowed the unpleasant incidents of his
life and publicly glorified the good and really useful parts of it."


_Paris, March 7, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand had no further attacks of
faintness yesterday, but he does not look well, and I think him much
changed. I hear that his brother, the Duc de Talleyrand, my
father-in-law, is also in a very poor state of health; the Vicomtesse
de Laval is feverish with a bad cold and she cannot sleep. This is
all very sad, and these omens of death depress me greatly.


_Paris, March 8, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand had a better day yesterday.
We take great care of him: when I came back from a dinner given to my
sister by the Stackelbergs, and from the Queen, to whom I went
afterwards, I found him surrounded by fair ladies and in pretty good
spirits.

In the morning I took Pauline to ask offerings from the Archbishop. My
sister wished to accompany us, so that I was unable to speak with M.
de Quélen.

The Flahaut party have lost all touch with the Pavillon Marsan, except
the good graces of the Prince Royal, which they seem to be
monopolising. At the Pavillon de Flore there is a general satisfaction
at their departure, notwithstanding many fine phrases. The Flahauts do
not understand the truth, and throw the blame upon a Doctrinaire
intrigue, to which the Duc de Coigny is said to have lent his help.
They are soon starting for England, where I think they will make a
pretty long stay.


_Paris, March 10, 1838._--The Abbé Dupanloup came to see me yesterday.
He then asked to see M. de Talleyrand, to thank him for the copy of
his speech which he had sent him. Pauline took him there. He stayed
alone for twenty minutes with M. de Talleyrand, who did not open the
subject directly, but let some kind words fall, and when the Abbé came
back to my room he seemed to feel some hope. In any case, he has shown
great discretion and perfect tact, and I think he is entirely right.
He was the first to suggest that he should take his leave, and was
told that he would gladly be seen again. This is all excellent,
provided we are given time. It is not so much a case of illness as of
general depression and an obvious alteration in his features; but with
such a mind one cannot be hasty. What a task it is, and how terrified
I should be of it if I did not tell myself that the most unworthy
instrument which God is pleased to choose can become more powerful
than the greatest saint, if God's providence is not pleased to make
use of him!


_Paris, March 11, 1838._--The English Ministry has triumphantly
survived the crisis which was thought likely to become its overthrow.
Will ours pass equally well through next week's crisis, the question
of the secret service funds? Many batteries have been laid in position
against it, and a silent agitation is proceeding on all sides. It is
said that either extremity of the Chamber will direct a converging
fire upon the Ministerial benches, I suppose with the object of
afterwards shooting one another down upon the field of battle. It is
all very distressing.


_Paris, March 14, 1838._--I spent two hours yesterday with the
Archbishop. I was better pleased with his sentiments than with his
decisions. However, everything has been left for his meditation. He
asked me to write and tell him what I thought, and I hope, with the
grace of God, Who will cast light here and there, to reach some
satisfactory conclusion, both for those who are to leave us and for
those destined to continue their pilgrimage.

On leaving the Archbishop I went to the Vicomtesse de Laval, who is
weak and shaken in health, but alert in heart and mind.

On my return I found M. de Talleyrand depressed and uneasy; he
recovered his spirits after a talk with me. The last few days he has
eaten a little better. In the evening he was not so weak, and I have
just heard that he had a quiet night. I am swayed incessantly between
hope and despair, but supported by the sense that I am useful, and
perhaps even necessary. If my strength is to fail me, I trust that it
may last to the end of my task, after which the sacrifice will have
been made, as I made it during my illness at Rochecotte.


_Paris, March 15, 1838._--Yesterday I accompanied my sister, who
wished to go once more before her departure to the Chamber of
Deputies. I felt greatly bored. M. Molé spoke very well; M. Barthe was
unbearably superficial; M. Guizot gave us the most wearisome of all
his sermons; M. Passy was coarse without being clever; M. Odilon
Barrot was very clever and witty, and left neither Thiers nor Berryer
anything to say, but his delivery is so oratorical and so badly
sustained that it is hard work to listen to him. On the whole the
honours of the session remained with M. Molé; or, to speak more
accurately, if the Ministry gained nothing its adversary lost a great
deal, which amounts to the same thing at the present moment.


_Paris, March 16, 1838._--I took Pauline yesterday to mass, to the
sermon, and to the salutation, after which she made her collection.
Two funerals interrupted the collection, preventing any one from
coming out, and they were also delayed by a driving rain, so that we
remained standing at the church door for an interminable time.
However, the sermon of the Abbé de Ravignan,[87] concerning
indifference in religion and its various causes, pleased me greatly,
and if it is not one of the best sermons I have read, it is at any
rate one of the best that I have ever heard.

  [87] The Abbé de Ravignan had taken the place of Lacordaire in
  the pulpit of Notre-Dame.

M. Molé, who was dining here, said that this morning in the Chamber,
during the formation of the official bodies, the alliance between men
who were enemies a few months ago was notorious.


_Paris, March 17, 1838._--I spent a long time yesterday morning at the
Seminary of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, of which the Abbé Dupanloup
is the superior. The good Abbé pleased me greatly, and also expressed
his satisfaction with the little document which I showed him.[88]

  [88] The reference is to the letter which the Prince de
  Talleyrand wrote to Rome retracting the errors of his life, which
  had incurred the censure of the Church.

In another month we shall have a new poem by M. de Lamartine, called
_L'Ange déchu_,[89] then the _Mélanges littéraires_, by M. Villemain,
and a work by M. de Chateaubriand on the Congress of Verona; in short,
enough reading for the whole summer.

  [89] Better known under the title of _La Chute d'un Ange_ (_The
  Fallen Angel_), the opening of the poem called _Jocelyn_.

M. de Talleyrand says that on May 1 he will go to his estate of Pont
de Sains, in Flanders, stay there for the summer, travel to Nice by
easy stages, starting on September 1, and return to Valençay in the
month of May 1839. Such extensive projects are decidedly rash, and it
is unreasonable for him to expose himself to the damp of Flanders
after May 1. I tell him so and trust to Providence.

The motto, or rather the conclusion of a letter, which I find in an
old book seems to me very pretty: "Be with God." I have adopted it.


_Paris, March 22, 1838._--Princesse Marie, who has been here since the
19th, nearly had a miscarriage yesterday, as the result of too long a
drive; while the Duchesse d'Orléans can only avoid one by remaining in
her long chair.

M. de Rumigny, our ambassador at Turin, has brought a foolish dispute
upon himself--a personal quarrel with the King over a matter of
etiquette. Complaints concerning him have come to hand. It is the most
foolish business conceivable, as it is all about the black or white
headdresses worn by the women. Sardinian etiquette allows the Queen
alone to wear them. How absurd it all is!

A coalition between MM. Thiers and Guizot seems likely, but there is
such an outcry against this combination that either party is
embarrassed, and it will probably come to nothing. M. Guizot in
particular is experiencing the evil results of it, because his
reputation is suffering greatly, and upon that, rather than upon his
talent, he regarded his importance to be based. The fact is that
notwithstanding all that has been said on either side in the speeches
which closed last session and the discussions that have filled the
interval there is something too abrupt in this alliance, which M.
Royer-Collard calls an impious coalition.

There is much talk of a journey to be made by the King to Nantes and
Bordeaux for the month of June, which would bring us back to Berry and
towards Touraine. Hitherto M. de Talleyrand contemplated only Pont de
Sains, a calamitous idea.


_Paris, March 25, 1838._--Yesterday I defied an equinoctial storm to
go and see the Archbishop. By degrees we came to an agreement, in the
terms of the letter, and I hope that we shall arrive at some useful
result, but we require time and the help of outward circumstances
which do not depend on us and must be asked from a greater Power than
ourselves. In any case, if heaven can be importuned by the prayers of
earth, the petitions sent up on this subject should be efficacious.


_Paris, March 28, 1838._--Yesterday I had a most important
conversation with M. de Talleyrand, and found him in a state of
open-mindedness which seemed miraculous. I now hope to be able to push
steadily forward, and though the goal is still far away I trust that
no precipice will form an obstacle to my progress.

Death comes upon people here in a terrifying way; M. Alexis de Rougé
was carried off in twelve hours by a sudden stroke of apoplexy. His
loss has thrown many people into great grief.

I have called upon Madame Adélaïde, where I heard all the nice things
that the Duchess of Würtemberg is saying about Germany. The Duchesse
d'Orléans feels that her child has quickened, and I think that her
condition will be publicly announced in a few days.

They say that the young Queen of England gallops down the streets of
London through all the omnibuses and cabs. Her old aunts think this is
very shocking, and so it is.

In the English Parliament there is a coalition no less astounding than
that of MM. Thiers and Guizot; Lord Brougham and Lord Lyndhurst have
joined hands.


_Paris, April 1, 1838._--Yesterday I went with my sister to the court
of the Louvre to see the bronze statue which is to be sent off in a
few days to Turin and is on exhibition for the moment. It is a statue
of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy after the battle of Saint-Quentin,
pulling up his horse and putting his sword into its sheath. It is the
work of Marochetti, a delightful thing, full of grace, nobility, and
life. I was very pleased with it, and it seems to have met with the
general approval.


_Paris, April 3, 1838._--Yesterday I gave M. de Talleyrand the little
document which I had drawn up for him. The incident passed over
without a storm. I suppose that he will have read and digested it
yesterday evening, and I shall see to-day whether the horizon is
clouded.


_Paris, April 4, 1838._--The little document was entirely successful.

Yesterday I took my sister to Saint-Roch to hear the Abbé de Ravignan,
who pleased her greatly. He has a fine face, a beautiful voice, an
excellent delivery, faith, conviction, warmth, authority, a close and
vigorous style of argument, couched in clear and noble language, with
a precise choice of words. He is not prolix and never diffuse. He
lacks unction and his teaching is therefore rather doctrinal than
evangelical, so that his talent had full scope as he was preaching on
the infallibility of the Church.

M. de Pimodan, a great Legitimist, who was giving his arm to one of
the lady collectors, insolently blocked the Queen's passage; the
vicar, the Abbé Olivier, who was accompanying her to the door, and who
is a little thick-set man, strong as a Turk, vigorously elbowed M. de
Pimodan to move him out of the way; he flew into a rage, and rudely
asked the _curé_ what he meant by shoving him. The Abbé calmly
replied: "I meant, sir, to make room for the Queen"; upon which the
gentleman muttered some very insolent remarks, which passed unnoticed.

The Princesse de Bauffremont, who was to be one of the lady
collectors, heard the evening before that Madame de Vatry was also to
perform this duty. There were six of these ladies, chosen from
different circles of Parisian society, in order to untie as many
purse-strings as possible. The Princess then said that she would not
be seen in company with the daughter of M. Hamguerlot, and withdrew.
Was ever such false pride or want of charity?


_Paris, April 8, 1838._--The general attention was occupied by the
session in the Chamber of Peers yesterday. The speech of M. de Brigode
which was delivered the evening before had made every one alert, and
the active part taken by the Duc de Broglie in this discussion seems
to be an event, and is connected with the hostile movement and the
impious alliance in the Chamber of Deputies. The Ministry made an
excellent reply to the attacks of MM. de Broglie and Villemain. M.
Pasquier, who is angry at an attempt to limit his powers, made a very
bad President. The Ministry is anxious concerning Easter week.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Duc de Talleyrand, younger brother of the Prince de Talleyrand,
died on April 28, 1838. The Duc and Duchesse de Dino then inherited
his title, which they afterwards bore. The following 17th of May the
Prince de Talleyrand died in his turn, after four days' illness.

       *       *       *       *       *

The following letter was written on May 10, 1838, but was placed at
this point of the Memoirs by the author herself.

   _A letter addressed by the Duchesse de Talleyrand to the Abbé
   Dupanloup with reference to the latter's account of the last
   moments of the Prince de Talleyrand._

"I have read with profound emotion, M. l'Abbé, as you may be sure, the
valuable manuscript which I now beg to return to you.[90]

  [90] The manuscript in question was an account of the last
  moments of the Prince de Talleyrand, written by the Abbé
  Dupanloup, afterwards Bishop of Orleans. The author never printed
  it, and bequeathed it, with all his papers concerning the Prince
  de Talleyrand, to M. Hilaire de Lacombe, who sent them to the
  Abbé Lagrange, afterwards Bishop of Chartres. He only used them
  for purposes of frequent quotation in the life of the Bishop
  Dupanloup, which he wrote some years ago, and two chapters of
  which are devoted to M. de Talleyrand. These papers are now in
  the possession of M. Bernard de Lacombe. The letter of the
  Duchesse de Talleyrand, transcribed in this volume, is reproduced
  here, although I have already published it in _Le Temps_ of April
  30, 1908.

"Everything is related with a truth and simplicity which must, I
think, touch the hearts of the most indifferent and convince the most
sceptical. I have nothing to add to your account, which perfectly
describes all the incidents of the sad event unfortunately
accomplished before our eyes. But perhaps I alone am able to point out
the course of mental development which for some years had certainly
begun to modify M. de Talleyrand's feelings. It was a gradual process,
and there is a certain interest in following its slow but sincere
growth, as it eventually led him in so consoling a manner to his goal.

"I will therefore try to retrace my recollections of this matter, and
I think I shall not go back too far if I begin with my daughter's
first communion, which took place at London on March 31, 1834. On that
day she came to ask for the blessing of M. de Talleyrand, whom she
called her good uncle. He gave it her tenderly, and then said to me:
'How touching is the piety of a young girl, and how unnatural is
unbelief, especially in women.' However, a short time after our return
to France M. de Talleyrand was alarmed by the strength of my
daughter's feelings. He was afraid that she might be taught to
mistrust him, or to form unfavourable opinions of him, and even asked
me to find out from what point of view Pauline's confessor treated the
subject. I put the question directly to my daughter, who replied with
that candour which you yourself know, that as her uncle did not
involve her in any sin she never spoke of him to her confessor, who
only mentioned him in advising her to pray to God earnestly for him.
M. de Talleyrand was touched by this answer, and said to me: 'Such
conduct is that of an intelligent and deserving man.'

"From that time he was anxious that Pauline should have more
opportunities for attending church, and even go some distance from
home to receive the benefit of your wise direction; he used to offer
her the use of his carriage, and I have sometimes seen him go to
personal inconvenience for the advantage of his 'little girl.'

"Eventually he derived a certain self-esteem on account of Pauline's
religious earnestness, and seemed to be flattered that she should have
been so well brought up under his own eyes; he would often say, in
speaking of Pauline, 'She is the angel of the house.' He took great
pleasure, as all good minds do, in declaring the merits of others. No
one could give praise more gracefully, with greater moderation,
advantage, and propriety; any one who was mentioned or criticised by
him received all the credit that could be his due. Upon occasions he
would certainly utter words of blame, but only at rare intervals, and
never with such direct force as when he praised. He was especially
lenient towards ecclesiastics, and if he disapproved of them it was
only for political reasons, and never on account of their religious
ministrations, while he always expressed himself with great
moderation. He both respected and admired the ancient Church of
France, of which he spoke as a great, a fine, and a magnificent
institution. In his house I have seen cardinals, bishops, and simple
village pastors; all were received with infinite respect, and became
the objects of tactful attention. An inappropriate word was never
uttered before them; M. de Talleyrand would never have allowed
anything of the kind. I have seen the Bishop of Rennes (the Abbé
Mannay) spend months at Valençay and the Bishop of Evreux (the Abbé
Bourlier) stay at M. de Talleyrand's residence in Paris with the same
purity and freedom of conduct and enjoying the same respect as in
their dioceses. Towards his uncle, the late Cardinal of Périgord, M.
de Talleyrand was a tender, attentive, and deferential nephew. He was
often to be seen at the Archbishop's house, where he was especially
fond of a talk with the Abbé Desjardins, whom he liked for the
gentleness and the wide range and tact of his conversation.

"I have often been astonished at the unconstraint of my uncle's
bearing in the society of ecclesiastics, which I can only explain by
supposing that he was under a delusion, strange, but real and
long-lasting, concerning his actual position with reference to the
Church. He was quite aware that he had dealt the Church a blow, but he
thought that the process of secularisation which he had unduly
stimulated had been one of simplification rather than of
destruction.[91] As his position thus seemed to him pretty clearly
defined, he regarded it as easy. This mistake lasted as long as his
political life, and only after his retirement did he think of defining
more exactly his relations with the Papacy. But before this time a
vague instinct made him feel that if, in his opinion, he did not
exactly owe any reparation, he owed at least some consolation to those
whom he had saddened. He therefore was ready to support the interests
of the clergy upon every occasion, and never refused an alms either to
a priest in distress or to a beggar, but tacitly recognised the claims
of both upon him. His charity was great, and I gave him much pleasure
by repeating to him a remark made by a most estimable person, which
was as follows: 'You may set your mind at rest; M. de Talleyrand will
come to a good end, for he is charitable.' I was able to remind him of
this saying at the most solemn hour of his life, as you, M. l'Abbé,
may remember, and remember, also, what consolation he derived from it.
He was always deeply grateful to those in retirement from the world
and in convents who prayed for him. He never forgot it, and used to
say: 'I have some friends among the good souls.' His heart was touched
because he was a good man, a very good man indeed; he felt this
himself when he used to ask me: 'Am I not really better than I am
thought to be?' Certainly he was better than he was thought; only his
neighbours, his friends, and his servants could appreciate the extent
of his simple kindness, his attention, his love, and his loyalty. You
have seen our tears. The good-hearted alone are thus lamented.

  [91] M. de Talleyrand had spoken strongly in favour of the
  Concordat. The Pope was aware of the fact, and on March 10, 1802,
  addressed a Papal letter to him which authorised him to re-enter
  civil life, though expressed in somewhat vague terms.

"After his return from England he was twice strongly impressed with
salutary effect by the Christian death of the Duc de Dalberg and by
the religious habits which characterised the latter part of the life
of Dr. Bourdois, his contemporary, his friend, and his doctor. He was
grateful to Dr. Bourdois for entrusting him to the clever hands of M.
Cruveilhier; he had confidence in his skill, and felt himself honoured
to be so well attended by so religious a man. The earnestness of his
doctor seemed to be regarded by him as an additional guarantee.

"Pope Pius VII. was always the object of his veneration; he devoted
several pages of his memoirs to the struggle between this Pope and the
Emperor Napoleon, and his view of the matter was entirely to the
advantage of the Pope. He had a strong admiration for the policy of
the Papacy as clever, quiet, gentle, and always uniform, which
qualities he regarded as of first-rate importance in the conduct of
business.

"Throughout the pontificate of Pius VII. my uncle thought himself in
fairly good odour at Rome. In support of this conviction he often
quoted to me a remark by the holy Father with reference to himself.
The Pope was then at Fontainebleau, and was speaking to the Marquise
de Brignole, a friend of M. de Talleyrand, and said, referring to my
uncle: 'May God rest his soul; for my part, I have a great affection
for him.'

"M. de Talleyrand was well aware that I often had the honour of seeing
the Archbishop of Paris, and he had guessed that our intercourse was
actuated by one principal idea as far as M. de Quélen was
concerned--the desire to preserve his relations with my uncle. M. de
Talleyrand was never worried by him; on the contrary; and though
several letters addressed by the Archbishop of Paris to M. de
Talleyrand at different times failed to achieve their object, he was
none the less touched by the enduring interest he had inspired in a
prelate whose character he honoured and whose sincere zeal and
open-mindedness he appreciated. He also showed much interest in M. de
Quélen and his political position, which he would like to have been
able to render easier. Upon several occasions I have seen him attempt
to do him some service, by advice which he thought useful, or by
speaking warmly in his favour at any other time. This he did not
merely from love of truth, but also as a testimony to the memory of
the late Cardinal Périgord. He often said: 'I look upon M. de Quélen
as a legacy from my uncle, the Cardinal. He likes us and our name and
everything connected with the Cardinal.' On New Year's Day he used to
instruct me to leave his card at the Archbishop's house, saying, 'We
should always treat him as a grandparent.' He never saw me start upon
a visit to Saint-Michel or to the Sacré Cœur[92] without asking me
to give his respects to the Archbishop. When I came back he used to
ask me for news of him and whether his own name had been mentioned,
and what M. de Quélen had said of him. He would listen attentively to
my answers, smile, and say at length: 'Yes, yes, I know that he is
very anxious to win my soul and to offer it to the Cardinal.' Up to
his last year these remarks were never uttered very seriously, but
with great kindliness.

  [92] The Archbishop de Quélen, who was out of sympathy with the
  Government of 1830, was threatened in 1831 by an insurrection
  which pillaged the Archbishop's residence in Paris. As he then
  had no official residence, he took refuge first in the Convent of
  the Ladies of St. Michel of Paris, and then in that of the Ladies
  of the Sacré Cœur at Conflans, a short distance outside the
  town.

"On December 10, 1838, I received very early notice of the death of
the Princesse de Talleyrand. I was obliged to announce the news to my
uncle, and I was most reluctant to do so, for it was just at this time
that he was attacked by violent palpitations which made us fear a
sudden death. Excitement above all was to be avoided, and I was afraid
that this news might cause him some agitation. But it was not so, and
he immediately replied calmly in words which much surprised me: 'That
greatly simplifies my position.' At the same moment from the pocket of
his dressing-jacket he drew out some letters and told me to read them.
The first was written by a religious lady at the Sacré Cœur; M. de
Talleyrand had known her well in past years, had done her some
service, and always called her his old friend; she was Madame de
Marbœuf. In this letter she spoke to him of God, and sent him a
medal, which he always used to wear, and which to-day becomes yours.

"The second letter was sent to him by a clergyman near Gap, who was
entirely unknown to him, and who spoke of God with admirable and
touching simplicity.

"Finally, the third letter, inspired by the warmest faith,
open-mindedness, reason, and sincere interest, boldly touched upon my
uncle's religious position. He wrote a few lines to the Duchesse
Mathieu de Montmorency to thank her for it, and constantly carried
this letter about with him in a little pocket-book, where I found it
after his death. He often spoke of it, and of the noble and
unfortunate lady who had written it, and always with warmth and
respect.

"He also knew that one of my cousins, Madame de Chabannes, a nun of
the Grandes Carmélites at Paris, constantly prayed for him; he was
touched by the fact, and would say to me, when speaking of these pious
people: 'The good souls will not despair of me.' I know nothing so
gentle or so loving as this saying of his, which showed that he had no
fear that God would abandon him.

"In the case of any one who knew him as well as I did, attempts to
urge him too rapidly along this path would have been tactless. It was,
indeed, necessary to give these various impressions time to develop,
and with him nothing was done quickly; his trust in time was infinite,
and it was faithful to him unto death.

"Whenever I spoke to my uncle of his marriage, as I often did, I was
not afraid so show him my surprise at a mistake as inexplicable as it
was fatal in the eyes of God. He then replied: 'The truth is that I
cannot give you a satisfactory explanation of it; it was done at a
time of general disturbance, when people attached no great importance
to anything, to themselves, or to others; there was no society and no
family, and every one acted with complete carelessness in the midst of
wars and the fall of empires. You do not know how far astray men may
wander in periods of great social upheaval.' The same idea may be
found in his proposed declaration to the Pope, the original of which
is in my hands, when he wrote: 'This revolution which has swept
everything away and has continued for the last fifty years.'

"Thus you may see that not only did he make no attempt to justify his
marriage, but that he did not even try to explain it. His domestic
life had been very unhappy under the Empire and the Restoration, and
since that time I have always seen him embarrassed and ashamed of this
strange bond which he no longer wished to bear, but the painful chain
of which he could not entirely break; and when death broke it for him
he realised his deliverance to the full.

"Some time afterwards, in March 1836, one of his servants was attacked
by an illness which was soon declared mortal. My daughter induced the
man to see a priest and to receive the sacraments. M. de Talleyrand
knew of it, and expressed his satisfaction. On this occasion he said
to me: 'Any other procedure in our house would have been a scandal
which would certainly have caused unpleasant talk; I am delighted that
Pauline should have prevented it.' The same evening he related the
incident to Madame de Laval, and enlarged with satisfaction upon the
influence which Pauline exerted upon the whole house by her firm and
modest earnestness.

"In the spring of 1837 my uncle desired to leave Fontainebleau,
whither he had come for the marriage of the Duc d'Orléans, before the
Court had finished its stay. He told me to remain and to be present at
the great festival which the King gave at Versailles a few days later.
I rejoined him afterwards at Berry, where he had been anxious to go in
time to meet the Archbishop of Bourges at Valençay, who was passing
that way while making a tour of his diocese. I heard from Pauline that
M. de Talleyrand had shown special attention to the prelate, even to
the point of changing his personal customs. On Friday and Saturday he
had declined to have meat upon his table, and all the meals were
served as for a fast day.

"During the summer of the same year, 1837, the superior of the Sisters
of Saint-André, who were established at Valençay by the care of M. de
Talleyrand, came to inspect this community. He called at the Castle,
where he was asked to dinner. As we left the table M. de Talleyrand
said to me: 'I have an idea that the Abbé Taury is a member of the
community of Saint-Sulpice; go and ask him.' I brought back a reply in
the affirmative. 'I was sure of it,' he returned with satisfaction;
'there is a gentleness and reserve and a sense of propriety in the
members of that community which is quite unmistakable.'

"On Sundays and great festivals M. de Talleyrand was always present at
mass when he was at Valençay; on his two patron saints' days, St.
Charles and St. Maurice, he was also present, and would have felt hurt
if the vicar had not come to say mass at the Château. His behaviour in
chapel was entirely proper, and notwithstanding his infirmity he
would always kneel down at the right moment. If there was no mass, if
people came late or made a noise, he noticed it as being improper.
During mass he read attentively either the _Funeral Orations_ of
Bossuet or his _Discourse upon Universal History_. One Sunday,
however, in November 1837 he had forgotten his book, and took one of
the two which Pauline had brought for herself. It was the _Imitation
of Jesus Christ_. As he gave it back to her he turned to me and asked
me to give him a copy of this admirable book. I offered him mine,
which he afterwards took to mass in preference to any other.

"He regarded it as important that the officiating priest should
perform the service in full, and often quoted the Archbishop of Paris
as the ecclesiastic whose conduct of the service was most to his taste
and most dignified. One Sunday I ventured to tell him that during mass
my thoughts had wandered in his direction. He wished to know them, and
I ventured to tell him that I had been wondering what his thoughts
could be when he remembered that he too had held the same distinction
as the priest officiating before him. His reply seemed to me to be an
obvious proof of the delusion under which he was concerning his true
ecclesiastical position. He said: 'Why do you think it strange to see
me at mass? I go there as you do, or any one else. You are constantly
forgetting that I have resigned my orders, which fact makes my
position very simple.' At that time he wished to show me the letters
granting his resignation, but they were at Paris. After his death I
found them, with all the papers relating to this business, and very
curious they are. I examined them carefully; they showed me that his
marriage alone had been the great obstacle to his reconciliation with
the Church; his other offences had been pardoned and the
ecclesiastical censure removed at Paris by Cardinal Caprara in the
name of the Pope.

"I referred just now to the attention with which M. de Talleyrand used
to read Bossuet's _Discourse on Universal History_; this fact recalls
to my mind an incident which seemed to me remarkable. One day at
Valençay, I think in the year 1835, he asked me to come into his room.
I found him there reading. 'Come,' he said, 'I wish to show you how
mysteries should be spoken of; read aloud and read slowly.' I read the
following: "In the year 4000 of the world's history, Jesus Christ the
son of Abraham in time, the Son of God in eternity, was born of a
virgin.' 'Learn the passage by heart,' he said to me, 'and see with
what authority and what simplicity all mysteries may be concentrated
in these few lines. Thus and thus only it is proper to speak of holy
things. They are imposed upon us, but not explained to us. That fact
alone secures their acceptance; in other forms they are worthless, for
doubt begins when authority ends, and authority, tradition, and
dominion are only revealed sufficiently in a Catholic church.' He
always had something unpleasant to say about Protestantism; he had
seen it at close quarters in America, and had preserved a disagreeable
memory of it.

"In the month of December 1837 I felt seriously ill. We were then at
my house at Rochecotte, where, unfortunately, spiritual resources are
few. However, as I felt in some danger I wished to send for the local
clergyman. My uncle heard of it, and as I was getting well he showed
some surprise. 'So you have reached that point,' he said to me; 'and
how did you get there?' I told him as simply as I could, and he
listened with much interest. In conclusion I added that, among many
other serious considerations, I had not forgotten that of my social
position, which I was the more bound to remember in view of its
importance. He then interrupted me quickly and said: 'In truth there
is nothing less aristocratic than unbelief.' Two days afterwards he
re-opened a similar conversation of his own accord, made me go through
the same details, then looked at me steadily and said: 'You believe,
then?' 'Yes, sir,' I replied, 'firmly.'

"During our last stay together at Rochecotte he heard of the arrest of
the Archbishop of Cologne; he seemed to regard it as an important
event. 'This may give us back the line of the Rhine,' he said
immediately. 'In any case, it is a grain of Catholicism sown in
Europe; you will see it rise and grow vigorously.'

"At that time I came across a passage dealing with the limits of the
spiritual and temporal powers, which is to be found in the discourse
delivered by Fénelon at the consecration of the Archbishop of Cologne.
I showed this fine passage to my uncle, who was delighted with it, and
said: 'That should be copied and sent to the King of Prussia.'

"When we returned to Paris in the month of January 1838 M. de
Talleyrand was soon deprived of the little exercise which he had been
able hitherto to take. He sprained his foot at the English Embassy,
where he was dining, on January 27. The winter was very cold, and the
douching which was ordered for his sprained foot to restore its
strength gave him a cold. The cold became bronchitis, and he could not
sleep or eat. Every morning he used to complain of his harassing
insomnia. 'When one cannot sleep,' he said, 'one thinks terribly.'
Once he added: 'During these long nights I recall many events of my
life.' 'Can you give yourself reasons for them all?' I asked him.
'No,' he said; 'in truth there are some I do not understand in the
least; others that I can explain and excuse; and others, too, for
which I blame myself the more severely as they were performed with
extreme carelessness, though they have since been my chief cause of
self-reproach. If I had acted according to any system or principle,
then I should certainly understand them, but my actions were performed
without consideration and with the carelessness of that age, as was
almost everything done in our youth.' I told him that it was
preferable, in my opinion, to have acted thus than as a result of
false doctrine. He admitted that I was right.

"It was at the end of one of these conversations that your letter
arrived, M. l'Abbé, the letter that you quote in your interesting
narrative. He handed it to me to read, and said somewhat abruptly: 'If
I were to fall seriously ill, I should ask for a priest. Do you think
the Abbé Dupanloup would come?' 'I have no doubt of it,' I replied;
'but he could only be of any use to you if you re-entered the
communion from which you have unfortunately departed.' 'Yes,' he
replied, 'I owe something to Rome, I know well, and have thought of it
for a long time.' 'For how long?' I asked him, surprised, I admit, at
this unexpected beginning. 'Since the last visit of the Archbishop of
Bourges to Valençay, and afterwards when the Abbé Taury came there. I
then wondered why the Archbishop, who at that time was more directly
my spiritual pastor, did not open the subject. Why did the apostle of
Saint-Sulpice never speak to me?' 'Unfortunately,' I replied, 'they
would not have dared.' 'Yet,' he said, 'I would have welcomed anything
of the kind.' Deeply moved by such satisfactory words, I took his
hand, and, standing before him with tears in my eyes, I said: 'Why
wait for any one to open the question? Why not take for yourself
spontaneously, freely, and nobly the step that is at once most
honourable to yourself, most consoling to the Church and to all
right-minded people? I am sure that you would find Rome well disposed,
while the Archbishop of Paris is deeply attached to you; so make the
trial.' He did not interrupt me, and I was able to go further into
this delicate and even thorny question, though it was a question that
I thoroughly understood, as it had been repeatedly explained to me by
M. de Quélen, who had been anxious to make me realise all its
bearings. We were interrupted before I had been able to say all I
wished, but on going to my room I wrote M. de Talleyrand a long letter
under stress of my deep devotion. He read it with that trustfulness
with which he was accustomed to rely upon my instinct when his
reputation and his real interest was at stake. So my letter made an
impression upon him, though he did not tell me so until later, when he
gave me a paper for M. de Quélen, of which I will speak afterwards.

"In the month of March 1838 he read a eulogy upon M. Reinhard at the
Academy of Moral and Political Science. His doctor feared the effect
upon him of such an enterprise. Our attempts to dissuade him were in
vain. 'This is my last appearance in public,' he said, 'and nothing
shall keep me back.' He was anxious to use the opportunity for
explaining his political doctrines and for showing that they were
those of an honest man. He even hoped that he would be thus of some
use to those who proposed to follow a diplomatic career. The evening
before the meeting he went over his speech with me, and said: 'The
religion of duty; that will please the Abbé Dupanloup.' When we
reached the passage concerning theological study I interrupted him to
say: 'Admit that that is intended much rather for yourself than for
good M. Reinhard.' 'Why, certainly,' he replied, 'there is no harm in
letting the public see my point of departure.' 'I am delighted,' I
said, 'to see you overshadowing the end of your life with the
recollections and traditions of your early youth.' 'I was sure you
would be pleased with it,' was his kindly reply.

"M. de Talleyrand bore the strain of this fatiguing meeting, where he
was successful in every way, remarkably well. From the point of view
of literature and politics he was successful, and also as a nobleman
and an honest man. When he returned home he at once sent the first
proofs of his speech to M. de Quélen and to you. He expected your
approval, and was touched by it.

"Then his health seemed to improve; he recovered his strength, made
plans for travel, and talked of Nice for the following winter; he felt
his powers reviving, and noticed it with pleasure. On April 28,
however, when he heard of his brother's death, who was eight years
younger than himself, he put his hands before his eyes and said:
'Another warning, my dear child. Do you know whether my brother
recovered his memory before death?' 'Unfortunately not, sir,' I said.
He then resumed with extreme sadness: 'How dreadful it is thus to fall
from the most worldly life into dotage, and from dotage into death!'

"This painful shock did not check the improvement in his health, and
we were able to think that he had been restored to life. I am the more
careful to observe that this was the moment, when all idea of an
approaching death was far away, when he chose to undertake seriously
the project of submission to the Pope. He drew up a form of
declaration without saying anything to me of it, a kind of pleasant
surprise which he wished to keep for me. One day, when he saw me ready
to go to Conflans to M. de Quélen, he drew from the drawer of his
desk, the desk at which I am now writing, a sheet of paper covered on
both sides, with erasures at several points. 'Here,' he said, 'is
something which will secure you a hearty reception where you are
going. You shall tell me what the Archbishop thinks of it.' On my
return I told him that M. de Quélen deeply appreciated the paper, but
wished the statements there expressed to be presented in a more
canonical form, and intended to send him the ecclesiastical formula in
a few days.

"You know better than any one, sir, that thus the matter was actually
carried out. M. de Talleyrand also spoke to me on the same day of his
intention to write an explanatory letter to the Pope when sending him
the declaration. He went into full details, and insisted upon his
willingness to speak of Pauline in this letter. He ended by a saying
which seems to me of considerable importance: 'What I am to do should
be dated during the week of my speech to the Academy. I do not wish
people to be able to say that I was in my dotage.' This idea was
carried out upon his deathbed, and was performed as he wished.

"But here I must stop. Attractive as the subject may be, your
narrative contains full details. Moreover, during my uncle's illness I
was nothing more than his nurse, and my actions were confined to
summoning the consolations of your presence and to obeying my uncle by
reading to him the two addresses to Rome before he signed them. I
forced myself to read them slowly and seriously, because I neither
would nor could diminish in any way the merit of his action; it was
necessary that he should thoroughly understand what he was about to
do. His faculties were too clear, heaven be praised, and his attention
too concentrated, for any hurried or confused reading to have
satisfied him. It was for me to justify his touching confidence which
had induced him to wish this important reading to be performed by
myself, and only the firmness and clearness of my pronunciation could
satisfy this condition. He was to be left to the last moment in full
consciousness of his act and full freedom of his will. From this
difficult task I have derived the complete indifference with which I
have afterwards faced any doubts, attacks, or calumnies of which I
have been the object.

"I can say in the sight of God that there was no ignorance or weakness
on the part of M. de Talleyrand; there was no delusion and no abuse of
confidence on my part. His generous nature, the recollections of his
early youth, his family traditions, the wide experience of a long
career, the example of Pauline, some explanations which I was
instructed to give him, the confidence with which you were able to
inspire him, the revelation that comes to every man at the gate of the
tomb, and above all the infinite mercy of a gracious Providence--such
are the reasons which allow us to honour him as sincerely in his death
as we loved him in his life.

"Carried away by a subject which is near to my heart, I have
overstepped the limits which I had at first laid down, but I have no
fear that I have wearied you by recalling your attention to details
which I know you will value, and which for me have the special
advantage that they have established, M. l'Abbé, between us, a bond
which nothing can weaken or break.

    "DUCHESSE DE TALLEYRAND,"
    "PRINCESSE DE COURLANDE."


_Heidelberg, August 27, 1838._--I have been here with my daughter
since yesterday evening. My sister, the Duchesse de Sagan, arrived the
previous evening. This morning, at six o'clock, faithful to my habits
at Baden, I went out while my sister and daughter were still asleep,
and while recalling memories of the place I found the bridge and
stopped before the statue of the Elector Charles Theodore; I then
crossed the river and walked upon the banks of the Neckar for
three-quarters of an hour, with the town upon my left, dominated by
the old castle. The pretty landscape, with the river valley, the
position of the town, and even the style of the agriculture, reminded
me of the hillsides of Amboise and my dear Loire, and was pleasantly
lighted by the broken rays of a sun struggling through light clouds.

I now know who wrote the article upon M. de Talleyrand which appeared
in the _Gazette_ of Augsburg. My sister read it in manuscript. The
writer was the Minister Schulenburg, a clever man, who had seen a
great deal of M. de Talleyrand in past times. He is a friend of the
Vicomtesse de Laval, and saw M. de Talleyrand at her house once more
when he came to Paris eighteen months ago. He is anxious not to be
known as the author of this article.


_Paris, September 6, 1838._--I arrived here the day before yesterday,
and found a letter which told me that as M. Molé had refused to make
an alliance with M. Guizot, the latter had formed a coalition with M.
Thiers. M. Guizot will become President of the Chamber of Deputies and
M. Thiers Prime Minister. All this is to be revealed and settled
during the discussion upon the Address. I cannot guarantee this story.
The King is at Eu, and I shall not see the Court until I return.

I am just finishing the last work of Villemain.[93] The first chapter
of the second volume deals with Montesquieu; the second is a detailed
analysis of the _Esprit des Lois_, which is much too deep for me. The
following chapters summarise the bad philosophy of the eighteenth
century, as it appears in the mouths of its prophets, its votaries,
and its adversaries. The last part of the volume is devoted to
Rousseau, by whose charms Villemain seems too obviously to have been
overcome. I have no kindly feelings for Rousseau, for he was a
hypocrite, and Voltaire's cynicism is perhaps less disgusting; at any
rate, Voltaire was not guilty of so many positively bad actions as
Rousseau, and mere talent in itself is no justification for either
man.

  [93] _The Eighteenth Century._

My children write from Valençay saying that the crowd at the funeral
ceremony was enormous.[94] Starting from Blois, the procession was
joined by the people of all the neighbouring settlements on foot, in
great sadness, while at night they came with torches. On the carriage
which bore the coffin of M. de Talleyrand and that of my
granddaughter, Yolande, were Hélie and Péan;[95] in the carriage which
followed was my son Alexandre. All the clergy of the district offered
their services. My son Valençay also sends me the programme of the
ceremony, which seems very well arranged; I especially approve of a
large distribution of charity to the poor, who should never be
forgotten, neither in joy nor sorrow.

  [94] The funerals of the Prince de Talleyrand, of his brother,
  the Duc de Talleyrand, and of the little Yolande de Périgord,
  daughter of the Duc and Duchesse de Valençay, who died in
  childhood, took place on September 6, 1838, at Valençay. The
  three coffins were placed in a vault which the Prince de
  Talleyrand had constructed during his lifetime.

  [95] The Prince de Talleyrand's footmen.

Before starting, the coffin of M. de Talleyrand was covered with black
velvet, with silver nails, and bore an escutcheon with his arms, his
name and distinctions; the coffin of Yolande was covered with white
velvet. The arrival of the funeral procession in the Castle court at
Valençay, at ten o'clock at night in the most beautiful moonlight, is
said to have been extremely imposing; there was deep silence, broken
only by the sound of the hearse as it slowly passed the draw-bridge.
The bodies were placed for the night in the church, and watched by the
clergy in prayer. The coffin of the Duc de Talleyrand, accompanied by
the doctor who had attended him, arrived two hours later.


_Paris, September 7, 1838._--The Princesse de Lieven, whom I saw
yesterday, told me that she no longer receives any letters from her
husband. She examined me closely as to any information I might have
gained in Germany concerning her Emperor, whom I think she really
hates as much as the inhabitants of Warsaw can hate him. If, however,
she was once more within his grasp, or merely out of France, her
patriotism would be equal to that of any old Muscovite. She told me
that at Munich the Emperor Nicholas had displayed great exasperation
with the Russian Minister at the enormous expense to which he had gone
for the reception of the Empress, saying, "Do you wish, then, to
increase our unpopularity?" She spoke a great deal of the father's
carelessness with respect to his son's well-being. Apart from the
rapidity of their journey, and the scanty food which the father gave
him in the course of it, he made the Grand Duke continually hold his
legs outside the carriage, no matter what the weather might be, in
order that they should not be in his father's way.

I am assured that Queen Victoria, who showed herself so anxious to
escape from the maternal yoke, is now trying to avoid the influence of
her uncle, King Leopold.

The Flahaut family have been saying the most horrible things at London
about the Tuileries, and the Tuileries are aware of the fact.

France has abandoned Belgium in the course of the negotiations in
progress at London, and forces her to yield upon all questions of
territory, but supports her pecuniary claim; between the figures of
Leopold and King William there is a difference of 16,000,000. The
Powers wish to compromise, but Leopold objects, and refuses to relax
his grasp of Limburg until the crowns are paid.

In Spain Queen Christina is trying to make money out of everything,
and demands a price for every nomination that she makes. She thinks
only of amassing money and spending it quietly out of Spain, for which
she may speedily have an opportunity. Her sister, whose practical mind
has already gained her a certain influence here, and who might be able
to marry her prettiest daughter to the Duc de Nemours, is intriguing
vigorously against her.

M. Thiers spent three hours with Count Metternich near Como, and
showed anything but sympathy for Spain during the conversation.
However, people have not been taken in and prejudice remains
unaltered.


_Bonnétable, September 17, 1838._--I reached this strange place an
hour before dinner-time. The country is very pretty, but the castle
stands at the end of a little town, and the only view is the high-road
which runs along the moat. It is an old manor-house, with heavy
turrets, thick walls, and the windows few and narrow. There is little
in the way of furniture or decoration, but it is solid and clean, and
the necessaries of life of every kind are at hand, from an almorne to
a warming-pan. The mistress of the house, an active, bustling,
good-tempered lady, is largely occupied in most charitable work, in
which she shows great insight, and really leads the life of a
Christian widow, on the principles laid down by St. Jerome. In short,
one is inclined to think oneself in a country far away from France and
in a century quite remote from the nineteenth. Evening prayers are
said all together at nine o'clock in the chapel, and are read by the
Duchesse Mathieu de Montmorency herself. They moved me deeply,
especially the prayer for the rest of the departed, repeated by one
who has survived all her relatives, whether older, of her own age, or
younger than herself. This prayer in the mouth of one who is thus
alone, without forefathers or posterity, was strangely sad. The other
isolated being, poor Zoé,[96] who repeated the responses, completed
the picture and the impression, which went to my heart. All the
servants were present. No more edifying spectacle could be seen than
that of this great and ancient house. The Duchesse is very highly
connected, and came to her title through the Luynes, who had inherited
it by marriage from the Duchesse de Nemours, one of whom had married
the niece.

  [96] Zoé was a negress in the service of the Vicomtesse de Laval,
  to whom she showed the greatest devotion. In 1838, after the
  death of the Vicomtesse, Zoé was taken into service by the
  Duchesse Mathieu de Montmorency, daughter-in-law of Madame de
  Laval, who lived upon the estate of Bonnétable, where Zoé ended
  her days in peace.


_Bonnétable, September 18, 1838._--If the weather were not so damp I
should find much interest in this place, which is quite unique. Mass
brings the household together every morning at ten o'clock; we do not
lunch until eleven o'clock, and have then half an hour for walking in
the moats, which are dry and have been turned into gardens by the care
of the Duchesse; she also took us for a walk around her kitchen garden
and the whole of her strange household. After lunch we worked round a
table at an altar-cloth, while the prior read his newspapers aloud. At
one o'clock we went to visit the fine hospital and the schools founded
by the Duchesse; everything is perfectly arranged, and much better
cared for than the castle. There are six beds for men and six for
women, a kind of boarding-school for twelve girls, and classes for
day scholars and the poor, together with a large dispensary. This is
all in one place, with the necessary outbuildings. Eight sisters do
the work of the establishment, which is really very fine. The Duchesse
then made us get into an old carriage with worm-eaten lining, but
drawn by four handsome horses, driven very cleverly four-in-hand by
one of the coachmen of Charles X. With Madame de Montmorency
everything is in contrast. She inherited her taste for horses from her
mother, and indulges herself in that respect; she has no taste for
carriages, and does not care if the one makes the other look shabby.
Thus drawn over shocking roads, we reached a magnificent forest of
full-grown timber, where the fine trees are only cut every hundred
years. It is really beautiful. In the centre of this forest, where six
roads meet, is a vast clearing; there the Duchesse has built a china
factory, with all the necessary outbuildings, which is almost a
village. She has spent a great deal of money on it, and admits herself
that it is not a lucrative investment, but it gives occupation to
sixty-eight people, is a reason for a pretty walk, and an additional
interest for herself. I made a few purchases, and Pauline was
interested in seeing the pottery moulded, fired, painted, and
enamelled.

After dinner one of the local clergy called while we spent our time in
embroidery, as after lunch, and talked of matters of local interest.
Then came prayers, good-night, and sleep.


_Bonnétable, September 19, 1838._--Yesterday it rained all day. No one
went out except the clergy, who were going to a retreat at Mans, and
stopped here to pay their respects to the Duchesse. The sisters also
came in for their orders. The Duchesse is in very good spirits. She
has the gift of narrative, and kept the conversation going very well
throughout a long day, without the smallest appearance of ill-nature.
When I went down to my room she lent me a manuscript book of her
thoughts. She writes wonderfully, and her writing displays a wealth
and variety of astonishing description. The outpourings of her heart
since her husband's death are especially touching, and display a
tenderness of feeling which would hardly be guessed from her outward
appearance. I shall leave her entirely overcome by the warmth of her
reception, her fine qualities, and the admirable example which she
sets here.


_Rochecotte, September 27, 1838._--Yesterday I had a most unexpected
piece of news which grieved me deeply: Madame de Broglie is dead of
brain fever, though she was so young, at any rate for death--a year
younger than myself--though she was so happy, healthy, beautiful,
useful, distinguished, and beloved. In one short week she was carried
off, though prepared for death by her constant goodness. It has been
no surprise to her.

Almost the same day, but after a longer illness, amid the dissipations
of too worldly a life, died Lady Elizabeth Harcourt. She was of the
same age, and also handsome, but I think in no way prepared for the
dread passage.

With the death of my brother-in-law, the Prince of
Hohenzollern-Hechingen, I have heard of three deaths during the last
week. Last month Anatole de Talleyrand died; in the month of July
Madame de Laval; on May 17 M. de Talleyrand; on April 28 my
father-in-law; in March my uncle Medem. In less than seven months
eight persons have disappeared who were bound to me by ties of blood,
friendship, or intercourse. Death surrounds me on every hand, and I
can no longer trust either to the freshness of my daughter or to the
cares of others; only the goodness of God can be infallibly trusted,
and on His infinite mercy I must rely, and confide my loved ones to
His care.

During the last two days of her life Madame de Broglie was delirious,
and chanted the Psalms so loudly that one could hear her from one end
of her residence to the other. When she was not singing she talked to
her brother and her daughter who had died years before.


_Valençay, October 3, 1838._--I am again in this beautiful spot, so
rich in memories and so deprived of life and movement. I reached here
yesterday in the moonlight, which suits the place so well, and which
M. de Talleyrand always pointed out to us with such admiration. It was
an unpleasant journey: broken carriages, tired horses, bad
postillions, torn harness, and abominable roads, as they are being
repaired or constructed afresh; in short, a series of petty obstacles,
which troubled and vexed us, and made us late. M. de Talleyrand's old
dog, Carlos, was strangely excited at our arrival, and pulled Mlle.
Henriette by her dress, as if he would say, "Come and help me to look
for the missing one."


_Paris, October 9, 1838._--I am now again in Paris, though I cannot
conceal the fact that a stay in this town makes me sadder than ever.
How I long for my workmen, my garden, the soft skies of Touraine, the
quiet of the country, the restfulness of the fields, time to think and
to reflect, of which I am here deprived by constant business and
worry!


_Paris, October 12, 1838._--Yesterday I went to the Convent of the
Sacré Cœur, where I stayed a long time with the Archbishop of Paris.
He gave me an exact translation of the letter of secularisation sent
by Pius VII. to M. de Talleyrand. It is a curious document, and shows
that even though M. de Talleyrand, with his habitual carelessness, had
mistaken the text, the general sense had been known to him, and that
he had every reason to say that Rome could not be too exacting without
self-contradiction. As, however, the letter had preceded the marriage
of M. de Talleyrand, and as that marriage was not authorised by the
Church, it was actually necessary for him to retract. This was done
_in verba generalia_, as Rome admitted, and so every one should be
satisfied.

When I returned home I gave orders that I should not be disturbed
during the evening, and busied myself in putting the papers that I had
found at M. de Talleyrand's house into some order. I shall complete
this work only by degrees, for it causes me keen emotion. For
instance, I came upon a note which M. de Talleyrand sent to me from
his room to mine on February 6, 1837,[97] in which he told me that at
his supreme hour his only anxiety would be my future and my
happiness. I cannot say how this scrap of paper has agitated me.

  [97] February 6 is St. Dorothea's Day, the patron saint of the
  Duchesse de Talleyrand.


_Paris, October 13, 1838._--M. de Montrond came to see me yesterday.
He showed himself extremely kind and soothing; but the true nature of
things peeps out invariably, and towards the end of his call, which
had been spent in expressions of regret for M. de Talleyrand's death,
he let fall a phrase to this effect: "Do you propose to become a lady
of the Faubourg Saint-Germain?" I was able to reply that I had no need
to do anything of the kind, that my position was plain: a lady of rank
and independent means, unwilling to sacrifice my opinions here or my
position there; too deeply attached to the memory of M. de Talleyrand
not to be on good terms with the Tuileries, and too good company not
to live happily with my family and my own friends. He replied that I
had not forgotten to speak like M. de Talleyrand himself. Then he
rose, took my hand, and asked me if I would not be kind to him, saying
that he was alone in the world, that he was very anxious for
opportunities to talk of M. de Talleyrand with me sometimes, and then
he began to weep like a child. I told him that he would always find me
ready to listen to him, and to reply, if he spoke of M. de Talleyrand,
a subject of inexhaustible interest to myself. Human nature is
remarkable in its great diversity and its astonishing contrasts.


_Paris, October 17, 1838._--I have only had two satisfactory incidents
since my return: the arrival of my son Valençay, who is so good to me,
and a long conversation with the Abbé Dupanloup, which went on
yesterday for two hours at my house. Our minds are in sympathy, and,
what is better, we are marvellously alert to divine one another's
feelings, and both noticed it, owing to the strange and rapid
coincidence of our expressions. He has a rapidly working mind, and for
that reason pleased M. de Talleyrand, while with him one is never
embarrassed or hampered, and transitional ideas are never clogged; his
clearness of mind is never marked by dryness, because he has a sweet
and most affectionate soul. My long intercourse with M. de Talleyrand
has made it difficult for ordinary people to get on with me; I meet
minds which seem slow, diffuse, and ill-developed; they are always
putting on the brake, like people going downhill; I have spent my life
with my shoulder to the wheel in uphill work. In M. de Talleyrand's
lifetime I took more pleasure in the society of others, because I
fully enjoyed my own society with him; perhaps also because I
sometimes felt the need of rest at some lower elevation. But to-day I
feel that I am being overcome, in a moral sense, by what the English
call creeping paralysis; in short, yesterday I was able to spread my
wings for a moment, and it did me good. I complained to him of the
want of system in my life, of the weariness and oppression which were
the result of overstrain. He spoke of my reading, and told me that he
thought I should be deeply attracted by patristic literature; he
promised to sketch out a little course of reading for me within my
range. He is no inquisitive or indiscreet converter of souls; he is a
good and intelligent man, a pure and lofty soul, discreet and
moderate, whose influence can never be anything but wise, gentle, and
restrained.


_Paris, October 18, 1838._--The Princess Christian of Denmark, who is
at this moment at Carlsruhe, is no longer young; but fifteen years
ago, when she came to Paris, she was very pretty; her complexion,
hair, and shoulders were especially beautiful. Her features were less
striking, and those are the most permanent elements in beauty. I know
that she and her husband have retained a very kindly feeling for the
present royal family of France. Princess Christian is the
granddaughter of the unfortunate Queen Mathilda of Denmark. Prince
Christian's first wife was a mad woman with dreadful manners.[98] She
went to Rome for refuge and to join the Catholic Church, and there she
plunged into the most ridiculous mummeries. Her husband adored her,
and if the King of Denmark had not insisted upon a separation Prince
Christian would have remained under her yoke. He still corresponds
with her, and has never ceased to regret her loss. The present
Princess Christian, though prettier, is quite sensible, but has never
had much influence with her husband, owing, it is said, to the fact
that she has no children. The first wife was the mother of Prince
Frederick, who is an exile in Jutland.

  [98] The first wife of Prince Christian of Denmark was Princess
  Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Unfaithful to her husband, she
  was separated from him in 1809, and divorced by order of the king
  in 1810. She died in 1840 at Rome, where she had lived after her
  conversion to Catholicism. She was born in 1784, and married in
  1806.

_Paris, October 20, 1838._--Yesterday I went with Pauline to the
Comédie-Française to hear Mlle. Rachel, who is now causing so great a
sensation. I was not at all pleased. They all acted very badly, though
Mlle. Rachel is not so bad as the rest. They played _Andromaque_, in
which she took the part of Hermione, the part of irony, scorn, and
disdain. She went through it accurately and intelligently, but there
is no sympathy or attraction in her acting. She has a thin voice, is
neither pretty nor beautiful, but very young, and might become an
excellent actress if she had good training. The rest of the company is
wretched. I was very bored, and returned home benumbed.


_Paris, October 21, 1838._--The Duchesse de Palmella, whom I saw
yesterday, told me a strange thing. She said that the Duke of
Leuchtenberg, the first husband of Queen Doña Maria, had never been
her husband; that on his arrival in Portugal he was attacked with
scurvy, which made him contagious and greatly disgusted his wife, who
adores the little Coburg. She is now expecting her confinement.

With Pauline I called upon the Duchesse d'Orléans, who seemed to have
recovered very well from her confinement. Her child, which she was
kind enough to show us, is really charming. She has every reason to be
as proud of him as she is.

We came home for an audience granted me by the Infanta Carlotta, the
wife of Don Francisco. Like myself, they are both staying in the
Galliffet residence.[99] It was a curious interview. The Infanta is a
much bolder figure than Madame de Zea, and much taller. She is very
fair, with a face which, though washed out, is none the less stern,
with a rough manner of speaking. I felt very ill at ease with her,
although she was very courteous. Her husband is red-haired and ugly,
and the whole tribe of little Infantas, boys and girls, are all
utterly detestable. The eldest of the princesses is well brought up,
inclined to talk, and graciously took notice of Pauline. In my
opinion, this Infanta would be a most unpleasant Sovereign.

  [99] After the death of the Prince de Talleyrand the Duchesse de
  Talleyrand sold the residence in the Rue Saint-Florentin to the
  Rothschilds. This house she had inherited from the Prince. She
  then settled in a large suite of rooms in the residence of the
  Marquis de Galliffet, Rue de Grenelle.


_Paris, October 31, 1838._--During the last two days I have seen a
great deal of the Comtesse de Castellane. She speaks of only one thing
which she wants, and for which she is working with incredible energy.
I cannot complain, as her efforts show how much she thinks of my
daughter, to whom she wishes to marry the young Henri de Castellane.
Yesterday I went to consult the Archbishop on the point. He, as well
as the Abbé Dupanloup, seems to think that of all the possible
openings that have hitherto appeared Henri de Castellane would offer
the best chance of domestic happiness, by reason of his personal
merits. Both of them say that Pauline ought to choose for herself,
after due examination. Examination requires acquaintanceship; to
become acquainted they must see one another; and to see one another
they must meet. And so I have reached a new phase in my life, when I
am obliged to give a young man the run of my house in order to see
what he is worth. I have known M. de Castellane personally for many
years, but I have lost sight of him for a long time; besides, he is
going to marry Pauline, and not me. He is clever and well-educated,
hard-working, and, I think, ambitious. He is very correct and polite,
lives a retired life, and goes only into the best society; he is a
good son and a good brother, has an excellent name, but no title at
present, and no prospect; has few family ties, and wishes to live in
the same house as myself at Paris, though with a separate
establishment. He is respectful to his mother, but not on confidential
terms with her; wishes to have a religious wife, though he does not
practise the forms of religion himself. He is to have twenty thousand
francs income when he marries, and thirty thousand more from his
grandmother. He has a childless uncle who is worth forty-two millions.
For the moment the uncle will not give or promise or guarantee
anything, but he is very anxious for the marriage, and as he is
eccentricity personified he may come down handsomely some day. The
Abbé Dupanloup advises me to speak to Pauline on the subject without
any constraint, and also to tell her of other proposals made for her
hand. She does not like Jules de Clermont-Tonnerre, and thinks he
looks vulgar; the Duc de Saulx-Tavannes horrifies her--as a matter of
fact he has the figure of an elephant, while there is madness in the
family on both sides. The Duc de Guiche is not yet nineteen years of
age, has no property whatever, a number of brothers and sisters, a
rather foolish mother, while his family are always in extremities. The
Marquis de Biron is very rich and a good fellow; he is a childless
widower, but extremely stupid, and a red-hot Carlist. Pauline has
recently seen M. de Castellane on two occasions, and likes him
greatly; but she says she would like to know more of him, to make
certain of his principles and belief. I tell her that there is no
hurry, that she can very well wait, and that in any case I shall not
consent to any marriage taking place until our business affairs have
been wound up, the will declared, and the anniversary of the 17th of
May over. This is understood, though the parties would like a promise
to be given before that date, without celebrating the marriage. I can
also understand that they would like to make certain of Pauline, but I
do not propose to have our throats cut in that way. Madame Adélaïde,
who is much afraid that Pauline's marriage might prevent her from
going to the Tuileries, is a warm supporter of M. de Castellane. She
let me know that M. de Talleyrand, to her knowledge, had thought of
him. This is true, but he was more inclined to M. de Mérode, though
family arrangements made the proposal impossible; besides, Pauline
likes M. de Castellane much better than M. de Mérode. Another who has
been mentioned to me is Elie de Gontaut, the younger brother of the
Marquis of Saint-Blancard, but he is a young fop, and, though rich,
his position as younger brother is very pronounced, and that would not
please Pauline. In short, there is a perfect crowd of suitors, and I
do not know to whom I should listen. One point is certain, and I shall
make it perfectly clear: that Pauline herself will have to make the
choice.[100]

  [100] Mlle. Pauline de Périgord did in fact marry M. de
  Castellane, on April 11, 1839. He then assumed the title of
  Marquis from his grandfather, who had just died. His father,
  General de Castellane, afterwards Marshal of France, yielded the
  title to him on the occasion of his marriage and never bore it
  himself. From his grandmother, who brought him up, the old
  Marchioness de Castellane, _née_ Rohan-Chabot, whose first
  husband, the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, had left her a large
  fortune, M. de Castellane received as a wedding-gift the property
  of Aubijou, in Auvergne, in the department of Cantal, which will
  often be mentioned in these memoirs.



CHAPTER IV

1840


The Duchesse de Sagan, eldest sister of the Duchesse de Talleyrand,
had died in the winter of 1840. A number of business difficulties were
involved by the disposal of her property, and the Duchesse de
Talleyrand resolved upon a journey to Prussia, which she had not
visited since her marriage. She was accompanied by her eldest son, M.
de Valençay, while her correspondent, M. de Bacourt, who had been
appointed French Minister to the United States, went to take up his
new post at Washington, where he remained for several years.


_Amiens, May 16, 1840._--I cannot say with what fear I think of my
departure from Paris this morning and of the real trials upon which we
are to enter. I am now on the way to Germany, while you are starting
for America.[101] But to return to my journey of to-day: the roads are
heavy, the postillions brought us along rather badly, and we did not
arrive here until nine o'clock in the evening. I have read a good deal
of the life of Cardinal Ximenes. It is a sober and a serious book,
correctly written, but cold, and progress in it is difficult. I do
not, however, regret my trouble with it, for I know but little of this
great character, and he is worth studying.

  [101] Extract from a letter to M. de Bacourt.

The country is beautifully green and fresh, with bushy vegetation. We
had pleasant weather, in spite of a few showers, but twenty times I
told myself that travelling was the most foolish of all professions;
to be carried along these interminable roads, bumped upon their rough
surface, delivered to the tender mercies of postillions, fleeing from
all one loves, going as rapidly as possible towards things and people
who are quite uninteresting; thus spending one's life as though it
were eternal, and only realising its shortness when it is at an end.


_Lille, May 17, 1840._--This morning before leaving Amiens we heard
mass in the fine cathedral. The 17th of May is a date of special
import to myself. I gave myself some credit for going to mass so far
from the house of the rector of the Academy, M. Martin, with whom we
put up; then it was raining hard, and the Picard streets are very
dirty and the pavement detestable.

The cathedral is really magnificent; strength, grace, and boldness are
combined; stained-glass windows alone are wanting, as the light is too
bright. I prayed with all my heart for the dead and for the living,
and for the travellers who are to entrust themselves to the sea or
traverse unknown lands.

On the road from Amiens to this town I read the _Diable boiteux_, the
merits of which do not attract me in the least. The stories are too
monotonous and uninteresting, and the constant tone of mockery and
satire, which is not supported by the fine verse of Boileau, quite
disgusted me. However, I have read it, and am glad it is over. I now
know the nature of this book, which has had a certain reputation.

We had a better journey than yesterday. Our servants have gone to the
office to arrange for to-morrow's journey, which will be complicated
by the Belgian railways. After the mediocrity of Amiens and Arras,
where I had some broth this morning, Lille strikes one as a large if
not a great town, but I must admit that at present my travelling
curiosity is benumbed and my interest remarkably dull.


_Liège, May 18, 1840._--We have been fourteen mortal hours on the
journey from Lille to this town, notwithstanding the help of the
railway. The fact is that to make use of the railway it is necessary
to make a round of twenty leagues, which considerably diminishes the
advantage of it. From Courtrai one must go up to Gand, touch Malines,
and then to Liège by Louvain and Tirlemont. A vast amount of time is
wasted in stoppages at the numerous stations. Moreover, if one takes
one's own carriage time is required to put it on a truck and take it
off again, while the expense for the freight of carriages is so heavy
that nothing is saved by the railway. It is certainly a marvellous
invention, and the machinery is interesting. All is worked with
perfect punctuality and order, but at the same time it is an
unpleasant way of travelling, to my taste. There is no time to see
anything; for instance, we passed along the outer walls of several
towns which I should have liked to examine; we did not even pass
through villages, but went straight across country, with no other
event than occasional tunnels, cold and damp, in which the smoke of
the engine becomes thick enough to choke one. Even though the wind
carries away the smoke, it and the rattling of the engine would make
you imagine yourself upon a steamboat. Imagination was the easier in
my case as sickness and a certain stupefaction never left me. In
short, I arrived worn out and more and more displeased with the
fatigues and weariness of my enterprise. At Menin we were told to get
out in a bitter wind to be searched by the Custom House officials;
only when the examination was half over did they ask for our
passports; upon seeing our rank the Inspector of Customs checked the
ardour of his subordinates and allowed us to go. The fortress of Menin
is most carefully kept, and as clean and well restored as it can be;
and yet, if I am not wrong, I think that our protocols had required
its destruction.

I was struck with great admiration for the wealth and the good
cultivation of all Belgium, and if I had been able to satisfy my taste
for old buildings by visiting Ghent, Malines, and other places I
should have been consoled.


_Bergheim, May 19, 1840._--To travel from Liège to Cologne would have
been too long a day, so we are sleeping here in a very clean little
inn, though we have no means of warming ourselves, in spite of the
fact that the wind is icy. It is something of a hardship to be forced
to go without a fire or to be suffocated by a cast-iron stove. I am
undoubtedly a very ungrateful daughter of Germany, as I find
numberless material discomforts which I did not suspect in past years,
but which now cause me considerable exasperation.

