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MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
All rights reserved 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this bool< is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028168189 
 
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MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU cv. 
 
 v;, 
 EDITED BY HIS GRANDSON 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 BY J. C. BROGAN 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 M. GEORGES LEQUIN 
 
 PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AT THE LYCliE LAMARTINE 
 
 NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO. 
 MCMVIII 
 
 "^'^M 
 
r, t -s ;.'■ i , 
 
 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson 6= Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh 
 
 9S69 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THESE pages, which I offer with some diffidence to 
 the public, and especially to my own friends and 
 those of my family, were bequeathed to me by my 
 grandfather. Guided by a marvellous memory, he dictated 
 them to his secretary during his long retirement, leaving 
 me to dispose of them in whatever manner I deemed best. 
 
 The present moment seems the fitting one for their 
 publication. For have not the political agitations of last 
 century been reduced to mere reminiscences, thanks to 
 that overwhelming wave of democratic influence which has 
 transformed the combatants of yesterday into the conquered 
 of to-day ? 
 
 And yet that struggle was a noble one ! 
 
 Men's minds were fired with patriotism : their ambition 
 was to achieve a well-regulated liberty, and well would it 
 be for ourselves if we could revive the echoes of those 
 utterances at sound of which the hearts of our gallant 
 opponents were wont to kindle. 
 
 History loves the " Green Room," with its cunning 
 devices and all its " behind-scenes " mechanism, whereby 
 those stage effects are produced which so successfully de- 
 lude contemporary onlookers. 
 
 M6moires give us the entrk to the actual stage, where 
 we can glide amongst the actors, great and small, each of 
 whom has his own allotted part to play. 
 
 And when, as in this case, m^moires are written for no 
 malicious purpose and without any rancour (being, in fact, 
 the outcome of a benevolent mind, enlightened by the 
 experiences of a long life), they possess the perfume of a 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 generous old wine of native growth. If I mistake not, the 
 reader will be struck by the distinctly " other-century " 
 atmosphere pervading these pages and conveying such a 
 vivid impression of the way people lived under the three 
 successive reigns. 
 
 Moreover, these annals are blemished by none of that 
 bitterness which sometimes survives the grave, nor with 
 the least indiscretion with regard to the private lives of 
 individuals. 
 
 I can only trust that if they contribute to the reader's 
 happiness, they will inspire him with a feeling of sympathy 
 for my grandfather, who was, above all things, an honest 
 man and a Frenchman of his time and country. 
 
 In his later years he was very prescient of the rising 
 wind which was to freshen into such a succession of storms, 
 and he would often exclaim, " I have seen too many revolu- 
 tions : God preserve me from any more ! " 
 
 His prayer was heard, for he died in the spring of 
 1869. 
 
 Very few of those who knew him are alive now, but the 
 ideas he cherished are very far from becoming obsolete in 
 France. 
 
 True ! Time modifies everything, but it has not yet 
 sapped the foundations of patriotism, nor eradicated all 
 love of their country from the breasts of Frenchmen. 
 
 It was of that sacred love that my grandfather was one 
 of the most indefatigable champions. 
 
 Lastly, a stroke of good fortune has befallen these 
 time-faded pages ! 
 
 They have been collated with rare skill by a remark- 
 ably talented author (a Burgundian, attached to the Lyc6e 
 Lamartine), who has at the same time supplied a faithful 
 picture of the writer of the manuscript. 
 
 Herewith I tender my sincere thanks to him. 
 
 RAMBUTEAU. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Early Recollections i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Chamberlain of the Emperor 35 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 Prefect of the Simplon 76 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Prefect of the Loire 103 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Prefect of Moulins and Montauban . . . 134 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Twelve Years of Leisure 153 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 In the Chamber 167 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Prefect of the Seine 207 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Brief Outline of a Fifteen Years' Administration 
 
 IN Paris 253 
 
 Index 315 
 
 vii 
 
LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES 
 
 The Comte de Rambuteau Frontispiece 
 
 From the Picture by Henry Scheffer, 1843. 
 
 The Comte de Rambuteau as a Young Man . . To face p. 12 
 
 From a Miniature. 
 
 Marie-Ad£laTde de Montholon, Comtesse de Nar- 
 
 bonne-Lara . . .' „ 18 
 
 From a Pastel iy Mme. Vigle-Lebrun. 
 
 The Comte Louis de Narbonne ,,92 
 
 From a Contemporary Picture, 
 
 The Duchesse de Narbonne-Lara, Mother of 
 
 Comte Louis de Narbonne „ 154 
 
 From a Picture iy Mme. Vigie-Lebrun. 
 
 The Comte de Rambuteau ,,207 
 
 From the Picture by Court, 1838. 
 
 Adelaide de Narbonne-Lara, Comtesse de Ram- 
 buteau „ 212 
 
 From the Picture by 6,douard Dniufe, 1845. 
 
 The Comte de Rambuteau, 1862 „ 254 
 
 From the Medallion by Mme. G. Rlsal. 
 
 L'H6tel de Ville, Paris ,,308 
 
 As Completed iy the Comte de Rambuteau. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 " T T E who has nothing to boast of but his ancestors," 
 X J. says Swift, " is like a potato : the only good be- 
 longing to him is underground." No one would 
 have relished this witticism better than Comte de Rambuteau, 
 for no one has ever borne a title with more modesty, or 
 has had a keener sense of duty. He was much more in- 
 debted for his success in life to his own merits than to those 
 of his forefathers, and we shall see how faithfully he ad- 
 hered to the path which he traced out for himself, in the first 
 lines of his Memoirs : " The remembrance of the deeds of 
 our ancestors should incite us to courage and self-sacrifice." 
 These deeds he outstripped, leaving his name more illus- 
 trious than when he received it ; but in any case he would 
 have created a place in history for himself, for was not the 
 whole of his long life devoted to his country's service ? 
 
 Claude Philibert de Rambuteau sprang from a noble 
 family, originally belonging to the south of France, but 
 which settled in Burgundy in the middle of the sixteenth 
 century. As captains or soldiers they fought on every battle- 
 field of the period — a period singularly prolific in fighting 
 — ^notably in Italy, where they remained long enough to 
 forfeit their right to certain properties in France. These, 
 however, were restored to them by Henry II. No doubt 
 it was from Italy that they brought back with them the 
 lovely Nativity of Cimabue which adorns the chapel of 
 Rambuteau. Gradually their relations extended, and they 
 formed alliances with many other noble families ; in the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they intermarried with 
 the Saint-Agnans, the Roche-Aymons, the d'Achons, and 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 the Damas-d'Audours ; one of them even won the regard of 
 the Princesse de Conti ; they were distinguished in the army, 
 were colonels, brigadier-generals, made no account of their 
 blood and money in the service of the King, and, by ruining 
 themselves, gained a good many Crosses of St. Louis. 
 
 Nevertheless, the last of this gallant race was no warrior. 
 He was eight years old when the Revolution broke out. It 
 did away with the cornet's commission which every infant 
 nobleman at that time of day found in his cradle. But if 
 he were no soldier, he was none the less a supporter of the 
 honour of his house. In his various capacities as Chamber- 
 Iain of the Emperor, Prefect of several Departments in 
 peculiarly difficult circumstances, Member of the Chamber 
 of Representatives, Peer of France, Councillor of State, 
 Prefect of Paris, he displayed, always and everywhere, the 
 activity, decision, and rectitude of his race — all the fruits of 
 a long and sound heredity. 
 
 We shall see how he brought back the remnants of the 
 French army which had occupied Switzerland ; how he 
 organised the defence of the Loire, distributing arms, im- 
 provising battalions, creating National Guards, making a 
 stout resistance even when Paris and Lyons had fallen — we 
 shall see too, how, as an administrator of the first rank, 
 he evinced genuine strategic qualities, such as must have 
 delighted the paternal shade of the brilliant soldier of Coni. 
 
 He was born in 1 7 8 1 , in the Chateau of Champgrenon, 
 on one of those sunny hills that are the glory of Le Miconnais. 
 His infancy was passed under the shade of the great trees of 
 a fine park, which commanded an extensive view of wide 
 pastures, watered by the Saone, and the green woodlands of 
 La Bruse, with Mount Jura rising beyond them, and the 
 snow-clad crests of the Alps and the peak of Mont Blanc 
 still farther in the background. It is a superb panorama, 
 distinguished by a beauty at once calm and cheerful, having 
 a well-balanced and sustained harmony that rests the mind 
 as well as the eyes ; and if, as Taine asserts, the individual 
 is the inevitable outcome of his native soil, it is but reason- 
 able to suppose that so smiling and peaceful an environment. 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 with its gently undulating slopes and temperate climate, 
 must necessarily beget a certain degree of equanimity to the 
 character, resulting in well-regulated mental powers. 
 
 Among our provinces, all of which have their own char- 
 acteristic charms, Burgundy has one exceptional feature. 
 Whilst lacking grand landscapes, it is rich in beautiful views 
 in miniature landscape. Lending itself as it does to all 
 kinds of culture, it breaks its plains into irregular forms, it 
 hollows its mountains into gentle valleys, and moderates the 
 course of its waters ; whilst its sunshine gilds the harvests 
 without scorching them, its cicadas enliven without deafen- 
 ing the listener, its joyous wine makes the heart! merry but 
 does not intoxicate, and the clear light of its skies is as far 
 removed from the fogs of the north as from the dazzling 
 splendour of the south. A happy land of oaks and vines, 
 it inspires its sons with the mirth and vigour of a well- 
 balanced mind, endowing them with that moral rectitude 
 which induces a remarkable subordination of genius to 
 reason, whilst it regulates their powers of discernment, and 
 curbs all undue flights of the imagination. 
 
 Grand types of that fine race (each in their own way 
 presenting a different aspect of their racial characteristics) 
 are to be found in Bossuet, the sturdy Burgundian, whose 
 genial personality and well-balanced temperament made him 
 detest all that was mean and underhand ; in Madame de 
 Sevigne, the charming Marquise, whose wisdom was so subtle 
 and so circumspect ; in BufFon, that grand, indefatigable 
 worker ; and finally in President de Brosses, who was to 
 teach Voltaire that wit was no less common at Dijon than 
 at Paris. These all drank alike from the same spring, which 
 the Count claimed as his natal source also. 
 
 Reared, like Lamartine, under the eyes of his mother, 
 free to roam at will over hill and dale, his first care was 
 given to the trees in his ancestral park, with whose green 
 life the child apparently identified his own in a curiously 
 realistic degree. To him, they represented real friends, in 
 whose every murmur he heard a message, especially his own. 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 and the close friendship thus formed in eariy days became 
 lifelong. 
 
 And when an insane Revolution drove the Count into 
 the " unemployed " before his time, it was beneath the 
 grateful shade of those dear trees, which had cradled his 
 infancy, soothed his later labours, and softened many a 
 disappointment, that he settled himself down to compile 
 his Memoires. 
 
 This feeling for nature is one of the distinctive traits of 
 his character ; not for that nature of which we get glimpses 
 in the Gardens of Delille, the Seasons of Saint-Lambert, or the 
 Months of Roucher, but for that nature " pure and indefiled " 
 which is loved for itself in all its rustic simplicity. With 
 Rambuteau the sentiment was entirely spontaneous ; he had 
 never studied the writers of the day, unknown, for that 
 matter, to Champgrenon ; for the muse of Ronsard was the 
 only muse that was ever likely to wander anew through the 
 windings of the flower-bordered alleys, where of yore the 
 poet gathered the roses of his friend Rymon, in company 
 with Ponthus de Thiard. 
 
 He " discoursed no sweet music " upon the classic pan- 
 pipes of mythology, nor did he gambol with shepherdesses 
 in silk attire, keeping their be-ribboned white sheep. But 
 he whistled his tunes shrilly through the sap-swollen bark 
 of the April willow-twigs, awakened to the sound of the 
 grasshoppers' chirruping, played with other boys on the 
 hillsides, and amongst the meadows and vineyards, and 
 climbed trees like Lamartine the future poet, who was 
 shortly to be born amongst the " shepherd folks " near by.^ 
 
 All this seems to us quite natural ; but then it was a 
 great novelty. The eighteenth century had inherited the 
 preceding century's ignorance or dislike of all that was 
 rural, and, even after Rousseau had made country life 
 fashionable, it was not really understood. In vain did the 
 
 ' Comte de Rambuteau signed, on October 22, 1790, in a rather childish 
 hand, the register at the baptism of Lamartine, at which he was present 
 with his parents ; he also held the large wax taper, in accordance with an 
 old local custom. 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 grand drawing-room of the chateau ,open its windows on 
 woods and meadows — no one looked out of them ; every 
 one, intensely bored, was only waiting for the arrival of the 
 Mercure de France^ and eager to learn the last good thing 
 said by Sophie Arnould. Voltaire was settled at Les DMices, 
 on the banks of an enchanting lake and in front of the 
 glorious Alps ; yet he never alludes to either. " The 
 people of the city," Jean Jacques tells us, " do not like 
 the country, for the vei-y good reason that, even when they 
 are there, they hardly know what they are about ; they 
 despise its labours and its pleasures, being equally ignorant 
 of both, and, feeling themselves in a foreign land, no wonder 
 they are so bored. Those Parisians who imagine themselves 
 in the country are not practically there at all, for wherever 
 they go they carry Paris with them." 
 
 Are we to believe that the men of sentiment in the 
 Revolution, those sorry pupils of Rousseau, who were for 
 ever prating about Nature, had really any deep feeling for 
 it ^ How preposterous ! Think of Lar6vellifere-Lepeaux, 
 Member of the Institut (a botanist, if you please ! ), who, 
 when describing his little estate in Anjou, bursts into a 
 lyrical apostrophe : " Dear Clementine, thou wert then our 
 only child. It was thou who didst lay the first stone of 
 that edifice which the fury of civil warfare was to make 
 sa transitory. The first vegetable (it was a carrot) which 
 we reared in our garden was pulled up in thine and thy 
 mother's presence ; it was thou who carried it indoors, it 
 was she who prepared it for the table. How we enjoyed 
 that first product of our property ! " 
 
 This is not the language employed by Comte de Ram- 
 buteau, when, " betrayed by politics," he returns to seek 
 peace and quiet in the play-place of his childhood, finding 
 in the midst of his pines, his larches, his oaks and elms, 
 growing beside the still waters, the most satisfactory solace. 
 " Gardening," he said, in a discourse delivered before the 
 Agricultural Society of Macon, "has always offered the 
 sweetest consolations to fallen greatness, from the time of 
 Diocletian, who preferred his lettuces at Salona to the empire 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 of the world, to that of Josephine, who found compensation 
 for the loss of a throne in the flowers of Malmaison. . . . 
 I have always held that, at any rate, we ought to cultivate 
 the soil of our country, when we cannot serve it otherwise, 
 and so I have joyfully resumed my spade and pruning-knife." 
 The inborn simplicity of his nature, wholly untainted by 
 the artificial sentiment of that time, was his only teacher ; 
 the fresh, healthy impressions of his youth were always with 
 him — a youth as free as that of Chateaubriand, but spent 
 in a pleasanter, kindlier country, where he never tasted the 
 perils of melancholy, " that siren of souls, for ever singing 
 and calling," ^ but who never suiFers those to return who 
 have been lured by her voice. 
 
 To this influence of soil and environment must be 
 added yet another, and that an unusual one — namely, the 
 tenderness of a mother. We all know how extraordinarily 
 circumscribed the family life of a child was in the seven- 
 teenth century. The age was too didactic, just as the 
 eighteenth century was too frivolous, to appreciate the dainty 
 graces of childhood. They found no representation either 
 in literature or in works of art, unless we except the intro- 
 duction of sundry chubby cherubs, who disported themselves 
 in groups and garlands on wainscots and ceilings. Ought 
 we to infer from this, that the children of that day were 
 uncared for ? Not necessarily, but the manner of love 
 meted out to them then was widely different from ours. 
 It lacked all outward demonstration in the form of smiles 
 or caresses. 
 
 They were confided to the hands of strangers, and these 
 hands were frequently rough ; they were seldom spoken to, 
 and often whipped. The journal of Dubois, the valet de 
 chambre, on the education of Louis XIV., is one long record 
 of punishments and canings. 
 
 As soon as they had learnt to curtsey gracefully, they 
 were permitted to salute their parents every day, and were 
 henceforward expected to comply with every rule of eti- 
 quette, no matter what their age might be. There is a 
 
 ' Flaubert, 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 story told of an old gentleman, who, having seen his 
 daughter and her husband kissing each other as they came 
 into the drawing-room in the morning (they had only been 
 married a week), promptly and publicly rebuked them : 
 
 " Monsieur, mon gendre, et Madame ma fille," he in- 
 quired, "would it not be possible for you to manage to 
 come downstairs ready-kissed ? " 
 
 Perhaps the century was growing milder toward its 
 close ; or perhaps the atmosphere of Burgundy had more of 
 a domestic savour — any way, the Comte de Rambuteau, like 
 Lamartine, was fortunate in having an admirable mother, 
 whose whole pride was centred in his training. The tender- 
 ness of her love for him was boundless ; and from her he, 
 in his turn, learnt the art of loving. All that he advised 
 in later life in the cause of childhood, the almost maternal 
 solicitude which led the Prefect of Paris into the public 
 nurseries and foundling asylums, that pity for "the poor 
 little waifs brought thither in the morning, their rags wet 
 with the rain of the night before," was all the work of his 
 mother, the touching evidence of his recollection of her 
 past care for him. From her he learnt wisdom, gentle- 
 ness, and forbearance, to serve God and to help the needy. 
 His noblest feelings were implanted and developed by her. 
 And when, later on, we meet with the warm tribute he 
 offers to her memory, it is hard to say to whom it does 
 the greatest credit — to his mother or himself.'' He makes 
 equally affectionate mention of his kind and good father, 
 the gallant soldier. This latter was one of the finest types 
 of those liberal aristocrats who were far more inclined — 
 than any one expected at the time — to change the old 
 order and bring about the revolution which was so shortly 
 to attack all classes of the nobility. 
 
 It was from his father's precepts and practice that, from 
 his earliest years, de Rambuteau learnt the duty of patriotism. 
 He refused to emigrate ; he preferred to face the storm 
 and " eat French bread." Then, when a new regime had 
 replaced the old, his wise and straightforward nature led him 
 to realise that it was all over with a superannuated past ; 
 
 b 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 that for new institutions, new men were needed, that France 
 was superior to all forms of government, and that the duty 
 of his son was to serve her in his turn. 
 
 Thus it would seem that his heredity, his native soil, 
 his family, all combine to endow Count de Rambuteau 
 with what Montaigne calls une tete Men faite ; in other 
 words, a sound mind and a sound body, an even temper, 
 keen and vigorous reasoning powers, and a moral equili- 
 brium. Add to these a simple and kindly disposition, a 
 tendency to good-natured forbearance, an inflexible con- 
 science, a rare capacity for work, and an intense love for 
 his country, and we have the portrait of this fine-looking 
 youth in his twentieth year, of whom Madame Lamartine 
 wrote in 1801 : "Everything about him indicates nobility 
 and loftiness of character and absolute integrity." 
 
 Of this forecast, he proved himself more than worthy. 
 Owing to the disturbed state of the times, his education 
 was perforce neglected. All the same he learnt enough 
 to pass his examination at the Ecole Polytechnique, whilst 
 the knowledge acquired by his private studies received 
 many valuable additions from his contact with the world 
 in general and his father-in-law in particular. He had 
 taken to wife the daughter of Count Louis de Narbonne, 
 one of the former Ministers of Louis XVI. 
 
 " I do not believe," says Villemain, in the book which 
 he dedicates to the Count's memory, " that either during 
 the close of the last century or the beginning of this — a 
 period replete with extraordinary vicissitudes and crowded 
 with notable politicians — I do not believe, I say, that it held 
 a choicer spirit than Count Louis de Narbonne, who was 
 the impersonation of all that was noble, chivalrous, and 
 cultured. He was a man remarkable alike for his fearless- 
 ness and courtesy, combining sound judgment with un- 
 doubted capacity for accomplishing great undertakings." ^ 
 
 The ranks of the French nobility at that time afforded 
 a sorry spectacle of disorder. Some of the aristocracy had 
 
 ' Villemain : Souvenirs Contemporains d'Histoire et de LitUrature : 
 M. de Narbonne. 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 emigrated under the impression that their exile would 
 entail but a short excursion into foreign parts, and would 
 be speedily rewarded with royal favours. When they 
 realised their mistake, a faithful few remained with the 
 exiled Princes, having abandoned all hope of a possible 
 return, but still preserving their dignity; but a far larger 
 number went back to France to solicit service under Bona- 
 parte. These had an eye to the loaves and fishes which 
 might reasonably be expected from a newly-made sovereign 
 on the look-out for courtiers. Others who had remained 
 in France, or who had only fled quite temporarily to save 
 their heads, asked for nothing better than to be allowed to 
 transfer their help and support to a regime that was both 
 strong and national. To the latter class belonged the 
 Comte de Narbonne. By his advice, his son-in-law ac- 
 cepted the post of Chamberlain to the Emperor, not from 
 ambition — for he was not " one of those tools of heroism 
 the handle of which can be grasped by vanity" — but 
 prompted by the reflection that the Empire had saved 
 France from anarchy and had restored order to society. 
 
 Napoleon, who was an excellent judge of men, very 
 soon detected the qualities of the new-comer, whose man- 
 ners had been formed in the salons of the Choiseuls, 
 Luynes, Lavals, and Coignys ; whose good-breeding empha- 
 sised his merits, and who supplied a striking contrast to 
 his associates, whose petty humours and jealous rivalries 
 lacked the varnish of the old Court manners. Napoleon 
 observed the Count narrowly, and, noting his solid qualities, 
 his sound judgment and his loyalty, attached him specially 
 to his own person. 
 
 On his side de Rambuteau was fascinated by the pres- 
 tige of this remarkable man, whose genius held something 
 of the supernatural. He started by simply admiring him, 
 but the admiration soon deepened into genuine love, which 
 was the outcome of no blind fanaticism, but real and heart- 
 felt ; and it was this affection which made him cling to 
 Bonaparte to the very end, long after he had lost faith in 
 him, having fully realised his many faults and mistakes ; 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 because, when the crisis came, Rambuteau was well aware 
 that, vis-h-vis to the enemy, Napoleon represented 
 France. 
 
 He was never one of Bonaparte's satellites (to use a 
 term much in vogue at that date), nor of any one else, for 
 that matter ; neither did he identify himself with any party, 
 except, perhaps, with that of the " Optimates " of ancient 
 Rome, who advocated patriotism in its most impersonal 
 and enlightened aspect. "Never," he declares, "have I 
 betrayed any confidence, never have I sold myself to any 
 cause, and though it is true that I have served my country 
 under three different Governments, I have done so in all 
 rectitude and probity. No one can convict me of ever 
 having cringed ! " 
 
 And he might honestly have added, " Neither was I 
 ever guilty of consulting my own advantage ! " 
 
 The policy summed up in this declaration was, as we 
 shall see, the one rule of action which he adopted both as 
 Prefect and Minister, and which may be condensed into the 
 three words of an old motto, " Fide, non asiu." As Prefect, 
 he seemed born for the position (I am speaking of the 
 functions of a Prefect in former times), so marked was 
 the spirit of initiative and conciliatory firmness that he 
 displayed. According to his own account, he owed his 
 success less to his natural gifts than to what he had learned 
 during his constant attendance on the Emperor. It is 
 undoubtedly true that, while other Chamberlains sought 
 only such advantages and pleasures as their connection with 
 the Court brought in their way, he only sought to gain 
 instruction. Being present at every State Council, he 
 learned from Cambaceres to place small reliance on 
 mere words, whilst he listened eagerly to those unrivalled 
 organisers who endowed France with such excellent 
 administrative institutions that succeeding regimes have 
 scarcely changed anything in them. 
 
 In administering the three Departments to which he 
 was successively appointed, he evinced a rare capacity for 
 fulfilling his duty and at the same time winning the aifec- 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 tion of the people, and this in the teeth of the strong 
 political animus which was universally rife. 
 
 In the case of le Valais, whose soil still reeked with 
 such recent bloodshed that its population might well have 
 taken advantage of the Invasion to revenge themselves on 
 the Count, what really happened ? Did not the simple 
 folk instantly rally round him, offering him the protec- 
 tion of their impregnable hillsides along with the willing 
 service of their sturdy arms ? 
 
 Again, in the Department of la Loire, which he de- 
 fended against the Allies more like a soldier than a prefect, 
 he left such pleasant memories of his administration, both 
 under the Emperor and under the King, that the Council 
 General sent him the expression of its respectful gratitude, 
 even after his retirement to Champgrenon. 
 
 Finally, at Montauban, where the angry strife between 
 Royalists and Liberals was mingled with the bitter animo- 
 sity between Catholics and Protestants — an animosity 
 which actually culminated in assassinations — he managed 
 to restore peace and order without resorting to any 
 measures of coercion, and was, consequently, entreated to 
 remain in office by all the leading inhabitants. 
 
 In what lay the secret of his authority ? In the self- 
 control and independence which to him were second nature. 
 Being the slave of neither Bourbons nor Bonaparte, he was 
 fettered by none of those political obligations which so 
 often involve the sacrifice of conscience to party interests. 
 Incapable of betraying any cause which he had embraced, 
 or of being only lukewarm in its support, de Rambuteau 
 always recognised the authority of the rulers of the hour, 
 though he never allowed himself to become their tool. 
 Within his own jurisdiction, he suffered the existence of 
 neither oppressor nor oppressed, but misfortune always 
 claimed his respect, and he steadily opposed all form of 
 retaliation. When this was demanded of him, he retorted 
 by tendering his resignation. 
 
 The first Restoration, with the Charter and the con- 
 stitutional guarantees that succeeded the absolutism of the 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Empire, appeared to him to be the only regime compatible 
 with the circumstances. It mattered little to him how or 
 from whom France gained her liberty, provided that she 
 might enjoy it. Nevertheless, it was dearly purchased ! 
 The sight of foreign soldiers lining the road to Paris, the 
 mortifying condescension of an overbearing conqueror, 
 broke his heart. He submitted, partly from necessity and 
 partly because the Emperor had absolved him from his 
 oath. But the Restoration fell far short of redemption. 
 The Emperor returned, the King fled, and days of anguish 
 ensued for upright and patriotic men ; for it is sometimes 
 harder to know one's duty than to fulfil it. To which 
 side did the rightful authority belong ? To the runaway 
 King, who had abandoned both his crown and his loyal 
 supporters ? or to the idol of the people whom all the 
 nation eulogised ? Was the King or the Emperor to reign, 
 and what was to be the national cry ? And what did 
 de Rambuteau answer ? " Five la France ! Let that be 
 our one and only cry," he said, "for that belongs to all 
 times and seasons." And when he saw that the enemy had 
 crossed the frontier, he believed that France was siding 
 with the true defender. 
 
 Such men command esteem. The Government of Louis 
 XVIII. knew his worth too well not to wish to attach him 
 to their side. The Abb6 de Montesquieu, his relative. 
 Minister of the Interior and dispenser of the royal favours, 
 offered him a prefectship or a military command, whichever 
 of the two he preferred. He refused these offers, as later 
 he refused a seat in the Senate during the Second Empire. 
 He preferred living on his estate, like an honest country 
 gentleman, and this retirement contributed both to his 
 dignity and his interests. The Revolution, and the five 
 subsequent years which he had spent in an office that 
 brought him no wealth, had lessened the value of his 
 patrimony to a very considerable degree. He restored it 
 by wise management ; he drained, planted, gardened ; he 
 created Rambuteau. 
 
 At that time of day it was a green and somewhat 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 uncultured valley, overgrown with broom and heather, 
 and occupying one of the most picturesque regions of 
 the Charollais. Lovers of nature in her wildest and most 
 rugged aspects, who delight in steep precipices and the 
 sullen roar of mountain torrents, would find little to please 
 them in the calm beauty of the Champgrenon scenery, with 
 its gently undulating mountains, whose grassy folds hold 
 many pleasant surprises for the tourist. For from beneath 
 those low mountain brows many a charming view may be 
 enjoyed. For more than a hundred miles, the eye may roam 
 unhindered over an extent of green country stretching 
 from the Loire to the Saone, and embracing lakes and 
 forests, wide corn lands and cultured fields, some of the 
 latter gleaming with crops of the golden-flowered colza, 
 others aglow with purple clover. Here the rising sun sheds 
 light and life, just as at sunset his parting beams invest every 
 bell-tower with ruby tints. 
 
 Here at the foot of Montmelard, between the old 
 Gallic hills of Dun and Suin, Rambuteau sought a well- 
 earned rest. The paternal mansion, which was much out of 
 repair, he rebuilt entirely, except the little chapel which his 
 great-grandfather, Philibert Barthelot d'Ozenay had built in 
 1640. After that he proceeded to surround it with wide 
 plantations. As was to be expected from such a refined lover 
 of real- nature, he did not take as models the artificial 
 parks, which, after the fashion of the preceding century, 
 were still studded with romantic ruins — rocks of plaster, 
 stucco grottoes, and scantily-clad nymphs pouring water 
 from cracked urns into basins of cement. He had a 
 remarkable knowledge of the soil, and was consequently 
 successful in introducing a number of the coniferas he had 
 admired in the Valais among the trees which were indi- 
 genous to the locality. Thus he happily mingled slim 
 pines with massive beeches, sturdy oaks with slender larches, 
 sombre firs with silvery birches. And so whilst the breezes 
 played amongst their branches, and the sunbeams filtered 
 through their foliage, these " sons of the forest " grew apace, 
 intermingling their scents and their whispers. For the 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 grandson has respected the trees of the grandfather ; never 
 has sound of axe echoed through the woods of Rambuteau. 
 They are all there, their feet sunk in the fern, their heads 
 swaying to and fro in continuous murmurs, so that at 
 every step one expects to surprise groups of mist-enshrouded 
 nymphs, such as Corot would have painted, gliding between 
 the tree-trunks. 
 
 But no one ever thinks of planting during the snow 
 season. And so every winter Comte de Rambuteau re- 
 turned to Paris to enjoy the society of the friends he had 
 made during the Empire — Drouot, Caulaincourt, Sebastiani. 
 Through them he quickly formed the acquaintance of the 
 entire Liberal Opposition, of General Foy, the two Periers, 
 Dupont de I'Eure, and, soon afterwards of the Doctrinaires, 
 Broglie, Guizot, Royer-Collard. The latter did not in- 
 fluence him ; he was too practical to follow them into their 
 " ivory tower" ; he was a man of action, not of formulas. 
 Consequently, he promptly ranged himself on the side of 
 Casimir Perier. Elected in 1827, he sat in the Left Centre 
 among the defenders of the Charter, all of whom were 
 faithful to the King, but also to liberty ; and, if the Throne 
 had trusted to their loyalty, it might, perhaps, be standing 
 still. Charles X. did not understand them. The address 
 of the 221 was their answer. Comte de Rambuteau signed 
 this address ; he could not do otherwise, considering his 
 principles and his past, than identify himself with this ^rm 
 protest made by anxious but not careless subjects ; for, having 
 condemned the policy of 1 8 1 5, he could not possibly sanction 
 that of 1830. 
 
 Absent from Paris during the days of July, he rallied 
 to the House of Orleans, because none other could fulfil 
 the obligations of royalty to the nation or prevent France 
 from relapsing into anarchy. At this period he was not 
 acquainted with Louis-Philippe; for, although he had seldom 
 visited the Tuileries, he was still less known at the Palais- 
 Royal, which he had refused to enter from a scruple of 
 loyalty. He never yielded to that contagious impulse which 
 precipitates men into revolutions ; formed his resolutions 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 coolly and with that deliberation which influenced all his acts 
 throughout life ; and he accepted the Orleans as he had 
 accepted the Bourbons in 1814, "not willingly but of 
 necessity " (for personally they were indifferent to him) ; all 
 he cared for was his country's good. 
 
 Then he resumed his place in the Chamber, where he 
 had already made himself conspicuous. His colleagues 
 were quick to appreciate his genial disposition, his wide 
 knowledge of affairs, his moderation, his power of assimila- 
 tion, and all the qualities which had been brought to light 
 by his steadfast, dogged devotion to work. He was known 
 among them as le piocheur — the hard worker — was placed 
 on all committees, and enjoyed general esteem ; Casimir 
 Perier, Broglie, Thiers, Mole, Guizot, the Chancellor, 
 Pasquier, honoured him with their friendship, and the 
 Court attached great value to his experience, although he 
 was but a poor courtier. 
 
 To what office was he likely to aspire ? That of 
 Minister.? He was certainly not afraid of the tribune, 
 but he took his place in it as a man of business, not as 
 an orator. Besides, he was not fond of politics, and by 
 no means cut out for a party leader. That of a Secretary 
 of State ? He deserved something better than that. He 
 had proved himself an incomparable administrator, as much 
 by his knowledge of facts as by his knowledge of men. 
 Thus, when Louis-Philippe appointed him Prefect of Paris, 
 he put the right man in the right place, and only acted 
 in accordance with public opinion, which had already selected 
 him for the post. The words of Thiers were prophetic in 
 this respect : " Your career will be a long and splendid one, 
 you will witness the fall of more than one Ministry ; and, 
 as regards yourself, the memory you will leave behind you 
 will be noble and lasting." 
 
 The day following his installation at the Hotel de Ville, 
 the new Prefect visited the hospitals : he wished, he said, 
 his first visit to be to the poor, and he also announced his 
 intention with regard to them ; for he was endowed with 
 an inexhaustible fund of benevolence, being of the fibre 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 of Malesherbes and Turgots, with the addition of a more 
 deeply-seated kindliness and tenderness. He identified 
 himself with the people, took the humblest by the hand, 
 entered into their material and moral needs, spoke to them 
 in their own language, and was as much at home among 
 a group of artisans as in his own drawing-rooms. 
 
 And, being convinced that, to influence the man, you 
 must begin with the child, it was on the child that he 
 first lavished his cares. All that has since been effected 
 by a zeal for progress, which has perhaps, on the whole, 
 achieved more noise than success ; asylums, lectures for 
 adults, technical drawing-schools, workshops, choral societies, 
 public school deposit books for savings-banks, &c., all these 
 he originated, as he tells us in his usual simple style. 
 No one can fail to be struck by the extent of his philan- 
 thropy — too vast to particularise — which found expression 
 in all kinds of institutions, which was as remarkable for 
 its foresight as for its strongly emphasised Christian 
 spirit. 
 
 Comte de Rambuteau was not a devot, but he was a 
 believer. Taught by the Gospel to love his neighbour, 
 he did not consider that our obligations to the poor were 
 limited to allowing them to glean in the harvest-fields of 
 the rich, and pick up the crumbs of their pleasures ; he 
 wished to enable them by labour and economy, to reap 
 their own harvests in their own fields. He impressed on 
 the workman that " it costs more to feed one vice than 
 two children." He taught him economy, he demonstrated 
 that a sound education is a safe tool for earning a re- 
 munerative wage, he warned him against those demoralising 
 theories that flatter the worst instincts, and, like Proud'hon, 
 he repudiated " that impotent, immoral Socialism, fit only 
 to make dupes and swindlers." He found his reward in 
 a healthy popularity ; he experienced the joy of being loved, 
 of hearing himself called the workmen' s father, and of know- 
 ing that when the mob sacked the Hotel de Ville in '48, 
 they paused respectfully before his portrait. This incident 
 must have reminded him of how, during the Terror, the 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 municipality of his village had protected his infirm old 
 father by spreading the municipal scarves across his bed. 
 
 Neither the improvements of all kinds, in matters of 
 hygiene, sewerage, and embellishments, which he introduced 
 during his fifteen years' administration, can we describe in 
 detail; they transformed the Paris of 1830, and were the 
 beginning of modern Paris. But although their enumera- 
 tion might prove tedious to us now — for they possess at 
 best but a retrospective interest — no one can help admiring 
 the power and capability of this untiring worker, who 
 accomplished so much with such scrupulous economy, 
 husbanding the public funds far more carefully than he 
 would have spared his own. In fact, he left the Hotel 
 de Ville poorer than when he entered it. He had mort- 
 gaged his private fortune in order that the first magistrate 
 of Paris might do honour to the capital ; his f6tes and 
 receptions were long the talk of the city, and were always 
 thronged by the most famous personages of the time ; 
 and he was profuse in all the expenses which his rank 
 demanded. 
 
 We may find an explanation of this in the fact that 
 the indefatigable Count, who rose at daylight, examined 
 the minutest details of his administration, and insisted on 
 seeing everything with his own eyes, was also a polished man 
 of the world, married to a charming woman, who inherited 
 the graces of the old Court. Among his guests were the 
 most illustrious members of the European aristocracy, men 
 famous in politics, diplomacy, literature, and art. Of the 
 correspondence which he exchanged with them, there remain 
 more than two thousand specimens — letters of all sorts, 
 petitions amiable or urgent, invitations, thanks, notes such 
 as used to be written before the telegraph was substituted 
 for the pen, a collection of autographs so vast as to rouse 
 the envy of any collector.^ 
 
 * This note we quote at random from two correspondents : — 
 
 "My dear Count, — It is said that all the pretty women have little 
 favours to ask of you. Of course I cannot be included among them, yet as I am 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 He had many faithful friends besides, in whose com- 
 panionship he found relaxation from his labours, and who, 
 after his retirement, often cheered the enforced idleness 
 of an inactive life, which at times weighed heavily on the 
 vigour of his seventy years. He had noted the on-coming 
 of the storm ; the Revolution did not take him by surprise ; 
 he resigned without bitterness the honours which he had 
 exercised without ambition, and, when he returned to private 
 life, he declared that : " All I now desire on earth is hence- 
 forth to lead a peaceful existence beneath the shade of the 
 trees I planted, and to enjoy at the same time the good-will 
 and esteem of my fellow-citizens." 
 
 He had a longer and calmer existence than he would 
 have ventured to expect, dividing his time between Paris, 
 Rambuteau, and Champgrenon, according to the season. 
 He lived twenty years after his retirement, to the joy of 
 his grandchildren, his friends, and of his beloved trees, 
 whose green branches waved gladly above his head. He 
 diffused around him the subtle charm of old age, rich in 
 memories, relating what he had seen, dictating what he had 
 done, evoking the past, without any chagrin or rancour for 
 the present, discussing men and matters with his customary 
 good-nature. " We have taken our leave of public life," 
 Victor Cousin wrote to him. " Having left it with honour 
 and acquitted ourselves none too badly, we feel no grudge 
 against those who occupy the stage to-day. We are too 
 wise to embitter the close of our career with vain regrets 
 
 a woman, I hope this mere title, unadorned with any epithet, will dispose you 
 to receive my petition. There is a post vacant in the Hotel de Ville . . . &c. 
 
 "Lady Holland.'' 
 
 On the same day, and probably with reference to the same post, we find 
 a long and serious letter from Victor Hugo, in favour of the father of a 
 family : — 
 
 "... A small post in your great administration, it is a trifling matter, 
 so far as you are concerned, but it will be everything for him. Prove once 
 again, M. le Pr^fet, that your paternal functions are in paternal hands. 
 Every day, you are the originator of good works in general ; this will be 
 a good work in particular, &c., &c. VICTOR Hugo." 
 
 One might fill a volume with such quotations. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 or ill-humour. It was for us that the phrase was written, 
 Oiium cum dignitate.'" 
 