I was greatly struck by the delightful country through which we passed
on the road from Liège to Aix-la-Chapelle by way of Verviers.
Chaudfontaine especially is a charming spot. The direct road would
have been through Battice, but this road is out of use and repair, and
we were directed from Liège to Verviers. The richness and beauty of
the countryside, the activity of the factories, and the river valleys
made the scene entirely animated and agreeable.

I was struck by the changed appearance of Aix-la-Chapelle. Although
the watering season had not yet commenced, the town was as animated as
possible; there are plenty of fine shops and new houses. At the same
time I should not care to take the waters there, as there is nothing
countrified about the place, and the walks are all too distant. To-day
I read a large part of a book by the Président de Brosses, _Italy a
Hundred Years Ago_. It is written with vigour and cheerfulness, wit
and fancy, but the spirit of the eighteenth century and the writer's
peculiar cynicism are obvious at every page.


_Cologne, May 20, 1840._--We have reached here so early that we have
decided to travel another dozen leagues to-day, after seeing Frau von
Binzer, changing our money, and buying some eau de Cologne. How cold
it is here! The change of climate becomes more and more perceptible.


_Elberfeld, May 20, 1840._--Frau von Binzer is an extremely ugly
person, but cheerful, sensible, clever, and very loyal. She spent last
year with my sister, the Duchesse de Sagan, and had only left her for
six weeks when she was overtaken by death. She wept bitterly in
speaking of my sister, and assured me that her death was a happy
deliverance; that she was so sad, so wearied, irritated, and disgusted
with everything that her temperament had visibly changed. She seems to
have had fits of actual despair, to have suffered a great deal during
the last weeks, and to have had several presentiments of her death.
She made her will on the evening before her last journey to Italy, in
the course of five minutes, while she had some friends in the house
taking tea. She told Frau von Binzer what she was doing, to her great
astonishment. She had intended to make another will, but death came
upon her as a punishment for her dilatoriness. Frau von Binzer was so
grieved at the rapidity of our departure from Cologne that I could not
refuse to take lunch with her. She lives a long way from the hotel
where I had put up, and I therefore had a considerable walk to her
house and back. My walk was prolonged because she insisted upon taking
me out of my way to show me the Stock Exchange, an old and curious
house of the Templars, the Town Hall, with its curious tower and
doorway, and the cathedral, which the Crown Prince of Prussia has
taken under his patronage, and which is being rapidly restored; the
results will be admirable. We stopped for a moment in front of the
Church of St. Mary of the Capitol, where Alpaide, the mother of
Charles Martel, is buried. We also looked at two houses belonging to
old aristocratic families in the time of the Hansa, which are in
Byzantine style. At the same time Cologne is a very ugly town, and the
Rhine is by no means beautiful at the spot where we crossed it.

Here we are, twelve leagues from Cologne, in the prettiest town
conceivable, which reminds one of Verviers; the country about it is
also pretty, and somewhat Belgian in character. All is clean and well
cared for. The Prussian roads are truly admirable, the postillions go
much better, and the horses are kept in good condition. In this
respect and in many others the country has undergone a remarkable
change. At the same time the iron stoves, the beds, and the food cause
me discomfort. The railway is progressing, and it is intended to
continue the line to Berlin. The work is being pushed on with great
rapidity, and from Liège nothing is to be seen but navvies, machinery,
and other preparations for this transformation scene.


_Mersheden, May 21, 1840._--We reached Arnberg at five o'clock. This
seemed a little early to finish our stage, so we continued our
journey for six leagues more. Now we are in a typical village inn, but
fairly clean, and with very obliging people. We might have found
better accommodation at the next stage, but I could not bring myself
to expose the servants any longer to the frightful weather. I have
rarely seen any more dreadful; hail, rain, blasts, and storms all came
down upon us. None the less I noticed that we were passing through
country almost as pretty as that which we saw yesterday. It reminded
me at times of the valley of Baden and of the narrower valley of
Wildbad. I am still reading the _Italy_ of the President de Brosses,
which is amusing, but not entirely attractive. I will copy two
passages which seem to me fairly applicable to our present mode of
life: "Generally speaking, the inconveniences and the causes of
impatience during a long journey are so many that one should avoid the
further vexation of economy in small matters. It is certainly hard to
be cheated, but we should satisfy our self-esteem by telling ourselves
that we are cheated willingly and because we are too lazy to be
angry." That is a piece of advice which I am inclined to practise too
often. Here is the other passage which also suits my case: "In foreign
countries we should be on our guard against satisfaction of the sight
and weariness of the heart. There is as much as you please to amuse
your curiosity, but no social resources. You are living only with
people who have no interest in you or you in them, and however kind
they are, it is impossible for either party to go to the trouble of
discovering interest in the other when each knows that they are ready
to part and never to meet again."


_Cassel, May 22, 1840._--The weather to-day was as bad as yesterday,
and the country not so pretty. Cassel is quite as small a town as
Carlsruhe, and looks even less like a residential city. The suburbs
especially are very poor. I found nothing to admire but a hill covered
with magnificent oak-trees, which took us a long time both to ascend
and descend. I feel the cold most bitterly, and everything here is so
late that the lilac is hardly in flower.

On arriving I sent for newspapers, in which I saw an account of the
long-delayed visit of the Hereditary Grand Duke of Russia to Mannheim.
Poor Grand Duchess Stephanie! A year ago such a visit would have been
an event; to-day it is mere empty courtesy, and it must have cost her
an effort to receive it graciously. The only matter of interest to me
in the newspaper was the bad account given, with no attempt at
concealment, of the King of Prussia's health. This slow illness must
change all the habits of the royal family and of Berlin society. I
shall certainly not regret the entertainments, but I shall be sorry to
be unable to pay my respects to the King, who was very kind to me in
my youth.


_Nordhausen, May 23, 1840._--It did not rain to-day, but it is cold
enough for frost. To-morrow we have forty-one leagues to travel if we
are to reach Wittenberg, a severe task which seems to me impossible.
Fortunately we have done with the roads and the postillions of Hesse,
which have remained faithful to the old Germanic aberrations. In
Prussia both the posting system and the roads are excellent, the
villages and their inhabitants look greatly superior, but for the last
twenty-four hours, though the country is not precisely ugly, it has
lost the richness and attractiveness which struck me on the road from
Lille to Arnberg.


_Wittenberg, May 24, 1840._--Forty-two leagues in twenty-four hours in
a country where no one knows what going ahead means, is really
excellent progress.

This town is an old acquaintance of my youth. When we used to go from
Berlin to Saxony and from Saxony to Berlin, Wittenberg was always the
second halt, for at that time macadamised roads were unknown. Progress
was made at a walking pace, ploughing through deep sand. To-morrow I
expect to cover twenty-seven leagues in nine or ten hours, which
occupied two days in those earlier times. From Nordhausen to this
point the country is ugly, and the inevitable pine-tree forests have
reappeared. The cradle of my youth was certainly far from beautiful.

My curiosity was aroused by Eisleben and Halle, through which we
passed. The former of these towns was Luther's birthplace. His house
is well preserved, and there is a small museum there of all kinds of
things relating to him and to the Reformation. I only saw the outside
of the house, which is of no special interest, but at the door I
bought a small description of Eisleben and its curiosities, which has
made me quite learned.

Halle is very ugly, in spite of a few Gothic exteriors, past which I
drove. Moreover, these university towns have invariably a character of
their own, which is provided by the crowd of wretched students, with
their noise and want of manners, who loaf about the carriages, with
long pipes in their mouths, and seem quite ready to cause a
disturbance.


_Berlin, May 25, 1840._--The rain has been coming down again all day,
and my re-entry to my native town was made under no agreeable
auspices. Fortunately I had no reason to regret that the countryside
was not in sunshine, for the scenery from Wittenberg here is
atrocious. I had forgotten to some extent my native land, and was
surprised to find it so hideous. However, I must make an exception of
the bridge of Potsdam, which is really pretty. The bank of the Havel
is bright and graceful with the wooded slopes which surround it,
covered as they are with pretty country houses. Even Potsdam, which is
only a summer residence, looks more like a capital town than Cassel,
Stuttgart, or Carlsruhe; but half a league further on everything is as
dry and dismal as possible, until the suburbs of Berlin, which gave me
a real surprise on the side from which we reached the town. This
happened to be an English quarter, with iron gateways before the
houses, and a number of gardens between the gateways and the houses,
which are small, but very well kept.

Berlin itself is a handsome town, but thinly populated, while as
regards carriages, cabs are the dominant feature, and sadness is
therefore its chief characteristic. I am staying at the Russicher Hof.
Opposite is the Castle; a pretty bridge and the museum on the left;
on the right are the quays. It is a pleasant aspect, and my room on
the first floor is almost too magnificent.

My man of business, Herr von Wolff, told me that the King's condition
was regarded as desperate, and that yesterday he sent for his eldest
son, and entrusted him with the business of government. The scene is
said to have been very touching. The King's illness is intestinal
catarrh, which seems incurable. It is also said that he has had the
deplorable privilege of bad doctors in Berlin, where the doctors are
excellent. He can take no food, and is visibly wasting away; but death
is not thought to be imminent. The day before yesterday he walked as
far as his window to see the troops march past, and those who saw him
were horrified by the change in his appearance.

The whole town is in sadness, and the royal family in despair. The
Princess of Liegnitz is quite as ill as the King, with severe
gastritis, and is thought to be in great danger.

M. Bresson, who has just spent an hour with me, is in despair at the
King's condition. He will see no one except the Princess of Liegnitz,
his doctors, and the Prince of Wittgenstein. He has seen the Crown
Prince for a moment, but none of his other children, and says he feels
too weak to see any one else. A messenger has just been despatched to
the Russian Empress, to stop her progress at Warsaw, where she is to
arrive to-morrow. The King would be in no condition to bear this
interview, much less the lamentable scenes which the Emperor Nicholas
would certainly make. The Empress is also said to be in a very sad
way. This approaching death will be a great blow, which will re-echo
near and far.


_Berlin, May 26, 1840._--I slept fairly well. My bed is not quite so
narrow or so extraordinary as some that I have found on the journey
from Cologne to Berlin. Unless one is prepared to sleep on nothing but
feathers, nothing is to be found but thin, hard mattresses nailed on
to deal boards. The bedclothes are of a remarkable character, while
the sheets look like towels. I had several of them sewn together, and
thus succeeded in covering my bed. As regards bedrooms, Germany is
undoubtedly in a state of savagery, even more so than with regard to
food, which is extraordinary enough at times, though in Berlin even M.
de Valençay admits that it is good. The cleanliness is perfect, and
the furniture tasteful. There are carpets everywhere, and the iron
stoves are replaced by fine porcelain stoves, which give no smell and
heat the room excellently, but it is disappointing to be forced to use
them on the 26th of May. M. Bresson utters terrible groans about the
climate.

Is it not strange that I should have felt no emotion whatever upon
re-entering this town where I was born and where I was largely brought
up? I examined it with the same curiosity as I felt towards Cologne
and Cassel, and that was all. I have no feeling of that special
patriotism which I have long felt for Germany. I am a complete
stranger both to things and people, entirely unconnected with the
place, speaking the language with some hesitation; in short, I am not
at home, or rather ill at my ease, and ashamed at being so. I do not
think it would be thus if I were to return to London. I do not think I
should then be delighted; I should probably burst into tears; but at
any rate I should feel some emotion, as I feel at Valençay. I am less
afraid of that which stirs my feelings than of that which freezes
them.

Everything goes on here so early that one must be ready at dawn.
Waking up is nothing, but getting up is difficult. I am extremely
tired, even more than when travelling, because when once ensconced in
my carriage, which is very soft, I can rest in silence, inaction, and
sleep, whereas here things are very different.

My man of business from Silesia was at my house at nine o'clock. He is
going away this evening to make preparations for my arrival. At eleven
o'clock Herr and Frau von Wolff came in. They told me that the Duke of
Coburg was negotiating to buy the estate of Muskau from Prince Pückler
for his sister, the Grand Duchess Constantine. The garden of Muskau is
said to be the most beautiful in Germany. It is only ten leagues from
my house.

M. Bresson came in at midday to tell me that there was some
improvement in the King, that he had been able to take some soup and
to walk round his room. He urged me at the same time not to put off my
calls upon the chief ladies of the Princesses.

Midday is the fashionable hour for calls here, so I started off with
M. de Valençay. First we went to the Countess of Reede at the Castle.
She is the chief lady of the Crown Princess, and was an intimate
friend of my mother. She was not at home, nor was the Baroness of
Lestocq, lady-in-waiting to the Princess William, the King's
sister-in-law. We also went to the Countess of Wincke at the King's
palace to call upon the Princess of Liegnitz. She is an old lady
belonging to the palace of the late Queen, of which I retained some
confused idea from my youth. She received us with an old aristocratic
air which pleased me. The Countess of Schweinitz, at the new palace of
Prince William, the King's son, was also at home. Countess Kuhneim, at
the Teutonic Palace, where the Princess Charles of Prussia resides,
was out.

Frau von Schweinitz told me that Prince William was to start to-morrow
to meet his sister, the Empress of Russia, and to stop her from coming
here. We also went to see the Werthers, who were delighted to talk of
Paris; and then to the house of Madame de Perponcher, with whom I
played a great deal in my youth. She was not at home.

Berlin is really a very fine town. The streets are wide and laid out
in regular lines, the houses are tall and regular, there are many
palaces and fine buildings, fine squares with trees, gardens and
walks, and yet it is gloomy. There is obviously a lack of wealth to
fill the fine setting. The carriages of private individuals are so
much like cabs that I was deceived by the resemblance for some time.
The horses and liveries and everything of the kind are dreadfully
shabby.

Yesterday we dined with M. Bresson, who lives in a beautiful house
which my sister the Duchess of Acerenza occupied in past years. The
rooms are fine and beautifully furnished for Berlin, but spoilt by a
horrible portrait of the French King, whose hand is stretched over a
vast charter--quite an atrocity! The other guests were von Humboldt,
Lord William Russell, and M. de Loyère, who is attached to the French
Embassy. Herr von Humboldt talked in his usual style of all the
rivers, all the mountains, all the planets, and of the whole universe.
He did not forget his neighbours, whom he did not treat with
superlative charity. Princess Albert seemed to me to be very much in
his bad books, and also to some extent in those of M. Bresson. Lord
William Russell is always taciturn, as a Russell should be. He says he
is not displeased with his position, and anything that separates him
from Lady Russell always suits his taste. As for M. Bresson, he is
obviously bored, and the nine years he has spent here have completely
exhausted his patience. I think that he greatly fears the approaching
death of the King as likely to affect his position. He complains of
the effects of the climate, and is obviously beating against his bars.

In the middle of this dinner Princess William, the King's
daughter-in-law, asked me to wait upon her at half-past six. I
therefore went. She lives in a charming palace, beautifully arranged;
the conservatories are decorated with marble, the floors are
magnificent, and the furniture is beautiful; in short, the whole is in
exquisite taste. The Princess was alone, and received me most
graciously. I stayed a long time.

The general fear of a visit from the Russian Imperial family is very
curious. The royal family is preoccupied with the business of avoiding
anything of the kind, and use a thousand devices for the purpose. They
seem to be afraid of them as of a devastating torrent.

I have just had a call from Madame de Perponcher. Her queenly bearing
and her regular features have survived the passing of her youth. She
is a clever woman, and her conversation is animated.


_Berlin, May 27, 1840._--A special luxury in Berlin, to be found in
all the houses belonging to people of importance, are the wide
windows, which light the rooms brilliantly, and give a bright
appearance to the houses.

This morning I had a private audience of the Crown Princess, who lives
in a part of the Castle properly so called. Her large private room is
handsome and curious. The Princess is very polite, but a little cold
and timid, with beautiful blue eyes, a dull complexion, strong and by
no means attractive features; she limps a little. The conversation
became animated upon the arrival of the Crown Prince. He showed me
great cordiality, and had just come from the King, who was perceptibly
better. This improvement has revived all their spirits, but there is
still a grave reason for anxiety.

I dined with Princess William, the King's daughter-in-law; her husband
has delayed his departure. At dinner there were the Crown Prince and
Princess, and the two Princes of Würtemberg, the sons of Prince Paul;
the latter are starting to-morrow to meet their sister, the Grand
Duchess Helena, who is going to Ems, and then to Italy. The other
guests were Prince George of Hesse, brother of the Duchess of
Cambridge; a Russian general and an English officer who had come to
look at the manœuvres; Werther, his wife, and his son, who is going
to Paris to take the place of Arnim till the new appointment is made;
and the Count and Countess of Redern. The Countess is a Hamburg
heiress, entirely ugly; she looks like a blonde Jewess, which is to be
ugly twice over.

I sat near the Crown Prince, who asked me many questions about
Versailles, and was then interested in all the recollections of our
youth; he has grown very stout and old.

At seven o'clock in the evening I was requested to visit Princess
Albert, and invited to stay for tea and supper. It is impossible to
imagine anything which takes up so much time as Court life here. The
only satisfactory point is that everyone withdraws before ten o'clock
at night; but at that time one is more exhausted than one would be at
two o'clock in the morning at Paris.

I think that of all the persons I have seen here Princess Albert has
filled me with the greatest curiosity and interest. At first I
thought her face long and narrow, her mouth large, and the lower part
of her face, when she laughed, very ugly, while the want of eyebrows
was remarkable; but by degrees I have grown used to her, and find her
actually pleasant. Her teeth are white, she has a cheerful laugh and
lively eyes, her figure is pretty, and she is tall, like myself; but
it is too obvious that she laces very tightly, which is the more
noticeable as she is never at rest; she wriggles, gesticulates,
laughs, fidgets, and talks somewhat at random; she never crosses a
room except at a run and a skip, and does not shine in point of
dignity of bearing, but on the whole she is by no means unpleasant,
and I think that men might find her somewhat attractive. She was very
kind to me, with a frankness and good-nature in putting her questions
as if she had always known me, and poking fun right and left at her
family to begin with; she astonished me greatly. The fact is that she
is a spoilt child, accustomed to do and say anything she likes, and is
regarded here as quite beyond restraint. She goes away to The Hague
when her family would like her to stay in Berlin, and comes back when
they think she intends to make a long stay in Holland. In short, she
is a strange being. Her husband is very delicate. Their palace, though
pretty outside, seemed to me rather poor within. At her house I saw no
one except the Princess of Würtemberg, Madame de Perponcher (reasons
of etiquette forbid her to receive M. de Perponcher, as the Diplomatic
Body are excluded from royal residences), Herr von Liebermann,
Prussian Minister at St. Petersburg, and the Prince and Princess
William, the King's son, who arrived late.

I cannot be anything but grateful for the reception that has been
offered to me here, but the want of rest overpowers every other
consideration, and I should like to be back in my dear Rochecotte.


_Berlin, May 28, 1840._--This morning I had an audience of Princess
Charles. She has charming features, a fine figure, a high colour,
tired eyes, beautiful manners, and a kind and pleasant way of
speaking. Her appearance, on the whole, is insignificant, but she
shows much kindness of heart. Her husband is simply vulgar. At the
present moment he has a mania for seeing operations, and watches all
the new experiments in surgery. Berlin is just now much excited by a
mode of curing squinting, practised by Dieffenbach. Out of two hundred
cases he has had only one failure, and that was due to the impatience
of the patient. It is a very clever idea, and people come in from all
parts to be made beautiful instead of ugly.

Here every one professes surprise at the resemblance between Madame de
Lazareff and myself.

I have called upon Princess Pückler, the wife of the traveller; she is
a lady who is largely supported by the Court; but she was not at home.
In the afternoon I called upon Princess William, the Queen's
sister-in-law, who was extremely kind to me. She has been very
beautiful, and some remnants of her beauty still remain. She is a
leading member of the sect of the Pietists. She introduced me to her
unmarried daughter, a pretty princess of fifteen years of age, whose
face pleased me greatly.[102]

  [102] The daughter of Princess William of Prussia to whom
  reference is here made married the King of Bavaria a short time
  afterwards.

Princess William is the sister of the Dowager Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg, step-mother to the Duchesse d'Orléans.

I am going to the theatre to see a ballet, in the box of the Countess
of Redern, who insisted upon my coming. Then I shall finish my day
with the Werthers, who are giving a party for me. I am quite
overwhelmed by my busy life, which is so utterly different from the
idle existence I have led for the last two years.


_Berlin, May 29, 1840._--The ballet here is very well done. The King
takes great interest in it, and gives an annual subscription of a
hundred and twenty thousand crowns to the Opera, which is a great deal
for this country. There are many pretty dancers, the theatre is
beautiful and the orchestra excellent. I have been unable to judge of
the singers, as I did not go till the opera was over.

At the Werthers' I found a rout going on, which was much like all
other parties of the kind. The women were well dressed, but not
pretty, the social intercourse somewhat cold, while the men in the
service wore their uniforms, which gave them a stiff appearance.

The King's condition gave less satisfaction yesterday; he had had a
fainting fit after expressing a wish to eat herrings, which was
speedily satisfied. However, the Princes went to the theatre. The
doctors persist in saying that his state is not desperate. This is the
opinion, among others, of a certain Dr. Schönlein, who has been
appointed professor at the university here; he comes from Zürich with
a very great reputation, and the King has been induced to see him in
consultation. Princess Frederick of the Low Countries is expected. She
is her father's favourite, and he is as anxious to see her as he is
afraid of the Russian visits. Princess William, the King's
sister-in-law, whose eldest daughter is married to Darmstadt, told me
that the Hereditary Grand Duke of Russia is deeply in love with
Princess Marie, his future bride, and she is beginning to feel the
same towards him.

I was to have dined to-day with the Crown Prince, but as the King had
had another fainting fit the High Marshal came to tell me that the
dinner would not take place. The King's precarious condition causes
much anxiety to some people who are fond of him, and to others who
respect him for political considerations. No one, not even the heir,
was prepared for this crisis, and to their sadness is added perplexity
and hesitation.

Yesterday morning I went for a drive in the Tiergarten, the Bois de
Boulogne of Berlin, and saw the spot where I had been daily taken for
a walk in my youth. It is a very pretty wood on the edge of the town,
well planted, partly in English style, bounded by the Spree, and full
of pretty country houses. It is a very popular resort at Berlin.

I dined with Lord William Russell, where I heard that there was some
small excitement in the Ministry at London, though nothing was likely
to come of it. The present Cabinet is as used to defeats as
Mithridates to poison.

This morning Herr von Humboldt came to fetch us, and took his niece,
Frau von Bülow, and myself to the Museum. He had told all the
directors, professors, and artists to be ready. I therefore saw
everything in the greatest detail. The building is fine and well
arranged, the classification perfect and intelligent, and the light
well managed. The King has acquired some excellent examples of every
style of art; an ancient bust of Julius Cæsar in greenish basalt is
one of the most beautiful things I know. The Museum is very rich in
pictures of the ancient German school; the Etruscan vases are quite
first-rate; the fifteenth-century china is very curious; the intaglios
and the medals are in perfect order and tastefully set out. The
officials, who are clever and full of artistic erudition, did me the
honours with great courtesy. I replied by asking many questions, and
was attentive to the answers; but the visit lasted for three hours,
and I was standing all the time, and eventually I nearly collapsed.

I then went to a great dinner with M. Bresson. As I was starting for
it the Prince of Wittgenstein arrived; he had been requested by the
King and the Princess of Liegnitz to express to me in the kindest
terms their regret at their inability to see me. The King was not
quite so ill, and had been able to see Princess Frederick of the Low
Countries, his favourite daughter, for whom he had telegraphed, and
who had hastened to come to him. The Prince of Wittgenstein was most
obliging; he is a stout personage, and is greatly downcast at the
moment and heart-broken at the King's danger. He has a very kindly
feeling for France, and is very friendly with Princess William, the
king's daughter-in-law, who overwhelms me with kindness.

At M. Bresson's dinner Herr von Humboldt, as usual, relieved every one
else of the trouble of talking, which is very convenient for lazy
persons like myself.


_Berlin, May 31, 1840._--To-day is an important day in the history of
the country, and one of which the King awaits the issue with
impatience. The Great Elector ascended the throne on May 31, 1640,
Frederick the Great on May 31, 1740, and I am assured of the existence
of a prophecy that the Crown Prince will ascend the throne on May 31,
1840.

I went to mass in a church which is hardly a church: it is a great
round hall, covered with a single cupola, surrounded with columns,
with a large window between each column. Nothing could be less solemn
and less Catholic.

I dined with Prince Radziwill, who took me up after dinner to the
rooms of his late mother, where I had been a great deal in my youth.
They are no longer used, and are just as I had known them. Nobody
could be kinder than all the Radziwills have been to me. The daughter
of the late Princess married the nephew of Prince Adam Czartoryski.
She is now in the country. The two Radziwill Princes married two
sisters, the daughters of Prince Clary. They all had plenty of
children, and live as a very happy family in the same house.

I had gone home after the dinner, when I received a message from
Princess William, the King's daughter-in-law, asking me to pay her a
visit. I found her alone, and she kept me talking for an hour. The
latest news of the King was very sad. He told his chief groom of the
chamber that he had no hope of recovery, but would not speak of his
death for fear of affecting those about him. He is said to have
insisted upon being carried to-morrow to the window of his room, at
the moment of the solemn function which has been largely advertised,
and the preparations for which he has supervised from his bed. The
Crown Prince, in the King's name, is to lay the first stone of a
monument in honour of Frederick II. at the entry of the promenade
Unter den Linden. The whole garrison, all the state bodies, and all
Berlin, are to be present at this ceremony. Stands have been erected
for the public. My son and myself are to find a place on the balcony
of Princess William, where the Princesses will be.

Yesterday evening at the house of the Prince of Wittgenstein, where I
went, was Madame de Krüdener, _née_ Lerchenfeld, natural daughter of
the Count Lerchenfeld and of the Princess of Thurn and Taxis. At St.
Petersburg she was at first a favourite of the Empress, but was
afterwards somewhat discarded because the Emperor appeared to be
taken with her. She strongly resembles the late Queen of Prussia,
which may be explained by her birth, but she has not her majestic
bearing; she is, however, a handsome woman.

I hear from Paris that there is an attempt to gather the household of
the Emperor Napoleon for a mission to fetch his remains from St.
Helena. Marchand, his groom of the chamber, was asked if he wished to
accompany the mission; at first he hesitated, and then accepted on the
condition that he should be allowed to sit at the table of the Prince
de Joinville; to satisfy him he has been appointed captain on the
staff of the National Guard, and he is to go, and will sit at the
Prince's table! I abstain from comment.


_Berlin, June 1, 1840._--I have just returned from the ceremony, which
was really most beautiful and imposing. The thought of the King's
dangerous condition, which every one had at heart, gave a singularly
touching and solemn aspect to this national celebration, the last at
which the poor King could be present. And in what manner was he
present? In bed at his window! Fortunately the weather was less
disagreeable than it has lately been. The Crown Prince laid the first
stone of the monument which is to support the equestrian statue of
Frederick the Great. Is it not strange that there is no statue of him
as yet in Berlin? Yesterday was the anniversary of his accession a
hundred years ago; but as it was a Sunday the celebration was
postponed till to-day. Each regiment in the army was represented by a
detachment. The army is really superb, and splendidly equipped.
Besides the state bodies, the authorities, the Consistory, a
detachment of the Landwehr, deputations from the guilds of arts and
crafts, with their bands, surrounded the square, which is magnificent
and was most beautifully decorated. Around the monument could be seen
all those who had served under Frederick II., dressed as they were at
that time, and carrying the flags captured during the Seven Years'
War. The King himself had considered every detail of this fine
ceremony, and had given the most positive orders to forbid any
manifestation of applause for himself; but the silent and profound
respect, the perfect order and the sadness of the spectators was
sufficiently striking and touching. When the foundation-stone was
lowered, salvos were fired, bells rang, drums beat, and the old
tattered flags were lowered; at that moment most of the spectators
burst into tears. Nothing of the sort could be looked for in a
republican atmosphere or in our revolutionary regions.

On the balcony where I was placed I saw Prince Frederick of the Low
Countries, who introduced me to his wife. She was overcome with grief;
she is not pretty, but looks kind and natural. The young Hereditary
Grand Duke of Russia, who arrived this morning, was present; the Crown
Prince of Prussia introduced me to him. He is said to have grown very
fat. I expected to see a very insignificant young man, but he is quite
the contrary, although I do not care about his complexion.


_Berlin, June 2, 1840._--Yesterday evening I went to tea with Madame
de Perponcher, whose _salon_ is, in my opinion, the pleasantest in
Berlin. She is very conversational and well-mannered, while she is
simple and restrained. She is a central point of society, and her
mother's position with the Crown Princess has helped her largely.
There I heard that no change has taken place in the King's condition,
though something of the kind had been feared owing to the excitement
of the day.

The suite of the Hereditary Grand Duke of Russia are staying at the
same hotel as myself, at the King's expense. They make a fearful
uproar, and consume the more food as their board costs them nothing.
It is impossible to say how the Russians are detested here.


_Berlin, June 3, 1840._--Yesterday I was at a great dinner given by
the Werthers. The King was said to be better; he had had some sleep,
and felt the moral relief of passing the fatal date. During the dinner
I received a message from the young Princess William asking me to call
upon her after dinner in outdoor dress. I went, and we drove out. She
took me to Charlottenburg, which she showed me in full detail, and
especially the country house which the King has had built there, where
he prefers to stay.

I was glad to see the portraits of the Duc d'Orléans and the Duc de
Nemours which were drawn here at the time when they passed through
Berlin. The King bought them for his private room. When we came back
the Princess made me stay to tea, and I spent all the time alone with
her.

This morning when I was finishing breakfast M. Bresson came to tell us
that the King was _in extremis_. In the afternoon I stopped before his
palace; he was still alive, and had even recovered sufficient
consciousness to demand the reading of the newspapers. There is a
crowd about the palace; many people are in tears, and the behaviour of
the population is perfect.


_Berlin, June 4, 1840._--Yesterday I dined at the house of M. Bresson
with Princess Pückler, who is starting for Muskau to meet her husband.
He is returning from Vienna after an absence of six years; she speaks
of him with admiration. She is a little old woman of wit,
intelligence, and tact, and has gained considerable reputation in
different circles.

Only yesterday was the publication begun of bulletins upon the King's
health; he might be dead at the present moment. Hitherto he had
forbidden any announcements; I do not think he knew anything of it
yesterday. He has preserved his consciousness, and is quite calm,
simple, and dignified.

       *       *       *       *       *

Since last night the King has been in a kind of agony, from which he
sometimes gains relief by a few drops of coffee. He can still speak a
little, and says not a word about his condition, though he realises
its gravity to the full. The whole family, even the grandchildren, are
at the palace, and the Ministers also. The crowd still throngs the
square and shows the same interest.


_Berlin, June 5, 1840._--The King was still alive yesterday at eight
o'clock in the evening. He had said farewell to his children and
solemnly handed his will to his Ministers; he then declared that he
had done with this world and wished to see no one except the Princess
of Liegnitz and the pastor for whom he sent, intending to devote his
remaining time to securing his peace of mind and in considering the
life to come.


_Berlin, June 6, 1840._--Herr von Humboldt has just left me. The King
was very feverish last night; he can hardly speak, and seems to have
lost all interest. What a long struggle for a man of seventy! All the
Mecklenburg family has arrived. The appearance of the Duke of
Cumberland has caused some consternation, and the Emperor Nicholas
will be here to-morrow in spite of every attempt to prevent his
arrival. There is an obvious intention to surround the new Sovereign
from the moment of his accession, and this may damage his public
reputation, for the people are apprehensive, and do not hide their
fears. It is an interesting time for spectators, and I am perhaps
watching the sowing of seed which will produce great consequences.

At the same time I wished to fulfil my promise of going to see Frau
von Bülow at Tegel, which is three leagues from Berlin. At first I
found the wind very unpleasant, but when we entered a forest which
began half-way I was pleasantly sheltered, and the scent of the
pine-trees was delightful. On leaving the pine-trees we reached a
superb lake, the shores of which were wooded with trees in leaf--an
unusual sight here.

At one end of the lake is the fortress of Spandau, at the other the
park, the castle of Tegel, and the monument raised by the late Herr
Wilhelm von Humboldt to his wife. It is very pretty. The castle is by
no means extraordinary, but contains some fine artistic works brought
from Italy, and a good portrait of Alexander von Humboldt by Gérard.
The monument is a column of porphyry upon a granite base, and the
capital is in white marble. The column supports a white marble statue
of Hope by Thorwaldsen, and is surrounded half by an iron railing and
half by a great stone bench. All is in excellent taste, and the only
point which displeased me was that Frau von Humboldt, her husband, her
eldest son, and one of the children of Frau von Bülow are really
buried at the foot of this column. I cannot bear graves in gardens;
my belief requires a common cemetery or vault in a church or
chapel--in short, a spot consecrated to prayer and reflection, and
undisturbed by worldly tumult.

I drove round the lake, and then took the road back to Berlin. At the
gates of the town I met Lord William Russell, who told me that the
King was at his last gasp, and that orders had been given to close the
theatres. My son, whom I found at our hotel on the point of coming in,
gave me the same news. He had just been watching the operation for
curing squinting, and was full of admiration for Dieffenbach, his
dexterity, and the result of the operation. Of the two patients, both
young girls, one did not say a word, and the other cried a great deal.
The mere demonstration would have made me want to scream. The whole
operation lasts from seventy to eighty seconds. The operator is helped
by three pupils; one raises the upper eyelid, the second depresses the
lower lid, and the third wipes away the blood between the two
incisions. The first incision divides the lower part of the white of
the eye; then with a little hook Dieffenbach draws forward the muscle
covered by that part, cuts it through, and the operation is over. This
muscle, in the case of people who squint, is too short, and brings the
eye too close to the nose. As soon as it is cut through the pupil goes
to its proper place.


_Berlin, June 7, 1840._--Yesterday evening the King had reached the
end, the death-rattle set in, and there was that motion of the hands,
mechanical but terribly symptomatic, which common people call "picking
things up to pack." He was unable to speak, and seemed to have lost
consciousness.

I am extremely guarded here in discussing either politics or religion;
I hear a great deal, and listen with interest to anything I am told
about the state of this country, but I am not imprudent in my answers.
Prudence here is easier than in France, where it is almost impossible
not to be overcome by the contagion.

I have just been told that the Emperor Nicholas has arrived; I do not
think he will see the King, from whose room all are excluded, though
he is still alive.


_Berlin, June 8, 1840._--The King died yesterday at twenty-two minutes
past three in the afternoon, surrounded by all his family, whose hands
he clasped without speaking. He died in the arms of the Princess of
Liegnitz, for whom the royal family and the public are showing the
greatest respect. She has perfectly fulfilled her duty. The Prince
Royal fell fainting at the moment when the King expired. Grief is
general and widespread. The Emperor Nicholas is said to have lamented
loudly; he arrived from Warsaw in thirty-seven hours, accompanied only
by General Benkendorff.

Yesterday evening the troops took the oath to the new Sovereign. The
Government has issued a proclamation everywhere of the death, which is
touching, simple, and perfectly correct.

I have been to Frau von Schweinitz to hear news of Princess William,
who takes the title of Princess of Prussia, as her husband is
heir-presumptive, though he is not Crown Prince, since he is the
brother, not the eldest son, of the new King. The will had been
opened. The late King has ordered a military funeral; his body will be
placed in the cathedral by day, and, in accordance with his wishes,
taken to Charlottenburg by night, to be placed in the same vault with
the late Queen, his wife. I have just visited this monument in the
park of Charlottenburg, yesterday afternoon. It is enclosed in a
temple in ancient style at the end of a long walk of pines and
cypress-trees; within the temple, between two candelabras beautifully
carved in white marble, is to be seen, upon a raised platform, a bed
of white marble, upon which the Queen's statue is gracefully and
simply recumbent, wrapped in a long robe with open sleeves. The bare
arms are crossed over the breast, the neck is bare, and the head wears
only the royal circlet. It is a masterpiece, especially for the
drapery, which is remarkably true to nature, and the best work of
Rauch, the Prussian sculptor, whom the late Queen had educated at
Rome. The general effect is beautiful, but too mythological; the
religious touch which death imperiously claims is wanting.

The King will lie in state to-morrow and the day after in military
dress. The body will not be embalmed, and will be interred on
Thursday, in accordance with his orders. He also ordered the pastor to
pray at his bedside immediately after his death and aloud in the
middle of his family, exhorting them to peace and concord. This was
done, and it is to be hoped that his prayer will be heard, though
there is no immediate appearance that any one heeds it. The immediate
withdrawal of the Prince of Wittgenstein and of Herr von Lottum was
expected, but the new King begged them not to leave him, at any rate
at first. The public is glad to see the father's old servants thus
retained by the son, and the more so as their relations with the
Prince Royal were not entirely agreeable and an earlier change was
expected. It is to be hoped that there will be no change at all. Such
is the summary of a conversation on my part with M. Bresson and Lord
William Russell; after which I went to see the collection of pictures
belonging to Count Raczynski, the best private collection in Berlin. A
large cartoon by a pupil of Cornelius of Munich, representing one of
the great battles of Attila, is the best thing there. Tradition
relates that the battle was continued in the sky, and that those who
perished go on fighting, like shadows in the clouds, at certain times
of the year; the two battles are to be seen in the cartoon. The design
is admirable and well executed. The rest of the collection did not
greatly attract me.

Madame de Lieven writes from Paris: "We have had a curious week here:
the Ministry was defeated in the Chamber upon the law for the funeral
of Napoleon, and attempted revenge by sowing discord between the
Chamber and the country; after more mature reflection, and after the
proposed subscription had been a partial failure, the matter was
dropped, and the letter of Odillon Barrot concluded it.

"The Duc d'Orléans, in Africa, has had a fresh attack of dysentery,
which was very dangerous for twenty-four hours."

Now an extract from a letter from the Duc de Noailles:
"Notwithstanding the complete fiasco concerning the Imperial remains,
Thiers retains his strength, and will become complete master. The
proposal of Remilly,[103] which was in sight, will not come up for
discussion this year. There will be no dissolution between the two
sessions; after next session dissolution is certain; the new Chamber
will be moderately, but certainly more Left. Thiers is determined
neither to urge on nor to check progress in this direction; to guide
the movement, but to follow it, as he thinks that strength and the
majority are there to be found. He hopes to be able to restrain the
Left, but in case of failure he has determined rather to obey it than
to resign. So we are definitely embarked upon this path, and this is
the great event of the winter; the consequences, but not the rapidity,
of the movement can be calculated."

  [103] After the vote upon the secret service funds in March 1840
  one of the Deputies, M. Remilly, attempted to embarrass the
  Ministry by a proposal for Parliamentary reform, providing that
  Deputies should not be promoted to salaried posts or secure
  promotion for their Parliamentary life in the following year.


_Berlin, June 9, 1840._--Yesterday after dinner I called upon the
Countess of Reede, the chief lady of the new Queen's Court. There I
saw the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, brother of the
late Queen and of the late Princess of Thurn and Taxis, a great friend
of M. de Talleyrand. He spoke of my uncle in the warmest terms, which
touched me deeply, saying that he had experienced much kindness from
him under the Empire. I was there informed that, besides the King's
will properly so called, which dates from 1827, and of which I know
nothing, there is a codicil containing arrangements for the funeral,
and in such detail that the position of the troops in the streets is
pointed out. A letter to his successor has also been found, which is
said to be full of the wisest counsel; while encouraging his son to
avoid innovations of every kind without due consideration, the King
also advises him to avoid any retrogressive step out of harmony with
the spirit of the age. It is said that this letter will be published.

When I returned home Herr von Humboldt came to see me, and kept me up
while he told me many stories which were doubtless curious, and would
have interested me were it not for his overpoweringly monotonous
manner. In any case, he is very well informed of all that goes on
here, and clever at ferreting out new information.

The Russian and the other Courts are starting on Wednesday, the day
after the King's funeral. I think that the King and Queen will be glad
to breathe a little freely.


_Berlin, June 10, 1840._--Yesterday the director of the Museum came to
fetch me, and took me, with my son, to the studio of Rauch, a very
clever sculptor and a very pleasant man. He showed us several statues
intended for the Walhalla of Bavaria; the model of the statue of
Frederick II., the first stone of which I had seen laid; and a Danae
for St. Petersburg; then a little statue, half natural size, of a
young girl fully dressed and holding a little lamb in her arms, which
was very pretty, and I liked it greatly. Before we went home I was
taken to see the Egyptian Museum, which is in a building apart.
Although the collection is said to be admirable, I could feel no
pleasure in looking at the hideous colossi and the numerous mummies.

When I returned home I had a call from Prince Radziwill, who came from
the Castle, where, with the chief officers of the garrison, he had
been passing in parade before the lying-in-state of the late King. The
King was laid out with his face uncovered, wrapped in his military
cloak, with his little cap on his head, as he had ordered in his
codicil.

The King has bequeathed a hundred thousand Prussian crowns, or three
hundred and fifty-five thousand francs, to the town of Berlin, and
other sums to Königsberg, Breslau, and Potsdam, as being the four
towns of his kingdom in which he has resided. He has bequeathed the
little palace in which he lived as Crown Prince, which he would not
leave as King, and in which he died, to his grandson, the son of
Prince William, who will probably be King one day. The Princess of
Leignitz retains the palace by the side of it, in which she was
living, the domain of Erdmansdorff, in Silesia, and an income of forty
thousand crowns, to be paid by the State. It seems that the King had
left from fourteen to twenty million crowns in his private chest. He
has ordered that each soldier present at his funeral shall receive a
crown, and each non-commissioned officer two crowns. He has also
ordered that his body shall be followed, not only by all the clergy of
Berlin, but by all those of the neighbourhood; they are coming in from
Stettin, Magdeburg, and every part of the kingdom.

M. Bresson was much depressed by the King's death, but has recovered
his spirits on seeing that the Prince of Wittgenstein is to be
retained at Court, at any rate for the moment. The new King is
treating his father's old servant most admirably.

A strange incident which has caused much displeasure was the sight of
the Russian officers in the suite of the Emperor Nicholas on duty
before the body of the late King together with the Prussian officers.
The Emperor issued the request, and the authorities did not venture to
refuse, but some ill-feeling has been shown, and the very scanty
liking for Russia has been further diminished.


_Berlin, June 11, 1840._--I spent the whole of yesterday paying
farewell calls, and when I was calling upon Frau von Schweinitz, the
Princess of Prussia sent for me. With her I found the Prince of
Prussia, and both were very kind to me.

The King informed me through the Countess of Reede that he hoped to
see me later, on my return, at Sans Souci. He has ordered the Chief
Marshal to find me a good place for this morning's ceremony. The
Emperor of Russia is starting this evening for Weimar and Frankfort,
where he wishes to see his future daughter-in-law.

This morning I went to the ceremony, and just as I was starting out
the King sent word telling me to go through the Castle, and the
Princess of Prussia sent me her liveried servants to secure me a
place. I thus reached the church by way of the royal apartments. I was
in a stand opposite the Princess of Leignitz, who was well enough to
be present at the ceremony; she was heavily veiled, like all the
ladies, and I could not distinguish her features. The church was not
draped, which gave it too bright an appearance, and the sombre nature
of the ceremony suffered in consequence. The organ, the singing, and
the sermon by the pastor, the great emotion of the old servants and
children of the deceased, the terrible salvos of cannon, and the
beautiful tolling of all the bells were imposing. Before withdrawing
the new King offered a prayer of considerable length in a low voice on
his knees by the coffin. The whole family followed his example, after
which the King embraced all his brothers, his wife, his sisters,
nephews, and uncles--in short, the whole of his family. The Emperor of
Russia, who has a fine but terrible face, did the same. There was thus
a great deal of embracing for a church. My own opinion is that in the
house of God one should be occupied only with worship; but between a
Protestant temple and the Church the difference is considerable.

The King of Hanover, who arrived an hour before the ceremony, was
present. He is old, and though he looks somewhat uncivilised he
appeared to me like an old lamb by the side of a young tiger when I
compared him with the Emperor of Russia.

I propose to start to-morrow for Silesia.


_Crossen, June 12, 1840._--I left Berlin this morning at half-past
seven in mild and cloudy weather. Thanks to the excellent roads, the
good horses, and the capital post service, we accomplished thirty-six
leagues in thirteen hours and a half, which is satisfactory travelling
in any country. As far as Frankfort-on-the-Oder, which we crossed in
the middle of the day, the country is chiefly remarkable for its
dismal and barren character. When the valley of the Oder is reached
the country becomes less flat and more smiling. Frankfort is a large
town of thirty-two thousand souls, for whom excitement is provided by
three large fairs during the year; but apart from those times it is
very empty. There is nothing attractive about the town. Crossen, where
I am at this moment, which is also on the Oder, is not so large a
town, but more pleasantly situated. I am now only a few hours from my
own property, and shall arrive there in good time to-morrow.


_Günthersdorf, June 13, 1840._--I am now upon my own estates. It is a
strange impression to find a home of one's own at so vast a distance
from the spot where one's life is usually passed, and also to find
this home as clean and well ordered, though all is quite simple, as if
one always lived there.

This morning when I started from Crossen it was raining, and the rain
continued as far as Grünberg, a large fortress, where I found Herr and
Frau von Wurmb, who had come to meet me. Frau von Wurmb is the
daughter of a state councillor in the Prussian service, Herr von
Göcking, to whom the late King had entrusted me during my period of
wardship. She married a Westphalian gentleman, Herr von Wurmb, who had
formerly served in the Prussian armies, until his delicate health
obliged him to resign. For many years he has lived in Wartenberg, a
little town which belongs to me. There, at first under the direction
of Hennenberg, and since his death alone, he has supervised my
estates, forests, &c. Frau von Wurmb, as my guardian's daughter, was a
constant companion of my youth. She was very well brought up. People
of good society in Germany do not object to conducting the business of
those whom they regard as great lords; for instance, the cousin of
Baron Gersdorff, the Saxon Minister at London, manages my sisters'
money.

Herr and Frau von Wurmb preceded me here. The last few leagues
traverse sand and pine forests, but at the entrance to a small hamlet,
which does not deserve the name of village, is a pleasant avenue which
leads to a planted court, in the middle of which is a large house;
fine trees hide the outbuildings, which are not an agreeable sight. At
the back of the house is a pleasant view: a garden very well planted
and kept up, full of flowers, many of them rare; the garden is
cleverly joined to a field, at the end of which is a very pretty wood.
A streams runs through the garden and keeps it fresh. The house is of
double depth: it is a long rectangle, with thirteen windows in front;
it is spoilt by its enormous roof, a necessary protection against the
long-lasting snow in winter, and also by the yellow orange colour with
which the bricks have been painted. The interior is not bad. In the
middle is a vaulted hall, with a staircase in the background; to the
right of the hall, is a large room with three windows, and further on
a little library with two windows opening upon a very pretty
greenhouse, which is connected with the orangery; there I have fifty
orange-trees of moderate size. On the left of the hall is my bedroom,
a large dressing-room, wardrobes, bathroom, and the maid's room. These
rooms are doubled in the following way: behind the library is a room
containing the rooms opening from the dining-room; behind the
drawing-room is the dining-room; while behind my own room and the
adjoining ones are the servants' rooms, a bedroom, and a large
dressing-room. On the first floor are four gentlemen's rooms, with
cupboards, of which only two are furnished, and a large billiard-room.
In the attics are six servants' rooms, a store-room, and a
lumber-room. The living rooms and my own look southwards, and so do
not get the view of the garden; but I prefer to have the sun, even if
I must look upon the courtyard, especially in a house which has no
cellar; there is, however, no trace of dampness. The ground floor is
very prettily furnished, and the floors are inlaid with all kinds of
wood, and are surprisingly pretty considering that they were done
here. On the first floor there is only the room now occupied by M. de
Valençay, which is furnished, and that somewhat scantily. In fact, the
house contains only what is absolutely necessary, and I am glad that I
brought some plate; Herr von Wurmb is lending me many things. However,
we shall do, and I feel better here than I have done for a long time,
because here I have at least silence and rest about me. This is the
heart of the country; I do not regret it, and feel a certain pleasure
in the noise of the cows and the bustle of haymaking, which shows me
once again that I am really of a very countrified nature.

There is a fairly good little portrait of my mother in the
drawing-room, and a very bad one of myself, while in a smaller room
are lithographs of the Prussian royal family. The library is somewhat
restricted, but contains five hundred excellent books in English,
French, and German. I have already been round the garden, which is
quite pretty. The gardener comes from the King's gardens in
Charlottenburg, and has been to Munich and Vienna to perfect himself.


_Günthersdorf, June 14, 1840._--This morning at eight o'clock, in
spite of the cold and bitter wind, which seem to be characteristic of
Prussia, I started in the carriage to drive four leagues for mass and
high mass too. Wartenberg is two-thirds Catholic, while Günthersdorf
is entirely Protestant. The Catholic church is at the entrance to
Wartenberg, a town over which I have some seigneurial rights; each
house pays me a small tax. The road runs through my woods for two
leagues until we reach the high-road. The church was full, the priest
at the entrance with the holy water and a beautiful address, while my
seat was strewn with country flowers. There was nothing wanting: a
procession, the blessing of the Sacrament, the sermon, prayers for the
royal family and for myself, and a beautiful organ accompaniment,
while the children of the Catholic school sang very well. I think the
whole ceremony lasted nearly three hours. Frau von Wurmb, who lives in
one of my houses a short distance from the town, with a pretty garden
round it, was expecting me to lunch. There was no one present except
her own family, which is numerous.

After lunch Herr von Wurmb asked me to see all the servants of my
estates, who had come together from various points to pay their
respects. Then began a long march past. They form a regular staff, all
nominated by myself and paid from my purse. Such is the custom here
upon large estates: an architect, a doctor, two bailiffs, two
collectors, an agent, a treasurer, and a head keeper, four Catholic
priests and three Protestant pastors, and the mayor of the town; all
true gentlemen and very well educated, speaking and introducing
themselves perfectly. I did my best to please every one, and made a
complete conquest of the priest of Wartenberg, to whom I promised some
embroidery of my own making for his church. When I went away Herr von
Wurmb went with me for part of the road to a very pretty enclosure: an
acre or two of forest surrounded with palings, divided by walks, with
a little piece of water, a good gamekeeper's house, where the
pheasants are brought up most carefully. We saw the sitting hens and
the little pheasants in coops, and also the full-grown birds, which
were near the water or flying in the trees. Nearly six hundred are
sold each year. Roe deer and hares also abound.

It was five o'clock when I got back. After dinner I went to sleep with
weariness, for the day had been long, and the cold increased the
drowsiness produced by the open air.

I am here without newspapers or letters, which I do not miss, and wait
patiently until the post is pleased to make its way to this remote
corner of the world. I have already told myself that this country
would form a very pleasant retreat from the shocks by which Western
Europe is always more or less threatened, and in times of revolution
one would not mind the severity of the climate.


_Günthersdorf, June 15, 1840._--Loving a country life as I do, I have
every possibility of satisfying my desire here, for as I wish to see
everything in a short time I have not a moment to lose; so to-day I
started at nine o'clock in the morning and returned to Wartenberg, to
the old Jesuit convent called the Castle. It is a considerable
building, with cloisters; the cells of the monks have been transformed
into pretty rooms, which are now inhabited by the treasurer, the
bailiff, one of the chief stewards, the doctor, the Protestant pastor
and the Protestant school, while there is a very pretty Catholic
chapel, with fresco paintings and an image of miraculous power which
attracts a large number of pilgrims on the 2nd of July every year.
There is a collection of fine ornaments and sacred vessels of some
value. A little glazed cupboard contains the coins and medals offered
_ex voto_; from my chain I took off the little silver medal with the
effigy of M. de Quélen, and placed it with the other offerings.

This visit was lengthy, and I concluded it by unearthing from a dusty
spot the portraits of the old landowners who had left this property to
the Jesuits by will. After giving orders for the restoration of the
portraits I went to see the brewery, the distillery, and the
stockyards, where cattle are bred for sale at Berlin. All this is on a
very large scale. I have even a winepress, for my vintage is a good
one, and also a large plantation of mulberry trees; the silkworms are
bred, the silk wound off and sent to Berlin, where it is woven.

After all this inspection we went to see two farms at Wartenberg; then
a very agreeable road between beautiful plantations, all made since my
reign began, which extend for two leagues, brought us to the summit of
a wooded hill, from the top of which there is a splendid view over the
Oder--an unusual thing in this part of Silesia. On the road my son
Louis was able to get a shot at some roebuck. I returned here at six
o'clock in the evening. Fortunately the weather was respectable.

I have just opened an old writing-desk, in which I have found papers
of my youth--letters from the Abbé Piatoli and many affecting things
of the kind, such as the wedding present given me by the Prince
Primate; this is a bird in a golden cage which sings and flaps its
wings. Then there are engravings and pieces of embroidery. They have
recalled so many shadows of the past. There is something remarkably
solemn in this past thus suddenly revived with such intense
verisimilitude.


_Günthersdorf, June 17, 1840._--I set out at ten o'clock in the
morning, and returned at eight in the evening. First I visited two
farms which belong to the seigniory of Wartenberg, in the second of
which I had lunch. I also visited the church, for in this country both
the churches and their incumbents are dependent upon the overlord.

After lunch we crossed the Oder by a ferry, and went as far as
Carolath, which is well worth seeing. It is a very large castle upon
a considerable elevation, and was built at different times. The
earliest part goes back to the days of the Emperor Charles IV. Neither
within nor without are there any traces of style or careful work, but
there is something grandiose about the general appearance. There is
nothing in the way of gardens except planted terraces going down to
the Oder. The view is admirable, the more so as the opposite banks are
very well wooded with magnificent old oak-trees upon an expanse of
turf covered with cattle and horses reared in the Prince's stables.
The town of Beuthen and the fortress of Glogau make a good effect in
this countryside. The village is pretty, several factories provide
animation, and a pretty inn adds a touch of gracefulness. The castle
lords, husband and wife, with their youngest daughter, were away on
business. The eldest daughter, a pretty young person, was at the
castle with a young cousin and an old steward of the Prince; they
received me most kindly. A three-horsed carriage was harnessed, and
after crossing the Oder by a ford we drove through the great oak-trees
which I mentioned above, in the midst of which the Princess has built
a delightful cottage, where we were given tea. Unfortunately I was
devoured by gnats, and returned with a swollen face, while a slight
sunstroke in addition completed my overthrow. In this strange climate
cold is so rapidly followed by heat that one is always caught by
surprise. However, I am very glad to have seen Carolath. It is a
curious spot; Chaumont, on the banks of the Loire, gives a fairly good
idea of it.

This morning we started again at nine o'clock, my son and myself, to
visit some of my estates upon the other side of the Oder. The district
is called Schwarmitz, and is more exposed to inundations than any
other. A nephew of the late Herr Hennenberg farms it; he lives at
Kleinitz, another of my estates, but he had come to meet me at the
dykes, which toilsome constructions I visited. His wife, the
Protestant and Catholic clergyman, the head gamekeeper, and a crowd of
people were waiting for us at the farm, together with an excellent
lunch. After the meal we went through the farm in detail, two
farmhouses and a fine strip of oak forest, and then returned by way
of Saabor. This is an estate belonging to the younger brother of
Prince Carolath. If the castle and park were properly kept up they
would be preferable to the castle and park of Carolath, though the
situation is not so good. It is, however, very fine, and the forecourt
most beautiful. The landowner has been ruined, and was very anxious
for me to buy Saabor, which is surrounded by my estates, but
topographical circumstances are no sufficient reason for concluding
such a bargain.

Letters from Paris, which have hitherto gone astray, tell me the
following news: Private correspondence from Africa gives the most
harassing details about that vexatious country. Marshal Valée is again
asking for troops and money.

The Prefect of Tours, M. d'Entraigues, has run away from the uproar
which threatened him in his prefecture. The Sub-Prefect of Loches is
the only victim who has been sacrificed to the demands of the Deputy,
M. Taschereau. The nephew of Madame Mollien is transferred from the
prefecture of the Ariège to that of Cantal, and thus becomes the
Prefect of the Castellanes. M. Royer-Collard tells me that he has
saved M. de Lezay, the Prefect of Blois, and M. Bourbon.[104] With
this object he asked an interview of M. Thiers, with which he seems to
have been well satisfied.

  [104] M. Bourbon de Sarty was the prefect of Marne.

M. de La Redorte is now Ambassador at Madrid; his wife is too ill to
accompany him. This is an unexpected step forward in his career, and a
push which will cause vexation to all who will have their own
promotion delayed in consequence. I suppose the King must have made
this concession to his Prime Minister, whose close friend M. de La
Redorte is, by way of recompense for his non-intervention in Spain.

The Duc d'Orléans on his return from Africa is said to have found the
Duchesse d'Orléans in excellent health; the measles from which she has
suffered, by removing the centre of irritation, has restored her
digestion, so that she is able to take food and grow stronger. I am
delighted to hear it.


_Günthersdorf, June 18, 1840._--It has been raining all day, and I was
therefore obliged to abandon the project of visiting a small piece of
land belonging to me, half a league away, which is called Drentkau. I
gave a dinner to twelve people, clergy and local authorities. I shall
have to give two more to do the correct thing. My household is only
arranged for twelve people, and I cannot have more guests at one time.

My son Louis jabbers German with such effrontery that he is making
rapid progress. I have had a call from Prince Frederick of Carolath,
the owner of Saabor. His position in this province is analogous to
that of a lord-lieutenant in an English county.


_Günthersdorf, June 19, 1840._--I visited two schools within my
jurisdiction; they are Catholic schools, and in an excellent state of
efficiency. The education given to the children surprised me, and I
was most delighted and edified. I gave some prizes by way of
encouragement, and have undertaken to provide for the career of a boy
of twelve whose energy and intelligence are really marvellous, though
he is too poor to enter the seminary, for which he feels a special
vocation.


_Sagan, June 21, 1840._--The day before yesterday at Günthersdorf I
received a letter which decided me to come here. Herr von Wolff wrote
to me from Berlin saying that transactions were in progress here of a
very irregular nature and against the interests of my children; that
he was coming to put the matter right, and advised me to come on my
side. I therefore started from Günthersdorf yesterday morning with M.
de Valençay. The journey took us six hours. I put up at the inn; as
things are I do not think it advisable to go to the castle, but how
strangely I was impressed with the necessity! Here, where my father
and sister lived and where I spent so much time in my youth, I have to
go to an inn!

After an hour's conversation with Herr von Wolff we went to the
castle. I recognised everything except things that had been taken away
with some undue haste, and which perhaps will have to be brought back.
My eldest sister's old man of business wept bitterly. He is on very
bad terms with Herr von Gersdorff, who looks after the affairs of my
sister, the Princess of Hohenzollern. I saw him, but did not talk
business, in the first place because the matter affects my son and not
myself, and also because I wished to avoid any open breach.

Sagan is really beautiful so far as the castle and park are concerned,
though the neighbourhood is inferior to that in which my own estates
lie; but the house is magnificent. I found some old figures of my
father's time, which revived sad memories. It was a pleasure to see
the portraits of my family.

There is here a certain Countess Dohna, who was brought up first with
my mother and then with my eldest sister, and who married a man of
very good position in the country. In her youth she was quite like a
child of the house. She came yesterday to tea with me, and I was
delighted to see her and talk with her of my poor sister, the Duchesse
de Sagan, and of her last visit a short time before her death.

This morning I went to mass in the charming church of the Augustine
monks, where my father has rested for thirty-nine years. I was greatly
affected by the whole service, and by the music, which was excellent.

After that I went to see the Countess Dohna, who came with me to the
castle. I wished to look at the outbuildings, which I had not seen
yesterday. In the stables I found an old gilt carriage lined with red
velvet, and almost exactly resembling the carriage of the Spanish
Princes at Valençay. In that carriage my father left Courlande and
came here. The business man of my sister, the Princess of
Hohenzollern, sells everything which does not belong to the fief, and
put up this carriage for sale. I bought it at once for a bid of
thirty-five crowns.

I dined at two o'clock, according to the custom of the town, and
afterwards we went to the end of the park to visit a little ancient
church where my sister de Sagan told me that she wished to place my
father's body and to be buried herself. The little church must be
restored, which will be quite easy. It might be made a very suitable
and retired burial-place.


_Günthersdorf, June 22, 1840._--I have now returned to my own
fireside, of which I am quite fond. Before leaving Sagan this morning
I received calls from many of the local people, and went through a
long business conference. The whole Sagan question is so complicated
that it will last a long time. Wolff, Wurmb, and my eldest sister's
old business man advised me to simplify the matter by asking my
sister, who still owes me some money for Nachod,[105] to surrender the
allodial forests of Sagan, which will thus come back to my sons some
day. I do not object, for these forests are superb, but this is a
further question. There are some preliminary points which should be
settled first and will take time. The business men urge me strongly to
spend the whole year in Germany. I cannot spend the winter in so cold
a climate, but I should like to come back next spring for the fine
weather. I believe my son is right in saying that he is very fortunate
in making his first appearance in this country with myself.

  [105] Nachod, an estate in Bohemia with a vast castle built by
  the Piccolomini, had been bought by the Duc de Courlande. His
  eldest daughter, Wilhelmine de Sagan, had inherited it, and died
  there in 1839. Nachod was then sold to the Princes of
  Schaumburg-Lippe, who still retain it.

On my way back I stayed for two hours at Neusalz, which is a curious
town to visit. Half of it is occupied by a colony of Moravian
brothers, whose customs nearly resemble those of the Quakers. They are
somewhat unusual, especially the custom which they call the Feast of
Love. In their church they sing and pray and take coffee and cakes in
the most perfect silence and with the most perfect gluttony. They are
very industrious, very avaricious, somewhat hypocritical, and
amazingly clean. They address one another in the second person
singular. They have missionaries, and their branches spread throughout
the world. Besides the Moravian church, Neusalz has a Catholic and a
Protestant church. The latter is quite new, and very pretty. I visited
it to see a present given by the reigning King of Prussia; this is a
very handsome Christ after Annibale Carrache. I also examined in full
detail the splendid ironworks, where many castings are made.


_Günthersdorf, June 23, 1840._--It is beautiful weather. This evening
my garden is green, fresh, and sweet-smelling. There are times and
seasons of climate, nature, and mind which are especially prone to
raise regrets in the heart, and notwithstanding the actual comfort
with which I am surrounded I feel somewhat depressed to-day. I have
been going through papers the whole morning with my business man, and
afterwards went with him to inspect the Protestant school in this
village.


_Günthersdorf, June 25, 1840._--I spent yesterday from ten in the
morning till nine in the evening in visiting the most distant part of
my estates, which include a town, three farms, and a little forest. In
one of the farms the remains of an old Gothic castle have been
transformed into a barn. I lunched with a retired lieutenant who is
married and works my farms, upon one of which is a good
dwelling-house; the farms have always been held together, first by the
grandfather and then by the father of the present holder. His wife is
expecting a child, and they hope that the lease will be renewed to the
fourth generation. I went to look at the church and the town, which is
three parts Catholic. I was very warmly received. The position of a
great overlord is very different here from in France, and my son's
head is quite turned by it.


_Günthersdorf, June 26, 1840._--To-morrow I must return to Berlin,
while my son will go on to Marienbad. I have recovered my strength in
the open-air life that I have led among the woods. Yesterday I went to
see the worst of my farms, which is called Heydan, and is wrested by
main force from the sand.

I had my neighbour to dinner, Prince Carolath of Saabor, a stout man
between fifty and sixty years of age, very pleasant and polite.


_Frankfort-on-the-Oder, June 28, 1840._--I spent the whole of
yesterday out of doors in rain and hail. I could have wished for
better weather for the sake of the good people who had prepared
receptions for me, and also for my own sake, as I could form but a
very inadequate judgment of the two recently made farms; one is called
Peterhof, after my father, and the other Dorotheenaue, after myself.
These farms have been established upon lands by the help of which the
peasants of Kleinitz have been enabled to buy their freedom from
forced labour. Beautiful forests surround these lands. The agent in
residence belongs to a family of Courlande, which followed my father
to Silesia. A striking portrait of my father, who had made a present
of it to his follower, adorns his room. He values it highly, and so I
could not ask him to sell it to me, as I was tempted to do.

When I arrived here I found a very kind letter from the Duc d'Orléans,
referring most properly to the death of the King of Prussia and to his
successor. This is what he says about France: "The apparent agitation
has subsided, but there are still clouds upon the horizon; though the
storm has been cleverly averted, it has not entirely dispersed.
However, the interval between the sessions will pass off well. Only
the King and M. Thiers are in the foreground, and neither is willing
to embarrass the other. Both wish to smooth their path, and no
question will arise to divide them. For my part, I wish every success
to our great little Minister, who can confer vast benefits upon this
country."

I was sorry to say good-bye to my son; he is a good child, natural,
tractable, and quiet. I am glad that he was pleased with Silesia, and
that he has shown so good a spirit in every respect. Moreover, in him
I had a relative at hand, and I begin to feel the great difference
between solitude and isolation. For a long time I confused these two
conditions, which are so similar and yet so different; the one I can
bear very well, the other makes me afraid.