 In this fashion he completed his eightieth year in the 
 peace of a pure conscience, in that expectant hopefulness 
 which Pindar calls the kindly nurse of the aged. He was in 
 the full possession of all his faculties to the end. Owing 
 to cararact his sight failed him, so that he could no longer 
 look on the surrroundings he loved so well. But he 
 scarcely needed his eyes, so well able was he to find his 
 own way about his winding hot-houses. He knew exactly 
 where to find his rarest plants, and led his visitors to them 
 unerringly. He took long walks in the woods, even going 
 so far is the Calvary of Rambuteau. erected at his own 
 expense, and where, to-day, the bees, having penetrated 
 some orifice visible only to themselves, into the interior of 
 the hollow metal figure of the Christ, secrete their honey 
 in this hiding-place, which trickles from the wounds of the 
 Divine Victim. Never was the aged Count known to miss 
 his way. It almost seemed as if the trees knew his foot- 
 steps and drew aside their branches before him, whilst their 
 good old friend would touch them with his hand, stroke 
 the bark, putting his arms around them to see if they 
 had grown thicker. 
 
 He died in the spring of 1869, on the eve of our re- 
 verses. God spared him the spectacle of the misfortunes 
 which he had foreseen, for he was not duped by the 
 homage paid to France by Europe. He felt that this 
 splendour had no firm basis, and that our wealth was too 
 surely exciting the envy and greed of our neighbours. 
 Death was merciful and took him in time. He did not 
 see the horrors of our disasters — the defeat, the capitulation, 
 the enemy defiling through the capital, the helmeted King 
 at the tomb of Napoleon, the Empire of Germany bearing 
 date from Versailles, and, worst of all, while France was 
 gasping out her life, Paris, his Paris, his city (which fifteen 
 years of love had indeed made his own), his Hotel de Vijle, 
 his house, wrapt in the sacrilegious flames which had been 
 kindled by the French themselves ! 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION 
 
 His death was painless and gentle. He was going to 
 meet the dear companion who, thirteen years before, had 
 preceded him to the tomb ; and I cannot help saying of 
 him, with Cicero, " As for myself, Crassus, when I consider 
 the glory of thy life and the happy seasonableness of thy 
 death, it seems to me that the goodness of God has traced 
 out thy birth and the close of thy life. Thy firmness and 
 virtue mi^.ht, perhaps, have brought thy destruction by the 
 sword of civil war, or, if Fortune had preserved thee from 
 the rage of the assassin, she would not have saved thee 
 from witnessing the obsequies of thy country, or from 
 bewailing, not only the tyranny of the wicked, but also 
 the victory of the good, stained with the blood of so many 
 citizens." 
 
 Such is the man, and such is the book. 
 
 The latter does not consist of secret memoirs, spiced 
 with anecdotes calculated to gratify an unwholesome curi- 
 osity. History has nothing to gain from that sort of 
 indiscretions, which only come naturally from the lips of 
 gossiping valets. Doubtless, Comte de Rambuteau was 
 in a position to say and to hear many things, and he was 
 acquainted with a large number of illustrious personages, 
 beginning with Napoleon. But he was not one to keep a 
 register of petty human weaknesses, least of all of those of 
 the Prince whom he served. He tells everything about the 
 Emperor which we have any right to know. He admired 
 him, but not fanatically. Still his admiration for him 
 reaches a pitch that may lead us to form too favourable 
 an estimate of the mighty conqueror ; for in depicting any 
 hero, is not each one of us prone to invest him with every 
 virtue, just as on the other hand one is wont to attribute 
 every imaginable vice to certain notorious monsters ? 
 
 In one respect, at any rate, the Count has done well. 
 He has refrained from giving any of those thrilling revela- 
 tions which tend to upset old-established traditions. On 
 the contrary, these latter are confirmed by his straightfor- 
 ward and well-authenticated statements. 
 
 The reader will be impressed by his frank ingenuous- 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 ness and by that modesty which saves him from the shoal 
 upon which the authors of so many memoirs are wrecked 
 — egotism. The Chamberlain never obtrudes himself. 
 In fact, he keeps so much in the background, occupying 
 such a subordinate position relatively to M. de Narbonne, 
 that we sometimes feel as if we were perusing the memoirs 
 of the aide-de-camp and not those of M. de Rambuteau. 
 We never find the deputy quoting from his own reports 
 and speeches ; the Prefect simply relates, point by point, 
 the drama of '48. It is only when we come to the close of 
 the work that we find any personal references, and they are 
 of such a noble, generous nature that no one could object 
 to them. 
 
 Perhaps, too, the form of this narrative will dissipate a 
 certain legend which has received some credit in the press. 
 Men in power have always been fair game for journalists 
 whose object is to afford amusement to their readers. 
 First, they are treated to an insinuation, then follows a 
 harmless jest, next a poisoned shaft- is let fly, and the witti- 
 cism becomes calumnious : an impression is created, and the 
 caricature spreads rapidly among the pjablic. It was in this 
 fashion that the umbrella of Louis-Philippe, the puns of 
 Dupin, and Comte de Rambuteau's errors of style found a 
 place in history. 
 
 Doctor P. Meniere has already protested in his "Journal 
 against this imputation. Prdvost-Paradol, surely a good 
 judge in such a matter, says : " He was a delightful conver- 
 sationalist, thanks to the abundance and accuracy of his 
 recollections. He had seen much and retained much; he 
 could relate the events of the past charmingly and instruc- 
 tively." Villemain, who had these didemoires in his hands 
 and made use of everything in them relating to M. de 
 Narbonne, wrote as follows to the courteous lender : 
 " Pray do not accuse yourself of negligence. Nothing 
 can be better or more instructive than the homely tone you 
 adopt ; it is so familiar and so true. With a few words 
 you make us feel what you have felt ; you bring before our 
 eyes what you have seen and what is garnered in your heart." 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 And this, we believe, will be the opinion of the world 
 at large. And since we have appealed to the testimony of 
 his contemporaries, we shall conclude by borrowing from 
 one of them this delicately sketched portrait : ^ 
 
 " Connected with the old regime by his birth and by his 
 wife, who was one of the most charming women of his 
 time, yet a firm supporter of a constitutional form of 
 government by his ideas ; as thoroughly acquainted with 
 his budget of revenue and expenditure as an accountant ; 
 knowing more about architecture than an architect ; 
 thrifty in small things in order to be generous in great ; a 
 wise adviser, fruitful in suggestions and happy in his 
 methods of utilising them ; amiable (shall I say gallant ?) 
 in his salon, which attracted every one who was worth 
 knowing in Europe ; courteous, with all the well-bred 
 politeness which is the secret of the patrician world ; con- 
 versant with literature and proficient in every branch of 
 general knowledge ; skilfully availing himself of three 
 things in making the most of wealth — time, credit, and 
 experience ; finally, everywhere on the spot, accessible to 
 all, and ever ready with an answer for every question, M. 
 de Rambuteau was pre-eminently the Prefect of the age, 
 of the society, and of the great city which he represented." 
 
 GEORGES LEQUIN. 
 
 Macon, /z</j/ 15, 1904. 
 
 " 'Ba.rnhxe, Journal des Debats. 
 
MEMOIRS OF 
 
 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 WE are not grand aristocrats," my father used 
 often to say to me in my boyhood, "but honest 
 gentlemen of a good old house, neither more 
 nor less. And what more do we want? Without undue 
 pride, our position is surely good enough to dispense us 
 from all need either of petty self-assertion on the one 
 hand, or servility on the other? For noblesse oblige. The 
 remembrance of our ancestors' exploits should incite us to 
 courage, fidelity, and devotion, and with this object in view 
 it is surely permissible to speak of them." In order to 
 elucidate certain points in this narrative, I must mention a 
 few genealogical particulars with regard to my family. 
 These were verified by the Chambre de la Noblesse of Bur- 
 gundy in 1724. This authentication could not go further 
 back than the sixteenth century, owing to the burning of 
 the Chateau de Mersault and the consequent loss of all the 
 early title-deeds of the family, as recorded in the official 
 report of the Lieutenant-General of M^con, dated October 
 10, 1652. 
 
 The Barthelots, originally from the neighbourhood of 
 Montauban, owned the lands of Meursault, Ozenay, and 
 Crary, in the middle of the sixteenth century. Rambuteau 
 was acquired by them in 1545. A little later (1552), 
 Henry II. granted letters patent to " Messires Claude and 
 
2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Henri de Barthelot, captains of a hundred men-at-arms, 
 lords of Meursault and Crary," for the renewal of their 
 rights as landholders, which they had allowed to lapse 
 during their service in Italy under Frangois I. During the 
 wars of religion, the abbey of St. Philibert de Tournus was re- 
 peatedly defended against the Huguenots by the Sire Claude 
 de Barthelot, Lord of Ozenay. Hence the custom in our 
 family of transmitting from father to son the baptismal 
 nzmes of Claude a.nd Phi/il?ert. In 1574 he married Mile, 
 de Rymon, daughter of Aime de Rymon, the King's Attorney 
 at Macon, who, aided by the Lieutenant-Gen eral of the 
 bailiwick, Philibert de Laguiche, had preserved the Protes- 
 tants from a repetition of the massacre of the Vespers of St. 
 Bartholomew. 
 
 I owe a few words to Rymon, who was a good citizen, 
 always zealous in the service of his prince and country. On 
 the death of Henry III. he persuaded M^con to submit to 
 the authority of Henry IV. When the city was besieged by 
 the Leaguers of Lyons, he happened to be visiting one of 
 his sons-in-law at Royer, near Tournus. With the latter, 
 and two of his own sons, he jumped into a little boat, and, 
 in spite of the besiegers' fire, made his way into the city, 
 inspired the inhabitants with renewed courage, and repulsed 
 the enemy. In 1580 he built the Chateau of Champgrenon. 
 He was the friend of Ponthus de Thiard, Bishop of Chalons, 
 one of the poetic Pleiades, and delighted to receive this son 
 of the Muses in his new residence, together with Ronsard, 
 du Bellay, and du Bartas. By way of expressing this feeling, 
 he had the following verse engraved over the door : 
 
 Campus Gryriisus, Musis et Apollini sacer. 
 
 The Hospice de la Charite at M^con was partly en- 
 dowed by him. Henri IV. ennobled him in 1594 by letters 
 royal, in which his services are enumerated ; and added to 
 this favour the grant of the toll over the bridge at Mjlcon. 
 
 Philibert de Barthelot, son of Claude, married Mile, de 
 Bullion, daughter of Bullion de Fervaques (Superintendent 
 of the Finances under Louis XIII. ; and of this marriage was 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 3 
 
 born Henry de Barthelot, who married Marguerite Chapuis 
 de Lafay. With the two sons of the latter, the family split 
 into two branches : that of Ozenay and that of Rambuteau. 
 
 Philibert de Rambuteau, Lieutenant of the King in 
 Maconnais, married, in 1677, Marie de Rymon, the 
 last descendant of Aim6 de Rymon, whose line — so to 
 speak — died out in ours. He did not live long after his 
 marriage. He was very jealous of his hunting rights, and 
 had several quarrels on the subject with one of his neigh- 
 bours, the Lord of Montrouen, which ended one day 
 in a duel with hunting knives on the Bridge of Barrin. 
 Montrouen was slain, and Rambuteau, grievously wounded, 
 survived only a few years, after receiving the royal pardon ; 
 duelling at that period being heavily punishable. He left 
 three sons, all soldiers : the eldest, Fran9ois, was killed at 
 the battle of Luzzara ; the second, Claude, was my grand- 
 father ; the third, Philibert, never married. 
 
 Claude de Rambuteau entered the army at a very early 
 age. His courage, handsome appearance, and remarkable 
 height (he stood six feet) made him very conspicuous 
 amongst other officers. At twenty-seven he was lieutenant- 
 colonel of the Villeroy Regiment, the titular colonel of 
 which was just five years old. During the War of the 
 Spanish Succession he victualled his men almost entirely 
 at his own expense during two consecutive campaigns. To 
 achieve this he was obliged to sell his estates of Villars and 
 Crary, and cut down all his forests. Money was then so 
 rare that a cartload of wood was sold for fifteen sous ! In 
 return for these sacrifices, the King appointed him brigadier 
 of his armies, and presented him with three tattered 
 standards belonging to his regiment. These are still at 
 Rambuteau, my father having had them placed in front 
 of the altar.^ He had been already invested with the Cross 
 
 * They are guidons of white silk, framed in rich silver embroidery 
 Two bear a golden sun darting its rays over green mountains, an eagle 
 with wings outspread, and this motto : Et Solem et Praelia. The third 
 has the dazzling sun of Louis XIV., Nee pluribus impar. At Rambuteau 
 likewise may be seen the breastplates of these military leaders, indented 
 here and there by bullets, and, among the family.portraits, a very fine one of 
 the poet Rotrou. 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Saint Louis, and with the most brilliant career opening 
 before him (thanks to his valour and to the friendship 
 of Marshal Villeroy), at forty-five he was attacked by 
 paralysis of the optic nerve, and thus compelled to quit 
 the service. He had married, somewhat late in life, Mile, 
 de Rotrou, granddaughter of the poet, a love match to 
 which he sacrificed his engagement with Mile, de la 
 Roche-Aymon, a rich heiress. He left two sons, each of 
 whom, as soon as they attained the age of fifteen, were 
 provided with a company of cavalry in the Conti Regiment. 
 
 The elder brother, Claude^ (he was my father), had 
 the good luck to distinguish himself at the battle of Coni 
 by his plucky rescue of some military waggons, and thus 
 contributed his share to the Prince de Conti's victory. 
 My father was then twenty-four. The Prince attached 
 him to his service, and obtained for him the Cross of 
 Saint Louis, which was not generally bestowed upon less 
 than thirty years' service. As an old man, he loved to 
 describe how he accompanied the Prince to Versailles in 
 his velvet coat, richly braided i la Bourgogne on every 
 seam, his own youthfulness and the Cross of Saint Louis 
 serving as " sesame " to all doors, and, if I mistake not, 
 all hearts as well. 
 
 He received much notice from the Princess de Conti 
 {nee d'Orleans), whose portrait is at Champgrenon, and to 
 the day of her death she showed him unfailing kindness. 
 
 She was very anxious to marry him to Mile, de 
 Lambert, the daughter of her lady-in-waiting, and it was 
 to please his fiancee that the Count planted the long avenue 
 of alternate peach and cherry trees at Champgrenon. 
 Alas ! the trees were longer lived than the love which 
 their planting should have represented. For, after having 
 undergone a terrible illness, the young lady retired to a 
 convent on her recovery. 
 
 1 Born in the Rue Sainte-Avoye, Paris, in the house in which his father 
 had died. So, when the name Rue de Rambuteau was given to the great 
 street opened up from the Rue Paradis to Sainte-Eustache, it was a mark of 
 respect paid not only to the Prefect of Paris, but to his family. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 5 
 
 The Princesse de Conti was very witty. " My friend," 
 she would say to him, '* never marry a girl from the 
 moneyed classes, for she will devour all her own property, 
 and then yours, leaving only the dregs for you. If you 
 take a girl of good family you will get less money 
 with her, but she will live at home quietly in your chateau 
 when you are with your regiment, and, though wealth may 
 not rain in showers, it will fall in drops." He followed 
 this advice, and married Mile, de Laviefville-Vignacourt, 
 who came of a very old family in Picardy that had supplied 
 two Grand Masters to the Order of Malta. He might 
 have married another woman with ten times her dowry, 
 but soon afterwards, owing to the death of her father and 
 brother, she became a great heiress. Her properties, large 
 even after the losses incurred during the Revolution, were 
 still further increased in 1825 by a part of the estates of 
 the Duchesse de Saint-Aignan, so that, if fortune did not 
 rain in showers, it most certainly did in drops. How vain, 
 for that matter, are all pecuniary calculations, and how 
 brittle are matrimonial expectations ! M. Laviefville, my 
 grandfather, had been married by his guardian and cousin, 
 Marshal de Noailles, to Mile. Chopin d'Arnouville. His 
 only brother was very rich, but such a sickly hunch- 
 back, that his life was considered almost a question of 
 days. Consequently it was a foregone conclusion that 
 his sister would be a great heiress. As it turned out, 
 however, this diminutive man (he was only four and a half 
 feet high) lived to be eighty. His hump did not hinder 
 him from becoming a very distinguished man. He was 
 Counsellor to the Parliament of Paris, First President of 
 the Cour des Aides, and left eight children at his death. 
 
 As to my uncle Philibert, also a Chevalier of Saint 
 Louis, his military career was cut short by an unfortunate 
 love affair. It is a sad story, somewhat like that of M. de 
 Ranee. On going to keep his tryst with the woman he 
 loved, he found her dead. This tragedy changed his life, 
 and he became extremely devout ; so that whenever Comte 
 (afterward Marshal) de Mun invited him to dinner, he used to 
 
6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 say to his officers : " Gentlemen, no frivolous conversation ; 
 the Chevalier de Rambuteau dines with us to-day." After 
 the peace of 1763, he left the army and entered the Abbey 
 of Sept-Fonts, of which he built the part that bears his 
 name. Although he never took the vows, he spent the 
 rest of his life as a severe ascetic. He bequeathed his 
 library to La Trappe, and also an income sufficient to 
 provide the monastery with rice and oil, on condition that 
 the Order should pray for members of his family when 
 sick and after their death, when requested to do so. Con- 
 sequently, when my mother was attacked by smallpox 
 in 1 791, my father's first care was to despatch his valet 
 to Sept-Fonts, with a request for the prayers of the com- 
 munity, to which he was convinced that we owed her sub- 
 sequent recovery. The Chevalier died in 1780 at Micon, 
 during a visit to my father. My mother, a wife of four 
 years' standing, but with no children, nursed him with 
 the most devoted affection. On the evening before his 
 death, he said to her : " Sister, I know what you long for, 
 and if God is merciful to me, you will have a son within 
 the year." ' I was born eleven months later, and my parents 
 always believed my birth was due to their brother's inter- 
 cession. 
 
 The year 1791, which nearly deprived me of a mother, 
 came near to being fatal to myself and my sister. The 
 smallpox was raging at the time. My mother was in 
 such terror of it that, directly she heard of its appearance 
 in the neighbourhood of wherever she might happen to 
 be, she at once ordered her carriage and fled. My sister and 
 myself were the first to be attacked. Then she was struck 
 down while nursing us. She did endeavour, when the 
 disease first appeared, to obey the doctor's orders, and to 
 content herself with looking at us through one of our 
 
 • The Calvary of Rambuteau, erected by the Chevalier in 1769, and 
 carved by an unknown artist, was broken and mutilated during the 
 Revolution. The new Calvary, blessed in i860, reproduces the Christ of 
 Bouchardon and the statues of Pradier. The original pedestals have been 
 taken up, and along with the mutilated statues have been placed in the 
 enclosure. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 7 
 
 windows opening on a balcony. But after a little she 
 could not restrain her loving anxiety, and at length, in 
 despite of all prohibition, she devoted herself entirely to 
 us. She never left us for a single minute. Poor mother, 
 how tender she was, and how proud she was of her son ! 
 She was never tired of telling me the story of how, at a 
 religious festival in the Cathedral of Sens, when I was 
 standing on a chair during the procession, headed by 
 Cardinal de La Roche-Aymon, the latter stopped before 
 us, and, tapping me on the cheek, said : " What a fine 
 child ! " It was one of her sweetest memories. The 
 disease had more terrible consequences for her than for us, 
 for, whereas we escaped all scars, she lost her beauty and 
 bore the marks of her devotion until her dying day. My 
 father was at Champgrenon, in a state of great appre- 
 hension, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the couriers 
 despatched at short intervals to report our condition. 
 
 Directly all danger of infection was over, I was sent 
 to him, but it was many months before my mother could 
 bring herself to rejoin him, so acutely did she realise what 
 the extent of his distress would be on seeing her terribly 
 disfigured features. At first she always wore a veil in 
 his presence, but his rapidly-increasing blindness — due 
 to on-coming cataract — soon made this precaution un- 
 necessary. 
 
 The malady which we both shared at the same time 
 drew the bond of affection still closer between my sister 
 and me. We were born the same day, the 9th of Novem- 
 ber — I in 1 78 1, she in 1783. We had the same nurse, the 
 same cradle (later it was also my eldest daughter's), the 
 same masters, and the same education. During the whole 
 of our youth, we were only once parted ; even during the 
 worst days of the Terror we were not separated. My 
 father, in fact, had refused to emigrate. " If I were 
 young," he said, " with no infirmities, I should take my 
 stand beside the King ; but to seek the aid of foreign 
 arms is simply to compromise his cause and insult the 
 country. By staying in France, I defend the interests of 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 my children, and I remain true to my political and religious 
 creed. Perhaps we may suffer for it ; but at any rate, we 
 shall eat French bread." Besides, what cause had he for 
 fear ! During the long years he had resided on his estates, 
 he had been unsparing in good deeds, and had every reason 
 to believe himself beloved. A practical proof of the affec- 
 tion with which he was regarded was given in 1792, when 
 the volunteers, on their way to join the army, invaded 
 Champgrenon and threatened to sack the chateau. The 
 municipality rallied round the bed upon which he lay, 
 blind and infirm, covering him with their tricolour scarfs 
 for protection. He received the volunteers with dignified 
 calmness. He told them he was an old soldier, who had 
 seen active service from the age of fifteen, and had always, 
 even in the enemy's country, shown respect to old age. 
 They retired in silence, without doing any damage. 
 
 But the Terror came, and my parents were arrested and 
 taken to M^con. There my mother was imprisoned in the 
 Hospice de la Charit6, and afterwards in the Hopital, 
 institutions which owed their existence to the generosity 
 of our family. Thence she was transferred to Autun, 
 where she remained a prisoner for ten months. On the 
 day of her departure, my sister and I, with the other 
 children belonging to those who had been arrested, were 
 taken before the Societe Populaire to entreat the release 
 of our parents. We were promptly repulsed. Thereupon 
 we flew to the quay in order to embrace our mother before 
 she entered the boat. Here my sister, nimbler than myself, 
 slipped under a gendarme's horse, and, throwing her arms 
 about her, she wept so bitterly that the commissaries were 
 touched and did not insist on their separation. As for 
 my poor blind father, his release was demanded by the 
 neighbouring communes, which consented to be responsible 
 for him. Although he was allowed to return to his house, 
 the seals which had been affixed on the doors were not 
 removed, for, in spite of his infirmity, he had been placed 
 on the list of emigrants, and his goods were under seques- 
 tration. In vain, Mademoiselle Rochefort, my mother's 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 9 
 
 maid, and the only servant who had stayed with us, did 
 her best to procure a replevin with which to redeem my 
 father's possessions, but though she was reinforced with 
 numerous medical certificates, her efforts were fruitless. 
 The President of the District tore them from her hands 
 and threw them into the fire, saying, "This is what you 
 should do yourself, if you were a good Republican." 
 
 At length the 9th Thermidor came to my parents' 
 rescue, just as they were on the point of being brought 
 before the Revolutionary Tribunal, which would probably 
 have condemned them to death, notwithstanding the affec- 
 tion which was universally felt for them. A few years later, 
 when I was still quite a youth, I happened one day to lose 
 my way in a forest near Charolles. Meeting some sabot- 
 makers, I asked the road to Rambuteau. " Might I ask if 
 you are the son of M. le Marquis ? " inquired one of them. 
 " Ah, what a good man he was ! He was always so kind 
 to the poor. We are all glad to have a chance of obliging 
 his son." And they insisted on accompanying me to the 
 house, refusing to accept anything from me. The impres- 
 sion I received then has never been effaced from my 
 memory. 
 
 But, though my parents had weathered the storm safely, 
 how many dear heads among our relatives had fallen ! 
 Eight were executed in one day, and we saw the whole 
 family of Mme. de R6zy,^ my mother's sister, mount the 
 steps of the scaffold. By a refinement of cruelty, Mme. 
 de R6zy was made to remain at the foot of the guillotine 
 until the others were beheaded. This was such a terrible 
 blow to my father that he could never be persuaded to set 
 foot in Paris again ; he could not endure to revisit a city 
 that had been the theatre of such horrors. 
 
 Among the victims were Comte d'Achon, late governor 
 of the Due de Bourbon, and the Marquis and Marquise 
 d'Achon. We were united with them by a kinship that 
 
 • Descendants of the ^chevin Langlois de R6zy, who opened the gates 
 of Paris to Henri IV. on the night of the 22nd of March 1694, and was 
 named by the King Prevot des Marchands, 
 
lo MEMOIRS OF 
 
 went back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 and by ties of friendship so close that a double alliance had 
 been planned between our two families : Mile. d'Achon 
 and her brother had been betrothed almost in their cradles 
 to me and my sister. The Revolution shattered all these 
 contracts. Young d'Achon died soon after its close, and 
 Mile. d'Achon became so great an heiress as to be presum- 
 ably too grand a match for myself. However, after a long 
 separation, and being aware of the plans which our respec- 
 tive parents had originally made for her, she expressed a 
 wish to make my acquaintance. In consequence, we met 
 frequently, for eighteen months. But she had a governess 
 who ruled the roost, and who was accessible only to bribery. 
 My mother was not the woman to descend to such methods. 
 I personally was too young to attach much value to money, 
 and all I wanted was to secure my cousin's affection, as 
 she, apparently, had some liking for me. One fine day, 
 however, we learned that an alliance had been arranged 
 between her and M. de Riancourt at the price of great 
 sacrifices on the part of the bride. It did not insure her 
 happiness : the poor woman died very young. 
 
 To return, however, to the Revolution, with which my 
 remotest memories are connected. In 1796 I accompanied 
 my mother on horseback from Paris to Rambuteau. There 
 were four of us altogether, and, as we had but two horses, 
 we were forced to walk half the way. Near Vigousset, the 
 night grew so dark that I and my steed tumbled into a 
 bog, which to this day is known as Amable's Pond.^ It 
 was a matter of considerable difficulty to rescue horse and 
 rider from their unpleasant predicament. Luckily, we were 
 near home. Later we went to Lyons to visit M. Petit, a 
 famous oculist, whom my father wished to consult. We 
 were present every day at the hospital, watching intently 
 the operations, and noting M. Petit's success in dealing 
 with a score of consecutive cases. On learning this, my 
 father decided to have an operation performed, and, some 
 months later, the oculist was summoned to Champgrenon. 
 
 ' Amable was the name of Corate de Rambuteau's youngest daughter. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU ii 
 
 It was done very quickly. I held his hand while the 
 incision was being made. His first look when he saw the 
 light was for me ; but the operation was not entirely 
 successful. He recovered the sight of only one eye, the 
 other was lost. Still, he could see with that one until his 
 death, and for the next fifteen years was able to write 
 letters of four pages in a delicate, close hand. Lyons at 
 this period offered a singular spectacle : it was the time of 
 the great reaction. Quite a number of young men be- 
 longing to the army of Cond6 had returned, and, finding 
 their families decimated, their houses destroyed, their pro- 
 perties sold, and the laws powerless, these imigris avenged 
 themselves on their executioners. A vendetta was promptly 
 organised. A search was made for informers, called Mati- 
 vons, from the name of their ringleader. Every moment 
 a Mativon was to be seen going through the street, accom- 
 panied by an escort who forced him to walk by prodding 
 him with a dagger. " Oh ! it's only a Mativon, whom 
 they're taking to the river," was the careless reply to any 
 inquiry. Arrived at the bank, he was forced down on his 
 knees, stabbed repeatedly, and then flung into the stream ; 
 after which every one returned unconcernedly to his busi- 
 ness. I witnessed these executions on two or three 
 occasions. 
 
 The elegant youth of the day adopted a sort of dis- 
 tinctive uniform : they wore a short-skirted body-coat with 
 black collar ; and had two long locks of hair falling down 
 each side of the face, called oreilles de chien. They carried 
 a cane, leaded at both ends, and pistols ; whilst after dark 
 a lamp, suspended from a button-hole, completed the 
 costume. I was very young at the time, scarcely fourteen, 
 and it was in this dress, to which I clung during my several 
 visits to Lyons, that I made my ddbut in society. The 
 fact was I was very tall for my age — five feet eight, and I 
 looked much older than I was. My mentor was a near 
 relative of my mother, M. de Br^vannes, and he intro- 
 duced me to a select circle, the leading lights of which 
 were Mesdames Fleurieu, de Jess6, Champlieu, Cuzieu, de 
 
12 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Montpensler, and de la Salle. The latter was the hostess 
 of all the returning Smigres, and at her house I became 
 acquainted with MM, de LigondSs, Desrives, La Rochette, 
 Pujol, and others whom I was to meet later on in Paris. 
 
 When the 1 8th Fructidor broke out, my mother, who 
 had only too good cause to dread imprisonment, decided 
 on leaving France. Not daring to pass through M^con, 
 she selected the route by Cluny and Cormatin, and reached 
 Tournus and Bourg. There hearing reassuring tidings, 
 she returned to Rambuteau, afterwards taking my sister 
 and me to Paris, whither our interests as well as our 
 education called us. The roads were then in such ill con- 
 dition that it took seven days for our big berline and six 
 horses to achieve the journey. We lodged with my aunt, 
 de Boisgelin, at the H6tel Br^vannes, Rue d'Orl^ans, in 
 the Marais, Ah 1 many a time, when as Prefect of Paris 
 I took my morning walk, did I pause to gaze at the windows 
 of that little house where my youth was spent. 
 
 One of our masters was M. Despr^aux, author of the 
 poem on Dancing, the husband of Mile. Guimard,' and 
 one of the cleverest men of the time. We were indebted 
 for his consent to teach us to my mother's first cousin, 
 M. de Vindi. It was in Mme. IDesprdaux's salon. Rue 
 de la Chauss6 d'Antin, that M. de la Harpe gave his 
 course on literature. We also had lessons from the Abb6 
 Guyon, afterwards bishop, and always my faithful friend 
 till death. 
 
 The next year I prepared for the Ecole Polytechnique, 
 which was the only course I could take to enter the service, 
 except as a common soldier. I worked hard, and, thanks 
 to my professor of mathematics, M. Lefort, I passed the 
 examinations successfully. But as, after the i8th Brumaire, 
 families began to feel more secure, my mother was less 
 anxious about my future, and she did not like me to remain 
 away from her at school for two years more. I have always 
 
 ' The famous dancer of the Opdra, but celebrated especially for her 
 mad extravagance, the luxury of her h6tel in the Chaussde d'Antin, and 
 the plays given in her private theatre, where all the pr^miires of CoUd 
 were represented. 
 
/// 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 13 
 
 regretted that I did not finish the course I had begun so 
 happily. From that moment I mixed in society. 
 
 Bonaparte's coup d'itat, by restoring order, had to a 
 certain extent restored social conditions. The salons were 
 opening in all directions ; my mother " received " once a 
 week, and had a dance at her receptions. She was very 
 anxious to develop my taste for good society. Thanks to 
 her liberality, I was able to give some nice breakfasts to 
 my friends Br6vannes, Montholon, Scipion Nicolal, d'Orsay, 
 the two d'Estournels, the two Chopins, Dupaty, and Sainte- 
 Aulaire, whose acquaintance I made either at the balls of 
 our dancing-master, Gaillet, or at the studio of M. Lemire, 
 professor of drawing to the ficole Polytechnique, or at the 
 Pellier riding-school. Rue de Florence. My mother gave 
 me three francs a day to spend on going to and fro my 
 lessons, but these I generally economised in order to spend 
 them on entertaining my friends. What a happy time it 
 was ! We lived in a magnificent rez-de-chaussie in the 
 Rue d'Anjou, with coach-house, seven horses, and a cook. 
 My sister, in the flower of her eighteen years, was very 
 much sought after. Her hand was asked in marriage four 
 times during the year 1801 by MM. de Brdvannes, Lepel- 
 letier d'Aunay, d'Arbaud de Jouques, and de Vallin. The 
 latter and I were great friends, although he was twelve years 
 my senior. In fact, he was the best friend I had. I shall 
 never forget a visit we paid together to the Grande Char- 
 treuse with Mme. de Krudener, whom he had known in 
 Germany. She wrote a description of it to Chateaubriand 
 on the spot on the backs of envelopes, and I have kept 
 a copy.^ 
 
 On the 8th of December 1802, my sister married M. de 
 Mesgrigny. Not wishing that any pecuniary consideration 
 should stand in the way of her happiness, I begged my 
 parents to allow me to bestow such property on her as 
 I deemed right. I was amply rewarded on reading my 
 father's answer to the first overtures of MM. de Mesgrigny : 
 " Gentlemen, it is my son who gives his sister in marriage. 
 ' Unfortunately we have been unable to find this curious letter. 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 We will sign whatever he proposes without looking at it." 
 This was to be my mother's last happiness in this world. 
 She had been ill for several months, and could hardly get 
 down to the chapel. We did not make any show of rejoic- 
 ing, for we felt that death was already seated at our hearth. 
 She died, indeed, on the 8 th of January following. I was 
 in despair. I lost not only the tenderest of mothers, from 
 whom I had never been separated, but the unfailing guide 
 of my youth, a guide whose sagacity was never at fault. 
 She had been the providence of her husband and children ; 
 and, knowing the support she had always been to us, she 
 realised the void she would leave behind her. Her great 
 sorrow lay not in having to die, but in having to leave us. 
 She rebelled at the thought, crying aloud in her distress : 
 " O God, Thou canst not require such a sacrifice I See these 
 children who still need me 1 See this old man to whose 
 declining years my care is necessary 1 " Nothing but the 
 consolations of religion could reconcile her to so cruel a 
 separation. The Abb6 Repey, her confessor, an able and 
 kind-hearted priest, succeeded in inspiring her with a supreme 
 resignation by assuring her that God would replace her in 
 caring for her dear ones, and that her sacrifice would most 
 surely be turned into a blessing for them. 
 
 It was reserved for me, fifty years later, to witness the 
 same heartrending anguish in similar circumstances in the 
 case of my daughter. In these horrible trials I realised how 
 religion alone can bring consolation when all human efforts 
 are impotent. Then I understood its value, its sanctity, 
 the obligation to respect it in others, as well as that of culti- 
 vating it in oneself, as the sole refuge for despairing souls. 
 All my life I have honoured religion. It was from religion 
 that my father derived the courage and strength needed to 
 endure so irreparable a calamity, the bitterness of which all 
 the tenderness of my own affection for him would have been 
 powerless to soothe. 
 
 The death of my mother deprived me of her advice at 
 the very moment when I was about to want it most. For 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 15 
 
 I had reached that time of life when it behoved me to think 
 of my future. In what direction was I to steer my course ? 
 Toward the past, which had been swept away by the whirl- 
 wind of the Revolution ? Toward the present, so new and 
 so precarious ? My own tastes, the prestige of victory and 
 the earnest advice of my friends, drew me towards the Empire. 
 In 1806, M. de Beausset, Prefect of the Palace, mentioned 
 my name to Josephine, who was on intimate terms with my 
 brother-in-law, M. de Mesgrigny.* He also recommended 
 me to M. de Caulaincourt, a distant relative of the Lavief- 
 villes, and it was settled that I should apply for a presenta- 
 tion to the Emperor. 
 
 This took place in July at Saint Cloud. First I was 
 ushered into the ante-chamber, where I saw the Prince of 
 Baden and the Prince of Schwarzenberg, the eldest brother 
 of the Duke of Krumau.* Here I waited for nearly three 
 hours. The Emperor received me very warmly ; he spoke 
 of Burgundy, inquired about my family, and asked why I 
 was not in the army, seeing that I belonged to a house 
 which had always been attached to the service. I told him 
 that I had been admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique and 
 had wished, after the news of Marengo and the appeal 
 addressed to the youth of Paris, to follow the example of 
 my comrades, Flahaut, Lagrange, and Menou d'Astorg, but 
 that my mother was opposed to this, and, after her death, 
 I could not leave my old father. I added that I ardently 
 desired to devote myself to his government and to his person, 
 and this with the consent of my father, who had written to 
 me that, while at his time of life one was inclined to cling 
 to old traditions, at my age I might enjoy the privilege of 
 choice, and that I ought to belong to my time and country. 
 His letter was intended to be a guide for my future conduct, 
 and was a complete treatise on delicate questions of political 
 
 ' She had made his acquaintance during the Terror in the Luxembourg 
 prison. 
 
 * The Duke of Krumau, an Austrian general, was ambassador at Paris 
 after the treaty of Vienna. He will be often mentioned in this narrative, 
 but under the name of Prince de Schwarzenberg, which he bore as well as 
 his brother. 
 
i6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 loyalty. The Emperor smiled and promised that he would 
 not forget me. Henceforward I was included in the Court 
 invitations, and was present at the Saint Napoleon Fdte. I 
 well remember wearing a costume embroidered with white 
 silk and strass (floss silk) and covered with spangles, which 
 was so much admired that I at once secured a place among 
 the exquisites of the Court. This did not help me much, 
 however. I had still three years to wait for the coveted 
 key of a Chamberlain. 
 
 During this interval I continued to appear at Saint Cloud, 
 but not with particular assiduity. Truth to tell I was now 
 beginning to think of settling down, and, as several matches 
 were proposed for me, I thought it as well to await results ; 
 so that I might accommodate my politics to those of my 
 new family. Mme. de Jaucourt did her best to bring about 
 a marriage between me and Mile. Marescalchi, the daughter 
 of the Italian minister at Paris. But I was only moderately 
 attracted to this young person, and the great splendour and 
 luxury of her surroundings led me to fear that a girl brought 
 up in such opulence was scarcely likely to be satisfied with 
 our modest life in the country. I loved my father too well 
 to neglect him, and it was entirely owing to his liberality 
 that I was able to live in much better style than most of my 
 contemporaries. I kept five or six horses in Paris, a cook, 
 &c. In the country he allowed me to receive my friends 
 during the several months I spent with him, and, when my 
 sister was there, we lived in grand style, with retinues of 
 attendants, &c. I shrank in consequence from doing any- 
 thing that might run counter to his tastes, and so I rejected 
 an alliance that would at the onset have brought me nearer 
 to the Emperor. After this, M. de Vallin wished me to 
 marry Mile, de Savaron, while my grandmother de Lavief- 
 ville and her brother Chopin d'Arnouville, President of the 
 Cour des Aides, intended me for Mile, de Narbonne. The 
 latter project found favour with every one ; the matter was 
 settled in December, and my contract was signed early in 
 January 1809. 
 
 The Comte de Narbonne, my father-in-law, ex-Minister 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 17 
 
 of War to Louis XVI. — his last War Minister in fact^ — 
 had married Mile, de Montholon,^ by whom he had two 
 daughters': the first, Louise de Riom (the town of Riom 
 had been her godmother), who, in 1806, married M. de 
 Sobral,* the Portuguese Minister ; the second, Marie 
 Addlatde, who became my wife. No more dramatic exist- 
 ence can be imagined than that which my fiancee led for a 
 time. Born at Bellevue,* in 1790, and confided, with her 
 nurse, to the care of the concierges of the chateau on the 
 day when Mesdames and her mother started for a foreign 
 land, she remained on their hands, her father (forced to fly 
 in his turn) having been unable to make any arrangements 
 with respect to her. During the Terror, the concierges 
 became alarmed at having this child of proscribed parents 
 with them, and deposited it in the porch of the church. She 
 was picked up by a former servant of Mesdames, named 
 Ardon, who for several years reared and treated her as his 
 own daughter. She went to the school at the Sevres manu- 
 factory with the village children, and, later on, the Emperor 
 enjoyed showing Marie Louise the meadow, on the road 
 to Meudon, where Mile, de Narbonne used to keep her 
 foster-father's cow. This worthy man grew so fond of the 
 child that it was only when he was threatened with legal 
 proceedings, that he would consent to give her up, when her 
 two grandfathers, MM. de Narbonne and de Montholon 
 came to claim her. Needless to say that their gratitude to 
 her guardian took a very substantial form. Marie Adelaide 
 
 • The Comte de Narbonne, born 1755, '" 'h^ palace of Elizabeth de 
 Bourbon, Duchess of Parma, in whose Court his parents held high office, 
 was descended from the ancient family of the Laras of Castile. His father, 
 Duke of Narbonne-Lara, was Grandee of Spain. After the death of the 
 Infanta, his mother was lady of honour to Mesdames of France. (See 
 Villemain, Souvenirs contemporains, ire. partie ; Le Comte de Narbonne.') 
 
 2 Daughter of M. Montholon, ex-First President of the Parliament of 
 Rouen. 
 
 3 Count de Braamcamp de Sobral, President of the Cortes, &c., one of 
 the most distinguished men that Uved during this agitated period of Portu- 
 guese history. 
 
 * Residence of Mme. de Pompadour, given by Marie Antoinette to her 
 aunts, Mesdames Victoire and Adelaide, who resided there before their 
 emigration. 
 
 B 
 
i8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was placed in a Paris boarding-school, and, on her mother's 
 return from the Emigration in 1805, was brought by her 
 father to Agen, where the Comtesse de Narbonne was 
 residing. And thus, after a separation of fifteen years, 
 husband and wife met again for the marriage of a daughter 
 who was unknown to both of them. 
 
 My marriage was delayed for family reasons. Ruined 
 by the Revolution, M. de Montholon * saw himself forced 
 to sell his h6tel on the Boulevard Poissonni^re for 340,000 
 francs, after having expended one million on it. With a 
 yearly income reduced by two-thirds, he had to face those 
 continuous debts which are the ordinary accessories of a 
 great fortune for those to whom reverses have taught neither 
 discretion nor foresight. In short, he had been living from 
 hand to mouth for several years, when he obtained the post 
 of member of the Administrative Commission of Hospitals 
 which brought him 9000 francs a year. He claimed it on 
 the ground that he had been a member of the Conseil 
 General of the said hospitals. True, it was somewhat of a 
 come down in his case, to descend from a superintendent to 
 be one of the superintended ; but It made life easier for 
 him. 
 
 Two months were spent in negotiations, during which 
 my position was rather anomalous, for, though my contract 
 was duly signed, I had not yet made acquaintance with my 
 intended. Everybody in the social world was astonished at 
 these delays. On the other hand, I saw M. de Narbonne 
 frequently, and the more I saw of him the more I loved 
 him. I was particularly impressed by his integrity. 
 " Certain people," he said, " look out for a son-in-law ; 
 I want to find a son. I have heard nothing but good of 
 you. And although every one hinted at some trifling little 
 drawback, every one added : ' But he's such a good 
 fellow ! ' Well, I have given my daughter to this good 
 young fellow." Indeed he always treated me as his son, a fact 
 which I shall never weary of repeating. His affection for me 
 
 • Mme. de Montholon had also lost her whole fortune, which brought 
 her an income of 300,000 livres, in the revolution of Santo Domingo. 
 
-_^7/,^ -.jVr/r/rffr/e r/f._.//o»/'/{r,/m 
 
 Hello's^ PujarJm Pans 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 19 
 
 was an open secret. The Emperor was especially aware 
 of itj for, when he promised him on his departure as 
 Ambassador to Vienna in 18 13 the title of duke, with 
 an endowment large enough to correspond adequately to 
 the position, he further bestowed on him the right to 
 adopt me. 
 
 M. de Narbonne at that time lived with Mme. de Laval ^ 
 in a small pavilion in the Rue Roqu^pine, where she held a 
 reception every evening for the celebrities of the period : 
 MM. de Talleyrand, de Choiseul-Gouffier, de Jaucourt, 
 Comte de La Marck, the friend of Mirabeau, Comte de 
 Clary, son-in-law of Prince de Ligne, Prince Poniatowski, 
 the Due de Laval, Adrien de Montmorency, and Mmes. 
 de Choiseul, de Jaucourt, de La Tour du Pin, de Vicence,^ 
 de Baufremont, de Coigny,^ de Balbi,* de Souza,^ &c. It 
 was a select and limited circle in which scarcely any one of 
 my age appeared. The honour of sharing it, therefore, was 
 most gratifying to me, for it was the school of grand 
 manners and of great traditions and memories. Not that 
 much reference was made to the past. A large proportion 
 of the guests had rallied round Napoleon, without family ties 
 or old friendships being affected by the change. On the 
 contrary, the lively and interesting discussions which took 
 place lost nothing of their animation, whatever differences 
 of opinion might exist, because they were conducted with 
 courtesy and regard for one another's feelings. For nearly 
 a whole year I met the Duchess de Fitz-James there. She 
 
 ' They had become acquainted during the Emigration in Switzerland. 
 The result was one of these liaisons so frequent in the eighteenth century 
 that custom rendered them, to some extent, regular. This one lasted for 
 life. 
 
 ^ The Marquise de Caulaincourt. 
 
 ^ The Marquise de Coigny, of whom Marie Antoinette said : " I am 
 Queen only of Versailles, Mme. de Coigny is Queen of Paris." 
 
 * Ex-mistress of the Comte de Provence (later Louis XVIII.), whom she 
 followed to Coblentz. After her return to France under the Consulate, she 
 was exiled to Montauban, where Comte de Rambuteau will find her in 1815. 
 
 ^ One of the most charming women during the Imperial epoch for her 
 grace and wit. A widow at thirty — the Comte de Flahault, her husband, 
 was guillotined in 1793 — she married, in 1803, the Baron de Souza, a 
 Portuguese author and diplomatist. 
 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was the victim of an incurable malady, and the genuine 
 kindliness and loving zeal with which those I have men- 
 tioned tried to alleviate her sufferings were marked by all 
 the grace and courtesy of a vanished epoch — a light and 
 frivolous epoch, may be ; but also an epoch which held 
 many true and faithful friendships, I never missed a day 
 from 1 808 to 1 8 1 3 : sometimes, I brought my little con- 
 tingent of news to the party ; at others, I slipped behind an 
 armchair and listened to stories of the ancient Court, to 
 the anecdotes of M. de Choiseul, the repartees of M. de 
 Narbonne, the sallies of M. de Talleyrand, by which Mme. 
 de Laval was so much impressed that I once said to M. de 
 Narbonne, " Pan/ieu, in this proverb of yours, he plays 
 the lover and you the husband." 
 
 I was also a frequent visitor to the H6tel de Luynes, 
 where I was on a footing of intimacy, for my father-in-law 
 had brought about a marriage between Mile, de Narbonne- 
 Pelet and the heir of the Duke.^ Mme. de Chevreuse, at 
 that time noted for her fortune, and a mirror of fashion as 
 well, was the queen of the salon. I had made the acquaint- 
 ance of her brothers, three or four years previously, at a 
 little society theatre behind the Madeleine, where the Nar- 
 bonnes, Etienne de Choiseul, Louis de P^rigord, Bons, 
 Castellane, Marguery, Ganay, and some others used to act. 
 They met at my rooms, to which fact I owed my title of 
 "manager of the company." Dazincourt and Chenard^ 
 coached us on the rehearsals. This sort of thing was all the 
 fashion in 1805. I believe Castellane and I are the only 
 survivors. 
 
 Mme. de Luynes' circle of acquaintances was the same 
 as that of Mme. de Laval. She was very fond of cards, 
 and, almost every evening, there was a bank in her salon. 
 She played for small stakes, but her friends did not imitate 
 her. For that matter, gambling was the rage. On one 
 
 ' D'Albert, Due de Chevreuse. The Duchesse de Chevreuse, Lady of 
 the Palace to the Empress, was soon exiled forty leagues from Paris, for 
 some remarks that were thought seditious. 
 
 ' The one belonged to the Comedie-Frangaise, the other to the Comddie- 
 Italienne. Dazincourt had given lessons to Marie Antoinette. 
 
COMTE PE RAMBUTEAU 21 
 
 occasion I remember seeing M. de Lavaubali^re lose 70,000 
 francs there. The misadventure and exile of Mme. de 
 Chevreuse closed the H6tel de Luynes. The Duchesse 
 devoted herself entirely to her daughter-in-law, and her 
 husband remained at Dampierre. One day, during a hunt, 
 the Emperor stopped at the chateau : "Monsieur le Due," 
 said he, on leaving and thanking him for his hospitality, 
 " have you nothing to ask of me ? " " Sire, I thank you 
 for the honour you have done me, and I now ask per- 
 mission to retire." So Mme. de Chevreuse remained in 
 exile 1 
 
 I cannot help recalling the charm of these salons, which, 
 as it were, marked a return to life. After the revolutionary 
 whirlwind, every one hastened to enjoy the first hours of 
 security under a government that had substituted order 
 for anarchy. It was the compensation of the French aristo- 
 cracy for denunciation, exile, and the guillotine ; it spelt 
 oblivion of the past with all its terrors, and emphasised the 
 sense of joy at re-finding the hearth, and discovering that 
 a spark was all that was needed to rekindle a genial flame 
 under its ruins. 
 
 Certainly, a great simplicity marked these receptions. 
 Brilliancy, wit, conversation, were the only contributions 
 that they levied. Simple dances, modest suppers, varied 
 the entertainment, and those who wished to see the luxury 
 of sumptuous festivals sought it in the mansions of the con- 
 tractors who had been enriched by the Republic. How 
 many illustrious personages have either found the glory of 
 their first triumphs in those salons, or the consolations of 
 their old age 1 Chateaubriand in those of Mmes. de Beau- 
 mont and Rdcamier, Pasquier in that of Mme. de Vintimille ! 
 For thirty years Mmes. de la Briche and de Rumfort reigned 
 without a rival over the Faubourg SaInt-Honor6 ; the one, 
 who was the mother-in-law of M. M0I6, rallying round her 
 the survivors of the eighteenth century, Saint-Lambert and 
 Mme. d'Houdetot, along with literary men like Fontanes 
 and Suard ; the other, Lavoisier's widow, and the friend of 
 Cuvier and d'Arago, preferring to receive notable scientists. 
 
22 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 What a volume might be written of hospitable houses 
 (whose influence was far greater than was generally sup- 
 posed), such as those of Mme. de Vaud^mont and Mme. de 
 Montesson,^ Grand Mistress of the Lodge of St. Caroline, 
 whose Warden was the Arch-Chancellor ^ — as well as those 
 of Mmes. de R^musat, de Nansouty, de Morfontaine, all 
 associated alike with the events of 1814. 
 
 But as I am talking of receptions, I must mention one 
 of quite a different character, to which I was introduced by 
 M. de Narbonne. It was on the occasion of a course of 
 lectures delivered by Gall (he had not begun to propound 
 his system) for Mmes. de Talleyrand, de Choiseul-Gouffier, 
 de Berenger, de Laborde, the celebrated Cuvier, the 
 Duchesse de Levis, &c. I have retained a vivid recollection 
 of these lessons, as much for the novelty of the theories as for 
 the lecturer's anatomical knowledge. Gall found it hard 
 to defend himself in the face of certain grave consequences 
 resulting from his system ; such as the predisposition and 
 arbitrary instincts which neutralise all exercise of free will. 
 But the clearness of his diction, his lucid arguments, and 
 his genuine enthusiasm for his convictions inspired both 
 esteem and confidence. He claimed that a primary know- 
 ledge of the natural instincts was an excellent guide for 
 the education of children, because thereby we should be 
 enabled to prepare them for the future by fostering those 
 tendencies that were beneficial and suppressing those that 
 were harmful. I have always retained his lecture on the 
 medulla oblongata, which, developing in the cerebellum, 
 becomes the source of thought and of intelligence — of that 
 intelligence at all times ready to be warped as soon as thq, 
 safety-valve is closed. This alone explains why madness 
 is more likely to threaten men of great genius than those of 
 ordinary capacity ; while, on the other hand, the abuse of 
 certain faculties, by exhausting the restorative fluid of life 
 and circulation, either by excess, hard work, or old age, 
 induces imbecility and idiocy. 
 
 1 Married secretly to the father of Philippe-^gahtd, the Due d'Orldans, 
 who died in 1785. ' Cambacdrfes. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 23 
 
 It was also during this winter of 1 808 that I made the 
 acquaintance of M. de Metternich. He was then in the 
 full heyday of his youth, the enjoyment of which, however, 
 did not interfere with his capacity for business. Not con- 
 tent with the success he had already scored in the case of 
 both Mme. Murat and Mme. de Junot, he strove to make 
 a conquest of a certain young woman, who had evinced a 
 special liking for me. This rivalry drew us together, and 
 I received much kindness both from himself and his wife, 
 who was then devoted to M. de Moustier. 
 
 At length, in the early days of March, I started with my 
 brother-in-law, M. de Mesgrigny, for Agen, where I was 
 to have my first interview with Mile, de Narbonne. At 
 Bordeaux he said : " You don't know your fiancee. Suppos- 
 ing you didn't like her ? " " I should have no hesitation," 
 was my answer, " in seeking M. de Narbonne and saying to 
 him : ' I will not be a party to a union which would render 
 your daughter unhappy. Lay all the blame on my shoulders ; 
 I will not contradict anything you say, but I leave, for her 
 sake as well as my own.' " 
 
 Immediately after the presentation, Adrien drew me 
 aside: "Well .'"he said. "Well," I answered, laughing, 
 " I am not leaving." In fact, although Ad61a'(de was not 
 very pretty, her eyes were bright and intelligent, she had an 
 extremely sweet expression and a graceful figure ; whilst I 
 soon discovered her noble character. 
 
 She was just the daughter-in-law I desired for my father, 
 to whom I owed so much veneration and love. During the 
 five years I lived in Paris, I always hastened to him directly 
 he summoned me, never allowing any pleasure, however 
 tempting, to delay my departure. I only once received a 
 rather sharp letter from him, reprimanding me for an in- 
 timacy, which my grandmother De Laviefv^ille had told him 
 might lead to an imprudent marriage. An hour later, I had 
 set out, accomplished the journey in thirty-six hours, and 
 throwing myself into his arms, I exclaimed : " Did you 
 believe that anything in the world could separate us .'' This 
 is my answer 1 " The noble old man embraced me with 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tears in his eyes, whilst I promised that the choice of my 
 wife should rest with him. 
 
 My marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the Bishop 
 of Agen. The wedding feast took place in the H6tel de 
 Narbonne, which was afterwards sold and became the bishop's 
 palace. Two days later, I was very near losing my wife. 
 We were on our way, accompanied by her father, to their 
 chateau at Aubiac. Her little horse bolted with her whilst 
 crossing a meadow, and then, stopping dead short on the 
 bank of a stream, threw her. We felt sure that she must 
 be seriously injured, but she got up again with nothing 
 worse than a scratch on her breast. On our return to Paris, 
 we stopped first at Bordeaux with M. Lally-ToUendal, an 
 old friend of M. de Narbonne, and then at Les Ormes with 
 M. d'Argenson. 
 
 My rather-in-law did everything in his power to insure 
 his daughter's success in society. I followed all his counsels. 
 One visit I paid displeased him — that to Mme. de Morny, 
 the sister of General de Caulaincourt, against whom, for 
 some reason or other, he was very much prejudiced. But 
 we soon resumed our usual good understanding. M. de 
 Talleyrand was particularly kind to us ; he promised to try 
 to interest the Emperor in my favour. For that matter, we 
 were universally well received. I remember a grand dinner 
 given by Mme. Junot d'Arbrantes, at which Cardinal 
 Maury had a rather hot discussion with M. de Narbonne, 
 who thought some of the Cardinal's remarks too light to be 
 uttered in the presence of a bride of eighteen. At the end 
 of a month, I believed it time to introduce my wife to my 
 father. We journeyed by slow stages. We travelled in 
 grand style, with eight horses, three carriages, and nine 
 servants. Later on, I paid dearly for these youthful follies, 
 and I can truly say that nothing but Ad^la'ide's good sense 
 saved our fortune and our future independence. At 
 Champgrenon, we found that the entire population had 
 turned out to receive us : numberless bouquets, compli- 
 ments, firing of guns, be-ribboned and garlanded sheep and 
 calves, gala-cakes, &c., &c. But the most touching sight 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 25 
 
 of all was that of my old father standing in the porch, lean- 
 ing on his tall cane, and extending his arms to my wife : 
 "My daughter, this is the sweetest day of my life," he 
 cried, "for now I live again in my children. Let us go 
 and thank God." Therewith he led us to the chapel, and 
 to the altar where I had made my first Communion with 
 my sister, where she had been married, and where my 
 mother had so often come to pray for us. 
 
 I stayed eighteen months in the country, without feeling 
 either lassitude or regret, rejoicing in my father's happiness, 
 my wife's pregnancy, happy in my domestic joys, in our 
 peaceful lire at the paternal hearth, in the labours under- 
 taken to restore Champgrenon, and happy above all in the 
 gardens, the improvement of which was already my favourite 
 dream. Through one of my neighbours, M. Febvre, I 
 formed the acquaintance of M. Morel, the creator of 
 Ermonville, Sceaux, and La Malmaison. His lively and 
 picturesque conversation, his way of looking at nature, 
 regulating its beauties and enhancing its charms, quite 
 captivated me. I became his pupil. He was not only 
 kind enough to sketch out a plan for the gardens, but he 
 also took the trouble to explain to me how it was to be 
 carried out in its smallest details. 
 
 For the last forty years, I have found my happiest 
 moments in those occupations which at starting fitted in so 
 admirably with my life in the country. Later on, when I 
 was in the Emperor's service, they secured me many an 
 interval of much needed recreation, whilst twice over (in 
 18 15 and 1848) they proved my only consolation, when, 
 sick at heart with all the failures and disappointments in 
 the political world, I returned to my horticultural labour. 
 For to replace our intercourse with man by a closer walking 
 with nature is an excellent antidote against the shocks of a 
 Revolution, and greatly helps us to bear it. The bitterness 
 of Fortune's vicissitudes lies in the isolation they entail, 
 with its consequent tedium, and it is only by overcoming 
 this, that we can hope to remain patient and impartial both 
 towards ourselves and others. 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The year 1 809 opened with the birth of my daughter. 
 My father would have preferred a son, but we had the 
 future before us, and the example of M. de Narbonne 
 made me quite content with the advent of my dear Ad^e. 
 As the Molitor battalion was in garrison at M^con, we had 
 a very gay winter, and we had a gala baptism. In the spring, 
 
 1 took my wife to Rambuteau. I had not liked to propose 
 an earlier visit to the chateau, because I remembered my 
 mother's dislike for the place, where she had spent the 
 first four years of her married life. So my satisfaction may 
 be imagined when I discovered that Adelaide was struck at 
 once with the splendid capabilities of the estate. She was 
 charmed with it, and M. Morel, whom she invited there, 
 suggested various grand improvements. " I have been 
 accused," he said, " of ruining those who have carried out 
 my plans. Here I should like to have the chance of making 
 a fortune, and, at the same time, accomplishing a great 
 work." We spent thirty-six years in carrying out his 
 directions, and every year were more impressed by his 
 strict integrity. 
 
 The campaign of Wagram took place this summer. On 
 his return to France in 1801, M. de Narbonne eagerly 
 sought employment at the beginning of every new year. I 
 may as well transcribe here his letter to Bonaparte, dated 
 
 2 Nivose, year 12 (December 24, 1803). It shows his 
 disposition and his rectitude ; besides, M. de Narbonne 
 belongs to history : — 
 
 " Citizen, First Consul, — 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to request an audience •, I 
 have had the misfortune to learn that it has been refused : 
 a clear proof therefore that some one has prejudiced you 
 against me. 
 
 " Otherwise, why should the First Consul refuse to see 
 a man who has returned to France by his permission, whom 
 he himself reinstated in his rank in the army, and who, 
 throughout a revolution, during which it was often difficult 
 not to swerve from certain principles, yet never shrank, for 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 27 
 
 one moment from making all the sacrifices which loyalty 
 enjoined and the love of country demanded. 
 
 "The First Consul, whose opinion is the highest of 
 eulogies or the greatest of calamities, would surely shrink 
 from being unjust : and will therefore not refuse — at least 
 I hope not — to glance at the details, which it is of the utmost 
 importance to me to lay before him. I regret that they 
 should be so long, but it seems to me that my whole career, 
 as set forth in them, should vouch for me. 
 
 " My name, my fortune, a duchy and grandeeship in 
 my family, the high positions I held at Court under the old 
 regime, might be supposed to insure my future. A very 
 thorough education, all the studies needed for the artillery 
 corps, in which I began my military career, a special study 
 of history and public law, under the most celebrated pro- 
 fessors of Strasburg, rendered me not only less dependent 
 on these titles, but constituted personal claims as well. Suc- 
 cessively officer in the gendarmerie, the best school of 
 cavalry at that period, and colonel of the Piedmont regi- 
 ment, which held a distinguished rank in the army, I also 
 pursued the study of diplomacy in the Offices of Foreign 
 Affairs, and, influenced solely by a love of knowledge, I 
 travelled through a great part of Europe. 
 
 " The Revolution broke out. Attached to the House 
 of Bourbon by the obligations of duty, I owed the most 
 respectful gratitude and the most entire devotion to Mme. 
 Adelaide, the King's aunt, whose Chevalier d'Honneur I 
 was, and who for fifty years honoured my mother with the 
 most tender friendship, and conferred the greatest benefits 
 both on her and myself. 
 
 " Being fortunate enough not to belong to the Consti- 
 tuent Assembly, where I should perhaps have found it 
 difficult to fulfil all my duties, I believed that I could 
 satisfy my obligations by doing my best to lessen the in- 
 evitable evils of such a crisis, and, as I was convinced 
 that the interests of my King and country could not be 
 separated, it appeared to me worse than irrational t6 try to 
 serve them outside France, or even to imagine that such a 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 step were possible. My regiment was in garrison at 
 Besangon, I accepted gratefully the command of the 
 National Guard of the whole province, having General 
 d'Ar9on as my second in command. To him the First 
 Consul has shown kindness and consideration. I appeal to 
 the testimony of another man, not less highly esteemed. 
 General Moncey, to speak to the good that I have managed 
 to achieve in that province. 
 
 " An apprehension, only too cruelly justified by events, 
 compelled Mesdames to fly from France ; as it was possible 
 that I might be useful to them on their journey, I did not 
 hesitate to follow them. But, after my arrival in Rome, I 
 obtained their permission to return to France. 
 
 " It was somewhat later that the King's flight to Varennes 
 took place. During that unhappy time, I was nominated to 
 the post of Field-Marshal, but I was not actually gazetted 
 until after the King had accepted the Constitution. When 
 the Legislative Assembly met, I was asked to join the 
 Ministry. Though knowing full well the cruelly onerous 
 duties it would involve, I agreed, because I felt sure it was 
 desirable that the King should have Ministers whose fidelity 
 to him was above suspicion and on whose loyalty the non- 
 Jacobin party could rely. The post certainly afforded me 
 several opportunities for doing a little good, none of which 
 were, I think, neglected by me. 
 
 " The greatest misfortune at that time was the disorgani- 
 sation of the army ; the difficulty of restoring discipline was 
 extreme, for distrust, real or pretended, was at its height. 
 I visited most of the military divisions ; I assured all the 
 officers, on the part of the King, that he would only regard 
 those as his true servants and friends who followed his ex- 
 ample ; I asked them for their word of honour rather than 
 for their oath, emphasising vehemently that treason could 
 never find a place in the heart of a Frenchman, no matter to 
 what par^y he belonged. This tour of inspection was useful 
 in showing the real state of the frontiers. But the duty of 
 reporting on the latter devolved upon General d'Ar^on, 
 who accompanied me, as, owing to the rapidity with which I 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 29 
 
 was compelled to accomplish these 'forced marches,' I was 
 quite unable to cope with any additional labour myself. 
 
 " The General's name was a sufficient guarantee for the 
 excellence of his reports, indeed their accuracy has been 
 proved by all the best authorities on such matters, as well 
 as by subsequent military events. 
 
 " Another means of restoring the old discipline appeared 
 to me to be the nomination of a commander capable of in- 
 spiring the army with confidence and respect, without giving 
 rise to any jealousy. French names were lacking. The 
 Duke of Brunswick stood high in military annals. I sug- 
 gested him to the King, who, after he was assured that this 
 measure would not be rejected by the popular party, ordered 
 me to write to this Prince in his name. I think he would 
 have accepted, if the jealousy of Prussia had not led him to 
 abandon this idea. In spite of the favour I enjoyed in the 
 Assembly, I was attacked in the most trivial details. To 
 insure the execution of my plans, I formed a committee of 
 men, most of whom were subsequently honoured by the 
 friendship of the First Consul, General d'Ar9on, General 
 Berthier, Maison, and some others ; and my signature was 
 always placed below theirs. It was I who had the good 
 fortune to organise the horse artillery. 
 
 " Intrigues, the inevitable consequences, perhaps, of the 
 moderation of my principles, as well as of my outspokenness, 
 brought about my dismissal at the end of four months. I 
 immediately joined the army of General de La Fayette. I 
 had only been three days in Paris, intent on warning the 
 King of his danger, when the loth of August had arrived. 
 A warrant was out for my arrest just before the 2nd of 
 September, and I owed my escape, and consequently my 
 life, to Mme. de Stad. Deeply as she fell into disfavour 
 with the First Consul, he would, I feel sure, be the last to 
 forgive me if I were false to the obligations of gratitude 
 and friendship. 
 
 " For a time I took refuge in England. The King's trial 
 began. I at first proposed to all his Ministers, who were 
 there, that they should meet in some French port and pro- 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 test against the responsibility which they were so unjustly 
 trying to lay on the shoulders of the King. They made all 
 sorts of difficulties. Then, in my own name, I solicited 
 from the Assembly a safe-conduct to Paris. I did not 
 obtain it, and had to content myself with drawing up a 
 memorial which (so M. de Malesherbes sent word) might be 
 of service when an appeal was made to the people. War 
 was declared, and I left England to live in a neutral 
 country. 
 
 " The line I had adopted led my inclination to coincide 
 with my duty in avoiding all the gatherings of the Emigres. 
 During my exile I stayed, first in Switzerland, then in 
 Suabia, then in Saxony. After the peace of Campo-Formio, 
 I obtained permission from the Emperor^ to join Mme. 
 Adela'lde, to whom he granted a grudging shelter. 
 
 " Finally, the 1 8 th Brumaire happily changed and settled 
 for ever the destinies of France. To the First Consul I 
 owe my reinstatement as a Frenchman, and my first care 
 would have been to prove to him my gratitude and de- 
 votion. With this object in view, I longed to enjoy the 
 honour and the trifling credit of setting an example to those 
 in the same plight as myself of doing good service, by 
 lending their active support to the Government to which 
 we owe everything and on which alone we can found our 
 hopes. Not one of those requests which M. de Talleyrand 
 (my intimate friend for the last thirty years) ventured to 
 make to the First Consul to place me in the army, or 
 qn the government, or in some diplomatic position, was 
 favourably received. 
 
 "In the primary Assemblies which followed the i8th 
 Brumaire, I was elected at Versailles, by a very large 
 majority, to be member of the National List. 
 
 " Since the changes wrought by the new organic laws, I 
 cannot advance for any nomination the most reasonable and 
 doubtless the justest rights, that of property ; my personal 
 fortune has been entirely confiscated, and that of my wife 
 was in Santo Domingo. Such a situation, while appealing 
 ' The Emperor of Germany. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 31 
 
 to the benevolence of the Government, renders me to soine 
 extent diffident in demanding it. But, if I have nothing 
 else left in the world, I have all the greater claim on the 
 esteem of the First Consul, and 1 have the noble confidence 
 that there is no Frenchman who deserves it more.^ 
 
 "L. DE Narbonne." 
 
 Nevertheless it was not until 1809 that the Comte de 
 Narbonne was permitted to re-enter the service. The 
 Emperor gave him an excellent reception, and, after 
 Wagram, sent him to Raab as Governor of that part of 
 Hungary, which our troops were then occupying. There, 
 M. de Narbonne discovered that a great movement was 
 on foot to separate Austria from Hungary, and restore 
 the independence of the latter under a sovereign of its 
 own choosing. He was authorised to support it. There 
 were already three competitors for the throne — Esterhazy, 
 Palffy, and another whose name I have forgotten. But 
 General de Bubna, during the course of his frequent 
 journeys to Raab, got wind of it, and as Bohemia also 
 showed a tendency to form a distinct State, with the Arch- 
 duke Charles as King, peace was hurriedly concluded. 
 M. de Narbonne had to counsel obedience and resignation 
 to those whom he had urged to separatism. The province 
 had presented him with a magnificent silver service for his 
 grand receptions ; this he returned on leaving, to the great 
 astonishment of the donors. Pressed to accept, at least, 
 some kind of souvenir, he would only take a Hungarian 
 costume. He accepted some horses from General de 
 Bubna, nearly all of which he lost from the glanders. My 
 family requited these courtesies, as far as possible, by their 
 care for the ex-Austrian Governor's son, then a prisoner at 
 Mlcon. 
 
 After the peace, my father-in-law was sent to the 
 
 lUyrian Provinces as second in command under the Due 
 
 1 It is surprising that M. de Villemain should not have deemed it 
 necessary to quote this firm and dignified letter. He was acquainted with 
 it, and surely it gives a better idea of the integrity and lofty character of 
 M. de Narbonne than the contents of a whole volume. 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 de Raguse. The latter kept the generals under his orders 
 at a great distance. M. de Narbonne was informed of this 
 fact. Indeed, at their first interview, Marmont affected to 
 receive him standirig. After conversing for a few moments, 
 M. de Narbonne took a chair, saying : " Come, M. le 
 Mar6chal, we had better be seated ; I have lost the habit 
 of talking while standing, and I am afraid I might not hear 
 your instructions distinctly." Marmont saw with whom he 
 had to deal. Without further ceremony, my father-in-law, 
 the ex-Minister of War and Marmont's senior, proceeded 
 to sit down, and etiquette disappeared from their relations 
 on this point. 
 
 Nominated shortly afterwards to be French Minister in 
 Bavaria, at the request of King Maximilian, his old garrison 
 comrade,^ he spent some days in Vienna before reaching 
 his post. His old friend, the Prince de Ligne, took advan- 
 tage of his presence to invite him to a small dinner party, 
 including Comte de la Marck and M. de Metternich. 
 There, in the intimacy of a private conversation, the astute 
 Austrian diplomat exercised all his ingenuity to discover 
 his views on the recent treaty as well as on the Hungarian 
 agitation, the separatist movement in Hungary and Bohemia, 
 and the intrigues with which he was connected. Without 
 denying or confirming these rumours, M. de Narbonne 
 used them as a basis for insisting on a closer union with 
 France, saying ; " You have had a narrow escape, but you 
 are too clear-sighted not to see that the present peace is 
 only a suspension of arms. If there is another war, you 
 will be crushed or divided. As matters now stand, France 
 can only side with you or with Russia. The divorce has 
 just been accomplished. The Emperor is bound to think 
 of his dynasty ; he may choose either an archduchess or a 
 grandduchess. On this choice will depend the future and 
 the very existence of Austria." 
 
 The next day he was invited to the palace, and received 
 
 ' They were both colonels at Strasburg before the Revolution. The 
 Prince, then in the French service, became in 1799 Elector of Bavaria on 
 the death of his uncle, Charles Theodore, and received in 1806 the title of 
 King. His daughter married Eugfene de Beauharnais, 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 33 
 
 with great kindness by the Emperor Francis, who, resum- 
 ing the conversation of the evening before, told him that 
 he favoured his views, and requested him to write to Paris 
 stating that he was himself in favour of the alliance. M. de 
 Narbonne addressed his letter to Fouch6 and not to Talley- 
 rand, in whom he had not entire confidence. As a matter 
 of fact, when, during the Fox 1 Ministry, Lord Lauderdale 
 came to Paris to initiate transactions for a treaty, my 
 father-in-law had been recommended to Napoleon by 
 Talleyrand as the best person to take charge of the official 
 negotiations. He had known Fox in England ; their 
 friendly relations had continued in Switzerland and Ger- 
 many, and that their intimacy had left a deep impression 
 on him I am convinced, for more than once I heard 
 him tell his daughter : " If I had died before you 
 were married, I should have left you as a legacy to Fox, 
 who, I am quite sure, would have justified my confidence 
 by accepting the trust." But circumstances were stronger 
 than the goodwill of the negotiator. Personal friendships, 
 private intimacies, ties of esteem and affection, render con- 
 ferences easy, but do not weigh a feather in the scales of 
 politics. After the rupture, he incurred the Emperor's dis- 
 pleasure. He even spoke of exiling him. M. de Talley- 
 rand made no protest, while, on the other hand, Fouche 
 vouched for his conduct and loyalty, and spoke of him in 
 the very highest terms. 
 
 Nevertheless, Napoleon's anger lasted for several years. 
 Later on, it cooled, for he said to my father-in-law : " How 
 is it that Talleyrand, your old-time friend, and who knew 
 
 * Fox, after a somewhat long residence in France, during which he had 
 numerous conversations with M. de Narbonne, had returned to England, 
 where he vigorously opposed the belligerent policy of Pitt. When he 
 became Prime Minister on the death of the latter, it was hoped that he 
 would promote peace. But the circumstances had altered. The camp at 
 Boulogne and the conquests of Napoleon had widened the gap. Neverthe- 
 less, Fox owed it to himself and to his past conduct to attempt a reconcilia- 
 tion. It was with a negotiation for this object that Lord Lauderdale was 
 charged — an official and confidential negotiation, which was doomed to 
 fail, because there was no real desire for peace in England, and because 
 Fox died at the end of a few months. With him vanished this fragile hope 
 of reconciliation which had been entirely dependent on him. 
 
34 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 your value, instead of helping you, has always dissuaded 
 me from employing you ? I think that at bottom he must 
 have feared you. He felt that your character exactly 
 suited mine, and he was well aware that those who win 
 their way to my confidence, assure their future at the same 
 time." 1 
 
 It was from this incident that the friendship of M. de 
 Narbonne for Fouchd dated. 
 
 He was also on good terms with Marshal Berthier, his 
 former staff-officer in chief during his Ministry. I remember 
 the family dinner given by Berthier on the occasion of my 
 marriage. Mme. de Souza had succeeded in getting an 
 invitation to it, and, taking advantage of the fact that my 
 father-in-law could not ask anything for me from the 
 Marshal, she requested him to take M. de Flahaut, her 
 son, as his aide-de-camp. (He was then in disgrace and 
 kept in the depths of Poland by the jealousy of Prince 
 Murat.) " I'll take him with pleasure," said Berthier, " it 
 will be my wedding present to Rambuteau, since not being 
 in the service I can do nothing for him." 
 
 Such was the origin of the fortunes of Flahaut : his 
 courage and the Princesses did all the rest for him. He 
 became Napoleon's aide-de-camp and M. de Narbonne's 
 colleague. As for myself, my turn was coming soon, and 
 a better turn than I hoped for, since I was to be attached 
 to the person of the Emperor, and that immediately. 
 
 ' We know that M. de Talleyrand was never troubled with much 
 affection for his friends, and could witness their misfortunes with great 
 philosophy. Their disasters left him undisturbed. " Narbonne," he said, 
 " is always chivalrous ; he has nothing, wants nothing, needs nothing. 
 He is fond of study, books, friends — that is the fact. We need not trouble 
 ourselves about him. He is too much in earnest. He is too violent, too 
 enthusiastic, too zealous. If he entered the Government, his devotion to 
 affairs would be too excessive." We see that Napoleon hit the mark. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 ON his return from Wagram, Napoleon (pursuing the 
 plan of action which he had begun with his divorce 
 from Josephine) set to work to increase the prestige 
 of the Imperial Court by making a grand promotion of 
 Chamberlains, Equerries, Ladies of the Palace, and digni- 
 taries of all sorts. I was included in the number as Cham- 
 berlain, and my brother-in-law, Adrien de Mesgrigny, as 
 Master of the Horse. M. de Sdmonville, our relative by 
 marriage, and very closely associated with M. de Bassano 
 (whose confidant he was both in public and private affairs), 
 contributed far more to my success than M. de Talleyrand, 
 in spite of all his promises. The good odour which M. de 
 Narbonne was enjoying once more, as well as the recom- 
 mendations of Caulaincourt and Josephine, at the time of 
 my presentation in 1805, were likewise in my favour. 
 There are moments when everything succeeds without 
 effort, and others when everything fails notwithstanding the 
 best wishes of one's friends. 
 
 This, too, was the first time I appeared at a political 
 meeting : it was on the occasion of the Electoral Assembly 
 of my Department, consisting of the principal land pro- 
 prietors. I was very well received the first day ; on the 
 second, however, there was some dissatisfaction. The reason 
 was evident. My family, my antecedents, the piety of my 
 mother, all pointed to my obligations to identify myself 
 with the Legitimist party, although my father had not 
 emigrated, and had always censured the Emigration. Now 
 that I had unreservedly taken the side of the Emperor, I 
 was reproached for it. " But what can I do .'' " I asked. 
 
 35 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " My father left me a velvet coat ; it is not his fault that 
 it is worn out, and that I have to replace it with a cloth 
 jacket, which is now the order of the day." I was nomi- 
 nated by the College almost unanimously, just at the time 
 that the Emperor appointed me Chamberlain, without the 
 or>e circumstance having any influence on the other. My 
 office obliged me to depart at once, and for a long time. 
 I should have dearly liked to have taken my young wife 
 with me ; but how could I leave my father alone at his 
 age, especially after all the sacrifices he had made for me, 
 not to speak of the embarrassed condition of the property, 
 which required careful management .'' Addla'fde devoted 
 herself to her task with courage and affection. Thanks 
 to her, my father's last days were spent sweetly and tran- 
 quilly. Through her my duties were amply fulfilled, and 
 various business matters satisfactorily settled. 
 
 The beginning of my career as Chamberlain was very 
 pleasant. The divorce was concluded. I regretted the 
 amiable sovereign, who had been so kind to me in her 
 prosperity, and whose son had been my bon camarade when 
 we were together in Paris during our early youth. The 
 winter was brilliant. The Emperor spent four or five 
 evenings of the week in his sister Pauline's salon. As 
 he was fond of amusement and gaiety, I was one of the 
 few persons belonging to the Household selected for these 
 reunions, with Just de Noailles, Saint-Aulaire, Lagrange, 
 &c. This brought us often under his eye. He was at 
 that time deeply interested in a Lady-in-waiting to the 
 Princess, Mme. Mathis, daughter of the Senator, who was 
 also Mayor of Alexandria. It was during this period of 
 balls and amusements that the ballet des ichecs (a chess- 
 board ballet) was given at the mansion of M. de Mares- 
 calchi, the Italian Minister. The Emperor was disguised 
 as a negro, and marched in front of the quadrille, blowing 
 a sort of horn. The two Queens and Mmes. de Bassano 
 and de Barral were resplendent with jewellery. I was 
 myself the cavalier of Mme. Pellapra, for whom I had 
 ordered the costume of a M^connaise peasant girl. Her 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 37 
 
 dazzling beauty quickly attracted the Emperor. Bausset 
 took charge or all the rest. His fortune started with a 
 ball and a masquerade costume, but his devotion to 
 Napoleon never flagged, even during the Hundred Days.^ 
 
 Shortly afterwards the marriage of the Emperor was 
 celebrated. I was on special duty near him, consequently 
 I witnessed his reception under the Arc de Triomphe de 
 I'Etoile, which was raised in canvas over a framework, 
 much as it exists to-day. By a strange coincidence, thirty 
 years later, I walked, as Prefect of the Seine, under this 
 same arch which recalled so many memories, when escort- 
 ing his ashes from Courbevoie to the Invalides. At the 
 chapel I was charged to seat the Cardinals. Thirty-four 
 chairs had been prepared, but only twenty-nine Cardinals 
 made their appearance.* I ordered the empty chairs to be 
 removed at once ; but the Emperor's first care was to 
 count them. He sent for me on the spot to inquire if 
 any one were missing. I was obliged to tell him how 
 many were absent That same evening the defaulters 
 received orders forbidding them to appear before the 
 Emperor or to wear their Cardinal's robes. From that 
 day forward they were known as the Black Cardinals. 
 