_Berlin, June 29, 1840._--I arrived here yesterday at three o'clock in
the afternoon. I found many letters, but none of any interest.
However, Madame Mollien says that the Duchesse d'Orléans is with
child, and adds that the digestive disturbance has returned from which
the measles seemed to have relieved her. Madame Adélaïde, who also
writes, seems to be well pleased with the way in which the review of
the National Guard passed off, and especially with the reception of
the Duc d'Orléans upon his return from Africa. Some of the officers
attached to him are dead, and many of them have been left behind
wounded or ill; he himself has grown very thin.

Here at Berlin, according to what I hear from different people whom I
saw yesterday evening, the moderation, the goodness, and the wisdom of
the new King give great satisfaction. He works hard, is accessible to
everybody, and shows every respect for the friends and the wishes of
his father. Herr von Humboldt has brought me all kinds of gracious
messages from Sans Souci; the Prince and Princess of Prussia have sent
others; Madame de Perponcher told me that there would be a grand Court
of Condolence on Friday next, and explained what costume would be
worn.

The only change under the new Government is that the King works with
each of his Ministers separately, whereas the late King would only
talk with the Prince of Wittgenstein and work only with Count Lottum.
Herr von Altenstein, who was Minister of Worship and Education, died
three weeks before the late King, and no fresh appointment has yet
been made. There is much anxiety to know who will fill this important
post. The choice will give some indication of the direction in which
affairs will be guided. The nomination for that very reason is a
matter of great perplexity to the King.


_Berlin, July 1, 1840._--My great objection to towns is the calls that
have to be made and received. In spite of the fact that I am only a
bird of passage here I have to suffer this inconvenience. I have made
a large number of calls and received a great many yesterday morning
and evening. The Prince of Prussia, who started this morning for Ems,
was with me for a long time, and told me that the Empress of Russia
was well pleased with her future daughter-in-law, and the young
Princess will travel to Russia with the Empress herself.

Lord William Russell also came to see me. He told me that Lady
Granville had _ordered_ Mr. Heneage, who is attached to her husband's
Embassy at Paris, to accompany Madame de Lieven to England.

I went with Wolff to see the studio of Begas, a German painter trained
at Paris under the eyes of Gros. He is very talented.

There has been an earthquake in the department of Indre-et-Loire,
which was felt at Tours; at Candes, four leagues from Rochecotte,
several houses have been overthrown. At Rochecotte nothing has
happened, thank heaven, but this subterranean convulsion frightens me;
another event of the kind might easily ruin all my work of
restoration, and my artesian well might run dry.


_Potsdam, July 2, 1840._--I left Berlin yesterday at eleven o'clock in
the morning by the railway. I was in the same carriage with Prince
Adalbert of Prussia, the King's cousin, Lord William Russell, and
Prince George of Hesse. When I got out of the train, which reaches
Potsdam in less than an hour, I found the carriage and the servants of
the Princess of Prussia, with an invitation to visit her at once at
Babelsberg, a pretty Gothic castle which she has built upon a wooded
height overlooking the valley of the Havel. It is a small residence,
but very well arranged, with a beautiful view. We sat there talking
for an hour. Her carriage remained at my disposal in Potsdam after it
had brought me back. When I had dressed I went to Sans Souci, where
the King dines at three o'clock. Both he and the Queen were most kind
and friendly. After dinner he took me to see the room where Frederick
II. died, and that King's library. He insisted that I should follow
him to the terrace, which is a fine piece of work. Then I was handed
over to the Countess of Reede, the Queen's chief lady, and to
Humboldt, who drove me to the Marble Palace, where are many beautiful
objects of art, and also to the New Palace, where the great summer
festivities are held. The Princess of Prussia came to meet us, and
took me to Charlottenhof, which was made by the reigning King from the
models, plans, and design of a villa belonging to Pliny. It is a
charming sight, full of beautiful things brought from Italy, which
harmonise admirably, an inconceivable confusion of flowers and fresco
paintings as at Pompeii, with fountains and ancient baths, all in the
best taste. The King and Queen were there, and we had tea. The King
then took me with him in a pony chaise and drove me through splendid
avenues of old oak-trees to Sans Souci, where he insisted that I
should stay to supper. Supper was served in a little room without
ceremony, and there was more conversation than eating. This went on
very pleasantly and easily until eleven o'clock. The King promised me
his portrait, and has been most kind in every way. He made me promise
to come and see him again at Berlin, and was, as they say here, very
_herzlich_.

This morning Humboldt came of his own accord to suggest that before
going to lunch with the Princess of Prussia I should see the Island of
the Peacocks, with its beautiful conservatories and curious menagerie.
The King's boatmen and the overseers of the botanical gardens waited
on me, and I brought back some splendid flowers. We reached the
Princess of Prussia a little late. After lunch she took me in the pony
chaise to see Glinicke, the pretty villa of Prince Charles, who is at
this moment at the baths of Kreuznach with his wife. Thence I returned
to Potsdam and to Berlin by the railway.


_Berlin, July 3, 1840._--Madame de Perponcher came for me to-day at
four o'clock. She took me through the rooms of her mother, the
Countess of Reede, so that we avoided the crowd and were the first to
reach the Court of Condolence which was held by the Queen at Berlin.
She was seated on her throne in a room hung with black; the shutters
were closed, and the room was lighted only by four large candles,
according to old etiquette. The Queen wore a double veil, one
streaming behind and the other lowered before her face; all the ladies
were dressed in the same way, and it was impossible to distinguish
faces. Each made a silent bow before the throne, and that was all. It
was strangely sad and lugubrious, but a very noble and imposing
ceremony. The men who passed before the throne were in uniform, with
their faces uncovered, but any gold or silver on their uniforms was
covered with black crape.


_Berlin, July 5, 1840._--My stay at Berlin has now come to an end. I
went to high mass this morning, a less meritorious act here than
elsewhere, on account of the admirable music.


_Herzberg, July 6, 1840._--I started this morning from Berlin by
railway as far as Potsdam, where I stayed for lunch. When I got out of
the train I found a footman with a very affectionate farewell letter
from the Princess of Prussia. I have been spoilt to the last moment. I
feel most deeply grateful, for every one has shown me a kindness and a
cordiality which I had only experienced in England before now.

I have finished the _Stories of the Merovingian Age_, by M. Augustin
Thierry. The book is not without interest or originality; as a picture
of strange and unknown customs, it is valuable. I have begun the
Dialogues of Fénelon on Jansenism, a book which is little known and
almost forgotten, though admirably written, and sometimes as striking
as the _Provincial Letters_.


_Königsbruck, July 8, 1840._--I came here yesterday at six o'clock in
the evening to see my niece, the Countess of Hohenthal. The lady of
the place is taller, fairer, more intelligent, quite as pleasant, and
in my opinion prettier and kinder than her sister, Frau von Lazareff.
Her other sister, Fanny, is an excellent and cheerful character, and
if her health were better she would be pretty. The Count of Hohenthal
is a thorough gentleman who admires and adores his wife. Miss
Harrison, once the governess of these ladies, is a prudent and loyal
person who has acted as their mother, and is respected as such in the
household. Königsbruck is a great house, rather vast than beautiful,
at the entrance to a small town. Its position would be picturesque and
the view agreeable if it were not almost choked by the outbuildings,
which, in the German style, are placed far too near the castle. The
country is a transition-point between the barrenness and flatness of
Prussia and the rich productivity of Saxony.

The following is an extract from a letter from M. Royer-Collard,
written from Paris when he was about to start for the Blésois: "Thiers
came even to-day to sit down here in silence with M. Cousin, who
represented the companion brother of the Jesuit. Thiers speaks very
disdainfully of the Ministries which preceded his own, and modestly of
his successes as Minister of the Interior; in any case, he is very
kind to me."


_Königsbruck, July 9, 1840._--To-day I went over the castle in detail.
It might afford opportunity for beautification in several directions;
but such is not the local taste, as the lords work their estates
themselves and prefer the useful to the agreeable.

My niece had told me that the King and Queen of Saxony had expressed a
wish to see me; I therefore wrote yesterday to Pillnitz, where the
Court now is, to ask their Majesties for an interview. When the answer
arrives I shall arrange for my departure.

My nieces generally spend their winters at Dresden, and told me that
the French Minister, M. de Bussières, was in very bad odour there. He
is regarded as an unpleasant character and in bad style. He has
introduced some disagreeable customs, and deeply wounded the Queen by
various tactless remarks concerning her. There is a general wish for
his removal to some other diplomatic post.


_Dresden, July 11, 1840._--I left Königsbruck this morning, and was
glad to see once more the pretty suburbs of Dresden. I am now about to
dress and to start for Pillnitz.


_Dresden, July 12, 1840._--The castle of Pillnitz is neither very
beautiful nor curious. The gardens are only moderately good, but the
situation on the banks of the Elbe is charming; the country is
delightful and fertile. The whole royal family of Saxony were
assembled there yesterday. The Queen, whom I had known long ago at
Baden, before her marriage, is the tallest woman I know; she is very
kind, well educated, and simply anxious to please. The King had dined
several times with M. de Talleyrand at Paris; he is a frank and
natural person, especially when his shyness, which is obvious at
first, has time to wear off. Princess John, the Queen's sister, and
the twin sister of the Queen of Prussia, is strikingly like the
latter, but she has been so worn out by constant child-bearing that
she hardly has the strength to move or to utter more than a few words.
I had also known her at Baden, when she was very pretty and agreeable.
Her husband, Prince John, is one of the most learned royal personages
of his time, always busy with deep matters; his dress and appearance
are very careless, and there is something of the German professor
about him. Princess Augusta, the Queen's cousin, had nearly all the
sovereigns of Europe as her suitors thirty years ago: Napoleon
mentioned her name in the council where his marriage was decided; none
the less she remained single, and, moreover, has become a very
pleasant old maid. She was never pretty, but was fresh and bright,
with individual points of beauty. Her expression remains kind and
attractive. Finally, I made a conquest of Princess Amelia, the King's
sister, who writes comedies. She is a witty and imaginative person,
and her conversation is lively and sparkling; she showed remarkable
kindness to me.

After dinner I was taken into a very fine room to change my dress, and
was strongly tempted to theft by the many fine examples of old Dresden
china. The Queen sent for me, and I was taken to her room, where she
asked me questions, as the Princesses had done. Everybody came in soon
in out-of-door dress, and we started in carriages for a long drive.
The vine is largely grown about Dresden. Above the royal vineyards the
King has built a little summer-house, which reminds me of that of the
Grand Duchess Stephanie at Baden. This was the object of our drive,
and the view from it is superb: on the right was Dresden, opposite the
Elbe, with its smiling banks, and on the left the mountain chain known
as Saxon Switzerland. Tea was served in the summer-house and after a
pleasant conversation I said farewell, when all kinds of warm messages
were exchanged. My carriage had followed me, and brought me back to
Dresden by ten o'clock in the evening.


_Dresden, July 13, 1840._--As yesterday was Sunday I went to mass in
the morning in the chapel of the castle, where the music is famous
throughout Germany. It is the only place where singers are still to be
heard in the style of Crescentini and Marchesi. This celebrated music
did not satisfy me; it was too operatic in style, too noisy and
dramatic, instead of suggesting a religious calm; moreover, these
mutilated voices, notwithstanding their brilliancy, have a certain
unpleasant harshness and shrillness. I never cared for the voice of
Crescentini, whom I heard at her best at Napoleon's Court.

After mass we visited the interior of the castle, where Bendemann, one
of the most distinguished artists of Düsseldorf, is now painting
frescoes in the great hall where the King opens and closes the
sessions of the States. It will be a fine piece of work in respect
both of its composition and execution, but it will never have the
brilliancy which only Italy can give to this style of painting, and
which is so indispensable to it. I was much interested by the
apartments of the Elector Augustus the Strong, which were furnished in
the fashion of his age, and have never been used since, except by the
Emperor Napoleon. They contain a great number of specimens of Buhl
furniture, lacquer-work, gilt copper, old china, and inlaid wood, but
these things are kept in bad condition and badly arranged, and do not
make a quarter of the effect they should produce. The castle from the
outside looks like an old convent, but there are some curious
architectural details in its interior courts which remind me of the
castle of Blois, though they cannot vie with it. Nothing can give
grace, lightness, and elegance to architectural work like the
everlasting white stone which belongs exclusively to the centre of
France. Here the stone is very dark.

In the evening I had a visit from the Baron of Lindenau, Minister of
Education and Director of Museums. He played an important political
part in the affairs of Saxony during the co-regency of the present
King. I had known him formerly at the house of my late aunt, the
Countess of Recke. He is a distinguished man, and I was glad to see
him again.

My nephew took us this morning to see the Japanese Palace, which
contains the royal library, the manuscripts, the intaglios, medals,
and engravings. I went through twenty vaulted chambers, which contain
all known specimens of china, of every age and every country. There
were some very beautiful and very curious things among them. This
collection is especially rich in Chinese specimens. Then we went on to
the royal china manufactory, which has preserved the fine paste so
greatly admired in old Saxon china, which is now sold by curiosity
dealers.

After dinner I went to the historical museum called the Zwinger, which
is arranged after the style of the Tower of London. Herr von Lindenau
had sent word of my coming to the chief directors, who are most
learned men, and explained everything to us delightfully. The picture
gallery and the treasury I had seen upon other occasions, and did not
visit them again.


_Teplitz, July 14, 1840._--It is not a long journey from Dresden
here--only eight short hours, through charming country. The hills
prevent rapid progress, but the variety and the attractiveness of the
scenery compensate for the delay. Some of the scenery recalls the
Murgthal, and other parts Wildbad. The Erzgebirge, at the foot of
which Teplitz lies, makes a sufficient background, though it is not an
imposing mountain range. The mountains are, moreover, well wooded, the
village is very pretty, flowers are grown, and the roads are
excellent. Immediately after my arrival I had a visit from my niece,
Princess Biron, who married my eldest nephew. She took me in her
carriage to see the town, which is not far off, the pretty promenades,
and the village of Schönau, which is close to the town and contains
the chief watering-places. It is all very nice, and prettily built;
but Teplitz may be as pretty as it likes--it cannot equal dear Baden.
The society of the place is also different, and seems to me to be very
moderate here. It is said that the death of the King of Prussia will
make a great difference, as he came every year.

Princess Biron is a pleasant person; though not pretty, she has a
noble bearing, and is deeply loved and respected in her husband's
family.


_Teplitz, July 15, 1840._--I am starting for Carlsbad, where I shall
see my two sisters this evening, from whom I have been separated for
sixteen years. This unduly long absence has changed my habits, and I
have lost touch with their interests; so I begin the day with some
emotion.


_Carlsbad, July 16, 1840._--Fifteen hours' travelling to-day, during
which I did not stop for a moment. I had to cover twenty-six leagues,
continually going uphill or down. After Teplitz the country is pretty
as far as Dux, the castle of Count Wallenstein, where Casanova wrote
his memoirs; after that the country becomes extremely dull. It was ten
o'clock when I arrived. My sisters were sitting opposite one another
playing patience. Jeanne, the Duchess of Acerenza, welcomed me very
naturally; Pauline, the Princess of Hohenzollern, with some
embarrassment, which immediately communicated itself to me. We only
talked of indifferent matters, and they gave me tea. I then went to a
house opposite, where my sister Jeanne has hired a room for me.


_Carlsbad, July 17, 1840._--The Duc de Noailles writes from Paris
telling me that he dined with M. Thiers at the house of the Sardinian
Ambassador,[106] and had a long talk with him. He found M. Thiers
profoundly interested in Africa, willing to spend vast sums there, to
wage a great war and keep up an army of eighty thousand men, and to
build the continuous lines which have been so largely discussed, to
surround the whole plain of the Mitija.[107] He attempts to prove that
these efforts will produce marvellous results in two or three years:
the real possession of Africa, a large colonising movement, and a
splendid port on the Mediterranean. The Duc de Noailles also tells me
that Madame de Lieven is at London, and is greatly pleased with her
reception.

  [106] The Marquis de Brignole-Sale.

  [107] The vast plain of the Mitija is situated to the south of
  Algiers, and extends between two mountainous zones of the Atlas
  and the Sahel. It is famous for its fertility, for which reason
  the Arabs call it "the Mother of the Poor."

Another correspondent says: "The King does not seem to come to terms
with his Ministry, although he is said to be on the best footing with
the several members of it. Having lost a game, the King has now to win
one, and is waiting his opportunity patiently. M. Guizot still seems
to be the fashion in England.[108] He bets at the racecourse, and has
won two hundred louis. Surely M. Guizot on the turf is one of the
strangest anomalies of our age!"

  [108] M. Guizot was then Ambassador at London.

Yesterday my sisters took me to see the various springs and the shops,
which are very pretty. I then dined with them at three o'clock, my
brother-in-law, Count Schulenburg, being present.[109] Then we went
for a drive along the valley, which greatly resembles the valley of
Wildbad. There I found some old acquaintances--the Prince and Princess
Reuss-Schleiz, the Count and Countess Solms, son of the old Ompteda by
her first marriage, the Countess Karolyi, called Nandine, the old
Löwenhielm, with his wife, whose first married name was Frau von
Düben, Liebermann, and an old Princess Lichenstein. I returned home at
ten o'clock, rather wearied with this succession of faces.

  [109] The third husband of the eldest sister of the Duchesse de
  Talleyrand.


_Carlsbad, July 18, 1840._--Yesterday I went to pay a call to the
Countess of Björnstjerna, who lives in the same house as myself. She
is starting for Hamburg this morning, where she will hear whether she
is to meet her husband at Stockholm or London. Her eldest son is
marrying the only daughter of her sister, Countess Ugglas, who died
some years ago. It has been pleasant to meet some one to remind me of
London, the best time of my life, even in the form of this little
Björnstjerna. I have also been to see an old man of eighty years who
always used to live with my aunt, the Countess of Recke, and whom I
had missed at Dresden, where I hoped to find him. He usually lives
there in a house the use of which was bequeathed to him by my aunt,
and which reverts to myself after the death of this poor old man. We
both grew sad over the memories of my good aunt.

After dinner I went for a drive with my sisters along a pretty road
cut out of the mountain-side, and visited a china factory, where there
were some pretty things. Pottery has been a comparatively widespread
industry in Bohemia for some time, but remains much behind the Saxon
manufacture.


_Carlsbad, July 19, 1840._--Yesterday I spent very much as the former
day, and as I shall probably spend every day of my stay here. I always
wake up early, write till nine o'clock, get up and dress. At ten
o'clock I go to my sisters, and stay talking to them till midday. I
then pay some necessary calls, and return home to read. I go back to
my sisters at three o'clock for dinner, then take them for a drive in
a carriage that I have hired. At six o'clock they sit in front of
their door to see the people go past. I stay with them for a time, and
then return to my room, and finally go back to them at eight o'clock
for tea.

My sister Hohenzollern has brought all the curious letters that had
belonged to my mother, and which my sister the Duchesse de Sagan had
seized. She proposed to keep a third of them, and we therefore divided
them. My share contains the letters of the late King of Poland,[110]
of the Emperor Alexander, of the brothers and sisters of Frederick the
Great, Goethe, the Emperor Napoleon to the Empress Joséphine, the
great Condé, Louis XIV., and in particular a letter from Fénelon to
his grand-nephew whom he called Fanfan.[111] This letter is enclosed
in a paper on which the Bishop of Alais, M. de Bausset, has written a
signed note testifying to the authenticity of this letter, so that
there are two autographs in one.

  [110] Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, last King of Poland.

  [111] M. Léon de Beaumont, the son of Fénelon's sister.


_Carlsbad, July 20, 1840._--I went to mass yesterday in an enormous
crowd, for this country is essentially Catholic. The little chapels,
the great crucifixes, the _ex-votos_, scattered about the mountains,
are all visited on Sundays by the people, who leave small candles and
flowers there. I went to visit two of these little shrines, which
increase the beauty of the landscape, apart from their religious
meaning.

I then went to see my sisters in the usual place. Countess Léon
Razumowski and Princess Palfy were with them. I was introduced, but
did not find them very interesting. Countess Razumowski is the leader
of the pleasure-seeking society here; they spend their days in tea and
supper parties in the style of the Russian ladies at Baden.

M. de Tatitcheff is also here, and told us that a young Russian who
had come straight from Rome said that the Pope was in a desperate
condition.

In the evening a Mrs. Austin, a clever English lady, brought letters
of introduction to my sisters. She sees a good deal of M. Guizot at
London, is always quoting his remarks, and boasts of her
acquaintanceship with Lady Lansdowne.


_Carlsbad, July 22, 1840._--Yesterday I had a very touching letter
from the Abbé Dupanloup. He has been for rest and retirement at the
Grande Chartreuse, whence his letter is dated. He proposes to return
to Paris at once to help in the consecration of the new
Archbishop.[112] He speaks with much concern about the condition of
the French clergy, whose irritation he describes as very great.

  [112] Mgr. Affre.

I have also a letter from the Princesse de Lieven from London. She
says: "The Ministry is very weak, but it is likely to continue in
life, though vitality will be feeble. The Queen has entirely recovered
her popularity since the attempt to assassinate her.[113] She really
behaved with great courage and coolness, most creditable and unusual
at her age. She is very fond of her husband, whom she treats as a
small boy. He is not so clever as she, but is very calm and dignified.
M. Guizot has an excellent position here, is universally respected,
and perfectly happy. Herr von Brunnow cuts a poor figure. He and his
wife are thought to be quite ridiculous and out of place. The little
Chreptowicz, daughter of Count Nesselrode, who is here, is very vexed
and ashamed about it. Alava has lost his cheerfulness. Lady Jersey's
hair is grey. Lord Grey looks very well, but is very peevish."

  [113] On June 6, 1840, a young man named Oxford, afterwards
  thought to be mentally weak, fired two pistol-shots at Queen
  Victoria as she was driving through the streets of London,
  accompanied by her husband, Prince Albert.

It is said here that Matusiewicz is dangerously ill of gout at
Stockholm, and that M. Potemkin has gone raving mad at Rome. This is
likely to cause some changes in the Russian diplomatic service, and
perhaps will bring my cousin, Paul Medem, from Stuttgart.


_Carlsbad, July 27, 1840._--I propose to start the day after to-morrow
for Baden. A certain Herr von Hübner arrived yesterday. He is an
Austrian[114] with a post in the office of Prince Metternich. He
brought me a pressing invitation from the Prince to go and see him at
Königswarth, which is only six hours by road from here. I sent a
refusal, but in terms of warm regret; it would not be kind to my
sisters if I were to cut my stay short by a day or two after so long a
separation, and I also fear the foolish interpretations which our
newspapers might place upon my action. Frederic Lamb, Esterhazy,
Tatitcheff, Fiquelmont, Maltzan, and other diplomatists are gathered
at Königswarth. This will attract attention, and I am not anxious that
my name, which has not yet been sufficiently forgotten, should be made
the subject of delightful journalistic comments.

  [114] Herr von Hübner was Austrian Ambassador in France under the
  Second Empire, before the Italian War.


_Carlsbad, July 30, 1840._--I am leaving Carlsbad at midday this
morning, and going with my sister Acerenza to Löbichau, in Saxony, an
estate which belongs to her; my mother is buried there. She will then
meet my sister Hohenzollern at Ischl, for which she also starts
to-day. We part upon the best terms, and I have promised to pay them a
visit at Vienna on my next journey to Germany.


_Löbichau, July 31, 1840._--I arrived here yesterday evening, after a
journey through a picturesque and mountainous country, well wooded and
well watered. I have been travelling in the pretty duchy of
Saxony-Altenburg, a fertile, smiling, and populous district, where I
spent every summer until the time of my marriage. I revisited it
afterwards upon several occasions. Many recollections give me an
interest in the country, and sometimes arouse emotion. Some old faces
of past times still remain to greet me. I went into the room where my
mother died, and which my sister now uses, and we went to see her
grave at the end of the park. I also went to the presbytery to see the
wife of the pastor, who was a faithful companion of my youth; one of
her daughters is my godchild, and is a pretty young person.


_Löbichau, August 1, 1840._--It rained all yesterday, and it was
impossible to go out. I spent my time in going over the house and
looking at the rooms which I had occupied at different periods. Some
people from the neighbourhood came in to see us, including the
deaconess, Fräulein Sidonie von Dieskau, a great friend of my mother.
I often used to go to her house in my youth. She is a very lively and
clever person, and bears her sixty-two years admirably.

Here I found a letter from the Duchesse d'Albuféra, who says: "Lady
Sandwich gave an evening party recently. You would never guess who was
engaged to amuse the company--a hypnotist! The Marquise de Caraman was
overheard saying to the young Duc de Vicence, 'If we were alone I
should like to be hypnotised, but I dare not before all these people;
I should be afraid of showing my excitement.' Marshal Valée will be
continued in his African command, notwithstanding the criticism to
which he is exposed, on account of the difficulty of finding any one
to take his place. The Flahaut have returned in a very softened frame
of mind, and well disposed to the Government; they often go to
Auteuil, where M. Thiers has set up house. The marriage of Lady Acton
with Lord Leveson is settled for this month; it will take place in
England, where the Granvilles have been called by the serious illness
of their daughter, Lady Rivers. Lord Granville does not greatly
approve of this marriage; much pressure has been necessary to obtain
his consent, but his son's passion has overcome all obstacles."


_Löbichau, August 2, 1840._--Yesterday I went with my sister a
distance of a short half-league to visit a summer residence in the
middle of the park, in which I spent several summers. My mother made
me a present of it, and I gave it back to her when I was married. It
is now in somewhat poor repair, but I was glad to see it again. On our
return I went into the village to recall some memories.


_Schleitz, August 3, 1840._--This town is the residence of the Prince
of Reuss LXIV. Three years ago it was burnt down. The castle is quite
new, built in the style of a barracks, with two very insignificant
towers; it is a pity, for the country is beautiful, especially towards
Gera, where I dined with the deaconess von Dieskau, of whom I spoke
above, and who is one of the pleasantest recollections of my youth.
She is very comfortably settled.


_Nuremberg, August 4, 1840._--Yesterday evening I reached Bayreuth at
a late hour, and started again early this morning.

A mere walk through the streets of Nüremberg will show any observer
the peculiarities of the town. Octagonal balconies in the form of
projecting towers in the middle or at the corners of the houses, with
gables, almost all overhanging the street, are most characteristic.
The number of niches with statues of saints would make one think that
the country was Catholic; yet the town is entirely Protestant; but the
vandalism of the Reformation was as rabid here as elsewhere, and the
good taste of the inhabitants has preserved from a sense of artistic
value what they no longer appreciate for religious reasons.

Yesterday evening at the last posting station before Bayreuth I met
some travellers whom I did not know but who seemed to be important
people. The husband came up to my carriage and asked me if I had heard
the news. I replied that I had not. He then told me that he belonged
to Geneva, and that he was taking his invalid wife to Marienbad; that
on leaving Geneva he had seen one of his friends from Paris, who told
him of the news that a convention had been signed at London between
Austria, Prussia, Russia, and England against the Pasha of Egypt, and
that the French King was furious in consequence; that M. Thiers had
immediately ordered the sudden mobilisation of two hundred thousand
men to march to the northern frontier, and of ten thousand
sailors.[115] As I no longer see the newspapers, I am very doubtful
what to think of such news, and do not know what to make of these
apparent contradictions.

  [115] The complications of the Eastern question nearly plunged
  France into war about this time. Syria had revolted, and the
  English, who objected to the power of the Egyptian Viceroy,
  Mehemet Ali, joined Prussia, Austria, and Russia, excluding
  France, whom Lord Palmerston knew to be unduly favourable to
  Egypt, and secretly signed the treaty at London on July 15, 1840,
  restoring Syria to the Sultan.

I was told that on September 1 a fifteen days' camp would take place
here; twenty thousand troops, the whole Bavarian Court, and other
princes will make it a brilliant affair.

In _Galignani_ I saw the news of the death of Lord Durham; I do not
think he will be greatly regretted.

       *       *       *       *       *

To return from my aberrations, the Church of St. Sebald is
ill-proportioned and the decorations are very tawdry, but it contains
one fine monument. This is a great silver reliquary covered with gold
bands, placed in an openwork monument of cast iron, remarkable for its
delicacy and gracefulness; the ornamentation is extremely rich and the
design admirable. The Town Hall, the large hall painted with frescoes
by Albert Dürer, where several Imperial Diets have been held, is worth
seeing, and also the room in which are hung the portraits of those
citizens of Nuremberg who were benefactors to their native town by
founding religious houses. A chapel of St. Maurice which has been
transformed into a museum has some interesting pictures of the old
German school. The bronze statue of Dürer in one of the squares, which
was modelled by Rauch of Berlin, and cast here, has nobility of
bearing and makes a fine effect. The old castle, upon an elevation,
overlooks the town, and from it may be gained a general view of the
countryside. Though it is somewhat mean in appearance, it has the
merit of indisputable antiquity. The King and Queen of Bavaria inhabit
it when they are here. An old linden-tree planted in the middle of the
court by the Empress Cunegonde must be eight hundred years old if the
chronicle is to be believed; one may reasonably doubt such antiquity,
though the fact remains that this tree has seen many events.

The Church of St. Lawrence is very fine and imposing; the tabernacle
and the pulpit are masterpieces. Two fountains, one of cast iron and
the other of stone, in two of the squares are very noteworthy for
curious details of sculpture, but the little threads of water which
they spout make them look more like _ex-votos_ than fountains. The
house of the Emperor Adolphus of Nassau and the house of the
Hohenzollerns, who for a long time were Burgraves of Nuremberg, with
several other houses in the hands of private individuals, are curious.
The mania for restoration has reached Nüremberg; the results would be
highly praiseworthy were it not for the habit of painting in glaring
colours houses with sculptured fronts which should especially be left
in the natural colour of the stone. The cemetery of St. John contains
the tombs of all the illustrious men of the town. The Rosenau, the
public walk, of which the inhabitants are very proud, is damp and
badly kept. I finished my round with a visit to the toy shop which has
been famous for centuries; all kinds of figures and grotesques are
there made, cleverly carved in wood.


_Baden, August 7, 1840._--I am now at Baden, and felt quite overcome
when I just now entered it alone. The sight of the Jagd-Haus, of the
little chapel, the poplar-trees upon the road--in fact, something at
every step awoke memories and regrets. I am staying in a clean little
house on the Graben, opposite the Strasburg Hotel. Houses are being
built in every direction; Baden will soon be a large town, and much
less attractive to me. As I read the letters which you write me from
America[116] I often think they would have greatly interested M. de
Talleyrand, and would have reminded him of many things, but if poor M.
de Talleyrand had lived I do not think he would have allowed you to go
into exile so far away; although he often said that a politician to
complete his education should certainly go to America, as a distant
point of view from which to judge old Europe.

  [116] Extract from a letter.


_Baden, August 8, 1840._--Herr von Blittersdorf whom I saw with his
wife, told me of another wild attempt of Louis Bonaparte, who had
disembarked at Boulogne-sur-Mer and had attempted to arouse a
revolt.[117] The news was telegraphed, so that there were no details.

  [117] On August 6, 1840, Prince Louis Bonaparte took advantage of
  the excitement caused by the approach of the date when Napoleon's
  remains were to be brought back to Paris, and made an attempt at
  Boulogne-sur-Mer to restore Napoleon's dynasty to the throne of
  France. On this occasion the Prince was arrested and tried before
  the Chamber of Peers. He was defended by Berryer, and was
  condemned to perpetual confinement in the castle of Ham in 1846.
  He succeeding in escaping, and went first to Belgium, and thence
  to England.

The King of Würtemberg is here; he has just left the watering-place of
Aix in Savoy. His daughter and son-in-law, the Count of Neipperg, are
with him; they go out a great deal, give parties, and so on. Herr von
Blittersdorf also told me that the news from Paris was of a very
warlike character; for his part he did not understand either how war
was possible, seeing that every party had important reasons for
avoiding it, or again how it could be prevented in view of Lord
Palmerston's measures, which have been ratified by the northern
Powers,[118] while public opinion in France was unanimous and excited;
and the Pasha of Egypt again had gained a success, whereas disasters
alone could have stopped the coercive measures for which the
convention stipulated. On this question the French King is said to be
in full agreement with M. Thiers, and to have stated that he would
prefer war to revolution. M. Guizot has been reproached because he did
not give warning in sufficient time to stop the signing of the
convention. He defends himself by saying that he did give notice, but
was left without instructions. Such is the statement of Herr von
Blittersdorf. He is very anxious about the situation, and especially
about the frontier position of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which would
be inconvenient in times of war. He says that the position of the
duchy is the more difficult on account of the want of a fortress, the
building of which he has urged for the last twenty-eight years upon
Austria, though he has not been able to attain it. I came back very
anxious in view of the possibility of war.

  [118] Lord Palmerston secured the signing of a convention by
  which the four Powers undertook to give the Porte any necessary
  support to reduce the Pasha and protect Constantinople as far as
  needful against his attacks.


_Baden, August 9, 1840._--To-day I fell back into my usual habits when
taking the waters. I found some of the faces of former years. My son,
M. de Valençay, arrived from Marienbad. During the day I had a call
from Count Woronzoff Dashkoff, who has come from Ems. The waters seem
to have greatly benefited the Empress of Russia; he says that the Duke
of Nassau treated the Grand Duchess Olga very coldly, and that
Princess Marie of Hesse was quite a success among the Russian
grandees. Count Woronzoff says that she has bad teeth and does not
think much of her beauty.

I then saw Herr von Blittersdorf, who says that the King of
Würtemberg, Princess Marie, his daughter, and even the Count of
Neipperg, regret the marriage, which places them in a false position.
The Princess is said to be in bad health, and by no means rich. All
these stories seem foolish, the more so as the Count of Neipperg is
quite an insignificant person.

The Duc de Rohan has also arrived; he told me of the death of Madame
de La Rovère (Elizabeth of Stackelberg), a young and handsome lady,
happy and beloved, and a friend of my daughter Pauline. Poor Frau von
Stackelberg! She has thus lost three children of full age and very
dear to her in less than six months. These are heavy blows; she is a
real angel, and has been a sufferer all her life.


_Baden, August 10, 1840._--I have a letter from the Duchesse
d'Albuféra, who is very anxious about her son-in-law, M. de La
Redorte, the Spanish Ambassador. He reached Barcelona at a very gloomy
time. She says that he has done extremely well, and that the
authorities at Paris are very pleased with his attitude from the
outset.

All my letters talk of war in a tone which reduces me to despair.
Madame de Lieven was the first to send the news to Paris of the famous
convention of the four Powers, which she announced with a cry of
triumph in a letter to Madame de Flahaut. This Russian Princess showed
herself most delighted and overjoyed at having some excitement worthy
of her, but how will she settle that with M. Guizot? It seems that
these rumours of war reduce Madame de Flahaut to despair, as she has
recovered her affection for the Tuileries.

The Duc de Noailles is, I hear, very proud because he has predicted
the disturbance now in progress. I cannot sufficiently remember any of
his speeches to recall his prophecies. In any case, it is a poor
consolation for the evils which threaten European society.


_Baden, August 12, 1840._--I dined with the Wellesleys; Princess Marie
and the Count of Neipperg were there. After seeing the latter I am
the less able to understand the marriage. The King of Würtemberg is
said to be displeased with his son-in-law, who adopts a contemptuous
attitude; the Count is susceptible and hard to please, and the poor
Princess is torn between her husband and her father, as also is
society between the husband and the wife; in short, the position is
false and foolish for everybody. The Princess is the chief sufferer,
and, though not pretty, she is a pleasant person; there is something
wrong about her figure--her movements are neither free nor easy.

This morning I went to a concert given by the Countess Strogonoff.
Princess Marie and the Grand Duke of Baden were also there. High
society in general was well represented. I saw nothing of any
particular note, and fortunately made no new acquaintances.


_Baden, August 14, 1840._--Yesterday I read the manifesto of the new
Archbishop of Paris, Mgr. Affre, on the occasion of his enthronement.
Two points in it seemed to me to show great affectation: he attempted
to reassure the Government about the moderation of his political
views, and he refused to say a single word about his predecessor,
which is against all custom and good taste. If he would not speak of
his predecessor's administration of office or of his personality, he
might at least have praised his charity, which is incontestable; he
would not have compromised himself, and would have avoided the
foolishness of silence.

Herr von Blittersdorf told me at his wife's house that he was startled
by the exasperation which was produced in France by the absolute
silence of the Queen of England with reference to France in her Speech
upon the prorogation of Parliament. He told me also that England had
resolved to break with France on the Eastern question, because she had
recently acquired accurate information concerning the intrigues of M.
de Pontois, to prevent any reconciliation of the Sultan with the
Pasha.[119] England was also aware of the assurances given to the
latter, that he need not take the severity of the Powers seriously,
and might continue his enterprise, trusting to the help of France.
Lord Palmerston complains of this duplicity. On the other hand it is
asserted that the prospects of peace between the Porte and Egypt are
hampered by Lord Ponsonby; in short, it is a hopeless tangle. Let us
trust that it will not be settled by cannon-shots.

  [119] In 1840 the Sultan was Abdul Mejed, who ascended the throne
  the preceding year.

The following is an extract from a letter from M. Bresson from Berlin
which I have just received: "I have been suddenly overwhelmed with
work, and not of the pleasantest kind. The evil is great, and will not
be entirely repaired. How often have I thought that if M. de
Talleyrand were alive and at London this would not have happened! I
wish also he could be at Berlin and everywhere, for I am not very
successful in making people listen to reason. Yet this is the most
unworthy transaction of modern times, though quite worthy to bear the
names of Lord Palmerston, von Bülow, and Neumann. Herr von Bülow acted
without authorisation. At first there was an outcry against him, then
there was a wish to do as the majority were doing, and his fine
masterpiece was ratified with very few restrictions. The four Courts
will let me hear of it within six months. Mehemet Ali will send them
about their business and wait for them to blockade him, an enterprise
if possible more ridiculous than that of La Plata,[120] and one which
will be far more expensive. I hope that he will not cross the Taurus
to delude our friends of St. Petersburg. The chief politicians look
for a double moral effect upon France and upon Mehemet Ali, thanks to
the Syrian insurrection. You can see how careful their calculations
have been. Apart from this there is the insult of the clandestine
negotiations and the notification to M. Guizot of the fact that these
had been signed forty-eight hours after everything was over and when
he was thinking of something entirely different, so you may easily
judge of our feelings. If the good old King of Prussia were still
alive we should not have seen such stupidity. Herr von Bülow would
have had a wigging, or rather he would never have gained the upper
hand. He thought he had flattered and won men over and could rely upon
the passions aroused by the inheritance of a Prince whom Prussia will
daily regret more and more. In short, I am in a very bad temper, and I
take no trouble to hide it. We now know exactly what there is behind
words and protestations. I trust that the people will also learn what
the resentment of France can mean." In this outburst the natural
impetuosity of M. de Bresson is obvious, but I also seem to see that
the action of the Powers was inspired rather by tactlessness than by
real hostility, and from this fact one may derive some hopes of peace.

  [120] Rosas secured his appointment in 1829 as Governor of Buenos
  Ayres in 1835. This dictator had a serious quarrel with France
  owing to his refusal to satisfy the claims of the French
  residents. After a long blockade the quarrel was satisfactorily
  terminated in 1840 by Admiral de Mackau.


_Baden, August 19, 1840._--Yesterday I received so pressing an
invitation from the Grand Duchess Stephanie to visit her at her estate
of Umkirch, in Briesgau, where she now is, that I resolved to pay her
a visit after completing my cure here.

I have seen my cousin, Paul Medem, who came from Stuttgart, where he
had just shown his letters of credit as Russian Minister. He does not
believe in the possibility of the war, and as proof of his conviction
has just invested two hundred thousand francs in the French Funds.


_Baden, August 20, 1840._--I was very agreeably surprised to receive
the portrait of the King of Prussia, with a kind autograph letter. The
portrait is an admirable and striking likeness, painted by Krüger.

Madame de Nesselrode brought her son to see me, who has just come from
London. He left Madame de Lieven absorbed by the European conflict, on
bad terms with Brunnow, very cold towards Lady Palmerston, and furious
because she had not been let into the secret of the signature of the
famous convention. She involuntarily helped to mystify M. Guizot by
assuring him that there could be no truth in the idea or she would
have known it herself. She belongs to the French Embassy, is treated
as such, and people go on laughing at her. She is at home until
lunch-time; as soon as M. Guizot appears the door is closed, no one is
admitted, and any one with her takes his leave. Her position seems,
in truth, to be ridiculous and impossible, and she is only supported
by the Sutherlands, with whom she lives.

I have a letter from Paris from the Duchesse d'Albuféra, who says:
"What can I tell you of the war? The Press is urging it forward by
every means; every day bellicose articles fill the newspapers and
excite people's minds. I am assured, however, that the King is quite
calm and has no fear of an outbreak, but can the progress of public
opinion be checked? It is said that orders have been issued to
mobilise the National Guard in France; we may expect to see every
means of defence prepared. People are not calm enough to see that in
this way war may be aroused. Every fresh measure increases the general
agitation.

"In any case I am convinced that the Government itself does not know
what the result will be. I trust that diplomacy may avoid any resort
to cannon-shot. I have been to see the Duchesse d'Orléans at
Saint-Cloud; she is very thin, but does not complain of her health;
she is often to be seen driving in the Bois, with the Duc d'Orléans
riding by the carriage. Madame de Flahaut is at Dieppe, and her
husband at Paris; he often dines with the Prince Royal. His position
is likely to become embarrassing during the trial of Louis Bonaparte."


_Baden, August 22, 1840._--My son M. de Valençay, who has returned to
Paris, tells me he has seen the Duc d'Orléans, who says: "Thiers and
Guizot seem to distrust one another profoundly. Guizot supposes that
Thiers wished to throw the responsibility of the present crisis upon
him and allowed suspicions to arise that he had not kept his
Government informed. He has therefore sent copies of his despatches to
his friends in Paris, who threaten to use them if the Ambassador is
attacked. According to these friends, Guizot informed Thiers
accurately of the course of events, but the latter declined to give
him instructions or to reply before consulting Mehemet Ali, but simply
sent instructions to London to say neither yes nor no. Palmerston, on
the other hand, wished to drive Thiers into a corner. Thiers on his
side said: 'Palmerston is playing diamond cut diamond, but I will balk
him,' an expression which seems to have become a diplomatic term. At
length Palmerston, worried and impatient, is said to have settled the
business. There is a strong feeling in favour of war; Guizot, however,
still believes in peace, but he writes that as a matter of fact a mere
spark, a blow given to a sailor, would be enough to fire the most
terrible war in the world."


_Umkirch, August 26, 1840._--Yesterday when I was half-way from Baden
on the road here a formidable storm burst, and we were obliged to take
shelter in a barn; hailstones fell as big as nuts. Notwithstanding the
delay I arrived at six o'clock in the evening. The Grand Duchess had
kindly sent her horses to meet me at Friburg. When I arrived Herr von
Schreckenstein told me I should find her in bed, where she had been
with a chill since the evening before.

The new lady-in-waiting, Frau von Sturmfeder, a widow who seems to be
about fifty years old, with pleasant manners, took me to the Duchess.
I found her very feverish, but no less talkative than usual; very
exasperated by her invalid state, and nearly as much by the arrival of
Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who was paying her an unexpected visit.
After half an hour Princess Marie took me to dinner. The large
assembly room and the dining-room are in a separate building, a
hundred yards away from the castle; nothing could be more
inconvenient; after rain and without goloshes it would be impossible
to get there.

I already knew Umkirch. I did not care for it in past times, nor does
it please me any better now. The main residence is small and the rooms
are low; mine, however, which is on the first floor, has a fine view
of the mountains.

At dinner all the guests were assembled--that is to say, Princess
Marie; Duke Bernard, with his _aide-de-camp_, old Madame de Walsh, who
is here on a visit, though her days of official service are over; her
son and daughter-in-law, the Baroness von Sturmfeder; Herr von
Schreckenstein; Fräulein Bilz, a little hunchbacked music-mistress;
and M. Mathieu, the French painter, who is giving lessons to Princess
Marie. After dinner I went back to the invalid, and stayed with her
until tea-time. She seems delighted to see me. She continues very
anxious to see her daughter married, and has just had an offer from
Prince Hohenlohe; he, however, was thought to be not sufficiently
distinguished, and his request has been refused; the old Count of
Darmstadt would also be ready to marry her, but he is thought to be
too old and too ugly. There is an idea that Prince Frederick of
Prussia, the Prince of Düsseldorf, exhausted and wearied by the
extravagance of his wife, will procure a divorce, and will then turn
his thoughts to Princess Marie, who would be quite ready to take him.
Such is the desire at this moment. They would like me to send a good
account of the Princess to Berlin.

Very little interest is shown in Louis Bonaparte, whom they would like
to see confined in a fortress.

Madame de Walsh, who is a friend of the Abbé Bautain, told me that he
had just been summoned to Paris by M. Cousin and by the new
Archbishop; there is apparently a proposal to form a faculty for
advanced theological study, with M. Bautain at the head of it. He is
certainly an intelligent and talented man, but not entirely reconciled
to Rome. Hot-headed and ambitious, his relations with his bishop have
long been strained; he has not that readiness to submit upon points of
doctrine which is inherent in Catholicism and the foundation of its
permanency. His appointment will therefore arouse some mistrust among
the clergy, and not without reason. I shall hear the truth of the
whole matter at Paris from the Abbé Dupanloup.

The Duke of Saxe-Weimar, though heavy in appearance, is not without
common sense and learning. To my great astonishment I found him a
strong supporter of the house of Orléans; he asserted his strong
affection for the Duchesse d'Orléans, his niece, and entrusted me with
a letter for her. He is very anti-Russian and anti-English, and went
so far as to say that if war should break out the King of the Low
Countries ought to make common cause with France. He is at this moment
on the unattached list, and is provisionally established at Mannheim,
whence he is very anxious to make a journey to Paris.

The Grand Duchess and Princess Marie knew all about the presents and
the trousseau given by Russia to Princess Marie of Hesse. The Emperor
gave her two rows of pearls with a sapphire clasp, supposed to be
worth two hundred thousand francs; the Empress gave her a bracelet to
match; and her _fiancé_, the Grand Duke, gave her his portrait framed
in diamonds and a parasol adorned with emeralds and pearls, together
with maps of the Russian Empire and views of St. Petersburg nicely
bound, and, lastly, the present left by the will of the late Empress
Marie to her grandson's future wife, which is a Sévigné in three
pieces, each as large as a breastplate.


_Lunéville, August 27, 1840._--I left Umkirch this morning, and spent
fourteen hours in traversing a long road which is made longer by the
pass over the mountains. I crossed the Vosges by the Col du Bonhomme.
Many factories and workshops give some life and animation to the
country, which is sometimes bright and lively. Vegetation is poor and
the outlines of the hills too monotonous.


_Vitry-sur-Marne, August 28, 1840._--I left Lunéville at seven o'clock
this morning, stopped at Nancy for two and a half hours, and arrived
here at ten in the evening, which may be called good going.


_Ay, August 30, 1840._--On my road here yesterday I stopped at
Châlons, where I met M. de La Boulaye, who was there for the session
of the General Council. I was very glad to see him; he is a pleasant
man in mind as well as character, and I think even more of the one
than of the other every day of my life. He gave me the Paris news
which he had heard from M. Roy, who had come straight from that
Babylon to preside over the Council-General of Marne. The night before
he left Paris he had seen the King, who talked upon the questions of
the day, and said: "Thiers is urging me to war, to which I reply:
'Very well, but the Chambers must be convoked.' He then answers: 'We
shall get nothing from this Chamber; it should be dissolved.' 'Oh, no,
my dear Minister; on that point I prefer to take the Chamber as I
find it and make the best of things.'"

M. Roy also said that the news of the ratification of the London
Treaty reached Paris on the 22nd, and was not published till the 24th.
During that time the terrible excitement on the Stock Exchange ruined
more than one broker, forced M. Barbet de Jouy to flee, enriched M.
Dosne, the father-in-law of M. Thiers, with seventeen hundred francs
and M. Fould with several millions. The latter has taken M. de
Rothschild's place in the confidence of the Ministry. The public
outcry was such that the Guardian of the Seals, M. Vivien, was obliged
to give orders for the information to be published. This information
will produce no effect, as is natural, but it shows that the scandal
has gone very far. It seems that in consequence the chief personage in
the Ministry has lost much ground in public opinion; he is thought to
have guided the diplomacy of the country very casually, and to have
concealed interesting news from the public in a most unusual way. The
whole of the manufacturing and speculating world is said to tremble at
the thought of war, and to exert a very strong influence upon the
public.

I reached here at about three o'clock in the afternoon in African
heat. I am glad to be back again in a warm climate, with its flowers,
its fruits, its beautiful nights, and its blue sky.

I have a letter from the Princesse de Lieven written from London on
August 22. She says: "General anxiety concerning the situation is
becoming apparent here. All goes well, or rather there is no anxiety
upon questions of foreign policy, however serious the complications
may be. French newspapers, and even the French military preparations,
are regarded with scorn, but at last the people are beginning to rub
their eyes; they are astonished to find that what is known as French
humbug may mean something, and that this something may be neither more
nor less than a general war, waged, as far as France is concerned,
with dreadful weapons--weapons which were wisely laid aside for ten
years, and which France will perhaps be forced to raise once more; in
short, uneasiness is spreading, and I cannot help seeing in the fact
the opening of the way to an understanding, in spite of the obstacles
which the sense of self-esteem may meet with on the road. This is my
point of view. My politics are concerned with my set of rooms,[121]
which I like and wish to keep. The Duke of Wellington loudly asserts
that he is Turkish, and more Turkish than anybody, but that Turkey
will not have peace with France, and that peace must be preserved
before all things. Leopold is greatly interested; he proposes to
return to Belgium. M. Guizot has been at Eu and Windsor; his present
life suits him, and he looks very well."

  [121] The Princesse de Lieven had hired in the house recently
  bought by M. de Rothschild in the Rue Saint-Florentin the
  first-floor rooms, which the Prince de Talleyrand had occupied
  for many years when he was in possession of this residence. The
  Princesse thought that there she could recover the political
  atmosphere which suited her taste. She stayed there until her
  death in 1857.

My niece, the Countess of Hohenthal, who has been to Dresden to see
her uncle Maltzan when he went there from Königswarth, sends me some
news concerning the stay of the Empress of Russia in Saxony: "The
Empress of Russia has shown such coldness to the Saxon Court that the
King and Queen of Prussia, who have delighted everybody, have been
reduced to despair. She would not stay at Pillnitz, where many
preparations for her comfort had been made; she refused to use the
Court carriages, and went about the shops and streets like a
boarding-school girl, without the least sense of decorum. She refused
to dine at Court, and only looked in for a moment at a concert given
in her honour. The King of Prussia was ready to give the portfolio of
Foreign Affairs to my uncle Maltzan, but he preferred to retain his
post at Vienna. It is said that his refusal is due to the fact that he
is wildly in love with Princess Metternich."


_Paris, August 31, 1840._--Once again I am in this great Paris,
doubtless populous, and yet so empty for me. This morning at ten
o'clock I reached my little house,[122] which seems to me like a
pleasant little inn, only I am astonished by its small size, which
suits my habits and my tastes so little that I could certainly have
chosen nothing better in order to realise my intention of visiting
Paris only when absolutely obliged.

  [122] The Duchesse de Talleyrand had bought a little house with a
  court and garden at Paris in the Rue de Lille, No. 73, in the
  year 1840. This house, which in size was a mere temporary abode,
  was bought in 1862 by the Comtesse de Bagneux.


_Paris, September 3, 1840._--Yesterday I had a long visit from M.
Molé, who blames M. Guizot, and relates his infinite blunders with
great complacency; he blames M. Thiers, and draws a vivid picture of
his bumptiousness, his casual ways, and so on. Nor does the King
escape his criticism as regards the present crisis, which entirely
occupies all minds here. He says that the greatest swashbucklers are
dying with fear of war; that really people are ashamed and vexed
because they have been led astray and induced to regard as impossible
what, however, has happened, while they are angry at finding
themselves isolated when lasting alliances have been dangled before
their eyes. But amid the general panic certain points are so well
advertised by conversations and continual publications that it daily
becomes more difficult to solve the problem, and the only possibility
is to cut the knot. Commercial interests have been suddenly paralysed,
and business in general is suffering heavily. Rothschild, who has
quarrelled with M. Thiers, has lost even more millions than M. Fould
has gained. M. Molé explains all this very cheerfully.

I went to dinner with the wife of Marshal d'Albuféra. The poor woman
was in despair, for that morning she had seen her daughter start for
Spain in the most deplorable state of health. She has kept one of her
grandchildren with her. She is really a most warm-hearted person. Her
account of the present political situation differs entirely from that
of M. Molé; she is no less frightened by the serious nature of events,
but attributes them to other causes. She is never tired of praising
the capacity, the energy, and the cleverness of M. Thiers, his
inexhaustible resource, and his complete harmony with the King. One
fact she told me which would hardly please M. Bresson: that M. de La
Redorte was given the choice of going to Berlin and preferred Madrid.
She says that M. de La Redorte has been very successful in Spain, and
that the King and Ministers are never weary of praising the
distinguished tone of his despatches.

At nine o'clock I went to see Madame de Castellane. There the
panegyric upon the late M. de Quélen was discussed, which led the
conversation to the new Archbishop, M. Affre. His nomination was
brought about by M. de Montalembert in the following way: M. de
Montalembert has become a strong partisan of the Ministry, and M.
Thiers thinks that with his help he will be able to confine the ranks
of the clergy to distinguished men. As a matter of fact, M. de
Montalembert is only connected with the democratic section of the
young clergy, who form a party by themselves, including the Abbés
Cœur, Combalot, Lacordaire, and Bautain, which is not regarded as
orthodox in the sense that the old clergy are. This party also
contains some distinguished young priests like the Abbé Dupanloup, the
Abbé Petetot, the Curé de Saint-Louis-d'Autin, and others; in fact,
there is quite a schism.

When I returned home I found a letter from M. Bresson, of which the
following is an interesting passage: "The position is very serious,
and the Prussian King's first appearance in foreign policy is not
happy. There is no frankness or nobility in following all these fine
protestations with an act of provocation and injustice towards
ourselves, who have never been guilty of a single act of bad faith
towards Prussia. Such action calls for vengeance, and I am by no means
a sufficiently humble Christian not to thirst for it. I am well aware
that they are sorry at what has happened and are embarrassed by it,
but they have been carried away by that great windbag Bülow further
than they wished at a time when his voracious appetite has been
followed by a fit of indigestion; but the harm has now been done, and
it is irreparable. They have shown their real feelings, and what
confidence can we have for the future? In short, I am utterly
disgusted, and I should be glad to resign my post; I am also ill and
depressed, and have a longing for Rome. I wish to leave my mind fallow
and to sit in real sunshine and get warm. I have spent twenty-four
years in exile working without intermission, and I can stand it no
longer. I am utterly bored, and do not want the good relations which
I have been able to maintain here to break down during my tenure of
office, as they seem likely to do. One fault leads to a second, and
one wrongdoing begets another. Besides, I have been personally
affronted; I have been loyal and they have not been. My resentment
will find vent, and whether upon the King or the Minister is all the
same to me. I will make them repent their want of gratitude and
courtesy towards our King, after calling him the Palladium of Europe,
in speaking to me and M. de Ségur." In this vehement style the
impetuosity of M. Bresson will be obvious, but the truth is I think
things have gone so far as to make him wish for another post.

To-morrow the Paris Stock Exchange account is made up. The probable
losses are estimated at twenty-four to twenty-five millions--a very
great disaster.


_Paris, September 4, 1840._--Yesterday I went to the Tuileries to keep
an appointment with Madame Adélaïde. I also saw the King there, who
was well and cheerful, in a very easy frame of mind, convinced that
there would be no war, and certainly not anxious for one. He flattered
himself that the four Powers would soon be persuaded that they were
working in the wrong direction and be forced to fall back upon his
intervention, and that he would thus be called to play the part of
mediator, &c. He is very greatly hurt that the Powers should have put
him in such a position, but is too sensible to listen to the
invectives and the uproar of the Ministerial Press. He has no greater
leanings towards M. Thiers than he used to have, but he understands
that it is now impossible to break with him, and hopes to use him to
extort certain concessions from the Powers, which he alone could
induce the country to accept. There is an element of truth and
cleverness in these ideas, though also a certain amount of illusion.
Madame's feelings are those of the King, though she is extremely
bitter against M. Guizot, and accuses him of showing the most utter
diplomatic incompetence. She repeated more than twenty times: "Oh, if
only our dear Prince de Talleyrand were alive, if only our good
General Sébastiani had remained at London, we should not be in this
position!"

I had hardly returned home when the Duc d'Orléans called upon me, and
stayed for a long time. He is far more anxious, and at the same time
far more decided, than his father. His exasperation with the Powers is
extreme, chiefly on account of the way in which events have come to
pass. On July 16 Guizot sent news that nothing had happened or would
happen; on the 17th he had a letter from Lord Palmerston asking him to
call, and when he reached the house Lord Palmerston simply read the
famous memorandum. Guizot became pale and agitated, and could find
nothing to say except that he would inform his Government, and left
Lord Palmerston as though thunderstruck. Now he and his friends throw
the whole of the blame upon Thiers. Thiers replies vigorously that
they are in the wrong, and gives details, so that relations are
greatly strained. Thiers is horrified at the possibility of war, but
instead of calming the journalists of his party he is so entirely
dominated by them that he not only cannot check them, but thinks
himself bound to tell them everything. The result is that secrecy is
impossible; the Diplomatic Body is affronted and action in general is
hampered. Meanwhile all the preparations announced by the newspapers
have been made, and even doubled. The Duc d'Orléans is himself taking
the business in hand. Thirty-four million francs have already been
expended. All the forces in Algiers are being recalled, and the
authorities have made up their minds to abandon the colony without
regret, telling themselves that they have had the advantage of
training their soldiers and their officers. The Chambers will not be
summoned until all chances of peace have disappeared, when it is
expected that all these expenses will be certainly approved. The Queen
is the most warlike of the whole royal family; the blood of Maria
Theresa is aroused; she is furious with the action of the Powers, and
says that if war breaks out she will ask the Archbishop of Paris to
bless the swords of her five sons and make them swear upon the Holy
Sacrament never to sheath them again until France and their dynasty
are restored to the chief place in Europe. As she usually interferes
in no way, this vigour has astonished and embarrassed the King.

M. Guizot, to return to him, is an object of ridicule at the Château,
especially since the return of the Duc de Nemours from London, for he
tells numberless stories at the expense of the little ambassador. He
asks for the addresses of tailors, wishes his trousers to be
tight-fitting, bets at the races, thinks he has a good eye for a
horse, devotes his attention to his carriages and his table, is
utterly frivolous, and, to complete his ridiculous appearance, brags
in front of Mrs. Stanley and tries to make Madame de Lieven jealous,
and it is said with some success. This field of operations, in short,
is being cleverly worked.

After the Duc d'Orléans had gone I had a call from the Abbé Dupanloup,
who gave me some curious details concerning the Paris clergy, among
whom a silent but very definite opposition has arisen against Mgr.
Affre. The vulgarity and rudeness of his manner rouses exasperation
against him every day. He has admitted his entire hatred of the memory
and the friends of the late Mgr. de Quélen; even my poor self am an
object of his dislike; and as for the Sacré Cœur, it is a case of
persecution. The Abbé began to laugh when I said, "Then we have become
the Fort-Royal of the Jesuits!" Mgr. Affre does not venture to
interfere with the Abbé Dupanloup or his little seminary, and even
goes out of his way to please him, because of the Abbé's widespread
relations, which make him a favourite with M. Jaubert, Minister of
Public Works, with the Princesse de Beauffremont, a pronounced
Carlist, with Madame de La Redorte, and with Madame de Gramont, of the
Sacré Cœur. Moreover, in the course of the week which preceded the
nomination of the Archbishop, M. Thiers sent for him to ask his
opinion about the state of the clergy. M. Thiers, with his usual
tactlessness, had made an appointment at the same time with M. de
Montalembert, who brought with him Mgr. Affre. The parties arrived
simultaneously, and were astounded at meeting one another. While they
were thus awaiting the Minister with surprise, he was closeted with
M. Royer-Collard. Eventually the four men confronted one another for a
few moments--a memorable scene.

The Abbé Dupanloup renewed his promise to come and see me at
Rochecotte in October; at the same time he did not hide the fact that
he might be unable to come if he saw that the Archbishop was unduly
disturbed, for he has to respect his feelings for the sake of his
little seminary.

In the papers seized with Louis Bonaparte proofs were found that the
undertaking was financed by Russia, with the connivance of the Carlist
party, led by Berryer, and the name of M. Thiers was too frequently
mentioned. The King forbade the Chancellor to pursue his action in
this direction for two reasons: firstly, because M. Thiers would have
been obliged to give evidence which would have embarrassed and
complicated the general situation to a far greater extent; and,
secondly, because the King thinks it useless to show his foreign
enemies to what an extent they can count on positive support from
Russia. What will be the end of these conflicting interests and this
general complication?


_Paris, September 5, 1840._--Paris was greatly excited the day before
yesterday and yesterday by the numerous gatherings and bands of
workmen. The newspapers give full details. Much money has been found
upon those who have been arrested, which is supposed to come from the
Russo-Bonapartists; such, at least, is the opinion of the Government.
Every day reveals some new social disease, and the age is racked by
cruel sickness.

Yesterday I went to the Sacré Cœur for a long talk with Madame de
Gramont, whom I found uneasy and disturbed. She gave me full details
of the harassing treatment laid upon her by the new Archbishop, and
also of his new style of ruling the Paris clergy, to which they are by
no means accustomed. For instance, he reprimanded the poor old
incumbent of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin for the reason that he himself had
been slandered in his parish, for which he regarded the incumbent as
responsible. In a certain sacristy he saw some young priests laughing
at his vulgar manners, and addressed them with strong language. He
wishes to force certain incumbents to resign. In short, there is
general disturbance throughout the diocese.

I also went to Madame de Jaucourt, whom I found alone, aged and
isolated, but lively. She told me a fact which I should have thought
impossible a few days ago, but which I am now more inclined to
believe: that the Queen and Madame gave sixty thousand francs to M. de
Montalembert's newspaper, the _Univers catholique_. For some time in
this paper accounts have been noticed of the King's conversations with
foreign ambassadors.

Madame de Castellane came to ask me to dine with her to-day, and with
M. Molé, who will read us his speech upon the occasion of his
admission to the French Academy, where he is taking the place of M. de
Quélen.

This morning I saw M. Hottinger, the banker, who is much disturbed
about the situation. He sees, with great uneasiness, that the efforts
of diplomacy can be nullified at any moment by the will of the Pasha
of Egypt, in whose hands it is obvious that the question of peace or
war now rests. Conspiracies and risings at Constantinople continually
complicate all these questions for the worse. It is certain that only
a miraculous Providence could disperse these heavy clouds. At
Marseilles trade has come to a standstill and people are warehousing
their stocks; not a single ship is leaving the port, and every one is
anxiously awaiting the issue.

At one o'clock I went to Saint-Cloud to see Madame Adélaïde; then I
went to the Queen, and afterwards to the Duchesse d'Orléans: she is
really charming, distinguished, witty, gracious, and self-restrained;
her conversation is most agreeable and attractive. Madame Adélaïde
seemed to me to think that peace will be preserved; heaven grant that
she is right!


_Paris, September 7, 1840._--The revolt is now breaking out with fresh
audacity. Guns from the Invalides are galloping to the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine, the assembly is beating continuously and troops are on
the march, while the National Guard is concentrated at the different
mayors' houses; in short, this is a case of battle. So far our
Faubourg Saint-Germain is peaceful, but it must be admitted that if
the combat is not soon concluded the left bank of the Seine will be no
better off than the right. I am told that the bands scattered through
Paris are largely composed of Poles and Italians, wandering people
without a fixed home, never sleeping twice in the same house, and
therefore difficult to seize. Since yesterday they have been
threatening to set Paris on fire, by way of simplifying their task.
The foremen of the factories, who have long known of the proposed
movement, had warned the Chief of Police, who had, however, no legal
authorisation to take adequate precautions. It was even impossible to
prevent yesterday's terrible outbreak. To-day there is a general
panic, and the troops and guns are ordered to do police work. Let us
hope they will again stand firm.


_Paris, September 8, 1840._--Yesterday evening at eight o'clock I
heard that the troops had driven the rioters out of Paris, and that
the town was tranquil; public buildings, however, were guarded, on
account of threats of incendiarism. In the afternoon I saw M. Molé,
who seemed to be quite overwhelmed by the fact that public stocks had
gone down four francs. He also told me of the definite rupture of the
Doctrinaires with M. Thiers, whose manifesto was inserted in a Rouen
newspaper, and has been quoted in M. Molé's newspaper, _La Presse_.
This conflict is said to be most energetic.

The _Journal des Débats_ is also very bitter against M. Thiers.
Business men on the Stock Exchange are making outcries against him,
and his position is becoming very difficult. A more pressing interest
is the other war, the first demonstration of which seems to have been
brought about in Syria by the action of Admiral Napier. It is
certainly said that this Admiral is a madman, and that as he is backed
by the hot-headed Lord Ponsonby this demonstration does not emanate
from the English Government, but we wonder whether this Government
will disavow it.


_Paris, September 10, 1840._--The general calm has outwardly at least
been re-established at Paris. Yesterday I dined at Saint-Cloud, which
has been restored and furnished by the King in a magnificent fashion;
splendid Gobelin tapestry is to be seen there, copies from Rubens
representing the life of Marie de' Medici. The King took me round all
the rooms, and talked a little of every subject on the way, constantly
saying that he was anxious for peace and would do all he could to
preserve it, but thought his task must be facilitated; this is not
being done, either at home or abroad. His hatred of the Russians and
his bitterness towards England are extreme. He has a special, and not
unreasonable, grudge against England, on account of present events in
Spain. Queen Christina was convinced that if she could only see
Espartero she could induce him to become her personal adherent, and
had therefore invited him to Madrid. On his refusal she undertook the
journey which was her ruin. In her absence public feeling was
manufactured in the capital; she is now obliged to return under the
most ominous auspices. Probably her daughter will first be taken from
her, and after that what will be done with her? This is the question
which the King continually asks himself, uneasily repeating: "I fear
the poor woman is ruined."[123] He says that England finances and
encourages the anarchist movement; that Espartero is entirely English,
and that if a general war bursts out we may expect to see him invade
France as an English ally.

  [123] After ending the civil war (aroused by Don Carlos on the
  death of his brother, Ferdinand VII.) by the capitulation of
  Bergara, Marie Christina attempted to begin a reactionary policy.
  In 1840 she presented to the Cortes the law of the
  _Ayuntamientos_, intended as a restriction upon municipal
  freedom. An insurrection at once broke out in Barcelona, and
  rapidly spread to Madrid and a large number of other towns. This
  movement was supported by Espartero. The Queen-Regent summoned
  him and commissioned him to form a Ministry on September 16,
  1840, but he imposed such severe conditions upon her that she
  thought acceptance impossible. On October 2 she resigned the
  regency.

The King had heard that the King of Prussia had set the Archbishop of
Cologne at liberty and authorised him to return to Rome, but that the
Archbishop would not take advantage of this permission until he had
received fresh instructions from Rome.

The Duchesse de Nemours has a most inexpressive countenance and a
monotonous tone of voice, which somewhat counteracts the effect of her
brilliant youth. The Duc de Nemours remains as stupid as ever. The Duc
d'Aumale is now regarded as a man. He seems lively and inclined to
talk. Princesse Clémentine is growing faded, and takes less trouble to
please. The Queen and the Duchesse d'Orléans are the two bright stars.
M. Dupin, who was also dining at Saint-Cloud, was loudly groaning and
haranguing about the weakness of the Government in their treatment of
the rioters, saying that as long as they were addressed with the words
"gentlemen and fellow toilers" incendiarism and plunder might be
expected. The day before yesterday these workmen during the night
disarmed two outposts in the Rue Mauconseil, though it must be said
that the soldiers made no attempt to defend themselves. The result was
a fresh panic at the Stock Exchange yesterday. The fear, the grief,
and the ruin which have overtaken a number of people cannot be
imagined.

The other day M. de Montrond was saying that M. de Flahaut was anxious
to go to London as ambassador, but they are too glad to be rid of
Guizot to recall him here, notwithstanding the dissatisfaction which
he causes on the other side of the Channel.


_Paris, September 11, 1840._--I have decided to start at the end of
the morning for Jeurs to visit the Comtesse Mollien, where I shall
sleep.

Yesterday evening on returning home I continued reading the accounts
of the trial of Madame Lafarge, as I had fallen behind.[124] If she is
innocent of the crime, so much the better for her relations, but the
evidence of the two expert bodies, her enormous purchases of arsenic,
and the sudden transition from complete repugnance to excessive
tenderness for her husband would always make me suspect her so far as
to desire another nurse if she had to mix my potions.

  [124] Madame Lafarge, with whom several people in French society
  were compromised, was first accused of stealing diamonds and then
  of poisoning her husband. The first accusation was never entirely
  cleared up, but the second was proved. The Court of Assizes
  condemned Madame Lafarge to penal servitude. She remained in
  prison for twelve years, at the end of which she was pardoned
  owing to her enfeebled health. She died a few months later, in
  1852.

I am especially shocked by Madame Lafarge's behaviour at one point,
and by the uproarious laughter with which she greeted the emphatic and
really ridiculous evidence of one of the witnesses; such frivolity
seems to me to be rather a proof of impudence than of innocence. The
more innocent a person might be, the more she would suffer under such
an accusation, and while preserving a clear conscience her mind would
be filled with other ideas than any which could produce such bursts of
laughter. Her behaviour there shows a terrible lack of refinement and
a complete failure to realise her position, for when the accusation
concerns husband-poisoning, whether one is accuser or accused, I can
hardly conceive of any inclination to hilarity. On the whole, whether
she is a poisoner or not, she is obviously an unpleasant adventuress.


_Courtalin, September 14, 1840._--I left Jeurs very early yesterday,
after being, as usual, kindly and hospitably entertained. The day
before yesterday I took a stroll with Madame Mollien in the valley of
the Juine, which extends from Etampes to Corbeil; it is well watered,
well wooded, and populous; great rocks peep out among the trees, as in
certain parts of the forest of Fontainebleau. The three chief
residences in this valley are Gravelles, belonging to M. de
Perregeaux, Chamarande, belonging to M. de Talaru, and Ménilvoisin,
belonging to M. de Choiseul-Praslin. The first two of these I already
knew, and Madame Mollien took me to see the third. It is a stately and
spacious residence; the approaches and the park are handsome, but the
general appearance is depressing. This is characteristic of all the
residences in this district. They have no outlook, shut in as they are
in this narrow valley. They lack space and air, but not water, of
which there is such an abundance that dampness is unavoidable. The
waters of the Juine turn a number of mills, some of which are so large
as to look like castles.

I arrived here yesterday evening, and found all the Montmorency family
assembled with a M. de Roothe, an old man of seventy-eight, son of the
last wife of Marshal Richelieu.

The only subject of discussion yesterday evening in the drawing-room
was the case of Madame Lafarge. Here, as everywhere, very opposite
opinions prevail concerning her. Those who think her innocent say that
her husband did not die of poisoning, but from taking cantharides as a
tonic for nervous debility, and that the rapid change in his wife's
behaviour is to be attributed to his recovery from this failing, and
also the pleasure with which she saw him enter her room by the window
when he did not come in by the door. Those who persist in thinking
Madame Lafarge guilty say that the first experts should be believed,
who performed their analysis after the first post-mortem, rather than
the second, who went to work when putrefaction had set in. They also
emphasise the evil tendencies, established by yesterday's evidence, of
the accused: her habits of lying and playing a part; her evil
reputation from her youth; the haste with which her family attempted
to get rid of her by marriage, even going so far as to apply to a
matrimonial agency. She is the granddaughter of a certain Madame
Collard, who before her marriage bore the sole name of Hermine; she
was brought up by Madame de Genlis, and was generally supposed to be
her daughter and the daughter of the Duc d'Orléans, father of the
present King of France. This ancestry of hers is supposed to account
for the keen interest taken in her case at the Tuileries. The
accusation concerning the diamonds is differently regarded in
different circles. Mdmes. de Léautaud, de Montbreton, and the Nicolai,
belonging to the Faubourg Saint-Germain and that clique, think her
capable of theft and poisoning; the democracy, who are delighted to
find a society lady guilty, regard the fable which Madame Lafarge
invented about Madame Léautaud as true. Party spirit appears in
everything and destroys all feelings of equity and justice.

I have just received a letter from the Duchesse d'Albuféra, of which
the following is an extract: "I was at Auteuil with Madame Thiers the
evening of the day before yesterday. Considerable uneasiness prevailed
about current events; these are moving rapidly and becoming very
complicated. The decision to fortify Paris had thrown the Stock
Exchange into excitement; it is a measure which will be enormously
expensive to carry out, and will rouse much apprehension. M. Thiers
said that all his efforts were intended to gain time to finish his
preparations; he added that if we could prolong the matter until April
next we should be in a state of defence, and he said that no one could
be more keenly interested in the question than the King and Queen. As
regards Spain, he seems very uneasy and doubtful of the result; he
receives telegrams every day. On the 7th the Queen-Regent was still at
Valencia, but he thinks that she will perhaps have to fight a battle
to return to her capital. The Town Council of Madrid appoint fresh
Ministers every day, and anarchy there seems complete."


_Courtalin, September 15, 1840._--At dinner-time two new arrivals
appeared, the Duc de Rohan and his son the Prince of Léon. They
brought certain information that M. Anatole Demidoff had married
Princesse Mathilde de Montfort in return for the payment of the
father's debts by M. Demidoff. He is moved only by considerations of
vanity, and has so acted in order to become connected with the King of
Würtemberg and the King of Russia, but the connection is said to be
unfavourably regarded by the two Sovereigns, and not likely to bring
him much satisfaction.


_Bonnétable, September 17, 1840._--The day before yesterday, in the
evening, after all the usual gossip of the Courtalin drawing-room, we
had some amusing anecdotes very well told by M. de Roothe concerning
his father-in-law, Marshal Richelieu.[125] He was married during three
different reigns, and the first marriage was ordered by Louis XIV.,
who had found a perfumed cap of the young fool too near the bed of the
Duchesse de Bourgogne.

  [125] At the age of fourteen the Duc de Richelieu, then Duc de
  Fronsac, married Mlle. de Noailles, by order of King Louis XIV.
  In 1734, after the sieges of Kehl and Philippsburg, where he
  greatly distinguished himself, Richelieu married Mlle. de Guise,
  Princess of Lorraine, and at the age of eighty-two he married a
  third wife, Madame de Roothe. It is said that after the marriage
  ceremony he went home to change his clothes, threw down the
  ribbon of his order on the bed, and said to his footman: "You can
  go; the Holy Spirit will do the rest."

I am astonished by the thought that I have dined with a man whose
father-in-law had been at the feet of that charming Princess and had
been scolded by Madame de Maintenon. M. de Roothe said that Marshal
Richelieu was always a lady's man, and that an hour before his death,
when his daughter-in-law came to his bedside, and said that she
thought he was better and looked stronger, he answered: "Ah, the fact
is that you see me through your fair eyes." M. de Roothe gave the
following account of his mother's marriage with Marshal Richelieu: A
few years previously, when her first husband was still alive, as she
was driving with him, they passed a carriage overturned and broken
upon the Pont Neuf; they stopped to learn to whom the accident had
happened, and whether they could help the sufferers. It was the
Marshal Richelieu whom they picked up and took home to his house in
their carriage. The next day the Marshal called to thank M. and Madame
de Roothe; he was struck with the beauty of the latter, and renewed
his visits so constantly that people remarked upon it to Madame de
Roothe, telling her that the Marshal's reputation was such that it
might be dangerous to receive him too often, in spite of his eighty
years. Madame de Roothe therefore kept out of his way. Some time
afterwards she became a widow, and was left with four children in such
straitened circumstances that she was obliged to sell her horses.
Marshal Richelieu, disguised as a horse-dealer, appeared as purchaser,
said that he could not come to an agreement with Madame de Roothe's
servants, and asked to see her herself. He was taken in, and a
recognition followed. To cut explanations short, she told him that she
had changed her mind and would not sell her horses. M. de Richelieu
withdrew, but in order to help the poor widow he induced the King,
without her knowledge, to find rooms for her in the Tuileries, the
very rooms where we have seen the Vicomtesse d'Agoult and Madame
Adélaïde. Madame de Roothe accepted the King's kindness. Some months
afterwards she learnt that she owed it to the Marshal, and she thought
it her duty to write and thank him. He came to call upon her, fell at
her feet, and said: "If you are comfortable in these rooms, allow me
at least to say that they are unworthy of you, and that the Richelieu
residence would suit you much better." The proposal was accepted, and
the marriage took place. Madame de Roothe became with child, but the
Duc de Fronsac was furious at the thought that a birth might prejudice
his rights, and induced a chambermaid to give his mother-in-law a
draught which brought on a miscarriage.

Yesterday I travelled rapidly, thanks to good roads, good horses and
postillions, and in particular to a hurricane which blew on our backs
and swept the carriage, servants, and horses along in its blast. I
found the Duchesse Mathieu de Montmorency in good health, but slightly
deaf. Her chaplain is ill, and the customs of the house are
consequently altered.

I have a letter from M. Bresson. His account of the political
situation is as follows: "Things here have become somewhat calmer; the
matter will blow over, but resentment and distrust will remain. People
will no longer meet with the same cordiality, and will be continually
on their guard; in short, the ground is by no means as clear as it
was, a thing which M. de Talleyrand never liked, but I think that the
main storm has turned aside, and if you have made plans for a journey
to Prussia next year you need not abandon them for any possible war.
Herr von Werther has been rather seriously ill. The Prince of
Wittgenstein comes back to-morrow from Kissingen. Frau von Reede,
seventy-four years of age as she is, is the leader of society at
Königsberg. We shall have some splendid festivities for the
Huldigung.[126] The nobles of the Mark of Brandenburg have alone
subscribed twenty thousand crowns. All this brilliant prospect does
not restore my good-humour; my health is certainly changed by the
climate, and my character by isolation and exile. I have reached one
of those periods in life, one of those frames of mind, when change is
required at any cost, and it is for change that I hope. My best days
are past; my few remaining ties in this world will soon be broken, and
I ought to try to strengthen my connection with my country. You would
do me a very great service if you could induce my patroness, Madame
Adélaïde, to smooth the path for my retirement."

  [126] King Frederick William IV. was not exactly crowned, but he
  went to Königsberg to receive the homage (_die Huldigung_) of his
  subjects, who took the oath of fidelity to him through their
  Deputies on September 10, 1840.

I have an idea that M. Thiers will soon have no trouble in finding
high diplomatic posts for his friends, owing to a large number of
voluntary resignations.


_Valençay, September 19, 1840._--I am now at Valençay, a spot so full
of memories that it seems to me like a native land. M. and Madame de
Valençay are alone here with their children. They both seem very glad
to see me again, and I am always happy to be back at Valençay. Here I
am less cut off than elsewhere from an eventful past, and the dead are
less far away than anywhere else.


_Valençay, September 22, 1840._--M. and Madame de Castellane arrived
here yesterday from their native Auvergne, which seems by no means a
pleasant district in which to live. There are no high-roads to their
residence, but only badly made paths, which must be traversed in a
litter or on horseback. The snow is already upon their mountains,
where there are no trees and no cultivation, nothing but grass for the
cattle; there is no fruit and no vegetables, no game, and no doctor
within easy reach. Pauline has grown thin and sunburnt; her husband is
very thin, and I hope they will pick up at Rochecotte, where we are
all going. Their little daughter, Marie, is most satisfactory, fair,
fat, and fresh, always in a good temper, laughing and restless, a
little angel whom I was very glad to see again, and her mother with
her.

To-day is St. Maurice's Day, formerly the most festive and animated of
days at Valençay. This year it will be celebrated only by a mass for
the repose of the soul of our dear M. de Talleyrand. It will be
celebrated in the chapel where he rests.


_Valençay, September 24, 1840._--The great Lafarge drama is now
concluded; she has been condemned. The reflection which came to me
upon reading the verdict is that the appearance of this woman, her
speeches, her gesture, and her bearing, produced a very striking
effect and secured her conviction. It is a verdict which could by no
means be inferred from the facts, for she has shown for a long time
great presence of mind, while her counsel were extremely talented, and
the Public Prosecutor displayed a tactlessness akin to rudeness.
Public sympathies were widely divided, and Madame Lafarge was
supported by a powerful family. The extraordinary and unusual element
in this case is that I can see no one, not even the condemned person,
who is in any way attractive. Apart from the prisoner herself, there
is Denis, who seems to be a bad man; her mother Lafarge, who is too
anxious about the will; the deceased man, whose business transactions
were a trifle shady; Madame de Léautaud, very frivolous; Madame de
Montbreton, who was too fond of hypnotism; Madame de Nicolaï, who did
not look after her daughters properly. As the accusers of Madame
Lafarge numbered so few estimable persons, she must have strongly
impressed the jury with her guilt for them to bring in a verdict
against her.


_Valençay, September 25, 1840._--The Duc de Noailles has been to Paris
to call upon Madame de Lieven on her return from London, and writes to
me as follows: "I found the Princesse much changed. There are still
hopes of peace, and the Government is moving in that direction. The
King retains his confidence. The proposals of Mehemet Ali have opened
a new stage in the business, which may prevent war, but nothing is
settled; if the matter drags on until the spring Thiers will then be
more warlike than he now is, as we shall then have an army which we do
not now possess. There is a kindlier feeling towards Prussia than
towards the other three Powers. It seems that Berlin has already had
more than enough of the convention, and that Herr von Bülow is loudly
abused for his presumption and his blindness."

From another source I hear as follows: "Uneasiness at London is
spreading through every class. The English Ministry declares its
astonishment at the measures taken in France and at the energy
displayed by the King. I believe that Lord Palmerston is very anxious.
The Princesse de Lieven read a letter to M. de Montrond from Lady
Cowper which does not conceal the uneasiness and uncertainty of those
about her. They say Lord Holland stands entirely aloof from events. I
have certain information to the contrary; he writes letters of six
pages to Mr. Bulwer on current business, and shows as much keenness as
any young man. He is said to be a very strong opponent of France. In
both England and Scotland the harvest is a bad one, which adds to the
embarrassments of the English Cabinet. Meanwhile, though spirits are
rising at Saint-Cloud, the breach seems to be widened by the exchange
of notes in very bitter language. The whole matter is very confused,
and it is impossible to forecast the result with any certainty."

Yesterday M. de Maussion came here from Paris, or rather from M.
Thiers, at whose house he has been living. He says that Madame de
Lieven is regarded as a spy in the house of M. Thiers, where she is
accused of all kinds of treachery. He also says that M. de Flahaut
comes to M. Thiers every morning with a bundle of letters from
England, that he poses as a man of importance, and that he and his
wife are intriguing more vigorously than ever. He adds that M. de
Flahaut is starting for England in order to be absent during the trial
of Louis Bonaparte, but his wife is giving out that he has a secret
and important mission to the English Cabinet, to repair the
tactlessness of M. Guizot. There is a wish to remove M. Guizot, but M.
Thiers does not want him in Paris for the meeting of the Chambers, so
M. de Flahaut is thrown back upon the embassy at Vienna, and it is
thought that he will obtain it.


_Valençay, September 25, 1840._--Frau von Wolff writes to me from
Berlin under date the 19th of this month: "Our town is astir with
preparations for the ceremonies to take place the day after to-morrow
at the entry of the King and Queen, and is also busy with the
entertainments which will be given when the oath of fidelity is taken.
An enormous number of strangers are coming in from every quarter. You
will have seen in the German newspapers how enthusiastically the King
was welcomed at Königsberg and with what royal dignity he ascended the
throne of his ancestors. All who were present agreed in saying that
the King's impromptu speech after the oath was more moving than
anything they have known. The speech was so unprepared that the Queen
halted as though with astonishment when she saw the King suddenly rise
and approach the railing; there he stopped, and, raising one hand to
heaven, he uttered in a strong, sonorous voice which went to every
heart and was heard at the end of the enclosure, the simple words of
hope for the future. He moved many to tears, and shed tears himself.
We need only pray to heaven to preserve us the blessings of peace;
hitherto the prospects of war have not shaken the general confidence.
The King's energy and activity in the work of government is
incomparable. To judge from the beginning he has made, Prussia will
make giant strides under his rule; but I repeat, to enjoy the golden
age which seems to smile upon us peace must be preserved."


_Valençay, September 28, 1840._--Yesterday we were amused by a small
dramatic performance during the evening, which began by the dialogue
between Agrippine and Néron,[127] played in costume by M. de Montenon,
who took the part of Néron, and my son-in-law as Agrippine, a truly
feminine monstrosity. Then _Le Mari de la Veuve_ was acted with much
vigour, balance, and spirit by my son Louis, my daughter Pauline,
Mlle. Clément de Ris, and Mlle. de Weizel. Then we had two scenes from
the _Dépit amoureux_ by Mlle. Clément de Ris, M. de Montenon, M. and
Madame d'Entraigues, and finally _Passé Minuit_ by MM. de Maussion and
de Biron, which greatly amused the pit. After the performance there
was supper and a dance, and all passed off very cheerfully.

  [127] From Racine's tragedy _Britannicus_, Act IV. scene ii.


_Valençay, September 29, 1840._--I have a number of letters, one of
which says: "The meeting of the Cabinet has been called at London for
Monday the 7th. It is thought unlikely that Lord Palmerston will be
able to carry his own views, and the Ministers are said to be by no
means unanimous; for this reason some hope survives that peace may be
maintained; on the other hand, nothing is known of the nature of the
instructions sent to the Mediterranean, and the whole situation is
very uncertain."

Now for Madame de Lieven. She begins with many moans over her health,
and ends: "My health, however, is not so bad as that of Europe. What a
disturbance everywhere! War is the most likely consequence. To think
that people could allow things to reach this point and that not a man
in Europe can conduct a piece of business properly! Prince Metternich
must be dead. Every one desires peace passionately, and see to what
the wild love of peace has brought Europe! Indeed, the whole world
must be mad! The crisis must be settled in a few weeks. I am told that
Vienna is making great efforts, but Palmerston is very obstinate. In
France there has been an outcry, and much more also than mere outcry.
What self-respecting persons would think of retreating? I should like
a talk with you; we have seen better times, and I have many things to
tell you of London which would astonish you. My dear Duchesse, if war
breaks out I am bound to be the first to leave Paris and France, and
where shall I go? It is abominable!"


_Valençay, September 30, 1840._--M. Molé writes as follows: "The Comte
de Paris has been very ill--in fact, in the greatest danger; he is
better, but not cured. No doubt you know that Madame de Lieven has
returned; her friend M. Guizot--and I am certain of my facts--will
soon break with his master and superior, M. Thiers. The discussion
upon the Address will be the latest date for the accomplishment of
this great event."

The Duchesse d'Albuféra says: "Anxiety continues to prevail here;
people are asking what answer is to be sent to the proposals of
Mehemet Ali, but many people think that thunderbolts will be the
answer. In France armaments are being organised upon a very large
scale. The Duchesse de Massa has arrived in time to close the eyes of
Marshal Macdonald, her father. It is thought that his marshal's baton
will go to General Sébastiani. The Princesse de Lieven receives a
written despatch from our London Ambassador every day."


_Tours, October 2, 1840._--Here I find a letter from M. de
Sainte-Aulaire, who writes from Vienna on September 23: "The matter
would proceed excellently, if it were conducted here; but discussion
takes place at Vienna and Berlin, and negotiations at London, where, I
believe, a very different temper unfortunately prevails."


_Rochecotte, October 4, 1840._--Yesterday's newspapers contain a long
explanatory note from Lord Palmerston, addressed to the English
Minister in Paris, Mr. Bulwer, which puts the Eastern question in a
very different light from that given by the French narratives.[128] We
have also news of the capture of Beyrout,[129] which is a strong
beginning to the course of coercive measures. What will be the result?

  [128] The memorandum addressed by the French Government to Lord
  Palmerston will be found in the Appendix.

  [129] Beyrout had been taken from Turkey by Ibrahim Pasha, whose
  victories had subjugated the whole of Syria for the Viceroy of
  Egypt. As this expedition threatened the Ottoman Empire, and, in
  fact, nearly brought about a European war, the town of Beyrout
  was bombarded and captured from Mehemet Ali by an Anglo-Austrian
  squadron in 1840.


_Rochecotte, October 5, 1840._--My son-in-law has a letter from Paris
telling him that the _salon_ of M. Thiers on the day when the news
arrived of the capture of Beyrout was so bellicose that it threatened
to throw the whole world into a conflagration. However, in the
_Journal des Débats_ of the 3rd instant I saw a small article on this
question urging calm and moderation, and when I consider the inspired
nature of this paper I have become a little calmer.

I had expected that the pleadings of M. Berryer on behalf of Prince
Louis Bonaparte would display a seditious tendency, would be
blustering, rash, and outrageous. I was greatly surprised to find that
I could read them without the slightest emotion. But I have often
noticed that when one reads Berryer's speeches they do not produce an
effect in harmony with his reputation, and that one must hear him to
be dazzled and attracted, to such an extent does he possess the outer
and attractive qualities of an orator.


_Rochecotte, October 6, 1840._--The Duchesse d'Albuféra writes from
Paris: "Events in the East are of a very alarming nature, and so also
is the language of the Ministerial newspapers, for which the
moderation of the Saint-Cloud organ[130] is but a small compensation.
The former journalists threaten M. Thiers that they will break with
him if he does not begin war. Prussia and Austria seem decidedly
anxious not to make war upon us or upon anybody; it is difficult to
understand the situation. M. de Flahaut is at London staying with Lord
Holland, who sees the Ministers every day and tells his wife that he
is trying to convince them of our real position, but this officious
service will probably have no great result, as people at London seem
to have made up their minds. I have seen Lady Granville; both she and
her husband are greatly depressed. They still hope that war will not
break out, and I know that Lord Granville is doing all he can to
produce a calmer frame of mind. Everybody one meets is uneasy and
anxious, nor will they talk of anything but of the memorandum, of
Beyrout, of Espartero and the fortifications; they go to bed in
excitement and awake painfully anxious. You are lucky to be far away
from such a turmoil. Nobody pays attention to the trial of Louis
Bonaparte; M. d'Alton-Shée alone voted for death, after a violent
speech. The proposal was badly received by the rest of the Chamber."

  [130] _I.e._ the _Journal des Débats_.


_Rochecotte, October 7, 1840._--Yesterday I heard a sad piece of
news--the death of my poor friend the Countess Batthyàny at Richmond
on the 2nd. She had recently felt an improvement in her health, which
had induced her to consider the possibility of coming to live at
Paris.

I hear from Paris: "M. Molé is at Paris for the trial of Louis
Bonaparte, in which M. Berryer was a complete failure. All minds are
absorbed by the bombardment of Beyrout and the possible consequences.
There is a universal outcry against M. Thiers. Madame de Lieven is
rather ill; she is feverish, and sees visitors in her long chair. She
professes a close attachment for M. Guizot, but is said to show a
tendency to coldness."


_Rochecotte, October 8, 1840._--Yesterday I had a letter from Madame
de Lieven, begun on the 5th and finished on the 6th. The following is
an extract from the part dated the 5th: "In England nothing has been
decided; the Ministers are not agreed; however, the peace party is
predominant, to which Palmerston himself pretends to belong, though he
does not offer any means of finding a solution satisfactory to France;
moreover, his hands are not free, as he must ask for Russia's consent
at every moment. Since the bombardment of Beyrout Thiers seems to
think his position no longer tenable unless he makes some bold stroke;
his colleagues are not all of his opinion, and the King is not in
favour of extreme measures. However, some decision must be made. Lord
Granville is very anxious. Things have gone so far that change is
inevitable. It was even said yesterday that Thiers wished to send two
hundred thousand men to the Rhine and a French fleet to Alexandria to
oppose the English. This would be an act of madness. The situation is
very dangerous, and assuming that Thiers breaks with the Government,
where are people to be found sufficiently resolute to undertake the
heavy burden now before them?"

On the 6th she writes: "The three or four councils held within the
last two days have ended in the resolution to send a protest to the
English Government in which a _casus belli_ will be laid down, and I
think that Alexandria and Saint-Jean d'Acre will be the points at
issue; but if one of these towns were to be attacked at this moment
what would become of the protest? The English Government has on its
side addressed notes to its allies to modify the treaty; negotiations
are going on with tolerable frankness, but meanwhile military
operations are also proceeding. They say that the King is not in
entire agreement with M. Thiers concerning the _casus belli_; he is
also said to be especially satisfied with M. Cousin, who is on good
terms with Admiral Roussin and M. Gouin. I am told on good authority
that the meeting of the Chambers is arranged for the early days of
November, and that the protest of which I told you will be decided
this morning. Saint-Jean d'Acre will not be mentioned in it."

This interesting letter gave much food for our conversation. The Duc
de Noailles, who is here, and who has brought his manuscript, read us
a passage on quietism.[131] It is clearly written, and in a good and
brisk style, with well-chosen quotations which enliven the subject.

  [131] This piece is to be found in the _History of Madame de
  Maintenon and the Chief Events of the Reign of Louis XIV._, the
  first part of which was to appear in 1848.


_Rochecotte, October 11, 1840._--Yesterday we heard of the sudden
death of Arthur de Mortemart,[132] a fine young fellow, who was to
inherit a magnificent fortune, and also, though I did not know the
fact, to marry the daughter of the Duc de Noailles, who set off
immediately upon hearing the sad news. Arthur de Mortemart was
twenty-seven years of age, and an only son. It is a dreadful blow to
his family.

  [132] The only son of the Duc de Mortemart, who died in
  consequence of a fall from a carriage.

M. Molé writes: "The Chambers are being convoked for the 28th, and my
friends insist that I should return to Paris between the 15th and
20th. I agree, but we shall have nothing but the remarkable and barren
pleasure of exchanging our condolences. We are advancing with fatal
rapidity towards a revolutionary Government, which may lead to even
more bloodshed than before. God alone knows how long it will last and
what will take its place. However, if the newspapers do not mislead
and divide the right-minded party we should emerge successfully, with
courage, but our domestic difficulties make the situation
irremediable; foreign affairs would easily be settled if our home
policy inspired any confidence. In any case, the Chamber will have to
decide the whole matter, but there is little hope that it will rise to
the greatness of its task. I do not know what will happen to my
reception at the Academy in the midst of all this. I am ready, and
notwithstanding the arguments of M. Villemain, who seems to be
intimidated, I shall omit nothing from my eulogy of Mgr. de Quélen,
and I invoke the great day."


_Rochecotte, October 12, 1840._--A letter from M. de Barante at St.
Petersburg tells me: "I am waiting for news from elsewhere, for at St.
Petersburg nothing is decided, nor in reality do people greatly care.
Peace would be perhaps the wiser course, but war is more in conformity
with the sentiments which people have been professing for ten years;
so they will only do what England wishes. You can make your
conjectures in accordance with this view; you know Lord Palmerston and
all his political environment, of which I have no idea."


_Rochecotte, October 14, 1840._--Madame de Montmorency writes to say
that M. Demidoff has written to M. Thiers for authorisation to
announce his wife at Paris as Her Royal Highness Madame the Princesse
de Montfort. Madame Demidoff has written personally to Madame Thiers,
whom she knew in Italy, on this subject, and the King has given his
consent.


_Rochecotte, October 17, 1840._--The Duchesse d'Albuféra writes:
"Peace now seems to be a trifle nearer. Negotiations have been
resumed, and people are agreed in saying that if war is to break out
it will not be for a considerable time, and that many diplomatic notes
will be exchanged before we reach that extremity. General de Cubières,
Minister of War, had resigned because he thought the majority in the
Council too warlike, and his opinion was that we should be unable to
wage a successful war with the Powers and must avoid the possibility.
His resignation, however, has not been accepted, as the negotiations
and prospects of peace have been resumed, at any rate for the moment.
The French memorandum has brought many over to the side of M. Thiers.
The vacant Presidency of the Chamber is a post which occupies many
minds; opinions are divided between M. Odilon Barrot and M. Sauzet.
The Comte de Paris has fallen ill again, and his parents are very
uneasy."


_Rochecotte, October 19, 1840._--Madame de Lieven writes: "The English
Cabinet has welcomed the French note. The peace party is gaining
strength, but the issue does not lie in that direction. St.
Petersburg, which is a long way off, must be consulted, and during
these delays the newspapers are able to interfere. The memorandum of
Thiers has caused much satisfaction at Paris, and some embarrassment
to Lord Palmerston; at St. Petersburg it will be thought that he says
aloud what has hitherto been whispered. As for Austria, Apponyi claims
that the narrative is inaccurate where Austria is concerned. In any
case, the decision is imminent, and will be known on November 15. The
four Powers care nothing about the war or about France; so we may ask
in what direction or for what reason France will take action.
Unfortunately there is a general idea that peace and M. Thiers are
incompatible. This would be quite dangerous, for excitement is high,
and Thiers in the scales can outweigh war."


_Rochecotte, October 20, 1840._--The newspapers contain an account of
a fresh attempt to assassinate the King, made by a certain
Darmès.[133] The constant repetition of these attempts makes one
tremble, and it is impossible to avoid uneasiness.

  [133] On October 15, 1840, about six o'clock in the evening,
  Louis-Philippe was returning from Paris to Saint-Cloud with the
  Queen and Madame Adélaïde. They were driving along the Quai des
  Tuileries, and had reached the Poste du Lion, when an explosion
  was heard; but the weapon which the assassin Darmès had used
  against the King had burst and the charge had exploded backwards.
  As soon as the assassin had been arrested and imprisoned it
  became necessary to amputate his left hand, which was entirely
  shattered.

Yesterday my son-in-law received letters from Paris which say that the
wind seems to blow in the direction of war. Lord Palmerston is stated
to be anxious to insist upon the full enforcement of the treaty. Our
Minister thinks himself certain of a majority, rather because of the
apprehension with which his opponents would view their own accession
to power in the present situation, than of any confidence inspired by
the Cabinet. After the attempted assassination by Darmès the Duc
d'Orléans is said to have declared that he was strongly in favour of
war, and would rather be killed on the banks of the Rhine than
murdered in a Paris slum. All our letters agree that excitement is
running high and that conditions are both complicated and serious.


_Rochecotte, October 21, 1840._--Yesterday the papers announced the
abdication of Queen Christina. This event will not form an agreeable
page in the annals of M. de La Redorte's Spanish embassy.

The Duc de Noailles writes as follows: "Many people are saying that
Thiers will resign, and many say that he is in a difficulty upon the
subject. He does not see how he can appear before the Chambers. He
would like to arrange a retreat which would leave him at the head of a
party, by making people believe that he was unable to persuade the
King to take the energetic resolutions which the national honour
requires. On the other hand, thus to be eclipsed, to leave every one
in difficulty, after raising and provoking all these questions, to
evade discussion and responsibility before the Chambers, would
certainly be disgraceful. However, people who are best informed think
that he will resign. The speech from the throne is now the only point
upon which he can disagree and request permission to retire.

"Prussia definitely refuses to let any horses go out of its territory.
It is hoped that some will be found in Normandy and Holland. The
situation is extremely embarrassing, for we are certainly not ready
for war, and cannot be before spring, and yet loans have already been
effected to the amount of four hundred and fifty millions. The deficit
will be a bottomless pit. If stocks fall to ninety-nine, when by law
sixteen millions a month must be redeemed, and if money is taken from
the savings banks, the Treasury will be in a hopeless difficulty. The
Syrian expedition seems to have no immediate result; Ibrahim allows
the allies to seize the seaboard, which is separated from the rest of
the country by a chain of mountains which runs along the sea, and
which the disembarked troops cannot cross. He holds all this country,
which is overawed by his army and dare not revolt, and is waiting for
the storms to drive away the fleet, which cannot then return before
spring. I have seen a letter from Lady Palmerston, strongly inclined
to peace. Guizot also writes that Downing Street is now calmer.

"The King is very depressed by this further attempt to assassinate
him, and Thiers feels that the credit of the Ministry is not improved
by the event. The Deputies who are already here and those who are
arriving are said to be inclined for peace. I hear that the Chamber of
Peers is tempted, if it has the courage--which I doubt--to adopt a
patronising and embarrassing attitude towards the Ministry."


_Rochecotte, October 23, 1840._--Madame Adélaïde, in a very kind
answer to a letter from myself, writes as follows about the attempted
assassination "The King's first word after the explosion to the Queen
and to myself was, 'Well, it seems that you must always be in this
fatal carriage,' a truly touching remark."

I have the following from Madame de Lieven: "Granville yesterday
handed in Lord Palmerston's answer to the note of the 8th. I believe
that this answer undertakes to revoke the proposal for the Pasha's
deposition, if he submits; you will see that this does not help
matters. All that can now be said is that the general attitude and
language upon either side is gentler, and may possibly lead to an
understanding. Lord Palmerston will not explain himself more clearly,
as he is waiting for news of some brilliant successes in Syria; so far
he has waited in vain. The tone of the French Ministry is less
warlike; they say that war may arrive in spring, if winter does not
settle everything. Here you see a change, and diplomacy at Paris is
inclined to believe in peace. We shall see what the Chambers will do;
their action will be important both upon events and individuals.

"The King has not appeared in the town since the shot was fired at
him. On this subject the foreign newspapers comment far more suitably
than the French.

"The dissensions in the English Cabinet are said to be more obvious,
and Palmerston is thought to be in the minority. M. de Flahaut, who
arrives to-morrow, will enlighten us upon this subject. Madame de
Flahaut is now very anti-Palmerston, because she naturally fears the
possibility of war between her two native lands.[134] Lord John
Russell has gone over to the majority against Palmerston, and, feeble
though he is, his influence is important. Things in general are in
incredible confusion, but I am really beginning to hope that there is
a little more prospect of peace than there has been for the last few
days."

  [134] Madame de Flahaut was an Englishwoman, daughter of Admiral
  Keith (Lord Elphinstone). He was ordered to notify Napoleon I.,
  when he sought hospitality on the English coast in 1815, that he
  was a prisoner of the allies. He was also ordered to prepare for
  the prisoner's transport to St. Helena.


_Rochecotte, October 24, 1840._--Yesterday my son-in-law heard that
the French Ministry had resigned upon the occasion of the speech from
the Crown, which it wished to devote to the subject of the _casus
belli_, against the King's desires.[135]

  [135] Thiers and his Ministry went out on October 29, 1840, and
  were replaced by M. Guizot. Thiers was not to return to power
  under the reign of Louis-Philippe.

My son, M. de Dino, tells me that the Grand Duke of Tuscany has made
M. Demidoff Prince of San Donato, a name derived from his silk
manufacture, and has given him the title of Excellency. The Pope[136]
has sent the dispensations for the marriage. The dowry of the young
Princess is settled at two hundred and fifty thousand francs, with
twenty-five thousand francs pin-money.

  [136] The Pope was then Gregory XVI.


_Rochecotte, October 25, 1840._--Queen Christina is apparently
intending to settle at Florence, where her sentimental interests are
centred. She has two children by Muñoz, whom she adores, and has
managed to save an income of fifteen hundred thousand francs.

The little Comte de Paris is very ill, in continuous fever, which
wastes him away. The Duc d'Orléans is greatly distressed, and the
Duchesse is in bed very weak and unhappy. She is not allowed to move
for fear of a miscarriage, as she is now in her eighth month. The poor
royal family is receiving some heavy blows.

_Rochecotte, November 2, 1840._--Queen Christina is not going to
Italy; Nice, Paris, and then Bordeaux, such are said to be her
movements. She wishes to remain near Spain, in order to keep an eye
upon the progress of events.

Madame de Lieven writes as follows, the day before yesterday: "You see
what has happened here; things are becoming very stormy; M. Guizot
must be very courageous to embark in such a vessel. At London the
general tone is becoming much milder, and will continue to improve in
favour of the new Ministry, but a great deal will have to be done to
satisfy the madmen here, and an ill interpretation will be placed upon
English self-satisfaction. Thus there are many difficulties which are
far from a solution. The Chamber will be in a state of continual
storm, an interesting spectacle, but likely to become frightful. The
King is said to be delighted that he has got rid of Thiers, and to be
charmed with his new Ministers;[137] I wish I could believe that his
satisfaction was likely to last. Thiers says that he will not oppose
Guizot; this is nonsense. The Comte de Paris is better. The Duc
d'Orléans is not satisfied with the change of Ministers, but King
Leopold is very pleased."

  [137] The new Cabinet was composed as follows: Minister of War
  and President of the Council, Marshal Soult; Foreign Affairs, M.
  Guizot; Public Works, M. Teste; the Interior, M. Duchâtel;
  Finance, M. Humann; Education, M. Villemain; Justice, M. Martin
  du Nord; Commerce, M. Cunin-Gridaine; Naval Affairs, Admiral
  Duperré.


_Rochecotte, November 4, 1840._--A letter which I have just received
from M. Molé contains the following: "The outgoing Ministry was
ruining everything, and in three months would have involved us in war
with the whole of Europe, and given us a revolutionary Government into
the bargain. I do not know what the new Ministry will do, but it
cannot do worse, or even as badly. The method of its formation has
obliged me to stand aloof--an easy part to play, and one which I
usually prefer, the more so as when I do take part I never do so by
halves."


_Rochecotte, November 5, 1840._--My son, M. de Dino, writes from Paris
that great preparations are being made to decorate the route by which
the procession will pass bringing back the remains of Napoleon from
St. Helena, and that a strange idea has been proposed, to have a row
of the effigies of all the Kings of France. I suppose they will be
placed there to present arms to the usurper. Really, people are
absurd nowadays; in any case, this fine idea emanates from the
Cabinet of M. Thiers, and not from the present Ministry.

A letter from Madame Mollien says: "Yesterday evening, in the middle
of the theatre, Bergeron, the foremost of all the King's assassins,
entered a box, where was seated M. Emile de Girardin, the editor of
_La Presse_, to whom, without saying a word, he gave a box on the
ears. M. Girardin bounded up like a madman; his wife, who is twice as
big and strong as he is, caught him by his collar, shouting, 'Don't go
out! You shall not go out! He is an assassin!' The result is said to
have been an incredible scene; everybody intervened, all were in a
quarrelsome state of mind, and in the corridors and vestibule nothing
could be heard except challenges and appointments."

Here is an extract from another letter in a different strain: "M.
Guizot and Madame de Lieven are the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and
I have a fear that M. de Broglie must be content with the fate of the
Sultan's wife, Validé. M. Molé has not been offered a position; the
King continually repeats that M. Molé declined to lend a hand; this is
not the case. At so serious a crisis no thinking man would use such
language, but the matter is most easily explained in this way. The
_Journal des Débats_ has since been carefully working upon the
scruples of M. Molé, and said to him: 'If you refuse to support the
Cabinet, which is Conservative, the Left will come into power, and it
will be your fault. It is a crime against the country,' &c. This
attitude seems to resemble the case of parents who, when they have a
son dangerously ill, say to a girl, 'If you do not grant him an
interview he will die, and it will be your fault.' If I were a girl I
assure you that in this case I should look after myself. My opinion is
that M. Molé should remain a member of the Academy and nothing more.
Moreover, he will be none the worse off for that. Do you know that
Maurice de Noailles is to become a priest? It is said that Barante
will be Ambassador at London. I hope so."

My son-in-law hears that Maurice de Noailles is entering the Church in
despair, because he could not marry the daughter of the Duc de
Noailles. I admit that I do not believe this story as yet, and await
some confirmation of it.


_Rochecotte, November 6, 1840._--Yesterday's post brought me a long
letter from M. de Salvandy: "We are emerging from a Ministerial
crisis, which has passed off with little incident, except that M. Molé
has remained outside the new combination. He feels, with much
exasperation, that some supreme influence has secured his exclusion.
At the outset of the crisis M. de Montalivet worked very hard to find
a post for M. Molé in the new Cabinet: he went about everywhere, and
declared on all sides that his co-operation was indispensable, to M.
Molé more emphatically than to any one. I could not help saying to M.
Molé that so much zeal seemed suspicious, and that I could not but
infer some bad result. However, M. Molé's chances of office never
amounted to anything, nor has he been treated with any of that
ceremony, which might outwardly have soothed his feelings; in fact,
practically no notice has been taken of any member of the Ministry of
April 15. Only upon the last day were they considered in the least.
The new body was brought together with such little thought that no
effort was made to secure M. Passy, who was ready to come in
unconditionally, but was united with M. Dufaure; the latter based his
refusal upon a personal dislike for M. Martin du Nord rather than upon
political motives. M. Passy and M. Dufaure had no objection to myself
or to M. Laplagne. Thus it would have been possible with no great
difficulty to gather round Marshal Soult and M. Guizot some members of
the Ministries of April 15 and May 12. These would have formed a good
nucleus for a majority, at once compact and permanent. Instead of
this, a Ministry has been lumped together, and it is expected that the
dangers evoked by M. Thiers will provide votes at first, while the
future can take care of itself. When the Cabinet, however, was formed,
it was remembered that no measures had been taken to secure the
adherence of the Left Centre, or even of the Conservative party. Then
they took steps to repair this mistake, and the Ministers all came to
me. M. Guizot, whom I had not seen since the Coalition, came wearing
his order, to ask me solemnly for my co-operation. I did not hide the
fact that it was rather late, and that this fashion of forming a
Ministry without paying attention to any one, or respecting M. Molé
and his party by the observance of outward formality, increased the
difficulty of a situation, which was already complicated enough. When
I heard M. Guizot I remembered what I was saying to the Duc d'Orléans
a few days ago, that of the two rivals it was difficult to say which
is the more futile; that if Thiers is futile without, Guizot is so
within; in fact, Guizot has not a notion of the domestic dangers, the
Parliamentary difficulties, and the general peril caused by the
abstention of M. Passy and M. Dufaure; for they, added to Lamartine
and myself, would form a possible Cabinet intermediate between that of
to-day and that of M. Odilon Barrot, whether we took M. Molé, M. de
Broglie, or even M. Thiers for our leader. In short, their confidence
and presumption have been inexplicable, while they have completely
forgotten the apostasy of 1839, which is aggravated by this fresh
change of creed and colour. They are convinced that their theories can
be resumed at the point where they had dropped them, and talk of
safeguards, order, and resistance with the same authority. They have
no notion of the fury which this language is likely to arouse among
their adversaries, and regard us as cold and disagreeable. However, we
shall support them, for we are men of honour before all things, and I
am equally certain that there will be a majority on the general
question. Thiers has brought things to such a point that his
restoration would mean both revolution and war; but the humiliation
abroad which Guizot's Cabinet will have to confront is likely to be a
crushing burden. Honourable men do not pardon Thiers for making this
humiliation inevitable, and in three months no one will pardon Guizot
for yielding to it. In my opinion he will have to give way in a short
time, but if he performs the double service of bringing us through a
great difficulty without increasing it and of paving the way for a new
Conservative majority he will have done a good deal. I do not despair,
and for my part will certainly help him. He left me and went on to
open conciliatory measures with M. Molé.

"The immediate cause of Thiers' rupture with the King is as follows:
In the speech Thiers demanded further measures, that is, an additional
hundred and fifty thousand men--making six hundred and fifty thousand
in all, the mobilisation of the National Guards, camps upon the Rhine
and the Alps, in short, war. The King tried to compromise by saying
that his Ministers would explain what they had done and what they
intended to do. Thiers refused; it seems as though there was no
sincerity on either side. Thiers felt that his position was untenable:
the Left was trembling, the Conservatives would venture anything in
their fright, and his own foolishness will not bear discussion. The
King on his side was bold enough to regard his attempted assassination
by Darmès as a possible starting-point from which to turn the struggle
against himself and overthrow his Cardinal de Retz, while he ran no
risk for his power, but a very great deal of risk for his life.

"The Conservative party thus seems to be reorganised by the return of
the large majority of the Doctrinaires and the probable support of the
Left Centres, who are in terror, but the Doctrinaire party is divided;
M. Duvergier de Hauranne and M. Piscatory follow M. de Rémusat and M.
Jaubert from the Left; M. Broglie is divided between the two camps; M.
Thiers continues to rely upon him, and flatters himself that he has
been strongly defended by him in the Chamber of Peers; M. Guizot, on
the other hand, calculates that he will accept the London Embassy; to
this he attaches great importance, although M. de Broglie will not be
able to lend him all the strength of which he will deprive M. Thiers
by a long way; however, he will not weaken him, and that is something.
Failing M. Thiers, Madames de Barante and de Sainte-Aulaire will fight
for London. There is no doubt that M. de la Redorte will be retired,
as he has cut a poor figure in the Peninsula. There will be many
changes in the Diplomatic Body. I know that I have been thought of for
an embassy, but I have not yet considered my reply. M. Guizot has
gained nothing from London; something may be obtained from Lord
Melbourne, but nothing from Lord Palmerston, and it is not certain
that Europe is less inclined to the latter than to the former. The
condition of the Comte de Paris still causes alarm. Chomel, to whom I
have spoken, but he is rather a pessimist, has no hope except that the
poor young Prince may live long enough to spare the Duchesse d'Orléans
a great grief during her confinement."


_Rochecotte, November 8, 1840._--M. d'Entraigues, our Prefect, who has
been here since the evening of the day before yesterday, received
yesterday by a courier a telegram sent to him at Tours with news of
the nomination of the President, the Vice-President and the Committee
of the Chamber of Deputies. The nominations in general are, thank
heaven, favourable to the Cabinet and supported by a good majority.
This beginning is a trifle consoling. If fear inspires wisdom, so much
the better.

I have a letter from the Duc de Noailles, who tells me that there is
no truth in the rumour that his cousin M. Maurice is to enter the
Church. People are indeed wonderfully clever in inventing and
spreading stories and providing them with so many details as to make
one believe what is utterly unfounded. The Duc de Noailles also says:
"The royal session is said to have been a most mournful ceremony;[138]
on the one side was much outcry of obvious meaning, while on the Left
there was menacing silence; in the middle was the King shedding tears
at a certain passage in his speech. The speech was wanting in dignity,
and a pacific attitude should be more dignified; it was drawn up by
Guizot. The desire for peace was too obvious, and it was not a
success. The Ministry are sure of a majority for some time, but as the
fear of war dies away they will lose it. Syria has been given up as a
bad job by the Government. If the Pasha submits, all will be over; if
he resists and is attacked in Egypt it is difficult to say how an
explosion will be avoided here. Thiers said to Guizot on his arrival:
'Now it is your turn. There are only two men in France, yourself and
I; I am the Minister of the revolution, you of the Conservative
movement; if one is not in power the other must be. We cannot act in
concert, but we can live upon good terms. I shall put no obstacle in
your way, and make no attempt to inconvenience you.' None the less he
is already intriguing in the Chamber, and an agitation will be raised
to support him."

  [138] The opening session of the Chamber of Deputies.

_Rochecotte, November 12, 1840._--The Abbé Dupanloup arrived here
yesterday to consecrate my chapel. The ceremony is to take place
immediately. Yesterday's post brought news of the confinement of the
Duchesse d'Orléans. I am delighted to hear of the birth of a second
son.[139] Madame de Lieven writes that she is somewhat dissatisfied
with the beginning which the new Ministry has made.

  [139] The Duc de Chartres.


_Rochecotte, November 14, 1840._--I had wished the first mass said in
my chapel to be for the repose of the soul of M. de Talleyrand, but an
inaugural mass cannot be one of mourning. At the ceremony of the day
before yesterday, therefore, colours were worn in honour of St.
Martin; yesterday's mass was for the dear departed. The altar is
exactly where his bed used to stand in the room which has been
replaced by the chapel; the coincidence affected me deeply.


_Rochecotte, November 17, 1840._--M. de Salvandy, who has most
obligingly undertaken to send me a little weekly bulletin, tells me
that the Diplomatic Body at Paris was almost as keenly excited by the
last note from Lord Palmerston as the Chamber itself.[140]

  [140] Lord Palmerston was unwilling to make any concessions.

It seems that Count Apponyi has written everywhere pointing out the
danger of urging France to revolution and to war when she is
attempting to throw off the yoke of anarchy. Lord Granville and Herr
von Bülow disavow the acts of Lord Palmerston. If he really wished to
drive France to extremities, it may be believed that neither Austria
nor Prussia would support him. Even Russia seems to have moderated her
language.

My son-in-law writes me from Paris on the 15th: "The state of affairs
here seems to me very confused. The transition from revolutionary
provocation to a demeanour of humility can only be effected amid
uproar in order to put shame out of countenance. To this end everybody
is working. There is a general cry for peace and for the support of
the former Ministry, and a general outcry against the cowardice and
degradation of the supreme power, though no one can say exactly what
should have been done. These indeterminate attacks never produce a
really embarrassing situation, and as they make an uproar without
doing any harm, the men against whom they are ineffectually directed
obtain the credit of success. It thus seems generally admitted that
the Ministry will gain a majority. M. Guizot, for instance, was saying
the day before yesterday in his _salon_, with the heroic air
characteristic of General Guizot: 'Gentlemen, we have just begun the
campaign; the war will be long and severe, but I hope that we shall
gain the victory.' Though the Chamber desires peace at any price, it
is not compliant. The greater its anxiety, the louder its outcries,
which will only end with its unregretted fall. The Address, which is
to be drawn up, people say, by M. Passy or M. de Salvandy, will be
very bellicose, so much so as to embarrass the Government, although it
had been decided to create as little trouble as possible on this
point.

"You will have read the answer of Lord Palmerston to the memorandum of
October 8. It is an important matter. His disdain for us is obvious,
and is not even disguised by forms or ceremonies. It seems, moreover,
that this feeling towards us has grown remarkably of late. None the
less the note has caused much embarrassment to M. Guizot, who had told
everybody that since his entry upon office the situation in England
had entirely changed and that Lord Palmerston was an altered
character. He summed up his views in these words: 'I have peace in my
pocket.' This is how he explained Lord Palmerston's note when he was
talking at the house of the President of the Chamber[141] two days
ago: 'Lord Palmerston has a theological mind; he will let no
objection pass without an answer, so that this note means nothing;
it is merely a question of principle.' M. Dubois, of the
Loire-Inférieure, who is a clever man, and a strong supporter of the
new Ministry, then took M. Guizot aside and told him that he would be
making a great mistake if he repeated that observation in the Chamber.
M. Guizot merely answered by repeating his statement, with which he
was so delighted that he caused it to be inserted that evening in his
own newspaper, _Le Messager_, in the form of a note at the foot of the
memorandum, merely suppressing the term 'theological.' At the same
time the incident has caused some stir, which has not yet died away,
and would make M. Guizot cut a ridiculous figure if things seemed what
they are in this country. The Ministry proposes to make peace, and
everybody thinks that it will be successful. After that it will
perish, for no obvious reason, in a hurricane; this also seems to be
generally believed. Then M. Molé, who now remains in isolation, will
come to power. He will probably be welcomed by every one, not because
he is any more popular in the Chamber than he used to be, but because
every one's energy is exhausted, while the King remains master. The
matter will depend upon the King, who is ill-disposed to M. Molé at
this moment, and uttered a remark concerning him which others
attribute to M. Guizot, but which is too good to come from more than
one source: 'M. Molé is an excellent looker-on, but is a bad actor.' I
have an idea that the remark is mine, and that some one stole it from
me five years ago.

  [141] M. Sauzet.

"The Syrian campaign is decidedly favourable to the allies. The
English have displayed much energy. They are inducing the Turks to
strike hard, and everything is yielding before them; the force of
Ibrahim was a myth. At every moment we are expecting the news of the
capture of Saint-Jean d'Acre, which will be an important success both
here and there. The saddest part of it is that there is no certainty
concerning the possible safety of Egypt. Already rumours are present
of a probable revolt at Alexandria, of the assassination of the Pasha
by knife or poison; while you have seen that Lord Palmerston, with his
theological mind, no longer speaks of the deposition of the Pasha as
he did three weeks ago. There is no certainty that we shall not yield
upon that point here, and it would be a tremendous concession.

"So much for the present. I now turn to the past. Thiers has shrunk in
everybody's eyes: his timidity has been invariably as great as his
imprudence and his superficiality. He dismissed the French Consul at
Beyrout because he wished to serve the Pasha in Syria by calming the
revolt, and it has never been possible to induce him to send reliable
agents to Syria for the purpose of finding out the exact extent of
Ibrahim's power. Hence we have been deceived, and the attitude of
France has been guided by unrealised expectations. M. de Broglie
thinks that the King was greatly mistaken in dismissing the Ministry
of M. Thiers, because he would in any case have fallen a victim to
public ridicule at this moment. This opinion is based upon the fact
that if one stakes a large sum upon one card and it does not appear
the ridicule is universal. The person to whom he was speaking on the
matter yesterday evening thought, on the other hand, that while the
Chamber might fear war, it would never have been strong enough to
overthrow the Cabinet.

"The speech drawn up by Thiers did not propose a new levy of a hundred
and fifty thousand men, but merely wished to anticipate the new levy
by three months, whether for peace or for war, this being the levy
ordinarily made in the spring. Moreover, the tone of the speech was
quite moderate; but the fact is that neither he nor the King was
sincere and it was a mere pretext on either side.

"There was a Ministerial crisis, of which we had no suspicion, after
the capture of Beyrout. The Ministry wished to make a demonstration by
sending the fleet to Alexandria, but the King was opposed to this
idea. M. de Broglie was asked to mediate between the two parties, and
patched the matter up, on the theory that it was impossible at that
moment to appoint a permanent Ministry if those in power resigned upon
such a question. He was also opposed to the idea of sending a fleet to
Alexandria, believing that the measure was good in itself, as likely
to cause the allies anxiety while giving them no reason for complaint,
and thinking it a measure which an absolute Government would have
every right to carry out; but in French practice, on the other hand,
as soon as this measure had been executed, the Press would have driven
the fleet into action, whether they wished or not, and war would have
been the result. All this argument, in any case, is based upon the
fact that this measure or anything like it could only be carried out
by violent means of which the public must hear, such as a resignation,
a crisis, and so forth. If the matter had been quietly arranged with
the private knowledge of the King, the case would have been very
different. Moreover, M. de Broglie is by no means well disposed
towards the King. He says, however, that it is all a matter of
indifference to him apart from the outward disturbance; that he will
support any possible Ministry, that not only will he make no attempt
to overthrow them, but will not even try to shake their stability,
seeing that any of the said Ministries are always more reasonable than
the Chamber. In short, he says that he is part of the Ministerial
suite, an avowal which no one had yet ventured to make, and that he
greatly envies you the prospect of spending his winter in the country.
His calmness is quite Olympian, though tempered with bitter and
piercing irony.

"M. Guizot tells his friends in confidence that he has induced M. de
Broglie to accept the London Embassy. I believe nothing of the kind,
but I forgot to ask him yesterday evening. M. Molé seemed to me to be
utterly cast down; he is a kind of Jeremiah singing madrigals, and is
greatly changed."


_Rochecotte, November 22, 1840._--Yesterday my son-in-law wrote to his
wife saying that the diplomatic correspondence was read privately
before the Commission of the Address in the Chamber of Deputies. It
represents M. Thiers as an incompetent and impossible Minister, M.
Guizot as a wise ambassador and a dangerous auxiliary, Lord Palmerston
as a resolute and strong character; it shows that Thiers had
attempted to deceive and blind the eyes of every one and to take them
in, and was simply laughed at, as also was France. He also writes that
the Duc d'Orléans made his little impromptu speech before the Chamber
of Peers with admirable tact, grace, and nobility.

Another note has been received from Lord Palmerston, milder in tone
than the former, but still raising anxiety upon the Egyptian question.
M. Mounier has been officially sent to London to try and secure some
concession.

My son Valençay writes to me to say that Madame de Nesselrode is at
Paris for six weeks; that she will not appear at Court, and therefore
will not go into society, but will live quietly by herself, and is
delighted with her idea. I do not know whether Count Nesselrode will
be equally delighted.


_Rochecotte, November 23, 1840._--My son-in-law writes that M.
Walewski, who had been sent to Egypt as an envoy to Ibrahim, thought
that he was still writing despatches for the Ministry of March 1, and
had announced that in spite of all his efforts he could not induce
Ibrahim to pass the Taurus. This despatch seems to be causing a great
sensation.


_Rochecotte, November 24, 1840._--My son-in-law writes: "There is a
vague rumour that some arrangement will be made in Syria and Egypt
which will not be the ruin of the Pasha. This is in consequence of his
complete submission to the Powers, but we shall boast of it here, and
the majority will appear to believe it. For some time past there have
been terrible arguments between Thiers and Guizot, face to face, and
the worst of it is for them both that the bystanders support one of
them against the other; consequently they will dig the pit in which
they will both fall. Thiers is almost entirely ruined, and Guizot will
be in the spring after he has refused, as he will, to pave the way for
M. Molé, who will certainly enter upon office if the King wishes."


_Rochecotte, November 25, 1840._--I have been reading with admiration
the noble farewell of Queen Christina to the Spanish nation.[142] It
seems to belong to another time and to an age when there was still
something divine in the language of kings. This touching manifesto is
said to have been drawn up by Señor de Offalia, who has also left
Spain.

  [142] This manifesto of Queen Christina to the Spanish nation
  will be found in the Appendix.


_Rochecotte, November 26, 1840._--What a dreadful speech M. Dupin has
made! I am certainly the most peaceful creature in France, but I
cannot understand how any one can descend to such depths. A descent so
useless, so tactless, and so clumsy that it really seems as if he were
trying to win a wager.

The wife of the Marshal d'Albuféra tells me that the Comtesse de
Nesselrode met M. Thiers at her house, and that he put out all his
efforts to charm the Comtesse. Madame de Nesselrode takes such sudden
fancies that she might get excited even over M. Thiers.

The English have captured Saint-Jean d'Acre. Their little Queen has
been confined of a daughter.[143]

  [143] Victoria, Crown Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, was
  born on November 21, 1840. By her marriage with Prince Frederick
  William of Prussia she afterwards became Empress of Germany. She
  was the mother of the Emperor William II.


_Rochecotte, November 28, 1840._--The Duc de Noailles writes: "You
will see by reading the reports of yesterday's session in the Chamber
of Deputies the excitement which pervaded the assembly. This
establishes and confirms peace with disgrace. These events will be a
heavy burden upon the future of the present dynasty. I think that the
consequence at home will be a kind of reform in the Chamber, which
will produce a dissolution, and also another Chamber, in which we
shall be forced to endure a Left Ministry led by Thiers."

Madame Mollien writes to me: "Queen Christina is pretty; her
complexion is superb, her skin fine and white; she has a gentle look
and a clever and gracious smile, but those who wish to think her
charming must look no lower than her head; in full detail she is
almost a monstrosity, quite as much as her sister the Infanta. She
came to France unattended by any of her ladies, though the newspapers
are pleased to speak of some Doña, who, if she does exist, is probably
nothing but a chambermaid. At Paris there are some Spanish ladies who
will perform some kind of attendance upon her; at the present moment
the Duchess of Berwick is so acting. Her suite is composed of only two
men, who are both young; one especially, the Count of Raquena, does
not seem to be more than twenty. He is a little man with fair
moustaches, and looks like a comedy lieutenant. I do not know when the
Queen will start. She says she is very happy here. I am afraid she
will be too happy and stay too long. These royal visits always cause a
certain amount of disturbance, which soon wearies the inhabitants of
the Tuileries. She dines there every day, though she is staying in the
royal palace. Her interview with her sister was very cold, but it
passed off without any scene, and nothing more was expected."

The Duchesse de Bauffremont sent me news of the marriage of her
grandson with the second Mlle. d'Aubusson; the eldest daughter is
marrying Prince Marc de Beauvau. Gontran's marriage will not take
place for a year, as the young lady is only fifteen; she will be
enormously rich. Her mother is Mlle. de Boissy. Her father has been
ill for ten years, and his property is in the hands of executors.
Gontran is not yet nineteen, and a very handsome young fellow.


_Rochecotte, November 29, 1840._--The day before yesterday the
_Journal des Débats_ was very curiously filled with the speeches of M.
Passy and M. Guizot, throughout which M. Thiers must have felt himself
somewhat uneasy. On the whole these explanations are not very
creditable to the cleverness of any one except to the skill and the
dignified tenacity of Lord Palmerston. It appears to me that all the
French actors have emerged from the business somewhat bespattered,
including even the little Bourqueney.


_Rochecotte, November 30, 1840._--The discussions in the Chamber have
induced me to read the newspaper through, and I am not sorry, for it
is a curious drama, though one in which the situation is more
interesting than the people, whose appearance becomes ever more
threadbare as they adopt the most certain means of degradation, want
of straightforwardness, simplicity, and truth in their dealings.
Moreover, this discussion is like the Day of Judgment; whether they
like it or not, every one is stripped of his fine feathers, and truth
is forced to the forefront. Hitherto M. Villemain seems to me to speak
the truth in the most suitable and striking language, but he is only
in a position to speak for one side of the matter, though this, in my
opinion, is the side to which blame chiefly attaches.