 It would be impossible to imagine a more imposing 
 spectacle than that of the long gallery of the Louvre, with 
 its double row of men and women in their gorgeous dresses, 
 extending from the Tuileries to the Salon Carre, which 
 had been turned into a chapel for the religious ceremony. 
 Stalls had been arranged in the three successive tiers, and 
 the whole scene was dazzling with splendid decorations and 
 beautifiil dresses. 
 
 All the Queens and Princesses vied with each other 
 in securing the loveliest women for their own retinue — 
 
 * M. Frdddric Masson says, in NapoUon et les Femmes : " At Caen 
 Napoleon has a meeting— ;>Yas it the first ? — with Mme. Pellapra, wife of 
 the Receiver-General of Calvados, the Pellapra of the Teste Cubi^res law- 
 suit. He will find her again at Lyons in 1815, after his return from the Isle 
 of Elba." From the above, it is clear that the first meeting took place at 
 the ballet des dchecs. 
 
 ^ The number of Cardinals who refused to be present at the marriage 
 ceremony was thirteen, not five. — Tr. 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Mmes. de Trivulce, de Borromdo, de Lita, de Monte- 
 catini, de Garlile Morio, de Papenheim, de Loewenstein, 
 de Bochals, de Rovigo, de Montebello, de Bassano, de 
 Bouille, Duchitel, de Pdrigord, d'Arenberg, de Schwartzen- 
 berg, de Reggio, de Castiglione, d'Abrantfes, d'Eckmulh, 
 Foy, Legrand, &c. The Princesses were charming — 
 Pauline, Caroline, Stephanie, Grand Duchess of Baden ; 
 the Queen of Westphalia, with her dazzling complexion ; 
 and Queen Hortense, so slim, graceful, and elegant. The 
 "Vice-Reine" was very beautiful. All the wealth of the world 
 was lavished on their ornaments, just as all the glories of 
 France hung on their smiles. It is easy to conceive what 
 the effect of such a spectacle must have been on a timid 
 young woman, who, though not exactly pretty, had all the 
 charms of youth and innocence. What wonder that she. 
 was bewildered in all this whirl of splendour and excite- 
 ment ! When Marie Louise arrived in Paris, she had a 
 very good figure, which, after the birth of her son, she 
 entirely lost. She had a fine complexion and a delicately 
 modelled foot. Her very timidity added a certain grace 
 to her : there was something so pathetically appealing about 
 her. She inspired her surroundings with a mixture of 
 respect and sympathy, and these sentiments, added to a 
 general conviction of her real omnipotence, won all hearts 
 for her. I was at every f^te, and was often selected 
 to open the balls during the time I was waiting for my 
 special duties to begin, which they did after a journey 
 to Trianon, whither the Emperor took the Empress to 
 rest at the beginning of her pregnancy. This occurred 
 in July. 
 
 The grandest of all the balls given on the occasion of 
 the marriage was that of the Garde Imp6riale at the Ecole 
 Militaire. It was the only one in which, by the Emperor's 
 order, we wore the correct uniform in true knightly style, 
 with the flat cap and scarf, but without the mantle. I was 
 In the first quadrille. An Immense hall had been con- 
 structed for the purpose, but without proper exits, and if 
 a similar accident to that which happened at the ftte of 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 39 
 
 the Prince of Schwartzenberg ^ had occurred, we must have 
 nearly all perished. That f^te had, indeed, very fatal con- 
 sequences. Luckily it was held in a garden. It was my 
 day of service ; I was in attendance on the Emperor, and 
 took part in the first quadrille ; I danced with the Princess 
 of Tour and Taxis, sister of the Queen of Prussia, who 
 afterwards married Prince Esterhazy. It was very warm. 
 Suddenly a breeze, the precursor of a storm, made the 
 candles flare, and set fire to the light curtains and hangings. 
 Dumanoir, one of my colleagues, ran to the windows 
 and tried to tear down the draperies. He succeeded, but 
 the decorations which covered the junction of the ceiling 
 and the panels were soon ablaze, and the flames spread over 
 the ceiling, which, varnished with spirits of turpentine, acted 
 like a train of gunpowder. The fire quickly gained the hall. 
 My proper post was beside the Emperor. I pushed my 
 way through the crowd to reach him. I did not find him 
 on the platform reserved for the Imperial family. But, by 
 mounting on his armchair, I was able to see his little hat 
 in the crush. He had taken the Empress's arm, and was 
 leading her through the garden gate. Glad to know that 
 he was safe, I next thought how to save those around me. 
 They were, for the most part, foreign princesses, and I 
 succeeded in getting them through the door behind the 
 Emperor's platform. The poor Princesse de Layen, after 
 escaping, returned by another door in search of her daughter, 
 and perished.^ With the help of Colonel Jacqueminot and 
 M. CzernichefF, I raised Prince Kourakine,* who was half- 
 burned in his gold and silver uniform. It is needless to 
 recapitvdate all the rescues. I was very calm as long as I 
 was in the midst of the danger, but once in the garden I 
 shared the general emotion. Nevertheless, I was glad to 
 have had a chance of testing myself when involved in such 
 great peril, and thus make a trial of my nerve. The 
 
 * The Austrian Ambassador. He lived in the hotel formerly occupied 
 by Mme. de Montesson. 
 
 ' She was found with a deep furrow ploughed round her head by her 
 gold diadem which the fire had made red-hot. 
 
 • The Russian Ambassador. 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Emperor escorted the Empress to the Place Louis XV., and 
 then returned to the Schwartzenberg mansion, which he did 
 not leave until he had displayed a lively interest in the 
 efforts to subdue the fire. The next morning, at the levde, 
 he spoke highly of my conduct, whereby he declared I had 
 maintained the honour of my family. I have witnessed 
 few sadder funeral ceremonies than that of the Princesse de 
 Schwartzenberg,^ whose maternal devotion resulted in the 
 loss of her own life : she was in the garden, but, maddened 
 by the thought of her daughter's danger, who was dancing 
 in the ball-room, returned thither, and was crushed by a 
 falling chandelier. 
 
 Some days later, I was on service at Trianon. The 
 Emperor and I went to Saint-Cyr. I rode with the Grand 
 Marshal ^ of the Palace and the aide-de-camp in the first car- 
 riage, which was immediately in front of his Majesty's coach. 
 Suddenly a woman rose up before us, clad in mourning and 
 uttering loud cries. She held out a petition which, however, 
 she refused to surrender ; her grief, her tears, and the novelty 
 of the incident made a stronger impression upon me than 
 upon my comrades. When I had alighted from the car- 
 riage, the quartermaster handed me the placets. The Grand 
 Master said I had better not bother about examining them ; 
 I could avoid that annoyance by sending them to the 
 Emperor's cabinet, where these sort of things were investi- 
 gated. I spoke to him then of the poor woman. " Ah," 
 he returned, smiling, " it is easy to see you are a novice. 
 As you grow older you will not feel such pity and com- 
 passion, but I am willing to take your place at the loto 
 party of the Empress, should you desire to go in quest of 
 your prot6g6e." I did so, and found her. At night, when 
 the Emperor was about to retire, I spoke to him on the 
 subject of the petition, although it was contrary to etiquette 
 to trouble him with business at such a time. The husband, 
 an ex-soldier of the army of Egypt, had insulted his officer 
 in a drunken fit, and was to be shot the next day at nine 
 o'clock. His Majesty listened indulgently, and answered : 
 
 1 sister-in-law of the Ambassador. ' Duroc. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 41 
 
 " If you like, you may send a reprieve." At six next 
 morning, I was awakened and informed that Marshal 
 Moncey wanted to speak to me : I got up immediately. 
 He said he must see the Emperor. I answered that my 
 orders were formal, and that he would receive no one at 
 such an hour ; "write a note," I said, "and I will hand it 
 to him as soon as he appears." He was annoyed, even 
 angry, and treated me somewhat cavalierly. I remained 
 impassive. Then he told me he had come to request the 
 pardon of a brave soldier, the man who had been just con- 
 demned. I answered that, by an act of great boldness on 
 the previous night, I had got a reprieve and had sent it to 
 General Hullin. He thanked me, we embraced, and he 
 left delighted. I had reason to believe that the Emperor 
 was much pleased with my conduct in this and other respects, 
 especially with my politeness to everybody, which was by no 
 means a prominent virtue amongst my colleagues. 
 
 I remember another scene in which Mme. de K^ralio 
 was concerned. She was the widow of the Governor of 
 Brienne when Napoleon was a student there. I mentioned 
 her case to him. " When I have a moment to spare," he 
 answered, "you shall go and fetch her here." One day at 
 Saint Cloud, when I saw he was in good humour, I again 
 spoke of her, and he consented to see her. I at once ordered 
 a carriage and started for Auteuil, where the poor woman 
 lived in great retirement. No one could have shown her 
 greater kindliness and delicacy than he did ; he granted 
 her a pension, and at the same time bestowed immediate 
 relief on her. Unluckily for me, he added : " You have 
 a good friend in Rambuteau. Should you need me 
 again, address yourself to him." Now, for my sins, she 
 had a son-in-law, who for eight months made my life a 
 burden to me. Every day, at seven in the morning, he 
 never failed to put in an appearance, always to ask for some 
 post. To get rid of his importunities I had, in turn, to 
 torment MM. de Bassano and MoUien. The latter obtained 
 for him the Receivership of Mortain, worth 1 4,000 francs a 
 year. He was satisfied, and I was left quiet. 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I next became Commensal of the Tuileries, and was in 
 attendance on his Majesty for a term of three months every 
 year until 1813. For a time I was delighted with my posi- 
 tion, which brought me in contact with aU who approached 
 the Emperor : ministers, princes, princesses, marshals, great 
 officers, a whole tribe of courtiers in short, who were always 
 on the look-out for a glance from the master, always prompt 
 to scent the slightest symptom of favour. One of my keenest 
 pleasures was to foUow the Emperor twice a week to the 
 Council of State. Indeed I often took the place of one of 
 my colleagues on duty, so great was the attraction it had 
 for me. They were always very willing to yield the post 
 to me, for the sessions lasted sometimes tiU seven or eight 
 in the evening. The Colonel-General was scarcely ever 
 there, but the members of the Council became so accus- 
 tomed to my presence that, whenever I was forced to absent 
 myself, they took pleasure in sending me a report of the 
 debates. It was a splendid political training to which I owe 
 all my subsequent successes. I learned how to enter into the 
 spirit of public affairs, to seek in every measure the relation 
 between a principle and its consequences, and never to 
 determine on anything without adopting the safe method 
 which I heard one day formulated before the Council of 
 the University by Cambaceres. A certain gentleman, who 
 lacked neither learning nor literary culture, was anxious 
 to make a display of his eloquence. The Emperor, who 
 detested grandiloquence, let him go on for some time, and 
 then made a sign to the Arch-Chancellor to answer him : 
 " Monsieur," said Cambac^rfes, " we are not at the Academy. 
 We are simply business men, and as such should not discuss 
 matters which have no bearing upon the one object of our 
 labours, namely, the welfare of the Government which we 
 serve. Each of our proceedings should be a link in a 
 great chain which is welded to the one which precedes and 
 to the one which follows. All else is a mere waste of time." 
 
 Nor did my interest in these discussions (during which 
 the Emperor often spoke) cease when the sessions came to 
 and end. During the remainder of the evening, when 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 43 
 
 those in waiting were generally admitted to the' Emperor's 
 presence, his conversation frequently turned upon the 
 subjects we had been debating ; and which he would 
 sometimes merely discuss before us, but just as often with 
 us. He had plenty of discrimination with regard to our 
 respective dispositions. In my case, for instance, he very 
 soon convinced himself of the absolute sincerity of my 
 devotion, and this was no doubt the reason why I was 
 appointed to attend him on his journey to Fontainebleau. 
 But I had now been a year away from my wife and father, 
 with the exception of a week's leave of absence, which was 
 granted me after the marriage festivities. I therefore asked 
 for a conge of six weeks. God knows my delight in once 
 more embracing those who were dearest to me in all the 
 world ! On my return, I found my sister in high favour : 
 her husband had been sent to Vienna to announce the 
 pregnancy of the Empress, and she had herself been 
 nominated assistant governess to Mme. de Montesquiou.^ 
 The Emperor had taken special notice of her, but she was 
 as prudent as she was virtuous, and succeeded in resisting 
 his advances without wounding his vanity. Her reward 
 was his affectionate interest in her fortunes, an interest that 
 never flagged. 
 
 The winter of 1 8 1 1 was very brilliant. I was present 
 at the quadrilles of Queen Hortense and Princess Pauline ; 
 but this did not keep me away from the Emperor, whom I 
 followed everywhere. One evening, when he was to attend 
 a ball given by the Queen of Holland, he gave directions 
 that the Empress should start before him, as he had some 
 work in hand which would detain him. At eleven, he 
 opened the door of his cabinet, and said to me : " Ram- 
 buteau, have you your carriage here } " " Yes, Sire." 
 "Then, you must take me with you." Fortunately, the 
 appearance of my carriage and attendant was all that could 
 be desired, and I was not a little proud of the fact on the 
 present occasion. 
 
 I was on service during the night of the 20th of March, 
 
 ^ Governess of the future King of Rome. 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 when the Empress was seized with labour pains. The 
 entire Court was assembled, seated at the little tables, where 
 refreshments were served. I can still see Cardinal Maury, 
 seated at one of them with the Grand Judge, the Due de 
 Massa,^ both doing full honour to a poularde au riz, and 
 thinking much more of the Chambertin than the clanging of 
 the great bell of Notre Dame. At about two o'clock, the 
 Grand Marshal appeared with such a gloomy face that we 
 were filled with anxiety — an anxiety which he made no 
 attempt to dissipate. It was at the very moment when the 
 Emperor was encouraging Dubois, and saying to him : " Save 
 the mother, it is your duty. Act as you would in the case 
 of some grocer's wife in the Rue Saint-Denis." 
 
 Worn out with suspense and waiting, we had stretched 
 ourselves on the carpets, when suddenly the door opened, 
 and the Emperor rushed in shouting : "^ salute of two 
 hundred guns ! " It was the announcement of the great 
 event ! You could have heard the beating of our hearts. 
 A moment after, Mme. de Montesquieu appeared, holding 
 in her arms the King of Rome, who was shown to us all. 
 We had then some chance of getting a little rest, but only 
 for a while, at any rate in my case, as not more than a few 
 minutes elapsed before I was informed by the Grand Marshal 
 that I must prepare to carry the news to the King of West- 
 phalia. LabrifFe was ordered to Naples, Nicolaf to Vienna, 
 de France to Madrid, and Monnier to Carlsruhe. 
 
 I received the Emperor's letter at four in the morning, 
 as well as certain instructions from M. de Bassano, together 
 with a letter of introduction to M. Simeon, Minister of 
 Justice at Cassel, and a friend of my father-in-law. I went 
 like the wind, in a briska with four horses, preceded by a 
 courier. In forty-eight hours I was at Mayence, and in 
 seventy at Cassel. I was lodged in the palace, and treated 
 with great distinction. Never in my life have I seen such 
 a galaxy of pretty women as those who clustered around the 
 Queen, and never have I witnessed greater luxury than was 
 displayed by the members of the King's Household. There 
 ' R^gnier, Minister of Justice. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 45 
 
 was more gold embroidery on their uniforms than there 
 was silver on ours. I counted ninety-two carriages in the 
 coach-houses, more than two hundred horses in the stables, 
 and the magnificence everywhere was startling, positively 
 incredible. At the grand festival given in honour of my 
 mission, I happened to pay particular attention to a certain 
 pretty young lady of the city ; the next day she was made 
 Lady of the Palace ! I was also greatly impressed by the 
 Gothic castle of Lowenburg, which still retains its mediaeval 
 character ; to complete the illusion, the wardens, as well as 
 the doorkeeper and all his family, wore the costumes of the 
 fifteenth century. I had breakfast within the walls at the 
 invitation of the Grand Marshal, when we were waited on 
 by the doorkeeper's daughters, just as in the time of Queen 
 Bertha. 
 
 I was afterwards the guest of the King at a splendid 
 breakfast, to which the whole Court was invited. He drew 
 me into his cabinet several times, in order to discuss his 
 personal situation and the policy of the Emperor. I was 
 quite aware that he hankered after independence, and, one 
 day, when he was speaking peevishly of the conduct of the 
 French generals, I said : "Sire, no matter what crown your 
 illustrious brother may think fit to place upon your brow, 
 the noblest title of your Majesty, in the eyes of Europe and 
 of posterity, will always be that of being the brother of a great 
 man. As long as you consent to be the instrument of his 
 designs, our marshals will bow their heads in your presence ; 
 but should you, from motives of personal or political 
 interest, contravene his plans, our very captains would 
 consider themselves released from their obedience." These 
 rather bold words of mine were taken in better part than I 
 might have expected. On leaving, I had every reason to 
 be satisfied with my reception by King Jerome ; he gave 
 me his little Order in diamonds and a very beautiful casket, 
 which necessity forced me to sell later on. Still, I was any- 
 thing but edified by his surroundings. Many of the civil 
 and military appointments were held by Westphalian gentle- 
 men of considerable importance in their own country, and 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 who had rallied round the new sovereign, but amongst his 
 French followers, with the exception of such men as 
 General Ebl6, M. Simeon, M. and Mme. d'Esterno, who 
 reflected honour upon their country, the others were en- 
 tirely self-interested, and were only bent on seeking their 
 own advancement. 
 
 I addressed a few questions to M. Simeon on the stability 
 of the Government. " You can see and judge for yourself," 
 was his answer. To give me a chance of doing so, he 
 invited me to a grand dinner, at which were present some 
 members of the Diplomatic Corps, all the Ministers — General 
 
 M , Grand Equerry and Minister of War provisionally 
 
 during the absence of General Ebl6 in France, and various 
 other notabilities. The license with which every one talked 
 
 was remarkable. General M said to me : " You 
 
 ought to think yourself very fortunate in being able to 
 return to Paris. If only I could do so too ! This con- 
 founded country ought to be worth at least fifty thousand 
 francs a year to me to compensate for all the boredom I 
 have had to endure here. If I once had them in my pocket, 
 this country might go to the devil for all I cared ! " I 
 reported his speech afterwards to the Emperor, hence the 
 disgrace which overtook him when he accompanied the 
 King to Paris on the occasion of the baptism. 
 
 I was very glad to return and resume my service, which 
 was interrupted only by a week's visit to my wife and 
 father, with M. de Narbonne. Although my father was in 
 poor health, I did not anticipate any immediate danger, 
 otherwise nothing in the world would have persuaded me to 
 leave him. It took us just thirty-six hours to go and thirty- 
 six to return. I was on duty on the day of the christening. 
 When the Emperor held his son aloft to exhibit him to the 
 people, the enthusiasm was indescribable. Here, beneath 
 these very arches, nine years before, he had restored public 
 worship. Here, again, two years later, he had been con- 
 secrated Emperor ; so all present were ready to trust the 
 promises of the future. I have a vivid recollection of those 
 august ceremonies, at which I was present, as I was at so 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 47 
 
 many others, all equally ephemeral. The baptismal festi- 
 vities were as fine as those of the marriage, particularly the 
 f^te given by Princess Pauline and the one which took place 
 in the park of Saint Cloud. Then we started for Ram- 
 bouillet, where the Court spent a few days, preparing for 
 the journey to Cherbourg. 
 
 I was the only Chamberlain on duty near the Emperor's 
 person, with General Comte de Lobau as aide-de-camp. It 
 was from that period that our friendship dated. We spent 
 three years together. He was cold and dry, but kind and 
 good, and there never was the least misunderstanding be- 
 tween us. MM. de Courtemer and de Beauvau were with 
 the Empress, as were also Mmes. de Montebello, Aldo- 
 brandini, de P^rigord, de Beauvau, de Canouville, MM. de 
 Saint-Aignan, de Mesgrigny, d'Oudenarde, as equerries. 
 Prince de Beauharnais, Prince Aldobrandini, and General de 
 Nansouty. In order to reach Caen, we travelled sixty 
 leagues in one day. The question was mooted of lodging 
 at Courtemer, a fine chiteau, on the way ; but my poor 
 cousin Courtemer took more trouble to escape this favour 
 than others would have taken to obtain it, so apprehensive 
 was he of the probable damage and dilapidation it would 
 entail. He assured the Grand Marshal that the chateau of 
 Lillers at Tubeuf would be much more suitable ; but when 
 we reached the latter, we found that there was not accom- 
 modation for half the suite ; so we had to push on to Caen ; 
 consequently Courtemer lost all the advantages which would 
 certainly have accrued to him from this journey from the 
 mere fact of his being a Norman. M. de Mathaud was far 
 shrewder : he placed himself at the head of the Guard of 
 Honour of Caen, and received a chamberlain's key a little 
 afterward. 
 
 At S6ez, the Emperor gave a very bad reception to the 
 Bishop, and even went as far as to say : " Your hands are 
 still red with the blood of civil war ! " The poor man grew 
 so confused that he could not stammer out a word in reply. 
 His Majesty then ordered me to summon the Grand Vicars 
 to meet him on the next day. After I had announced them 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Lobau took me aside, and said : " Monsieur, you are re- 
 sponsible for the safety of the Emperor and I am not, but I 
 do not trust these black robes ; you had better be on your 
 guard." I told him I had requested General Guyot, colonel 
 of the Chasseurs, to keep within call, and that I should be. 
 present at the audience. The affair did not seem to me 
 very dangerous ; still, I felt relieved when they had retired. 
 
 At Caen I met my pretty partner in the ballet Les 
 Echecs again, Mme. Pellapra. I had charge of all the details 
 of the presentations. The Prefect, M. Meschin, asked me 
 to present to his Majesty certain notabilities of the city, 
 among others, MM. de Tilly, Blaru, and the two S6rans, 
 father and son. He did not conceal the fact that the son 
 had been aide-de-camp to the Due d'Enghien. I laid the 
 matter before the Emperor, who answered : " I will receive 
 these gentlemen ; but as M. de S6ran is the head of the 
 family, I shall have done my duty if I see him." He was 
 so kind, gracious, and even fascinating, that they were all 
 enchanted with their reception. 
 
 At Cherbourg, the Emperor inspected the works in the 
 harbour, and then went down to the bottom of the rock- 
 hewn basin ; I fancy I can still hear Admiral Decrfes saying 
 to him, with a smile : " Sire, you have forty fathoms above 
 your head ! " In good truth, this roadstead is gigantic ; all 
 the walls of the vast basin are hewn out of the granite rocks, 
 straight down. A cutter took us to the battery on the break- 
 water ; the sea was rather rough, and, as the Emperor had no 
 " sea-legs," he leant on my shoulder to steady himself. It 
 drizzled a little, and he took an umbrella from a page, which 
 he directed me to hold over the Empress. I managed, some- 
 how or other, to maintain my equilibrium, but I confess I 
 was not sorry when we landed on the jetty, where we were 
 received with a salute of twelve hundred guns. We visited 
 several men-of-war, especially the Orient, from which a 
 salvo was fired, as soon as their Majesties were between- 
 decks. This made a deep impression on all the ladies, 
 which was increased when the Imperial cutter passed lee- 
 ward of the batteries and quite close to them. 
 
-COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 49 
 
 The journey, for that matter, was not marked by any 
 important incident. Between Cherbourg and Querqueville, 
 we saw a woman in mourning, kneeling by the roadside 
 with her two children, and holding out a petition, to which 
 was pinned a cross of the Legion of Honour. She was the 
 widow of a brave officer who had been known to the 
 Emperor in Egypt. I handed her forty Napoleons ; she 
 afterwards got a pension, and her sons received free in- 
 struction in a lyceum. I always had two or three rolls of 
 gold for distribution ; when they were exhausted, I simply 
 gave my note to Menneval and obtained a fresh supply. 
 I had, in addition, a bag filled with rings, pins, and snuff- 
 boxes, to leave behind as tokens of Imperial gratitude wher- 
 ever we were hospitably entertained. 
 
 Sad tidings awaited me at Saint Cloud : the news of my 
 father's death. This noble old man had expired in my 
 wife's arms, displaying in his last moments the serenity that 
 had distinguished his whole life. " It is not death," he 
 often said, "that disturbs me ; it is the thought of the moment 
 when I shall have to take to my bed ! " He had the sin- 
 cere faith, the kindly tolerance, the genial benignity of 
 beautiful souls, and had grown old like those generous 
 wines that lose nothing of their strength and bouquet with 
 the passing of time. I have spoken of his tender affection 
 for me ; I will speak of it again, for I am too much indebted 
 to that heartfelt love ever to forget it. How far away are 
 those days, yet how dear and indelible are all the memories 
 connected with them ! Once again I see myself in Paris, 
 leading that careless, if not dissipated life, which his in- 
 dulgent generosity enabled me to enjoy ; I always wrote 
 three times a week to him. I never failed to go home 
 directly he summoned me, or to share in the procession 
 through our village on the festival of Corpus Christi, 
 when he always leant on my arm ; I spent five or six 
 months with him every year, living that restful and in- 
 nocent life which recreates both head and heart, as well 
 as health and fortune. I worked during a part of the 
 morning ; in the afternoon, we rambled through our great 
 
 D 
 
so MEMOIRS OF 
 
 woods ; then we had a game of cards, and, at nine, I went 
 to read in the library. He did everything he could think 
 of to give me pleasure. Although himself a scrupulous 
 observer of the days of abstinence, he always insisted that I 
 should have a good pullet or partridge, on the pretext that 
 Paris had injured my health. He was equally kind and 
 attentive to my wife, his adopted daughter, who took my 
 place by his side. He had a very high opinion of her 
 remarkable sense, which, he believed, would surely save our 
 fortune, whilst her father was clearing the way for my 
 advancement in the Emperor's service. He died with the 
 conviction that she would give me a son who would be held 
 at the baptismal font by his Majesty, adopted by his grand- 
 father, de Narbonne, and reared under the eyes of my 
 sister as the companion of the King of Rome. Dreams 
 that were soon to vanish — how many others have vanished 
 since ! 
 
 There was scarcely time given me to shed a tear over 
 his grave, I was so soon recalled to accompany my father-in- 
 law on the journey to Compi^gne. For the last five or six 
 months, the question had been mooted of attaching him 
 more closely to the person of the Emperor. Ever since his 
 conversation with the Austrian Emperor on the subject of 
 the marriage, the Court of Vienna had frequently expressed 
 an earnest desire to have him as Ambassador ; but, as 
 Napoleon, and especially M. de Bassano, leaned rather to 
 M. Otto, it was intended to indemnify him by an appoint- 
 ment to some high position. At first, the Emperor intended 
 to create him Grand Master of the Empress's Household. 
 Duroc was strongly in his favour ; experience, he said, had 
 demonstrated the incapacity of both M. de Beauharnais, 
 Chevalier of Honour, and of Prince Aldobrandini, First 
 Equerry, for their delicate functions. The same might be 
 said of the Duchesse de Montebello, who, while really 
 attached solely to her family and connections, was jealous of 
 any one who was likely to be a possible rival and interfere 
 with the influence she exercised over the Empress. The 
 Emperor's object in selecting these individuals was to sur- 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 51 
 
 round his wife with persons who would never dispute his 
 will. But having assured himself of their obedience, he 
 soon became equally convinced of their absolute incompetence. 
 Duroc, on the other hand, could find nobody to whom he 
 might safely transfer the direction of the Imperial Household 
 in his absence, and especially in what concerned the control 
 of the Empress, when the Emperor, detained by his protracted 
 and distant campaigns, was no longer at hand to guide her, 
 as he had done since his marriage. 
 
 There is no doubt that the influence which M. de Nar- 
 bonne could not have failed to exercise over the Empress 
 would have left its mark on the destinies of France. 
 Providence did not however permit this, despite the desire 
 of Napoleon, the advice of Duroc, and the approval of 
 Prince de Schwartzenberg, the Austrian Ambassador. The 
 coterie that surrounded Marie Louise joined forces to 
 thrust aside the man in whom each saw, not a wise and 
 safe guardian for her Majesty, but only a powerful and 
 dangerous rival for themselves. Marie Louise, usually so 
 timid and yielding, was prevailed upon to throw herself at 
 her husband's feet and beg him to spare her this annoyance. 
 He used every affectionate entreaty to persuade her to 
 change her mind ; but in vain : she would not yield, and 
 he would not coerce her. Thereupon he summoned M. de 
 Narbonne, and said : " Since the Empress will not have 
 you, I take you myself ; I don't think either you or I will 
 suffer in consequence ; and so much the worse for her, if 
 she has been unable to appreciate you." Then he proposed 
 that he should become his aide-de-camp, and wait until 
 some great office was vacant, adding : "Narbonne, you 
 have no fortune, have you ? " " No, sire, but I have 
 debts." "Well, you shall have 200,000 francs to pay 
 them." Before dismissing him, he spoke of his past, his 
 family, and the duchess, his mother : " She has got no 
 great liking for me, eh ? " " No, sire," was the happy 
 repartee, " so far, she has got no further than admiration ! " ^ 
 
 ' This delicate art of flattery, this form of polite but pungent frankness, 
 had perished with the eighteenth century. The old society carried away 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 During the journey to Compiegne, I received orders to 
 modify the usual etiquette. One morning the Emperor 
 said to me at his lev6e, "No one ought to be on an 
 equality with the Empress ; henceforth, you will have all 
 the fauteuils removed except hers and mine." As the 
 Queens of Spain, Naples, Holland, and the Princess Pauline 
 were of the party, I showed some hesitation. " Do as I 
 command," said he ; " in this point there is no difference 
 between the Queen of Naples and Mme. de Rambuteau." 
 Nevertheless, when I remarked that there should be some 
 shade of difference, seeing that the Ladies of the Palace 
 were often obliged to make shift with folding stools or 
 banquettes, he agreed that chairs should be reserved for 
 the Princesses. I promptly informed them of these orders, 
 and apologised for being obliged to execute them. In the 
 evening the Queens of Spain and Holland sat down quietly 
 on their chairs, as if there were nothing unusual in the 
 proceeding. " Pray, Monsieur, pray where is my place .'' " 
 inquired the Queen of Naples very gruffly. I pointed to 
 it, adding : " The Emperor $ orders ! " She wore a per- 
 petual scowl during the rest of the journey. I had also 
 charge of the entertainments, and, one night that Mme. 
 Festa refused to sing, I bore her ill-temper patiently for a 
 time ; but finding my remonstrances were useless, I said : 
 " Madame, those who disobey the Emperor sleep in jail. 
 It would break my heart to have to take you there, as I 
 should be unable to keep you company," She laughed, and 
 sang like an angel. 
 
 Napoleon lived in great retirement. Save on the Fridays 
 and Sundays when he held receptions, he worked the whole 
 day. At five o'clock he drove out regularly. From time 
 to time, he would cry : "To the right," "To the left," and 
 the postillions had immediately to turn into roads that 
 were often impracticable. Sometimes he started at seven 
 
 the secret of it, and fawning sycophancy took its place. Napoleon knew this, 
 and said : " / am heartsick of all this adulation which prevails around me. 
 You dorit believe it possible f Well, to be rid of this adulation, even in the 
 camp, I have had to take as aide-de-camp a courtier and a clever man of the 
 Old Court!" 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 53 
 
 in the morning for Rueil or Courbevoie, and spent two or 
 three hours in selecting such non-commissioned officers in 
 the Guard as he intended sending to Spain. He usually- 
 unbuckled his sword and handed it to me, for I always 
 followed him into the ranks. He questioned the private 
 as well as the captain, and had notes made of all that he 
 decided upon. 
 
 The Council of State met twice a week in the Grand 
 Hall, which has since been used as a billiard-room. There 
 was a fine painting by Prud'hon on the ceiling, ha Sagesse 
 ramenant la Verite, which greatly amused these gentlemen, 
 and over the fireplace there was a portrait of Bonaparte 
 crossing the St. Bernard on a piebald horse. The artist 
 had not drawn on his imagination, for the identical piebald 
 horse was at that time turned out, and Napoleon used to 
 visit him two or three times during summer to stroke him 
 and give him bread. I was present at an important dis- 
 cussion which took place at one of the meetings on the 
 National Guard and the organisation of the troops. M. 
 Malouet maintained that the scheme was only conscrip- 
 tion in disguise. The Emperor grew angry, exclaiming : 
 " Monsieur, do you suppose me capable of resorting to 
 trickery in order to mask my real intentions or of demand- 
 ing a sacrifice of the country which has been hitherto 
 undreamt of! Undeceive yourself. I know France far 
 too well to attempt any such step, and I know how to do 
 her justice. If fortune were ever to betray me, far from 
 concealing my losses, far from reducing my demands, I 
 should on the contrary increase them. France would never 
 hesitate to give me her last man and her last franc." The 
 whole twenty-ninth bulletin of the following year was in 
 these fateful words. On another occasion, when the subject 
 under discussion was again the National Guard, and when 
 the debate lasted from three till seven, although he had 
 taken little part in it, he suddenly exclaimed : . " Messieurs, 
 the National Guard is the providence of shopkeepers ! 
 -Revolutions are made by arming the canaille ; they are pre- 
 vented by arming the moneyed classes. When you want 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to obtain good legislation, keep this fact always present in 
 your minds." 
 
 I remember another Council, at which the creation of 
 the new nobility was canvassed. Napoleon spoke at great 
 length : " In a revolution you only destroy what you 
 replace ; that which you suppress, but do not replace, is 
 not destroyed. In abolishing titles and privileges, you 
 fancy you have accomplished a grand feat, whereas you 
 have simply magnified the great historic names, without 
 putting anything in their place. What does it matter to 
 a Montmorency or a Rouchefoucauld that he is a Count, a 
 Duke, or a Marquis ? Their name suffices them. But a 
 title gives them an equal. Consequently, when I gave 
 titles to my marshals, when I ennobled them with the 
 names of their victories ; when I rewarded all their brilliant 
 services, all their illustrious deeds ; I took care to bestow 
 new titles on those belonging to the old nobility instead of 
 restoring their old ones to them. And why .'' In order to 
 show that in my eyes true nobility could have but one 
 source, one origin, and to prove my loyalty to the cause of 
 equality, that equality of which France is so proud, and 
 which (unlike liberty, which is the outcome of caprice) is 
 not debasing but, on the contrary, elevating, because it gives 
 to all alike the right to rise, and does justice to individual 
 merit, I determined that from henceforward no one should 
 be able to say to his subordinate, ' So far shalt thou rise and 
 no farther,' and in so doing I achieved a popular success. 
 I consecrated Equality — so to speak — from its starting- 
 point, leaving talent, courage, and fortune to do the rest." 
 
 How well I remember all those discussions. They 
 showed me how thoroughly Napoleon understood the pulse 
 of the people, how well he knew the nation, and how skilful 
 he was in turning this knowledge to his own advantage. 
 He was always declaring that he had a great mission, that 
 of effecting the transition between the past and the future. 
 " I have dethroned nobody," he used to say ; " I found 
 the crown lying in the mud, and in placing it on my own 
 head I restored it to its former splendour." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 55 
 
 He was fond of reviewing in thought his various des- 
 tinies. " I have achieved the greatest success known to 
 history," he said to us one evening. "Well, in order that 
 I may leave the throne to my children, I must be master 
 of all the capitals in Europe ! " 
 
 I cannot recall all his sayings, though they recur to me 
 at intervals. Once, also at the Council of State, when we 
 were discussing certain regulations for the University, he 
 said : " Prejudices are great factors in governing, and we 
 have destroyed too many of them ; I only wish I could 
 create a few ; a prejudice is the current coin of more than 
 one virtue. What a misfortune it is that every religious 
 corporation should be dependent on a foreign spiritual 
 sovereign ! If it were otherwise, I should hand over the 
 education of France to the Congregations to-morrow. You 
 will never find in the University so many traditions, such 
 esprit de corps, zeal, devotion, and goodwill at so cheap 
 a price ! " 
 
 I remember also the crushing onslaught he made one 
 day on Portalis. I had noticed that, on his way to the 
 meeting, he looked absent-minded and dissatisfied. He 
 was scarcely seated when he broke out : " What must 
 you think. Messieurs, of a man who, invested with the 
 confidence of his master, summoned to his councils to 
 enlighten him and lay before him all his various doubts 
 and objections, should yet make common cause with his 
 master's enemies, should possess secret information of their 
 culpable plots, should be the confidant of the most serious 
 plots on the part of a foreign sovereign, lending them the 
 support not merely of his silence, but of his actual con- 
 currence ? Monsieur Portalis, it is you whom I now 
 denounce to your colleagues. Have you a knowledge of 
 the brief of the Pope excommunicating the Emperor ? 
 Have you given it credence .'' Have you, instead of keep- 
 ing the news secret, actually peddled it around ? Do you 
 wish these gentlemen to sit in judgment on you ? " Portalis 
 was thunderstruck. He could hardly stammer out some 
 excuses and protest his good intentions. The whole 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Council was astounded too. The Emperor continued : 
 " You will be good enough to retire, Monsieur ; you are 
 unworthy of my confidence. It is well for your good 
 father that he is dead ; your conduct would have killed 
 him, and it is only his memory which shields you against 
 my just anger." 
 
 All the Councils were not so dramatic. When the 
 regulation of the polder-land in Holland and Belgium came 
 up, the discussion lasted for more than three hours, and 
 yet we could come to no decision as to the share which 
 should devolve on the State, the assessments, the functions 
 of the superintending council, &c., for important financial 
 interests were at stake, and the Treasury might be seriously 
 involved. The Emperor appealed repeatedly to Cambacdres, 
 who, with his usual admirable coolness, answered : " What 
 can you expect .'' They have no common sense ! " At 
 last Napoleon said to him : " So there is no one among 
 your young people who has a knowledge of the places 
 and a good idea of the business .'' " " Yes, Sire, there is 
 little Maillard ; he is present now." " Stand up. Monsieur 
 MaiUard," said the Emperor, proceeding therewith, with 
 his usual precision, to put a series of questions to MaiUard 
 on the origin of the improvements, the successive regu- 
 lations, &c. Maillard was a little confused at first, but, 
 soon recovering his self-control, he answered every question 
 modestly, laid his finger on the dangerous points in the 
 proposed measures, and demonstrated the advantages 
 of the old customs and how they might be adapted to 
 our administrative system so clearly, that his success was 
 complete. He was congratulated by the Emperor, and 
 appointed next day Master of Requests on ordinary service, 
 a post which, at that time, ensured a fortune to the holder. 
 Napoleon was absolutely unrivalled in his gift for discover- 
 ing the right man for the right place. 
 