_Rochecotte, December 1, 1840._--The Duc de Noailles tells me: "I had
a long talk yesterday with M. Guizot, and I told him that recent
events and all that discussion has brought forth will considerably
complicate the present situation for a long time. He thinks, on the
contrary, that the difficulties are only momentary, and that public
feeling upon this question will be as short-lived as it was upon the
Polish war eight years ago.[144] I also had a long talk with Berryer
concerning his speech; he is thinking it over, and has some good
ideas; his conclusion will probably give the Ministry a set-back. He
will say that war is obviously impossible at this moment, but that
peace as formulated by the Ministry is not acceptable to the Chamber,
and that the Address should be referred to a new commission. Odilon
Barrot and M. Dufaure have already proposed this idea, which might
easily become popular. I also met Thiers at the Chamber, and walked
about for ten minutes with him. I reminded him that I had already
prophesied the events that have come to pass, because in this great
business nothing could be done without alliances, while France was
united to an ally who was opposed to her interests and obviously
likely to abandon her. He replied that France even alone could have
prevented action, at the expense, however, of great energy and a
large display of force. He throws the whole responsibility upon the
King; he says that it is a case of inertia upon the throne, and that
with inertia in high places and also naturally ingrained in the
nation, nothing can be done; that if the Duc d'Orléans had been King
the course of events would have been different; that he would perhaps
have perished, but have perished with dignity, and would not have left
France in her present state of humiliation and hopelessness, in which
she will long continue. In any case, he is entirely devoted to the
Left, and M. Odilon Barrot drew the bonds tighter yesterday. Madame de
Lieven is, I think, really attached to Guizot, for she no longer goes
to the sessions of the Chamber, and confines herself to asking news of
them with much anxiety."

  [144] A conflict arising from the revolution of July 1830 broke
  out in Poland, where the Russians and the insurgents fought
  terrible battles under the walls of Warsaw. On September 7, 1831,
  Warsaw was obliged to capitulate in spite of a desperate
  resistance, and the event caused great grief and sympathy
  throughout France. An attempt was made to begin a revolt in Paris
  and to overthrow the Ministry of Casimir-Perier, who had
  recognised the impossibility of supporting Poland.

I now come to an extract from a letter from the Princesse de Lieven
herself: "Thiers seems to have decided that he will no longer serve
the King. He says that he will wait for the Duc d'Orléans. Syria is
lost for the Pasha. It is hoped and believed that he will yield to the
summons of the English Admiral Stopford. I suppose that the French
Government is advising him to do so; then the matter will be concluded
with no glory for France, we must admit, and with every credit to Lord
Palmerston. There are many people who strongly object to this latter
result. The Ministers here expect a decent majority of fifty or sixty
in favour of the Address, after which they will get on as well as they
can. M. Guizot seems very tired, but is full of courage. At Vienna
people are delighted with the change of Ministry and full of
confidence in the present Ministers. I have no news of public opinion
as yet from St. Petersburg. I am a little curious to hear what our
Russian public will say about this great affair which has been settled
without any active interference on the part of us Russians; it will
cause us some astonishment. You will probably ask me whether there is
a Russian public; the question is not unreasonable, but there is one,
as far as the East is concerned. When I was at London as Ambassadress
I ventured to call Turkey our Portugal; my own Court much appreciated
the epigram, but the English did not. No haste is shown here to
nominate a London Ambassador; I think they would prefer the Egyptian
business to be settled first. We shall certainly have to wait until
the middle of December. Madame de Flahaut does not know what to do,
torn as she is by the whims and fancies which are natural to her and
the extreme desire of her husband for a diplomatic post. The King
greatly wished his ambassadors to call upon Queen Christina in a body;
many of them felt scruples upon the point, but at length they decided
to go, regarding her as nothing more than the widow of Ferdinand VII.,
and in fact she is nothing more now. The Queen of England is said to
have had a very easy confinement, and will probably have seventeen
children like her grandmother. Madame de Nesselrode lives at the
Chamber of Deputies; she is in love with Thiers, and has joined the
Opposition extremists; she is finding life quite pleasant here. I see
very little of her as her time is taken up with the debates in the
Chamber and with theatres. My ambassador is crushed beneath the weight
of all the great Russian ladies who are grouped together in Paris. I
am sorry for him, for I can believe that it is entirely tiresome."

I would have been ready to make a bet that Madame de Nesselrode would
conceive a violent fancy for Thiers, if it were only to rival Madame
de Lieven's fancy for Guizot. After reading the speech of M. Barrot
and the series of invectives which he aimed directly at Guizot, I
began to wonder yesterday how such things could be said and heard
without leading to further explanations by means of swords and
pistols.


_Rochecotte, December 3, 1840._--The following are the most important
passages from the bulletin sent by M. de Salvandy, under date December
1, before and during the session of the Chamber. He says: "Have you
heard at Rochecotte a pleasant epigram by Garnier Pagès, who is to
speak to-day? 'I would strip them both, and their ugliness would then
be obvious.' This epigram very well sums up the situation. M. Thiers
retains his revolutionary attitude, but that is all; he remains
incompetent to many and impossible to all. M. Guizot is far from
having gained all that M. Thiers has lost. He has immense talent,
admirable strength of mind in times of storm, the gift of overaweing
all hostile revolts in the Assembly, and the art of raising the minds
of his audience to consider questions with him upon a higher plane and
from a wider point of view; these are his special advantages, though
he has never made the best of them. Yet he grows stronger, though he
raises no defences, and rests his power upon the majority without
permanently establishing it. The soil declines to be cultivated. M.
Thiers is like a mistress who is asked only to behave herself;
anything will be permitted to him, and his reputation will not suffer.
M. Guizot is the woman of strict morals who has been a failure and is
blamed for everything. This struggle between the Ambassador and the
Minister, in spite of attempts to soften it, does harm to the Chamber
and to public opinion. He is not even pardoned for his firm resolve to
abandon the principles of the Coalition, as if people would have
preferred him faithful to infidelity personified. The speech of
Dufaure seems to many people a manifesto intervening between the
Cabinet and M. Thiers; the action of Passy and Dupin in this direction
has caused much anxiety. My name is coupled with this movement because
no one imagines that Ministers in retirement are not displeased to be
employed. M. Molé is represented as hovering above all, although he
has no connection with the sphere in which the Ministry of May 12
predominates, for that Ministry, I think, regards it as a point of
honour to preserve its consistency by holding aloof from M. Molé, as
Jaubert thinks to remain consistent by retaining his seat among the
others, whom he wounds and annoys by his constant outcries against the
King and his enthusiasm for M. Barrot. Such is our position. The
ground seems to be crumbling beneath us. Alas for our country, which
should be strong and cannot be governed! Our Chamber is really the
OEil de Bœuf of the democracy.[145] Favourites, male and female,
disturb everything by their intrigues, and spend the time in
overthrowing one another, with the result that ruin is universal. I am
going to the Chamber, where MM. de Lamartine and Berryer will cross
swords, and shall close this letter there.

  [145] An allusion to the OEil de Bœuf in the castle of
  Versailles, where Court intrigues were hatched.

"_P.S._--Berryer has just spoken, a clever, brilliant, and perfidious
speech. He has protected Thiers by going straightway to the Tuileries.
There he has displayed his thunderbolts and launched anathemas against
M. Guizot the Ambassador, which have been definitely applauded three
times by the Assembly. M. de Lamartine is now rising to reply."


_Rochecotte, December 4, 1840._--The speech of M. Berryer shows the
state of the country from one point of view and that of M. de
Lamartine from another. These two speeches seem to me to be the most
brilliant effort on the part of one orator and the most lofty on the
part of the other that the whole discussion upon the Address has
produced. M. de Lamartine, for whom in general I have but a moderate
liking, greatly pleased me with his reply which seems to be wise, well
supported by facts, well thought out, and well delivered, with
excellent touches of straightforward feeling, which had its effect
upon the Assembly.

We are assured that the mission of M. Mounier to London is intended to
secure the help of England for the proposal of a marriage between the
innocent Isabella with her cousin Carlos, Prince of Asturias.

The remains of Napoleon have now been brought to Cherbourg. In Paris
no preparations are said to have yet been made for this ceremony,
which in my opinion will be very ridiculous.


_Rochecotte, December 5, 1840._--Yesterday I had a letter from M.
Royer Collard, from which the following is a striking extract: "A week
ago, madame, I was a prisoner in the Chamber, following a great debate
upon the Address with close interest. The audience have alternately
expressed dissatisfaction with the chief actors, but not from the same
point of view. The faults of Thiers are those of the Minister, and the
faults of Guizot those of the man. I do not know whether you noticed
in the newspapers that I was led to make a declaration in Guizot's
favour which he greatly needed, as he was in a difficulty, for no one
believed a word of what he was saying, although he spoke the truth.
The next day he came over to my place to thank me, boldly crossing the
whole Chamber for the purpose. I did not accept his thanks, and told
him that I had done nothing for him, but had been thinking only of
myself. He then buttonholed me in a corridor. I maintained a distant
attitude and refused to converse. The difference between the two men
is that Providence has not granted Thiers the power of distinguishing
between good and evil; Guizot has this power, but will not use it. He
is therefore the more guilty, but not, perhaps, the more dangerous. If
one could regard any decision of to-day as irrevocable, I should say
that they are both utterly ruined. I wish they were, but I am not sure
of it."

My son-in-law hears that the effect of Berryer's speech has been
tremendous. It seems to have dealt a death-blow to M. Guizot, and a
vigorous thrust in higher quarters. The Carlists are overjoyed. I am
inclined to think that they regard the event as more important than it
really is. Thiers loudly praises Berryer, and tells any one who will
listen to him that in point of art nothing is superior to it, and that
in 1789 no better performance was achieved.

The Princesse de Lieven, to whom some one related the thrust that
Guizot had received, answered that he had not been hit.

It is said that the ceremony in honour of the remains of Napoleon will
take place on the 15th of this month. How opportunely his ghost
arrives!


_Rochecotte, December 6, 1840._--I hear from a correspondent: "I have
no certain confirmation of Demidoff's death, but I know from a sure
source that he had a very unpleasant journey to Rome, and afterwards
some harassing interviews with the Cardinal's Secretary of State and
with the Russian Minister, after which he was obliged to leave the
Papal States, in accordance with orders. The consequent excitement
then caused him one of his worst attacks. Apparently he told a Greek
priest that his children would all be brought up in the Greek
religion, while he told the Catholic authorities that they would be
brought up as Catholics. Moreover, he said, with his usual assurance,
that with money anything could be gained from the Court of Rome, and
that he had sent a hundred thousand francs to the Pope for the
dispensations which he has procured. Cardinal Lambruschini, indignant
at this story, inserted an article in the _Gazette romaine_, which has
been circulated everywhere, and which denies the statement, affirming
very positively that M. Demidoff only paid ninety francs for his
dispensations--namely, the cost of their postage. The Russian Minister
then refused to intercede with the Roman Court on behalf of Demidoff.
Demidoff abused him, in consequence, and after all this fine
performance was obliged to leave Rome; and if he is not dead with fury
he is none the less in an awkward position."


_Rochecotte, December 7, 1840._--The chief news of the day is the
rejection of M. Odilon Barrot's amendment by a majority of more than a
hundred.

One or two clever epigrams current at Paris are these: MM. Jaubert and
Duvergier de Hauranne--in short, the Doctrinaire section that has gone
over to the Left--are known as the unrestrained schismatics from the
Doctrine. In other circles partisans of Mgr. Affre, the Archbishop of
Paris, are known as the _affreux_ (frightful). People must have their
joke.


_Rochecotte, December 9, 1840._--Madame Mollien informs me that, as
the Address is now voted, men's minds are beginning to turn to the
ceremony of the Remains, as the people of Paris call it. The expenses
of the ceremony will amount to a million; thousands of workmen are
busy day and night with preparations, and thousands of loafers spend
their time looking on until nightfall. What foolishness all this
comedy is, coming at such a time and in such circumstances! I think
that the rock of St. Helena would have been a more fitting sepulchre,
and perhaps a safer resting-place, than Paris, with its storms and
revolutions.


_Rochecotte, December 10, 1840._--M. Raullin writes to say that the
Stock Exchange gambling was discussed at the session of the Chamber,
and M. Thiers actually wept. He also says that the hatred and acrimony
which embroil all these people is quite unparalleled, and that it is
impossible to talk with any one unless you share their particular form
of madness. Thiers wished to fight a duel with M. de Givré, which was
prevented by Rémusat. M. Jaubert is also slightly infected by the
disease. Madame Dosne is in bed, a result of the effects of the last
session of the Chamber at which she was present. The revelations made
upon the subject of the Stock Exchange gambling have overwhelmed her.

M. de Saint-Aulaire writes from Vienna saying that he is going to
stand for election to the French Academy; he displays great disgust
with public affairs, and there is every probability that this feeling
will become general.


_Rochecotte, December 13, 1840._--Yesterday, as my solitude was more
complete than usual, I returned, as I constantly do, to my
recollections of the past. It occurred to me to write a few lines upon
certain mental characteristics of M. de Talleyrand, as follows:

His mind was strong, but his conscience was weak, for it needed
enlightenment. The age in which he lived, his education, and the
position into which he was forced were all incompatible with that
reflection which can illuminate the soul. His natural want of
sensitiveness also disinclined him for the serious work of
self-examination and left him in darkness. Thus his unusual mental
powers were entirely devoted to political interests. He was swept away
by the terrible movement of his age, and threw the whole of his
energies into it. If stress was required his energy was great; he
could live without repose and rest, and deprived others of it as well
as himself, but when he had attained his object he would relapse into
a lengthy indifference, upon which he cleverly prevented any
encroachment. He could be idle so gracefully that no one could disturb
him without self-reproach, but he had a keen and accurate eye for a
situation and a penetrating perception of its possibilities, while his
mind was tempered with excellent common sense. When he took action he
worked but slowly at first, but with rapidity and precipitation as the
crisis approached. The attitude of carelessness, which he abandoned as
little as possible, was most disastrous to him in private life, for he
carried it to excess. His door was always open, his rooms were
constantly invaded, while his indifference to the reliability and
moral worth of the men who made their way to him was deplorable. At
the same time he saw everything through his half-closed eyes, but he
took little trouble to judge men, and even less to avoid those of whom
he thought least. In conversation, if he felt no need of opposition,
he allowed people to talk or act as they would, but if he felt himself
attacked he was immediately aroused, and the answer was a crushing
blow; he overthrew his opponent on the spot, though he never retained
any bitterness of feeling for him. He speedily relapsed into his
indifference, and as easily forgot an impropriety as he sincerely
pardoned an insult. In any case, he was rarely called upon to defend
himself. His dignity was natural and simple, so well protected by his
reputation, his great past, and by the apparent indolence which was
known to be only a mask, that I have rarely seen even the worst
characters venture to show their true nature with him. I have often
heard him say with real satisfaction: "I was a Minister under the
Directory; all the hobnailed boots of the Revolution have tramped
through my room, but no one ever ventured upon familiarity with me."
He spoke the truth; even his nearest and dearest addressed him only
with respectful deference. I am, moreover, convinced that his
overpowering dignity was supported by a natural characteristic which
could be felt even beneath his indolence. This was a cool courage and
presence of mind, a bold temperament and instinctive bravery which
inspires an irresistible taste for danger in any form, which makes
risk attractive and hazard delightful. Beneath the nobility of his
features, the slowness of his movements, and his luxurious habits
there was a depth of audacious boldness which sometimes peeped out,
revealed a wholly different order of capacities, and made him by
force of contrast one of the most original and most attractive
characters.


_Rochecotte, December 14, 1840._--Among the letters which I received
yesterday I had one from Berlin from M. Bresson, who says: "Frankfort
is by no means a misfortune for Herr von Bülow; he has long desired it
for private reasons; the post ranks as at least equal to that of
London. The strange outcome of Eastern events has restored the credit
of those responsible for the negotiations. The men who made the
loudest outcry against Bülow are to-day warmest in his praises. We are
so indulgent to those who show daring that I am myself inclined to
regard them as correct. Humboldt has no political influence over the
King of Prussia; no one has any as yet, and it is impossible to say
exactly at present what attitude he will adopt. Some recent
nominations of members of the Pietists have slightly damaged his
popularity; his liking for them is not shared by the country. Lord
William Russell extends the area of his amusements more and more; he
is now divided between three ladies, one of whom attracts him with
some frequency to Mecklenburg. Prince Wittgenstein no longer takes any
share in public business; he has had several attacks and will not live
long. I need not tell you what I felt concerning the discussion upon
the Address; existing conditions make life abroad most unpleasant. Is
it true that Flahaut is going to Vienna to replace Saint-Aulaire? If
so, I shall certainly be left here. The wind of favour does not blow
in my direction. A certain street and house very well known to you are
not so well disposed to me as they were." This last passage alludes to
Talleyrand's residence in the Rue Saint-Florentin, where Madame de
Lieven now lives.

I am informed of the death of the young Marie de La Rochefoucauld,
daughter of Sosthène and granddaughter of the Duchesse Mathieu de
Montmorency. This poor woman has survived her contemporaries, her
children, and her grandchildren. Heaven has severely tried the high
courage and profound faith with which she is endowed.

I am also informed that at the much-talked-of ceremony of the Remains
the Queen and the Princesses will be in mourning as for Louis XVIII.
It seems that everybody is mad; the newspapers only speak of the
funeral, or rather of the triumphal procession and of the religious
honours which will everywhere be paid to the remains of Napoleon.
After all, Napoleon, twice in forty years, will have performed the
same service for the French. He will have reconciled them to religion,
for it seems that it is quite curious to see the crowds upon their
knees surrounding the clergy who bless these remains. Curious, too, is
the general wish that their hero should have the benediction of the
Church. Strange are the people who accept order personified in the
midst of actual anarchy for the sake of a revolutionary idea, for it
seems clear to me that there is no other motive for all these honours,
which are paid, not to the legislator, but to the usurper and to the
conqueror.


_Rochecotte, December 15, 1840._--Yesterday I had some news from
Madame de Lieven, the chief points of which I will copy: "Egypt is now
done for. Napier was rather violent, contrary to his instructions, but
at the same time he has succeeded. Napier wished to show his learning,
and is asking the Pasha to restore the reign of the Ptolemys, a
strange position for a vassal, but there it is. At Constantinople the
principle of hereditary succession will be recognised for his family,
and he will afterwards surrender the fleet. At London delight is great
and Lord Palmerston cannot contain himself. Relations between the two
countries remain very strained; it is not war, but cannot be called
peace. The discussion upon the Address has been forgotten in view of
the funeral of Napoleon; this will be a superb ceremony, and I hope it
will be nothing else.

"Queen Christina has gone, after making a conquest of your King. She
will go to Rome, but not to Naples, where her daughter has not been
recognised. The whole of Russian female society is here; five of the
palace ladies are at Paris and only four left at St. Petersburg. The
ambassadors have declared that they will not be present at the
funeral. Most of them have adopted this idea independently, but Lord
Granville asked for instructions; after some hesitation he was told
to do as the others did. The confinement of the Queen of England was
perfectly easy."


_Rochecotte, December 17, 1840._--We have not yet heard how the
funeral passed off at Paris the day before yesterday. Some uneasiness
prevailed. The Duchesse de Montmorency told me: "There is an idea of
attacking the English Embassy and wrecking the house. Some soldiers
have been placed within the residence and Lady Granville has moved. It
is estimated that eight hundred thousand people will be on foot. My
children went to the Pecq, and thought that everything was very well
conducted; there was a general silence when the boat came in, and all
heads were bared. General Bertrand was on the right of the coffin,
General Gourgaud on the left, M. de Chabot before it, and the Prince
of Joinville went to and fro giving orders and had all the decorations
removed which were not religious. The priests were there with
surplices and many candles, and there was nothing worldly or
mythological."

The newspapers speak of great excitement. I shall be delighted when
the evening post tells us how it has all gone off. I have written to
secure my grandson Boson a view of the ceremony. Foolish, incoherent,
contradictory, and ridiculous as it may be, still the solemn arrival
of the coffin brought back from St. Helena will be very imposing, and
he will be glad one day to have seen it. Unfortunately at his age he
will be merely impressed, and will be unable to draw any of the
strange conclusions which the sight should inspire--the complete
forgetfulness of the oppression and the universal maledictions with
which Europe resounded twenty-six years ago; to-day nothing remains
but the recollections of Napoleon's victories, which make his memory
so popular. Paris, proclaiming her eager love of liberty, and France,
humiliated before the foreigner, are doing their utmost to honour the
man who did most to reduce them to servitude and was the most terrible
of conquerors.

In the newspapers we have read a description of the decorations in the
Champs Elysées, with the row of kings and great men. The great Condé
at least should not have found a place among them. Condé offering a
crown to his grandson's assassin! What I think should be fine is the
hearse. I like the idea of Napoleon brought back to France on a
buckler....


_Rochecotte, December 18, 1840._--Yesterday we awaited the post most
anxiously, and by some fatality the box was broken and we had to go to
bed without letters. Fortunately my son Dino, who had been at Tours,
brought back a copy of a telegram received by the Prefect which said
that everything went off very well, apart from a small demonstration
by some fifty men in blouses, who tried to break through the lines in
the Place Louis XV., but were driven back.


_Rochecotte, December 19, 1840._--At last our letters have come.
Madame Mollien, who was at the Church of the Invalides in the King's
suite, says: "This ceremony was just as unpopular in the position
where I was placed as it was popular in the streets of Paris. For
every reason people are delighted that yesterday is over. Before
entering the church we met in a kind of room, or rather chapel without
an altar, which had already been used for the same purpose at the
funeral of the victims of Fieschi. The royal family, the Chancellor,
the Ministers, the Households, and even the tutors, waited together
for two hours. The time was chiefly spent in speculation upon the
progress of the procession and in attempts to derive some heat from
two enormous fireplaces that had been hastily constructed and avoid
the volumes of smoke which they belched into the room. Recollections
of the Emperor were conspicuous by their absence; people talked of any
subject except that. The Chancellor[146] was noticeable for his
cheerfulness and his comical outbursts against the smoke. The Queen
was feverish, but nothing could prevent her from accompanying the
King, and she went home from the Invalides really ill. I can tell you
nothing of the scene within the church. I was so shut in on my stand
that I saw nothing, and could hardly hear the beautiful mass by
Mozart, divinely sung."

  [146] The Duc Pasquier.

The following is another account: "The hearse, in my opinion, was
really admirable; nothing could be more magnificent and imposing; the
departmental standards borne by subalterns made an excellent effect,
and the trumpets playing a simple funeral march in unison impressed me
deeply. I liked, too, the five hundred sailors from _La Belle Poule_,
whose austere appearance contrasted with the general splendour; but a
ridiculous effect was produced by the old costumes of the Empire,
which looked as though they had been brought out from Franconi's. The
progress of the hearse was not followed sufficiently closely by the
crowd, so that the people rushed along in too noisy a fashion. There
were some unpleasant shouts of 'Down with Guizot!' 'Death to the men
of Ghent!' Some red flags were also seen, and the _Marseillaise_ was
heard once or twice, but these attempts were immediately checked. The
Prince de Joinville has grown brown and thin, but he is handsome and
looked very well. He was warmly welcomed throughout the procession
yesterday."

The Duchesse d'Albuféra saw the procession pass from Madame de
Flahaut's house, who had invited the old ladies who had figured under
the Empire, the wife of Marshal Ney, the Duchesse de Rovigo, &c., with
a number of modern society figures or strangers. The eighty thousand
troops are said to have given the ceremony the aspect of a review
rather than of a funeral. The Marshal's wife reasonably disliked the
attitude of the people, which was neither religious nor impressive nor
respectful.

I have also a letter from M. Royer Collard, who says nothing about the
ceremony, at which he was not present; but in answer to a statement of
mine, expressing my astonishment at his silence concerning Berryer's
speech, he says: "If I were to give you my plain opinion of the
protagonists in the debate upon the Address, I should be tempted to
use very violent language. M. Berryer is supporting the cause of good
by evil methods, an imaginary good by what is certainly wrong, and the
cause of order by means of confusion. He has the outward graces of an
orator, but not the essential points. He makes no impression upon
men's minds, and nothing will be left to him but his name. You ask my
opinion of M. de Tocqueville. He has a fund of honest motives which is
not adequate for his purposes, and which he imprudently expends, but
some remnants of which will always be left to him. I am afraid that in
his anxiety to succeed he will wander into impossible paths by an
attempt to reconcile irreconcilable elements. He extends both hands
simultaneously, the right hand in welcome to the left, and the left
hand to ourselves, and regrets that he has not a third hand behind him
which he could offer unseen. He proposes to present himself for
election to the French Academy in place of M. de Bonald. My first vote
is promised to Ballanche, but he will have my second. His
opponents--for there is an opposition--say that his literary success
has already brought him into the Institute, the Chamber, and will give
him an armchair at Barrot's house, and that he can therefore wait."
Our hermit of the Rue d'Enfer displays a considerable spice of
malignity beneath his excellent qualities. The notion of a third hand
is very persuasive, a capital metaphor, in my opinion.


_Rochecotte, December 20, 1840._--The Duc de Noailles also sends me a
small account of the funeral, and says that the crowd of onlookers
watched the procession going by almost as if it were that of the
Bœuf-Gras, and that the people in the church were entirely absorbed
by the question of the cold and the business of wrapping themselves
up; that the service was confused and that the social spectacle was
the main point in everybody's mind. The obvious inference seems to me
to be that there are no more Bonapartists in France. The fact is that
there is nothing in this country except newspaper articles.

My son-in-law is told that a proposal is to be brought forward in the
Chamber to efface the figure of Henry IV. from the star of the Legion
of Honour and to replace it by the effigy of Napoleon. As a matter of
fact there will be nothing more extraordinary in destroying the image
of one's ancestor than in staining one's coat of arms.[147]

  [147] An allusion to the deed to which Louis-Philippe placed his
  signature in February 1831, the day after the Archbishop's
  residence was destroyed and Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois was
  plundered. M. Laffitte, who was too inclined to consider
  resistance to sedition impossible, induced the Sovereign to
  publish the following decree: "In future the State seal will
  represent an open book, bearing these words, 'Charter of 1830,'
  surmounted by a closed crown with a sceptre and a hand of justice
  in saltire, and tricolour flags behind the escutcheon, with
  inscription, 'Louis-Philippe, King of the French.'" Thus it was
  that the lilies disappeared which had hitherto been represented
  upon the State seal throughout the realm.


_Rochecotte, December 23, 1840._--I have a letter from M. de Salvandy,
of which the following are the essential points: "A note has arrived
from Lord Palmerston stating that Napier's convention has been
ratified, and guaranteeing the fact in the name of England.

"M. Thiers will be president of the Commission concerning the
fortifications, and will report their proceedings to the Chamber; thus
he will have the Cabinet on the stool of repentance and be able to
keep the Chamber in check. It thus appears that M. Thiers is by no
means so weak as was thought, and that M. Guizot's position is by no
means assured. In this general state of uncertainty anything is
possible. The credit of the Chamber is shaken by it within, and a
European disturbance may very well follow. Austria has presented a
very moderate note upon the question of armaments, but Germany will
not disarm."

M. de Salvandy says the same as my other correspondents with regard to
the funeral. He complains that there was too much gold, which was to
be seen in every possible position. Apparently those who arranged the
ceremony thought that it was the best means of representing glory. He
also said that nothing could be less religious than the religious
ceremony. This is natural when one has an archbishop who cannot walk
or pray or use incense. I notice in the _Moniteur_ a phrase which is
quite admirable: "The _De Profundis_ was sung by Duprez and the prayer
by the Archbishop."

M. de Salvandy says that during the ceremony M. Thiers was remarkably
hopeful at the outset, very angry at the conclusion, and preoccupied
throughout; apparently he had set his hopes upon a day which, thank
heaven, has been a failure. Even in the church he attempted to begin a
discussion with M. Molé concerning Napoleon's thoughts and chances
during the Hundred Days.

Now I have an extract from a letter sent by Frau von Wolff from
Berlin: "Hitherto nothing has disturbed the perfect harmony between
the Sovereign and his people; on political questions there is
practically no difference of opinion among them, so we are almost all
orthodox in this respect; but religious opinions are strongly divided,
and from this point of view the first steps of the King are watched
with some anxiety. It is to be hoped that the King will never
sacrifice true merit to sectarian prejudice. With regard to the new
nobility which the King has just created, it will be difficult for me
to give you a precise explanation, for the institution seems to be
still somewhat vague. The King hopes to obviate the inconvenience of a
poor nobility--and the Prussian nobility is usually poor--by
introducing new titles and attaching them to territorial estates, so
that the title will pass only to those children or descendants who
inherit land, and will become extinct if the succession leaves the
family. This idea has not been greatly appreciated so far. People fear
possible complications and entanglements and it is thought that the
institution will hardly survive, as it is not in harmony with Germanic
custom."


_Rochecotte, December 27, 1840._--The Duc de Noailles tells me that M.
de Tocqueville has withdrawn his candidature for the Academy. The Duc
has just been to dinner with M. Pasquier, where he met Mgr. Affre; he
speaks of him as a regular peasant; even the enemies of Mgr. de Quélen
noticed the difference at the ceremony in the Invalides. It was Mgr.
de Quélen who officiated for the victims of Fieschi. Mgr. Affre is an
appropriate prelate for this wretched age, which is so devoid of
dignity wherever it is looked for.


_Rochecotte, December 30, 1840._--I hear from Paris that a despatch in
a mild and friendly tone has arrived from Russia for communication to
the Government, saying that the isolation of France is regarded with
regret and that there is a readiness to begin the usual measures for
bringing France into the train of negotiations since a Conservative
Ministry has been re-established at Paris. The despatch was read to M.
Guizot and then to the King. Can it betoken a desire for a closer
union? I hardly think so, but I do think that there is a general wish
to avoid war in Russia as well as elsewhere; that there is a wish to
calm the feelings of France and induce her to disarm, and that
disarmament may follow elsewhere, for these general armaments are the
ruin of Europe.



APPENDIX

I

_Message from President Jackson of the United States_

Since the last session of the Congress the validity of our claims upon
France, as arranged by the treaty of 1831, has been recognised by both
branches of the Legislature, and the money has been voted for their
satisfaction, but I regret to be obliged to inform you that payment
has not yet been made.

A short summary of the most important incidents in this lengthy
controversy will show how far the motives, by which attempts are made
to justify this delay, are absolutely indefensible.

When I took office I found the United States applying in vain to the
justice of France for the satisfaction of claims the validity of which
has never been doubted, and has now been admitted by France herself in
the most solemn manner. The long-standing nature of these claims,
their entire justice, and the aggravating circumstances from which
they sprang, are too well known to the American people for a further
description of them to be necessary. It is enough to say that for a
period of ten years and more, with the exception of a few intervals,
our commerce has been the object of constant aggression on the part of
France, which usually took the form of condemning ships and cargo in
virtue of arbitrary decrees, contravening both international law and
the stipulations of the treaties, while ships were burnt on the high
seas, and seizures and confiscations took place under special Imperial
rescripts in the harbours of other nations then in French occupation
or under French control.

Such, as is admitted, has been the nature of our grievances,
grievances in many cases so flagrant that even the authors of them
never denied our right to satisfaction. Some idea of the extent of our
losses may be gained by considering the fact that the burning of
vessels at sea and the seizure and sacrifice in forced sales of
American property, apart from awards to privateers before condemnation
was pronounced, or without such formality, have brought the French
Treasury a sum of twenty-four millions of francs, apart from
considerable customs dues.

For twenty years this business has been the subject of negotiations,
which were interrupted only during the short period when France was
overwhelmed by the united forces of Europe. During this period, when
other nations were extorting their claims at the bayonet's point, the
United States suspended their demands in consideration of the
disasters that had overpowered the brave people to whom they felt
themselves bound, and in consideration of the brotherly help which
they had received from France in their own times of suffering and
danger. The effect of this prolonged and fruitless discussion,
disastrous both to our relations with France and to our national
character, was obvious, and my own course of duty was perfectly clear
to me. I was bound either to insist upon the satisfaction of our
claims within a reasonable period or to abandon them entirely. I could
not doubt that this course was most conformable to the interests and
honour of the two countries.

Instructions were therefore given from this point of view to the
Minister who was once more sent to demand satisfaction. When Congress
met on October 10, 1829, I considered it my duty to refer to these
claims and to the dilatory attitude of France, in terms sufficiently
strong to draw the serious attention of both countries to the matter.
The French Minister then in power took offence at the message, under
the idea that it contained a threat, upon which basis the French
Government did not care to negotiate. The American Minister refuted
the interpretation which the French authorities attempted to place
upon the message, and reminded the French Minister that the
President's message was a communication addressed not to foreign
governments, but to the Congress of the United States, and that in
this message it was his duty under the Constitution to provide this
body with information upon the state of the Union with reference both
to foreign as well as to domestic affairs. That if, again, in the
performance of this task he deemed it his duty to call the attention
of the Congress to the consequences which might result from strained
relations with another Government, one might reasonably suppose that
he acted under a sense of duty in thus frankly communicating with
another branch of his own Government, and not that he acted with the
object of threatening a foreign Power. The French Government was
satisfied and negotiations were continued. These were concluded by the
treaty of July 4, 1831, which partially recognised the justice of our
claims, and promised payment to the amount of twenty-five millions of
francs in six annual instalments. The ratifications of the treaty were
exchanged at Washington on February 2, 1832. Five days later the
treaty was presented to Congress, which immediately passed the Acts
necessary to secure to France the commercial advantages conceded to
her by the arrangement. The treaty had been previously ratified with
full solemnity by the King of France, in terms which are certainly no
mere formality: "We, regarding the above convention as satisfactory in
all and each of the conclusions which it contains, declare, both for
ourselves and for our heirs and successors, that it is accepted,
approved, ratified, and confirmed, and by these presents, signed with
our hand, we do accept, approve, ratify, and confirm it, promising
upon our faith and word as King to observe and to secure its
observance inviolably without contravention at any time and without
permitting direct or indirect contravention for any reason or pretext
whatsoever." The official announcement that ratifications had been
exchanged with the United States reached Paris while the Chambers were
in session. The extraordinary delays prejudicial to ourselves by the
introduction of which the French Government have prevented the
execution of the treaty, have already been explained to Congress. It
is sufficient to point out that the session then opened was allowed to
pass without any effort being made to obtain the necessary funds; that
the two following sessions also went by without any action resembling
a serious effort to secure a decision upon the question; and that not
until the fourth session, nearly four years after the conclusion of
the treaty, and more than two years after the exchange of
ratifications, was the law referring to the execution of the treaty
put to the vote and rejected.

Meanwhile the United States Government, in full confidence that the
treaty concluded would be executed in good faith, and with equal
confidence that measures would be taken to secure payment of the first
instalment, which was to fall due on February 2, 1833, negotiated a
bill for the amount through the Bank of the United States. When this
bill was presented by bearer the French Government allowed it to be
protested. Apart from the loss incurred by non-payment, the United
States had to meet the claims of the bank, which asserted infringement
of its interests, in satisfaction of which this institution seized and
still holds a corresponding amount from the State revenues.

Congress was in session when the decision of the Chambers was
communicated to Washington, and an immediate announcement of this
decision on the part of France was a step which was naturally expected
from the President. The profound discontent shown by public opinion
and the similar excitement which prevailed in the Congress, made it
more than probable that a recourse to immediate measures for securing
redress would be the consequence of any appeal made upon this question
to Congress itself.

With a sincere desire to preserve the peaceful relations which have so
long existed between the two countries, I wished to avoid this step if
I could be convinced that in thus acting, neither the interests nor
the honour of my country would be compromised. Without the most
complete assurance upon this point I could not hope to discharge the
responsibility which I assumed in allowing the Congress to adjourn
without giving it an account of the affair. These conditions seemed to
be satisfied by the assurances which were given to me.

The French Government had foreseen that the feeling in the United
States aroused by this second rejection of the credit vote would be as
I have described it, and prompt measures had been taken by the French
Government to anticipate the consequences. The King personally
expressed through our Minister at Paris his profound regret for the
decision of the Chambers and promised to send a ship of war with
despatches to his Minister here, forthwith authorising him to give
every assurance to the government and the people of the United States
that the treaty would be in any case faithfully performed by France.
The warship arrived and the Minister received his instructions.
Professing to act in virtue of these instructions he gave the most
solemn assurances that immediately after the new elections, and as
soon as ever the Chamber would allow, the French Chambers would be
convoked and that the attempt to obtain the necessary credit would be
renewed; that all the constitutional power of the King and his
Ministers would be exerted to secure this object. It was understood
that he pledged himself to this end, and this Government expressly
informed him that the question ought to be decided at a date
sufficiently near to enable Congress to learn the result at the
commencement of the session.

Relying upon these assurances, I undertook the responsibility of
allowing Congress to separate without offering any communication upon
the matter.

Our expectations, reasonably based upon promises so solemnly given,
were not realised. The French Chambers met on July 31, 1834, and
though our Minister at Paris urged the French Ministers to lay the
matter before the Chambers, they refused. He then insisted that if the
Chambers had been prorogued without coming to any conclusion in the
matter, they should be again convoked in time to enable their decision
to be known at Washington before the meeting of Congress. This
reasonable demand was not only refused, but the Chambers were
prorogued until December 29, a date so remote that their decision in
all probability could not have been obtained in time to reach
Washington before the Congress was forced to adjourn by the terms of
the Constitution. The reasons given by the Ministry for their refusal
to convoke the Chambers at a nearer date were afterwards shown to have
been by no means insurmountable, for the Chambers were convoked on
December 1 for the special purpose of considering home affairs, though
this fact did not become known to our Government until after the last
session of the Congress. As our reasonable expectations were thus
deceived, it was my imperative duty to consult Congress as to the
advisability of reprisals, in case the stipulations of the treaty were
not promptly carried out. For this purpose a communication was
indispensable. It would have been unworthy of us in the course of this
communication to refrain from an explanation of all the facts
necessary for an exact comprehension of the affair, or to shrink from
truth for fear of offending others. On the other hand, to have gone a
step further with the object of wounding the pride of a government and
a people with whom we have so many reasons to cultivate friendly
relations to our mutual advantage would have been both imprudent and
disastrous.

As past events had warned us of the difficulty of drawing up the most
simple statement of our grievances without wounding the feelings of
those who had become responsible for redressing them, I did my best to
prevent any interpretation of the message containing the
recommendations placed before Congress as a threat to France. I
disavowed any such design and further declared that the pride and the
power of France were so well known that no one would expect to extort
satisfaction by fear. The message did not reach Paris until more than
a month after the Chambers had met, and to such an extent did the
Ministry disregard our legitimate claims, that our Minister was
informed that the matter would not be made a Cabinet question when it
had been brought forward.

Although the message was not officially communicated to the Government
and although it contained definite declarations that no menace was
intended, the French Ministers determined to regard the conditional
proposal of reprisals as a threat and as an insult, which the national
honour made it their duty to reject.

The measures by which they proceeded to show their resentment of this
supposed insult were the immediate recall of their Minister from
Washington, the offer of passports to the American Minister at Paris,
and a declaration in the legislative Chambers that diplomatic
relations with the United States Government were suspended.

After they had thus avenged the dignity of France, they proceeded to
show their justice. For this purpose a law was immediately presented
to the Chamber of Deputies asking for the funds necessary to perform
the terms of the treaty. As this proposal afterwards became a law, the
terms of which are now one of the chief subjects of discussion between
the two nations, I am bound to retrace the history of this law.

The Financial Minister in his explanation alluded to the measures
which had been taken in answer to the supposed insult, and represented
the performance of the treaty as imperative upon the honour and
justice of France. As the mouthpiece of the Ministry he declared that
the message, until it had received the sanction of Congress, was
merely the simple expression of the President's personal opinion. On
the other hand he declared that France had entered into engagements
which were binding upon her honour. In accordance with this point of
view, the only condition upon which the French Ministry proposed to
consider the payment of the money was to defer this payment until it
was certain that the United States Government had done nothing which
could injure the interests of France, or, in other terms, that
Congress had not authorised any measure hostile to France.

At this moment the French Cabinet could not have known what was the
attitude or the decision of Congress, but on January 14 the Senate
decided that there was no reason for the moment to take any
legislative measures with reference to the business proceeding between
the United States and France, and no decision upon the subject was
made in the Representative Chamber. These facts were known at Paris
before March 28, 1835, when the Commission which had been considering
the bill of indemnity presented its report to the Chamber of Deputies.
This Commission repeated the opinions of the Ministry, declared that
the Congress had put aside the proposals of the President, and
proposed the adoption of the law with no other restriction than that
originally stated. The French Ministry and the Chambers thus knew that
if the position they had adopted, and which had been so frequently
stated to be incompatible with the honour of France, was maintained,
and if the law was adopted in its original form, the money would be
paid and this unfortunate discussion would come to an end. But this
flattering hope was soon destroyed by an amendment introduced into the
law at the moment of its adoption, providing that the money should not
be paid until the Government had received satisfactory explanations
concerning the President's message of December 2, 1834. What is still
more remarkable, the President of the Council[148] adopted this
amendment and consented to its insertion in the law. As for the
pretended insult which had induced them to recall their Minister and
send our Minister his passports, not until then did they propose to
ask for an explanation of this incident. The proposals and opinions
which they had declared could not reasonably be imputed to the
American people or government were put forward as obstacles to the
accomplishment of an act of justice towards this government and
people. They had declared that the honour of France required the
performance of an undertaking into which the King had entered unless
Congress adopted the proposals of the message. They were certain that
Congress had not adopted them and none the less they refused to
perform the terms of the treaty until they had obtained from the
President an explanation of an opinion which they had themselves
characterised as personal and ineffectual. The supposition that I had
intended to threaten or to insult the French Government is as
unfounded as any attempt to extort from the fears of that nation that
which its feelings of justice would have made it refuse, would have
been foolish and ridiculous; but the Constitution of the United States
obliges the President to explain to Congress the situation of the
country and the American people cannot admit the intervention of any
Government whatever upon earth in the free performance of the domestic
duties which the Constitution has imposed upon its public officials.
The discussions proceeding between the different branches of our
Government concern ourselves alone, and our representatives are
responsible for any words which they may utter only to their own
constituents and to their fellows in office. If, in the course of
these discussions, facts have been inaccurately stated, or wrong
inferences have been drawn from them, correction will necessarily
follow when the mistakes are perceived, from their love of justice and
their sense of self-respect; but they will never submit to be
questioned upon that matter as a right by any foreign Power. When
these discussions lead to action, then our responsibility to foreign
Powers begins, but it is then a national and not an individual
responsibility. The principle upon which a demand is issued for an
explanation of the terms of my message would also justify the claim of
any foreign Power to demand an explanation of the terms employed in a
committee report or in the speech of a member of Congress.

  [148] At that time the Duc de Broglie.

It is not the first time that the French Government has taken offence
at messages from American presidents. President Washington and
President Adams, in the performance of their duties to the American
people, encountered ill-feeling on the part of the French Directory.
The grievance raised by the Minister of Charles X. and removed by the
explanations offered by our Minister at Paris, has already been
mentioned when it was known that the Minister of the reigning King
took offence at my message last year by interpreting it in a sense
which the very terms of it forbade. Our last Minister at Paris in
reply to the last note which showed dissatisfaction with the language
of the message, sent a communication to the French Government under
date January 28, 1835, which was calculated to remove all the
impressions that undue susceptibility might have received. This note
repeated and recalled to the attention of the French Government the
disavowal contained in the message itself of any intention to use
intimidation by threats; it declared in all truth that the message did
not contain either in words or intention any accusation of bad faith
against the King of the French; it drew a very reasonable distinction
between the right of complaining in measured terms of the failure to
perform the terms of the convention, and an imputation that the delay
in performance was due to evil motives; in short it showed that the
necessary exercise of this right was not to be regarded as an
offensive imputation. Although this communication was made by our
Minister without instructions and entirely upon his own
responsibility, my approbation has since made it a governmental act
and this approbation was officially notified to the French Government
on April 25, 1835. However, it produced no effect. The law was passed
with the unfortunate amendment, supported by the King's Ministers and
was definitely approved by the King.

The people of the United States are reasonably inclined to pursue a
pacific policy in their dealings with foreign nations; the people must
therefore be informed of the loyalty of their government to this
policy. In the present case this policy was carried to the furthest
limits compatible with due self-respect. The note of January 28 was
not the only communication which our Minister took the responsibility
of offering upon the same subject and from the same point of view;
when he found that it was proposed to make the payment of a just debt
dependent upon the accomplishment of a condition which he knew could
never be performed, he thought himself bound to make a further attempt
to convince the French Government that, if our self-respect and our
regard for the dignity of other nations prevented us from using any
language which might give offence, at the same time we would never
recognise the right of any foreign government to require an
explanation of communications passing between the different branches
of our public service. To prevent any misunderstanding the Minister
recalled the language used in a preceding Note and added that any
explanation which could be reasonably asked or honourably given, had
already been furnished and that the annexation of this demand to the
law as a condition, was not only useless but might be regarded as
offensive and would certainly never be fulfilled.

When this last communication, to which I called the special attention
of the Congress, was submitted to me, I conceived the hope that its
obvious intention of securing a prompt and honourable settlement of
the difficulties between the two nations would have been achieved, and
I therefore did not hesitate to give it my sanction and my complete
approbation. So much was due from me to the Minister who had made
himself responsible for the act. The people of the United States were
publicly informed of it and I am now communicating it to the people's
representatives to show how far the Executive power has gone in its
attempts to restore a good understanding between the two countries. My
approval would have been communicated to the French Government if an
official request for it had been received.

As the French Government had thus received all the explanations which
honour and principle could allow, we hoped that there would be no
further hesitation in paying the instalments as they fell due. The
agent authorised to receive the money was instructed to inform the
French Government of his readiness; by way of reply he was informed
that the money could not then be paid because the formalities required
by the act of the Chambers had not been fulfilled.

As I had received no official communication concerning the intentions
of the French Government, and as I was anxious to conclude this
disagreeable affair before the meeting of Congress, I instructed our
Minister at Paris to inquire into the final determination of the
French Government and if the due payment of the instalment was
refused, to return to the United States without further explanations.

The results of this last step have not yet reached our knowledge, but
we expect information daily. I trust that information may be
favourable. As the different powers in France have recognised the
justice of our rights and the obligations imposed upon them by the
treaty of 1831, and as no real cause remains as an excuse for further
delay, we may hope that France will at length adopt that course of
procedure demanded no less imperiously by the interests of the two
nations than by the principles of justice. When once the treaty has
been carried out by France, few causes of disagreement will remain
between the two countries, and in short there will be nothing that
cannot be surmounted by the influence of a pacific and enlightened
policy and by the influence of that mutual good will and those
generous recollections which will, we trust, then be revived in all
their early strength; but in any case, the question of principle which
has been raised by the new turn given to the discussion is of such
vital importance to the independent action of the government, that we
cannot abandon it or make it the subject of a bargain without
compromising our national honour. I need not say that such a sacrifice
will never be made by any act of mine. I will never stain the honour
of my country to relieve myself of my obligation to tell the truth and
to do my duty; nor can I give any other explanations of my official
act than those required by honour and justice. This determination, I
feel sure, will meet with the approbation of my constituents. My
knowledge of their character is very inadequate if the sum of
twenty-five millions of francs should outweigh for a moment in their
eyes any question which affects their national independence; and if
unfortunately a different impression should prevail they would rally,
I feel certain, about their chosen Government vigorously and
unanimously, and silence for ever this degrading imputation.

Having thus frankly submitted to the Congress the further steps which
have taken place since last session, in this interesting and important
affair and also the views of the Executive power concerning it, it
only remains for me to add, that as soon as the information expected
by our Minister has been received, it will become the subject of a
special communication.[149]

  [149] From the _Journal des Débats of January 1, 1836_.



II

   _Speech by the_ DUC DE BROGLIE, _President of the Council,
   Chamber of Deputies in the Session of January 6, 1836, on the
   subject of Poland_.

GENTLEMEN,

I do full justice to high ideals and the noble passions with which the
orator whom you have just heard has been inspired;[150] but I will
venture to remind him that he has not done full justice to the
Government and to the Ministry of 1831 in expressing his apparent
belief that the difficulties of that period prevented our Cabinet from
showing that interest in the Polish nation which a French Government
will always feel for Poland.

  [150] M. Odilon Barrot.

At that moment, difficult and dangerous as it was, when the domestic
circumstances of France were very perplexing, the French Government
did for the Polish nation all that it was its duty to do. It did more
than any other nation, and if history ever reveals the diplomatic
correspondence of the French Government at that time, I venture to
think that full justice will be done to the illustrious man who was
then President of the Cabinet.[151]

  [151] M. Casimir Perier.

What was done at that time in the interests of humanity and justice,
the Government has never ceased to do whenever it thought that its
intervention could be of any use to the population of Poland.

But in the presence of so enlightened a Chamber as this, it is
unnecessary to recall the fact that the intervention of a foreign
Power in the domestic administration of another state must be
conducted with every care and precaution. There is often a reason to
fear that such intervention, far from calming irritation and
exasperation and far from weakening political animosity, may arouse
these passions to greater power. In a word, such a task can only be
fulfilled by the constant exercise of care and precaution.

I trust that the Chamber will understand me if I say that the French
Government has never neglected any opportunity of intervening in the
interests of humanity, but the Chamber will also understand perhaps
that this is not the right moment for serving humanity and that it is
indeed against the wishes of the Chamber to press the Government to
further efforts in this place. It is to be feared that words actuated
by generous feeling may indeed produce an effect entirely contrary to
the sentiments which inspires them and may merely be translated abroad
into greater ill-feeling. There is a fear, in short, that the cause of
humanity may be betrayed in the very wish to serve it and without the
knowledge of those who desire to defend it (General cries of Hear,
Hear).

On this point I shall say no more. The former speaker has himself
pointed out the difference that should characterise the observations
of one who speaks for the Government, and those of an isolated member
of the Chamber. The Chamber will certainly understand that it is not
for me to reply severally to the observations which have been laid
before you, because any answer to these observations will have an
undue importance as coming from myself.

As to the other branch of the question, the existence of treaties
which the first speaker has discussed, and to which the second[152]
has also referred; I will speak upon the matter as shortly as I can.
As far as I know, absolutely no one in Europe would assert that
treaties should not be faithfully executed both in their letter and
their spirit, but in the article of the treaty to which the two
orators have referred, different principles are enounced; principles
which are not incompatible, and should indeed be reconciled; on the
one hand the Independence of Poland, and on the other the Union of
Poland with Russia. In this article the principle is laid down that
representation and certain national institutions should exist; but
execution has been delayed until we know what these institutions are
to be, and under what form they will be established.

  [152] M. Saint-Marc Girardin.

This article was not drawn up with all the clearness that might have
been desired. The possibility is thus open that the several Powers who
signed the treaty of 1815 may interpret it in different senses, and
emphasise more or less the principles therein enounced. It may be--I
am only putting a hypothetical case--that the several Powers will not
agree upon the application of these principles, or upon the nature of
the action that lies before them. Are we to say that the moment a
difference of opinion arises, we should immediately have recourse to
force? The Chamber cannot countenance such an idea. The maintenance of
relations between the Powers is upon the same footing as the
maintenance of harmony between the public bodies. The mere fact that
divergence of opinion is possible is no reason for an appeal to force.
Discussion, reason, and time will enable the truth to prevail.

Well, gentlemen, I am confident that the Chamber will understand
without further words from myself upon the question now before it,
that there are divergences of opinion between the different Powers
upon certain points. We consider that negotiations, discussion, and
time will enable the truth to prevail, and we trust that upon this
point you will agree with us. (Loud applause.)[153]

  [153] From the _Journal des Débats of January 7, 1836_.



III

   _Eulogy upon_ COUNT REINHART, _delivered at the Academy of Moral
   and Political Science, by the_ PRINCE DE TALLEYRAND, _in the
   Session of March, 3, 1838_.

GENTLEMEN,


I was in America when the kindnes of my friends appointed me a member
of the Institute, and thus connected me with the study of Moral and
Political Science, to which society I have had the honour to belong
since its origin.

On my return to France my first care was to attend the sessions of the
Institute, and thus to show the members of that time, many of whom we
have every reason to regret, what pleasure I felt at finding myself
one of their number. During the first session at which I was present
the committee was reappointed, and I received the honourable post of
secretary. The six months' report which I drew up, with all the care
that I could bring to it, was perhaps of a too deferential character,
as I was giving an account of work to which I was a complete stranger.
It was work which doubtless had cost much research and much labour to
one of our most learned colleagues, and was entitled, "Dissertations
upon the Riparian Laws." At the same time in our public meetings I
delivered some lectures which I was then allowed to insert in the
Memoirs of the Institute. Forty years have elapsed since that date,
during which this chair has been forbidden to me, first by long
absences, and also by duties to which I was obliged to devote the
whole of my time, and I may add by the discretion which times of
difficulty make incumbent upon a man whose business is political;
and, finally, by the infirmities which old age usually brings or
aggravates.

But to-day I feel it necessary--and, indeed, regard it as a duty--to
appear for the last time in memory of a man known throughout Europe, a
man who was my friend, and who was our colleague since the formation
of the Institute. I come forward publicly to testify to our esteem for
his person and to our regret for his loss. His position and mine
enable me to reveal several of his special merits. His principal, but
not his sole title to glory consists in a correspondence extending
over forty years, necessarily unknown to the public, who will probably
never hear of it. I asked myself, "Who will speak upon that matter
within these walls? Who will have any reason to speak of it except
myself, who have known so much of it, who have been so pleased by it,
and so often helped by it in the course of the Ministerial duties
which I have had to perform under three very different reigns?"

Count Reinhart was thirty years of age and I was thirty-seven when I
first met him. He entered public life with a large stock of
information; he knew five or six languages, and was familiar with
their literatures. He could have attained celebrity as a poet or
historian or geographer, and in this latter capacity he became a
member of the Institute at the time of its foundation.

At that time he was already a member of the Academy of Science in
Göttingen. Born and educated in Germany, he had published in his youth
certain poems which had attracted the attention of Gessner, Wieland
and Schiller. At a later date, when his health forced him to take the
waters of Carlsbad, he was fortunate enough to meet and to know the
famous Goethe, who so far appreciated his taste and his knowledge as
to apply to him for information upon any outstanding features in
French literature. Herr Reinhart promised to keep him informed.
Undertakings of this nature among men of first-rate intellectual power
are invariably mutual, and soon become bonds of friendship. The
intimacy between Count Reinhart and Goethe gave rise to a
correspondence which is now being printed in Germany.

Having thus reached that time of life when a man must definitely
choose that career for which he thinks himself best fitted, we shall
see that Herr Reinhart formed a resolution by no means consistent with
his character, his tastes, his own position, and that of his family:
remarkable as the fact was for that age, in preference to the many
careers in which he could have been independent, he chose one in which
independence was impossible, and gave his preference to diplomacy. His
choice was a good one; he was fitted to occupy any post in this
profession, and filled all posts in succession and all with
distinction.

I will venture to assert that his early studies had fitted him
admirably for his profession. His work in theology especially had
brought him distinction in the seminary of Denkendorf and in the
Protestant faculty of Tübingen; it had given him a strength and
dexterity in argument which may be noted in every document from his
pen. Lest I should seem to be pursuing a paradoxical idea, I may
recall the fact that several of our great diplomatists were
theologians, and have all made their mark in history by their conduct
of the most important political affairs of their age. Cardinal
Chancellor Duprat was as completely versed in canon law as
jurisprudence, and fixed, in conjunction with Leo X., the principles
of the Concordat which in large part survives to-day; Cardinal
d'Ossat, notwithstanding the opposition of several great Powers,
succeeded in reconciling Henry IV. with the Court of Rome; his
surviving correspondence is still recommended for study to those of
our young men who propose to follow a political career; Cardinal de
Polignac, a theologian, poet, and diplomatist, after many unhappy
wars, was able to preserve the conquests of Louis XIV. to France by
the treaty of Utrecht.

Thus, too, amid theological books collected by his father, afterwards
Bishop of Gap, was begun the education of M. de Lionne, to whose name
fresh lustre has recently been added by an important publication.

The names which I have quoted will suffice to justify my idea of the
influence which I conceive to have been exerted upon Count Reinhart's
mind by the early studies to which his father's education had directed
him.

The varied and profound information which he had acquired qualified
him to perform at Bordeaux the honourable, if modest, duties of tutor
in a Protestant family in that town. There he naturally began
relations with several men whose talents, whose mistakes, and whose
death brought such renown to our first Legislative Assembly. Count
Reinhart was easily induced by them to enter the service of France.

I feel in no way obliged to follow in detail the many vicissitudes of
his long career. The numerous posts which were entrusted to him,
sometimes of importance, at other times of inferior rank, seem to have
followed in no consecutive order, and, indeed, to denote a want of
gradation which we could hardly understand at the present time; but in
that age neither positions nor persons were subject to prejudice. In
other times favour, and more rarely discrimination, called men to
eminent positions, but during the time of which I speak, for good or
for evil, positions were won by force, and such a system naturally
produced confusion.

Thus we shall see Count Reinhart as First Secretary to the London
Embassy; in a similar position at Naples; as Plenipotentiary Minister
to the Hanseatic towns, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck; head of the third
division in the Department of Foreign Affairs; Plenipotentiary
Minister at Florence; Foreign Minister; Plenipotentiary Minister in
Switzerland; Consul-General at Milan; Plenipotentiary Minister for the
area of Lower Saxony; Resident in the Turkish provinces beyond the
Danube, and Chief Commissioner of commercial relations in Moldavia;
Plenipotentiary Minister to the King of Westphalia; head of the
chancery in the Department of Foreign Affairs; Plenipotentiary
Minister to the Germanic Diet and to the free town of Frankfort; and,
finally, Plenipotentiary Minister at Dresden. How many posts, how much
work, and how many interests were thus confided to the care of one
man! And this at a time when talent seemed likely to be the less
appreciated, as war appeared to be the chief arbitrator in every
difficulty.

You will not expect me, gentlemen, to give you any detailed account
with dates of the works which Count Reinhart produced in the various
posts which I have just enumerated; such an account would need a
volume. I need only speak to you of the manner in which he fulfilled
his official duties, whether he was Head of a Department, Minister, or
Consul.

Count Reinhart had not at that time the advantage which he might have
had a few years later of seeing excellent models for his imitation;
but he was well aware what high and different capacities should
distinguish the head of a department of Foreign Affairs. His delicate
tact showed him that the habits of such a head should be simple,
regular, and retiring; that, remote from the uproar of the world, he
should live for business alone, and bring to it an impenetrable
secrecy; that while always ready to give an answer concerning facts
and men, he should have constantly present to his memory every treaty,
know the dates of them, their history, have a correct knowledge of
their strong points and their weaknesses, their antecedent and
consequent circumstances; that he should know the names of the chief
diplomatists and even their family relations; and that while using
this knowledge, he should be careful not to disturb the penetrating
self-esteem of the Minister, and that if he should ever induce that
Minister to share his own opinions, his success should remain
concealed. He knew that he could only shine by reflection elsewhere,
but he was also aware that so pure and modest a life would naturally
command every respect.

Count Reinhart's faculty of observation did not stop at that point. It
had shown him how unusual is the combination of qualities necessary
for a Minister of Foreign Affairs. Such a Minister must, in fact, be
endowed with a kind of instinct which will give him prompt warning and
prevent him from compromising himself before any discussion begins: he
must be able to appear frank while remaining impenetrable; must be
reserved and yet seem careless; must discriminate even in the nature
of his amusements; his conversation must be simple, varied,
attractive, always natural, and sometimes open. In a word, he must
never cease for a single moment in the twenty-four hours of the day to
be Minister of Foreign Affairs.

At the same time, unusual as these capacities are, they could hardly
be adequate if loyalty did not give them that support which they
almost always require. I am bound to mention the fact here in
opposition to a prejudice generally current. Diplomacy is not a
science of duplicity and trickery; if good faith is required anywhere,
it is especially necessary in political transactions, for it alone can
make them permanent and durable. Attempts have been made to identify
reserve with duplicity; good faith will never authorise duplicity, but
it may admit reserve, and reserve has the special faculty of
increasing confidence.

Dominated by a sense of honour and of his country's interests, by the
honour and interests of his Sovereign, by the love of liberty founded
upon a respect for order and uniform justice, a Minister of Foreign
Affairs, when he is equal to his task, occupies the highest position
to which any lofty mind could aspire.

Much as is required of a competent Minister, how much more is required
of a good Consul. The claims upon a Consul are infinitely varied and
are of a totally different order from those which may affect the other
officials of a Foreign Office. They require an amount of practical
experience which can only be acquired by a special education. Within
the area of their jurisdiction Consuls are required to perform for
their compatriots the duties of judges, arbitrators, and mediators;
often they are officers of the Civil State; they act as notaries, and
sometimes as Admiralty officers; they watch and report upon sanitary
affairs; their position enables them to give an accurate and complete
idea of the state of trade, of navigation, and of manufactures in the
country where they reside. Count Reinhart, who neglected nothing to
secure the accuracy of that information with which it was his business
to provide his Government, or the correctness of the decisions which
as a political agent, as Consul and Admiralty officer, he was obliged
to give, had made a profound study of international and shipping law.
This study had induced him to think that a time would come when clever
combinations would establish a general system of commerce and
navigation in which the interests of every nation would be respected,
and the basis of which would be so strong that not even war itself
could alter the principle of it, though it might interrupt some of its
results. He was also able to decide certainly and promptly all
questions of interchange, arbitration, conversion of money, weights
and measures, while no claims were ever raised in dispute of the
information which he provided or of the judgments which he delivered.
It is also true that the personal consideration which he enjoyed
throughout his career gave much influence to his intervention in any
matter which he conducted or in any dispute upon which he had to
pronounce.

Wide as a man's knowledge may be and vast as his capacity, the
complete diplomatist is but very rarely met with. Yet Count Reinhart
might have attained this distinction if he had had one additional
capacity. The clearness of his view and intelligence was admirable; he
could write an excellent account of anything that he had seen or
heard; his style was resourceful, easy, clever, and attractive. Of all
the diplomatic correspondence of that age, the Emperor Napoleon, who
had every right to be fastidious, showed a preference for the
despatches of Count Reinhart; but admirably as he wrote, he could only
express himself with difficulty. For action his intelligence required
more time than conversation could provide, and for the easy
reproduction of his mental speech he was obliged to work alone and
unaided. Notwithstanding this real inconvenience, Count Reinhart
always succeeded in performing his commissions thoroughly well. Whence
did he derive the inspiration which enabled him to succeed?

The source of his power, gentlemen, was a real and profound belief
which governed all his actions, the sense of duty. The strength of
this belief is not often entirely realised. A life entirely devoted to
duty is easily separated from ambition. Count Reinhart's life was
given up to the duties which he had to perform, nor was there in him
any trace of personal ambition or any claim to rapid promotion. The
religion of duty to which Count Reinhart was faithful all his life,
consists in perfect submission to the orders and instructions of
superiors; in constant vigilance added to much perspicacity, which
never leaves those superiors ignorant of what they ought to know; in a
strict adherence to truth in every official report, whether agreeable
or unpleasant; in an impenetrable discretion and a regularity of life
which secure confidence and esteem; in decorum of outward conduct and
in continual care to give the acts of his Government that colouring
and that interpretation demanded by the interest of the affairs under
his charge.

Though advancing age had warned Count Reinhart that it was time for
rest, he would never have asked to be relieved, fearing that he might
seem to show coldness in his pursuit of a career which had been
life-long. The royal kindness, with its invariable attention,
considered his necessities and gave this great servant of France a
most honourable post, by calling him to the Chamber of Peers. Count
Reinhart did not long enjoy this honour and died almost suddenly on
December 5, 1837. He was twice married, and had a son by his first
wife, who is now pursuing a political career. The best wish that we
can offer the son is that he may resemble his father as nearly as
possible.



IV

   _Memorandum addressed by_ LORD PALMERSTON _to the French
     Government and handed to_ M. THIERS _by_ Mr. BÜLWER _at the
     beginning of September 1840_.

    FOREIGN OFFICE, _August 31, 1840._

SIR,

Various reasons have prevented me from sending you earlier and
transmitting through you to the French Government certain observations
which Her Majesty's Government desire to make upon the Memorandum
which was handed to me on July 24 by the French Ambassador to this
Court, in reply to the Memorandum which I had handed to His Excellency
on the 17th of that month; but I am now able to fulfil this task.

Her Majesty's Government observes with great satisfaction the friendly
tone of the French Memorandum and its assurances of keen desire to
maintain peace and the balance of power in Europe. The Memorandum of
July 17 was conceived in a spirit no less friendly towards France, and
Her Majesty's Government is equally anxious that France should be able
to keep peace in Europe and prevent the smallest disturbance of that
equilibrium which now exists between the Powers.

Her Majesty's Government has been equally delighted to see the
declarations contained in the French Memorandum stating that France
wishes to act in concert with the other four Powers with reference to
the affairs in the Levant.

On this point the sentiments of Her Majesty's Government correspond in
every respect with those of the French Government: for, in the first
place, throughout the negotiations which have proceeded upon this
question for more than twelve months, the British Government has
constantly been anxious that a concert of the five Powers should be
established, and that all five should agree to a common line of
action; Her Majesty's Government though not bound to defer, as proof
of this desire, to the other proposals which have been made from time
to time to the French Government, and to which reference has been made
in the French Memorandum, can unhesitatingly declare that no European
Power can be less influenced than Great Britain by private views or by
any desire and hope of exclusive advantage which might arise in her
favour from the conclusion of the questions in the Levant. On the
contrary, in these matters the interests of Great Britain are
identical with those of Europe in general, and are based upon the
maintenance of the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire as
a guarantee for the preservation of peace and as essential to the
maintenance of the balance of power in general.

To these principles the French Government has promised its full
adherence, and offered it in more than one instance, especially in a
despatch from Marshal Soult, under date July 17, 1839. This despatch
was officially communicated to the four Powers. It has also offered
support in a collective note, dated July 27, 1839, and in the speech
of the King of the French to the Chambers in December 1839.

In these documents the French Government declares its determination to
maintain the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire under
the reigning dynasty as essential to the balance of power and as a
guarantee for the preservation of peace; in a despatch from Marshal
Soult the French Government has shown its resolution to oppose by
action and influence any combination which might be hostile to the
maintenance of this integrity and this independence.

Hence the Governments of Great Britain and of France are entirely
agreed upon the object towards which their policy should be directed.
The only difference existing between the two Governments is a
difference of opinion concerning the means regarded as most advisable
to obtain this common end. On this point, as the French Memorandum
observes, a difference of opinion may naturally be expected.

On this point a great difference of opinion has arisen between the two
Governments, which seems to have become stronger and more pronounced
in proportion as the two Governments have more completely explained
their respective views, and this fact for the moment prevents the two
Governments from acting in concert to attain their common purpose. On
the one hand, Her Majesty's Government has repeatedly pointed out her
opinion that it would be impossible to maintain the integrity of the
Turkish Empire and to preserve the independence of the Sultan, if
Mehemet Ali were to be left in possession of Syria, as the military
key of Asiatic Turkey, and that if Mehemet Ali were to continue to
occupy this province as well as Egypt, he would be able at any time to
threaten Bagdad from the south, Diarbekir and Erzeroum from the east,
Koniah, Brousse, and Constantinople from the north; and that the same
ambitious spirit which has driven Mehemet Ali under other conditions
to revolt against his Sovereign, would soon induce him hereafter to
take up arms for further invasions; and that for this purpose he would
always maintain a large army on foot; that the Sultan, on the other
hand, would be continually on guard against the possible danger, and
would also be obliged to remain under arms, so that the Sultan and
Mehemet Ali would continue to maintain arms upon a war footing for the
purpose of observing one another; that a collision would be the
inevitable result of these continual suspicions and mutual alarms, and
that even if there should be no premeditated aggression upon either
side, any collision of the sort would necessarily lead to foreign
intervention in the Turkish Empire, while such intervention, thus
provoked, would produce the most serious discord between the Powers of
Europe.

Her Majesty's Government has pointed out as probable, if not as
certain, an even greater danger than this, which would result from the
continued occupation of Syria by Mehemet Ali; namely, that the Pasha,
trusting to military force and wearied by his political position as a
subject, would carry out an intention which he has frankly avowed to
the Powers of Europe that he would never abandon, and would declare
himself independent. Such a declaration upon his part would
incontestably amount to a dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, and,
what is more, this dismemberment might happen under such conditions as
would make it more difficult for the European Powers to act in concert
for the purpose of forcing the Pasha to withdraw such a declaration,
and more difficult than it is for them to-day to combine their forces
and oblige him to evacuate Syria.

Her Majesty's Government has therefore invariably asserted that the
Powers which are anxious to preserve the integrity of the Turkish
Empire and to maintain the independence of the Sultan should unite in
helping the latter to re-establish his direct authority over Syria.

The French Government, on the other hand, has asserted that if Mehemet
Ali were once assured of the permanent occupation of Egypt and Syria
he would remain a faithful subject and become the strongest support of
the Sultan; that the Sultan could not govern if the Pasha were not in
possession of this province, the military and financial resources of
which would then be of greater use to him than if they were in the
hands of the Sultan himself; that every confidence might be placed in
the sincerity with which Mehemet Ali had renounced all ulterior views,
and in his protestations of faithful devotion to his Sovereign; that
the Pasha is an old man, and upon his death, even if his rights are
recognised as hereditary, the totality of his acquired power would
revert to the Sultan, because all possessions in Mohammedan countries,
of whatever nature, are in reality held only upon tenure for lifetime.

The French Government has also maintained that Mehemet Ali will never
be willing to evacuate Syria of his own accord and that the only means
by which European Powers could use force would be operations by sea
which would be inadequate, or by land which would be dangerous; that
these operations by sea would not expel the Egyptians from Syria and
would merely rouse Mehemet Ali to begin an attack upon Constantinople;
while the measures which might be taken in such a case to defend the
capital and in particular any operations on land undertaken by the
troops of the allied Powers to expel the army of Mehemet Ali from
Syria, would be more fatal to the Turkish Empire than the state of
things could possibly be which these measures would be intended to
remedy.

To these objections Her Majesty's Government replied that no reliance
could be placed upon the recent protestations of Mehemet Ali; that his
ambition is insatiable and would only be increased by success; and
that to provide him with the opportunity of invading, or to leave
within his reach the objects of his desire would be to sow the seeds
of inevitable collisions; that Syria is no further from Constantinople
than a large number of well-administered provinces are from their
capitals in other States and can be as well governed from
Constantinople as from Alexandria; that it is impossible for the
resources of this province to be of any use to the Sultan in the hands
of a governor who might turn them against his master at any moment and
that they would be more useful if they were in the hands or at the
disposal of the Sultan himself; that, as Ibrahim had an army at his
orders, he had also the means, upon the decease of Mehemet Ali, of
securing his own succession to any power of which the latter might be
possessed at his death; that it was not fit that the Great Powers
should advise the Sultan to conclude a public arrangement with Mehemet
Ali, with the secret intention of hereafter breaking the arrangement
upon the first occasion that might seem opportune.

None the less the French Government maintained its opinion and refused
to take part in an arrangement which included the use of coercive
measures.

But the French Memorandum laid down that in the course of recent
circumstances no positive proposal has been made to France upon which
she was called to explain her attitude and that consequently the
resolution which England communicated to her in the Memorandum of July
17, doubtless in the name of the four Powers, must not be considered
as actuated by refusals which France has not made. This passage
obliges me briefly to remind you of the general course of
negotiations.

The original opinion conceived by Her Majesty's Government, of which
the five Powers were informed, including France, in 1839, was that the
arrangement between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali which might secure a
permanent state of peace in the Levant, would be of a nature to
confine the power delegated to Mehemet Ali to Egypt alone and would
re-establish the direct authority of the Sultan throughout Syria, both
in Candia and in all the towns of the Holy Land; thus interposing the
desert between the direct power of the Sultan and the province of
which the administration would be left to the Pasha. And Her Majesty's
Government proposed that by way of compensation for the evacuation of
Syria, Mehemet Ali should receive an assurance that his male
descendants should succeed him as governors in Egypt, under the
sovereignty of the Sultan.

To this proposal the French Government raised objections saying that
such an arrangement would doubtless be the best if there were any
means of executing it, but that Mehemet Ali would offer resistance and
that any measures of violence which the allies might employ to reduce
him, would produce effects which might be more dangerous to the peace
of Europe and to the independence of the Porte, than the actual state
of affairs between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali could possibly be; that
although the French Government thus refused to agree to England's
plan, during the long space of time which had subsequently elapsed, it
had not proposed any plan of its own. Further, in September 1839,
Comte Sébastiani, the French Ambassador at the Court of London,
proposed to draw a line from the east to the west of the sea, nearly
from Beyrout to the desert near Damascus and to declare that all the
land to the south of this line should be administered by Mehemet Ali
and that all to the north should be under the immediate authority of
the Sultan. The French Ambassador then gave Her Majesty's Government
to understand that if such an arrangement were admitted by the five
Powers, France would unite with the four Powers, in case of need, for
the use of coercive measures, with the object of forcing Mehemet Ali
to submission.

I pointed out to Comte Sébastiani that such an arrangement was open,
though in a less degree, to all the objections applicable to the
present relative position of the two parties and that consequently Her
Majesty's Government could not accede to it. I observed that it seemed
inconsistent on the part of France to express her willingness to force
Mehemet Ali to agree to an arrangement which would obviously be
incomplete and inadequate to secure the proposed object, while
objecting to coercive measures when they were proposed for the purpose
of forcing consent to the arrangement desired by Her Majesty, the
execution of which, as France admitted, would entirely fulfil the
desired object.

To these arguments Comte Sébastiani replied that the objections
advanced by the French Government to the employment of coercive
measures against Mehemet Ali, were founded upon considerations of
domestic government, and that these objections would be removed if
the French Government was enabled to prove to the nation and to the
Chambers that it had obtained the best possible conditions for Mehemet
All and that he had refused to accept them.

As this insinuation was not admitted by Her Majesty's Government, the
French Government communicated officially on September 27, 1839, its
own plan, which was that Mehemet Ali should become a hereditary
governor of Egypt and of all Syria, and governor for life of Candia,
surrendering nothing but the district of Adana and Arabia. The French
Government did not say a word as to its knowledge of Mehemet Ali's
inclination to adhere to this arrangement, nor did it declare that if
he refused to agree, France would take coercive measures to compel
him.

Obviously Her Majesty's Government could not consent to this plan,
which was open to more objections than the present state of things,
the more so as the gift to Mehemet Ali of the legal and hereditary
title to a third of the Ottoman Empire, which he now occupies only by
force, would have been to begin the positive dismemberment of the
Empire.

Her Majesty's Government, therefore, being desirous to show its
readiness to come to an agreement with France upon these questions,
stated that it would yield its well-founded objection to any extension
of Mehemet Ali's power beyond Egypt and would join the French
Government in recommending the Sultan to grant to Mehemet Ali, apart
from the pashalik of Egypt, the administration of the lower part of
Syria, to be bounded on the north by a line drawn from Cape Carmel to
the southern extremity of the Lake of Tiberias, and by a line from
this point to the Gulf of Akaba, provided that France would join the
four Powers in coercive measures if Mehemet Ali refused this offer.
This proposal, however, was not accepted by the French Government,
which now declared its inability to join in coercive measures or to be
a party to an arrangement to which Mehemet Ali would not consent.

While these discussions were proceeding with France, separate
negotiations were in progress between England and Russia, of which
full details and information have been sent to the French Government.
Negotiations with France were suspended for a time at the outset of
this year, firstly because a change of Ministry was expected, and
secondly because a change of Ministry took place.

In the month of May, however, Baron von Neumann and myself resolved,
upon the advice of our respective governments, to make a last effort
with the object of inducing France to begin a treaty which was to be
concluded with the other four Powers, and we submitted to the French
Government, through M. Guizot, another proposal for an arrangement
between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali. One objection put forward by the
French Government to the last proposals of England was that although
it was proposed to give Mehemet Ali the strong position extending from
Mount Carmel to Mount Tabor, he would be deprived of the fortress of
Acre.

To overcome this objection Baron von Neumann and myself proposed that
the northern frontiers of the part of Syria to be administered by the
Pasha should extend from Cape Nakhora to the furthest point of the
Lake of Tiberias, thus including within the boundary the fortress of
Acre; and that the eastern frontier should extend along the western
coast of the Lake of Tiberias and thence to the Gulf of Akaba. We
declared that the government of this part of Syria could be granted to
Mehemet Ali for life only, and that neither England nor Austria would
consent to grant Mehemet Ali hereditary rights over any part of Syria.
I further declared to M. Guizot that I could go no further in the way
of concessions in the hope of securing the co-operation of France, and
that this was our last proposal. Baron von Neumann and myself
communicated these facts separately to M. Guizot: Baron von Neumann
first, and myself the next day. M. Guizot told me he would inform his
Government of this proposal and of the facts which I had laid before
him, and that he would let me know the answer as soon as he had
received it. A short time afterwards the plenipotentiaries of Austria,
Prussia, and Russia informed me that they had every reason to believe
that the French Government, instead of deciding upon the proposal for
themselves, had sent it to Alexandria to learn the decision of Mehemet
Ali; that the four Powers who had undertaken the business were thus
confronted, not with France, but with Mehemet Ali; that, apart from
the inevitable delay, this was an action which their respective courts
had never intended to take and one to which they would never consent;
and that the French Government had thus placed the plenipotentiaries
in a very embarrassing position. I agreed with them that their
objections were justified with regard to the conduct which they
attributed to the French Government, but that M. Guizot had said not a
word to me of what would be done. Mehemet Ali had been informed that
the French Government at that moment was fully occupied with
parliamentary questions and could naturally ask for time before
sending an answer to our proposals, and that in any case delay could
do no great harm. About June 27, M. Guizot came to me and read me a
letter addressed to him by M. Thiers, containing the answer of the
French Government to our proposal. This answer was a formal refusal.
M. Thiers said that _the French Government positively knew that
Mehemet Ali would not consent to a division of Syria unless he were
forced to do so; that France could not co-operate in coercive measures
against Mehemet Ali under these conditions, and that therefore she
could not become a party to the proposed arrangement_.

As France had thus refused to yield to England's ultimatum, the
plenipotentiaries were bound to consider what steps should be adopted
by their Governments. The position of the five Powers was this: the
five had declared their conviction that in the interests of the
balance of power and of the peace of Europe it was essential to
preserve the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire under
the reigning dynasty; all five had declared that they would use all
their influence to maintain this integrity and this independence; but
France, on the one hand, insisted that the best means to secure this
result was to abandon the Sultan to the mercies of Mehemet Ali and to
advise him to submit to the conditions which Mehemet might impose upon
him in order to preserve peace _sine qua non_; while on the other side
the four Powers regarded any further military occupation of the
Sultan's provinces by Mehemet Ali as likely to destroy the integrity
of the Turkish Empire and to be fatal to its independence; they
therefore thought that it was advisable to confine Mehemet Ali within
narrower limits.

After about two months of deliberations, France not only refused to
consent to the plan proposed by the four Powers as an ultimatum upon
their part, but further declared that she would not become a party to
any arrangement to which Mehemet Ali did not voluntarily consent
without the use of force. It only remained then for the four Great
Powers to adopt as an alternative the principle laid down by France,
which consisted in the complete submission of the Sultan to the
demands of Mehemet Ali; or to act upon their principles and force
Mehemet Ali to accept an arrangement compatible in form with the
rights of the Sultan, and compatible in content with the integrity of
the Ottoman Empire. If the former alternative were adopted, the
co-operation of France would be secured; in the latter alternative the
hope of that co-operation must be abandoned.

The keen desire of the four Powers to secure the co-operation of
France has been shown by the fact that they have continued their
efforts for several months in the course of negotiations. They are
well aware of the value of French support, not only for the particular
object which they have in view, but also with reference to the general
and permanent interests of Europe. But what they failed to secure, and
what they esteemed, was the co-operation of France in the maintenance
of peace to secure the eventual safety of Europe and the practical
execution of the principles to which the five Powers had declared
their agreement. They desired the co-operation of France, not only for
themselves and for the advantage and opportunity of the moment, but
also for the good which it might have conferred, and for the future
consequences which might have resulted from it. They wished to
co-operate with France to do good, but they were not prepared to
co-operate with her in doing evil.

Thinking, therefore, that the policy advised by France was unjust, and
in no way judicious with regard to the Sultan; that it might become
the cause of misfortunes in Europe; that it was inconsistent with the
public engagement undertaken by the five Powers, and that it was
incompatible with the principles which they had wisely emphasised, the
four Powers felt that they could not make the sacrifice demanded of
them, and buy the help of France at so high a price--if, indeed, that
could be called co-operation which merely consisted in allowing events
to follow their natural course. As the four Powers were thus unable to
adopt the views of France, they determined to accomplish their
mission.

This determination, however, was not unexpected and the probable
eventualities had not been hidden from France. On the contrary, upon
several occasions during the course of negotiations, and no later than
October 1 last, I had pointed out to the French Ambassador that our
desire to remain united with France must have a limit, that we were
anxious to go forward with France but not disposed to come to a
standstill with her, and that if she could not contrive to act in
harmony with the four Powers, she must not be astonished if she saw
them come to an understanding between themselves and acting apart from
France.

Comte Sabastiani told me that he foresaw that we should thus act, and
that he could predict the result; that we were bound to try and
conclude our arrangements without the help of France, and that we
should find that our means were inadequate; that France would be a
passive spectator of events; that after a year or eighteen months of
useless efforts we should recognise that we had been mistaken, and
that we should then apply to France; that this Power would then
co-operate to settle these matters upon a friendly basis with as much
friendliness after our failure as she would have shown before our
attempt, and that she would then probably persuade us to agree to
conditions to which we refused our consent at the moment.

Similar indications were given to M. Guizot with regard to the line
which would probably be taken by the four Powers if they were
unsuccessful in coming to an arrangement with France. The French
Government has therefore refused the ultimatum of the four Powers, and
by the act of refusal has enounced afresh a principle of action which
it knew could not be adopted by the four Powers: a principle which
consisted in the idea that no settlement of the difficulties between
the Sultan and his subject could take place except under conditions
which the subject could accept voluntarily, or, in other terms, could
dictate; hence, the French Government must have been prepared to see
the four Powers determined to act apart from France; and when the four
Powers had come to this determination, they could not be represented
as breaking with France, or as excluding France from the arrangement
of a war to be carried on by Europe. On the contrary, it was France
who broke with the four Powers, for it was France who laid down for
herself a principle of action which made co-operation with the other
Powers impossible.

At this point, without attempting further controversial observations
with reference to the past, I feel obliged to point out that the
voluntary retirement on the part of France was not entirely due to the
course of negotiations at London, but that, unless Her Majesty's
Government has been strangely misled, it was decided even more
definitely in the course of negotiations at Constantinople. The five
Powers declared to the Sultan by a Collective Note, which was handed
to the Porte on July 27, 1839, by their representatives at
Constantinople, that their unanimity was complete, and these
representatives requested the Porte to refrain from any direct
negotiations with Mehemet Ali, and to make no arrangement with the
Pasha without the concurrence of the five Powers. However, Her
Majesty's Government has good reason to believe that during the last
few months the French representative at Constantinople has decisively
isolated France from the other four Powers, and has energetically and
repeatedly pressed the Porte to negotiate directly with Mehemet Ali,
and to conclude an arrangement with the Pasha, not only without the
concurrence of the four great Powers, but under the mediation of
France alone, and in accordance with the special views of the French
Government.

As regards the line of conduct followed by Great Britain, the French
Government must recognise that the views and opinions of Her Majesty's
Government have never varied, from the outset of these negotiations,
except in so far as Her Majesty's Government has offered to modify its
views with the object of securing the co-operation of France. These
views have been from time to time frankly expressed to the French
Government, and have been continually supported in the most urgent
manner by arguments which seemed conclusive to Her Majesty's
Government. From the very outset of the negotiations, the declarations
of principle made by the French Government induced Her Majesty's
Government to believe that the two Governments had only to agree upon
the means of carrying out their common principles. If the intentions
of the French Government concerning these means differed from the
views of England even at the outset of the negotiations, France has
certainly not the right to refer to the difference between France and
England as unexpected, seeing that the French Government recognised
its existence a long time previously. If the intentions of the French
Government with regard to the measures to be taken have undergone a
change since the opening of negotiations, France certainly has not
the right to impute to Great Britain a change of political intention
which proceeds from France, and not from England.

But in any case, when four out of five Powers have agreed upon a
definite line of conduct, and when the fifth has resolved to pursue an
entirely different policy, it would be unreasonable to require the
four to abandon, in deference to the fifth, opinions to which they are
daily more resolved to adhere and which refer to a question of vital
importance for the chief and future interests of Europe.

But as France continues to maintain the general principles which she
laid down at the outset and continues to consider the maintenance of
the integrity and independence of the Turkish Empire as necessary to
preserve the balance of power; as again France has never refused to
admit that the arrangement which the four Powers wished to introduce
between the Sultan and the Pasha would be the best solution if it
could be secured, and as again the objections of France referred not
to the object proposed but to the means by which it is to be gained,
her opinion being that the end is good, but that the means are
inadequate and dangerous; Her Majesty's Government is confident that
the isolation of France, which no one regrets more than Her Majesty's
Government, will not be of long duration.

When the four Powers, in concert with the Sultan, have succeeded in
introducing an arrangement of this nature between the Porte and his
subjects, there will then be no further point of disagreement between
France and her allies, nor will there be any obstacle to prevent
France from undertaking with the other Powers such engagements for the
future as may seem necessary to secure the good results of an
intervention by the four Powers in favour of the Sultan, and to
preserve the Ottoman Empire from any recurrence of the dangers to
which it is exposed.

Her Majesty's Government impatiently awaits the moment when France
will be able to resume her position in the concert of the Powers and
trusts that that moment will be accelerated in the interests of the
full development of the moral influence of France. Although the French
Government, for reasons of its own, has refused to participate in the
coercive measures to be employed against Mehemet Ali, this Government
certainly cannot object to the employment of such measures with the
object of inducing the Pasha to submit to the arrangements which are
to be placed before him, and it is obvious that more than one argument
might be adduced and that more than one prudential consideration might
be urged upon the Pasha with more efficacy by France as a neutral
Power and a non-participant in this affair, than by the four Powers
which are actively engaged in the prosecution of coercive measures.

In any case Her Majesty's Government is confident that Europe will
recognise the justice of the proposal which has been put forward by
the four Powers, for their purpose is just and disinterested. They are
not seeking to gather any advantage for themselves or to establish any
exclusive sphere of influence, or to acquire any territory, and the
object which they have in view should be as profitable to France as to
themselves, because France, like themselves, is interested in the
maintenance of the balance of power and in the preservation of the
general peace.

You will send officially to M. Thiers a copy of this despatch.

    I am, &c.,

    (Signed)      PALMERSTON.

(From the _Journal des Débats_ of October 2.)



V

_Manifesto to the Spanish Nation._


SPANIARDS,

As I left the soil of Spain in a day of grief and bitterness for me,
my streaming eyes were turned to heaven in prayer that the God of
mercy would shed His grace and His blessing upon us.

When I reached a foreign land, the first need of my soul and the first
thought of my heart was to raise my voice in friendship, the voice
with which I have ever spoken to you with a sense of unspeakable
tenderness, both in good and bad fortune.

Alone, abandoned, and a prey to the deepest grief, my only consolation
in this great misfortune is to open my heart to God and to you, to my
father and to my children.

Think not that I shall be satisfied with lamentations and barren
recriminations, or that, to explain my conduct as Queen-Regent of the
realm, I shall attempt to excite your passions; on the contrary, I
have done everything to calm them and would gladly see them at rest.
The language of self-restraint alone is consonant with my affection,
my dignity, and my glory.

When I left my country to seek another home in Spanish hearts, rumour
had informed me of your great exploits and your high qualities. I knew
that in every age you had leaped forward to the combat with the
noblest and most generous ardour to defend the throne of your
Sovereigns; that you had defended it at the price of your blood, and
that in days of glorious memory you had deserved well of your country
and of Europe. I then swore to devote myself to the happiness of a
nation which had shed its blood to break the captivity of its Kings.
The Almighty heard my oath, your manifestations of joy showed me that
you were conscious of it, and my conscience tells me that I have kept
it.

When your King, upon the brink of the tomb, dropped the reins of State
from his failing grasp and placed them in my hands, my gaze fell
alternately upon my husband, my daughter's cradle, and the Spanish
nation, thus uniting the three objects of my love in order to
recommend them to the protection of heaven in one prayer. My painful
experiences as mother and wife while my husband's life and my
daughter's throne were endangered could not distract me from my duties
as Queen: at my voice universities were opened; at my voice
long-standing abuses disappeared and useful reforms, wisely
considered, were brought forward; at my voice those who had sought in
vain a home as exiles and wanderers in foreign lands, returned to
their hearths and homes. Your joyous enthusiasm at these solemn acts
of justice and mercy could only be compared to the extent of the grief
and the depth of bitterness to which I was abandoned; for myself I
reserved all sadness, and for you, Spaniards, all joy.

At a later date, when God had called my august husband to Himself, who
left the government of the whole realm in my hands, I strove to guide
the State as a merciful Queen-Regent (_justiciera_). During the short
period which elapsed since my elevation to power until the convocation
of the first Cortes, my power was unique, but it was not despotic, or
absolute, or arbitrary, for it was limited by my will. The most
dignified people in the realm and the Council of Government, which I
was bound to consult by the last wishes of my august husband upon all
matters of grave import, pointed out to me that public opinion
demanded other guarantees from me as the repository of the sovereign
power. I gave those guarantees, and freely and spontaneously convoked
the chiefs of the nation and the procuradores of the realm.

I granted the royal statute and I have not infringed it. If others
have trampled it under foot, they must be responsible for their
actions before God, who holds laws sacred.

The Constitution of 1837 was accepted by me, and I took the oath to
it; to avoid infringement of it, I then made the last and greatest of
sacrifices--I laid down the sceptre and I was forced to abandon my
daughters.

In referring to the events which have brought these cruel tribulations
upon me, I shall speak to you as my dignity demands, with
self-restraint and in words well weighed.

I was served by responsible Ministers, who were supported by the
Cortes. I accepted their resignation, which was imperiously demanded
by a revolt at Barcelona; then began a crisis which was only concluded
by the renunciation which I signed at Valencia. During this deplorable
period, the municipality of Madrid revolted against my authority, an
example followed by other important towns. The rebels insisted that I
should condemn the conduct of Ministers who had loyally served me;
that I should recognise the movement as legitimate; that I should
annul, or at any rate suspend, the law of municipalities which I had
sanctioned, after it had been voted by the Cortes; and that I should
endanger the unity of the Regency.

I could not accept the first of these conditions without entire loss
of self-respect; I could not accede to the second without recognising
the right of force, a right recognised neither by divine nor human
laws, and the existence of which is incompatible with the
Constitution, as it is incompatible with all Constitutions; I could
not accept the third condition without infringing the Constitution,
which regards as law any measure voted by the Cortes and sanctioned by
the supreme head of the State, and which places a law once sanctioned
beyond the sphere of the royal authority; I could not accept the
fourth condition without accepting my own disgrace, passing
condemnation upon myself and undermining the power which the King had
left me and which the Chambers of the Cortes had afterwards confirmed,
and which was preserved by me as a sacred possession which I had sworn
never to surrender to the hands of factious men.

My firmness in resisting that which I could not accept in the face of
my duty, my oaths and the dearest interests of the monarchy, has
brought down upon the defenceless woman, whose voice now speaks to
you, a series of griefs and sufferings which no human language could
express. You will not have forgotten, Spaniards, how I carried my
misfortunes from city to city, insulted and affronted everywhere, for
one of those decrees of God which are a mystery to man, has permitted
injustice and ingratitude to prevail. Doubtless for that reason the
small number of those who hated me were emboldened to insult me, while
the large number of those who loved me had so far lost courage as to
offer me nothing but silent compassion as a testimony of their
affection. There were some who offered me their swords, but I did not
accept their offer, preferring martyrdom in isolation to the certain
prospect of reading one day a new list of martyrs who had fallen
victims to their loyalty. I might have stirred up a civil war, but
civil war could not be aroused by myself, who have just given you the
peace that my heart desired, a peace cemented by forgetfulness of the
past; my mother's eyes turned away from so dreadful a prospect; I told
myself that when children are ungrateful a mother must endure to
death, but that she must not stir up war between them.

Days elapsed in this dreadful condition of affairs; I saw my sceptre
become merely a useless reed and my diadem a crown of thorns. At
length my strength failed; I laid aside my sceptre and my crown to
breathe the air of freedom; an unhappy victim but with a calm brow, a
clear conscience, and a soul without remorse.

Such, Spaniards, has been my conduct. I offer you this account of it
that it may not be stained by calumny, and in so doing I have
performed the last of my duties. She who was your Queen asks nothing
more of you than that you will love her daughter and honour her
memory.

Marseilles, November 8, 1840.

    (Signed)      MARIA CHRISTINA.



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX

[The names followed by an asterisk (*) have been already noted in more
detail in the Biographical Index of vol. I.]


A

  ABD-EL-KADER (1807-1883). Celebrated Arab Emir, who maintained a
    desperate struggle against the French in Algiers for fifteen
    years. He was eventually captured in 1847 by General
    Lamoricière, sent to France, and imprisoned at Pau, then at
    Amboise. Napoleon III. set him at liberty, and he afterwards
    remained loyal to France. He died in Syria, where he had
    withdrawn.

  ACERENZA, the Duchesse d' (1783-1876). Jeanne, Princesse de
    Courlande, married in 1801 François Pignatelli of Belmonte, Duc
    d'Acerenza. She was the third daughter of Pierre Duc de
    Courlande, and sister of the Duchesse de Talleyrand.

  ACTON, Lady. She was the daughter of the Duke of Dalberg, and
    married Lord Acton as her first husband. Her second husband was
    Mr. George Leveson, afterwards Lord Granville.

  ADÉLAÏDE, Madame* (1777-1847). Sister of King Louis-Philippe, over
    whom she exerted a great influence.

  ADOLPHUS OF NASSAU (1250-1298). He was elected Emperor of Germany
    in 1292 on the death of Rudolph of Hapsburg, to the exclusion of
    Albert, son of this Prince. Germany revolted against him, and he
    was conquered and killed by his rival, Albert of Austria, at the
    battle of Göllheim.

  AFFRE, Denis Auguste (1793-1848). Archbishop of Paris from 1840.
    On June 25, 1848, Mgr. Affre went to the barricades in the
    Faubourg Saint Antoine and was struck by a bullet while
    beseeching the insurgents to surrender. He died two days later
    in consequence of this wound.

  AGNÈS SOREL (1409-1450). Lady of Honour to Isabelle de Lorraine.
    Agnès Sorel attracted the notice of Charles VII. and became his
    favourite. He gave her a castle at Loches, the comté of
    Penthièvre, the manors of Roquessière, Issoudun, and
    Vernon-sur-Seine, and finally the seat of Beauté in the Bois de
    Vincennes, whence she took the name of Dame de Beauté.

  ALAVA, Don Ricardo de* (1780-1843). Spanish officer and
    diplomatist.

  ALBUFÉRA, the Duchesse d' (1791-1884). Daughter of the Baron de
    St. Joseph. She married in 1808 Marshal Suchet, Duc d'Albuféra,
    who died in 1826.

  ALDBOROUGH, Cornelia, Lady.* Daughter of Charles Landry.

  ALFIERI, Count Victor* (1749-1803). Italian tragic poet. He
    secretly married the Countess of Albany.

  ALIBAUD (1810-1836). Assassin who attempted the life of King
    Louis-Philippe on the evening of June 25, 1836, and was executed
    on July 11 following.

  ALTENSTEIN, Baron Karl of (1770-1840). Prussian statesman from
    1808 to 1810. He was Financial Minister, and afterwards, under
    King Frederick William III., became Minister of Religion and
    Education.

  ALTON-SHÉE DE LIGNIÉRES, Edmond, Comte d' (1810-1874). Peer of
    France in 1836. At first closely attached to the Constitutional
    Monarchy of July, he suddenly changed under the influence of the
    ideas of 1848, and took part in the manifestations of the
    advanced party. Under the Second Empire he abandoned his
    political connections.

  ALVANLEY, Lord* (1787-1849). A society figure and English officer,
    known for his wit.

  ANCILLON, Jean Pierre Frédéric (1766-1837). Of Swiss origin, he
    became Minister of the Reformed Church of Berlin and Professor
    at the Military Academy. In 1806 Frederick William III.
    requested him to undertake the education of the Prince Royal,
    afterwards Frederick William IV. Admitted to the court, Ancillon
    was influential there until his death. He married three times:
    in 1792, Marie Henriette Baudouin, who died in 1823; in 1824,
    Louise Molière, who died in 1826; in 1836, Flore Tranouille
    d'Harley and de Verquignieulle, of an old Belgian family.

  ANDRAL, Madame. Daughter of M. Royer Collard. She married the
    famous Dr. Andral.

  ANGLONA, the Prince d' (1817-1871). Son of a General in the
    Spanish Army. He married in 1837 the daughter of the Duke of
    Frias and became Duke of Uceda, a title which belonged to his
    wife's family.

  ANGOULÊME, the Duc d' (1775-1844). Also known as the Dauphin,
    after his father, King Charles X., had ascended the throne in
    1824. In 1799, at Mitau, he married his cousin, Marie Thérèse
    Charlotte, only daughter of King Louis XVI. He was
    Commander-in-Chief of the French Army sent to Spain in 1823,
    captured the fort of Trocadero, and showed his moderation by the
    ordinance of Andujar. He died in exile at Goritz, and left no
    children.

  ANGOULÊME, the Duchesse d' (1778-1851). Marie Thérèse Charlotte of
    France, only daughter of King Louis XVI. and of Marie
    Antoinette. At her birth she received the title of Madame
    Royale. She shared the captivity of her family, and in 1795 the
    Directory consented to exchange her for the commissaries sent
    back by Austria. She married her cousin, the Duc d'Angoulême,
    and returned to Paris with him in 1815. Exiled once more in
    1830, she never returned to France, and died at Frohsdorf.

  ANNE OF AUSTRIA* (1602-1666). Queen of France and Regent during
    the minority of Louis XIV.

  ANNE DE BRETAGNE (1476-1514). Queen of France. Daughter of
    François II. of Brittany, she married in succession Charles
    VIII. and Louis XII., and brought to the Crown the Duchy of
    Brittany, to which she was heiress.

  APPONYI, Count Antony (1782-1852). Austrian diplomatist. He was
    first Envoy Extraordinary to the court of Tuscany, then
    Ambassador at Rome until 1825. Afterwards he was Ambassador at
    London and then at Paris, where he remained until 1848. In 1808
    he married Theresa, daughter of Count Nogarola of Verona.

  ARGOUT, the Comte d' (1782-1858). French politician and financier,
    he became Councillor of State in 1817, and then Peer of France.
    From 1830 onwards he was a member of several Ministries, and
    retained the post of Governor of the Bank of France until his
    death.

  ARNAULD D'ANDILLY (1588-1674). After a long life at court he
    retired in 1644 to Port Royal des Champs. While in retirement
    here he translated the Confessions of St. Augustine, wrote
    memoirs, &c. His son was the Marquis de Pomponne, Minister of
    Foreign Affairs, and his daughter the Mother Superior Angélique
    de Saint Jean, Abbess of Port Royal.

  ARNAULD, Antoine (1612-1694). Theologian and philosopher. He first
    studied law and was then attracted by the rigid Christianity of
    the Jansenistes, and became the militant theologian of Port
    Royal. He composed in collaboration with Nicole the Logic of
    Port Royal, and with Lancelot the Grammar. He was the brother of
    Arnauld d'Andilly.

  ARNAULD, Mother Superior Marie Angélique de Sainte Madeleine
    (1591-1661). Sister of Arnauld d'Andilly and of A. Arnauld. She
    was Abbess of Port Royal des Champs from the age of fourteen.
    She introduced the Cistercian reforms and spirit.

  ARNAULD, Mother Superior Angélique de Saint Jean (1624-1684). She
    was the daughter of Arnauld d'Andilly and Abbess of Port Royal,
    as was her aunt, the Mother Superior Angélique de Sainte
    Madeleine. She has a large place in the records of Port Royal
    worthies; she also wrote "Narratives," "Reflections," &c.

  ARNIM, the Baron of (1789-1861). Prussian diplomatist. He was sent
    to Brussels in 1836 and Paris from 1840 to 1848. After a short
    time at Berlin as Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 1848, he
    retired from politics.

  ARSOLI, Camille, Prince Massimo and d' (1803-1873). Chief Minister
    of the Pontifical posts. In 1827 he married Marie Gabrielle de
    Villefranche-Carignan, and on her death he married the Comtesse
    Hyacinthe de la Porta Rodiani.

  ARSOLI, Princesse d' (1811-1837). Marie Gabrielle de Villefranche.
    Daughter of the Baron de Villefranche, who married Mlle. de la
    Vauguyon.

  ATTHALIN, the Baron Louis Marie (1784-1856). A General of
    Engineers in France. He served with distinction in the campaigns
    of the Empire, and under the Restoration became _aide-de-camp_
    to the Duc d'Orléans. Under the July monarchy he filled various
    diplomatic posts, and became Peer of France in 1840. He retired
    into private life after 1848.

  AUBUSSON, the Comte Pierre d' (1793-1842). Colonel of Infantry. In
    1823 he married Mlle. Rouillé du Boissy du Coudray, and died
    insane in 1842.

  AUBUSSON, Mlle. Noémi d'. Born in 1826. She was the daughter of
    the Comte Pierre d'Aubusson. She married, in 1842, Prince
    Gontran of Bauffremont.

  AUGUSTA OF ENGLAND, Princess* (1797-1809). Duchess of Cambridge.
    She was daughter of the Landgrave Frederick of Hesse Cassel.

  AUMALE, Henri d'Orléans, duc d' (1822-1897). Fourth son of King
    Louis-Philippe and of Queen Marie Amélie. He distinguished
    himself by his brilliant military exploits in Algiers. He left
    France in 1848 and returned after 1871. He again became an
    exile, and did not return until 1889. His talents as historian
    procured his entry to the French Academy. He bequeathed to the
    Institute of France his beautiful estate of Chantilly.

  AUSTIN, Sarah (1793-1867). An English writer who translated many
    German books into English and wrote moral and educational works.


B

  BADEN, Grand Duke Leopold of (1790-1858). Succeeded his brother
    Louis in 1830. He married Princess Sophia, daughter of Gustavus
    Adolphus IV., King of Sweden.

  BADEN, Grand Duchess Stephanie of (1789-1860). Daughter of Claude
    de Beauharnais, Chamberlain to the Empress Marie Louise. She
    married in 1806 the Grand Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Baden,
    who died in 1818.

  BADEN, Princess Marie of (1817-1887). Daughter of the Grand Duke
    Charles Louis of Baden and of Stéphanie de Beauharnais. She
    married in 1842 the Duke of Hamilton, and was left a widow in
    1863.

  BAGRATION, Princess (1783-1857). Catherine Skavronska, married, in
    1800, Prince Peter Bagration, who was killed at the Borodino in
    1812. In 1830 the Princess married an English Colonel, Sir John
    Hobart Caradoc, Lord Howden. The Princess was a friend of Prince
    Metternich.

  BALBI, the Comtesse de (1753-1839). Daughter of the Marquis de
    Caumont La Force. She married the Comte de Balbi and became Lady
    of Honour to the Comtesse de Provence. The Comte de Provence,
    afterwards Louis XVIII., honoured him with his friendship. The
    Comtesse de Balbi possessed every charm of beauty and mind.

  BALLANCHE, Pierre Simon (1776-1847). A mystical writer who for
    some time conducted at Lyons a large printing and publishing
    establishment which he had inherited. He then settled at Paris,
    where he became intimate with Madame de Staël, Chateaubriand,
    Joubert, etc. He became a member of the French Academy in 1844.

  BALZAC, Honoré de (1799-1850). One of the most fertile and
    remarkable contemporary novelists, especially powerful in his
    profound analysis of human passion.

  BARANTE, the Baron Prosper de (1782-1866). He was successively
    auditor to the State Council, entrusted with diplomatic
    missions, Prefect of the Vendée and of the Loire-Inférieure,
    then Deputy, Peer of France, and Ambassador at St. Petersburg.
    As writer and historian he was most successful and his History
    of the Dukes of Burgundy secured him a seat in the French
    Academy.

  BARANTE, the Baronne de. _Née_ d'Houdetot. Of Creole origin, she
    was renowned for her beauty.

  BENDEMANN, Edward (1811-1889). A German painter who acquired a
    brilliant reputation at an early age. Professor at the Academy
    of Fine Arts at Dresden, he executed the frescoes in the
    throne-room of the royal castle of that town. In 1860 he became
    director of the Academy of Düsseldorf in succession to Schadow
    whose daughter he had married.

  BARBET DE JOUY, Joseph Henri (1812-1896). Director of the Museum
    of the Louvre and member of the Academy of Fine Arts.

  BARROT, Odilon* (1791-1873). French politician.

  BARTHE, Félix* (1795-1863). French magistrate and statesman.

  BASTIDE, Jules (1800-1879). An ardent Liberal connected with the
    Carbonari; he conducted a desperate opposition to Charles X.
    Under Louis-Philippe he was Commander of the National Guard, was
    compromised and condemned to death for his share in the outbreak
    upon the funeral of General Lamarque; he escaped and fled to
    London. Afterwards he returned to France and conducted the
    _National_ after the death of Armand Carrel. In 1848 he was a
    Deputy, and for a short time Minister of Foreign Affairs. Under
    the Empire he held aloof from politics.

  BATHURST, Lady Georgina. Wife of Lord Henry Bathurst, one of the
    chief members of the Tory Party.

  BATTHYANY, Countess* (1798-1840). _Née_ Baroness of Ahrennfeldt.

  BAUDRAND, the General Comte* (1774-1848). _Aide-de-camp_ to the
    Duc d'Orléans.

  BAUDRAND, Madame. The great fashionable milliner at Paris in 1836.

  BAUFFREMONT, the Duchesse de (born in 1771). Daughter of the Duc
    de la Vauguyon. She married, in 1787, Alexandre, Duc de
    Bauffremont. She was very intimate with the Prince de
    Talleyrand.

  BAUFFREMONT, the Princesse de (1802-1860). Laurence, daughter of
    the Duc de Montmorency. She married, in 1819, Prince Théodore de
    Bauffremont. She was the elder sister of the Duchesse de
    Valençay.

  BAUFFREMONT, the Prince Gontran de. Born in 1822. He married, in
    1842, Mlle. d'Aubusson de La Feuillade.

  BAUSSET, the Cardinal de (1748-1824). Bishop of Alais. He was made
    a Peer at the Restoration and received his Cardinal's hat in
    1817. The previous year he had entered the French Academy. He
    wrote a Life of Fénelon and a Life of Bossuet.

  BAUTAIN, the Abbé (1796-1867). A pupil of the Normal School, where
    he studied under M. Cousin. He was appointed Professor of
    Philosophy at the College of Strasburg in 1816, and took orders
    in 1828. In 1849 Mgr. Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, appointed him
    Vicar-General. The Abbé Bautain pursued almost every branch of
    human knowledge.

  BAVARIA, the Queen Dowager of (1776-1841). Princess Caroline of
    Baden, daughter of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden;
    she married Maximilian of Bavaria in 1797, and became a widow in
    1825.

  BAVARIA, King Louis I. of (1786-1868). Ascended the throne of
    Bavaria in 1825 on the death of his father, Maximilian I. King
    Louis abdicated in 1848 after making Munich the Athens of
    Germany.

  BAVARIA, Queen Theresa of (1792-1854). Daughter of Duke Frederick
    of Saxe-Hildburghausen, afterwards Saxony Altenburg.

  BAVARIA, Prince Royal of (1811-1864). Maximilian II., son of King
    Louis I., whom he succeeded in 1848. In 1842 he married Princess
    Marie of Prussia.

  BEAUVAU, the Prince Marc de (1816-1883). Married as his first
    wife, in 1840, Mlle. Marie d'Aubusson de La Feuillade, and as
    his second wife Mlle. Adèle de Gontaut-Biron.

  BECKET, St. Thomas (1117-1170). Archbishop of Canterbury.
    Assassinated at the foot of the altar by the courtiers of Henry
    II., King of England. Pope Alexander III. canonised him as a
    martyr.

  BEGAS, Charles Joseph (1794-1854). German painter; pupil of Gros,
    with whom he studied at Paris. In 1822 he went to Italy, and in
    1825 he settled at Berlin, where he became painter to the King
    of Prussia, Professor and Member of the Academy of Fine Arts.

  BELGIANS, King of the, Leopold I. (1790-1865).

  BELGIANS, Queen of the,* Louise, Princesse d'Orléans (1812-1850).
    Second wife of Leopold I. of Belgium and daughter of
    Louis-Philippe.

  BELGIOJOSO, Princess (1808-1871). Christina Trivulzio, married, in
    1824, the Prince Barbiano Belgiojoso. Her dislike of the
    Austrians drove her to leave Milan and settle at Paris in 1831,
    where she attracted attention by her beauty, her cleverness, and
    her foreign ways. Princess Belgiojoso published in 1846, under
    an obvious pseudonym, a work in four volumes, entitled _An Essay
    on the Formation of Catholic Dogma_, which aroused much
    discussion. When Piedmont declared war upon Austria in 1848 the
    Princess hastened to Milan, fitted out and paid a battalion.
    After the peace she was exiled, and returned to Paris, where she
    gained a living for the most part with her pen, as her property
    had been confiscated by the Austrian Government. It was not
    restored to her until 1859, when she returned to Italy and
    plunged eagerly into politics.

  BENKENDORFF, Count Constantine of (1786-1858). Chief of the staff
    of the Emperor Nicholas I. of Russia. He was for sometime
    Minister at Stuttgart, where he died.

  BERGERON, Louis.* Born in 1811. French journalist.

  BERNARD, Simon, Baron (1779-1839). Peer of France and Minister of
    War under Louis-Philippe, after serving under the Emperor
    Napoleon I. and under the first Restoration.

  BERRYER, Antoine* (1790-1868). French lawyer.

  BERTIN DE VEAUX, M.* (1771-1842). French journalist.

  BERTIN DE VEAUX, Madame, _née_ Bocquet. Daughter-in-law of M.
    Merlin.

  BERTIN L'AÎNÉ, Louis François (1766-1841). French publicist.
    Founded the _Journal des Débats_ with his brother, Bertin de
    Veaux.

  BERTIN, Madame. Mlle. Boutard, sister of an art critic on the
    _Journal des Débats_. She married M. Bertin the elder.

  BERTRAND, the Comte (1773-1844). The faithful friend of Napoleon
    I., whose _aide-de-camp_ he was, and whom he followed to Elba
    and St. Helena.

  BERWICK, Duchess of (1793-1863). Dona Rosalia Ventimighi Moncada
    was born at Palermo, and was a daughter of the Count of Prado.
    She was Lady of Honour to Queen Isabella and Chief Lady of the
    Palace. Her son, the Duke of Berwick and of Alba, married the
    eldest sister of the Empress Eugenie.

  BILZ, Fräulein Margarete von (1792-1875). At first piano mistress
    to Princess Marie of Baden (afterwards Lady Hamilton), and then
    Lady of Honour to the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden.

  BINZER, Frau von (1801-1891). _Née_ von Gerschau. She married, in
    1822, Herr von Binzer, a German man of letters.

  BIRON, Henri, Marquis de (1803-1883). He married Mlle. de Mun,
    sister of the Marquis de Mun, who bore him no children. Left a
    widower at an early age, he then lived with his brother, the
    Comte Etienne de Biron.

  BIRON-COURLANDE, Prince Charles of. Born in 1811. He married, in
    1833, a Countess of Lippe-Biesterfeld.

  BIRON-COURLANDE, the Princess Fanny of (1815-1883). Sister of the
    Countess of Hohenthal and of Madame de Lazareff. Princess Fanny
    married General von Boyen.

  BJOERNSTJERNA, Countess of (1797-1865). Elizabeth Charlotte,
    daughter of the Field-Marshal, the Count of Stedingk, Swedish
    Ambassador in Russia, and sister of the Countess Ugglas. She
    married, in 1815, the Baron of Bjoernstjerna, appointed Swedish
    Minister at London in 1828. He died in 1847.

  BLITTERSDORFF, Baron Frederick of (1792-1861). A statesman in
    Baden. He was Diplomatic Minister at St. Petersburg in 1816, and
    Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary Envoy to the Germanic
    Confederation in 1821, Minister of Foreign Affairs at Carlsruhe
    in 1835. In 1848 he retired from politics. He had married Mlle.
    Brentano.

  BONALD, the Vicomte de (1754-1840). The most famous representative
    of the monarchical and religious doctrines of the Restoration.
    He became an _émigré_ in 1791, and returned to France when the
    Empire was proclaimed; from 1815 to 1822 he was a Deputy, and
    became Peer of France in 1823, and afterwards member of the
    French Academy. He laboured incessantly with pen and sword to
    support the throne and the altar, and thus contributed to the
    return of religious ideas to France.

  BONAPARTE, Madame Lætitia (1750-1836). Lætitia Ramolino, of an
    Italian family, was married at the age of sixteen to Charles
    Bonaparte, by whom she had thirteen children. Napoleon I. was
    her second son. In 1814, after the fall of the Empire, she
    retired to Rome, where she lived in seclusion.

  BONAPARTE, Joseph (1768-1844). Elder brother of Napoleon I.,
    Joseph Bonaparte married, at Marseilles in 1794, the daughter of
    a merchant, sister of the wife of Bernadotte, Marie Julie Clary.
    He shared in the _coup d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire, and
    several times governed France in the absence of Napoleon. In
    1806 he was appointed King of Naples and transferred to the
    throne of Spain in 1808, which he lost in 1813; after the
    downfall of the Empire he withdrew, first to the United States,
    and then to Florence, where he died.

  BONAPARTE, Jérôme* (1784-1860). Youngest brother of Napoleon I.

  BONAPARTE, Lucien* (1775-1840). Third brother of Napoleon I.

  BONAPARTE, Prince Louis (1808-1873). Son of Louis Bonaparte, King
    of Holland, and of Hortense de Beauharnais. Prince Louis had an
    adventurous youth: in 1836, at Strasburg, and in 1840, at
    Boulogne, he attempted to overthrow Louis-Philippe, and to
    restore the Empire for his own purposes. Condemned to perpetual
    confinement, he was imprisoned at Ham; thence he escaped, fled
    to Belgium, and returned to France after the revolution of 1848.
    He was elected President of the Republic on November 16 of the
    same year. Four years later the Empire was proclaimed, and
    Prince Louis reigned till 1870 under the name of Napoleon III.

  BORDEAUX, the Duc de* (1820-1883). Son of the Duc de Berry and
    grandson of King Charles X. He afterwards took the title of
    Comte de Chambord.

  BOSSUET, Jacques Bénigne (1627-1704). Of a magistrate's family, he
    was brought up among the Jesuits and received Holy Orders in
    1652. He was Bishop of Condom in 1669 and then Bishop of Meaux.
    In 1670 he was appointed tutor to the Dauphin of France, and
    composed for that prince several educational works (Discourses
    upon Universal History, &c.) and showed himself a zealous
    defender of French liberty.

  BOURDOIS DE LA MOTTE, Edme Joachim (1754-1830). A doctor at the
    Hospital of La Charity in Paris, he was detained at La Force
    during the revolutionary disturbances and then followed the army
    of Italy. In 1811 he was appointed Court doctor at Rome and was
    also attached to the Court under the Restoration. He became
    member of the Academy of Medicine in 1820.

  BOURLIER, Comte (1731-1821). He studied theology at Saint Sulpice,
    was appointed Bishop of Evreux in 1802 and entrusted by Napoleon
    I. with several confidential missions to the Pope. He was made
    peer of France by Louis XVIII. in 1814.

  BOURLON DE SARTY, Paul de. He was Prefect of Marne and had married
    Mlle. Adrienne de Vandœuvre.

  BOURQUENEY, Baron, afterwards Comte de* (1800-1869). French
    diplomatist.

  BRESSON, Comte Charles* (1788-1847). French diplomatist.

  BRETZENHEIM VON REGÉCZ (the Princess of). Born in 1806, Caroline,
    daughter of Prince Joseph of Schwarzenberg, married Prince
    Ferdinand of Bretzenheim, Chamberlain to the Austrian Court.

  BRÉZÉ, Marquis de Dreux--(1793-1846). An officer who shared in the
    last campaigns of the Empire. As aide-de-camp to Marshal Soult
    at the Restoration, he followed the king to Ghent; in 1827 he
    retired and became peer of France after his father's death in
    1829. In the Upper Chamber he was one of the most ardent leaders
    of the Legitimist party against the government of
    Louis-Philippe.

  BRETONNEAU, Dr. Pierre* (1778-1862). A doctor at Tours.

  BRIGNOLE, Marchesa of. _Née_ Anna Pieri, of a noble family of
    Sienna. She was the mother of the Marquis of Brignole, for a
    long time Sardinian Ambassador at Paris and of the Duchess of
    Dalberg. She died in 1815 during the Congress, at Vienna,
    whither she had accompanied the Empress Marie Louise.

  BRIGODE, Baron de (1775-1854). He entered the Council of State as
    auditor in 1803 and was deputy in the legislative body in 1805.
    In 1837 he was appointed peer of France. After the Revolution of
    1848 he retired to private life.

  BROGLIE, Duc Victor de* (1785-1870). French Statesman.

  BROGLIE, Duchesse de* (1797-1840). _Née_ Albertine de Staël.

  BROGLIE (Mlle. Louise de). Born in 1818; married in 1836 the Comte
    d'Haussonville.

  BROSSES, Charles de (1709-1777). A Frenchman and a learned man of
    letters; the author of a work on Italy which was very
    successful.

  BROUGHAM, Lord* (1778-1868). English statesman.

  BÜLOW, Baron Heinrich von* (1790-1846). Prussian Diplomatist.

  BÜLOW, Frau von (1802-1889). Daughter of Wilhelm von Humboldt and
    wife of Baron Heinrich von Bülow, with whom she resided in
    London from 1830 to 1834.

  BULWER, Sir Henry (1804-1872). English diplomatist. First attached
    to the legations of Berlin, Vienna and the Hague and constantly
    resident in Paris. From 1843 to 1848 he was Minister
    Plenipotentiary in Spain. After marrying the youngest of the
    daughters of Lord Cowley he represented his country in the
    United States, in Tuscany and at Constantinople in 1858.

  BUOL-SCHAUENSTEIN, Count (1797-1865). Austrian diplomatist at
    Florence in 1816, at Paris in 1822, at London in 1824; then
    Minister at Carlsruhe, at Darmstadt in 1831, at Stuttgart in
    1838, at Turin in 1848, and finally at St. Petersburg. He became
    Privy Councillor and accompanied in 1851 the Prince of
    Schwarzenberg to the conference of Dresden. In 1852 he was
    appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. He resigned in 1859.

  BUOL, Countess (1809-1862). Princess Caroline of Isenburg married
    in 1829 Count Buol. From her mother, _née_ Baroness of Herding,
    she inherited an enormous fortune.

  BURGUNDY, the Duchess of (1685-1712). Marie Adelaide, daughter of
    Victor Amadaus, first King of Sardinia, a great favourite at the
    Court of France. This princess died in the flower of her youth,
    six days before her husband and, like him, of the measles. She
    had several children, one of whom survived and became Louis XV.

  BUSSIÈRE, Jules Edmond de (1804-1888). Diplomatist, _Chargé
    d'affaires_ at Darmstadt and then at Dresden. Louis-Philippe
    raised him to the peerage in 1841. In 1848 he retired to private
    life.

  BYRON, George Gordon, Lord* (1788-1824). Famous English romantic
    poet.


C

  CALATRAVA, Don José Maria (1781-1846). Spanish statesman and
    defender of the liberty of his country. Deported in 1814, he
    was unable to return to Spain until the Constitution was
    re-established in 1820. As Minister of Justice in 1823 he was
    obliged to take ship for England during the period of the
    French occupation. In 1830 he joined the Junta in power at
    Bayonne. In opposition to Martinez de la Rosa, he joined the
    National Guard of Madrid in 1835. When the Queen had taken the
    oath to observe the Constitution, the chief power returned to
    his hands, and after many proofs of his incapacity he was made
    a Senator.

  CAMPAN, Mme.* (1752-1822). Famous in the history of French
    Education.

  CANOVA, Antonio* (1757-1822). Celebrated Italian sculptor.

  CAPUA, Prince of (1811-1862). Charles Ferdinand, brother of King
    Ferdinand of Naples. He had been suspected of participation in
    intrigues against the dynasty and was exiled. He contracted a
    morganatic marriage in England with Miss Penelope Smith by whom
    he had two children who were not recognised by the Royal Family
    of Naples. After 1860 he obtained from Victor Emanuel an
    appanage which was afterwards confirmed to his widow and her
    children during their life.

  CAPRARA, Cardinal J. B. (1733-1810). Bishop of Iesi; he performed
    several diplomatic missions with success and was appointed by
    Pope Pius VII. as legate _a latere_ to the French Government,
    and while occupying this position he concluded the concordat of
    1801. He was appointed Archbishop of Milan and in this town
    crowned Napoleon as King of Italy.

  CARADOC, Sir John Hobart (1799-1873). Afterwards Lord Howden.
    Colonel in the English Army and English Minister at Rio de
    Janeiro and at Madrid.

  CARAMAN, Marquise de. Césarine Gallard de Béarn married the
    Marquis Victor de Caraman and was left a widow in 1836.

  CARIGNAN, Prince Eugène de (1816-1888). Son of the Baron of
    Villefranche and of Mlle. de la Vauguyon. The King of Sardinia,
    Charles Albert, recognised him as a prince of the blood. He was
    an Admiral in the Sardinian Navy and Regent of the kingdom
    during the wars of 1859 and 1866. By a morganatic marriage he
    had several children to whom King Humbert gave the title of
    Counts of Villefranche Soissons, though he recognised no kind of
    tie with the house of Savoy.

  CARIGNAN, Philiberte de (1814-1874). Daughter of the Prince de
    Villefranche of the House of Carignan, by his marriage with
    Mlle. de la Vauguyon.

  CARLOTTA, The Infanta* (1804-1844). Sister of Queen Christina of
    Spain.

  CAROLATH-BEUTHEN, Prince Heinrich von (1783-1864). Cavalry general
    in the Prussian army and chief huntsman to the Court. His first
    wife was a Countess Pappenheim, by whom he had two daughters,
    and his second wife was his cousin, the Countess Firks, by whom
    he had no children.

  CAROLATH-BEUTHEN, Princess Adelaide (1797-1849). Daughter of the
    Count of Pappenheim, Lieutenant-General of Bavaria. She married
    in 1817 Prince Heinrich Carolath.

  CAROLATH-BEUTHEN, Princess Lucia. Born in 1822. Eldest daughter of
    Prince Heinrich Carolath. She married the Count of Haugwitz and
    became a widow in 1888.

  CAROLATH-BEUTHEN, Princess Adelaide. Born in 1823. Youngest
    daughter of Prince Heinrich Carolath.

  CAROLATH-SAABOR, Prince Friedrich von (1790-1859). Major in the
    Prussian army and Councillor at Grünberg, Silesia. He had
    married the daughter of Prince Heinrich XLIV. Reuss.

  CAROLINE, Maria (1752-1814). Queen of Naples. Daughter of the
    Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. This Princess married
    Ferdinand IV., King of Naples in 1768. Her influence induced him
    to declare war upon the French Republic, and she brought down
    upon him the vengeance of Napoleon I. Driven from her States,
    Queen Caroline withdrew to Austria and died at Schönbrunn. She
    was the mother of Queen Marie Amélie.

  CAROLINE, the Empress (1803-1884). Princess Caroline of Savoy,
    daughter of Victor Emanuel I. and twin sister of the Duchess of
    Lucca. She married in 1831 Ferdinand II., Emperor of Austria.

  CARRACI, Annibale* (1560-1609). Famous Italian painter.

  CARREL, Armand* (1800-1836). French publicist.

  CASANOVA DE SEINGALT (1725-1803). Famous adventurer of the
    eighteenth century and the son of actors. He was by turn a
    journalist, a preacher, and, in particular, a lady-killer. He
    was intimate with Rousseau, Voltaire, Souvaroff, Frederick the
    Great, and Catherine II. In distress and pecuniary want he
    followed Count Waldstein-Dux to Bohemia to become his librarian.
    At Dux he composed his memoirs, an unrepentant confession of his
    life, and a more lively than moral picture of society.

  CASTELLANE, the Comtesse de* (1796-1847). Cordélia Greffulhe.
    Married in 1813 to the Comte de Castellane, afterwards Marshal
    of France.

  CASTELLANE, the Marquis Henri de (1814-1847). Eldest son of the
    Marshal de Castellane; auditor to the Council of State, and
    Councillor-General of Cantal. He was appointed Deputy in 1844.
    In 1839 he married Mlle. Pauline de Périgord, grand-niece of the
    Prince de Talleyrand and daughter of the Duchesse de Dino,
    author of these memoirs.

  CÆSAR, Julius (101-40 B.C.). A famous Roman General, celebrated
    for his conquest of Gaul.

  CHABOT, Philippe de (1815-1875). Ph. de Chabot, Comte de Jarnac
    followed a diplomatic career and retained throughout his life a
    profound attachment for the House of Orléans. He had been
    appointed French Ambassador at London in 1874, but died shortly
    after of pleurisy.

  CHABROL DE CROUSOL, Comte de (1771-1831). Member of the Council of
    State under Napoleon I.; President of the Imperial Court of
    Orleans and Prefect of the Rhone in 1814; Director of
    registration and State lands in 1822; Naval Minister in 1823 and
    Finance Minister in 1829.

  CHALAIS, the Prince de (1809-1883). Elie Louis Roger, eldest son
    of the Duc de Périgord. He married Elodie de Beauvilliers de
    Saint-Aignan, and was left a widower in 1835.

  CHAMPCHEVRIER, Madame de. A highly respected lady who occupied the
    mansion of Champchevrier near Cinq-Mars in Touraine about 1840,
    when she was well advanced in years.

  CHARLES THEODORE (1724-1799). Elector of Bavaria. He did not care
    for Munich and settled at Mannheim. A statue was erected to him
    at Heidelberg.

  CHARLES IV (1316-1378). Emperor of Germany. Son of John of
    Luxemburg, King of Bohemia. He succeeded his father in 1346, and
    was elected Emperor in 1347. In 1356 he published the famous
    "Golden Bull," which laid down the Constitution of the Empire
    and remained authoritative until 1806. He was the first Prince
    of Germany who sold titles of nobility. He founded the
    Universities of Prague and Vienna.

  CHARLES X.* (1757-1836). King of France from 1824 to 1830.

  CHARLOTTE, Queen (1744-1818). Princess Charlotte of
    Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Married in 1761 King George III. of
    England, by whom she had a very large number of children.

  CHASTELLUX, Madame de, _née_ Zéphyrine de Damas. She married as
    her first husband M. de Vogüé.

  CHATEAUBRIAND, the Vicomte de* (1768-1848). French man of letters.

  CHOISEUL PRASLIN, The Comtesse de. Born in 1782. Second wife of
    the Comte René de Choiseul Praslin, daughter of François de
    Rougé, Comte du Plessis Bellière.

  CHOMEL, Dr. (1788-1859). A French doctor, and the first to
    establish a proper clinical school at the Hospital of Charity. A
    pupil of Corvisard, Chomel became the doctor of King
    Louis-Philippe.

  CHREPTOWICZ, Countess. Died in 1878. Helena, daughter of the Comte
    de Nesselrode. Married Count Michael Chreptowicz, who served
    for a long time in the Russian diplomatic service and was made
    Court High Chamberlain during the last years of the reign of
    Alexander II.

  CLAM GALLAS, Count Edward of (1805-1891). Austrian cavalry
    general, who played an important part in the wars in which
    Austria was involved after 1848. He resigned in 1868 in anger at
    the attacks made upon his conduct of the campaign of 1866
    against Prussia in Bohemia, although a court-martial had
    entirely exonerated him.

  CLANRICARDE, Lord* (1802-1874). English politician.

  CLANRICARDE, Lady. Died in 1876. Daughter of the famous Canning.

  CLARY-ALDRINGEN, Prince Charles (1777-1831). He married the
    Countess Louise Chotek.

  CLAUSEL, Comte Bertrand (1772-1842). Enlisted as a volunteer in
    1791. He was rapidly promoted. In 1805 he became general of
    division and served in Italy, Dalmatia, Illyria, and won much
    reputation during the war in Spain. After the Hundred Days when
    he joined Napoleon, he withdrew to the United States and did not
    return until the armistice of 1820. In 1827 he was a deputy and
    a member of the Liberal opposition, and after 1830 he was
    appointed Governor of Algiers, but was a failure at the Siege of
    Constantine and was superseded. He then retired.

  CLÉMENT DE RIS, Mlle. Married Admiral la Roncière le Noury. She
    was a daughter of a senator of the Empire, and occupied the
    château of Beauvais near Valençay.

  CLÉMENTINE, Princess (1817-1907). Princesse Clémentine d'Orléans,
    daughter of King Louis-Phillipe. Married in 1843 Prince Augustus
    of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of Saxony.

  CLERMONT TONERRE, Prince Jules de (1813-1849). Second son of the
    Duc Aimé de Clermont Tonnerre, sometime Minister of War, and
    Peer of France. Prince J. de Clermont Tonnerre married Mlle. de
    Crillon.

  COBURG, Prince Ferdinand of* (1816-1888). Husband of Doña Maria da
    Gloria, Queen of Portugal.

  COBURG, Duke Ernest I. of Saxe- (1784-1844). This Prince succeeded
    his father, Duke Francis, in 1806. His first wife was Princess
    Louise of Saxe-Coburg Altenburg, who died in 1831. In 1832 he
    married Princess Antoinette of Würtemberg.

  COEUR, The Abbé (1805-1860). Born of a merchant's family, who
    were traditionally supposed to have descended from the famous
    banker of Charles VII., the Abbé Cœur was professor of
    philosophy in the seminary of Lyons. After 1827 he came to Paris
    and attentively followed the lectures of MM. Guizot, Villemain
    and Cousin, and then devoted himself to preaching. In 1840 he
    preached a course of Lenten sermons at Saint Roch, after which
    King Louis-Philippe gave him the cross of the Legion of Honour.
    In 1848 he was appointed to the Archbishopric of Troyes. He
    delivered the funeral oration over Mgr. Affre.