 Usually he spoke coldly and somewhat brusquely, 
 though always forcibly ; but at times he became im- 
 passioned and approached the sublime. I never admired 
 him so much as during a discussion in which the situa- 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 57 
 
 tion of Frenchmen authorised to serve abroad was to be 
 determined. He maintained that no one could break irre- 
 vocably with the land of his birth, that the national tie can 
 never really be severed, because the language, the memories, 
 the relationships and associations of all sorts, forge in- 
 dissoluble bonds between the individual and his country, 
 and consequently the connection must be maintained and 
 protected either by some law compelling him to return in 
 the event of war with other States, or by the infliction of 
 heavy penalties if he should fail to do so. Finally, the 
 Emperor declared that these obligations were equally bind- 
 ing upon those absentee Princes who, in spite of being 
 seated on thrones, still remained (in spite of their crowns) 
 neither more nor less than French citizens in the eyes of 
 France. 
 
 We had to carry out every order received from the 
 Emperor with the greatest accuracy. Thus when, one day 
 during the Empress's stay at Saint Cloud, feeling bored at 
 being alone, she saw fit (as she frequently did) to invade 
 the Emperor's study, she came into the ante-room, where 
 I was on duty with Marshal Bessieres, and desired me to 
 announce her to Napoleon. I accordingly did so ; but 
 though the Emperor received her at once, he gave me a 
 sharp reprimand in the evening. 
 
 " It is unsuitable for the Empress to approach me 
 through your apartments," he said to me. " Should she 
 do so again, I forbid you to introduce her." 
 
 He made no exception for any one. I had received 
 orders from the Minister of War to introduce the aides-de- 
 camp of Massena, then in command of the expedition to 
 Portugal ; they all brought bad tidings, positions evacu- 
 ated, retreats, &c. After the fourth or fifth introduction. 
 Napoleon flew into a passion, and, blaming me for what 
 occurred, asked by what right I took upon myself to intro- 
 duce couriers, and told me that I forgot my duty in usurping 
 the functions of the aide-de-camp. Then he called abruptly 
 for General de Lobau. The latter listened tranquilly, and 
 replied, with perfect calmness : " Sire, I can only follow my 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 instructions. From morning to night the Chamberlain is 
 responsible for everything ; from night to morning the 
 same responsibility devolves on me. Revoke these orders 
 if you will ; otherwise, if fifty couriers were to arrive, I 
 should not announce a single one, because that is Rambu- 
 teau's business. And now, your Majesty having given me 
 other work to do, I will return to it." The Emperor made 
 no reply. But on the five or six occasions during the day 
 when I was obliged to enter his study, h^ took care to snub 
 me severely. The next morning, he came up to me in high 
 good humour, and pulling my ears, said : " Well, are you 
 still angry ? Come, come, I know you are attached to me, 
 and that you serve me well, and I am quite satisfied with 
 you." Then he gave me two little taps on the cheek, and 
 spoke of something else. It was the only time he was rude 
 to me during the period of more than three years that I was 
 attached to his service. He was really good-natured, and 
 never failed in courtesy to us, even on the most trivial 
 occasions ; as those who approached him would allow. 
 For instance, if he wanted one of us, instead of calling or 
 ringing for us, he either sent the portfolio-keeper or opened 
 the door of his study himself. 
 
 On his return from the Council of State at the Tuileries, 
 which held its sessions in the salon next the chapel, he 
 traversed the grand apartments and the Galerie de Diane. 
 On the way, he talked of the meeting or of the business he 
 had in hand. In the evening, when he had worked longer 
 than usual, we found sometimes that the dishes had stood 
 untasted on the table for more than two hours ; then he 
 would banter me on the fine dinner I had had — far finer 
 than his. I assured him of the contrary, declaring that the 
 dozen lackeys who had waited on me in solitary state had 
 so spoilt my enjoyment of the good things before me, that 
 I had got through them as fast as I could. I remember a 
 Lake Geneva trout, sent by the Mayor, and weighing forty 
 pounds, which was served to us, because it was too big for 
 his table. Our table stood at the end of the Galerie de 
 Diane, and had usually twelve or fourteen covers ; but if 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 59 
 
 the Council was held, only two or three of us would be 
 present at dinner, and if it lasted very long, I was often the 
 only one at table. 
 
 The Emperor breakfasted at a little round table, generally 
 on roast or grilled mutton, fried chicken, occasionally fish, 
 vegetables, fruit, and cheese ; he always drank Chambertin. 
 He always dined In private with the Empress, except on 
 Sunday, when he gave a family dinner ; then the only 
 guests were all crowned heads. On the other hand, when 
 there was a hunt, a magnificent ddjellner was laid out at 
 the rendezvous, to which all those on duty and several 
 other guests were invited ; the Emperor took advantage of 
 this opportunity to show attention to certain important 
 personages. 
 
 Frequently, he worked ten, twelve, fifteen hours a day, 
 without any interval for rest or refreshment ; then he 
 would say to me : " My legs are swollen, I need exercise ; 
 write to Berthier." Thereupon he would tire out six horses, 
 take a bath on his return, dine, and then go to bed, sleeping 
 eight hours on end, and recover strength enough to last 
 him for a week. 
 
 When he was at Fontainebleau, Trianon, Compiegne, 
 or Rambouillet, a score of persons were selected every day 
 to dine at his table. The Lady in Waiting, the Grand 
 Marshal, and the Colonel-General presided over the guests. 
 If there were any sovereigns present, they either invited such 
 guests as they chose or sat at the Emperor's table. But, 
 on ordinary occasions, teesides the table for those on service, 
 there were several others ; the first, for the Grand Marshal, 
 who breakfasted at it every day, and to which only the 
 Lady in Waiting, the Ladies of the Empress, the Chamber- 
 lains, Equerries, Prefects of the Palace, the Colonel-General, 
 and the Aide-de-camp were admitted. The second was for 
 colonels of the Guard, aides-de-camp, pages, &c. 
 
 Never was a great household conducted upon more 
 strictly economical lines than those adopted by the Grand 
 Marshal. New candles were only given out to the servants 
 when they produced the burnt-out ends of the old ones. 
 
6o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 No fires were lit before the first of November. Our tables 
 were splendidly served, but in our own rooms we could not 
 order anything but cool drinks, Madeira, and rolls. Not a 
 fruit, not a cup of tea, coffee, or chocolate. So that it was 
 quite a pleasant excitement among the Ladies of the Palace 
 to organise little collations. One hung up the pot-au-feu, 
 another brought a ham or a pdte-de-foi-gras ; each insisted 
 on contributing a dish of her own, and no one cared to 
 touch the excellent dinner provided by the Emperor, pre- 
 ferring her own humble supper, which had the savour of 
 forbidden fruit. 
 
 Napoleon never expended more than twenty thousand 
 francs on his wardrobe ; and he was sometimes angry when 
 that amount was reached. He always wore silk stockings, 
 even with his boots, which were thickly lined. He seldom 
 discarded the uniform of a colonel of the Chasseurs of the 
 Guard, save when hunting or coursing ; then he put on 
 the costume de rigueur, always however retaining his grey 
 overcoat. It was only on grand occasions that he donned 
 his Imperial attire. He clung to the little hat, the only 
 person who had the privilege of wearing one like it being 
 the Prince de Neufch^tel.i When he insisted that the 
 generals and marshals should wear richly embroidered and 
 laced regimentals, even when not on duty, there was much 
 grumbling. Berthier had his Constable's uniform made of 
 velvet without any embroidery. When Mme. de Monte- 
 bello expressed surprise at such strict etiquette, I heard the 
 Emperor say to her : " Madame, under a monarchy certain 
 positions ought to be independent of military rank or of 
 fortune. Take the case of your son, for instance, who, as 
 Duke of Montebello, will have the entree to the Throne- 
 room, no matter if he is a colonel or even merely a captain, 
 whereas captains cannot present themselves at Court, and 
 colonels are not allowed to appear in the Salle des Mar6- 
 chaux. So you see, that something more than a mere 
 uniform is necessary, since rank is specially recognised." 
 The Prince-Cardinals, Grand Eagles, Dukes, Marshals, 
 
 ' Berthier. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 6i 
 
 Grand Officers, Service of Honour, and the Ambassadors 
 were allowed to enter the Throne-room ; the Senators, 
 Councillors of State, Generals of Division, Households of 
 the Emperor and the Princes, Ministers Plenipotentiary, 
 and First Presidents of the Courts of Justice, might invade 
 the Hall of Peace ; the Deputies, Brigadier-Generals, Pre- 
 fects, the Institute, and the Mayors of the thirty-six good 
 cities of France were received in the Blue Salon ; while 
 everybody else had to stop short at the Hall of the 
 Marshals. 
 
 Every Sunday the Emperor walked to Mass, preceded 
 by his Household. On his return, he would frequently stop 
 and speak to some whom he wished to reward, or to others 
 whom he desired to punish. One day, at Saint Cloud, he 
 reprimanded a colonel, who, during the inspection of his 
 regiment by General Charles de Lameth (the latter had 
 recently been restored to his rank in the service), had treated 
 the General with almost insolvent levity. " So you permit 
 yourself. Monsieur," said he, "to judge my acts, to criticise 
 my choice, and disobey your chief ! He was only to blame 
 in one respect, namely, for not having arrested you im- 
 mediately and sent you before a Council of War. An army 
 cannot exist without discipline. You have failed in that : I 
 deprive you of your regiment, and you may thank your 
 former services that I am not more severe." The peremp- 
 tory tone in which he spoke was terrible. Yet, imperious 
 as was his manner sometimes, no one could show more 
 delicacy in bestowing praise, although the commendation 
 might be only a word or a smile, a gesture or a question 
 discreetly put, but which were enough to show that he had 
 a retentive memory, and were worth more than volumes of 
 encouraging words. 
 
 His anger did not last long, especially with his soldiers, 
 for whom he reserved his caresses, jests, and familiarities ; he 
 was proud of them, proud even of their occasional pranks, 
 which always savoured of high-spirited daring. 
 
 In 1 8 12, M. de Mesgrigny, my brother-in-law, the 
 Equerry on service, was riding beside his carriage, when an 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ex-Vendean officer approached with a petition, which he 
 refused to hand to any one except the Emperor himself. 
 Thrust aside somewhat roughly, he retired, but the next day 
 he demanded satisfaction from M. de Mesgrigny : being a 
 gentleman, he could not be refused. My brother-in-law 
 consulted M, de Narbonne, who consented to act as his 
 second. The meeting took place, and Mesgrigny was 
 slightly wounded. The Emperor, at first, showed much 
 irritation. He summoned M. de Narbonne before him, 
 and asked him bluntly : " Since when, Monsieur, have my 
 officers adopted the r61e of knights-errant ? " " Sire, since 
 they have become as jealous of the honour of your House 
 as they were formerly of their own name and epaulet ! " 
 The Emperor's anger cooled ; he even bestowed a small 
 appointment on the Vendean. 
 
 This duel reminds me of one which M. de Narbonne 
 fought in his youth, and which he was fond of relating. 
 He was then very much in love with the Marquise de 
 Coigny, and his unsuccessful rival was M. d'Houdetot. 
 One evening he was coming from her house, holding a rose 
 she had just given him. M. d'Houdetot rushed on him, 
 and, without further explanation, obliged him to draw his 
 sword. Not wishing to drop his flower, he put the stalk 
 between his lips, but, in the ardour of combat, he let it fall. 
 While parrying, he stooped to pick it up. This unexpected 
 movement threw his opponent off his guard, and his thrust 
 missed the Count's shoulder. M. d'Houdetot received 
 a wound that disabled him for six months, while M. de 
 Narbonne owed his life to his flower. 
 
 But to return to the Emperor : his good nature never 
 impaired his dignity. " With you Frenchmen," he said to 
 us one evening, " it is absolutely necessary to keep one's 
 distance. If you were permitted to shake my hand, you 
 would want to climb on my shoulder." But he spoke with- 
 out a touch of haughtiness or arrogance ; he was kind and 
 unaffected, and loved the people as much as he detested the 
 mob ; only the canaille found him pitiless. Thus, in 1811, 
 there was a somewhat violent riot at Caen, connected with 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 63 
 
 the corn supply. He sent General Durosnel, then Chief of 
 Gendarmerie, to restore order. I was present when he gave 
 his instructions. " Let your justice be quick and prompt, 
 and make examples of a few so as to prevent the worst 
 consequences. Women always believe in the immunity of 
 their sex, and so are always in the van of seditions. Do not 
 spare them ; send them before the provost-court, and if 
 they are condemned, let them be shot with the others." 
 And on this occasion three women were actually shot. 
 
 We attended, at Saint Cloud, the first night of M. Ray- 
 nouard's Les Etats de Blots, which Napoleon wished to hear 
 before authorising its representation. Before he prepared to 
 retire on the same night, he forbade its appearance, and 
 spoke at length of the drama and the historical events upon 
 which it was based. " Henry III.," said he, "allowed him- 
 self to be driven into a corner, and the author proves that, 
 but for the murder, a fourth dynasty would have sprung 
 up then and there in France. But it is undesirable to stir 
 up public opinion by such representations." 
 
 Some days later the incident of M. de Chateaubriand's 
 address to the Academy took place. It was M. Daru who 
 brought the manuscript to the Emperor on the following 
 morning. The latter seemed to be plunged in thought 
 during the whole day, evidently preoccupied about it. 
 There was a reception, numerously attended, after the 
 theatre. When he had dismissed every one, except those 
 on duty, he reproached M. de S6gur, the Grand Master of 
 Ceremonies, for not having reported the matter to him. 
 " You literary people, you authors," he said, " seek material 
 for your dramas in every direction. Little you care about 
 disturbing a country, or reviving discord, provided you 
 secure fame and success to yourselves. But I, who am 
 bowed down with a heavy responsibility ; I, whose duty it 
 is to allay hatreds, to lull certain memories to sleep, and to 
 enlist all talents in the service of the country ; I, who do 
 jiot ask men what they have done, but what they are 
 prepared to do ; I, who place them between two stone-walls, 
 with great rewards before them, and the whip over him 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 -who attempts to retreat, — do you imagine that I am going 
 to let you destroy my work, and initiate dissension and civil 
 war, merely because you are seeking literary effects ? Un- 
 deceive yourselves. You speak of the death of Louis XVI. 
 Does that calamity touch any one more closely than the 
 Empress, whose aunt these people murdered ? And after I 
 have at length prevailed on her to overcome her most 
 legitimate aversions ; when the first persons I presented to 
 her were Fouch^ and Cambac6rfes ; when I have gone so 
 far, in order to conciliate the country, will you set to work 
 to resuscitate the past and thus counteract my efforts ! 
 Monsieur de S6gur, you should have warned me. It is 
 absolutely necessary that I should know everything. Had 
 the speech been delivered, I would have been merciless 
 Either it will be modified, or M. de Chateaubriand will not 
 be received." ^ 
 
 ' It was not modified, and the author oi Les Martyrs had to wait for the 
 fall of the Empire before he could deliver it. Chiteaubriand succeeded 
 Marie Joseph Ch^nier. After hearing Napoleon, it is only fair to listen to 
 Chateaubriand on the subject : — 
 
 " My discourse was ready. I was summoned to read it before the com- 
 mission appointed to hear it. It was rejected, only two or three members 
 being in its favour. You should have seen the terror of the fierce republicans 
 who heard me, and who were appalled by the independence of my opinions. 
 They shuddered with terror and indignation at the mere mention of the 
 word Liberty. M. Daru took the manuscript to Saint Cloud. Bonaparte 
 declared that if it had been delivered, he would have closed the doors of the 
 Institute and flung me into a dungeon for the rest of my life. I went to 
 Saint Cloud. M. Daru returned the manuscript, erased here and there, 
 marked ab irato with parentheses and pencil strokes by Bonaparte. The 
 lion's claw had scratched it everywhere. The beginning of the discourse 
 was crossed out from end to end. It referred to Milton's views. Part of my 
 protests against the determined effort to exclude literature from all share 
 in public events was also ruled out. The eulogy on the Abb^ Dehlle, which 
 recalled the Emigration and poet's fidelity to the unfortunate royal family 
 and to his unhappy companions in exile, was placed between parentheses. 
 The eulogy on M. de Fontanes was marked with a cross. Almost every- 
 thing I said about M. Ch^nier, his brother, and the expiatory altars that 
 were being raised at Saint Denis was ruthlessly scored through. The para- 
 graph beginning with these words : M. ChMer adored liberty, was erased 
 with a double stroke. I religiously preserved the mutilated manuscript. 
 Ill luck decreed that after I had left the Marie-Thdr^se Infirmary, it should 
 be burned, with a heap of other manuscripts." 
 
 Nevertheless, a copy apparently came into the possession of one of 
 Chiteaubriand's colleagues. See Mimoires d'Outre-Tombe, edition Edmond 
 Bird. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 6s 
 
 He spoke for a long time. There were only seven of 
 us present ; and no one ■ dared open his mouth. I had 
 had leave to go to Paris the next day, but on leaving the 
 Emperor's presence I told the Grand Marshal I had no 
 intention of doing so now, because Napoleon's remarks 
 would certainly be repeated, and, being the youngest of the 
 party, the blame would be laid on my shoulders. And 
 sure enough, the very next day, Savary informed the 
 Emperor that his words had been circulated abroad, and, as 
 I had foreseen, I was the first upon whom his suspicions 
 fell. He had to look elsewhere, however, as I had never 
 left the Palace. Upon inquiry, it was learned that M. de 
 Remusat ^ had repeated everything to his wife, who at once 
 ran to tell Chateaubriand. I have always been very grate- 
 ful to the Grand Marshal, who was invariably kind to me. 
 
 I was on service during the entire winter of 1 8 12. M. 
 de Narbonne was aide-de-camp, my brother-in-law equerry, 
 and my sister assistant-governess of the King of Rome. 
 All four of us were lodged next to one another in the Black 
 Corridor. Almost every evening the Emperor invited us 
 into the Empress's apartments, where he would engage in 
 long conversations with us. He was fond of talking, which 
 aiForded him a welcome distraction. He always spoke on 
 serious subjects. Once the point at issue was the fate of 
 Louis XVI. ; his integrity, his good intentions, his weak- 
 ness, were discussed, and one of us insisted that if, at the 
 beginning, he had struck off certain heads, he would have 
 saved his own and the monarchy as well. " No," said the 
 Emperor, " the King would not have averted the storm by 
 getting rid of some of his enemies, for other enemies would 
 have taken their place. When things are ripe for a revolu- 
 tion, men will always be forthcoming to finish what others 
 began. The true reason is that the great majority consists 
 of cowards, who try to discover which side is the stronger, 
 so that they may join it and find safety under its protection. 
 If Louis XVI. had had the courage to risk results, he would 
 have inspired confidence by his resolution and strength of 
 * Prefect of the Palace and First Chamberlain. 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 will, and would thus have become a factor in the new ideas, 
 for it is only when we are sensible of our own strength that 
 we can aiFord to appear generous. In politics it is some- 
 times necessary to be in advance of public opinion. Place 
 yourself at its head, and you can lead it where you will. 
 But once allow yourself to be dragged at its tail, and you 
 not only tread the same path but are even forced to go 
 further than you would otherwise have gone." 
 
 Another time, Louis XIV. was under discussion ; the 
 Emperor was visibly interested in the early years of his 
 reign. I took the liberty of recalling that Louis XIV., in 
 his Memoires, had paid a tribute of filial respect to the 
 Queen-mother for defending the royal authority during her 
 regency and vanquishing the Fronde, never yielding either 
 to the people, the Parliament, or the princes. He was 
 pleased with this remark, and took the opportunity by 
 enlarging on it of making certain pointed allusions to the 
 regency of the Empress during his own absence, about 
 which rumours were already being circulated. During all 
 these conversations he encouraged us to speak candidly and 
 freely, evincing the same unconstraint and frankness himself. 
 
 I did not accompany him on the journey to Holland, 
 doubtless because, at the time, the Empress had refused to 
 accept my father-in-law as Grand Master of her Household. 
 Nor was I with him on the journey to Dresden, and for 
 a reason, which will show what great effects flow from 
 small causes. I was very intimate with Mme. de Bassano, 
 and I tried to cement the friendship between M. de Nar- 
 bonne and her husband, who distrusted Talleyrand. One 
 morning, Mme. de Bassano said to me : " The Emperor 
 intends taking Talleyrand with him to Warsaw ; but it is 
 a great secret — he reproaches him for meddling in every- 
 thing. Now, if it were noised abroad that this was the 
 case, without the rumour being traced to us, such an in- 
 discretion would have the eff^ect of keeping him at home." 
 I undertook to divulge the secret with as innocent an 
 air as possible. In fact, that same evening, while playing 
 billiards with Bubna, the creature of Metternich, Nessel- 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 67 
 
 rode, and CzernichefF, he began speaking of the list of those 
 who were to accompany the Emperor, as if it were a thing 
 already known, also of the fact that I was to be one of 
 the party. Without appearing to attach the slightest 
 importance to the matter, I said, carelessly, "And M. de 
 Talleyrand also." 
 
 The next day his name was in every mouth. The 
 Emperor was furious, and sent for him. " So my plans 
 have been made public property ! " he cried. " Schwartzen- 
 berg, who visits you once a month, was with you yesterday, 
 and half-an-hour later Kourakine was there in his turn. 
 So it is you who divulged them." Talleyrand swore black 
 and blue that he had not ; then, reflecting a moment, he 
 cried : " Sire, it may have been Rambuteau ! You know 
 how intimate I am with Mme. de Laval, who treats him as 
 a child of the house. It is possible that I dropped some 
 words when he was present. Besides, he knows everything 
 that passes in your circle, and before now he has disclosed 
 various things." So the Emperor was fairly beside himself, 
 and ordered Duroc to exile me a hundred leagues from 
 Paris. Duroc, however, as I have already said, was very 
 fond of me. He sent for me, rated me soundly, listened 
 to my confession, and, as at bottom he was not sorry that 
 Talleyrand should be deprived of his chance of going to 
 Warsaw, he pleaded for me and calmed the Emperor's 
 wrath. I was only erased from the list, like Talleyrand, 
 who was replaced by the Abbe de Pradt on this mission, 
 that turned out so badly. 
 
 On the eve of the Russian campaign, M. de Narbonne 
 was charged by Napoleon to convey his final proposals to 
 the Emperor Alexander at Wilna, before the opening of 
 hostilities. He was well received by the latter, who asked : 
 " What does the Emperor want ? Would he force me to 
 adopt measures that would ruin my people ? And, because 
 I refuse, does he threaten me with war, because he imagines 
 that, after two or three battles, and the occupation of 
 a few provinces or of a capital city, he will succeed in 
 making me sue for a peace of which he will dictate the 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 conditions ! He is mistaken." Then, taking a vast map 
 of his States, he slowly unfolded it upon the table, and 
 continued : " Monsieur le Comte, I believe that Napoleon 
 is the greatest general in Europe, that his armies are the 
 most warlike, his lieutenants the most valiant and experi- 
 enced ; but space is a barrier. If, after several defeats, I 
 retreat, sweeping the inhabitants with me — if I abandon the 
 care of my defence to time, to the climate, to the desert — 
 perhaps / may have the last word to say on the fate of the 
 most formidable army of modern times." 
 
 This conversation struck M. de Narbonne so forcibly 
 that he related it, word for word, to the Emperor, in the 
 very terms in which I have set it down here. It apparently 
 made some impression upon him, but the die was cast : he 
 was determined to march at the head of all the nations of 
 Europe — save England and Russia — gathered behind him, 
 and to triumph over the one by crushing the other. Never 
 was any expedition conducted under greater splendour ; well 
 might the Emperor consider himself a second Agamemnon, 
 and well, too, might M. de Narbonne say, apologising for 
 his late arrival on a day when he was on duty : " Excuse 
 me. Sire ; I fell amongst a throng of kings, and, in spite of 
 all my efforts, found it terribly difficult to cleave my way 
 through them." 
 
 I spent a part of the summer at home and at the Aix 
 waters, where I met the Queens of Spain, Sweden, and 
 Holland, Madame M^re (the official title of Napoleon's 
 mother, the only title given her in all histories, French and 
 English), the Duchesse d'Abrantes, and Princess Pauline. 
 The latter was on a milk diet. I often attended her on 
 her country excursions. Her milk was brought to her at 
 regular intervals, and Mme. de Sdmonville, with whom I 
 lodged, supplied me with a lunch in a little basket, so that 
 I might accompany her without being inconvenienced. We 
 had a very fine fdte on the lake. Talma was present — I 
 often took parts with him at the Princess's villa, and 
 frequently sang Blangini's nocturnes, both with the 
 Princess herself and Mme. de Saluces. On leaving Aix 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 69 
 
 we made an excursion to the Dent du Chat, where the Prefect 
 gave us a grand d^jeAner in the open air under the trees. 
 We visited the state prison of Pierre-Chltel. There, on 
 seeing a cell a little less gloomy than the others, I said to 
 the director : " If ever, Monsieur, I should happen to be 
 your boarder, remember that I hire this cell in advance, 
 for the course of the Rhone can be seen from it." But 
 such a painful recollection of this prison remained with me 
 that, the following year, when I was asked to send twelve 
 hostages to Pierre-Ch^tel, I flatly refused. After a short 
 stay in Geneva we visited the glaciers. The Prefects of the 
 Leman and Mont Blanc were added to our party, and five 
 gendarmes in full uniform escorted our caravan on the Mer 
 de Glace and as far as Montenvers. 
 
 As soon as the Emperor returned, I was at once recalled 
 to Paris and resumed my service. The twenty-ninth 
 bulletin had struck us with consternation ; on the other 
 hand, the Malet affair showed us that the roots of power 
 were not so deeply implanted as we had thought. But 
 M. de Narbonne, on his return, soon convinced me of the 
 magnitude of the disaster. The Emperor, who knew his 
 integrity and candour, had ordered me to send him without 
 delay to Fontainebleau, where he was to try to come to an 
 understanding with the Pope. But his Holiness was leaving 
 just when M. de Narbonne appeared. The Emperor was 
 greatly agitated. He spoke in very angry terms of their 
 differences, and added : " I have enough of all this ; if he 
 will not listen to reason, let him keep his religion — I shall 
 arrange mine with my clergy." " Sire, do not dream of 
 such a thing," answered my father-in-law ; "we have not 
 enough religion in France to divide it in two." This 
 boutade calmed the Emperor, who then proceeded to 
 question him upon the dispositions of the Courts of Germany, 
 of which he had just made the round. M. de Narbonne 
 did not hide the fact that everywhere the bonds of sub- 
 mission were all but broken, and that even in Austria a 
 formidable coalition was imminent. 
 
 Napoleon became very gloomy ; he had full confidence 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in the fidelity of my father-in-law, whose behaviour he had 
 noticed so lately in that terrible campaign, particularly 
 during the retreat, in which his cheerfulness, his high spirits, 
 and his very elegance never forsook him for a moment. 
 He had observed him seated on a gun-carriage, having his 
 hair dressed and powdered, leaping from the horses that 
 sank under him in order to jump on to the hind-seat of the 
 Imperial berlin, next to Marshal Bessi^res, Moreover, the 
 Emperor had seen my father-in-law distributing the sixty 
 thousand francs which he gave him at Moscow (of which 
 not a single sou remained to him at Wilna ^) to the soldiers 
 of the Guard. And he had noted how at every step he in- 
 spired fresh courage and vigour into the young officers, who 
 were half-dead with hunger and fatigue, till at last, filled 
 with admiration for him, he could not help exclaiming : 
 "There is something in the blood of your ancient nobility 
 which distinguishes it from my old veterans. Their courage 
 is indomitable in presence of danger, but powerless in 
 presence of misfortune, which finds them feeble and dis- 
 armed ; your young noblemen, on the contrary, have an 
 inborn sense of honour and duty that sustains them even 
 when the struggle with destiny is hopeless." 
 
 The Marshals themselves, who could hardly be suspected 
 of much fellow-feeling for one another, much less for out- 
 siders, had evinced their esteem for him, and to such a high 
 degree that Comte de Lobau and some other old aides-de- 
 camp and generals of the Guard (who had been hurt at 
 having to receive an aristocrat among them) said to me, 
 
 ' It was not the first time. At the beginning of the campaign the 
 Emperor had forbidden all private carriages. Two days afterwards, observ- 
 ing a carriage that obstructed the way, he asked to whom it belonged. "To 
 M. de Narbonne, the aide-de-camp," some one answered. Without moving 
 firom his seat he had it burned at once, but at the same time ordered Duroc 
 to send a thousand napoleons to M. de Narbonne, who was not rich. Duroc 
 put the sum in a casket and a few books also. When the casket reached 
 its destination, M. de Narbonne kept the books, but handed over the money 
 to a colonel of recruits to be distributed among them. Some time later, the 
 Emperor said to him : " Well, you have replaced you baggage, I suppose. 
 You received the money?" "Yes, Sire, but I thought I ought to keep only 
 the books, notably two treatises of Seneca which pleased me much, a De 
 Beneficiis and De Patientia." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 71 
 
 after returning from Russia : " We used to think he was 
 only fit to be an officer of the Crown, and now we are proud 
 to have him for a comra4e." 1 
 
 As soon as I had an opportunity of talking with him, 
 he said dejectedly : " Ah, my dear fellow, how many lost 
 illusions ! About how many things I thought of writing to 
 you, and yet I never traced a word of them ! But there 
 are two men to whom, as a Frenchman, you should be 
 eternally grateful, and for whom you should cherish the 
 highest admiration : Ney and Caulaincourt ! " I was the 
 more surprised at what I heard because he had formerly 
 censured me merely for calling upon the latter's sister, and 
 I asked for an explanation. "The one," he said, "has 
 saved the army ; the other has shown himself the noblest 
 servant of the Emperor. It would be impossible to discover 
 any one more loyal, devoted, and intelligent, or a more 
 perfect gentleman ; and yet, when he, Lauriston, Davout, 
 Daru, and I insisted that the first campaign should end 
 after Smolensk, and implored the Emperor to reorganise 
 Poland and wait for the spring, the hot-heads of the General 
 StaflF dubbed us the Russians ! As for Ney, he is the victor 
 of Moskowa, but it was at the Beresina that he showed 
 what he really is. History will never again record two 
 such heroic deeds, and, but for him, not one of us would 
 have returned ! " 
 
 " Illusions ! heroism ! " here are the last words of that 
 woeful campaign. The Emperor himself acknowledged 
 this. He said at the Tuileries, before Lobau, Davout, and 
 myself : " How easily the best laid plans, the most care- 
 fully studied preparations for future events may be foiled 
 by unforeseen circumstances 1 Commanding Europe, dis- 
 posing of all its forces, I had believed that the right moment 
 had come for invading Russia ; I wished to establish a 
 
 ' It was surmised by some people that an allusion was made to M. de 
 Narbonne in the phrase of the twenty-ninth bulletin : " Those whom nature 
 has created superior to all others retained their cheerfulness and their 
 ordinary manners" When he was congratulated, after his return, upon this 
 supposed reference to himself, he answered bitterly : " Ah, the Emperor 
 can say what he chooses, but cheerfulness is rather strong." 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 barrier she could not cross and to retard her progress for a 
 century ; and now, I have possibly advanced it by fifty 
 years." 
 
 Before his departure for the Vienna Embassy, M. de 
 Narbonne was on duty every day. Often, during the night, 
 the Emperor would visit him in the first salon, where he 
 lay on a camp bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed and 
 forbidding him to rise, he would hold long conversations 
 with him on public affairs. ' 
 
 One morning, I found him in bed, just at the very 
 moment when his Majesty's lev^e was to begin: "The 
 Emperor was with me until seven o'clock," he explained ; 
 " he is anxious about the future. * Narbonne,' he re- 
 marked, ' you will die a Constitutionnel ! ' ' Yes, Sire, it was 
 my first religion.' ' Well, my dear fellow, you must live 
 longer than me, for I want you, as you well know, to rear 
 my son. In spite of all your cleverness, you will make 
 only an ordinary man of him, for superior men do not 
 transmit their genius to their children. But a mediocre 
 intelligence is all that a constitutional sovereign needs. 
 When I have finished my work, all that will be required to 
 preserve it will be a Government to counterbalance it ; the 
 Senate should be made hereditary, and the Chamber of 
 Deputies should have freedom of speech. But before this 
 happens, the Senate must be purified by the agency of time, 
 and an adequate number of great interests interwoven with 
 the preservation of my work and of my dynasty. I shall 
 need from fifteen to twenty years. With a representative 
 Government influenced by personal feeling and dependent 
 on mutual transactions, I should require forty, and then 
 should probably fail.' " 
 
 My father-in-law started for Vienna, weighed down by 
 sad presentiments. " I am sent there," he said to me, 
 "just as a quack is called in when the patient is in extremis. 
 Two years ago, I might have done much ; to-day, I am 
 powerless to ward oflF evil." Nevertheless, nothing was 
 omitted that could add to the splendour of his position. 
 The Emperor decided that he should have the largest and 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 73 
 
 most magnificent house in Vienna. In pursuance of his 
 orders, I had forty-eight liveries made ; they were to be of 
 the ancient colours of M. de Narbonne's house, red on red. 
 I was also directed to provide him with twelve body- 
 servants and stewards. A complete set of silver-plate, con- 
 taining forty pieces, was made for his own table. He 
 himself scattered money right and left. Why should he 
 trouble himself about debts ? Had not the Emperor said, 
 on confiding to him this supreme mission : " On your 
 return, I shall give you a dukedom with a large revenue, 
 and, as you have only daughters, you shall adopt 
 Rambuteau." 
 
 The question was even mooted of attaching me to the 
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sending me either to 
 Munich, or to Vienna with him. But, as my title of 
 Chamberlain prevented me from occupying a secondary 
 position, I preferred a Prefecture. Besides, to secure the 
 Emperor's favour, one must be useful to him. Now, all 
 his aides-de-camp being generals, there was no place for 
 me among them ; aH the great diplomatic posts were also 
 reserved for the military, for it is well to reinforce eloquence 
 of speech with sabres ; consequently, promising as had been 
 my d6but in the diplomatic line, I was condemned to make 
 no progress. On the other hand, after being Prefect for a 
 few years, during which I could easily distinguish myself, 
 I should enter the Council of State, should then be under 
 the eye of the Emperor, and thus the interest he already 
 took in me would be redoubled. I had been thirteen 
 months in his service. I had had the advantage of listening 
 to his discourses, which I had thoroughly absorbed, and I 
 had been present at the sittings of the Council of State, and 
 had learned the lessons it taught me ; it was high time I 
 should leave school and make use of all the advantages I 
 had enjoyed. 
 
 My father-in-law fully concurred in my views. I was 
 at first appointed Prefect of Montenotte ; but Brignole, 
 Auditor of the Council, having also demanded a Prefecture, 
 his mother (a native of Savona), who was a Lady of the 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Palace and a friend of M. de Talleyrand, obtained a change, 
 and I was named Prefect of the Simplon. This looked like 
 a kind of slight, MM. de Grave and de Bondy,* who had 
 not been longer with the Emperor than I had, having 
 started, the one at Versailles, the other at Lyons ! But I 
 took the matter gaily, and said to my friends : " I have to 
 learn my trade, and I shall do so all the quicker if I am 
 sent to a post where there will be nothing to distract my 
 attention from my duties ; it is all for the best." 
 
 For that mater, M. de Bassano pointed out to me that, 
 situated as I should be between Switzerland, France, and 
 Italy, it would be in my power to render services that 
 would attract attention. M. Roederer — to whom I had 
 the good fortune to do a favour — who had arranged all the 
 negotiations for Switzerland, as well as the Act of Media- 
 tion, and who had a thorough knowledge of all the men of 
 the country, especially of those of the valleys, was kind 
 enough to lend me his notes, which I read and copied, so 
 that I set out reinforced with most valuable information, 
 which proved exceedingly useful to me later on. 
 
 Sainte-Aulaire, my excellent friend, was included in the 
 same promotion,^ by that sort of fatality that continually 
 associated both our destinies. He was two or three years 
 older than 1. We became acquainted in 1798, at Lemire's 
 studio and at the dancing-rooms of Gaillet, where he paid 
 assiduous court to Mile, de Soyecourt, his first wife, whom 
 he married in " spite of wind and wave." She was very 
 wealthy, but the daughter of an extravagant mother, the 
 Princesse de Nassau. For example, one day when the 
 
 ' M. de Bondy was twice Prefect of Paris, in 1815 and in 1830. He was 
 succeeded by Comte de Rambuteau in 1833. 
 
 ^ As Prefect of the Meuse. How great was their affection may be 
 judged from his last letter to Comte de Rambuteau : " My dear Philibert, 
 you are the oldest friend I have left ; we have probably not much time 
 remaining to us wherein to exchange marks of our mutual sympathy ; and, 
 indeed, the occasions which elicit them are only misfortunes. Yours, how- 
 ever, console me. You have a good and noble heart. As yet the world has 
 not quenched that generous sensibility which thrilled your youth. God 
 preserve you, my old friend, and sustain your courage. We have had the 
 same fortune on earth. Let us hope that we shall be united again in the 
 other life." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 75 
 
 Princess was giving a ball, and the bailiffs came to make a 
 distraint, she bade them quite cheerfully, " to make them- 
 selves at home." " Take whatever you like, gentlemen," 
 she said, "only please leave us the dishes until after 
 supper." 
 
 He married again in 1808, the year in which I also 
 was married. We were named Chamberlains in 1809 in 
 the same gazette, we were decorated together, we were 
 Prefects together, and were both returned to the Chambers 
 by the Departments we had administered ; we sat on the 
 same benches, held the same political views, and, still united 
 in a firm friendship, we both returned simultaneously to 
 private life in 1848. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PREFECT OF THE SIMPLON 
 
 I WAS nominated in March, and started for my new 
 post in the following April. I stopped at Geneva in 
 
 order to see the Prefect, M. Capelle, and discuss with 
 him the intrigues of which Switzerland was the theatre — 
 intrigues which might have a serious effect on the inhabi- 
 tants of the Valais, who were by no means reconciled to the 
 French yoke, in spite of the magnificent present which 
 France had conferred on them in the Simplon Road. 
 
 This road was undeniably a source of great wealth to 
 a country so isolated hitherto, and, as it were, lost in its 
 own mountains ; for henceforth it would serve as the most 
 important line of communication between France and Italy. 
 
 But people are slow to sacrifice memories, customs, and, 
 above all, prejudices, to the acquirement of even substantial 
 advantages, and whatever wounds or merely modifies long- 
 established constitutions is promptly resented. They neither 
 recognise the beneficial results of innovations nor under- 
 stand at first starting how to make the most of them, but 
 are only aggrieved by the rupture which they entail with 
 revered traditions, and the compulsory acceptance of new 
 customs in the place of old. They can only grasp the 
 unwelcome element of change, which at first always bulks 
 largest in the introduction of fresh conditions without look- 
 ing forward to the advantages of the future ; and the more 
 backward or stationary a country may be, the more deter- 
 mined it will be to resist all efforts made for its improve- 
 ment. Apart from this, it must be remembered that the 
 aborigines are not always the first to reap the benefits 
 
 accruing from radical changes in their condition, seeing 
 
 76 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 77 
 
 that there are usually plenty of foreigners (sharper-witted 
 than themselves) who are for ever on the look-out for 
 windfalls, and run greedily to pocket all the gains to be 
 snatched on the newly-broken ground. 
 