  COGNY, Dr. Doctor of Valençay.

  COIGNY, the Duc de (1788-1865). He entered the army as a volunteer
    in 1805; lost his arm at the battle of Smolensk, was appointed
    cavalry colonel after the return of the Bourbons, in 1814 was
    appointed aide-de-camp to the Duc de Berry, and then entered the
    service of the Duc de Bordeaux. In 1821 he took the place of his
    grandfather, Marshal de Coigny in the Chamber of Peers. After
    vain efforts to secure from Charles X. in 1830 the revocation of
    the Ordinances, M. de Coigny swore fidelity to the July
    monarchy. In 1837 he was knight of honour to the Duchesse
    d'Orléans, and in 1843 was promoted to field-marshal.

  COIGNY, the Duchesse de. She was an English woman by birth, and
    daughter of Sir H. J. Dalrymple Hamilton. She married the Duc de
    Coigny in 1822.

  COLLARD, Madame Hermine. Brought up by Madame de Genlis; the
    circumstances of her birth were entirely obscure.

  COMBALOT, the Abbé Théodore (1798-1873). A French preacher. He was
    ordained at a very early age and became a zealous partisan of
    Lamennais, though at a later date he disavowed his doctrines.
    His sermons attracted keen attention, owing to their political
    character.

  CONDÉ, Louis II., Prince de (1621-1686). Called the Great Condé,
    first Prince of the blood and first known as the Duc d'Enghien.
    He was famous for his victories at Rocroi, Friburg, Nordlingen,
    and Lens. After taking an unfortunate share in the troubles of
    the Fronde, the Prince de Condé was restored to his command at
    the time of the treaty of the Pyrenees and performed admirable
    service during the wars in Flanders and in the Franche Comté.

  CONYNGHAM, Francis Nathaniel, Marquis of* (1797-1882). English
    politician.

  CORMENIN, Vicomte de (1788-1868). Publicist, Councillor of State,
    deputy, and famous as a pamphleteer under the pseudonym of
    Timon.

  CORNELIUS, Peter von (1787-1867). Famous German painter of the
    School of Düsseldorf. He studied for several years at
    Frankfort-on-Maine and at Rome. His composition was magnificent
    and his power of drawing remarkable.

  COSSÉ BRISSAC, the Duc de (1775-1848). A member of the
    administration under the Empire, he joined the Restoration and
    entered the Chamber of Peers in 1814. He then became a supporter
    of the July Monarchy.

  COURLANDE, Duchesse de (1761-1821). _Née_ Comtesse de Medem, she
    married the Duc Pierre de Courlande, by whom she had four
    daughters. The youngest was the Duchesse de Dino, author of
    these memoirs.

  COUSIN, Victor* (1792-1867). French philosopher.

  COWPER, Lady* (1787-1869). Afterwards Lady Palmerston.

  CRÉMIEUX, Adolphe (1796-1880). Lawyer and French politician. A
    member of the National Defence in 1870.

  CRESCENTINI, Girolamo (1769-1846). Famous soprano singer, known as
    the Italian Orpheus. He went on the stage in 1788, and was heard
    at Rome, Verona, Padua, Vienna, and Lisbon. Napoleon kept him at
    Paris from 1806 to 1812. He afterwards became a professor in the
    Conservatory at Naples.

  CRUVEILHIER, Dr. Jean (1791-1874). Doctor and famous French
    anatomist. He was born at Limoges and studied at Paris, where he
    had a large and select practice.

  CUBIÈRES, General de (1786-1853). In 1804 he left the military
    school of Fontainebleau and distinguished himself at Austerlitz
    and at Auerstadt. He obtained the cross of honour at Eylau, the
    rank of captain at Essling, and became major of cavalry during
    the campaign of 1813, colonel in 1815, and covered himself with
    glory at Waterloo. When he was retired by the Second Restoration
    he obtained the post of receiver-general of the Meuse, and in
    1832 was given the command of the expeditionary force of Ancona.
    He was appointed general and was twice Minister of War in 1839
    and 1840. In 1847 he was involved in a deplorable affair and
    accused of bribing the Minister Teste to secure the concession
    of the salt-mines of Gouhénans. He was then tried before the
    Court of Peers, condemned to civil degradation, and fined ten
    thousand francs. In 1852 he was exonerated by the Court of
    Appeal of Rouen.

  CUMBERLAND, Ernest Augustus, Duke of* (1771-1851). Youngest son of
    George III., King of England.

  CUMBERLAND, Duchess of.* _Née_ Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

  CUNEGONDE, Saint. Died in 1040. Empress of Germany and wife of
    Henry II. of Bavaria. Her festival is March 3.

  CUVIER, Rodolphe. Protestant pastor to the Duchesse d'Orléans. He
    belonged to another branch of the family of the famous
    naturalist who bears that name.

  CUVILLIER FLEURY, Alfred Auguste (1802-1887). French man of
    letters on the staff of the _Journal des Débats_, and appointed
    by King Louis-Philippe to attend upon his fourth son, the Duc
    d'Aumale, whose tutor he became, and afterwards his secretary of
    instructions. He was elected member of the French Academy in
    1866.

  CZARTORYSKI, Prince Adam* (1770-1861). Formerly Minister of
    Foreign Affairs to the Emperor Alexander I. of Russia.

  CZARTORYSKI, Prince Adam (1804-1880). Son of Prince Constantin
    Czartoryski and of Princess Angelica Radziwill. He first married
    in 1832 his cousin-german, Princess Wanda Radziwill, and as his
    second wife in 1848, Countess Dzialynska.

  CZARTORYSKI, Princess Wanda (1813-1846). Daughter of Prince Antony
    Radziwill and of Princess Louise of Prussia. She married in 1832
    Prince Adam Czartoryski.


D

  DALBERG, the Duc de* (1773-1833). Son of the Primate and
    Archchancellor of the same name.

  DARMÈS. Attempted to assassinate King Louis-Philippe on October
    15, 1840.

  DARMSTADT, Princess Marie of. Born in 1824, she married the
    hereditary Grand Duke of Russia in 1841.

  DECAZES, Elie, Duc* (1780-1846). French politician.

  DELAVIGNE, Casimir (1793-1843). Lyric and dramatic poet. He
    entered the Academy in 1825. His Liberal ideas had brought him
    into disgrace under the Restoration; King Louis-Philippe, then
    Duc d'Orléans, extricated him from his troubles by making him
    Librarian of the Palais Royal.

  DEMERSON, the Abbé (1795-1872). A French priest who took orders in
    1819 and was the incumbent of Saint Séverin, then of Saint
    Germain l'Auxerrois from 1838 to 1850, when he was appointed to
    Notre Dame de Paris.

  DEMIDOFF, Count Anatole (1813-1870). Count Demidoff, Prince of San
    Donato, married in 1841 Princess Mathilde, daughter of King
    Jerome of Westphalia. She was called Princess Mathilde de
    Montfort.

  DENIS BARBIER. One of the servants of Pouch Lafarge. He forged
    some notes of hand for his master, when the latter, who was an
    incompetent man of business, came to Paris, and he remained his
    agent.

  DENMARK, King Frederick III. of (1768-1839). He succeeded his
    father in 1815 and married the daughter of the landgrave of
    Hesse Cassel.

  DENMARK, Prince Christian of (1786-1848). This Prince married as
    his first wife a Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, from whom he
    was divorced. His second wife was Princess Caroline of
    Schleswig-Holstein Augustenburg. By his first marriage he had a
    son, Frederick, who succeeded him as Frederick VII.

  DENMARK, Princess Christian of (1796-1881). The second wife of
    Prince Christian, _née_ Princess of Schleswig-Holstein
    Augustenburg.

  DESJARDINS, the Abbé (1756-1833). Ordained in 1775, he was
    Vicar-General of Bayeux, went into exile in England and
    afterwards in America during the revolution and did not return
    to France till 1802. He became superintendent of foreign
    missions at Paris, when the Emperor Napoleon arrested him on
    suspicion, imprisoned him at Vincennes and then exiled him to
    Verceil. When he returned to France at the Restoration, he
    refused the Bishopric of Blois in 1823 and that of Châlons in
    1824, but was appointed Vicar-General at Paris.

  DIEFFENBACH, Johann Friedrich (1794-1847). Famous Prussian oculist
    who discovered the operation for curing squint. He died suddenly
    in the operating room of the Charity Hospital at Berlin, of
    which he was director from 1840.

  DIESKAU, Mlle. Sidonie de. Died at a very advanced age. She lived
    at Gera in Saxony, near Altenburg, and was a near neighbour of
    the castle of Löbichau.

  DINO, the Duc de (1813-1894). Known first under the name of Comte
    Alexandre de Périgord,* he assumed this title in 1838 when his
    father became Duc de Talleyrand.

  DOHNA, Countess Marie (1805-1893). _Née_ Fräulein von Steinach,
    she married in 1829 Count Dohna who for long years was landrat
    at Sagan and held the estate of Kunzendorf in that
    neighbourhood.

  DOLOMIEU, the Marquise de* (1779-1849). Lady of Honour to Queen
    Marie Amélie.

  DON CARLOS OF BOURBON* (1788-1855). Second son of Charles IV. and
    brother of Ferdinand VII., kings of Spain. After his brother's
    death in 1833, he stirred up civil war in an attempt to seize
    the throne.

  DON FRANCISCO* (1794-1865). The Infanta of Spain. Married the
    Infanta Carlotta.

  DOSNE, M. First clerk in a banking house at Paris, he became a
    stockbroker in 1816. After the July revolution he resigned and
    became Receiver-General for Finistère, and four years later
    Receiver-General for the North. He became Governor of the Bank
    of France and one of the chief shareholders in the mines of
    Anzin, and largely increased his fortune.

  DOSNE, Mme. Wife of the stockbroker and mother of Mme. Thiers.

  DOSNE, Mlle. Félicie. Sister of Mme. Thiers. A very religious
    woman, she devoted her whole life to her sister and
    brother-in-law and published in memory of M. Thiers in 1903,
    some of his posthumous papers, under the title of "The
    Occupation and Liberation of the Territory" (1871-1875). She
    died soon afterwards at a very advanced age.

  DOUDAN, Ximénès (1800-1872). At first tutor in the house of the
    Duc de Broglie, he became chief of the political Cabinet of the
    Duc, who held him in great esteem, and afterwards retained his
    services as private secretary.

  DUBOIS, M. Deputy of the Loire Inférieure and member of the Royal
    Council of Education and director of the normal school.

  DUCHÂTEL, Charles, Comte* (1803-1867). French politician.

  DUFAURE, Jules Armand Stanislas (1798-1881). Lawyer and French
    statesman. Appointed deputy in 1834, he joined the Liberal
    Constitutional party; was Councillor of State in 1836 and
    Minister of Public Works in 1839. He supported the Republic in
    1848 and became Minister of the Interior, but held aloof from
    politics under the Second Empire. In 1871 he became Minister of
    Justice. He afterwards obtained a seat in the Senate and secured
    the passing of the law of Guarantees.

  DUPANLOUP, Félix Philibert (1802-1878). A most distinguished
    priest, his early reputation was due to his famous catechisms.
    After 1835 he became Vicar-General of the diocese of Paris and
    Superior of the little seminary of Saint Nicholas. He then took
    an active part in the discussions concerning the freedom of
    education. In 1849 he was appointed Bishop of Orléans, was a
    member of the Academy in 1854 and became famous for his defence
    of the Papal Chair at the time of the Italian expedition. In
    1869 he was present at the Council of Rome and returned to
    Orleans, remaining with his flock during the war. After the
    conclusion of peace he was appointed a member of the assembly by
    his grateful people.

  DUPIN, André Marie* (1783-1865). French lawyer and magistrate.

  DUPREZ, Gilbert Louis (1806-1879). Famous French singer attached
    to the Paris Opera for ten years. He had an incomparable tenor
    voice.

  DÜRER, Albert (1471-1528). Famous German painter and engraver with
    a rich sense of colour and a clever and realistic touch. He
    excelled in portraiture and the art of engraving was largely
    improved by him.

  DURHAM, Lord Lambton, Earl of* (1792-1840). English statesman.

  DUVERGIER DE HAURANNE, Prosper (1798-1887). A French politician.
    One of the leaders of the dynastic opposition under the July
    monarchy and one of the organisers of the banquets in 1848. He
    was a member of the anti-Napoleonic minority, and was imprisoned
    and exiled after the _coup d'état_ of December 2, 1851, but was
    able to return to France in 1862. He then abandoned active
    politics and wrote a history of parliamentary government in
    France, which secured his admission to the Academy in 1870, in
    place of the Duc de Broglie.


E

  EDOUARD. The famous lady's hairdresser at Paris under
    Louis-Philippe.

  ELIZABETH OF PRUSSIA, Queen (1801-1873). Daughter of King
    Maximilian of Bavaria, she married in 1823 the Crown Prince of
    Prussia, who ascended the throne in 1840 as Frederick William
    IV. Queen Elizabeth became a widow in 1861 and afterwards lived
    in retirement.

  ELLICE, Mr. Edward* (1787-1863). English politician, son-in-law of
    Lord Grey.

  ELSSLER, Theresa (1806-1878). Famous German dancer. Made Baroness
    of Barnim by King Frederick William IV. in 1850 on the occasion
    of her marriage with Prince Adalbert of Prussia.

  ELSSLER, Fanny (1810-1886). Sister of the foregoing and, like her,
    a famous dancer. She appeared in every theatre in Europe and
    America, and retired in 1845 to her fine estate near Hamburg.
    She had acquired a large fortune.

  EMMANUEL PHILIBERT, known as Ironhead (1528-1580). Duke of Savoy.
    This prince entered the service of his uncle the Emperor Charles
    Quint. He distinguished himself at the siege of Metz in 1552,
    received command of the imperial army in 1553, and gained the
    battle of Saint Quentin in 1557 for Philippe II. He recovered
    his duchy of which Francis I. had deprived his father, in 1559
    by the treaty of Cateau Cambrésis, and married Margaret of
    France, sister of Henry II. His statue, the work of the sculptor
    Marochetti, stands in the centre of the square of San Carlo at
    Turin.

  ENTRAIGUES, Amédée Goveau d'.* Born in 1785. Prefect of Tours. He
    married a Princess Santa Croce, ward of the Prince de
    Talleyrand.

  ENTRAIGUES, Jules d'.* Born in 1787. Brother of the prefect, and
    owner of the château of la Moustière, near Valençay.

  EON DE BEAUMONT, Charles (1728-1810). Famous for the doubt
    concerning his sex, as he appeared sometimes as the knight and
    sometimes as the lady of Eon. He won distinction early in the
    diplomatic career, and was for fourteen years the secret agent
    of Louis XV. The revolution deprived him of his pension and
    reduced him to giving fencing-lessons; and only through the help
    of some friends did he escape poverty.

  ESPARTERO, Joachim Baldomero (1792-1879). Enlisted in 1808, and
    had a brilliant military career. He joined in the expedition to
    Peru in 1825, and came back with a handsome fortune. On the
    death of Ferdinand VII., he supported the Queen Regent, Maria
    Christina. His success against the Carlists secured his
    nomination in 1836 as commander-in-chief of the army of the
    North and as Viceroy of Navarre. In 1840, when the Queen-Regent
    had abdicated, the Cortes transferred the regency to Espartero,
    but he was defeated in 1842, and retired to England till 1847.
    In 1854 and 1868, he recovered his power for a short space of
    time. In 1870, the Cortes offered him the crown, which he
    refused in view of his great age and the want of an heir.

  ESTERHAZY, Prince Paul* (1786-1866). Austrian Diplomatist.

  EXELMANS, Isidore, Comte* (1775-1852). One of the most brilliant
    generals of the Empire, who was made a peer of France and a
    marshal under the July monarchy.


F

  FAGEL, General Robert* (1772-1856). Dutch diplomatist.

  FALK, Anton Reinhard* (1776-1843). Dutch diplomatist.

  FÉNELON, François de Salignac de la Mothe- (1651-1715). Archbishop
    of Cambrai and tutor to the Duc de Bourgogne. He adopted the
    doctrines of the Quietists, and was vigorously opposed by
    Bossuet. He was as great a writer as he was a preacher.

  FERDINAND VII.* (1784-1833). Eldest son of King Charles IV. of
    Spain and his successor. He was dethroned by Napoleon I. in
    favour of his brother Joseph, but reascended the throne in 1814.

  FERRUS, Guillaume Marie André (1784-1861). A French doctor. He
    introduced some valuable reforms into the asylum at Bicêtre, of
    which he was chief doctor. In 1830 he was appointed consulting
    doctor to the King, and soon became a member of the Academy of
    Medicine and a commander of the Legion of Honour.

  FESCH, Cardinal Joseph (1763-1839). Brother of Mme. Laetitia
    Bonaparte, he was appointed Archbishop of Lyons in 1802 by his
    nephew Napoleon I. He was French Ambassador at Rome, then chief
    almoner and senator. He returned to Rome at the Restoration and
    died there.

  FIESCHI, Joseph* (1790-1835). The would-be assassin of King
    Louis-Philippe, July 28, 1835.

  FIQUELMONT, the Comte Charles Louis de (1777-1857). Born in
    Lorraine, he entered the Austrian army in 1793, and shared in
    the campaigns from 1805 to 1809. In 1815 he was sent as minister
    to Stockholm, and in 1820 in the same capacity to Florence. He
    was appointed Ambassador at St. Petersburg, where he lived for
    several years, and did not return to Austria until 1840. He then
    became Minister of State, and for a short time Minister of
    Foreign Affairs in 1848. His only daughter had married Prince
    Edmond Clary.

  FITZ-JAMES, Jacques, Duc de (1799-1846). He married, in 1825,
    Mlle. de Marmier.

  FLAHAUT, the General, Comte de* (1785-1870). Peer of France under
    Louis-Philippe, senator and Ambassador under Napoleon III.

  FLAHAUT, the Comtesse de,* died in 1867. Daughter of the English
    admiral, Lord Keith.

  FLAHAUT, Clémentine de (1819-1835). Daughter of the Comte and
    Comtesse de Flahaut.

  FONTANES, Louis de (1757-1821). A poet and graceful orator and a
    great favourite of Napoleon I. A member of the legislative body
    in 1804, he became president in 1805. In 1808 the Emperor
    appointed him High Master of the University; in 1810 he was
    called to the Senate and afterwards supported the Restoration.

  FOULD, Bénédict (1791-1858). Son of a Jewish banker who had
    founded the important firm of Fould, Oppenheim & Co. He was
    deputy from 1834 to 1842 and Knight of the Legion of Honour from
    1843.

  FOULQUES III., Nerra or the Black (987-1039). Count of Anjou. He
    made war upon Conan, first Duke of Brittany, whom he defeated
    and killed, and upon Eudes II., Count of Blois, by whom he was
    defeated. Foulques made three pilgrimages to the Holy Land in
    expiation of his violent life. His niece Constance married King
    Robert.

  FOY, Comte Fernand (1815-1871). Son of General Foy; he was
    appointed Peer of France by King Louis Philippe, and though
    constantly loyal to the constitutional monarchy, he showed a
    strong leaning to liberalism. He was devoted to charitable works
    from an early age.

  FRANÇOIS I.* (1494-1547). King of France and adversary of Charles
    V.

  FREDERICK II., known as the Great* (1712-1786). King of Prussia
    and founder of the Prussian military power.

  FREDERICK VII. (1808-1863). King of Denmark. He was the only son
    of Prince Christian of Denmark and of his first wife, Princess
    Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Twice divorced, he was exiled
    for some years to Jutland and did not ascend the throne until
    1848.

  FREDERICK WILLIAM, known as the Great Elector of Brandenburg
    (1620-1688). He ascended the throne in 1640 and organised the
    Prussian Army.

  FREDERICK WILLIAM III. (1770-1840). King of Prussia. He succeeded
    his father Frederick William II. in 1797. He had married a
    Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, known as Queen Louise. She
    died in 1810 and in 1824 he contracted a morganatic marriage
    with the Countess Augusta of Harrach, to whom he gave the title
    of Princess of Liegnitz.

  FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. (1795-1861). King of Prussia. He ascended
    the throne in 1840 on the death of his father. He had married in
    1823 Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria by whom he had no children.

  FRIAS, Duke of* (1783-1851). Spanish ambassador, statesman and man
    of letters.

  FRONSAC, Duc de. Died in 1791. Son of Marshal Richelieu whom he
    only survived three years.


G

  GAGE, Sir William Hall (1777-1865). An English Admiral who took
    an active part in the operations against Napoleon I. He was
    appointed Lord of the Admiralty in 1841. In 1860 he received
    the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

  GARIBALDI, Mgr. Antoine (1797-1853). Archbishop of Myra in 1844;
    Nuncio at Paris in 1850 in succession to Cardinal Tonari, he was
    himself succeeded by Mgr. Sacconi.

  GARNIER-PAGÈS (1801-1841). At first a lawyer, he shared in the
    Revolution of 1830 and became one of the leaders of the
    Republican party. He was then prosecuted several times after the
    insurrection of 1832 and acquired great popularity.

  GENLIS, Mme. de (1746-1830). Félicité Ducrest de Saint Aubin
    married the Comte de Genlis at the age of fifteen. Her aunt,
    Mme. de Montesson, introduced her to the household of the Duc
    d'Orléans who soon selected her as the governess of his
    children. Mme. de Genlis became an exile in 1792, returned to
    France after the 18th of Brumaire and became the correspondent
    of Napoleon I., whom she provided with information about the
    customs and etiquette of the old Court. She lived in retirement
    after 1814. She was the author of a large number of works, of
    which her books on education are the most remarkable.

  GÉRARD, François Pascal Simon (1770-1837). Famous French painter
    who studied under David at the same time as Drouais, Girodet and
    Gros. He devoted himself to portrait painting in which he showed
    remarkable talent. He was made Baron by Louis XVIII.

  GÉRARD, Etienne Maurice, Comte* (1773-1852). Marshal of France.

  GERSDORFF, Baron Ernest Christian Augustus of (1781-1852). He took
    part in the Congress of Vienna as the representative of Saxony.
    He was Minister at London and at the Hague, and resigned in
    1848. He had married a Countess of Freudenstein.

  GERSDORFF, Baron Adolphus of (1800-1855). Officer in the Prussian
    Army. He resigned and married Fräulein Marianne von Schindel. In
    1827 he became land agent of Princess Pauline of Hohenzollern
    and of her sister the Duchess of Acerenza.

  GIRARDIN, the Comte Emile de (1806-1881). A son of General
    Alexandre de Girardin and husband of Delphine Gay. He was a
    famous publicist and the founder of halfpenny newspapers. He was
    a deputy from 1877 to 1881. When his wife died in 1855 he
    married the widow of Prince Frederick of Nassau, from whom he
    was judicially separated in 1872.

  GIRAUD, Augustin (1796-1875). A landowner at Angers where he was
    mayor under Louis-Philippe. As a member of the Legislative
    Assembly of 1849, he belonged to the Left. He was a Knight of
    the Legion of Honour.

  GIROLET, the Abbé* (1765-1836). A Benedictine of the congregation
    of Saint-Maur and an intimate friend of the Talleyrand family.

  GIVRÉ, Baron de (1794-1854). He entered the diplomatic career at
    an early age and was attached to the Embassies of London and
    Rome; when the Polignac ministry came to power he resigned and
    became a contributor to the _Journal des Débats_. In 1837 he was
    appointed deputy and voted with the Orléanist majority.

  GLOUCESTER, Duchess of* (1776-1857). Fourth daughter of King
    George III. of England.

  GÖCKING, Herr Leopold von (1748-1828). Prussian poet and State
    Councillor who elaborated several projects for customs reform.

  GOETHE, Wolfgang (1749-1832). The most famous German poet, author
    of Faust, Werther, &c. He was a Councillor and then a Minister
    of State under the Grand Duke Charles Augustus of Weimar.

  GONTAUT-BIRON, Duchesse de* (1773-1858). Governess of the Children
    of France whom she followed into exile in 1830.

  GONTAUT-BIRON, Vicomte Elie de (1817-1890). Elected as a Deputy to
    the National Assembly in 1871, he was Ambassador of the Republic
    at Berlin. He restored the relations that had been broken by the
    war and remained for six years in this difficult post.

  GOUIN, Alexandre Henri (1792-1872). Studied at the Polytechnic
    School, became a deputy in 1831, and was asked to take the
    portfolio of Agriculture and Commerce in 1840 under the Thiers
    Ministry.

  GOURGAUD, General (1783-1852). He entered the service in 1801,
    distinguished himself at Austerlitz where he was wounded, at
    Jena, at Friedland, at Essling, and above all at Wagram. He took
    a glorious part in the Russian and French campaigns; he
    accompanied the Emperor to St. Helena, but misunderstandings
    with one of his companions in exile forced him to separate from
    them. In 1818 he published a book called "The Campaign of 1815,"
    and in consequence his name was struck off the army list of
    Louis XVIII., but he returned to the service under
    Louis-Philippe, who appointed him general of division and chose
    him as his aide-de-camp. In 1840 he accompanied the Prince de
    Joinville to St. Helena, brought back with him the ashes of
    Napoleon and was then raised to the Peerage.

  GRAMONT, Madame de. Aunt of the Duc de Gramont of the branch of
    Aster, a member of the fraternity of the Sacré Cœur, and Mother
    Superior of the Paris house.

  GRANVILLE, Lord* (1775-1846). English diplomatist. For a long time
    Ambassador at Paris.

  GRANVILLE, Lady.* Died in 1862. She was a daughter of the Duke of
    Devonshire.

  GRANVILLE, Lady Charlotte Georgina. Died in 1855. Second daughter
    of Lord Granville. She married Alexander George Fullerton in
    1833. Throughout her life she was very intimate with the
    Marquise de Castellane. Her novels brought her some literary
    fame.

  GREGORY VII., Hildebrand (1015-1085). Elected Pope in 1073, he was
    one of the greatest Roman pontiffs, and has been ever famous for
    his struggles with the Emperor of Germany.

  GREY, Lord* (1764-1845). English statesman.

  GREY, Lady* (1775-1861). _Née_ Ponsonby.

  GRISI, Giulia* (1812-1869). An Italian singer of great talent and
    beauty.

  GRIVEL, the Abbé Louis Jean Joseph (1800-1866). From 1825 he was a
    preacher at Paris. In 1829 he was commissioned by the court to
    deliver the panegyric upon Saint Louis before the French
    Academy. He became almoner to the Chamber of Peers in 1834, and
    was appointed Canon of Saint Denis three years later.

  GROS, Antoine Jean (1771-1835). Famous historical painter. His
    father was a miniature painter and his first master. He then
    entered the studio of David. Forced to enter the army he
    acquired a special talent for battle pictures in the course of
    the military operations. From Charles X. he afterwards received
    the title of baron.

  GUERNON-RANVILLE, Comte de (1787-1866). French magistrate and
    statesman. In 1820 he was President of the Civil Court of
    Bayeux, where he was distinguished for his zeal and capacity. In
    1829 the Prince de Polignac requested him to take the portfolio
    of education and public worship in his ministry. In the Council
    of Ministers he declared against the ordinances of July 1830,
    but signed them none the less. When tried with his colleagues by
    the Chamber of Peers, he was condemned to disfranchisement and
    perpetual confinement. The amnesty of 1836 restored him to
    liberty.

  GUICHE, the Duc de (1819-1880). Known later under the name of the
    Duc de Gramont. He was a diplomatist and French Ambassador at
    Turin, Rome, and Vienna, and was Minister of Foreign Affairs
    when war with Prussia was declared in 1870. In 1848 he had
    married an English woman, daughter of a Member of Parliament.

  WILLIAM I. (1772-1843). King of the Low Countries. Son of the
    Stathouder William V. of Nassau. Under his reign Belgium was
    separated from his throne after the revolution of 1830, and
    became an independent state. He had married Princess Frederica
    of Prussia, after her death he contracted a morganatic marriage
    with a Belgian, the Comtesse d'Oultremont. He abdicated in 1840.

  GUIZOT, François Pierre Guillaume* (1787-1874). French statesman
    and historian.


H

  HAINGUERLOT, M. Died in 1842. He had married Mlle. Stéphanie
    Oudinot, daughter of Marshal Oudinot, Duc de Reggio.

  HAMILTON, John Church (1792-1882). Son of Major-General Hamilton,
    a friend of M. de Talleyrand. For a long time he was the
    aide-de-camp of Major-General Hamilton, who afterwards became
    President of the United States. Hamilton then became a lawyer
    and devoted his life to the perpetuation of his father's memory,
    whose life he wrote and whose works he published.

  HAMILTON, Duchess of (1817-1887). Maria Amelia, last daughter of
    the Grand Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Baden and of the Grand
    Duchess, née Stéphanie de Beauharnais.

  HANOVER, the King of (1771-1851). Ernest Augustus, Duke of
    Cumberland; ascended the throne of Hanover in 1837, after the
    death of his brother King William IV. of England.

  HANOVER, Prince George of (1819-1878). Afterwards George V. King
    of Hanover.

  HARCOURT, Lady Elizabeth (1793-1838).

  HARRISON, Miss. Governess of the three Princesses of Courlande,
    who afterwards became the Countess of Lazareff, the Countess of
    Hohenthal and Madame de Boyen. She lived until her death with
    Countess Lazareff at Dyrnfurth.

  HAUSSONVILLE, Comte Joseph Bernard d' (1809-1884). French
    politician and writer. He was a deputy under the July monarchy,
    and a member of the National Assembly in 1871. He was a member
    of the French Academy.

  HÉLIAUD, Comte de (1768-1858). He lived a somewhat solitary life
    in Touraine and died in the same year as his son who was an
    official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  HÉLIE. Footman to the Prince de Talleyrand for many years.

  HENEAGE, Mr. English diplomatist, attached to the Paris Embassy in
    1840.

  HENNENBERG, Herr. Died in 1836. Councillor of Justice in the
    Courts of Berlin.

  HESSE, Prince George of (1793-1881). This Prince was in the
    Prussian service.

  HESSE-DARMSTADT, Grand Duke Louis II. of* (1777-1848). He had
    married a Princess of Baden.

  HESSE-DARMSTADT, Princess Elizabeth of (1815-1885). Daughter of
    Prince William of Prussia and brother of King Frederick William
    III. and elder sister of Queen Maria of Bavaria.

  HESSE-DARMSTADT, Princess Maria of (1824-1880). Daughter of Louis
    II., Grand Duke of Hesse. In 1841 she married the Hereditary
    Grand Duke of Russia, who succeeded his father, the Emperor
    Nicholas I., in 1855.

  HOHENLOHE-ÖRINGEN, Prince Frederick of. Born in 1812. A major of
    cavalry in the service of Würtemberg.

  HOHENTHAL, Count Alfred of. Born in 1806. Chamberlain to the King
    of Saxony. He married Princess Louise of Biron Courlande.

  HOHENTHAL, Countess Louise of (1808-1845). _Née_ Princess of Biron
    Courlande.

  HOHENZOLLERN-HECHINGEN, Prince Frederick of (1776-1838). In 1800
    he married Princess Pauline of Courlande, sister of the Duchesse
    de Talleyrand.

  HOHENZOLLERN-HECHINGEN, Princess of (1782-1845). Pauline, Princess
    of Courlande, daughter of Peter, Duke of Courlande.

  HOHENZOLLERN-HECHINGEN, Prince Constantine of (1800-1859). Son of
    Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and of the Princess
    of Courlande. By a convention signed in 1849 Prince Constantine
    abdicated the government of the principality of Hohenzollern, in
    favour of the King of Prussia, and in 1850 received the title of
    Royal Highness. He first married the Princess of Leuchtenberg,
    by whom he had no children, and then contracted a morganatic
    marriage with the daughter of the Baron of Schenk, by whom he
    had two children, who bore the name of Rothenburg.

  HOLLAND, Lord* (1772-1840). English statesman. Nephew of the
    famous Fox.

  HOLLAND, Lady,* died in 1840. She was Lady Webster by her first
    marriage.

  HOTTINGER, Baron Jean Conrad (1764-1841). Of Swiss origin, M.
    Hottinger founded an important commercial firm at Paris. In 1810
    he was made a baron of the Empire, and in 1815 elected to the
    Chamber of the Hundred Days. Afterwards he became president of
    the Chamber of Commerce, judge in the commercial court, and
    governor of the Bank of France.

  HOWARD OF WALDEN, Charles Augustus Ellis, Lord. Born in 1799.
    English diplomatist; under Secretary of State to the Foreign
    Office in 1824; minister at Stockholm in 1832, at Lisbon in
    1834, and at Brussels in 1846.

  HÜBNER, Count of (1811-1892). In 1833 he entered the chancery of
    Prince Metternich, who recognised his capacity. He then became
    secretary to the Embassy at Lisbon, chief consul at Leipzig, and
    political adviser to Marshal Radetzky in Italy. He was made a
    prisoner in 1848, and was not set at liberty until after the
    conclusion of peace with King Charles Albert. In 1849 he was
    first Minister and then Ambassador at Paris until 1859. In 1867
    he was appointed Ambassador at Rome. He then left the diplomatic
    service, and spent his time in travel and literary work.

  HUGEL, Ernest Eugene von (1774-1849). General in the Austrian
    service and for some time Minister of War. He had also been
    Austrian Minister at Paris.

  HUMANN, Mlle. Louise, born about 1757. Her piety outrivalled that
    of the Christians of the Primitive Church. At Strasburg, where
    she lived, she became the patroness of the Abbés Bautain, Gratry
    and Ratisbonne. She was a sister of the Bishop of Mayence and of
    the Finance Minister of King Louis-Philippe.

  HUMANN, Jean George* (1780-1842). French statesman and financier.
    Born of an old Alsatian family.

  HUMBOLDT, Baron William of (1767-1835). Statesman and Prussian
    philologist. In 1802 he was Minister at Rome and then became
    Councillor of State at Berlin and chief of the department of
    education and public worship. In 1808 he was appointed
    Plenipotentiary Minister at Vienna; in 1810 he took part in the
    Conference at Prague, and in 1815 in the Congress of Vienna. He
    was extraordinary envoy at London in 1816, then Minister of
    State and a member of the Commission entrusted with the
    preparation of the Prussian Constitution in 1818. In 1819 he
    resigned his posts and devoted his attention to literary work.

  HUMBOLDT, Alexander of (1769-1858). Great German naturalist and
    man of science, well known for his scientific travels in the New
    World, and by the genius which his numerous narratives of them
    display. He was a brother of the foregoing.

  HUMBOLDT, Frau Wilhelm von (1771-1829). Daughter of Frederick of
    Dachröden. She had married Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1791.

  HUMBOLDT, Caroline von (1792-1837). Eldest daughter of Wilhelm von
    Humboldt.

  HYDE DE NEUVILLE, Baron Jean Guillaume (1776-1857). French
    politician. Deeply attached to the royalty. Implicated in a
    conspiracy against Napoleon I., he fled to the United States,
    and did not return to France until after the fall of the Empire.
    In 1815 he was a deputy; in 1816 he was Minister to the United
    States, and afterwards to Portugal. In 1828 he held the
    portfolio of Naval Affairs in the Martignac Ministry, but
    resigned when Polignac's Cabinet came into power. After 1830 he
    supported the desperate cause of the Duc de Bordeaux, and
    afterwards lived in retirement.


I

  IBRAHIM PASHA (1772-1848). Son of the Viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet
    Ali, whom he supported in the task of Egyptian re-organisation.
    He invaded Syria in 1832 at his father's orders, and was
    marching upon Constantinople when he was stopped at Kutayeh by
    the intervention of the European Powers. Some years afterwards,
    when war broke out again, Ibrahim won a decisive victory over
    the Turks at Nezib in 1839, but the treaty of London of July
    15, 1840, and the bombardment of the Syrian ports by the
    English fleet obliged him to abandon the conquest of Syria for
    a second time. He then devoted his time to the domestic
    administration of Egypt.

  ISABELLA II.* (1830-1904). Queen of Spain.

  ISTURITZ, Xavier d', born in 1790. He was a Spanish statesman who
    held a seat from 1812 in the Cortes, and attracted attention by
    his revolutionary patriotism. While president of the Chamber of
    the Procuradores in 1835, his Liberal ideas brought him into
    trouble and he was obliged to take refuge in London. Afterwards
    he accomplished several missions to the different courts of
    Europe, and was even Ambassador at Paris from 1863 to 1864.


J

  JACKSON, Andrew (1767-1845). American General and seventh
    President of the United States in 1829. In 1834 he claimed from
    France in very haughty terms an indemnity of twenty-five
    millions for the ships taken from the United States under the
    Empire. After holding the Presidency twice in succession, he
    retired into private life.

  JAUBERT, Chevalier (1779-1847). An Orientalist who accompanied
    Bonaparte to Egypt as interpreter. He was secretary and
    interpreter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Master of
    Requests, and then Chargé d'affaires at Constantinople. In 1819
    he was Secretary and Interpreter to Louis XVIII.; he became a
    Member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Literature in 1830,
    and was made a Peer of France by Louis-Philippe.

  JAUBERT, Comte Hippolyte François (1798-1874). A French politician
    and man of learning. He was a Deputy in 1831, and Minister of
    Public Works in 1840. He was appointed Peer of France in 1844,
    when the fall of Louis-Philippe induced him to retire into
    private life.

  JAUCOURT, Marquise de* (1762-1848). _Née_ Mlle. Charlotte de
    Bontemps.

  JERSEY, Lady Sarah* (1787-1867). Her drawing-room was one of the
    most famous in London.

  JOINVILLE, François d'Orléans, Prince de (1818-1900). Third son of
    King Louis-Philippe. He served in the navy and brought the
    remains of Napoleon back to France in 1840. In 1843 he married
    Princess Francisca of Braganza, daughter of the Emperor of
    Brazil.

  JUMILHAC, Odet de Chapelle de (1804-1880). Duc de Richelieu. A
    nephew by his mother of the Duc de Richelieu who died in 1822,
    M. de Jumilhac assumed his uncle's title and thus became a
    member of the Chamber of Peers. He was a Knight of the Legion of
    Honour.


K

  KAROLYI, Countess Ferdinand (1805-1844). Daughter of Prince
    Ludwig of Kaunitz Rietberg. She married Count Louis Karolyi in
    1823.

  KENT, Duchess of* (1786-1861). Sister-in-law of King William IV.
    of England and mother of Queen Victoria.

  KRÜDENER, Baroness of (1764-1824). Julia of Vietinghoff, daughter
    of the Governor of Riga; at the age of fourteen she married the
    Baron of Krüdener, Russian Minister at Berlin, by whom she had
    two children. Her husband divorced her in 1791. After a series
    of adventures she became intimate with Queen Louise of Prussia,
    and then became a religious fanatic. In 1814 she was at Paris
    when the allies entered the town, and obtained great influence
    over the Emperor Alexander I. Expelled from Germany and from
    Switzerland she took refuge at her estates near Riga, and began
    a connection with the Moravian Brothers. She started for the
    Crimea in 1822 with the intention of founding an asylum for
    criminals and sinners.

  KRÜDENER, Baroness Amelia of (1808-1888). Daughter-in-law of the
    foregoing. She was a natural daughter of the Princesse de la
    Tour et Taxis, _née_ Mecklenburg-Strelitz, sister of Queen
    Louise of Prussia and of Count Maximilian of Lerchenfeld, who
    brought her up at his house and whose wife adopted her. In 1825
    she married Herr von Krüdener, and her second husband in 1850
    was Count Nicholas Adlerberg, aide-de-camp to the Emperor
    Nicholas I. of Russia.

  KRÜGER, Francis (1797-1857). A famous portrait-painter at Berlin.

  KUHNEIM, Countess (1770-1854). By birth a During she was friend of
    Princess Charles of Prussia.


L

  LA BESNARDIÈRE, J. B. Gouey de (1765-1843). Privy Councillor who
    lived for a long time in Touraine after his retirement in 1819.

  LABORDE, Comte Léon de (1807-1869). Archæologist and traveller,
    and for a short time diplomatist. In 1840 he was appointed a
    deputy, and was director of the Museum of Antiquities in the
    Louvre from 1845 to 1848. He received a seat in the Senate in
    1868.

  LABOUCHERE, Henry* (1798-1869). Member of the English Parliament.

  LA BRICHE, Comtesse de. Her salon became famous at Paris as she
    gathered distinguished men and famous writers about her. She
    possessed the château of Marais near Paris, where she often gave
    dramatic performances. Her daughter had married M. Molé.

  LA BRUYERE, Jean de* (1645-1696). Author of the Characters.

  LACAVE LAPLAGNE, Jean Pierre Joseph (1795-1849). He was a pupil of
    the Polytechnic School; he took part in the last campaigns of
    the Empire and resigned when the Bourbons were restored. He then
    devoted himself to the study of law, was called to the Bar at
    Toulouse and entered the magistracy. He was deputy for the
    department of Gers, and several times held the portfolio of
    finance. King Louis-Philippe entrusted to him the administration
    of the property of the Duc d'Aumale.

  LACORDAIRE, Henri (1802-1861). Famous French preacher, a Dominican
    of the Order of the Preaching Friars. He entered the French
    Academy in 1860 in place of M. de Tocqueville.

  LADVOCAT, M. King's attorney under the monarchy of 1830. As he was
    the bearer of nominations, Fieschi had applied to him upon his
    arrival at Paris to secure a post; after his attempted
    assassination Fieschi, who had taken a false name, was
    recognised by M. Ladvocat.

  LAFARGE, Mme. The mother of M. Lafarge. She was not able to avoid
    all suspicion in the course of the famous trial. She had broken
    the seals of her daughter-in-law's will to learn her
    dispositions.

  LAFARGE, M. A widower at the age of twenty-eight, Pouch Lafarge,
    who owned an iron works at Glandier (Corrèze); he was an
    incompetent man of business, always reduced to extremities. He
    married Marie Capelle who gained a gloomy notoriety by poisoning
    him.

  LAFARGE, Mme. (1816-1852). Marie Capelle, an orphan, married M.
    Lafarge in 1839. As the result of the famous trial, she was
    condemned to perpetual imprisonment.

  LA FAYETTE, the Marquis de* (1767-1834). A deputy to the States
    General in 1789, he played a part in the revolutionary events of
    his time.

  LAFFITTE, Jacques (1767-1844). A French financier who played an
    important part in the July revolution, and was a Minister under
    King Louis-Philippe.

  LAMARTINE, Alphonse de (1790-1869). French poet and politician. He
    entered the Academy in 1830, and the Chamber of Deputies in
    1834, and acquired a wide popularity which faded soon after
    1848.

  LAMB, Frederick* (1782-1852). English diplomatist. Brother of Lord
    Melbourne and heir to his title.

  LAMBRUSCHINI, Cardinal (1776-1854). He was Bishop of Sabine,
    Archbishop of Genoa, and papal nuncio at Paris under Charles X.
    He received his Cardinal's hat in 1831. Pope Gregory XVI.
    appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Secretary of
    Briefs, and Prefect of the Congregation of Studies. After the
    events of 1848 he followed Pius IX. to Gaeta.

  LANSDOWNE, Lady.* Died in 1865; she had married the Marquis of
    Lansdowne in 1819.

  LARCHER, Mlle. Henriette* (1782-1860). Governess of Mlle. Pauline
    de Périgord.

  LA REDORTE, the Comte Mathieu de* (1804-1886). French diplomatist.

  LA REDORTE, the Comtesse de. Died in 1885. _Née_ Louise Suchet,
    daughter of the Marshal d'Albuféra.

  LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, the Comte Sosthène de. Duc de Doudeauville
    (1785-1864). Aide-de-camp to the Comte d'Artois under the
    Restoration. He was always an ardent Legitimist, and also had
    paid much attention to literature.

  LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, Marie de. Died in 1840. She was the daughter of
    the Duc de Sosthène de la Rochefoucauld Doudeauville and
    granddaughter of the Duchesse Mathieu de Montmorency.

  LA ROVÈRE, the Marquise de (1817-1840). Elizabeth of Stackelberg.
    A Russian by birth, she became a Catholic upon her marriage with
    the Marquis de la Rovère and died soon after her marriage. Her
    tomb of white marble is in the Campo Santo of Turin.

  LAS CASES, the Comte Emanuel de (1800-1854). He had followed his
    father to St. Helena. The Revolution of 1830 afterwards found a
    warm supporter in him. When he was elected deputy he joined the
    ranks of the Liberal party and entered the Senate after the
    _coup d'état_ of December 2, 1852.

  LAVAL, the Prince Adrien de* (1768-1837). Peer of France and
    diplomatist.

  LAVAL, the Vicomtesse de (1745-1838). Mlle. Tavernier de
    Boullongue had married in 1765 the Vicomte de Laval and was the
    mother of the Duc Mathieu de Montmorency, who was Minister of
    Foreign Affairs. She was a great friend of M. de Talleyrand.

  LAZAREFF, Madame de (1813-1881). She was born Princess Antoinette
    de Biron Courlande.*

  LÉAUTAUD, the Comtesse de. Alexandrine Clémentine de Nicolaï
    daughter of the Marquis and Marquise Scipion de Nicolaï, _née_
    Lameth. Her name appeared in the Lafarge trial with reference to
    a theft of diamonds of which Madame Lafarge was accused, and
    which she asserted had been handed to her by Madame de Léautaud.

  LEBRUN, Pierre Antoine (1785-1873). Man of letters and member of
    the French Academy from 1828. From 1830 to 1848 he was a
    director of the Royal printing house; in 1839 he was made a Peer
    of France, called to the Senate in 1853 and became grand officer
    of the Legion of Honour.

  LE HON, Count (1792-1868). Belgian statesman and Minister at Paris
    for many years.

  LEON, the Prince Charles Louis Jocelyn de (1819-1893). He assumed
    the title of Duc de Rohan on the death of his father in 1869. He
    had married Mlle. de Boissy in 1843.

  LERCHENFELD, Count Maximilian of (1779-1843). A Bavarian statesman
    who helped to draw up the Bavarian Constitution. In 1825 he
    became Finance Minister and resigned his post to become
    Ambassador to the Germanic Diet. He had married the Baroness
    Anne of Grosschlag.

  LESTOCQ, Frau von (1788-1849). Widow of General Lestocq, Governor
    of Breslau, who died in 1818. She was the chief lady at the
    Court of Princess William of Prussia, by birth Princess of Hesse
    Homburg, and sister-in-law to King Frederick William III.

  LEUCHTENBERG, Prince Augustus Charles of* (1807-1835). For a short
    time he was the husband of Doña Maria, Queen of Portugal.

  LEVESON, George (1815-1891). He was secretary to his father, Lord
    Granville, English Ambassador at Paris, and then secretary to
    the Foreign Minister. In 1846, on his father's death, he
    inherited his title and entered the House of Lords. He held
    Government offices at different times, and eventually retired in
    1886 with Mr. Gladstone.

  LEZAY MARNÉSIA, the Comte de* (1772-1857). Prefect and Peer of
    France under the Bourbons, and Senator under the Empire in 1852.

  LIAUTARD, the Abbé (1774-1842). He studied at the College of
    Sainte Barbe at Paris and was then called to the colours by the
    decree of August 23, 1793. He was one of the most brilliant
    pupils of the Polytechnic School, but renouncing the world, he
    entered the seminary of Saint Sulpice, and was ordained priest
    in 1804. Afterwards he founded the college which was to become
    the College of Stanislas and then became the chief priest of
    Fontainebleau after refusing the bishopric of Limoges.

  LICHTENSTEIN, the Princess of (1776-1848). By birth she was the
    Landgräfin Josephine of Fürstenberg, and had married in 1792
    Prince Johann Josef of Lichtenstein.

  LIEBERMANN, the Baron Augustus of (1791-1841). Prussian
    diplomatist at Madrid in 1836 and at St. Petersburg in 1840.

  LIEVEN, the Prince de* (1770-1839). Russian diplomatist, and for
    twenty-two years Ambassador at London.

  LIEVEN, the Princesse de* (1784-1857). _Née_ Dorothée de
    Benkendorff.

  LIEGNITZ, the Princess of (1800-1873). The Countess of Harrach
    contracted a morganatic marriage in 1824 with King Frederick
    William III. of Prussia, who gave her the title of Princess of
    Liegnitz.

  LINANGE, Prince Charles of (1804-1856). Son of the Duchess of Kent
    by her first marriage. He married the Countess of Klebelsberg.

  LINDENAU, Baron Bernard Augustus of (1780-1854). Learned German
    astronomer and politician. He held several diplomatic posts and
    became Home Secretary in Saxony. In 1830 he worked energetically
    to form a Constitution for this country. He founded an
    astronomical museum at Dresden.

  LINGARD, John (1769-1851). An English historian and a Catholic
    Priest who had been educated at Douai with the Jesuits.

  LISFRANC DE SAINT MARTIN, Jacques (1790-1847). Famous French
    surgeon who made a great reputation under the Second
    Restoration.

  LOBAU, the Comte de (1770-1838). As a volunteer he took an active
    part in the campaigns of the Republic and of the Empire. After
    Leipzig, when he was involved in the capitulation of Gouvion
    Saint-Cyr, he was sent to Hungary as a prisoner where he
    remained until the Restoration. During the Hundred Days he
    commanded the first military division and the sixth army corps
    at Waterloo, where he was captured by the English. From 1815 to
    1818 he was exiled and then lived in retirement until 1823, when
    he entered the Chamber of Deputies. He was made Peer of France
    and Marshal in 1831, and successfully opposed the outbreaks
    which took place at Paris in 1831 and 1834.

  LOBAU, wife of the foregoing. She was the daughter of Madame
    d'Arberg and sister-in-law of General Klein.

  LÖWENHIELM, Count Gustavus Charles Frederick of (1771-1856).
    Swedish diplomatist; Extraordinary Minister to the Congress of
    Vienna in 1815 and Swedish Minister in Austria in 1816. He held
    a corresponding post at Paris where he resided for thirty-eight
    years. He had a large fortune which he used very nobly.

  LÖWENHIELM, the Countess of (1783-1859). Fräulein von
    Schönburch-Wechselburg married as her first husband, in 1806,
    Count Gustavus of Düben, then the Swedish chargé d'Affaires at
    Vienna. In 1812 she was left a widow, and in 1826 married the
    Count of Löwenhielm, who had previously been the husband of a
    Baroness of Gur.

  LÖWE-WEIMAR, the Baron François Adolphe de (1801-1854). He
    belonged to a family of German Jews, but was converted to
    Christianity and came to Paris, where he made a name for himself
    in literature. M. Thiers entrusted him with a diplomatic mission
    in Russia. He was appointed Consul-General to Bagdad, where he
    distinguished himself in 1847 by his devotion during a cholera
    epidemic. Afterwards he was Consul-General at Caracas.

  LOGERE, M. de. Attaché to the French legation at Berlin.

  LOTTUM, Count Charles Henry of (1767-1841). Infantry General and
    Minister of State in Prussia under Frederick William III., and
    afterwards Minister of the Exchequer. He married Fräulein
    Frederica of Lamprecht.

  LOUIS-PHILIPPE I.* (1773-1849). King of the French from 1830-1848.

  LOUVEL, Louis Pierre (1783-1820). A working saddler whose
    political fanaticism led him, on February 13, 1820, as people
    were leaving the opera, to assassinate the Duc de Berry, son of
    Charles X., nephew of Louis XVIII., with the object of bringing
    the dynasty of the Bourbons to an end. He was condemned by the
    Court of Peers and executed.

  LOW COUNTRIES, Queen of the (1774-1837). Wilhelmina, daughter of
    King William II. of Prussia, and wife of King William I. of the
    Low Countries.

  LOW COUNTRIES, Princess Frederica of the* (1808-1870). By birth
    Princess Louise of Prussia and daughter of Frederick William
    III.

  LUCCA, the Duchess of (1803-1879). She was a daughter of the King
    of Sardinia and twin sister of the Empress Caroline of Austria,
    wife of the Emperor Ferdinand II.

  LUTTEROTH, Alexander of (1806-1882). Born at Leipzig, he served in
    the French diplomatic service during his youth. He married a
    Countess Batthyàny.

  LYNDHURST, Lord (1772-1864). An English politician of the Tory
    party. In three Cabinets he held the Great Seal, and occupied in
    succession the highest political posts in his country. His
    second wife was a Jewess, Mrs. Norton, for which reason he
    vigorously supported the Bill for the admission of Jews into
    Parliament.


M

  MACDONALD, Marshal Alexander (1765-1840). Born of an Irish
    family, he saw service in all the campaigns of the Republic and
    the Empire. In 1804 he was dismissed for defending Moreau and
    did not return to the service until 1809, when his
    distinguished conduct at Wagram gained him the title of the
    Duke of Tarentum. After the abdication of Napoleon I. he was
    appointed peer of France and Grand Chancellor of the Legion of
    Honour, a post which he held until 1831.

  MACDONALD, General Alexandre de (1824-1881). Duke of Tarentum.
    Only son of Marshal Macdonald and of Mlle. de Bourgoing, cousin
    of King Charles X. and of Madame la Dauphine. On the accession
    of Napoleon III. he became Chamberlain of the Emperor and Knight
    of the Legion of Honour. He was a Deputy in 1852, Senator in
    1869, and retired into private life in 1870.

  MAGON-LABALLUE DE BOISGARIN, Mlle. (1765-1834). She was born of a
    noble family who had become boat-builders, and married in 1779
    the Comte de Villefranche, of the house of Carignan. After his
    death she lived very quietly at Paris.

  MAHMUD II. (1785-1839). Sultan of the Ottoman Turks. He ascended
    the throne in 1808. His wars were the ruin of his empire, but
    his domestic administration was marked by great reforms; he
    introduced Western sciences and institutions, drilled his troops
    in European style, and guaranteed religious toleration by a
    firman of 1839.

  MAILLÉ, the Duc de (1770-1837). Charles François Armand de la
    Tour-Landry, Duc de Maillé, was before the Revolution first
    Gentleman of the Chamber of Monsieur; he became an _émigré_ with
    the Prince and held aloof from politics until the fall of the
    Empire. He took a large share in the Royalist movement of 1814,
    and resumed his former duties under King Louis XVIII., who made
    him a Peer of France. He refused to take the oath to the July
    monarchy,

  MAINTENON, the Marquise de* (1635-1719). Morganatic wife of King
    Louis XIV. and a famous educationist.

  MAISON, the Marshal* (1771-1840). Peer of France and French
    diplomatist, and member of several Cabinets.

  MAISON, wife of the foregoing, Marie Madeleine Françoise Weygold,
    was born in Prussia in 1776 and in 1796 married Marshal Maison,
    at that time Major.

  MALESHERBES, Chrétien Guillaume Lamoignon de (1721-1794). Son of
    Chancellor Lamoignon, he was a Minister with Turgot under Louis
    XVI.; he defended the King before the Convention, and died
    himself upon the scaffold. He was a member of the French
    Academy.

  MALTZAN, Count Mortimer of (1783-1843), First gentleman at the
    Prussian Court. Chamberlain and major and Minister
    Plenipotentiary to the Court of Vienna. He married a Countess of
    Golz.

  MANNAY, the Abbé Charles (1745-1824). He studied at St. Sulpice,
    where he distinguished himself. After his ordination as priest
    he became chief vicar and then canon of the cathedral of Rheims.
    When the Revolution broke out he retired to England and
    Scotland, and in 1802 was appointed Bishop of Trèves. He
    resigned in 1814 and returned to France, where, in 1817, he was
    appointed Bishop of Auxerre, and in 1820 of Rennes. He was a
    great friend of the Prince de Talleyrand.

  MARBEUF, the Marquise de (1765-1839). She married in 1784 the
    Comte, afterwards the Marquis de Marbeuf, gentleman of the
    chamber of the Comte de Provence and Field Marshal, afterwards
    Governor of Corsica. She was left a widow in 1786, and retired
    to the convent of the Sacré Cœur, where she took the veil.

  MARBOIS, the Marquis de Barbé* (1745-1837). French diplomatist and
    politician, for a long time president of the financial court.

  MARCHAND, Louis Joseph Narcisse (1791-1876). First Groom of the
    Chamber of the Emperor Napoleon I., whom he followed to St
    Helena. To him the Emperor dictated his "Summary of the Wars of
    Julius Cæsar," which Marchant published in 1836. On his deathbed
    Napoleon gave him the title of Comte, and then entrusted him
    with his will. On his return to France Marchand married, in
    1823, the daughter of General Brayer, and settled at Strasburg.
    In 1840 he was associated with the Prince de Joinville to bring
    back the remains of the Emperor from St. Helena, and was made
    Knight and afterwards Officer of the Legion of Honour.

  MARCHESI, Luigi (1755-1829). A famous Italian singer whose method
    became supreme in the musical art. His first appearance was at
    Rome in 1774. Every capital in Europe attempted to secure his
    presence, but in the theatre of his native town, Milan, he ended
    a career which had brought him both honour and riches.

  MARESCALCHI, the Comtesse de, died in 1846. She was the daughter
    of the Marquis de Pange and of Mlle. de Caraman.

  MAREUIL, the Comte Joseph Durand de* (1769-1855). French
    diplomatist.

  MARIA II., OR DOÑA MARIA DA GLORIA* (1819-1853). Queen of
    Portugal.

  MARIE AMÉLIE, the Queen* (1782-1866). Wife of Louis-Philippe, King
    of the French.

  MARIA CHRISTINA, the Queen (1806-1878.) Daughter of Francis I.,
    King of the Two Sicilies, she was the third wife of Ferdinand
    VII., King of Spain. In 1833 she became a widow and
    Queen-Regent, and in 1834 married Ferdinand Muñoz, officer in
    the Life Guards, who was made Duke of Rinanzares. After she had
    been obliged to leave the country and hand over the regency to
    Espartero, Duke of the Victoire, Queen Christina returned to
    Spain in 1843, and then governed in the name of her daughter,
    Isabella II. She was again exiled in 1854, withdrew to Paris,
    and lived there until her death.

  MARIE DE MEDICIS* (1573-1642). Wife of the King of France, Henry
    IV., and Regent during the minority of her son, Louis XIII.

  MARIE D'ORLÉANS, the Princess* (1813-1839). Daughter of King
    Louis-Philippe and wife of Prince Alexander of Würtemberg.

  MARIE LOUISE, Archduchess (1791-1847). By her marriage with
    Napoleon I. she became Empress, and after her husband fell she
    secured the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastella. After
    the Emperor's death she married the Count of Neipperg, by whom
    she had three children. Her third husband was the Count de
    Bombelles.

  MARIA THERESA, the Empress* (1717-1780). Empress of Austria and
    Queen of Hungary; wife of Francis of Lorraine.

  MARLBOROUGH, the Duchess of (1660-1744). Sarah Jennings married,
    about 1680, the famous English general, John Churchill,
    afterwards Duke of Marlborough. The Duchess of Marlborough was
    the favourite of Queen Anne, over whom she exerted great
    influence.

  MAROCHETTI, Baron Charles (1805-1867). Born at Turin. His father
    adopted the French nationality when he was ten years of age; he
    studied at the Lycée Napoleon at Paris. He studied sculpture in
    the studio of Bosio, pupil of Canova, and then spent eight years
    at Rome. He left a son, who resumed his Italian nationality,
    entered the diplomatic career, and was Ambassador at St.
    Petersburg.

  MARS, Mlle. Famous actress at the Comédie Française.

  MARTIN DU NORD, Nicolas Ferdinand Marie Louis Joseph* (1790-1847).
    Magistrate and French politician.

  MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA, François* (1789-1862). Spanish man of letters
    and politician.

  MASSA, the Duchesse de.* Born in 1792. Daughter of Marshal
    Macdonald.

  MASSIMO, Princess Christine. Died of cholera in 1837. Daughter of
    Prince Xavier of Saxony and of Countess Claire of Spinucci.

  MATHIEU, M. A French painter who gave lessons in drawing to the
    daughters of the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden.

  MATUSIEWICZ, Count Andrew Joseph* (1790-1842). Polish diplomatist
    in the Russian service.

  MAUSSION, the Baron Alfred de. At first, like his brother Adolphe,
    he entered the army and became an officer. He was a very
    intimate friend of the Montmorency family, being a distant
    relation, and was also well known to the Dosne family. He became
    the friend of M. Thiers, who appointed him consul at Rostock.

  MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN, the Grand Duchess of (1771-1871). Augusta,
    Princess of Hesse-Homburg, third wife of the Hereditary Grand
    Duke Frederick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whom she married in
    1818, and who died before his father in 1819. The Grand Duchess
    was also the step-mother of the Duchesse d'Orléans.

  MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN, the Princess Helena (1814-1858). She
    married, in 1837, the Duc d'Orléans, by whom she had two
    children, the Comte de Paris and the Duc de Chartres. She became
    a widow in 1842. She was the daughter of the second marriage of
    the Hereditary Grand Duke Frederick of Mecklenburg, who died in
    1819, with a Princess of Saxe-Weimar.

  MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ, the Grand Duke of (1779-1860). He succeeded
    his father, the Grand Duke Charles, in 1816, and married, in
    1817, a Princess of Hesse Cassel. He was brother to Queen Louise
    of Prussia.

  MEDEM, Count Paul* (1800-1854). A Russian diplomatist, cousin of
    the Duchess de Dino.

  MEDICIS, Lorenzo de, known as the Magnificent (1448-1492). A
    patron of arts and letters, he honoured with his friendship and
    his kindness Pico della Mirandola, Angelo Poliziano, and Michael
    Angelo, by whom his mausoleum at Florence was designed.

  MEHEMET ALI (1769-1849). Viceroy of Egypt. He began life as a
    merchant, became a soldier and fought against the French in
    1799. In 1806 he was able to drive out the Governor of Egypt and
    proclaim himself Viceroy. As the Mameluks would not cease their
    revolts, he had them massacred throughout Egypt on March 1,
    1811. In his two wars against the Porte, in 1832 and 1839, his
    lieutenant was his son Ibrahim, whose victory of Nezib laid the
    Sultan at his mercy. A European coalition in which France
    declined to take part, deprived him of the fruits of this
    victory, but for himself and his descendants he secured the
    Governorship of Egypt under the sovereignty of the Porte. He
    introduced great reforms into his country.

  MELBOURNE, William Lamb, Lord* (1779-1848). English politician,
    brother of Lady Palmerston.

  MÉRODE, the Comte Werner de (1816-1905). He married in 1843 his
    cousin Mlle. Thérèse de Mérode.

  METTERNICH, Prince* (1773-1859). Austrian diplomatist and
    statesman.

  METTERNICH, Princess Melanie of (1805-1854). Third wife of Prince
    Metternich and daughter of Count Francis of Zichy-Ferraris.

  MEUNIER. In 1836 was found guilty of complicity with Lavau, who
    had attempted to assassinate Louis-Philippe. He was a saddler
    and a benefactor of Lavau.

  MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI (1475-1564). Famous Italian painter,
    sculptor and architect. The most learned and profound of
    draughtsmen, he became architect of the Basilica of St. Peter at
    Rome after the death of Bramante, and built the sublime cupola
    which is its chief glory.

  MIRAFLORES, the Marquis de* (1792-1867). Spanish diplomatist and
    man of letters.

  MOIRA, Lord (1808-1843). Eldest son of the first Marquis of
    Hastings. He was Chamberlain in 1830 to King William IV. of
    England.

  MOLÉ, the Comte Mathieu* (1788-1855). French politician of an old
    parliamentary family.

  MOLÉ, the Comtesse.* Died in 1845. _Née_ Mlle. de la Briche.

  MOLITOR, Marshal, Comte (1770-1849). He served throughout the wars
    of the Revolution and the Empire; was exiled at the Second
    Restoration and recalled in 1818 to his duties as
    Inspector-General. He commanded the second Army Corps during the
    Spanish War in 1823 and was then made Marshal and Peer of
    France. Under the July government, he was governor of the
    Invalides and Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour.

  MOLLIEN, the Comtesse* (1785-1878). Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Marie
    Amélie.

  MONTALEMBERT, the Comte Charles de (1810-1870). French publicist
    and politician. One of the most brilliant defenders of Liberal
    Catholicism.

  MONTALIVET, the Comte de (1801-1880). A pupil of the Polytechnic
    School, he afterwards sat in the Chamber of Peers among the
    Liberals. Louis-Philippe appointed him Minister of the Interior
    in 1830 and afterwards Minister of Education and Public Worship.
    As the supervisor of the civil list he founded the museum of
    Versailles, increased the museum of the Louvre, and restored the
    palaces of Fontainebleau, Saint-Cloud, Trianon and Pau. He
    entered the Academy of Fine Arts in 1840. The events of 1848
    sent him back to private life.

  MONTBRETON, Madame de. Clémence Marie de Nicolaï, daughter of the
    Marquis and Marquise Scipion de Nicolaï, whose name appears in
    the Lafarge trial.

  MONTEBELLO, Napoléon Auguste Lannes de (1801-1874). Son of the
    famous marshal. Diplomatist and French Minister; he was made a
    Peer of France at the age of fourteen by King Louis XVIII. He
    supported the July monarchy and afterwards the Empire.

  MONTENON, M. de. A young man of La Creuse who was a constant
    visitor at the Castle of Valençay.

  MONTESQUIOU, the Comtesse Anatole de, born in 1794. Elodie,
    daughter of the Comte Henri de Montesquiou-Fezensac de
    Bacquencourt, married her cousin-german in 1809, who was
    aide-de-camp to Napoleon I. and afterwards Peer of France. She
    was the first lady at the Court of the Duchesse d'Orléans.

  MONTESSUY, the Comte de. A French diplomatist who acted as French
    Minister at Hanover in 1849, at Parma in 1855, at Darmstadt and
    at Frankfort from 1855 to 1858. He married a daughter of Prince
    Paul of Würtemberg by a morganatic marriage.

  MONTFORT, Mlle. de (1820-1904). The Princess Mathilde, daughter of
    Jerome, King of Westphalia, and of Catherine, Princess of
    Würtemberg. She married in 1841 the Comte Anatole Demidoff,
    Prince de San Donato.

  MONTMORENCY, the Duchesse de* (1774-1846). _Née_ Mlle. de
    Matignon. She was the mother of Baron Raoul de Montmorency, of
    the Princesse de Beauffremont Courtenay, and of the Duchesse de
    Valençay.

  MONTMORENCY, Raoul, Baron de* (1790-1862). He took the title of
    Duc on his father's death in 1846.

  MONTMORENCY, the Duchesse Mathieu de. Died in 1858. Hortense de
    Chevreuse-Luynes had married Mathieu de Montmorency-Laval. Her
    only daughter was the first wife of the Duc Sosthène de la
    Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville.

  MONTPENSIER, the Duchesse de* (1627-1693). Known under the name of
    _la Grande Mademoiselle_; she was the daughter of Duc Gaston
    d'Orléans.

  MONTROND, the Comte Casimir de.* Friend of M. de Talleyrand and
    sometimes entrusted with unimportant diplomatic missions.

  MORTEMART, Arthur de. Only son of the Duc de Mortemart who died
    from injuries received by a fall from his horse in October 1840.

  MOTTEVILLE, Mme. de (1621-1689). Françoise Bertaut married in 1639
    Nicolas Langlois, Seigneur de Motteville, who died in 1641. On
    the death of Louis XIII. in 1643, Anne of Austria called Mme. de
    Motteville to her Court, and admitted her to her intimacy. Mme.
    de Motteville left very interesting memoirs behind her.

  MOUNIER, Baron Claude Philippe Edouard (1784-1843). Auditor to the
    Council of State under the Empire, then Governor of Saxe-Weimar
    and afterwards of Lower Silesia. In 1809 he received the title
    of Baron, and in 1813 the post of Overseer of the Crown
    Buildings. Louis XVIII. confirmed him in this position and made
    him a Peer in 1819. He retained his seat in the Chamber of Peers
    and showed much talent in many discussions.

  MUÑOZ, Fernando (1810-1873). Of lowly parentage, he entered the
    Spanish Army at an early age and became a Life Guard. Queen
    Christina fell violently in love with him and contracted a
    morganatic marriage with him three months after the death of
    Ferdinand VII. Muñoz showed no ambition and only consented to
    become Duke of Rianzares, noble of Spain and knight of the
    Golden Fleece.

  MUNSTER, Lord (1794-1842). George Fitz-Clarence, natural son of
    King William IV. and Mrs. Jordan. He entered the army at a very
    early age and became Major-General, member of the Privy Council,
    aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria and received the title of Lord
    Munster.

  MURAT, Mme. (1782-1839). Caroline Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon I.
    She married General Murat in 1800. In 1806 she was Grand Duchess
    of Berg and Queen of Naples in 1808. She became a widow in 1815
    and then retired to Austria and afterwards to Florence where she
    died.


N

  NAPIER, Sir Charles (1786-1860). A Naval Captain in 1810, he went
    through the Portugal Campaign. In 1815 he was placed on the
    retired list, but in 1829 he entered the service of Dom Pedro
    of Portugal with successful results. On his return to England
    he was elected member of the House of Commons in 1834,
    appointed Commodore in 1839, Rear-Admiral in 1846, and
    Vice-Admiral in 1853. In 1840 he supported the Turkish Fleet
    during the Syrian Expedition; but in 1853 he was less fortunate
    and failed before Cronstadt.

  NAPLES, the King of (1811-1859). Ferdinand II.,* son of King
    Francis I. and of Isabella of Spain.

  NAPLES, the Queen of (1812-1836). Maria Christina, daughter of the
    King of Sardinia, Victor Emanuel I. She married King Ferdinand
    II. in 1832.

  NAPLES, Prince Charles Ferdinand of (1811-1862). Brother of the
    Count of Syracuse and morganatic husband of Miss Penelope Smith,
    by whom he had two children. His son bore the title of Count
    Mascali.

  NAPLES, Prince Leopold of (1813-1860). (_See_ Syracuse, Count of.)

  NEALE, the Countess Pauline (1779-1869). Of an Irish family which
    had been settled in Prussia for several generations. The
    Countess Neale was lady of honour to Princess Louise of Prussia
    and married Prince Antoine Radziwill in 1795.

  NEIGRE, the Baron (1774-1847). He enlisted as a volunteer in 1790,
    and had a brilliant career in the wars of the First Empire. In
    1813 he was general of division; afterwards he supported the
    Bourbons, took part in the siege of Antwerp and held a seat in
    the Chamber of Peers until his death.

  NEIPPERG, Count Alfred of (1807-1865). Austrian Chamberlain and
    Major-General in the army of Würtemberg. He married as his
    second wife in 1840 Princess Maria of Würtemberg.

  NEMOURS, the Duchesse de (1625-1701). Marie d'Orléans, wife of
    Henry II., Duc de Savoie-Nemours, her cousin. In 1690 she
    obtained the Principality of Neuchâtel. She has left graceful
    and lively memoirs of her life.

  NEMOURS, the Duc de* (1814-1896). Second son of King
    Louis-Philippe.

  NESSELRODE, Count* (1780-1862). Russian diplomatist and afterwards
    Imperial Chancellor of Russia.

  NESSELRODE, Countess, died in 1849. She was the daughter of Count
    Gourieff, who was Russian Financial Minister.

  NEUMANN, Baron. Austrian diplomatist who married the daughter of
    the Duke of Beaufort, in England.

  NEY, the wife of the Marshal. Duchesse d'Elchingen, Princesse de
    la Moskowa. _Née_ Aglaé Louise de Lascans, she had married
    Marshal Ney in 1802. Her mother had held a court post under
    Queen Marie Antoinette which had brought her daughter into
    connection with the Dauphine during their youth.

  NICOLAÏ, the Marquise Scipion de, _née_ Lameth. She was the mother
    of Madame de Léautaud and Madame de Montbreton, who were
    implicated in the charge of diamond-stealing which arose in the
    Lafarge trial.

  NICOLE, Pierre (1625-1695). Moralist, theologian and
    controversialist, one of the most remarkable writers of Port
    Royal where he lectured upon literature. With Arnaud and Pascal
    he wrote against the Jesuits and was involved in the
    prosecutions directed against the Jansenists. He was obliged to
    leave France in 1679 and could only return through the
    intervention of Mgr. du Harlay, Archbishop of Paris.

  NINA LASSAVE. Daughter of Laurence Petit for whom Fieschi had
    conceived an ardent passion in his prison at Embrun. Nina, who
    was fifteen years of age, had been left to Fieschi by Laurence.

  NOAILLES, the Duc Paul de* (1802-1885). At the age of twenty he
    succeeded to the peerage on the death of his great-uncle, the
    Duc Jean de Noailles.

  NOAILLES, the Vicountesse de* (1792-1851). Daughter of the Duc de
    Poix, she married her cousin the Vicomte Alfred de Noailles.

  NOAILLES, the Comte Maurice de. Born in 1808, he married in 1842
    his cousin Mlle. Pauline de Noailles, daughter of the Duc de
    Noailles.

  NORTON, Mrs., born in 1808. Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton was
    the granddaughter of Sheridan. Her intimacy with Lord Melbourne
    was notorious and her husband began a suit against her for
    divorce in 1836, which caused much stir. The jury acquitted Lord
    Melbourne, notwithstanding the strong presumption against him.
    Mrs. Norton was separated from her husband and acquired a
    certain notoriety in English literature by her novels and
    newspaper articles.


O

  O'CONNELL, Daniel* (1775-1847). Patriot and Irish agitator.

  O'CONNELL, Maurice. Died in 1853. Eldest son of Daniel O'Connell,
    whose policy he continued in the House of Commons.

  OFFALIA, the Comte d' (1777-1843). Spanish statesman. At first he
    was secretary to the embassy in Washington in 1800; in 1823 he
    became Minister of Justice; Ambassador at Paris in 1828;
    Minister of the Interior in 1832; head of the Cabinet and
    Foreign Minister in 1837.

  OLLIVIER, l'Abbé Nicolas Théodore. Born in 1798. Priest of
    Saint-Roch at Paris, he was appointed Bishop of Evreux in 1841.

  OMPTEDA, the Baroness* (1767-1843). _Née_ the Countess of
    Schlippenbach.

  ORANGE, Prince William of* (1793-1849). He ascended the throne of
    Holland in 1840.

  ORANGE, Princess of.* By birth Anne Paulowna, daughter of the
    Emperor Paul of Russia.

  ORIE, Dr. Doctor of Bourgueil in Touraine. He died suddenly on the
    road between Benais and Bourgueil. On the spot where he expired
    a column has been raised with this inscription: "On this spot
    died Dr. Orie, July 14, 1846."

  ORLEANS, the Duc d'* (1741-1793). Louis Philippe Joseph, called
    _Philippe Egalité_. He died on the scaffold of the Revolution.

  ORLEANS, the Duc d'* (1810-1842). Ferdinand, eldest son of King
    Louis-Philippe and Crown Prince.

  ORLOFF, Count (1781-1861). Alexis Fedorowitch, took part in all
    the wars against Napoleon I. and entered the Russian diplomatic
    service in 1828.


P

  PAHLEN, Count.* Born in 1775. A Russian diplomatist and
    Ambassador at Paris.

  PALATINE, the Princess (1616-1684). Anne of Gonzague married
    Edward, Count Palatine, son of the Palatine Elector, Frederic V.
    and settled at Paris, where she was the ornament of the Court of
    Anne of Austria through her beauty and her wit. After a life of
    pleasure and political intrigue she suffered an overthrow by
    the influence of Mazarin and spent her last days in retirement.
    On her death Bossuet delivered a funeral oration upon her, one
    of the most remarkable that he composed.

  PALFFY the Princess. Born in 1774. Daughter of the Count of
    Hohenfeld and wife of Prince Joseph Palffy. She died in 1827.

  PALMELLA, the Duchess of. A descendant of Vasco di Gama, she had
    married Dom Pedro de Souza Holstein, Duke of Palmella, a
    Portuguese statesman.

  PALMERSTON, Lord* (1784-1865). English politician; for a long time
    Foreign Minister.

  PALMYRE, Madame.* A clever Parisian dressmaker.

  PARIS, the Comte de (1838-1894). Eldest son of the Duc d'Orléans
    and Princess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. After the death of
    the Comte de Chambord he became the head of the French house.

  PASCAL, Blaise (1623-1662). One of the greatest and most noble
    geniuses of the seventeenth century; a mathematician, physicist
    and philosopher. A quarrel between the Jansenists and the
    Jesuits gave him the opportunity of showing himself the most
    powerful writer in Port Royal.

  PASQUIER, Duc Etienne* (1767-1862). Politician and Peer of France.
    Appointed Chancellor in 1837.

  PASSY, Hippolyte Philibert* (1793-1880). French politician, deputy
    and member of the Institute.

  PEAN. One of the footmen of the Prince de Talleyrand.

  PEEL, Sir Robert* (1788-1850). English statesman and member of
    several Cabinets.

  PEMBROKE, Lady Catherine. Only daughter of Count Woronzoff,
    married in 1808, George Augustus, Lord Pembroke, who died in
    1827.

  PENELOPE SMITH, Miss (1815-1882). Morganatic wife of Prince
    Charles of Naples, Count of Capua. Victor Emanuel recognised her
    possession of this title.

  PEPIN* (1780-1836). Grocer and accomplice of Fieschi, with whom he
    was executed.

  PÉRIGORD, the Comte Paul de (1811-1880). Paul Adalbert René de
    Talleyrand-Périgord, husband of Mlle. Amicide de Saint-Aignan,
    who died in 1854.

  PÉRIGORD, Mlle. Pauline de* (1820-1890). Daughter of the Duchesse
    de Dino. She married the Marquis Henri de Castellane in 1839.

  PÉRIGORD, Boson de (1832). Eldest son of the Duc de Valençay by
    his first wife, Mlle. de Montmorency. He afterwards bore the
    title of Duc de Talleyrand and de Sagan.

  PERPONCHER, the Comte Henri de (1771-1856). Infantry General in
    Holland. He became Minister of the Low Countries at the Court of
    Frederick William III.

  PERPONCHER, the Comtesse de. Died in 1861. Adélaïde, Countess of
    Reede, married in 1816, Comte Henri de Perponcher.

  PERREGEAUX, the Comte de (1785-1841). After acting as auditor to
    the Council of State, he occupied certain administrative posts
    under the Empire. At the Restoration he was set aside, but King
    Louis-Philippe made him a Peer of France in 1831.

  PETETOT, the Abbé Louis Pierre (1801-1887). General Superior of
    the Order of the Oratoire, he was first priest of Saint Louis
    d'Antin and of Saint Roch, and administered the affairs of the
    Order for more than twenty years, resigning in 1884.

  PEYRONNET, the Comte de (1778-1854). An _émigré_ during the
    Revolution and the Empire, he was elected deputy under the
    Restoration and joined the ultra party; as Minister of Justice
    under M. de Villèle, he supported every retrograde measure. In
    1829 he became Minister of the Interior under the Polignac
    Ministry and helped to draw up the ordinances which provoked the
    July Revolution. He was arrested and tried by the Court of Peers
    and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. He spent six years at
    the Fort of Ham, was then pardoned, after which he lived in
    complete retirement at his estate of Montferrand near Bordeaux.

  PIATOLI, the Abbé Scipion (1750-1809). Born at Florence, he took
    orders. Princess Lubomirska, _née_ Czartoryska, who was
    travelling in Italy, appointed him tutor to her nephew, Prince
    Henry Lubomirski. The Abbé came with her to Poland in 1787, and
    Count Ignatius Potocki, who was struck with his capacity,
    secured him the post of Secretary to King Stanislas Augustus.
    The Abbé Piatoli persuaded the King to join the Polish patriotic
    party himself and drew up the Constitution of May 3, 1791, after
    taking the chief share in discussion upon it. After the second
    partition of Poland he left the country and became tutor to the
    household of Princess Dorothea of Courlande. Afterwards, through
    the good offices of Prince Adam Czartoryski, he obtained a post
    in the service of Russia. Very learned, with a powerful
    imagination and lofty ideas, he was strongly imbued with the
    principles of Voltaire.

  PIUS VII., Pope (1740-1823). Barbé Chiaramonti, a Benedictine
    monk, and Bishop of Tivoli, received the purple with the
    bishopric of Imola in 1795, and was elected Pope in 1800. He
    reorganised his papal states, signed a Concordat with Napoleon,
    and came to Paris to crown him as Emperor in 1804. Seven years
    afterwards, having refused to drive out the enemies of France,
    he saw his states invaded and his provinces were united to the
    French Empire. As he had excommunicated the French Emperor he
    was forced to undergo a rigorous confinement at Fontainebleau.
    The Congress of Vienna restored his possessions in 1814, and he
    returned to them. He was so generous as to grant a refuge in
    Rome to several members of the family of the deposed Emperor.

  PIMODAN, the Marquis de. Born in 1789. Camille de Rarécourt de la
    Vallée Marquis de Pimodan, cavalry captain and honorary
    gentleman of the Chamber to King Charles X., and knight of the
    Legion of Honour. He married Mlle. de Frénilly in 1819.

  PISCATORY, Théobald-Emile (1799-1870). He went to Greece under the
    Restoration to support the cause of independence. In 1832 he was
    elected deputy and afterwards voted with the Conservative
    majority. From 1844 to 1846 he was Plenipotentiary Minister in
    Greece and cleverly counteracted English influence. In 1846 he
    was made Peer of France and in 1847 Spanish Ambassador. He
    abandoned political life after the coup d'état of 1851.

  PLAISANCE, the Duchesse de (1786-1854). Marie Anne Sophie,
    daughter of the Marquis of Barbé Marbois, married Lebrun, Duc de
    Plaisance. Witty and somewhat foreign in manner, she left France
    at an early age for Greece, where she died.

  PLESSEN, Herr von. Died in 1837. In 1832 he was Minister of the
    Privy Council of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, and negotiated
    the marriage of Princess Helena with the Duc d'Orléans.

  POLIGNAC, Prince Jules de* (1780-1847). A Minister of Charles X.
    He signed the July Ordinances and was condemned by the Court of
    Peers, but released after the amnesty of 1837.

  POLIGNAC, the Princesse de (1792-1864). Charlotte Parkyns,
    daughter of Lord Radcliffe, married as her first husband the
    Marquis de Choiseul and as her second, in 1821, Prince Jules de
    Polignac.

  POMPONNE, the Marquis of (1618-1699). Simon Arnauld, Marquis de
    Pomponne, son of Arnauld d'Andilly; King's Councillor in 1644,
    he fell into disgrace with Fouquet, and was relegated to Verdun
    in 1662. Three years later he returned to favour, and was sent
    to Stockholm as Ambassador; afterwards the King appointed him
    Minister of Foreign Affairs, and under his administration the
    glorious peace of Nimwegen was signed. He again fell into
    disfavour and did not return to office until after the death of
    Louvois.

  PONSONBY, Lord* (1770-1855). English Ambassador at Constantinople
    from 1822 to 1827.

  PONTOIS, Comte Charles Edouard de (1792-1871). A French
    diplomatist under Louis-Philippe; he was Plenipotentiary
    Minister of France in Brazil and then in the United States;
    afterwards he was French Ambassador at Constantinople. In 1846
    he entered the Chamber of Peers.

  POTEMKIN, Ivan Alexiewitch (1778-1849). A Russian diplomatist and
    privy councillor. He was appointed Ambassador at Rome in 1840
    and died at Naples.

  POZZO DI BORGO, Count (1764-1842). A Corsican by birth, he was a
    diplomatist in the service of Russia, and well known as
    Ambassador at Paris.

  PRASLIN, Marquis Charles Hughes Théobald de (1805-1847). He took
    the title of Duc on his father's death; became Knight of Honour
    to the Duchess d'Orléans in 1837; was a member of the Chamber of
    Deputies from 1839 to 1842, and was raised to the Peerage in
    1845. In 1824 he married the daughter of Marshal Sébastiani.
    Both came to a tragic end in 1847, as M. de Praslin killed his
    wife in a fit of madness and then committed suicide.

  PREISSAC, Comte François Jean de (1778-1852). Prefect of the
    Gironde and Peer of France in 1832. He married Mlle. de
    Francfort, daughter of a retired Colonel of a Royal Cavalry
    Regiment.

  PRIMATE OF FRANKFORT, Prince Charles of Dalberg (1744-1817). He
    took orders and became Privy Councillor in 1772 of the Elector
    of Mayence, then Governor of Erfurth and coadjutor to the
    Archbishop of Mayence, whom he succeeded in 1802. In 1806 he
    became Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine,
    Sovereign Prince of Ratisbon and Grand Duke of Fulda. Charles of
    Dalberg solemnised at Frankfort in April 1810 the marriage of
    the Princess of Courlande with the Comte Edmond de Périgord,
    afterwards Duc de Dino, and after his father's death Duc de
    Talleyrand.

  PRUSSIA, Prince Frederick of (1794-1863). Only son of Prince
    Ludwig of Prussia and of Princess Frederica of
    Mecklenburg-Strelitz, sister of Queen Louise.

  PRUSSIA, Princess Frederick of (1799-1882). Daughter of the Duke
    of Anhalt Bernbourg, she had married Prince Frederick in 1817.

  PRUSSIA, Princess William of (1785-1846). Amelie Marianne,
    daughter of the Landgrave Ludwig of Hesse-Homburg, married, in
    1804, Prince William of Prussia, brother of Frederick William
    III.

  PRUSSIA, Prince William of (1797-1888). Second son of King
    Frederick William III. As his elder brother had no children, he
    assumed the title of Prince of Prussia in 1840, when Frederick
    William IV. came to the throne. He succeeded the latter as King
    in 1861, and in 1870 became the first Emperor of Germany of the
    House of Hohenzollern.

  PRUSSIA, Princess William of (1816-1890). Princess Augusta of
    Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach married, in 1829, Prince William, son of
    Frederick William III. She afterwards became the Empress
    Augusta.

  PRUSSIA, Prince Charles of (1801-1883). Third son of King
    Frederick William III. and of Queen Louise.

  PRUSSIA, Princess Charles of (1808-1877). Marie, daughter of the
    Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, married Prince Charles of Prussia in
    1827.

  PRUSSIA, Prince Albert of (1809-1872). Fourth son of King
    Frederick William IV., he married, in 1830, Princess Marianne of
    the Low Countries, whom he divorced in 1849. In 1853 he
    contracted a morganatic marriage with Fräulein von Rauch, who
    was given the title of Countess of Hohenau.

  PRUSSIA, Princess Albert of (1810-1883). Marianne, daughter of the
    King of the Low Countries, married, in 1830, Prince Albert of
    Prussia, the youngest son of Frederick William III., by whom she
    had two children. On her divorce in 1849 she left the Prussian
    court.

  PRUSSIA, Prince Adalbert of (1811-1837). Son of Prince William of
    Prussia, brother of Frederick William III. and of the Princess
    of Hesse-Homburg. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Prussian
    Navy. He contracted a morganatic marriage in 1850 with Therese
    Elssler, who received the title of Baroness of Barnim.

  PRUSSIA, Princess Marie of (1825-1889). Sister of the foregoing.
    In 1842 she married the Crown Prince of Bavaria, who became King
    in 1848 under the name of Maximilian II., and died in 1864.

  PÜCKLER, Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich (1795-1871). An officer in
    the Life Guards at Dresden in 1804; he entered the Russian
    service, in which he remained from 1813 to 1815, and married in
    1817 the daughter of Prince Hardenburg, from whom he separated
    in 1826. In 1863 he became a Member of the House of Lords in
    Prussia. He travelled a great deal, and was a lover of parks and
    gardens.

  PÜCKLER, Princess (1776-1854). Princess Anna Hardenberg married
    the Count of Pappenheim as her first husband in 1796. In 1817
    she divorced him to marry Prince Hermann Pückler, from whom she
    separated in 1826.

  PUTUS, Count Malte (1807-1837). Attaché to the Prussian Legation
    at Naples. He died of consumption. His sister was the Countess
    Lottum.


Q

  QUATREMÈRE DE QUINCY, Antoine Chrysostome (1755-1849). At an
    early age he devoted himself to the study of antiquity and art,
    and produced important works on these subjects. He was Deputy
    at Paris to the Legislative Assembly of 1791; member of the
    Council of the Five Hundred in 1797; theatrical censor in
    1815; Professor of Archæology in 1818; and he was a member of
    the Academy of Inscriptions and Literature and of the Academy
    of Fine Arts.

  QUÉLEN, Mgr. de,* (1778-1839). Coadjutor to the Cardinal de
    Talleyrand Périgord, whom he succeeded as Archbishop of Paris in
    1821.


R

  RACHEL, Mlle. (1820-1858). A great tragic actress. She was the
    daughter of a poor Jewish pedlar called Felix. After a youth
    spent in poverty she entered the Conservatoire, made her first
    appearance at the Gymnase, and was admitted in 1838 to the
    Théâtre Français, where she gave an admirable exposition of the
    finest parts of Corneille and Racine. In 1856 she undertook a
    tour in America and contracted a pulmonary disease, of which
    she soon died.

  RACZYNSKI, Count Athanasius (1788-1874). A diplomatist in the
    Prussian service. For several years he was Minister at Lisbon
    and Madrid, showing the utmost unselfishness and never drawing
    his salary. The money thus accumulated is now in the hands of
    the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is of the greatest service
    to diplomatists in distress. Count Raczynski was a very wealthy
    man, and made a fine collection of pictures, which he bequeathed
    to the Crown. He wrote several books upon art; his political
    correspondence has also been published. In 1816 he married
    Princess Anna Radziwill. He was a member of the House of Lords
    and a Privy Councillor.

  RADZIWILL, Princess Louise (1770-1836). Daughter of Prince
    Ferdinand of Prussia, youngest brother of Frederick the Great.
    She married Prince Antoine Radziwill in 1796.

  RADZIWILL, Prince William (1797-1870). An infantry general in the
    service of Prussia, he commanded in succession several army
    corps, and was a member of the House of Lords. His first wife,
    whom he married in 1825, was his cousin Helene Radziwill, who
    died in 1827. In 1832 he married the Countess Matilda Clary. He
    was the eldest son of Prince Antoine Radziwill and of Princess
    Louise of Prussia.

  RADZIWILL, Princess William (1806-1896). Matilda, daughter of
    Prince Charles Clary-Aldringen and of the Countess Louisa
    Chotek, married Prince William Radziwill in 1832.

  RADZIWILL, Princess Boguslaw (1811-1890). Léontine, third daughter
    of Prince Charles Clary, married, in 1832, Prince Boguslaw
    Radziwill, youngest son of Prince Antoine Radziwill.

  RANTZAU, the Comte Josias de (1609-1650). He entered the French
    service in 1635 under King Louis XIII., having previously served
    the Prince of Orange, Christian IV., King of Denmark, Gustavus
    Adolphus, and the Emperor Ferdinand II. He was Marshal of
    France.

  RANTZAU, Count Antony of (1793-1849). Chamberlain and captain in
    the service of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

  RAQUENA, the Count of (1821-1878). Son of the Duke of Rocca, he
    bore this title after his father's death. He was a Spanish
    artillery officer, and afterwards served in the Royal Halberdier
    Corps and died with the rank of general. He was a great lord, a
    great gambler, and led a most adventurous life.

  RATISBONNE, the Abbé Marie Théodore (1802-1884). Son of a Jewish
    banker of Strasburg, he had just concluded his study of the law
    when he was converted to Catholicism and took Orders. He was
    known as a writer and a preacher, and founded the congregation
    of Notre Dame of Sion.

  RATISBONNE, Alphonse (1812-1884). Brother of Théodore Ratisbonne.
    He was also converted to Catholicism and entered the
    congregation of Notre Dame of Sion, founded by his brother.

  RAUCH, Christian Daniel (1777-1857). A famous Prussian sculptor.
    He went to Rome in 1804 for study, returned to Berlin in 1811,
    where he was greatly patronised by the Court.

  RAULLIN, M. French Councillor of State.

  RAVIGNAN, the Abbé de (1795-1858). Born at Bayonne, he began his
    career in the magistracy. In obedience to a call he then left
    the world, entered the Jesuit seminary, and afterwards the
    Jesuit Order. He was distinguished for his lofty morality and
    his power as a preacher. He delivered the funeral oration of
    Monseigneur de Quélen, Archbishop of Paris.

  RAYNEVAL, Maximilian de (1778-1836). A French diplomatist who
    received the title of Comte and the peerage for his services.

  RAZUMOWSKI, the Countess. She was born Princess Wiasemski.

  RÉCAMIER, Madame* (1777-1849). Famous for her beauty and for the
    deep friendship which united her with the greatest literary
    personalities of her time, in particular with Chateaubriand.

  RECKE, the Baroness of (1754-1833). Elizabeth Charlotte, Countess
    of Medem, sister of the Duchess of Courlande, married, in 1774,
    the Baron of Recke. She was divorced from him in 1776 and lost
    her only daughter in the following year. She travelled a great
    deal in Italy and Germany, and was in connection with all the
    literary men of her age. She was herself the author of several
    works.

  REDERN, the Countess of (1772-1842). Wilhelmina of Otterstaedt
    married Count Wilhelm Jacob of Redern and had two sons, William
    and Henry.

  REDERN, Count William of (1802-1880). A great Prussian landowner,
    a member of the House of Lords, and afterwards High Chamberlain
    at the Court of the Emperor William I.

  REDERN, the Countess of (1811-1875). Bertha Ienisz, daughter of a
    Senator of Hamburg, married, in 1834, Count William of Redern.
    She had only one daughter, who died when a minor.

  REEDE, the Countess of (1769-1847); _née_ Krusemacht, daughter and
    sister of two Prussian generals of that name. In 1823, when the
    Crown Prince of Prussia was married, she was appointed chief
    lady at the Court of the Crown Princess.

  REINHARD, Count Charles Frederick (1761-1837). Born at Würtemberg,
    he studied at the University of Tübingen and knew Goethe. He
    entered the French diplomatic service in 1792 and was
    Plenipotentiary Minister at Florence in 1797, and in 1799
    replaced the Prince de Talleyrand at the Ministry of Foreign
    Affairs. He was made a Peer of France in 1832, after having been
    made Count in 1814. He was a Member of the Academy of
    Inscriptions and Literature and of the Academy of Moral and
    Political Science.

  REUILLY, M. A lawyer, Mayor of Versailles, and Knight of the
    Legion of Honour. In 1840 he was Deputy for Seine-et-Oise, and
    was member of the Constituent Assembly in 1848.

  RÉMUSAT, Comte Charles de* (1797-1875). French writer and
    politician.

  RETZ, the Cardinal de* (1614-1679). He played a great part during
    the Fronde and left some remarkable memoirs.

  REUSS-SCHLEITZ-KOESTRITZ, Prince Henry LXIV. (1787-1856). General
    and Field Marshal in the service of Austria and divisional
    commander at Prague. He led the 7th regiment of Hussars.

  RUESS-SCHLEITZ, Princess Sophie Adelaide. Born in 1800; daughter
    of Prince Henri LI. of Reuss-Ebersdorff.

  RIBEAUPIERRE, Count Alexandre de (1785-1865). Born of a family of
    French Switzerland. His grandfather went to Russia in the suite
    of the Princess Sophie of Zerbst, afterwards Catherine II. His
    father had married the sister of General Bibikoff; he was
    Major-General when he died at the siege of Ismail. Alexandre de
    Ribeaupierre devoted himself to diplomacy, and became Russian
    Minister at Constantinople and Berlin. He was made a Count in
    1856 and married Mlle. Potemkin.

  RICHELIEU, the Duc de (1696-1788). Marshal of France and a
    brilliant figure at the Court of Louis XIV. and XV. In 1720 he
    entered the French Academy and became a friend of Voltaire. On
    the female side he was a great-great-nephew of the Cardinal,
    godson of Louis XIV. and of the Duchesse de Bourgogne. He first
    saw service under Villars. While Ambassador at Vienna he showed
    dexterity in arranging an agreement between France and Austria.
    After some military exploits in Germany during the Seven Years
    War, he spent the remainder of his life in intrigue and
    pleasures.

  RIGNY, Comte Henri-Gauthier de* (1783-1835). French admiral.
    Several times Minister and Ambassador at Naples.

  RIGNY, Vicomte Alexandre de (1790-1873). Son of a cavalry officer
    and of the sister of the Abbé Louis, he left the military school
    at Fontainebleau in 1807, and took part in the campaigns of
    Prussia, Poland, Austria, and Spain. As field-marshal in 1830,
    he joined the first expedition to Constantinople in 1836, and
    though he displayed incontestable bravery during the retreat,
    the gravest charges were brought against him by General Clausel.
    The Council of War unanimously acquitted him in 1837, but he was
    relegated to the command of the subdivision of the Indre until
    1848 and placed on the retired list in 1849.

  RIGNY, Mlle. Auguste de. She was the daughter of General de Rigny
    and heiress of her uncle, Baron Louis.

  RIVERS, Lady, died in 1866. Susan Georgiana Leveson Gower,
    daughter of Lord Granville. She married in 1833 George Pitt,
    Lord Rivers.

  ROHAN, the Duc de (1789-1869). Fernand de Rohan Chabot followed
    his father into exile while a child. He then returned to France
    and entered the army at the age of twenty with the rank of
    sub-lieutenant of Hussars. At that time bearing the title of
    Prince de Léon, he was present at the battle of Wagram and
    became aide-de-camp to the Emperor. In 1814 he was made a
    prisoner but was exchanged soon afterwards. Under the
    Restoration he became aide-de-camp to the Duc de Berry, then
    first equerry to the Duc de Bordeaux, and finally Field Marshal
    in 1824. After 1830 he retired.

  ROOTHE, Madame de. Famous for her beauty. She married the Duc de
    Richelieu who was then more than eighty years of age and whose
    third wife she was.

  ROOTHE, M. de. Son of the first marriage of the Duchesse de
    Richelieu.

  ROSAMEL, M. de (1774-1848). Claude Charles Marie du Camp de
    Rosamel. A French sailor; Captain in 1814 and Rear-Admiral in
    1823. He went through the Algerian campaign in 1830; in 1836 he
    became Naval Minister in the Molé Ministry, and in 1839 entered
    the Chamber of Peers.

  ROSSE, Lawrence, Lord (1758-1841). In 1797 he married Miss Alice
    Lloyd. He was distinguished in the Irish Parliament for his
    popularity and his eloquence. On his father's death he succeeded
    to his seat in the House of Lords in 1807. He was the father of
    the learned astronomer William Rosse.

  ROSSI, the Countess (1803-1854). Henriette Sontag, of Swedish
    origin, was a famous singer. In 1830 she abandoned the theatre
    on her marriage with Count Rossi and was then a leading figure
    in aristocratic salons by reason of her intellectual grace and
    her dignified conduct. In 1848 pecuniary losses reduced her to
    reappear upon the stage in Paris and London. Afterwards she went
    to America and died of cholera in Mexico.

  ROTHSCHILD, Madame Salomon de* (1774-1855). She had married the
    second son of Mayer Anselme Rothschild, who founded the branches
    of the banking house in Vienna and Paris.

  ROTHSCHILD, James de (1792-1868). Fourth son of Mayer Anselme
    Rothschild, settled at Paris.

  ROUGÉ, Marquis Alexis de (1778-1838). Peer of France in 1815, he
    married in 1804 Mlle. de Crussol d'Uzès.

  ROUSSEAU, J. J. (1712-1778). Famous writer and philosopher. Son of
    a watchmaker at Geneva, his education was greatly neglected.
    With Voltaire he was an important revolutionary influence in the
    eighteenth century.

  ROUSSIN, Admiral* (1781-1854). Peer of France, Ambassador at
    Constantinople from 1832 to 1834 and Naval Minister in 1840.

  ROVIGO, the Duc de (1774-1833). Anne Jean Marie René Savary.
    Aide-de-camp to General Bonaparte in Egypt, and afterwards
    commander of the picked bodyguard of the First Council. He was
    ordered to carry out the death sentence pronounced upon the Duc
    d'Enghien in 1804, and was then appointed General. After the
    battle of Friedland, he was made Duc de Rovigo; in 1810 he
    succeeded Fouché as Minister of Police. After 1815, the English
    refused to send him to St. Helena with Napoleon and the
    Restoration condemned him to death, but he escaped and was
    afterwards acquitted. In 1831 he commanded the army of Algeria,
    terrorised the natives by his severity, and constructed fine
    strategical roads.

  ROY, the Comte Antoine (1764-1847). A lawyer and afterwards deputy
    he became Finance Minister in 1818, and introduced valuable
    reforms into this department. He was a Member of the Chamber of
    Peers under the Restoration and under the July Monarchy.

  ROYER COLLARD, Pierre Paul* (1763-1845). French philosopher
    statesman and Member of the Academy.

  RUBINI, J. B.* (1795-1854). Famous Italian tenor.

  RUMFORD, Madame de (1766-1836). Mlle. de Paulze married the
    scientist, Lavoisier, as her first husband. He died upon the
    scaffold of the Revolution, and in 1804 she married Rumford, a
    German physician and philosopher. In 1814 she was left a widow.
    Her drawing-room at Paris was famous.

  RUMIGNY, Comte Marie Théodore de (1789-1860). He took part in the
    wars of the First Empire and was aide-de-camp to General Gérard
    in 1812. In 1830 Louis-Philippe appointed him Field Marshal;
    after 1848 he accompanied the King to England and then lived in
    retirement.

  RUSSELL, Lord William* (1799-1846). English diplomatist and
    Ambassador at Berlin.

  RUSSELL, Lord John.* English statesman, member of several
    Ministries and twice Prime Minister.

  RUSSIA, Empress Marie of (1759-1828). Marie Feodorovna, formerly
    Sophie, daughter of Duke Frederick of Würtemberg, second wife of
    the Emperor Paul, mother of Alexander I. and of Nicholas I. She
    was left a widow in 1801.

  RUSSIA, the Grand Duchess Constantine of (1781-1831). Julienne,
    Princess of Saxe Coburg Gotha married in 1796 the Grand Duke
    Constantine of Russia and was baptized under the name of Anna
    Feodorovna.

  RUSSIA, the Emperor of (1796-1855). Nicholas I.*

  RUSSIA, the Empress of (1798-1860). Charlotte, daughter of
    Frederick William III. of Prussia, married in 1817 the Grand
    Duke Nicholas of Russia, who ascended the throne in 1825.

  RUSSIA, Grand Duchess Helena of (1807-1873). Daughter of Prince
    Paul of Würtemberg and of his first wife, a princess of Saxe
    Altenburg. She married in 1824 the Grand Duke Michael of Russia,
    youngest son of the Emperor Paul.

  RUSSIA, the Grand Hereditary Duke of (1818-1881). Alexander, son
    of the Emperor Nicholas, whom he succeeded in 1855 as Alexander
    II., married in 1841 the Princess of Hesse Darmstadt.

  RUSSIA, the Grand Duchess Olga of (1822-1892). Daughter of the
    Emperor Nicholas I. of Russia. She married in 1846 the
    Hereditary Prince of Würtemberg, who succeeded his father in the
    same year.


S

  SAGAN, the Duchess of (1781-1839). Wilhelmina, eldest daughter of
    Peter, Duke of Courlande. She was married three times: (1) In
    1800 to Prince Henri de Rohan; (2) to Prince Troubetskoi, and
    (3) to Count Charles of Schulenburg who survived her. She died
    suddenly at Vienna and left no children.

  SAINT AUGUSTINE (354-430). Bishop of Hippo, son of Saint Monica
    and one of the fathers of the church.

  SAINT BLANCARD, the Marquis de (1814-1897). At one time page to
    King Charles X. He married Mlle. de Bauffremont.

  SAINT CYRAN, the Abbé de (1581-1643). Jean Duvergier de Hauranne
    studied in the University of Louvain and became connected with
    the Jansenists, whose doctrines he ardently embraced, and
    obtained the Abbey of Saint Cyran in 1620. Among his numerous
    disciples and friends were Arnauld, Lemaistre de Sacy, Bignon,
    etc. He attacked the Jesuits in several works and Richelieu kept
    him in prison for four years.

  SAINTE ALDEGONDE, the Comtesse Camille de* (1793-1869). Widow of
    an aide-de-camp of King Louis-Philippe.

  SAINTE AULAIRE, the Comte de* (1778-1854). Peer of France,
    diplomatist, and Ambassador at Rome, Vienna and London.

  SAINTE AULAIRE, the Comtesse de. _Née_ Louise Charlotte Victoire
    de Grimoard de Beauvoir du Roure-Brison. She married in 1809 M.
    de Sainte Aulaire, who was already a widower.

  SAINT LEU, the Duchesse de* (1783-1837). _Née_ Hortense de
    Beauharnais, she was the widow of Louis Bonaparte, King of
    Holland and mother of Napoleon III.

  SAINT PRIEST, the Comte Alexis de,* diplomatist and French writer
    and member of the French Academy.

  SAINT SIMON, Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de (1675-1755). A lord at the
    Court of Louis XIV. He wrote famous memoirs, important to the
    history of his time.

  SALERNO, the Prince of (1790-1851). Leopold de Bourbon, brother of
    Francis I., King of Naples, was Inspector-General of the Royal
    Guard and leader of the 22nd Regiment of Austrian Infantry. In
    1816 he married the Archduchess Maria of Austria, and had a
    daughter who became the Duchesse d'Aumale.

  SALERNO, the Princess of (1798-1880). Maria, daughter of the
    Emperor Francis I. of Austria.

  SALVANDY, the Comte de* (1795-1856). French man of letters and
    politician; Ambassador and several times Minister.

  SALVANDY, the Comtesse de. Julie Ferey, daughter of a manufacturer
    and politician, married the Comte de Salvandy in 1823.

  SANDWICH, Lady, died in 1853. Louisa, daughter of Lord Belmore,
    married, in 1804, George John Montagu, Lord Sandwich, who died
    in 1818. One of his daughters was the first wife of Count
    Walewski.

  SAULX-TAVANNES, Duc Roger Gaspard de (1806-1845). He became a peer
    in 1820 on his father's death, but took no share in the work of
    the Chamber, and committed suicide at the age of thirty-nine,
    when his old ducal family became extinct.

  SAUZET, Paul* (1800-1876). Lawyer, Deputy, and Minister of Justice
    in 1836.

  SAXE-WEIMAR, Duke Bernard of (1792-1862). Infantry General in the
    service of the Low Countries.

  SAXONY, Augustus II., the Strong, Elector of (1670-1733).
    Afterwards King of Poland, elected after the death of John
    Sobieski by intrigue and bribery, and crowned at Warsaw in 1697.

  SAXONY, Princess Augusta of, born in 1782.

  SAXONY, Princess Amelia of (1794-1870). Sister of King Frederick
    Augustus and of Prince John of Saxony.

  SAXONY, King Frederick Augustus II. of (1797-1854). Ascended the
    throne in 1836, after having been co-regent since 1830, and
    promulgating a liberal Constitution for his people. An
    enlightened, liberal, and well-educated prince, he died in
    consequence of a fall from his horse, leaving no children.

  SAXONY, the Queen of (1805-1877). Maria, daughter of King
    Maximilian of Bavaria and wife of King Frederick Augustus II.

  SAXONY, Prince John of (1801-1873). This prince succeeded his
    brother, King Frederick Augustus, in 1854. He had married
    Princess Amelia of Bavaria, by whom he had several children, and
    was distinguished throughout his life for his great virtue and
    his learning.

  SAXONY, Princess John of (1801-1877). Amelia, daughter of King
    Maximilian of Bavaria and wife of Prince John of Saxony.

  SCHÖNBURG, Princess (1803-1884). Louise Schwarzenberg, sister of
    the Cardinal of that name, married, in 1823, Prince Edward of
    Schönburg Waldenburg.

  SCHÖNLEIN, Dr. Jean Luc (1793-1864). Doctor of medicine at Zurich.
    He was summoned to Berlin, where he obtained a great reputation.

  SCHRECKENSTEIN, Baron Maximilian of (1794-1862). For a long time
    first Gentleman at the Court of Princess Stephanie of Baden, and
    governor of the houses and property of this princess.

  SCHULENBURG-KLOSTERRODE, the Count of (1772-1853). He served in
    the Austrian diplomatic service and died at Vienna. He had
    married his cousin, the Countess Armgard of Schulenburg.

  SCHULENBURG, Count Charles Rudolph of (1788-1856). Austrian
    lieutenant-colonel; he married the Duchess Wilhelmina of Sagan,
    the eldest daughter of the last Duke of Courlande; this marriage
    was soon dissolved. In 1846 he undertook to administer the
    property of the Duchesse de Talleyrand. He died at Sagan of an
    apoplectic stroke and was buried there.

  SCHWARZENBERG, Charles Philippe, Prince of (1771-1820). First a
    soldier and then Austrian Ambassador at Paris. He negotiated the
    marriage of Napoleon with the Archduchess Maria Louisa. On the
    occasion of this marriage, in 1810, he gave a large ball, which
    had a fatal conclusion owing to a fire at the Embassy, when his
    wife perished in the flames.

  SCHWEINITZ, Countess of (1799-1854). Fräulein Dullack, married, in
    1832, Count Hans Hermann of Schweinitz and became, in 1840,
    chief lady at the Court of Princess William of Prussia, by birth
    the Princess of Saxe-Weimar.

  SÉBASTIANI DE LA PORTA, Marshal* (1775-1851). Ambassador at
    Constantinople, Naples, and London.

  SÉBASTIANI, wife of the foregoing, died in 1842. A daughter of the
    Duc de Gramont. She had become an _émigré_ at the age of sixteen
    with the Bourbons. Her first husband had been General Davidow,
    whom she married at Milan, and her second husband was General
    Sébastiani, whose second wife she was.

  SÉGUR, the Comtesse de (1779-1847). Félicité d'Aguesseau, sole
    heiress of the last Marquis of this name, she married Count
    Octave de Ségur, major on the Staff of the Royal Guard, who died
    in 1818.

  SÉMONVILLE, the Marquis de* (1754-1839). Chief referendary of the
    Court of Peers.

  SERCEY, the Marquis de (1753-1856). Pierre César Charles Guillaume
    de Sercey was a very distinguished sailor. On the return of the
    Bourbons, in 1814, he was commissioned to treat with England for
    the exchange of the French prisoners. He was then appointed
    Vice-Admiral and entered the Chamber of Peers.

  SÉVIGNÉ, the Marquise de* (1626-1696). One of the most
    distinguished ladies at the Court of Louis XIV. and author of
    remarkable letters.

  SFORZA, Ludovico (1451-1508). Known as the Moor, he was the
    opponent of the House of Aragon in Italy, and summoned Charles
    VIII. there in 1494. After betraying the French he was attacked
    by Louis XII., who deprived him of his states and forced him to
    flee into Germany. The unpopularity of Trivulzo in the Duchy of
    Milan allowed Sforza to reconquer that province, but in 1500 he
    was defeated and captured at Novaro by the French. He was
    imprisoned at Loches, and died ten years later.

  SIDNEY, Lady Sophia,* died in 1837. Countess of Isle and of
    Dudley, fifth child of William IV. of England and of Mrs.
    Jordan.

  SIEYÈS, the Abbé (1748-1836). Vicar-General of Chartres and
    politician during the Revolution.

  SIGALON, Xavier (1790-1837). Historical painter. He was
    commissioned by the Government in 1833 to go to Rome and copy
    Michael Angelo's fresco of the Last Judgment. This magnificent
    reproduction, a tenth less in size than the original, is at the
    School of Fine Arts in Paris.

  SIMÉON, the Comte Joseph Balthazar (1781-1846). Master of requests
    at the Council of State and Peer of France in 1835; he had
    strong artistic tastes.

  SOLMS-SONNENWALD, Count William Theodore of (1787-1859). Cavalry
    captain and Chamberlain, son of the Countess Ompteda by her
    first marriage.

  SOLMS-SONNENWALD, the Countess of, born in 1790. By name,
    Clementina, daughter of the Count of Bressler.

  SOPHIA, the Archduchess (1805-1872). Daughter of King Maximilian
    of Bavaria. She married, in 1824, the Archduke Francis, and was
    the mother of the Emperor Francis Joseph I.

  SOULT, Marshal* (1769-1852). One of the most famous soldiers of
    the Empire and a Minister under Louis-Philippe.

  STACKELBERG, Count Gustavus of, Privy Councillor and Chamberlain
    to the Emperor Alexander I. He became Russian Ambassador and
    took part in the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1805 he married
    Mlle. Caroline de Ludolf, daughter of the Ambassador of Naples
    at St. Petersburg.

  STACKELBERG, the Countess of (1785-1868). _Née_ Caroline de
    Ludolf, she married Count Stackelberg in 1805; when she was left
    a widow she settled at Paris.

  STANLEY, Lady. Henrietta Maria, daughter of Viscount Dillon,
    married in Italy, in 1826, Sir Edward John Stanley, member of
    the English Parliament.

  STOPFORD, Robert (1768-1847). An English Admiral who became famous
    in the chief naval campaigns of the Revolution and the Empire.
    In 1840 he bombarded Saint Jean d'Acre.

  STROGONOFF, Countess Julia. She had married a Spaniard, the Count
    of Ega, with whom she lived at Madrid, when she made the
    acquaintance of Count Gregory Strogonoff, who carried her off
    and married her. She was well received in St. Petersburg
    society, but owing to her false position, she could not obtain
    for a long time the Order of St. Catherine, which was her great
    ambition. She died at an advanced age between 1860 and 1870,
    after carefully tending her husband, who had become blind.

  STURMFEDER, Frau von (1819-1891). Camilla Wilhelmena of Münchingen
    had married the Baron of Sturmfeder and of Oppenweiller, and was
    Chief Lady at the Court of the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden.

  SUTHERLAND, the Duchess of,* died in 1868. _Née_ Lady Carlisle.
    She was mistress of the robes to Queen Victoria.

  SYRACUSE, the Comte de (1813-1860). Léopold de Bourbon, son of
    Francis I., King of Naples and of Maria Isabella of Spain. He
    was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General, though he never
    received any command.

  SYRACUSE, the Countess of (1814-1874). _See_ Carignan, Philiberte
    de.


T

  TALARU, the Marquis de (1769-1850). M. de Talaru, on the return
    from exile in 1815, was called to the Peerage and became French
    Ambassador at Madrid in 1823. In 1825 he was Minister of State
    and a member of the Privy Council of Charles X., but went into
    retirement upon the Revolution of 1830. He had married Mlle. de
    Rosière-Saraus, widow of the Count of Clermont-Tonnerre, by
    whom he had no children, so that the house of Tonnerre became
    extinct with him.

  TALLEYRAND-PÉRIGORD, Cardinal of* (1736-1821). Alexandre
    Angélique, second son of Daniel de Talleyrand-Périgord, was
    Archbishop of Reims in 1777 and of Paris in 1817.

  TALLEYRAND, Charles Maurice, Prince de* (1754-1838). Prince of
    Benevento. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs, High Chamberlain
    of France, member of the Institute and Ambassador. He had
    abandoned the church into which he had been forced to enter, and
    was one of the best politicians of his time.

  TALLEYRAND, the Princesse de* (1762-1835). _Née_ Catharine Werlée,
    of English origin, she went through a civil marriage in 1802
    with the Prince de Talleyrand, by the order of the Emperor
    Napoleon, a marriage which was immediately dissolved.

  TALLEYRAND, the Duc de (1762-1838). Known as _le bel Archambaud_.
    He married in 1779 Mlle. Sabine de Senozan de Viriville, who was
    executed in 1793 during the Revolution.

  TALLEYRAND, the Comte Anatole de, died in 1838. Son of Baron
    Augustin de Talleyrand and of Adélaide de Montigny.

  TASCHERAU, M. (1801-1874). A French deputy. He first studied law;
    some interesting publications gained him a great reputation
    among scholars; he became chief administrator of the Imperial
    Library upon its reorganisation.

  TATITCHEFF, Demetrius Paulowitch de (1769-1845). A Russian
    diplomatist. Minister at Madrid in 1815, then at Vienna where he
    remained until 1845. He then became Councillor of State and Lord
    Chamberlain to the Emperor Nicholas.

  TAURY, the Abbé Francois Louis (1791-1859). Priest of Chauvigny;
    he was selected in 1832 by the Abbé Tournet, founder of the
    community of the Sisters of Saint Andrew, to succeed him as
    Superior General of that community. In 1845 he was appointed
    Vicar-General at Niort. He died of an apoplectic stroke when he
    was descending from the pulpit and about to celebrate Mass.

  TAYLOR, Sir Herbert* (1775-1839). Private Secretary to King George
    III., George IV., and William IV. of England.

  THERESA, the Archduchess (1816-1867). Daughter of the Archduke
    Charles and of the Princess of Nassau Weilburg. The Archduchess
    Theresa became the second wife of Frederick II., King of Naples,
    who married her in 1837.

  THIARD DE BUSSY, the Comte de* (1772-1852). French Marshal,
    liberal deputy, appointed French Minister of Switzerland in
    1848.

  THIERRY, Augustin (1795-1856). Famous French historian; author of
    "Letters on the History of France," and "Narratives of
    Merovingian Times."

  THIERS, Adolphe* (1797-1877). French statesman and historian.

  THIERS, Mme.* (1815-1880). Elise Dosne, daughter of the
    stockbroker.

  THORWALDSEN, Barthélemy* (1769-1844). Famous Danish sculptor.

  TOCQUEVILLE, Comte Alexis de (1805-1859). Member of the Chamber of
    Deputies under Louis-Philippe where he supported the Opposition.
    On the _coup d'état_ of December 2, he joined the
    representatives who signed the act of accusation against Louis
    Bonaparte and was imprisoned at Vincennes. He was released a
    short time afterwards and returned to private life. He was the
    author of "Democracy in America," and of the _Ancien Régime_.

  TORENO, the Count of* (1786-1843). Spanish statesman, deputy in
    the Cortes and several times Minister.

  TOUR ET TAXIS, the Princesse de la. Born in 1773. Theresa,
    daughter of the Grand Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz,
    sister of Queen Louisa of Prussia, married in 1789 Prince
    Charles de la Tour et Taxis, Privy Councillor to the Emperor of
    Austria and Postmaster-General, an office which had been in his
    family since 1695.

  TROGOFF, Madame de. A Russian lady, a great friend of the Duchess
    Wilhelmina of Sagan, whose companion she had been. She lived at
    Versailles.

  TUSCANY, the Grand Duke of (1797-1870). Leopold II., Archduke of
    Austria, succeeded his father the Grand Duke Ferdinand III., in
    1824. His first wife was a Princess of Saxony, and in 1833 he
    married the Princess Antoinette of the Two Sicilies.


V

  VALÉE, Marshal Sylvain Charles (1773-1846). Fought in the
    campaigns of the Revolution and the Empire with distinction,
    and received the title of Comte from Napoleon. He supported the
    Second Restoration, and Charles X. made him a peer of France.
    In 1837 he gained his Marshal's baton at the capture of
    Constantine and then became Governor-General of Algeria. In
    1840 he resigned this command in favour of General Bugeaud.

  VALENÇAY, Madame de. Wife of Jacques d'Etampes, Marquis de la
    Ferté-Imbault, Marshal of France, who lived from 1590 to 1668.

  VALENÇAY, the Duc de* (1811-1898). Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord,
    Duc de Talleyrand and de Valençay, Duc de Sagan after the death
    of his mother, eldest son of Edmond, Duc de Talleyrand and of
    Princess Dorothea of Courlande.

  VALENÇAY, the Duchesse de* (1810-1858). _Née_ de Montmorency.

  VALENÇAY, Yolande de (1833-1835). Daughter of the Duc and Duchesse
    de Valençay; she died of scarlatina when young.

  VANDOEUVRE, Baron William de (1779-1870). Auditor to the Council
    of State in 1806 and then deputy for the Aube; he became Peer of
    France in 1837. He married Mlle. Dassy.

  VATRY, the Baron de (1793-1871). Alphée Bourdon Vapereau de Vatry,
    aide-de-camp to Prince Jérôme Bonaparte. He left the army under
    the Restoration, became a stockbroker and made a large fortune.
    He was a deputy from 1835 to 1848.

  VATRY, the Baronne de. Died in 1881. She was the daughter of M.
    Hainguerlot, and married Baron Alphée de Vatry who died in 1871.

  VAUGUYON, Mlle. Pauline de la (1783-1829). Daughter of the Duc de
    la Vauguyon; she married in 1810 the Baron of Villefranche of
    the house of Carignan. She died of burns received in an accident
    at her villa at Auteuil and left three children: (1) a daughter
    who married Prince Massimo of Arsoli; (2) another daughter who
    married the Count of Syracuse of the house of Naples; (3) a son
    by name Eugène, who was recognised by the King of Sardinia as a
    prince of the blood.

  VÉRAC, the Marquis de (1768-1858). Armand de Vérac served for some
    time in the army of the Princes and then returned to France; he
    was exiled by Napoleon to Belgium eight years later. Under the
    Restoration he became a Peer of France and Governor of the
    Château of Versailles.

  VERNET, Horace (1789-1863). A famous French painter who followed
    the Algerian campaign and painted several battle scenes
    illustrating it.

  VERQUIGNIEULLE, the Marquise de. Flore Marie de Proudhomme et
    d'Harlay de Verquignieulle, married in 1836 M. Ancillon whose
    third wife she was. On his death in 1837, she returned to live
    in Belgium, her native country.

  VERTOT, the Abbé de (1655-1735). Réne Aubert de Vertot first
    entered a religious vocation and became in succession a Capuchin
    monk under the name of Father Zacharie, a Premonstratensian and
    a member of the Order of Cluny. Then, being tired of the
    cloister life, he joined the secular clergy and became priest of
    Croissy-la-Garenne and of other places. He published a "History
    of the Revolutions in Portugal," but his favourite work was a
    "History of the Roman Republic."

  VESTIER, Phidias (1796-1874). Architect and Inspector of the
    historical monuments in the department of Indre-et-Loire. He was
    made a Knight of the Legion of Honour after building the railway
    station at Tours in 1849. He was the grandson of a painter,
    several of whose works are in the Louvre. Largely supported by
    the Duchesse de Talleyrand, he built numerous residences at
    Paris and several country houses in the valley of the Loire.

  VICENCE, the Duc de (1815-1896). Armand Alexandre Joseph Adrien de
    Caulaincourt first entered upon a diplomatic career, which he
    abandoned in 1837. Under the July monarchy he was a deputy,
    under the Second Empire a Senator, and was made Commander of the
    Legion of Honour in 1868.

  VILLEFRANCHE, Comte Eugène de (1753-1785). This prince of the
    house of Carignan served in the French Army and was given by
    Louis XVI. the command of an Infantry Regiment which took the
    name of _Savoie Carignan_. He incurred the royal disfavour on
    account of his marriage with Mlle. Magon Laballue, left the army
    and died at an early age, and in obscurity at Domart in
    Picardie.

  VILLEFRANCHE, Baron Joseph Marie de (1783-1825). Son of the
    foregoing. He had a brilliant career in a cavalry regiment under
    the Empire, which was continued under the Restoration, and in
    1823 he followed the Duc d'Angoulême into Spain. He died
    suddenly in a carriage of an apoplectic stroke. He had married
    the daughter of the Duc de la Vauguyon.

  VILLEGONTIER, Comte Louis de la (1776-1849). Prefect of the Allier
    in 1816, then Prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine and Peer of France in
    1819; he took the oath to the Government of Louis-Philippe and
    supported his policy until 1848, when he retired into private
    life.

  VILLÈLE, Comte Guillaume Aubin de (1770-1840). Brought up in the
    Seminary of Saint Sulpice, he became an _émigré_ during the
    Revolution and was ordained priest at Düsseldorf; when he
    returned to France in 1802 he devoted himself to preaching.
    Louis XVIII. appointed him Bishop of Soissons; in 1824 he became
    Archbishop of Bourges and entered the Chamber of Peers at the
    same time. After 1830 he remained adverse to the new Government,
    and refused the Cross of the Legion of Honour in 1839. When Don
    Carlos was driven from Spain and interned at Bourges, the
    Archbishop offered him his palace for his residence, and
    received from this Prince the grand cordon of Charles III.

  VILLEMAIN, Abel François* (1790-1870). French professor, writer,
    and politician.

  VINCKE, Frau von (1766-1845). Fräulein von Vincke married her
    relative, Herr von Vincke, and became lady-of-honour to Queen
    Louise of Prussia, who was very fond of her. After the death of
    this Princess she held a high position at court and in Berlin
    society.

  VIVIEN, Alexandre François Auguste (1799-1854). In 1840 he was
    Minister of Justice in the Thiers Ministry, and lent his name to
    the decree suppressing the deputy judges for the Court of the
    Seine.

  VOLTAIRE, Arouet de* (1694-1778). A French philosopher who exerted
    a vast influence upon the history and literature of the
    eighteenth century.


W

  WAGRAM, Prince Napoleon Louis de (1810-1888). Son of the famous
    Marshal Berthier. He was a Peer of France in 1836 and Senator
    in 1848.

  WALEWSKI, Comte Alexandre (1810-1868). French politician and
    Minister under Napoleon III. He was the natural son of the
    Emperor Napoleon I., and of the Countess Marie Walewska, whom
    the Emperor had known at Warsaw in 1807.

  WALLENSTEIN (1583-1634). A famous soldier, born in Bohemia, and
    one of the greatest generals during the Thirty Years War.

  WALSH, Countess Agatha. Left a widow as early as 1806, she became
    first lady at the court of the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden
    and did not retire until 1839. Her son, Theophilus, was a
    constant visitor at the Baden court.

  WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832). A Scotch novelist.

  WASA, Princess (1811-1854). Louise Stephanie, daughter of the
    Grand Duke Charles of Baden and of the Grand Duchess, _née_
    Stephanie of Beauharnais.

  WEIZEL, Mlle. de. A very intimate friend of the family of
    Entraigues and of the Baron and Baronne Finot, who lived near
    Valençay.

  WELLINGTON, the Duke of* (1769-1852). A famous English General,
    the opponent of Napoleon and several times a member of the
    Cabinet.

  WERTHER, Baron* (1772-1859). Prussian diplomatist, Ambassador at
    Paris, and afterwards Minister of Foreign Affairs at Berlin.

  WERTHER, Baroness* (1778-1853). By birth the Countess Sophia
    Sandizell.

  WERTHER, Baron Charles (1809-1894). Son of the foregoing. In 1869
    he took the place of the Count of Golz as Ambassador at Paris,
    and through his instrumentality a breach in relations took
    place, which led to the outbreak of the 1870 war. In 1874 he was
    appointed Ambassador at Constantinople, and retired to Munich in
    1877.

  WEYER, Sylvan van de* (1803-1874). Belgian statesman and man of
    letters.

  WITTGENSTEIN, Prince William of Sayn- (1770-1851). Household
    Minister to King Frederick William III. of Prussia, and one of
    the most important personages at the Berlin court.

  WOLFF, Herr von. Councillor to the Prussian Ministry of the
    Interior for many years.

  WOLFF, Frau von. Daughter of the Councillor of Justice. Herr
    Hennenberg.

  WOLOWSKI, Louis (1810-1876). Born at Warsaw, he was naturalised in
    France after the Polish revolution of 1830, and devoted himself
    to the study of law and economic problems, in which he became a
    master.

  WORONZOFF-DASCHKOFF, Count Ivan (1791-1854). Russian Minister at
    Munich from 1824 to 1828, and at Turin till 1832. He then became
    Councillor of the Empire at St. Petersburg and Chief Master of
    Ceremonies at the Court. He was an enlightened patron of the
    arts.

  WURMB, Herr Friedrich Karl von (1766-1843). Staff Officer at
    Berlin. He resigned to marry Fräulein von Göcking, and became
    land agent to the Duchesse de Dino at Deutsch-Wartenberg.

  WURMB, Frau von (1783-1862). Wilhelmina of Göcking, daughter of
    the Councillor of State to the Finance Ministry.

  WÜRTEMBERG, Duke Alexander of (1804-1855). He entered the Austrian
    Military Service, but after contracting a morganatic marriage in
    1835 with a Countess Rheday he settled at Paris.

  WÜRTEMBERG, the King of* (1781-1862). William I.

  WÜRTEMBERG, Princess Maria of* (1816-1863). Daughter of King
    William I. and wife of General Neipperg.

  WÜRTEMBERG, Princess Sophia of* (1818-1877). Sister of the
    foregoing. She married William III., King of the Low Countries.
    She was a very distinguished Princess, and an intimate friend of
    the Emperor Napoleon III.

  WÜRTEMBERG, Prince Paul of (1785-1852). Brother of King William I.
    He married, in 1825, Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, by
    whom he had several children. He afterwards contracted a
    morganatic marriage with an English woman and settled at Paris.

  WÜRTEMBERG, Prince Frederick of. Born in 1808, and son of the
    foregoing. He remained in the service of Würtemberg.

  WÜRTEMBERG, Prince Augustus of. Born in 1813, and brother of the
    foregoing. He entered the Prussian service.


X

  XIMENES DE CISNEROS, the Cardinal of (1436-1517). A famous
    Spanish statesman and Archbishop of Toledo. He performed the
    greatest services to Charles V., who showed himself most
    ungrateful, and dismissed him after using his influence to
    procure his nomination as King of Castile and of Aragon.


Z

  ZEA-BERMEDEZ, Don Francisco* (1772-1850). Spanish diplomatist. He
    belonged to one of the most ancient families of the reconquest.

  ZEA-BERMEDEZ, Doña de.* Died in 1848. By birth she was Doña Maria
    Antonia de Anduaga, of a family living in Guipuscoa, which
    included several diplomatists among its members. She was Lady
    Noble of the Order of Maria Louisa.

  ZOÉ. A negress in the service of the Vicomtesse de Laval and then
    in the service of the Duchesse Mathieu de Montmorency, with whom
    she ended her life.


    Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED
    Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino v.2/3, 1836-1840 - Second Series" ***

Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.