 It is the same with the new offices improvised by a 
 new Government — rivalries, jealousies, regrets create dis- 
 trust, if not hostility. If the mother-country wishes to 
 overcome prejudices, she must send to the newly-annexed 
 countries those only who are able to do credit to her — 
 samples of her finest quality, if I may so speak. Alas ! 
 too, too often has the contrary been the case. Our new 
 possessions served at that time as a sort of refuge for 
 officials whose negligence or incapacity necessitated their 
 removal from the Home Provinces. Indeed, these posts 
 were often conferred upon men whom the authorities pre- 
 ferred to send away in partial disgrace rather than punish 
 by exposing their shortcomings and misdoings. I am quite 
 sure, however, that where this was not the case, much of 
 the dislike with which our deputies were universally received 
 disappeared as soon as the people were convinced of the 
 new-comer's personal merits and disinterestedness. 
 
 As for myself, I had no such difficulty to contend with 
 from the beginning. My position near the Emperor, the 
 name of my father-in-law, who, as Minister of War under 
 the ancient regime, had frequent relations with the Swiss 
 regiments and Swiss Guards, containing representatives of 
 all the Helvetian families, my courteous manner, and the 
 exceeding affability of my wife, placed me at once in an 
 exceptional position. Mme. de Rambuteau, in fact, always 
 gracious and simple, was only anxious to do good, and 
 prove that the humble domestic virtues were as dear to her 
 as to the rustic households around her ; and, by way of 
 evincing her sympathy with her surroundings, would often 
 adopt the customs, and sometimes even the costume, of 
 the country. 
 
 But just then the political state of Switzerland was very 
 grave. I was made fully acquainted with the subject by 
 M. Roederer at Paris, M. Capelle at Geneva, and, especially. 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 by M. Derville, my predecessor, who had lived in the 
 Valais as Minister of France before being its Prefect, and 
 knew the people well. 
 
 The Valaisan Republic was originally composed of 
 twelve dizaines (ancient city districts), afterward Cantons, 
 each forming a little State, in which three or four families 
 contended for governmental supremacy. The Lower Valais 
 still cherished its ancient hatred for the Upper Valais. We 
 know that the former was subject to the latter before the 
 Mediation of 1 803 ; ^ nothing of the old rivalries was for- 
 gotten. Every one bowed before the present necessity, but 
 all fostered the memories of their regrets or their hopes in 
 the past, and the reverses we had just experienced gave new 
 life to these unspoken sentiments. 
 
 I determined to adopt a waiting policy, to precipitate 
 nothing, to risk nothing, and, whilst never forgetting to be 
 on my guard, to use only kind and conciliatory measures. 
 The Emperor had instructed me to keep him informed of 
 all that came to my knowledge respecting the plots that 
 were then hatching in Switzerland, Lower Germany, and 
 Upper Italy. I succeeded in procuring some devoted and 
 capable agents (one of whom was specially intelligent and 
 rather ambitious, being anxious to leave his country, in 
 which he had no chance of promotion). He gave me 
 valuable information regarding the intrigues of our enemies, 
 and put me in the way of securing an important corre- 
 spondence which was to be exchanged between them and 
 the malcontents of the Tyrol by way of the Furka Pass. 
 
 I had the emissaries arrested forthwith as smugglers by 
 the Custom-house officers. They were stripped of every- 
 thing they had with them, and even of their clothing. 
 Their luggage was sent to me. After examining it care- 
 
 1 The Lower Valais had always been subject to the Upper Valais from 
 the fifteenth century to the Revolution of 1798, when the Swiss Cantons 
 were reunited under the name of Helvetia. The Acte de Mediation of 1803, 
 dictated by Bonaparte, restored their independence to the Cantons, but 
 placed the Valais under a French protectorate as a distinct Republic, 
 which was afterwards annexed to France, and formed the Department of 
 the Simplon (iBlo). 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 79 
 
 fully, we at last found a document of the greatest import- 
 ance : a ribbon of paper wound spirally round a stick, and 
 concealed under a layer of varnish. In this the insurrection 
 of the Tyrol was formally announced, and there is no doubt 
 but that the scenes of 1809 would have been renewed, had 
 not Bavaria joined the Coalition.* I hastened to forward 
 this information to Paris, and, from fear of offending the 
 Minister of Police^ by appearing to throw doubt on his 
 vigilance, I addressed it directly to the Emperor's Cabinet, 
 as he had authorised me to do. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival in the Valais, I was visited by 
 the captain of the Gendarmerie, M. Debrosse, a brave and 
 worthy man, who had been for a long time a lieutenant 
 at Macon, and had served under my father-in-law in the 
 Gendarmerie of Lun^ville. He came to warn me of a sort 
 of conspiracy planned at Brigue, where all the leaders of the 
 party hostile to France were to meet : MM. de Taffiner, 
 de Riedmatten, d'Augustini, &c., and especially M. de 
 Sepibus, ex-Grand Bailli of the Valais, and now Sub-Prefect, 
 as well as two Jesuits, Fathers Godinot and Siniot de 
 Latour. The instigator of the plot was General Reding, 
 who had been for long in the service of Spain, but who was 
 now living in retirement in Schwitz, his native country, 
 where he was a person of much importance, and was one 
 of the most active agents of the Coalition.* I replied 
 that I should start the next morning for Brigue, and that 
 I was going to write to M. de Sepibus to convoke these 
 gentlemen, as I wished to make their acquaintance. The 
 poor man turned pale : " Why, you are throwing yourself 
 into the jaws of the wolf! " he exclaimed ; " I cannot, at such 
 
 ' The Tyrol, taken from Austria and given to Bavaria by the treaty of 
 Presburg (1805), had risen at the summons of Andreas Hofer, an innkeeper, 
 and a man of extraordinary energy, who defeated the Bavarians, held our 
 troops long in check, and made a desperate resistance. After this bloody 
 insurrection, the Tyrol was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy (treaty of 
 Vienne), and formed the Department of the Haut-Adige. 
 
 2 The Due de Rovigo. 
 
 ' As early as 1798 he attempted resistance. At the time of the Media- 
 tion he tried to raise several Cantons against the French intervention, and 
 Ney had to imprison him. 
 
8o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 short notice, assemble an escort large enough to protect you, 
 and General d'H^nin de Cuvilliers, in command of the 
 Department, though lavish of compliments, makes such dif- 
 ficulties about the slightest thing, that he wiU not lend his 
 little garrison of two hundred conscripts without the order 
 of a Minister or General of Division." "An additional 
 reason, my dear Captain," I answered, " for going alone, 
 with only yourself and a single gendarme ; it will show 
 them that I mean no harm (I have never done them any) ; 
 and as they are, evidently, not ready for action, they will 
 listen all the more readily to me. Besides, the Emperor is 
 still in Paris, and the foreigners are far away ; so there can 
 be no question of a serious insurrection." 
 
 The same day I received a despatch from the Minister of 
 General Police, who, having been informed by his agents of 
 the same plots, directed me to seize twelve hostages and 
 conduct them to Pierre-Chatel. The recollection of this 
 gloomy prison, which I had visited the preceding year, made 
 me hesitate to arrest on suspicion worthy fellows whose only 
 offence was that of regretting the liberty and independence 
 of which we had deprived them. My fidelity and devotion 
 to the Emperor could not deter rrie from selecting the 
 means I deemed necessary for securing peace and obedience 
 in the country confided to my administration. 
 
 I arrived at Brigue, and found that nearly all the suspects 
 mentioned in the Ministerial despatch were there to meet me. 
 M. de Sepibus received me : he was almost an old man, tall 
 and upright, with grey hair. I recalled the impression his 
 features had made on M. de Roederer when the latter had 
 announced to the Valaisan deputies the union of their 
 country with France. He had stood erect, motionless as a 
 statue, unconscious of the big tears which rolled down his 
 cheeks, and not diminishing by a single gesture the dignity 
 of that mute sorrow. Among the notables thus assembled 
 were MM. de Courten, ex-officers of the Swiss Guards, 
 others whose names escape me, and the two Jesuits, full 
 of that subtle modesty and ability which made the one 
 Assistant-General of the Order, and the other Provincial of 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 8i 
 
 the Province of Friburg. I spoke to them pretty nearly in 
 these terms : 
 
 "Gentlemen, I am well aware of your regrets, your 
 plans, and of your hopes. A stranger to this country and 
 loyal to the Emperor, I have come among you in all confi- 
 dence on a mission of peace and justice. I sympathise with 
 your memories, but your unalterable attachment to them 
 should not prevent you from listening to the counsels of 
 prudence and reason. Have you foreseen the perils of an 
 insurrection in a Department midway between France an<^ 
 Italy ? The ground upon which your cottages stood is still 
 smoking from the conflagrations lit by General Turreau to 
 avenge the French blood shed in the woods of Finges,^ 
 through which I have just made my way. Why expose 
 yourselves anew to such cruel reprisals ? If I were a 
 Valaisan I should doubtless regret my independence ; still, you 
 would surely be French rather than Piedmontese or Austrians. 
 Do you suppose that because our success deserted us in 
 Russia, it will abandon us for ever ? Well, have a little 
 patience and, if we succumb in the great struggle in which 
 we are now engaged, you will recover your freedom. But, 
 whilst rendering full justice to your courage, let me tell you 
 that it is not ten or twelve thousand insurgent Valaisans 
 who will change the future. You will only incur for your- 
 selves the worst disasters. I know you have just causes of 
 complaint ; I know that our Custom-house duties, particularly 
 those on salt and tobacco, are vexatious. My position 
 enables me to draw the attention of the Government to all 
 abuses and injustices. I cannot, of course, either check or 
 redress every wrong at a moment's notice, but I offer you 
 my support and sympathy. In return I ask your obedience, 
 which I will spare no effort to render easy for you. Re- 
 lying on your loyalty and time-honoured valour, I have 
 come amongst you without fear, hoping to touch your 
 hearts, if I do not succeed in convincing your minds." 
 
 ' General Turreau was an expert in conflagrations. It was he who 
 organised the infernal columns in Vendee. As to the wood of Finges, a 
 French company was ambuscaded there, May the 20th, 1799. 
 
 F 
 
82 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 This appeal achieved a certain degree of success. A 
 rather long conversation followed, which I cut short by 
 inviting every one to follow me to the principal inn. Here 
 a banquet had been prepared by my orders, which was much 
 appreciated and lasted almost the whole day. On the 
 morrow, I invited those named by the Minister to visit me, 
 after having previously arranged matters with the Sub- 
 prefect, who had won me by his frankness, and had made 
 himself responsible for their intentions. I read to them the 
 instructions I had received from Paris, and added : " I have 
 taken it upon myself not to obey them ; and this step should 
 convince you of my attachment to you, and the confidence 
 I repose in you. But you will understand that such a 
 proceeding on my part involves me in a very heavy re- 
 sponsibility. You must pledge me your word of honour to 
 maintain peace and obedience throughout this district. Re- 
 member that, if a gendarme or Custom-house officer, or any 
 Frenchman whatever, is assassinated, his blood will fall on 
 my head, but that yours will answer for it. In that case, it 
 would not be to Pierre-Chitel that I should send you, but 
 before a relentless military commission. See to it, that you 
 lack neither the will nor the courage to support me." 
 
 All gave me their word without hesitation, and all kept 
 it — at least in regard to what concerned the peace of the 
 country. And, frankly, what more could I have required .'' 
 My efforts were rewarded with the Cross of the Reunion.^ 
 
 My assiduous attendance at the Council of State and 
 my special studies had given me a general knowledge of 
 the principles upon which the executive part of government 
 should be based. But I had not yet mastered the practical 
 details, and, firmly believing in the Emperor's maxim, that 
 " to be a good commander, you must understand how to 
 fulfil your own commands," I realised that I could only 
 acquire a thorough knowledge of the different wheels of 
 the machine by seeing them every day at work. With this 
 object in view, I performed the tasks of the heads of the 
 
 ^ An Order founded by Napoleon in 1811, in memory of the reunion of 
 Holland with France. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 83 
 
 several offices, spending six or eight weeks in each office 
 successively. I begged them to be quite candid in criticis- 
 ing my efforts, and whenever I succeeded in revising any 
 correspondence correctly, or in the drawing up either of a 
 report or a new Act, which would be brought to me later 
 for my signature, I never hesitated to express my hearty 
 gratitude to the man who had initiated me. At the end 
 of six months I was well enough acquainted with the 
 mechanism of the bureaus to be able to speak their tech- 
 nical language, question, consult, and decide in the most 
 difficult cases. 
 
 Then I resolved to make a tour of my Department. 
 My wife accompanied me to the St. Bernard during a heavy 
 snowfall on July the 24th. Among my functions was that 
 of Administrator-General of the Hospices of the St. Bernard, 
 the St. Gothard, and the Simplon. To the St. Bernard the 
 Emperor had annexed the Abbey of St. Maurice. The 
 monks of the Hospice lived on fairly good terms with the 
 canons of the Abbey, but they did not meet one another 
 often, for it would have been as difficult to make the austere 
 but active life of the St. Bernard Monastery acceptable to 
 the canons, who were accustomed to the peaceful existence 
 of their cloisters, as to render the silence of the cell toler- 
 able to the mountain Fathers. The union of the two con- 
 vents was, nevertheless, a measure that showed considerable 
 foresight : St. Maurice affiarded an asylum for such of the 
 hospitallers as were worn out by the severe climate of these 
 Alpine regions ; and who till then had had to content them- 
 selves with the chance of being nominated to some of the 
 small livings in the valley of Entremont. The Emperor 
 had also appropriated to the use of the Hospice the pro- 
 perty of the Chartreuse of Pavia, which enabled them to 
 enjoy a more assured income than that which they had 
 derived from their collections in France, Switzerland, and 
 Italy, and from the alms-box in the Church of St. Bernard. 
 Here, later, they would be able to supply their own needs, 
 and those of the seventeen or eighteen thousand travellers 
 they received annually. 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I was extremely interested in the ascent which I made 
 of the St. Bernard, escorted by the two guides who had 
 accompanied the Emperor during the famous passage of 
 1 8 1 o, and by the same Father Prior who had led the march. 
 They made me stop every moment to tell me of some 
 detail or other connected with the expedition, or to recall 
 some remark made by the Emperor. They took care to 
 point out the spots where the artillery had to be dis- 
 mounted, their ordnance placed upon the trunks of trees 
 and hoisted by main force over the steep passes, whilst the 
 gun-carriages, which were detached from their wheels, were 
 transported on mule-back across the bridges. 
 
 The attachment of the monks to their monastery is 
 extreme. I can still hear the affecting story of the Cure of 
 Orsieres, with whom I lodged the first night, who, with tears 
 in his eyes, described his anguish at quitting this sacred 
 abode, because his broken health made it impossible for 
 him to remain there any longer. It was with the deepest 
 respect that I entered this dwelling, the highest above the 
 level of the sea in Europe. 
 
 Eight centuries ago, Bernard de Menthon founded this 
 pious institution, where Christian charity has rescued so many 
 victims from certain death. The whole Order happened to 
 be assembled at the time of my visit. I concluded some 
 rather important affairs to its advantage, one amongst others 
 being the purchase of a spring of water in Lombardy for 
 the Chartreuse of Pavia. The price, 1 50,000 francs, seemed 
 at first exorbitant. But on closer consideration with regard 
 to the rice-fields, I became convinced that it was a wise 
 step, and would increase the agricultural income by some 
 15,000 francs. 
 
 I also saw the monument of Desaix, hidden by an 
 altar, which the Chapter promised to have removed, so that 
 every one might have a view of the last dwelling-place of 
 our second Bayard, sans peur et sans riproche^ and might 
 remember the homage paid to his courage by the great man 
 who was indebted to him for his finest victory. 
 
 The next morning, all the Superiors of the Order 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 85 
 
 expressed their thanks to me ; they had, they said, nothing 
 to offer me but their prayers ; as, however, I had lost my 
 father a short while before, the entire Order would unite 
 to offer prayers for the repose of his soul ; this, they hoped, 
 would be received as an evidence of their common grati- 
 tude. I was as deeply moved by so delicate an attention 
 as I was by the service, which was celebrated the same 
 morning. The grand voice of the organ amid the silence 
 of the lofty mountains, the sepulchral gravity of the litur- 
 gical chants, rising from fifty breasts and intoning the Mass 
 for the Dead, the darkness of the chapel whose windows 
 were lashed by the snow, invested this ceremony with a 
 religious grandeur which will live for ever in my memory. 
 
 I brought away with me a herbarium from Martigny, 
 the gift or Prior Canon Muryth, a learned botanist. At 
 St. Maurice I admired certain reservoirs traversed by an 
 arm of the Rhone, and which were so limpid that the 
 evolutions of enormous trout, from fifteen to twenty pound 
 weight, could easily be seen at a depth of several feet. 
 All one has to do is to select and catch his trout. These 
 reservoirs form a part of the revenues of the monastery, 
 which owns great fisheries on the Rhone, and supplies 
 Geneva with the finest specimens exported from that city. 
 I also visited the Val d'lUiez and the Val des Trois 
 Torrents, the only part of the Catholic Valais where I found 
 the industry, comfort, and cleanliness which is to be met 
 with among the Protestants of the Canton de Vaud. I 
 pushed on to the famous rocks of Meillerie, of which 
 Rousseau sang.^ These have since been blown up in order 
 to make room for a splendid road in the form of a quay. 
 A singular reception awaited me in the valley : the rocks 
 
 ' It is near these rocks, replete with that sort of beauty which only 
 appeals to sensitive natures, that Jean Jacques laid the celebrated scene 
 which terminates the Fourth Part of the Aouvelle Heloise : " Insensibly, the 
 moon rose, the water became calmer, and Julia proposed that we should 
 leave. The measured sound of the oars had a dreamy effect on my mind. 
 Gradually the melancholy which afflicted my soul grew more intense ; 
 vainly I tried to silence a thousand agoiiising reflections which awoke in 
 my heart. I recalled a walk I had taken with her during our early loves. 
 ' Gone,' I said to myself, ' are those days of the past,' " &c. 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had been mined in more than two hundred places, and 
 when at a given signal they were all blown up, there 
 was such a terrific roar as they re-echoed from rock to rock 
 for more than a league, that the salvo of artillery which 
 saluted the Emperor on the dyke at Cherbourg was nothing 
 to it. 
 
 I had an important reason for inspecting these works, 
 undertaken by an Italian, M. Varci (who had already con- 
 tracted for the works at Crevola and Isella), because shortly 
 before I left Paris, M. M0I6, Director-General of the De- 
 partment of Bridges and Highways, had strongly impressed 
 upon me the necessity of keeping an eye on the contractors. 
 The contracts were always made with the same men, and 
 they never offered discounts exceeding 3 or 4 per cent. In 
 fact, shortly after my arrival, I was called upon to enter 
 into a contract for 150,000 francs, and that at once. I 
 expressed my amazement that no means were adopted to 
 secure competition. The chief engineer replied that it was 
 very difficult to induce persons who were unacquainted with 
 the country to send in any tenders, and that M. Moska 
 had had the monopoly of the contracts for a long time. I 
 refused my signature, and adjourned the affair for a month, 
 during which I posted advertisements at Lyons, Milan, 
 and Turin ; and also wrote to my colleagues in other 
 Departments, asking them to persuade some of the 
 large contractors to come and examine the estimates on 
 the spot. 
 
 M. Varci offered 1 6 per cent., and secured the contract, 
 to the great sorrow of the ordinary contractor, the engineer, 
 and the cashier, who no doubt had all been in partnership 
 for many years past. Having no tangible proofs, I had to 
 content myself with exercising a rigorous surveillance for 
 the future. At the end of two months, Varci asked for an 
 instalment of fifty thousand francs — a very reasonable re- 
 quest, for he had four thousand Piedmontese labourers to 
 pay. This was refused. He came to me, almost beside 
 himself. I then sent word to the chief engineer to ac- 
 company me on an inspection of the works the next day ; 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 87 
 
 after we had finished our inspection, he himself brought 
 me a voucher for an advance of 200,000 francs. " I am 
 willing to believe," I said, " that the ill-will of your sub- 
 ordinates is responsible for this trouble. But should such 
 a mistake ever occur again, I shall immediately report it to 
 the Ministry." 
 
 I acted in the same fashion toward the five hundred 
 Custom-house officers who were stationed along the line of 
 the Simplon. I had the good luck to find at the head of 
 the service a man of integrity and courage in the person of 
 M. Adine, who was a wonderful help to me, both by 
 reducing them to military discipline and by abolishing the 
 system oi agents provocateurs^ who set regular traps for the 
 poor people, who thus became the unhappy victims of design- 
 ing rogues. Many misdeeds had occurred in connection 
 with salt and tobacco. I had the proofs of one of these 
 where the cabin of a poverty-stricken family had been seized 
 and actually sold because two pounds of tobacco were found 
 in it 1 I announced loudly and firmly that I would 
 allow no such abuses, and my humane line of action 
 was rewarded. For when it became necessary to organise 
 a guard of honour, recruits from the best families in the 
 country volunteered to make up the requisite contingent. 
 I subscribed, and also persuaded others to subscribe, to- 
 wards the expenses of the necessary equipments, and was 
 fortunate in obtaining officers' commissions for two of the 
 most distinguished and promising young men. Thus 
 the introduction of a measure which led to disastrous 
 results in other departments caused no disturbance in 
 mine.^ 
 
 One of the questions that particularly engaged my 
 attention was cretinism, upon which — its causes, effects, and 
 the means of curing it — I had to furnish a report. I 
 collected all the documents I could. I requested reports 
 
 • In 1814, Napoleon commanded four regiments oi gardes dkonneurto 
 be recruited among the bourgeoisie and equipped at their expense. They 
 were in reality hostages for the loyalty of the upper classes of the nation, 
 which was growing more dubious every day. 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from the best doctors in Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, and 
 Turin. I procured all the local information within my 
 reach, and after carefuUy examining the statistics of the 
 Valais, which, among its population of 75,000, counted 
 4000 cretins, I arrived at the conclusion that the water, so 
 often accused of causing this hideous affliction, had abso- 
 lutely nothing to do with it. In fact, on the plateaus and 
 in the higher valleys, where the same water (that of the 
 glaciers) was drunk, there had never been a case of 
 cretinism ; and, if the children of the plains, when attacked 
 by the first germs of the disease, were transported to the 
 mountains, all its symptoms quickly disappeared. 
 
 It was proved to nie that the extreme heat of the valleys, 
 combined with the exhalations from the swamps, the lives 
 led by the people in badly-aired, fetid houses, surrounded 
 by dunghills, the food consisting almost entirely of salt 
 meat, the scarcity of vegetables, and the abuse of a specially 
 heady wine were the real sources of the scourge. The 
 opening of the Simplon Road, the consequent influx of 
 foreigners, the introduction of the potato, enforced attention 
 to cleanliness in the dwellings, and proper drainage of the 
 land were the measures I suggested for the gradual eradica- 
 tion of cretinism. I know that my report was highly ap- 
 preciated at Paris, and quoted as the best that had hitherto 
 appeared on the subject.^ 
 
 I paid particular attention to the works executed in the 
 Department, and laid the first stone of the Hospice du 
 Simplon, a building large enough to receive five hundred 
 persons. I was also specially interested in the admirable 
 road that crosses the summits of the Alps from Brigue to 
 Domo d'Ossola. A horseman can ride the whole length in 
 eight hours, and it really resembles an avenue through a 
 garden, with its two magnificent bridges, the one on the 
 Ganter, the other at Crevola — the first opening, and the 
 second closing this triumph of art over nature. I had a 
 
 1 Long after, in i860, BarOn Larrey wrote to Comtede Rambuteau for a 
 copy of this memoir, of which he had heard, and for which he had vainly 
 sought in the archives of the Empire. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 89 
 
 covered gallery constructed at the Schalbet, one of the most 
 dangerous points of the route on account of the avalanches. 
 At Crevola I saw the marble quarries from which the 
 columns destined for the Arc de Triomphe at Milan were 
 being extracted. 
 
 These gigantic monoliths measured thirty-four feet in 
 length and four in diameter. Enormous holes, close to 
 one another, were made in the rock in perpendicular lines, 
 then plugged with dry wood, which was afterwards soaked 
 with water ; the expanding of the wood was sufficient to 
 separate the columns from the block. Their weight was 
 such that the bridge of Crevola had to be shored up before 
 they could be transported across it ; this bridge was five 
 hundred feet high, built entirely of wood, and for military 
 purposes, like the others. The great gallery of Gondo, 
 hollowed in the rock, with vast openings on the torrent of 
 the Saltine, which alone fills this deep gorge, is also a 
 marvellous work, dedicated to fame by this commemorative 
 inscription : "Via Napoleoney 1807-18 12." 
 
 I visited Baveno, Belgirate, Arona, and the Borromean 
 Isles, the latter seeming to me a dream of Ariosto realised. 
 At risola Matri I admired a magnificent laurel, as big as 
 an oak, upon the bark of which Napoleon had himself cut 
 the name of " Bonaparte" and which was destined to survive 
 the fortunes of the great conqueror. I should have taken 
 my wife with me to Milan, but I denied myself that 
 pleasure, lest they should say in Paris that I was seeking 
 my own amusement instead of devoting myself entirely to 
 my duties. So I resumed my peregrinations through the 
 Valais, not omitting to visit a single village, nor leaving the 
 most secluded valley unexplored. 
 
 I heard Mass every morning before starting. The 
 authorities and the inhabitants hurried from all quarters to 
 receive mle ; they barred the way with tables at which I had 
 to sit down, seven or eight times a day, and drink the " wine 
 of honour," offered me on a salver containing a huge tankard 
 surrounded by little glasses. Politeness required that I 
 should clink glasses with everybody and swallow the con- 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tents of mine at one gulp, saying first : " Wollen sie mit mir 
 trinken ? " They are the only German words I have ever 
 succeeded in retaining, and seemed to give great pleasure to 
 my hosts ; I have certainly good reason to remember them. 
 There is no more hospitable country in the world. Some- 
 times their hospitality was rather overwhelming, as, for 
 instance, on one occasion when I arrived in a blinding rain- 
 storm at Schinner's* house in Ernen, near the sources of 
 the Rhone. At three in the morning I had to appear at a 
 banquet offered to all the mayors and notabilities of the 
 valley, who, you may be sure, showed heartier appreciation 
 of the viands than I did — who had fifty-one dishes placed 
 before me ! 
 
 During one of my excursions an old man was presented 
 to me as being the best marksman in the district, and it was 
 told me boastfully that, at the skirmish in the wood of 
 Finges with General Turreau,he had brought down seventeen 
 French officers, just as if they had been so many chamois, 
 aiming at them from the top of a rock. I visited the 
 sources of the Rhone above Oberwald ; and have a vivid 
 recollection of a little plain I saw entirely covered with 
 splendid trees, which compared well with the larches I had 
 noticed in the valley of Binn. Those in the latter had a 
 girth of fifteen feet, and were a hundred and twenty feet 
 high ; but the wild and beautiful gorges in which they grew 
 were inaccessible, and it was impossible to transplant them 
 without injuring them. The impression made on me by 
 the majestic forests and the study of the soil — which, as I 
 discovered after, resembled that of our mountains in the 
 CharoUais — developed my taste for plantations, to the 
 making of which I have devoted myself for the last thirty 
 years. May they continue to grow and provide shade for 
 me in my declining years ! 
 
 At Saint-Nicolas, in the valley of Viege, the wife of the 
 Mayor was confined during my stay, and I was requested to 
 
 • He belonged to the family of the famous cardinal, Cardinal Schinner, 
 better known as the Cardinal of Sion, who was the very soul of all the Swiss 
 intrigues against France under Francis I. during the Italian wars. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 91 
 
 stand godfather to the child. I was somewhat embarrassed 
 as to the nature of the present I should oiFer on the 
 occasion, but the Sub-prefect assured me that a few 
 napoleons would not come amiss. Nor did they, but I 
 have never heard of my godson from that day to this. 
 These frequent excursions, my endeavour to promote justice 
 and the welfare of the people in every way, the numerous 
 receptions we held, where we never stinted the good cheer 
 of Paris or the generous wines of France, the presents made 
 on appropriate occasions, particularly the silver prize-cups 
 offered at the shooting matches during the local festivals, 
 and, above all, the gracious kindliness of Mme. de Ram- 
 buteau, who took care to be constantly seen in the Valaisan 
 costume, and finally, our visits to the mayors, all alike won 
 us universal good-will. " Why can't we have you as our 
 Grand Bailiff.?" these worthy fellows would often ask 
 me. I was very much flattered by this general good feeling 
 towards me, which helped them to forget for a time their 
 memories and their regrets. 
 
 The time was passing in this pleasant fashion when 
 tidings of the death of my father-in-law reached me, and 
 greatly distressed me. He had been attacked at Torgau 
 by typhus, which carried off seventeen thousand out of the 
 twenty-two thousand soldiers he commanded. He had 
 devoted every moment, night and day, to attending to the 
 needs of his men, visiting in the hospitals, and going from 
 the infirmaries to the ambulances, when an unfortunate fall 
 from his horse obliged him to take to his bed. Then in his 
 turn he succumbed to the disease from which he never 
 recovered. I have already mentioned the forebodings with 
 which he accepted the Embassy to Vienna. He was not 
 deceived as to the success of his mission. His intimacy 
 with the high Viennese aristocracy soon made him aware of 
 the plots brewing against us ; but for all that, he did not 
 strive the less valiantly in the Emperor's interests. 1 heard 
 Count Roger Damas (who was in Vienna at the same time, 
 as an agent of the Bourbon Princes) declare, towards the end 
 of 1 8 14, that : " M. de Narbonne was the ablest and most 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 inflexible of our adversaries." For that matter, Napoleon 
 has done him justice at St. Helena.^ 
 
 When the negotiations were opened at Prague, he was 
 sent there with Caulaincourt, but the Emperor of Austria 
 refused all communications with these plenipotentiaries ; he 
 made strong representations to M. de Metternich : " His 
 Majesty refuses to receive the French Ministers, but M. de 
 Narbonne will be always welcome," was the answer. And, 
 in fact, united with Caulaincourt in the same noble and 
 loyal devotion which had but one single aim — to obtain at all 
 costs the honourable peace so greatly needed by them — they 
 succeeded, by their common efforts, in gaining the Rhine 
 and Italy, whilst M. de Narbonne himself was charged to 
 carry this ultimatum to Napoleon. On meeting the 
 Emperor at Dresden, he used all his endeavours to per- 
 suade him to accept the conditions. 
 
 " Sire," he said, " France has given you her last man 
 and her last crown. You have thirty thousand men on 
 horseback, but they do not form a body of real cavalry ; 
 your regiments are filled with conscripts, brave, but not 
 inured to war, who may win a battle, but cannot stand a 
 reverse or a retreat. Your two hundred thousand best 
 soldiers are prisoners, or scattered in distant fortresses. 
 The first check we experience will mean ruin for France 
 and for you, for now we have the whole of Europe against 
 us. A peace, though it were only a truce, would save 
 us. Conclude one, even if only for two years. During 
 that time you can consolidate all the elements of your 
 power ; we shall be able to achieve disunion among our 
 
 ' In the Memorial, t. iii. page 75, we read : 
 
 " Before M. de Narbonne's embassy to Vienna we had been the dupes of 
 Austria ; in less than a fortnight he had got to the bottom of everything, 
 and M. de Metternich was very much embarrassed by this nomination. 
 Nevertheless, see what destiny can do ! His very success was, perhaps, 
 the cause of my ruin ; his talents were, at least, as injurious to me as they 
 were useful. Austria, seeing that she was unmasked, threw off the veil and 
 hurried on her preparations. If we had shown less perspicacity, she might 
 have acted with more reserve, and more slowly ; she might have continued 
 to exhibit the indecision that was natural to her, and, during that time, other 
 chances might have risen." 
 
 The Emperor was the prey of illusion to the very end. 
 
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COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 93 
 
 enemies, and you will try your fortune anew. There is at 
 present no other way open to you to procure the happiness, 
 nay, the safety of France. Peace is necessary, and it is my 
 devotion, my loyalty to your person, that makes me ask it 
 of your Majesty on my knees." 
 
 The Emperor, alas I refused to listen. He sent M. de 
 Narbonne to Turgau, either to punish him for his hopeless- 
 ness or to keep him within reach if events should render 
 negotiations necessary. Before leaving, he wrote me a 
 farewell note which ended with these words : " I thank you 
 for having been a good son, and to acquit myself of my 
 debt to you, I bequeath to you my mother." I was faith- 
 ful to the trust so long as she lived ; I was the devoted son 
 of that venerable mother of the best of men. The Emperor 
 himself was not insensible to this loss. He granted the 
 widow a pension of 6000 francs, the maximum that could 
 be bestowed on the wife of a lieutenant-general, and he sent 
 his aide-de-camp, M. de Flahaut, to offer a pension of 
 24,000 francs to the mother, the first year payable in 
 advance. Later, during the Hundred Days, he commis- 
 sioned the Grand Marshal, Bertrand, to inquire if she had 
 received her pension. She was obliged to answer in the 
 negative, and he had it paid immediately. As for myself, I 
 have said enough in the course of this narrative of all the 
 claims which M. de Narbonne had on my gratitude to 
 make the reader understand the depth of my sorrow far 
 better than any words of mine. 
 
 Alas I to domestic misfortunes were added those of 
 France, which surpassed our gloomiest forebodings. After 
 the battle of Leipzig, the King of Naples, on his way back 
 to his States, crossed the Simplon and slept at Sion, where, 
 on the pretext of fatigue, he refused to see me. I had a 
 sad presentiment of his approaching defection, for the office 
 I had held near the Emperor's person and my position now 
 as Prefect of a frontier Department were quite enough to 
 explain to me the real reason of this refusal. 
 
 Some days later, I was informed that the remains of 
 the army of Italy were also crossing the Simplon. They 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 numbered 18,000, and had to make seven halts on my 
 territory. Good heavens ! what a condition they were in. 
 When I saw them again I could hardly realise that the 
 were the splendid regiments which, on setting out, bid fair 
 to rival the Imperial Guard ! Now, every single detachment 
 was made up of soldiers each bearing different arms and 
 taken from different corps, there was no discipline, and even 
 the officers were as demoralised as the men. A successful 
 effort was made, though with great difficulty, to organise 
 a service of supplies for each passage ; then came a snow- 
 fall of from ten to twelve feet, and, after twenty-four hours, 
 all communication was cut off. 
 
 Just as the head of the column had reached the Simplon 
 village, an avalanche descended, levelling several houses and 
 killing seventeen horses and five postillions ; the barrack 
 of the Gendarmerie, built against an ancient tower, was 
 carried away and the gendarmes were buried under the 
 snow ; two children were found crouching under a table, 
 and providentially saved ; many soldiers disappeared in the 
 whirlwind of snow, others were fortunate enough to find 
 shelter in the houses of the road-menders, where they were 
 closely packed together, for there were nearly 17,000 of 
 them on the mountain road. One of the most interesting 
 of the victims was a young colonel of the Italian Guard. 
 His wife and mother had come as far as Domo d'Ossola to 
 meet him. He had stopped at the Schalbet station, and 
 scarcely a half quarter of a league separated him from the 
 Hospice. Without concealing from him the risk he must 
 run on account of the constantly recurring avalanches, he 
 was assured on leaving the Hospice that he would find the 
 road passable to Issel and Domo. He determined to 
 attempt the passage with a dozen of his pluckiest men, but 
 a terrible snow-drift hurled them into an abyss, where their 
 bodies were afterwards found. 
 
 I received all these sad tidings at the same moment. It 
 was necessary, therefore, to provide for the support of 
 15,000 soldiers drawn up in the valley, and to forward 
 provisions to those who had found shelter on the mountain, 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 95 
 
 as well as to open up a passage for the army through the 
 snow. I had 200 sappers and from sixty to eighty mules, 
 but the public cofFers were empty and the stores likewise. 
 I made the journey several times between Brigue and 
 St. Maurice in order to obtain from the local authorities, 
 and especially from the inhabitants, corn, wine, meat, and 
 fodder. I explained to them their obligations to help us, 
 by pointing out to them that what they refused to supply 
 voluntarily could be taken from them by force. They all 
 responded to my appeal — not only those of the great valley, 
 but also those who dwelt in the more remote defiles. As 
 in this country every one lays in a supply of provisions for 
 six or eight months, and sometimes for a year, I had no 
 trouble in providing for the most pressing needs. 
 
 I had more trouble in maintaining order and discipline, 
 in spite of the presence of so many officers, because of the 
 mixture of troops from different regiments, and constantly 
 I had to calm down quite serious quarrels. But my greatest 
 trouble was in dealing with the sick. In fact, 1200 men 
 had typhus, and I had no establishment ready to receive 
 them. A certain number were cared for in the Abbey of 
 St. Maurice, and also in Sion ; but the great majority 
 were left at Brigue, where I concentrated all my efforts, 
 transforming the immense convent of the Jesuits into a vast 
 hospital. At first the patients had to sleep on straw, but 
 afterward my good Valaisans brought me mattresses and 
 feather-beds from all parts. My Custom-house officers 
 acted as nurses, with a devotion which cost the lives of 
 several of them, as well as of four army doctors. 
 
 On the other hand, with the half of the engineers I was 
 enabled to re-open communications ; they had become so 
 difficult that at first my messages to the neighbouring 
 villages, either giving orders or asking or offering help, 
 cost fifty, and even sixty, francs. Only imagine the con- 
 dition of those troops in the mountains, packed into houses 
 intended to accommodate barely twelve or fifteen persons 
 and occupied now by two or three hundred, with 15 feet 
 of snow all around ! For a whole week I could not spare 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the time to go to bed ; I slept in a carriage or on a sofa, 
 ready to start at any moment to the spot where I was 
 needed. At last, the road was so far repaired that the 
 army could descend into Italy, after having rehearsed the 
 terrible experiences of the Russian campaign at the very 
 doors of their native land. 
 
 The news from France became more and more deplor- 
 able ; the retreat of our troops from the Rhine, the coalition 
 of all the powers of Germany, who from recent allies were 
 now transformed into foes, made the personnel of the 
 annexed Departments feel hopeless. Already the Hanseatic 
 cities, Westphalia, and Holland had severed the ties that 
 united them to France ; Switzerland was, to a great extent, 
 devoted to the Coalition, and there could be no doubt as to 
 the reception the ancient Cantons, under the guidance of 
 the old families, who were all hostile to France, would give 
 to the allied armies. 
 
 From the end of September I had been advising the 
 Ministers, and even the Emperor, of the plots and intrigues 
 devised against us. Berne and Friburg swarmed with 
 English agents, who not only did their utmost to bring 
 about a separation, but fomented insurrections in Piedmont 
 and Lombardy. I had the good luck to be able to warn 
 my colleague, Alexandre de Lameth, Prefect of Turin, of 
 these proceedings, and so helped to foil them. As to the 
 Valais, I was pretty well satisfied with matters as they stood. 
 Of course, I could not conceal from myself that many 
 amongst them cherished their own plans and hopes ; but the 
 people trusted me — nay, more than that, they gave me plain 
 proofs of their gratitude ; they had followed my advice to 
 wait, and not forestall events ; and, to the last hours of my 
 administration, I had precious evidence of their sympathy. 
 
 But it was clear that the invasion of Switzerland was 
 imminent, and I had to think of retreating. Deputies 
 came to me from the two highest districts in the Upper 
 Valais, and invited me to stay amongst them : " You have 
 been," they said, "a father to us ; we will not suffer a hair 
 of your head to be touched." A still more direct step 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 97 
 
 was taken with regard to me by the President of the Little 
 Council of the Canton of Vaud. I had had a good deal 
 of communication with this Canton ;, its independence had 
 been proclaimed by France, and it was devoted to the 
 Empire. There was nothing the inhabitants dreaded so 
 much as to fall anew under the yoke of Berne, and with 
 good reason, as its seizure by the Bernese oligarchy had 
 only been prevented by the intervention of the Emperor 
 Alexander, at the solicitation of General Laharpe, his ex-tutor. 
 
 Now, at the moment which was so fatal to our arms, 
 the President asked me for an interview at St. Maurice. 
 There he told me that the Canton de Vaud was disposed 
 to take up arms, and that it could put twelve or fifteen 
 thousand men with fire-arms in the field, but that, in that 
 case, it must receive immediate support, and that if a divi- 
 sion were sent from Lyons or Marseilles, he would be 
 responsible for everything ; and I might rest assured they 
 wovdd offer a stout resistance. 
 
 I could not help expressing my surprise that he should 
 address himself to me rather than to the Prefect of Geneva. 
 He answered : " My colleagues and I know that you are 
 incapable of deceiving us for your own ends, and that you 
 will frankly tell us the truth." He was right. I did not 
 hesitate to tell him the true condition of things. I said 
 we were absolutely unprepared ; after repeated and urgent 
 demands, they had sent me eight cannon and two howitzers 
 to protect the Simplon, but not a single artilleryman, not a 
 single soldier ; all our forces consisted of three hundred 
 conscripts, a few gendarmes, and five hundred Custom-house 
 oflicers. The Army of Italy, then operating on the Adige, 
 was far away from us ; Turin, Lyons, and Grenoble were 
 denuded of troops. I was therefore forced to renounce 
 the hope of seeing a portion of Switzerland take up the 
 defence of its neutrality ; and, moreover, I had neither 
 instructions nor orders on this subject. 
 
 The Allies were approaching ; the Minister of France 
 at Berne and my colleague at Geneva kept me informed of 
 the progress of the invasion ; already BuUe, Ch^tel-Saint- 
 
 G 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Denis, and Vevey were occupied. The proclamation of 
 Prince de Schwarzenberg, enjoining all administrative officials 
 to keep their posts, made my duty quite clear to me, I 
 could not obey the enemy ; I must therefore leave. My 
 plan was to march the Custom-house officers and gendarmes 
 of Brigue along the Simplon, and to withdraw the guns by 
 the same route. Monsieur H6nin de Cuvilliers protested 
 against this step. He had never asked for the cannon to be 
 sent to Sion, he maintained. Consequently, if the enemy 
 should seize them in that town, the responsibility for the 
 loss could not devolve on him, as it certainly would if he 
 allowed the guns to be removed on his own authority 
 without having a sufficient force to protect them ; and, 
 finally, in accordance with the terms of the military regula- 
 tions, he should spike the guns and retire. I had no power 
 to oppose this decision. 
 
 I had at first resolved that we should start for Geneva 
 on the 24th of December, by way of St. Maurice ; but 
 being assured that our little band would need at least three 
 days to make the journey, during which it would be 
 exposed to great danger, after consulting with the chief 
 officials, I proposed to the General that he should head the 
 column and effect a retreat by way of Chamonix. It would 
 be more fatiguing, but safer. He replied that his official 
 duties ceased at the boundary of the Department, that a 
 major ought to suffice for the command of half a battalion, 
 and that it was not his business to take charge of Custom- 
 house officers, gendarmes, and civilians. This refusal en- 
 tailed great obligations upon me. I could not remain deaf 
 to the urgent solicitations of eight hundred Frenchmen 
 thus left to themselves, and so, in the very depth of winter, 
 without money, without resources, we had to cross fifty 
 leagues of mountains, travelling through the snow a;nd over 
 impracticable roads, always with the additional risk of 
 encountering insurgents or enemies on the way. I became 
 the guide and leader of the party, being convinced that by 
 sharing all its toils and sufferings, I should, at any ratCj 
 insure its confidence. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 99 
 
 From Martigny, where I had assembled my people, I 
 sent letters to the mayors and cur^s of Vallorsine, Le Tour, 
 Argentiferes, and Chamonix, asking for their aid when we 
 should reach these towns. We set out at noon on the 
 25th of December, a beautiful sunny day. I took care to 
 have double rations of bread and wine distributed, so as to 
 keep up their spirits ; indeed, I made over the contents of 
 my cellar so entirely to them, that on the march I was 
 obliged to beg, now and then, for a few mouthfuls of sherry 
 for myself. 
 
 Two women insisted on sharing our dangers — one, the 
 wife of a Custom-house official, whose courage was greater 
 than her strength, and whom we had to leave behind with 
 the cur6 of Vallorsine ; the other, the daughter of the Tax- 
 surveyor, who refused to abandon her old father. Clad 
 like a man, she followed us gayly, and, thanks to her twenty 
 years, her vigour, energy, and the care we took of her, she 
 arrived safe and sound at the end of our six days' march. 
 
 The snow was so thick that it measured fifteen feet at 
 the Trient and the Col de Balme. "We reached Trient at 
 midnight, preceded by guides with lighted torches, whom 
 we followed in Indian file, for no one could remain on 
 horseback. 1 had even been obliged to get off my mule. 
 The gendarmes brought up the rear, but by way of reliev- 
 ing the young soldiers, who were uninured to fatigue and 
 over-burdened with the weight of their arms, provisions, 
 and munitions, I organised a platoon of guides who were 
 to follow en queue and help the stragglers. It had been 
 agreed 'that they were not to receive their wages until 
 our arrival, and then only on condition that no one was 
 missing from the roU-caU. Our experiences in the fifteen 
 or twenty chMets along the Trient were rather unpleasant ; 
 the snow was packed up around us as high as the roofs, 
 which we feared every moment would be staved in by the 
 horses we had tethered on them. Outside, it was about 
 12 degrees below zero. 
 
 When we entered Vallorsine the next day, it was a 
 touching spectacle to see how all the priests of the neigh- 
 
loo MEMOIRS OF 
 
 bouring parishes had come with their parishioners to meet 
 us, and to do all in their power to clear a path for us. 
 Early in the morning they had assembled their people in 
 church, saying, " My children, we are gathered together to 
 pray to God, but no prayers can be so pleasing in His sight 
 as the help we give our neighbour. A large number of 
 people are on their way here, struggling through the snow ; 
 let us go and give them all the assistance in our power." 
 Ah ! where should we have been without their help in that 
 plain called the Val des Morts (Valley of the Dead), which 
 lies between Vallorsine and Argenti^res, and where we 
 found eighteen feet of snow ! In spite of the trench opened 
 by the inhabitants, we sank up to the waist, and marched 
 between dazzling walls six feet high. " If a breeze were 
 to spring up," said the parish priest of Le Tour, " not a 
 man of us would leave this spot alive." 
 
 I do not know what would have become of us but for 
 these good people ; yet they would accept nothing, not even 
 those who received us with the kindest hospitality in their 
 houses during the night ; the only thing I could do was to 
 leave tokens of our gratitude in the alms-boxes of the churches. 
 
 On the evening of the second day we reached Chamonix, 
 fairly worn out ; on the third we were at Salanches, and I 
 was in hopes of entering Geneva on the day following, when 
 I heard that the Austrian outposts were close to the city ; I 
 resolved, therefore, to retreat in the direction of Chamb^ry. 
 
 At Ugine, where I arrived with the vanguard, we found 
 an excited crowd, which was evidently hostile to us. I had 
 written to the Mayor, asking him to procure supplies for 
 us ; he had done nothing of the sort. At first he tried 
 prevarication ; but presently, taking hold of one of my 
 uniform buttons, he said : " The French are thieves, and 
 you won't get anything here except for ready money." 
 This insolence might have cost him very dear, for my 
 gendarmes had already flown at his throat, without heed- 
 ing the murmurs of the crowd, and I had the greatest 
 difficulty in calming them for the moment. But when the 
 rest of the column arrived, the news spread like wildfire 
 
 9S69 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU loi 
 
 through all the ranks, and I realised that, if we remained 
 in the town for any length of time, I could not answer for 
 its safety. So I had a fire lit in the square, a table set for 
 the Staff, bread and wine distributed, and, after an hour's 
 halt, we set out for Saint-Pierre-d'Aubigny, where we 
 arrived at ten in the evening, after a march of fourteen 
 leagues in seventeen hours. There, at any rate, we were 
 better treated, and my men had some rest. 
 
 The next day we were at Montm61ian ; there I found 
 a carriage, and started for Chamb6ry, where my colleague 
 took the necessary measures for assuring the future welfare 
 of my caravan. From what a responsibility was I thus 
 relieved ! I learned all the news from him, and that M. 
 Capelle, Prefect of Geneva, was at Fort I'Ecluse. As it 
 was very important that I should see him, I travelled on the 
 stage-coach to Frangy, accompanied by my calash, in which my 
 secretary-general had journeyed to Chamb^ry, where he was 
 awaiting me. No doubt we might have exchanged places. 
 But oh ! the intense satisfaction I felt in having successfully 
 piloted my little band into port, and myself set them the 
 example, which they had the right to expect from me. 
 
 Surely that was well worth a carriage ! 
 
 At Frangy I took a guide for Fort I'Ecluse, who was 
 to lead me by a cross-cut. But I found that I was likely 
 to encounter an Austrian outpost on the way, and so, hiring 
 a cart, I retreated with aU possible speed. 
 
 At Bourg, I mentioned to the Prefect the importance 
 of sending succours to Fort I'ficluse and Bellegarde. But 
 neither he, nor his colleague at M^con, nor, in fact, the 
 Prefects of the neighbouring Departments, had received 
 any orders whatever, and no one thought of anything but 
 of packing up his belongings and making ready for flight. 
 I confess I was thoroughly astonished and bewildered. I 
 had thought it natural enough that my Department, which 
 had been incorporated with France by sheer force, should 
 evince its ill-will, but it was totally inconceivable that, at 
 the news of the invasion, all France should not arise as one 
 man ! Nor was I greatly surprised at being left to myself 
 
I02 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 like some forgotten sentinel ; but that ten days should be 
 allowed to elapse after the passage of the Rhine by the 
 Allies without a single measure being adopted, without a 
 single decree issued, without a single order transmitted to 
 the Departments from the Ministry of the Interior — that 
 was simply inexplicable. I expected to see France bristling 
 with bayonets, and I found Prefects strapping their trunks ! 
 I suffered as much grief and shame as if I had been myself 
 responsible for such weakness. 
 
 I entered M^con on the ist of January 1814,^ seated 
 on two bundles of straw, without a servant, and in the 
 clothes I had worn during the preceding ten days. My 
 wife had just arrived from Paris two hours before me. 
 The Emperor had received her at the moment when he 
 learned of the invasion of Switzerland and the passage of 
 the Rhine. These sad tidings did not lessen the friendliness 
 of his reception. He repeated that he should never forget 
 the children of his friend M. de Narbonne ; that he was 
 perfectly satisfied with me, and should always be delighted to 
 find me employment in some other post, adding that all our 
 family might count upon his affectionate protection. Before 
 a week had elapsed, I was appointed Prefect of the Loire. 
 
 ' On the day of his arrival at Macon, Comte de Rambuteau sent to the 
 Minister of the Interior a detailed report of his splendid retreat, with 
 sundry incidents connected with his administration which he has not 
 mentioned in his narrative. He also gave his reasons for selecting the 
 route to the Col de Balme, the most difficult, but the only practicable one, 
 both on account of the piles of snow on the St. Bernard and the approach 
 of the enemy by the St. Gothard, thus preventing all attempts to march 
 along the Simplon Road. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PREFECT OF THE LOIRE 
 
 AFTER my nomination on the yth of January 1 8 1 4, I 
 hastened at once to my post, for the impending 
 invasion, far from discouraging me, inspired me 
 with new courage. To a certain extent the Emperor's 
 misfortunes, in some sort, enhanced his glory and increased 
 my zeal and devotion to his person. Full of confidence in 
 his genius, I was determined not to lose faith in his good 
 fortune, and, in any case, I was only the prouder of serving 
 him in his reverses. I now recalled a saying of Duroc, the 
 Grand Marshal, at the time when I was Chamberlain. One 
 day I expressed a wish for some position which would be 
 more useful and important than that which I held near the 
 person of the Emperor : " Have patience ; we shall have 
 plenty of fighting before long ; then there will be hot work 
 for everybody ! " I very soon realised this during my 
 retreat over the Simplon, and I was burning for revenge ! 
 So I started, full of ardour, for Lyons, of which Marshal 
 Augereau had just assumed the command. I met Cardinal 
 Fesch a few stages from the city : " Why, where are you 
 going, my dear fellow .'' " he cried, as soon as he saw me. 
 " Do you want to fall into the midst of the enemy } " 
 " Monseigneur," I answered, " when did your Eminence 
 leave Lyons .'' " " This very morning." " Then I am sure 
 to be safe for, at least, two days." He was not offended by 
 the tribute I paid to his prudence, and wished me good 
 luck. 
 
 , At Lyons I found the Marshal in despair. " I am sent," 
 he said, " to command the army at Lyons ; the Emperor 
 
 speaks of 20,000 men ; I have not four thousand ! And it 
 
 1031 
 
I04 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 is 1, an old veteran of the Army of Italy, who am selected to 
 surrender the second city of France to the enemy ! " He 
 had tears in his eyes. I reminded him of his past glorious 
 services ; I extolled the good-will of the people, I spoke of 
 the approach of several regiments belonging to the Army of 
 Spain ; and lastly, I insisted on the instinctive hesitation, the 
 uncertainty, and timidity that were sure to mark the first 
 attempts of the Coalition, which (as I firmly believed) would 
 be sure to inspire our troops with a certain degree of confi- 
 dence in themselves. In short, he consented to put on a bold 
 face, and, setting the National Guards in motion, succeeded 
 in intimidating General de Bubna, who was advancing on 
 the city. But in spite of all this, our outposts were so 
 severely repulsed by a reconnoitring party of cavalry, that 
 the Marshal said gloomily : " If our enemies were French- 
 men, Lyons would have been taken this very day ! " 
 
 We discussed all the plans to be adopted at Saint- 
 Etienne for the manufacture of arms, the dep6ts of the 
 different regiments that were to muster there, and the 
 recruiting and mobilisation of the National Guard. Then I 
 set out for Montbrison. 
 
 Whilst passing through Roanne, I had acquired some 
 useful information as to the situation of the country and 
 the administration of my predecessor, M. d'Holvofit. He 
 had been entirely unable to prevent abuses, particularly 
 those connected with the conscription ; and so, either from 
 idleness or from prudence, he had seen fit to hold himself 
 aloof from such matters, and thus escape all the responsi- 
 bility which he might otherwise incur. 
 
 Two days after my installation, I wrote to the Minister 
 of War,^ with whom I was personally acquainted : — 
 
 " Monseigneur, I am always ready to give my fortune 
 and my life for the service of the Emperor ; but there is 
 one sacrifice beyond my strength — it is that of honour. 
 When a person is obliged to make all sorts of demands 
 with a view to the safety of the Fatherland, when the 
 
 * General Clarke. His daughter had married M. de Fezensac, a cousin 
 of Mme. de Rambuteau. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 105 
 
 ordinary guarantees of the law are more or less inverted, 
 the executive power should be sheltered from all reproach, 
 and even from the slightest suspicion. Now, having been 
 placed only quite recently at the head of the Department of 
 the Loire, though I cannot furnish you with any proofs, yet 
 I am none the less convinced that the Council of Revision 
 sells its resolutions ; and I must warn you that it is there- 
 fore impossible for me to co-operate with it, and in conse- 
 quence I demand a fresh election of its members ; if I 
 cannot obtain this amount of justice, I shall be compelled 
 to send in my resignation." 
 
 A military courier brought me the reply of the 
 Minister, who charged the Marshal to replace the Com- 
 mander of the Forces in the Department, the Sub-intendant 
 and the captain of recruits. The Marshal sent me a blank 
 nomination form, in order that I might choose a general on 
 the spot from those who were on the retired list. I at once 
 sought the Marquis de Rostaing at his chateau ; he had 
 gone through the American campaigns with M. de La- 
 feyette. He had known M. de Narbonne, and even served 
 under him. I begged him to give his judicious and far- 
 seeing support to the first acts of my administration, which 
 would make an excellent effect on the whole country. He 
 consented, and I had good reason afterwards to congratulate 
 myself on his support. The members of the Council General 
 and the important people of the Department gave me a 
 helping hand, along with an absolute confidence that were 
 extremely useful to me. 
 
 I paid particular attention to the decisions of the 
 Council of Recruiting ; I noted them all with my own 
 hand every morning ; I nominated the physician who was 
 to have charge of the examinations during the day. I had 
 2500 conscripts, and, after they had been thoroughly 
 inspected, it was discovered that there were only 1900 
 men fit for service. I abided by the decision, believing 
 that it was my duty to furnish soldiers for the army and 
 not for the hospital. I informed the Minister of what I 
 had done, and he approved it. Before me, it was the 
 
io6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 custom for the authorities to enlist conscripts in excess of 
 the contingent demanded, fearing that otherwise they might 
 not appear sufficiently zealous. 
 
 I visited Saint-Etienne several times ; I took all the 
 necessary steps for accelerating the work of manufacturing 
 arms, and we were enabled to deliver eight hundred guns a 
 day, the sole resource of the Army of Lyons, and even of 
 the South. Consequently when, through fear of the 
 invaders, the Minister of War ordered the factory to be 
 dismantled, I supported Marshal Augereau in resisting this 
 extreme measure, which he wished to defer till the last 
 moment. 
 
 My exceptional situation was constantly imposing new 
 duties upon me. I wrote out my own orders, which I took 
 to Lyons and laid before Comte Chaptal, ex-Minister of 
 the Interior, recently sent thither by the Emperor as Com- 
 missary Extraordinary. The first tim6 I explained to him 
 my methods for supplying the needs of the army out of 
 the Department, he did not allow me to finish : " My 
 dear friend," he said, " you know as much about the matter 
 as 1 do, and, besides, you have the advantage of youth 
 and activity. I will sign blindly whatever you submit 
 to me." 
 
 He quite agreed with the arrangements I had made for 
 the work of manufacturing arms, and on the necessity of 
 devoting the money collected in the Department to that 
 purpose ; he considered I was justified in the circumstances 
 in requisitioning the products of nature, and authorised me 
 to dispose of all the departmental and communal funds, and 
 even those of the hospitals, the sums so used to be reim- 
 bursed hereafter. He did so because I had to meet very 
 large expenses ; the organisation of the mobile National 
 Guards, the works of defence undertaken by the Department 
 of Highways and Bridges, the obstruction of the march of 
 the enemy, and the concentration of arms and munitions. 
 
 On the other hand, Marshal Augereau demanded four 
 hundred horses for his artillery. When he began to enter 
 into a multitude of details as to how I should set about 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 107 
 
 procuring them, I said : " Monsieur le Marechal, you may 
 order your dinner, but you will kindly leave me to do the 
 cooking. I should be quite incapable of leading one of 
 your divisions, but I know how to manage my Department. 
 If I were to follow your suggestions, it would entail my 
 bringing some three or four thousand horses to the county- 
 town. Most of these would probably be so unfit for the 
 service, that I should have a great difficulty in picking out 
 the requisite number, and even then the chances are that 
 those I selected would prove unmanageable on the very first 
 day, would break their harness, and leave your gun-carriages 
 on the road. Only give me 240,000 francs, and I will 
 undertake that you shall be well served." He consented. 
 
 I summoned the principal horse-dealers of Lyons and 
 Saint-Etienne, and said to them : " I know that my col- 
 leagues offer you seven, eight, even nine hundred francs a 
 horse, and that you serve them badly, because you don't 
 know when you are to be paid. I will give you five 
 hundred fi-ancs, but the horses must be perfectly fit for 
 artillery, remount and carriages. They will, moreover, be 
 examined by military officers. The half of the price will 
 be lodged with a banker ; the other half will be paid you in 
 a fortnight after the sale. I know that a great number of 
 beasts are available, in consequence of relays and stage- 
 coaches having ceased to ply on account of the advance of 
 the enemy. You will therefore have no difficulty in accept- 
 ing my terms. I shall rely upon your doing so." 
 
 They accepted my proposal, and I pursued the same plan 
 with the saddlers who supplied the harness. 
 
 As I had nearly 3000 conscripts at the dep6t, I was able 
 to make a selection of those who understood the manage- 
 ment of horses, so that within three weeks I furnished no 
 less than one hundred teams to the Marshal, without which 
 he would never have effected his advance on Franche- 
 Comt6. At the same time, I organised provisional 
 squadrons and battalions among the refugee soldiers in the 
 seven dep6ts ; and this was the nucleus of the little Army 
 of the Loire of which Montholon took command when he 
 
io8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 arrived later as Commander of the Forces in the Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 I had also organised the service of requisitions, which 
 were fairly divided by a commission of the Council General 
 between the several communes according to their resources, 
 so that, for two months, I was able to distribute 14,000 
 rations daily, and send assistance in grain and coal to the 
 Army of Lyons. I was equally successful in paying for the 
 work on the fortifications thrown up before Roanne and 
 Rive-de-Gier, thanks to the devoted aid of M. de Tardy, 
 ex-officer of Engineers and member of the Council General, 
 and of M. PopuUe, Mayor of Roanne. 
 
 I was not less active In organising the National Guard, 
 which was largely recruited from soldiers on the retired 
 list. My next step was to obtain the matiriel part of the 
 defence, namely, fire-arms, ammunition, &c. I discovered 
 that my Department could boast of four pieces of ordnance, 
 which dated from the Revolution ; these, at my urgent 
 request, were supplemented, by my colleagues In the AUIer 
 and Puy-de-D6me, who after similar searches sent me 
 ten guns, but without carriages. I had some caissons con- 
 structed, monopolised all the ammunition of the Department 
 as well as a quantity of powder which was brought from 
 Lyons to Salnt-Etlenne, so that I had fifty charges for each 
 of my guns and 250,000 cartridges at my disposal as well ; 
 I requisitioned all the lead for sale to make balls. 
 
 As for fire-arms, as I was forbidden to touch those 
 manufactured solely for the army, I called the principal 
 gunsmiths together, and said to them : " In the Loire and In 
 the neighbouring Departments there are plenty of rifles 
 belonging to private individuals, besides all those that you 
 have In your shops. Now If you will put these Into good 
 repair, I will undertake to give you twenty-seven francs for 
 each, provided they have been Inspected and passed by one 
 of the artillery officers, who are official experts In the manu- 
 facture of arms." In a few days I had eight thousand, and 
 was thus enabled to equip two battalions of the mobile 
 National Guard as well as of the stationary National Guards, 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 109 
 
 whom I succeeded in mobilising and converting into 
 regulars. 
 
 Later on, instead of despatching their units to the 
 defence of Lyons, who would have been practically useless, 
 I mustered a contingent of two thousand in the barracks. 
 These were commanded by officers on the retired list (to 
 whom I granted an indemnity from active service in the 
 event of a campaign) as well as by non-commissioned officers 
 selected from the veterans who had been "called out." 
 My little band, who were well fed and well treated, behaved 
 excellently, and when the moment came for me to present 
 them to the Marshal about the beginning of March, I had 
 not a single desertion. He reviewed them at once, and was 
 so extremely delighted with them that he assured me after- 
 wards that he felt he was dealing with old and experienced 
 soldiers. Some days afterwards he sent me the Cross of the 
 Legion of Honour, an award which was confirmed by the 
 Government. 
 
 The boatmen of the Loire, who were also organised as a 
 National Guard, were very enthusiastic. They defeated 
 several detachments of the enemy that had returned into the 
 district, making a number of prisoners, whom they brought 
 to me ; and these little successes infused such confidence 
 into the brave people of the district that they vigorously 
 repulsed a sudden attack on Roanne and Charlieu, so that 
 the Department of the Loire could still hold its own, al- 
 though M4con in the Seine-et-Loire had been occupied 
 since the 1 5th of January. 
 
 This was the moment when General Montholon assumed 
 command. Finding four or five thousand bayonets at his 
 disposal, he made his arrangements to reinforce Augereau, 
 and thought fit to advance on Franche-Comt6. I have always 
 regretted that he did not prefer the right bank of the Saone, 
 which would not only have covered his march and safe- 
 guarded his flanks, but would also have affiarded free 
 communication with the Departments of the centre, thus 
 enabling him to form a junction with one of the corps of 
 the Grand Army under Lyons. Instead of this, he exposed 
 
no MEMOIRS OF 
 
 himself to be taken in the rear by the Austrian force which 
 was descending from Langres on Dijon, Chalon, and M^con, 
 and which soon obliged him. to fall back on Lyons, whose 
 defence was becoming more and more difficult on account of 
 the number of assailants. 
 
 Thereupon I visited the Marshal, in order to express to 
 him my anxiety as to the fate of Saint-Etienne in the event 
 of his being driven to evacuate Lyons, and the situation in 
 which I should find myself, in spite of the measures taken 
 to protect Rive-de-Gier and to retard the march of the 
 enemy. He promised to move a division on my line of 
 defence, and gave orders to that effect to M. Ducasse, his 
 principal staff-officer, in my presence. But, as in every 
 serious affair, it is better to take three precautions than one, 
 I left at Lyons two reliable agents, who were to keep me 
 informed of all the operations. 
 
 I believed that Augereau could still hold out for ten 
 days or so. Great, therefore, was my surprise when one of 
 my agents arrived at nightfall, not twenty-four hours later ! 
 He was one of my horse-dealers, who, enheartened by the 
 hope of a reward, had screwed up the necessary courage 
 and shrewdness to make his way through the enemy's out- 
 posts. He reported the retreat of the Marshal, whose 
 whole army he had seen defile on the bridge of La Guilloti^re 
 en route for Isfere, and not a single regiment, not a single 
 battalion taking the road to Saint-Chamond. 
 
 In plain words, I was utterly unprotected. But I imme- 
 diately issued orders for the handful of troops quartered at 
 Montbrison and on the banks of the Loire to march with 
 all speed on Saint-Chamond. I sent information of what 
 had occurred to Montholon at Roanne, I mobilised all the 
 National Guards, and galloped in the dead of night, through 
 pouring rain and along abominable roads, to Saint-Etienne. 
 As soon as I arrived, I ordered four cannon to be despatched 
 to Rive-de-Gier, with the men of two d6p6ts and all the 
 National Guard that could be mobilised ; then I directed 
 the tocsin to be rung uninterruptedly in thirty or forty 
 communes : so that in less than twenty-four hours the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU m 
 
 lines which covered Rive-de-Gier were put in a state of 
 defence. This rapid concentration disconcerted the enemy, 
 already embarrassed by its occupation of Lyons and by the 
 necessity of watching Augereau's army, which had fallen 
 back on Vienne. It limited its operations to making a few 
 reconnaissances, but did not venture to push forward to 
 Rive-de-Gier. 
 
 This state of aiFairs lasted for ten days, and it is 
 needless to say that I made the most of each day. All 
 the important fire-arms factories were dismantled, their 
 machinery taken to pieces, and the transportable mathiel 
 carried to the mountains. Thus I saved 120,000 guns, 
 so that the task of equipping the troops could be resumed 
 after the evacuation ; and, as reconnoitring parties were 
 now advancing as far as Montbrison, I made Saint-Bonnet- 
 le-Ch^teau the chief town of the Department, where all 
 the heads of the Administration rallied round me. 
 
 My wife and children, who had joined me shortly 
 before, were in safety there ; they had spent a part of the 
 winter in Rambuteau, which was in the hands of the enemy, 
 and had been even threatened with being kept as hostages, 
 with a view to preventing us from offering any further 
 resistance. However, the movement of Augereau on 
 Franche-Comte, which caused the Allies to fall back, had 
 released them, but only for a time, and now I had to seek 
 another refuge for them. Mme. de Montholon and her 
 children were with them. They were all placed under a 
 good escort, along with the money-chest of the Department, 
 and started out for their new residence. At nightfall the 
 leader of the detachment wished to spend the night at Saint- 
 Rambert in the plain. My wife opposed this vigorously, 
 urging their danger, reiterating my imperative orders, and 
 demonstrating the responsibility that would be incurred if 
 the money of the Department fell into the hands of the 
 enemy. In consequence of her remonstrances the party 
 pushed on for Saint-Bonnet, and it was lucky it did, for 
 that night Saint-Rambert was occupied by the enemy. 
 
 After the capture of Saint-Etienne I went to Roanne, 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hoping to prolong its resistance by means of a diversion 
 agreed upon between Montholon and me. Knowing exactly 
 the strength of the enemy, and feeling sure that we could 
 rely on the temper of the country, we were convinced that, 
 if two columns started from Roanne and Tartare, they would 
 drive the Allies back to the suburbs of Lyons, whilst a third 
 column, commanded by the Colonel of the 6oth Regiment 
 of the Line, would operate on Charlieu and march rapidly 
 to M^con, where the grand park of the artillery of the 
 Austrian army was but feebly guarded. The people of the 
 Charollais and Beaujolais would have followed us en masse, 
 and the success of our surprise would in two days have dis- 
 organised a part of the troops opposed to Marshal Augereau, 
 who had the better chance of resuming the offensive, and, per- 
 haps, re-entering Lyons, because he had just been reinforced 
 by detachments of veterans from the army of Marshal Suchet. 
 
 Our movement was already in operation, and Montholon 
 was within three leagues of Lyons, when he was informed 
 that Augereau had retired behind the Isfere and burned the 
 bridge, and that in two or three days General Hardeck, 
 with 22,000 men, would be before Roanne. 
 
 In this case resistance was no longer possible. Never- 
 theless, we had not allowed ourselves to be disheartened by 
 the news of the capture of Paris, and I had made every 
 effort to respond worthily to the first proclamation of Marie 
 Louise ; but was I justified in uselessly sacrificing a town 
 which, for the last three months, had given the noblest 
 example of patriotism ? I therefore charged the Mayor 
 and one of the colonels to treat with General Hardeck. 
 He knew our situation, and had admired the courage of 
 our little army, and now he granted us the most honour- 
 able conditions. All the troops had permission to retire to 
 Auvergne with arms and baggage ; the inhabitants were to 
 suffer no annoyances of any kind by way of retaliation for 
 the defence they had made and the skirmishes in which 
 they had taken part ; neither would any war-tax be levied 
 on the town and its environs. The capitulation was signed 
 on the loth of April. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 113 
 
 I joined my wife at Ambert, where I learned the abdi- 
 cation of the Emperor. I then proceeded to Clermont 
 to request a passport from General Hardeck. He pro- 
 posed that I should return to Montbrlson, where the 
 Prince of Hesse would accompany me and re-establish my 
 authority ; but I had no difficulty in making him under- 
 stand that I must go to Paris and receive instructions from 
 the Government. 1 accordingly set out immediately with 
 my wife. 
 
 I shall never forget the painful spectacle presented by 
 that long route, lined at intervals with foreign troops and 
 with the enemy's encampments, through which we were 
 perpetually passing. Nor can any words describe the gloom 
 and silence of Fontainebleau, nor the pitiful condition of 
 the dibris of the Guard, and the intense melancholy which 
 pervaded the surroundings of the Chateau. One seemed 
 to feel oneself literally in the actual presence of death. 
 
 I was most anxious to receive the Emperor's last orders. 
 "Farewell," he said ; "you have served me faithfully, but 
 you belong to your country. Go to Paris, and do your 
 duty, but do not forget me." 
 
 As soon as I arrived in the city, I called on MM. de 
 Jaucourt, d'Alberg, and Montesquiou, members of the 
 Provisional Government. I told them where I came from, 
 what I had done, and asked what they wished me to do. 
 " Save France," was the answer ; " and, to start with, tell 
 us what is happening in the provinces through which you 
 have just passed, for we are really ignorant of everything 
 outside Charenton." 
 
 I very soon put them au courant of everything. We 
 then discussed the armistice, and they told me that the 
 course of the Loire would be taken as a line of demarcation 
 between our troops and the foreign armies. This, I repre- 
 sented, would not only relinquish Saint-Etienne to the 
 enemy, but such a boundary would prove delusory, because 
 during spring and summer the river is fordable at almost 
 every part. I further represented the impossibility of 
 stationing the army corps there which they wished to con- 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 centrate in that direction ; I insisted that the line of the 
 mountains resting on the Rhone, AUier, and Loire would 
 be far more suitable, and, finally, my suggestions were so 
 far appreciated that my presence was commanded on the 
 evening of the 22nd of April, in the Cabinet of the Comte 
 d'Artois, Lleutenant-General of the Kingdom. I then said 
 to him : " Monseigneur, in the situation in which you are 
 placed, your enemies of yesterday are your friends to-day, 
 whilst your friends have become your enemies. All that 
 France lost lately you took from the Emperor ; all that it 
 surrenders to-day you take from the King." Unfortunately 
 I was only partially listened to, but the line of defence was 
 rectified in accordance with my suggestion, and I received 
 orders to set out immediately for the Loire, from which 
 the Allies were obliged to retire on the 30th of April, and 
 give place to a part of the Army of the Alps. 
 
 I had conferred previously with MM. Louis, Beugnot, 
 and the Ahh6 Montesquiou. The latter tried to disgust 
 me with the career of a deputy-governor : " The husband 
 of my niece," he declared, " should seek something better 
 than a mere surveyorship." Therewith he urged me to 
 enter the Gardes du Corps, which was about to be revived. 
 I answered him gratefully, but firmly. 
 
 " How can I," I asked, " at the age of thirty-three, and 
 at the very moment when peace is proclaimed, assume 
 epaulets which I never won on a field of battle ? And 
 though I am still willing and able to serve my country, I 
 am not disposed to change the livery which, rightly or 
 wrongly, I have always worn hitherto." 
 
 I left my wife in Paris, and hastened to return to my 
 post for many reasons. In the first place, I already saw the 
 dawn of a reaction against which I wished to defend those 
 who had so courageously supported me ; in the next, I 
 thirsted to get away from the capital, where I was sick of 
 witnessing so many recantations ; for the triumph of the 
 foreigners distressed me far less than the sight of the 
 Frenchmen who truckled to them, by boasting how they 
 had played the part of traitors the day after our misfortunes. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 115 
 
 I was very glad to be able to find a refuge among those simple 
 folk whoj till within a fortnight, had never despaired of 
 France, and whom I was now determined to protect and 
 succour. I found myself the butt of the malevolence of all 
 those who hoped to gain importance for themselves by 
 opposing me ; but I let them talk as much as they liked, 
 steadily ignoring their foolish insults, which I requited with 
 silent disdain, devoting all my attention to business. 
 
 Five regiments, consisting of between eighteen and 
 twenty thousand men, had been ordered to the Depart- 
 ment. It was necessary to provide them with quarters and 
 victuals. For this I had to use my best efforts. I had 
 asked M. Louis : " Can you get on without the droits-rSunis 
 (united duties)^ the suppression of which was announced in 
 the first royal proclamation } " He did not conceal the fact 
 that he thought it impossible. " Then," I said, " I shall 
 restore them, for I do not wish my people to accustom 
 themselves to an illusion more difficult to destroy than to 
 provide against." 
 
 In this matter I could depend on my staiF, which I 
 found intact ; it had full confidence in me, and the habits 
 of obedience and discipline in which it had been trained 
 were not likely to have suffered by less than four weeks of 
 foreign occupation. I availed myself of its aid in spreading 
 details concerning the new condition of affairs, besides in- 
 formation concerning our obligations, the wants of the 
 army, the imperative necessity of collecting the taxes, and 
 thus avoiding the renewal of requisitions and arbitrary 
 assessments. To prevent the dispersion of the workmen, I 
 persuaded the merchants of Saint-Etienne to subscribe 
 money enough to purchase 15,000 pounds of bread daily, 
 which I doubled at the expense of the Department ; and 
 when an attempt was made to stir up the working-people 
 on account of the droits-riunis, I appeared at their meetings, 
 accompanied by some merchants and officers of the National 
 
 * Taxes collected on objects of general consumption — drinks, &c. They 
 were abolished by the Revolution, but revived under Napoleon. Louis 
 XVIII. promised in the Charter to suppress them, but did not keep his 
 promise. 
 
ii6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Guard, and addressed them as follows : " Was your wine 
 cheaper when the droits-riunis were abolished during the 
 foreign occupation ? No, the only persons who profited 
 by their suppression were the vintners. How can I feed 
 you if the taxes, my sole support, are not collected ? " 
 
 They listened calmly, and I quelled two riots without 
 having recourse to force, as I could and should have 
 done if I had not gained my object by persuasion. I must 
 also acknowledge the valuable aid I received from the 
 prud" hommes^ who had an exceedingly delicate task in the 
 circumstances. The time fixed for their re-election had 
 arrived. I went to Saint-Etienne, and requested the mayor 
 to appoint me President of the Board. The reasons I put 
 forward, coupled with my recent entreaties, induced them to 
 accept a new warrant, and in years to come the recollection 
 of their devotion to me on this occasion stimulated my 
 efforts to establish this useful institution in Paris. 
 
 Meanwhile, the expected troops had arrived ; they were 
 two fine regiments, consisting of ten battalions, the i6th, 
 29th, and 24th of the Line, the 4th Hussars, the 12th 
 Dragoons, and a detachment of artillery which had just 
 returned from Spain, where they had formed a part of the 
 army of Marshal Suchet, and who were smarting under the 
 reverses in which they had not shared, and the change of 
 Government. It was rather difficult to preserve peace 
 among them. I kept open table for the seniors and 
 principal officers. 
 
 I was informed by the Treasurer that, instead of the 
 month's pay which had been promised, he had received 
 only 50,000 francs. I immediately sent for the Receiver 
 General, who had more than 300,000 francs at his disposal, 
 but he informed me that the tradesmen of Saint-Etienne 
 had bills of exchange of long-standing on the Treasury for 
 more than 240,000 francs. The situation was serious. 
 The commanding officers of the different corps had already 
 warned me of the difficulty they had in controlling their 
 men. What would happen if the men were not paid .'' 
 ' A board of arbitration consisting of masters and workmen. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 117 
 
 On the other hand, how could I promise the credit of the 
 Treasury by presenting a draft it was unable to honour, at 
 the very moment that a new Government was established ? 
 
 I repaired to Saint-Etienne, convoked the Chamber of 
 Commerce and the leading merchants, and laid the situation 
 before them, emphasising my temporary poverty and the 
 imperious necessity of paying the troops if we were to avoid 
 serious trouble. They gave the matter their immediate 
 attention, the result of which was an undertaking to sus- 
 pend the presentation of notes for twenty days, and to 
 agree amongst themselves to redeem the securities of those 
 who could not wait so long. In return, I formally pledged 
 myself to have the incoming taxes of the Department 
 placed to their credit until there was a complete liquidation. 
 I then proceeded to the Receiver General's office with two 
 gendarmes, where I deposited an official report recording 
 that I had broken the seals of the Treasury, and taken 
 250,000 francs, independently of the sum paid the Treasurer, 
 and, as soon as the operation was finished, I wrote the full 
 details to the Ministers of Finance, War, and the Interior, 
 all of whom entirely approved of my action. 
 
 One of my earliest projects was to re-establish a com- 
 mission for liquidating the requisitions and forced sales of 
 supplies ; it was composed of members of the Council 
 General. During the whole duration of their labours I 
 gave them the hospitality of my home. I persuaded the 
 Government to allow me to use the centimes extraordinaires of 
 the Department for this liquidation, which was concluded 
 by a final payment of 1,780,000 francs, 25 of which were 
 paid for fifty hens, estimated at 50 centimes per hen, thus 
 proving that the poor man's hen was estimated as highly as 
 the rich man's ox. 
 
 All the same I still remained a victim to the intrigues of 
 the new Royalists, who believed they were enhancing the 
 glory of their principles by compassing my dismissal. I had 
 defended the country against their friends the Allies ; and 
 this was an unpardonable crime. But that was not the 
 judgment meted out to me in Paris where the Abbe de 
 
ii8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Montesquieu, Minister of the Interior, said to my wife : 
 " I have carefully scrutinised your husband's conduct. I 
 find it entirely free from blame, and this is an additional 
 reason for not transferring him to another Department at 
 the present moment. But if he does not feel comfortable 
 at Montbrison, I give him carte blanche to make Roanne or 
 Saint-Etienne the chief town/' I refused, because I did 
 not wish to appear apprehensive. There was no doubt that 
 Saint-Etienne was a much more important centre. I was 
 constantly obliged to be there. Moreover, I was convinced 
 that the change would some day become necessary ; but as 
 I was equally convinced that it would involve the ruin of 
 Montbrison, I did not wish to incur the odium of making 
 it, and preferred enduring any amount of fatigue and worry 
 to the adoption of a measure which, as matters stood, would 
 seem the outcome of my own selfishness. 
 
 It was at this time that, being advised of the approach- 
 ing arrival of the Duchesse d'AngouMme, who was just 
 then at Vichy, I thought it my duty to pay her a visit and 
 receive her commands. I knew she was surrounded by my 
 detractors, but I preferred to go and meet the danger rather 
 than to await it. Accordingly I set out from Roanne, 
 where I had just received the Dowager-Duchesse d'Orldans,^ 
 who actually begged me to ask an audience for her, although 
 she did not conceal the anxiety and embarrassment which 
 such an interview would cause her. As soon as I entered 
 Vichy, I called upon the Duchesse de S^ran, her Royal 
 Highness's Lady-in-waiting. She had known the Duchesse 
 de Narbonne, my wife's grandmother, and, profiting by this 
 circumstance, I begged her to obtain a private audience for 
 me ; my request was granted. 
 
 I found the Princess alone with Mme. de Seran. 
 Though not exactly beautiful, she had a noble presence 
 and was very dignified, and the profound pity which I felt 
 for the misfortunes she had borne so bravely seemed to 
 invest her with an aureole, and only increased the respect 
 
 ' The Duchess-Dowager, wife of Philippe d'Egalite and mother of Louis . 
 Philippe. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 119 
 
 with which she had always inspired me. Consequently it 
 cost me no effort to approach her with the greatest 
 veneration, 
 
 I told her that, on hearing of her impending visit to my 
 Department, I had considered it my duty to pay my respects 
 to her : " Having been informed that your Royal Highness 
 had expressed some unwillingness to meet me, owing to 
 the calumnies of certain persons desirous to injure me in 
 your good opinion, and feeling that only those enjoying the 
 confidence of your Royal Highness should occupy positions 
 similar to that which I hold, I hasten to lay my resignation 
 at the feet of your Royal Highness, should you deem me 
 unworthy of your esteem ; for, indeed, I feel no special 
 attachment to my post, which I only retained at the express 
 desire of M. de Montesquiou and in obedience to the 
 formal orders of Monseigneur the Comte d'Artois ; and 
 which I would gladly relinquish rather than incur the mis- 
 fortune of displeasing you by retaining it." 
 
 The Duchess replied that my well-known devotion to 
 Bonaparte justified her prepossessions and her fears. 
 " Madame," said I, " I was not reared in a spirit of 
 either hatred or opposition to your family. For three 
 centuries all my ancestors served yours ; and many of 
 them died on the field of battle. Whilst still too young to 
 defend you, I shared the prison of my relatives. Later on, 
 it is true, I entered into engagements with the great leader 
 of my country, whom I served in the days of his victories, 
 and I did not desert him in the day of his reverses, but 
 defended the post assigned me until the last moment. You 
 reckon these acts as crimes ; I am ready to expiate them by 
 resigning my office, but not to disown them." The Duchess 
 then put several questions to me concerning the Depart- 
 ment, the troops, and the population, which I answered 
 frankly, and she added : " Now, Monsieur, I feel that I 
 know you ; and, far from desiring your dismissal, I request 
 you to remain, and shall report favourably of you to the 
 King ; furthermore, to prove what confidence I repose in 
 you, I commission you to draw up a list of the changes you 
 
I20 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 would wish to have made in the official staff of your Depart- 
 ment." As regards any changes which I might desire I 
 answered : " My reply, Madame, is contained in a single 
 word. None." Then she fired up, 
 
 " I have been warned," she cried, " that my kindness 
 would be misunderstood, and my advances repulsed by the 
 
 creatures of Bonaparte " I let the torrent run its 
 
 course. When she had finished, I said, with perfect calm- 
 ness, " I must beg your Royal Highness to reflect that 
 nothing but a strong sense of duty would induce me to risk 
 your Royal Highness's displeasure at the very moment of 
 receiving a favour from you, for which I should never have 
 dared to hope. But as regards my good people in the Loire 
 Department, their only fault has been that of both trusting 
 and obeying me implicitly. What justification, therefore, 
 could I have for persecuting those whose sole offence lay in 
 their obedience to me ? When the King confided 400,000 
 of his children to my care, it was in order that I should hold 
 out my arms to them and guide them to his feet, not that I 
 should place myself at the head of some that I might punish 
 the others with stripes. There is no one at the present 
 moment of sufficient importance to be considered dangerous ; 
 we must therefore wait and note the conduct of each. Should 
 any fail in fidelity and obedience, I shall be the first to 
 execute justice. But a massacre of the innocents is more 
 than unjust and dangerous ; it is useless so long as every- 
 body is able and willing to obey." This language gave her 
 food for reflection ; at any rate it showed her that if she 
 wanted any one to be deposed from their office, she must 
 begin with me, or else pardon everybody. 
 
 I had the honour of dining with Mme. and M. de Fronde- 
 ville, the Prefect of the Allier, and I sat next to her. He 
 wore the new blue uniform, quite plain, with only a simple 
 fleur-de-lis worked on the collar. I was still wearing the 
 uniform of the Empire, which was covered with embroidery. 
 After looking at us both, her Royal Highness exclaimed : 
 " Really, I am quite sorry for you. Monsieur de Frondeville, 
 but you look as if you were only Monsieur de Rambuteau's 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 121 
 
 aide-de-camp." I held my tongue, but I thought to myself 
 that the embroideries would soon be back again, and that I 
 had no need to be in such a hurry to discard my uniform. 
 
 Did not the Abbe de Montesquiou, influenced by his 
 attachment to old traditions, propose to garb the Prefects 
 in the black coats and short mantles of the Intendants of 
 bygone days ? He discussed the matter with Mme. de 
 Rambuteau, who answered : " Why, how could you expect 
 my husband to review the National Guards in such a 
 costume as that ? " And, indeed, it was imperative to 
 abolish the superannuated etiquette belonging to a dead 
 past which it was impossible to resuscitate. 
 
 I had also the honour of riding beside Madame la 
 Dauphine. She had an air of great distinction, and managed 
 her rather mettlesome steed with boldness and grace. We 
 passed a regiment of dragoons, drafted to Vichy, who 
 cried : "Five Marie Thirese ! " Of course, I assured her that 
 these brave fellows would follow so worthy a leader with 
 equal enthusiasm, and would gladly lose their lives in her 
 defence. She brought her horse to a sudden standstill. 
 "You may think I am jesting, Monsieur le Comte," she 
 said, "but I assure you that I would rather a thousand 
 times perish at the head of a French squadron than be 
 condemned to eat the bitter bread of exile once more." I 
 could read in her eyes the promise of all she was to 
 achieve later at Bordeaux, and it never occurred to me 
 to entertain any doubt as to her tenacity of purpose. 
 But my respect for her misfortunes and my admira- 
 tion for her courage made me long to discern some 
 trace of kindly sympathy and gentleness existing in her 
 character. 
 
 On returning from our ride, the Duchesse d'Orleans 
 was announced. I wished to withdraw, but the Princess 
 bade me stay. " Remain," she said, addressing Frondeville 
 and myself ; " I consider you as belonging to my house- 
 hold." We, took our places behind her. The widow of 
 Philippe d'Egalite was introduced by Mme. de Seran with 
 the same ceremonial that used to be customary at Versailles. 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 They had not seen each other since 1790. The Duchess 
 was trembling, and, after making two or three steps forward, 
 she fell upon her knees, stretching out her arms and crying : 
 " Pardon, Madame, pardon ! " as if twenty-five years had 
 not elapsed, and as if a common affliction did not await 
 them in the future. Madame remained impassive ; she let 
 the Duchess drag herself two or three steps on her knees ; 
 then, holding out her hand to be kissed, she said : " Rise, 
 Madame." They then sat down, and exchanged a few 
 commonplace phrases, and therewith the audience ended. 
 The Princess had not uttered a single kind word. 
 
 I left in the evening, filled with compassion for such 
 a sad career and full of respect for such a strong and 
 determined character, but regretting nevertheless the entire 
 absence of all that was tender and womanly. 
 
 I made all the necessary preparations for the reception 
 of Madame at Roanne, and went to the frontier of my 
 Department to meet her. She received my wife most 
 kindly, took her by the hand, and said to the Duchesse de 
 S6ran : " I present to you Mme. de Rambuteau ; you re- 
 member the little de Narbonne — she is one of our own 
 people. . . ." She was very dignified at all the receptions, 
 adopted my suggestions in making her official replies, and 
 was present at all the balls and banquets ; but she was 
 never gracious, and showed no desire to please. 
 
 She left on the next morning, and I escorted her as far 
 as Tarare. As I was taking my leave of her, she said : 
 "Pray, where is M. de Bondy, the Prefect of the Rhone .''" 
 When I made excuses for my old colleague^ who was 
 doubtless obliged to remain at Lyons, she retorted : " I 
 can easily tell. Monsieur le Comte, that I have left your 
 Department by the difference of my reception here." At 
 Lyons, the Marechale Augereau presented Mme. de Mes- 
 grigny to her, saying that she was my sister. " Madame," 
 she replied, " write to your brother that I was much pleased 
 with the manner in which he received me, and that, in my 
 opinion, no one serves the King better." 
 
 By going to Paris, whither she had invited me, I should 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 123 
 
 have been able to cultivate this budding good-will ; but what 
 I heard in confidence from Comte d'Agout, as well as from 
 some of the principal officers of the Comte d'Artois, warned 
 me as to the price I should have to pay for this advantage. 
 I should have to disown my past, break all the ties of old 
 friendships, bury my memories, adore what I had hitherto 
 condemned, and be ashamed of what I had loved. I 
 possessed neither that sorry courage nor that ambition 
 which enable one to adapt oneself to every change, if it be 
 profitable to do so. I was resolved to serve the new 
 Government loyally, but I felt that the nation could only 
 be won and kept by conciliating its existing forces ; for this 
 reason, I wrote to M. de Montesquiou, at the time of the 
 famous speech on the straight line and the curve : ^ " I can 
 reconcile my entire Department to the King, I can assure 
 him the obedience of the troops ;. but to win men's hearts, 
 after such language as that, is beyond my power, and to 
 use it is to betray the Royal cause." 
 
 About the same time, Comte dArtois came to Lyons. 
 As the Prefect and even Marshal Augereau lay under sus- 
 picion, I was summoned thither in order to acquaint the 
 Prince with various facts of which it was not proper that he 
 should be ignorant. It was a rather singular mission for 
 me, the bugbear of the Royalists ; but I only thought how 
 best to fulfil my duty by letting the Prince hear the whole 
 truth. 
 
 Monsieur was well received. His affable and courteous 
 manners, and a few well-sounding phrases referring to the 
 valour of the Lyonese during the siege, won over his 
 hearers. The first person I met was Marshal Ney, whose 
 loyalty was so extravagant that he was half-inclined to find 
 
 1 Discourse on the 13th of September 18 14, when Comte Ferrand, a 
 fierce Royalist, made a vehement attack on the purchasers of national pro- 
 perty : " At the epoch of the Revolution," he said, " there were two cate- 
 gories of Frenchmen, the hnigrh and the regnicoles (stay-at-homes) ; the 
 first never intended to be separated from France, the others eagerly desired 
 the return of the King. On the Restoration, both found themselves in the 
 same position. But the Smigr^s had gained this point by following a 
 straight line, without ever deviating from it, while the regnicoles had only 
 reached it by adapting thetnselves more or less to each revolutionary phase!^ 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fault with the simplicity of our sincere and honest sub- 
 mission to the new regime. I saw also the Dues de Maill6 
 and Fitz- James, whom I had known long ago. The latter, 
 having owed certain obligations to M. de Narbonne, wished 
 to be useful to me. On presenting me to the Prince in 
 the evening, he said : " Monseigneur, I assure you that, 
 though some may act in the comedy of loyal devotion to 
 you, after having spent themselves, body and soul, in the 
 opposite cause, such is not the case with Rambuteau." 
 " Indeed ! " I hastened to add, " I beg your Royal High- 
 ness to believe nothing of the sort ! Now, as then, I have 
 always been loyal, and I cannot give better pledges for the 
 future than to remind you of my past fidelity." 
 
 Monsieur asked me several questions about Lyons ; its 
 commerce, its works, its monuments. I satisfied him as 
 well as I was able, occasionally mentioning the Emperor, to 
 the great embarrassment of Fitz-James, who nudged me, 
 whispering : " Take care, my dear fellow, don't use that 
 word in presence of Monseigneur." I turned round 
 quietly, saying out loud : " My dear Edouard, there has 
 never been a lackey in our family, consequently, I could 
 never have been the lackey of M. Bonaparte." " That is 
 a very proper answer," replied the Prince, to whom I 
 must render justice : " M. de Rambuteau is right, and I 
 esteem him the more for that reply," 
 
 He proved that this was the case on the morrow by 
 taking me to his study and questioning me on several points, 
 especially on the national property. " Monseigneur," I 
 answered, " I do not possess a sou of national property ; 
 on the contrary, if it were restored to the original owners, 
 I should add sixty or seventy thousand francs to my yearly 
 income. But, having the honour to serve you, I would 
 prefer to offer you the half of my patrimony that has been 
 left me, rather than see you embark on a struggle which 
 would be very likely to cost me the total." 
 
 He spoke then of the National Guards, the droits- 
 reunis, the religious opinions of the country, and of Cardinal 
 Fesch, whom he detested. I did not conceal my opinion 
 
COMTE DE RAMBVTEAU 125 
 
 that the latter had much influence over the clergy and 
 people, although my colleague Capelle had shown me that 
 very morning his report, in which he affirmed that the 
 people had only one desire — to get rid of its Archbishop. 
 But Capelle had written to this effect with the view of 
 making a favourable impression on the Prince, whereas I 
 had spoken in the Prince's interest, without caring whether 
 I pleased him or not. 
 
 The consequence was that the Comte d'Artois told M. 
 de La Roche-Aymon, one of his gentlemen, who had asked 
 him if he was satisfied with me : " He is an honest and 
 capable man, but he is a child of the Revolution." M. de 
 La Roche-Aymon was sorry, as he was well disposed 
 towards me for the sake of his aunt, who had married 
 my father-in-law's brother. 
 
 How right was La Fontaine in preferring a discreet enemy 
 to an imprudent friend ! When sitting beside a colonel of 
 Gendarmerie at a d^jeAner given by the authorities of 
 Lyons, an over-zealous courtier asked this officer if he had 
 been long in the army. " Yes, Monsieur," was the answer. 
 " Oh, but then what a number of 6migr^s you must have 
 shot 1 " The blood surged to the face, not only of the 
 colonel, but of every military man present. In vain did his 
 Highness try to heal the wounds so constantly made by 
 the tactlessness and exclusiveness of those who wished to 
 be considered the only pure Royalists in the kingdom. He 
 did not succeed, and his stay at Lyons, far from winning 
 support for the new regime, awakened regret for the past, 
 and widened the gap between it and the present. 
 
 The Prince desired to visit Saint-Etienne. I arranged 
 that he should have a good reception ; Guards of Honour 
 had been organised ; those furnished by the city, com- 
 manded by the director of the great arms' factory, were 
 superb ; every town and village had sent detachments, more 
 or less numerous. The 20th and 24th of the Line, forming 
 six battalions, were the 61ite of the eighteen battaljons of 
 which they had formerly made a part ; they were veterans 
 of the army of Suchet, and as fine-looking as the old Guard. 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " They are the first regiments," said the Prince, after the 
 review, " with which I have been pleased." " It is because, 
 Monseigneur, for the last three months I have diligently 
 instilled into them that you consider everything they have 
 done for France as done for yourself, and that the bravest 
 are simply the eldest sons of the great French family ; and, 
 moreover, when they drink to the King's health at my table, 
 they drink to no health but his." 
 
 In order to show him the successive operations in the 
 making of a gun, we had its different parts displayed in 
 twenty-four workrooms, like the plates in an encyclopaedia. 
 He could then embrace at a single glance, so to say, the 
 different phases and the progress of the labour. 
 
 At Rive-de-Gier he was received by the Mayor, who 
 had distinguished himself at the siege of Lyons as well as 
 against the Austrians ; he invested him with the Cross. At 
 Saint-Chamond he also visited the great factory of MM. 
 Dugas, who initiated him into the most secret processes, 
 notably that of the watered finish of the ribbons of the 
 Order. At Saint-Etienne he also decorated the chiefs of 
 the National Guard, the directors of the factories, the Sub- 
 prefect and the President of the Tribunal of Commerce ; 
 and I obtained six Crosses for those who had best sup- 
 ported me in the defence of the Department, and when, as 
 I had nothing to say with regard to another request which 
 was strongly seconded, he expressed his astonishment, I 
 answered : " Monseigneur, the honours I have solicited are 
 for services rendered either in defence of the country, its 
 administration, or for the purpose of enriching it by labour : 
 all I ask for is justice ; it does not lie within my province to 
 ask for favours." 
 
 M. de Tardy (whose zeal in the defence of Roanne I 
 had admired) had the singular notion — singular, at least, at 
 that time — of wishing to be created a Marquis. I did my 
 best to aid him in his ambition, and I succeeded. , I mention 
 this detail, because it was the only title granted under the 
 First Restoration. As for myself, it did not become me to 
 ask for anything. Doubtless his Royal Highness might 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 127 
 
 have taken the initiative ; but it was not for me to suggest 
 it to him. The Emperor had bestowed the Cross of Re- 
 union on me when I was at the Simplon, and Marshal 
 Augereau had procured me the Cross of the Legion of 
 Honour ; the latter I kept for twenty years. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Prince showed that he was well pleased 
 with his journey. I had been careful to provide for all his 
 habits and tastes : at each relay he found a platter with a 
 consomm^ and a bottle of Bordeaux ; and every evening a 
 bath was ready beside his bed. His most insignificant likes 
 and dislikes had been communicated to me by M. Bourlet, 
 his first valet-de-chambre, and I was determined to prove to 
 him that a good Deputy-Governor may be also an attentive 
 Amphitryon. He was not called upon to spend anything ; 
 the Department and the towns paid for everything. 
 
 At Saint-Etienne the ladies of the city sang a cantata, 
 followed by a ball and illuminations : a monstrous fleur-de- 
 lis, formed of burning coal, was outlined on a steep slope of 
 the mountain ; two hundred carts of coal, presented by the 
 mining companies, were employed for the purpose. Mon- 
 sieur expressed his thanks to me for the reception, and was 
 delighted with the enthusiasm of the people. "What a 
 different city this is from Lyons 1 " he said to me. "Lyons, 
 indeed ! What a city ! Seventeen compliments, and not 
 a chamber-pot ! " 
 
 I have said that the favourable impression made by the 
 Comte d'Artois at Lyons had been very ephemeral. As the 
 Department of the Loire is to Lyons what the Seine-et-Oise 
 is to Paris, I was very well informed as to the public feeling 
 which was prevalent just then. For this purpose, when he 
 made his second journey, six weeks afterwards, in order to 
 arrive at the real opinion of the people, I disguised myself 
 in a greatcoat, with my hat slouched over my eyes, and 
 mixed with the cortdge on the way to La Guillotifere. 
 What I heard surpassed all that I knew already. 
 
 At nightfall, after dinner, his Highness took me to the 
 balcony, beneath which were two or three hundred people, 
 most of them hired by the police, who cried : " Vive le Comte 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 (TArtois ! " The Prince said to me : " Look at these good 
 people ! See how they love us ! " I did not venture to 
 undeceive him at the moment or tell him all that I feared. 
 But the next day I gave him a little lecture on the skilful 
 treatment of public opinion ; " It was always necessary to 
 consult it, even in its faults and errors ; always necessary to 
 avoid wounding it in its prejudices ; as it was so much easier 
 to guide it than to coerce it." 
 
 He listened, but did not believe me ; Princes have not 
 a keen scent for the truth. Thus, being apparently con- 
 vinced that his reception in the Loire had not been a heavy 
 burden on the Department, I was obliged to say to him : 
 " If your Royal Highness merely refers to the amount of 
 money that was spent, it probably does not exceed fifteen or 
 twenty thousand francs ; but if you deign to consider that 
 three or four thousand men equipped themselves at their 
 own expense as National Guards, that more than three 
 hundred went to the expense of costly uniforms as Guards 
 of Honour, that the entire population of an industrial 
 district stopped working for three days and spent more 
 than a week's wages, you will see that these festivities 
 cannot be renewed without causing considerable loss." 
 
 A short time afterwards. Marshal Augereau was recalled, 
 and Comte Roger Damas named Governor of Lyons, with 
 M. de Chabrol de Crousol as Prefect. I was acquainted 
 with the latter, with whom I had had a long conversation 
 in the month of June, on his return from the lUyrian 
 Provinces, where he was Director General of Finance. 
 
 We were at that time quite of the same opinion ; but 
 now I found that he had modified some of his ideas ; still, 
 we were agreed on all essential points, thanks to his good 
 sense and experience of affairs. As for the Count, it was 
 quite a different matter. As I was greatly influenced by the 
 M^moires of the Prince de Ligne, who had regarded him as 
 the perfect type of French chivalry, I expected to find in 
 him a man of the highest distinction. I found, however, 
 nothing of the sort. Quite the reverse indeed ; for he pos- 
 sessed all the prejudices of the Emigres, coupled with a 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 129 
 
 complete ignorance of modern France and the worst petty 
 weaknesses of the old regime ; he cherished no ambitions, 
 entertained no theories, had not a notion of controlling 
 public opinion, or any idea of loosening the ties that still 
 bound so many to the cause of the Empire, by trying to 
 reconcile them to the acceptance of a well-regulated liberty 
 in the place of that glorious past which they were so prone 
 to regret. 
 
 I could not help associating his conduct and language 
 with the discourse of M. Ferrand and with what I had 
 heard from the entourage of the Comte d'Artois and of 
 Madame, and I perceived how chimerical were our hopes of 
 national union. For that matter, I expressed my opinion 
 very frankly on the subject. One morning that he was 
 questioning me very seriously on the fidelity of the people 
 of my Department to the King, I answered that I felt quite 
 safe in guaranteeing it, even if Napoleon should return to 
 France, provided, of course, that he did not come into the 
 Department in person. He smiled, and said : " Monsieur, 
 our prophecies as to the future are not of much account 
 when we predict impossibilities." " Monsieur le Comte," 
 I answered, " if I had the honour of governing the second 
 city of France for the King, this impossibility would be for 
 ever in my thoughts, and cause me unceasing anxiety both 
 night and day." 
 
 In fact, the faults of the Government, the growing dis- 
 affection everywhere, particularly in the army and among 
 the middle classes, the imprudence of the Royalists, their 
 passion for wounding the self-love and threatening the 
 interests of the people, their reliance on the aid of 
 foreigners, with which they were constantly menacing us 
 (although the plainest dictates of prudence should have 
 taught them to conceal their obligations in that direction), 
 all heralded an impending rupture ; for the Emperor, from 
 his observatory in the Isle of Elba, was far too shrewd not 
 to have foreseen these errors and to turn them to account at 
 the proper moment. 
 
 I resolved, then, to remain in my Department, not to go 
 
 I 
 
I30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to Paris — to fulfil my duty loyally, and to await events. I 
 kept a hospitable table, had frequent entertainments, and 
 was courteous to everybody. By these methods I suc- 
 ceeded in winning to my side a considerable number of 
 those who dissented from my views, and was in a fair way 
 to conciliate some of my more pronounced adversaries. I 
 banished all rancorous controversy, avoided all occasion of 
 reproach, refused to permit the dismissal of any of my 
 subordinates, and was as well obeyed and respected as any 
 functionary can hope to be, when I received the news 
 of the landing of the Emperor in a note from M. de 
 Bouthillier, Prefect of the Var. 
 
 I wrote immediately to the Abb6 de Montesquieu : 
 " There is not a moment to be lost in such a crisis. You 
 will not find a single soldier in the whole French army 
 capable of firing a shot at Napoleon, who is well aware of 
 this, and indeed bases all his hopes and confidence on this 
 knowledge. Do not attempt to send any regiment against 
 him ; you would simply be sending recruits for his cause. 
 You should have foreseen the danger. Despatch the Garde 
 du Corps, and such of the National Guards as you can rely 
 on, by stage-coaches. It is the only means of escaping a 
 peril which no one seems to have known how to prevent. 
 My Department will remain faithful, but that is all that can 
 be expected from it ; I think I can answer for the troops, pro- 
 vided Napoleon does not appear among them." I then pro- 
 ceeded to adopt such measures as I deemed indispensable. 
 
 As the Emperor had himself authorised me to serve the 
 Government of the King, my line of conduct was quite 
 clear, I at once drew up a proclamation to the inhabitants, 
 convoked the Council General, in pursuance of orders 
 received from Paris, and wrote to Monsieur, who had just 
 arrived at Lyons, in terms similar to those in my letter to 
 the Minister. I offered to bring him the ^lite of the National 
 Guards, insisting that the 2oth of the Line should be still 
 kept at Montbrison, because in that case I could rely on it. 
 It was decided otherwise, and the 20th, with the 24th of 
 Saint-Etienne, was ordered to Lyons. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 131 
 
 I despatched one of the counsellors of the Prefecture to 
 the Prince for the purpose of representing me, receiving his 
 orders, and assuring him of my devotion ; but his mission 
 was of short duration, for General Macdonald, not daring 
 to answer for the soldiers, and having proposed that he 
 and his officers should take the guns of the Grenadiers 
 and advance, if the Princes would accompany them, the 
 Comte d'Artois, whom this proposal did not please, left 
 the city. As my envoy urged him to give at least some 
 orders, he answered : *' TeU M. de Rambuteau to do his 
 best to save his Department ; as for us, we intend to 
 leave France." 
 
 Such were the adieus of his Royal Highness. Still, I 
 did not abandon either my cockade or my flag ; I per- 
 suaded the people to wait, instead of dividing themselves 
 into two camps, and I succeeded in keeping not only them 
 in this frame of mind, but also the battalions of the 20th 
 and 24th of the Line. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Emperor ordered Bertrand to write to 
 me. I answered that I should be as faithful to the 
 established Government as I had been to his. With an 
 object diametrically opposed to this, the younger Guizot^ 
 visited me ; he had been sent on a mission by the Minister 
 of the Interior. The only burden of his song was : " Let 
 us make civil war 1 " " But," said I, " as you come in the 
 name of the Minister, you ought surely to bring some 
 instructions. What am I to do ? Should I muster the 
 National Guards ? Can I dispose of the arms' factory ? 
 and what military authority am I to recognise .'' " To all 
 these questions he had no answer. The Council General, 
 which a royal decree had invested with extraordinary 
 powers, was even more embarrassed than I was. Those 
 who had so often denounced me were now trembling, and 
 showed their prudence by decorating their hats with a 
 cockade which I venerated, but would not tolerate so long 
 as the King remained in France. 
 
 ' The brother of the future Minister. 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 At this time the Council adopted three resolutions,^ 
 which they presented to me in a body, begging me to make 
 my submission to the new Government in the name of the 
 Department, and promising to support me in all that I 
 believed should be done on this subject. The Marquis de 
 Contenson, President of the Council, well known for his 
 Legitimist sentiments, consented to act as my substitute in 
 the Chamber des Rdpresentants, thus proving his fidelity 
 to the solemn promise he had given me. 
 
 The King had already left France. In the opinion 
 of every one, I had fulfilled my mission according to the 
 severest rules of honour and duty. And so, feeling 
 bound to reward the confidence and devotion which I had 
 always enjoyed in the Department by giving them a last 
 token of my appreciation, I now openly espoused the 
 cause so dear to my heart by issuing a proclamation, in 
 which I was careful to respect the misfortunes of those on 
 the losing side. This proceeding on my part was, of 
 course, highly displeasing to the Royalist agents. There 
 was even a plot to kidnap me. A courier was robbed on 
 his way to my residence ; whilst a still worse fate was 
 reserved for me, one of the conspirators being a man who, 
 for fifteen years, had pretended to be my friend. 
 
 Just at that moment the Due d'Angoul^me was ad- 
 vancing on Pont-Saint-Esprit. Many Royalist braggadocios 
 boasted of the wondrous feats they might have performed 
 if I had not purposely baffled their efforts, but truth to tell, 
 those efforts were of such a very mild nature that they 
 
 ' Resolution of the 22nd of March : " The Prefect believing that, in the 
 present circumstances, it is his duty to leave the Department, the Council 
 General has adopted unanimously the following resolution : ' M. de 
 Rambuteau shall be requested and, if need be, required to retain the 
 administration of the Department in any circumstances.'" 
 
 Resolution of the 24th of March : " The Council General, having taken 
 cognisance of the events reported in the Moniteur oi the 21st of March, 
 declares the session terminated ; but, before separating, it has judged it of 
 the highest importance, and for the good of the Department, that the Prefect 
 be requested and required anew to remain at its head. The Council 
 unanimously recognises that the Prefect has conducted himself with the 
 utmost wisdom, and has shown in all his acts only the most rigorous 
 principles of honour." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 133 
 
 never gave me a moment's uneasiness. Had 1 not 
 witnessed their flight from Lyons before the Prince, and 
 seen how they came to ask me afterwards for a soldier's 
 way-bill in order that they might hasten to his support 
 when he was a good forty leagues behind them ! At the 
 same time, I am quite ready to do full justice to the 
 personal courage of many of the Royalists, for whose cause 
 I have the utmost respect, but I cannot deny that as a party 
 they showed themselves utterly incapable of co-operation, 
 neither understanding when they should agree to fight nor 
 to what lengths it was safe to venture. 
 
 A few days afterwards I went to Lyons to meet Marshal 
 Suchet and Comte Roederer, who had just arrived, the one 
 as Commander of the army which was to be raised, the 
 other as Commissary Extraordinary. Both were most 
 anxious to have me as Prefect, having noted my conduct 
 during the preceding year and the defence I had organised 
 in the Loire against the Allies. They concealed neither 
 their fears nor their anxieties from me, and, on learning 
 my intentions of going to Paris, they charged me to tell the 
 Emperor what they dared not write to his Ministers, 
 namely : " Sire, there are certain persons who are only bent 
 on making use of your person as a means to an end ; for 
 another week they will cry : ' Vive VEmpereur ! ' after that 
 it will be : ' Five la Republique ! ' " 
 
 Just as I was about to start for Paris, I was appointed 
 Prefect of the Allier. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 PREFECT OF MOULINS AND MONTAUBAN 
 
 BEFORE starting for Paris, I considered it my duty to 
 spend a few days in my new residence. In that I 
 did wrong. I should have turned my undeserved 
 removal to account by examining the situation before enter- 
 ing into any fresh engagements. This omission on my part 
 was severely censured by S6monville and several of my 
 other friends. But my patriotic instincts quickened my 
 apprehensions with regard to the alien invaders, and 
 stimulated me to strain every nerve to defend my country. 
 Everything combined to urge me to pursue the course 
 upon which I had determined. Apart from my natural 
 impulse to oppose the foe, and the keen sense of humilia- 
 tion engendered by our reverses, along with my zeal for the 
 honour of France, I could not forget the very slighting 
 treatment I had received at the hands of the Bourbons, nor 
 the poor appreciation they had shown for my services. I 
 was still smarting under their behaviour to me at Lyons. 
 I had served them loyally, although, to do so, I was com- 
 pelled to stifle the memories and sentiments of my past ; 
 yet they had fled without uttering a single word either 
 of encouragement or gratitude 1 And all this time the 
 Emperor's extraordinary intrepidity was exciting the admira- 
 tion of even those who were to perish in his fall. 
 
 After a short stay at Moulins, I adopted the necessary 
 measures for raising recruits, recalling the old soldiers and 
 arranging for the elections, all my plans being ably seconded 
 by the Mayor, M. Desroys ; but at the end of a week I 
 received my nomination to the Prefecture of Carcassonne. 
 I felt deeply wounded. My services during 1 8 1 4 certainly 
 
 134 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 135 
 
 deserved a more Important post. I now realised the mistake I 
 had made in accepting Moulins. I set out at once for Paris. 
 
 After my arrival, I saw Bassano and Caulaincourt, both 
 of whom shared my feelings, Caulaincourt especially, for he 
 did not share the illusions of his colleague. I shall always 
 remember my visit to S6monville on the day when our 
 worthy Maret,^ who had always been his intimate friend, 
 was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. Contrary to 
 my expectations, he was seated on a little stool in his 
 wife's boudoir, with his head in his hands. " Well," I 
 exclaimed, " you look remarkably gloomy for a man whose 
 best friend has just gained his heart's desire. Surely his 
 good fortune has not already loosened your affection for 
 him." 
 
 He handed me a note, in which Bassano offered him the 
 post of Director of the Ministry, or any other he might 
 prefer, and added : " Yes, I do feel gloomy, as any man 
 might who sees his old comrade with a halter round his 
 neck, and ourselves in pretty much the same situation." 
 As this was evidently a riddle to me, he sprang up, and, 
 taking hold of my arm, continued : " Don't you know what 
 Maret is ? Are you not aware that of all the Emperor's 
 devotees he is the most fanatical ? What is a Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs .'' He Is a man who must be for ever 
 shouting ' Look out ' to the blind man in the game of 
 blind-man's-buff. When the Emperor says to Maret : 
 'There's nothing that I can see even In broad daylight,' 
 instead of opening his eyes, Maret will send for a score of 
 candles. A man with that disposition will ruin us all, and, 
 as far as I am concerned, I wash my hands of the whole 
 business." I was no longer surprised to find that Caulain- 
 court did not share Maret's illusions, and failed to emulate 
 him in seeing only the bright side of everything. 
 
 Nevertheless, they mentioned my name to the Emperor, 
 who summoned me to the £lys6e. " Had you joined me 
 at Lyons," were his first words, "you would now be Prefect 
 of the Seine." "Sire," I answered, "I was the last to 
 
 ^ Due de Bassano. 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 leave you, and when your Majesty, of your own free will, 
 released me from my allegiance, I was bound to do for the 
 King what I had done for you ; besides, I know that your 
 Majesty did me ample justice yesterday in the presence of 
 Caulaincourt." " That is true ! " he replied ; " if I had 
 had twenty-five Prefects like you, there would have been 
 no need of my abdication." "Sire," I answered, "your 
 Majesty can now dispose of my life ; you have more than 
 paid for it with these gracious words." 
 
 Then he referred to the different measures I had 
 employed for the defence of the Loire ; he informed me 
 that, owing to his satisfaction with my conduct, he had 
 commissioned me, by a decree of the i8th of March, to 
 organise the same methods of resistance in fourteen Depart- 
 ments, but that the decree was not in time to reach me. I 
 gave him an account of the message which Marshal Suchet 
 and M. Roederer had charged me to deliver: "What 
 does it matter .? " he answered. " The men to whom they 
 allude are the only men who can give me an army I If I 
 fall, they must fall with me ; if I triumph, I shall soon 
 bring them to their senses. Let us speak of your National 
 Guards. You have succeeded remarkably well with them. 
 How did you manage it .'' " I explained the matter fully. 
 He next questioned me on the Departments with which I 
 was acquainted, the regiments stationed in them, their 
 different positions, and then dismissed me with a few kind 
 words. 
 
 Our interview had only one witness — Corvisart — who, 
 with his elbow resting on the mantelpiece, had been listen- 
 ing to us with a smile. We left the room together. In 
 the first salon we found poor Lab^doy^re striving hard to 
 harangue two or three deputations, repeating the same 
 phrases incessantly : " Napoleon is much changed. He is 
 in favour of liberty, liberal institutions," &c., &c. Corvisart 
 drew me aside, and said : " Look at that idiot, who believes 
 that it is possible for a man to act in opposition to all his 
 inherent proclivities." 
 
 The words struck me. I compared my impressions 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 137 
 
 after this interview with those which I had carried away 
 from my farewell audience with the Emperor, two years 
 before. At that time, my faith in him was so strong that 
 the possibility of his ever ordering anything unjust or 
 unreasonable would never have entered my head. This 
 absolute confidence had never forsaken me until his down- 
 fall. But now I realised that his colossal genius, although 
 capable of the greatest deeds, might yet ruin everything ; 
 and that, in his hands, the entire country was simply so 
 much material upon which to try experiments. The 
 Charter, by creating a well-balanced Government with 
 guarantees, rights, and liberty to discuss national interests 
 publicly, had afforded me much satisfaction. I was still 
 devotedly fond of the Emperor, but my faith was shaken, 
 and I dreaded to witness a revival of the past without even 
 the victories that had given it its prestige. I was astonished, 
 nay distressed, at this change in my ideas, which, however, 
 did not influence my conduct in the slightest degree. 
 
 In a few days I saw how many were turning away from 
 the Emperor — some because they had vainly tried to set 
 limits to his will ; others, in order to keep an open door 
 in the event of reverses. The small number of his true 
 friends were well aware of their danger, and made no 
 attempt to conceal it. One day. Las Cases (who was 
 Equerry to Lucien, who had once more resumed the rank 
 of an Imperial Prince), told me all the details of the plot 
 which Foucher had hatched, and explained how the Emperor 
 had discovered it by sending Fleury de Chaboulon, one of 
 his private secretaries, to B^le, where he had an interview 
 with the envoy of M. de Metternich. He likewise told 
 me that he had learned from Lucien himself that Napoleon 
 was disposed to accept a place of retreat in Hungary, pro- 
 vided his son were recognised as Emperor under the 
 regency of his mother, and that Montholon was about to 
 carry these proposals to Vienna. But the Emperor changed 
 his mind during the night, sent for Cambacdrfes, told him 
 it would be time enough to adopt this extreme measure 
 after a defeat, and so the matter ended. 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Neither in word nor gesture did Foucher betray any 
 embarrassment in openly receiving the almost official agents 
 of the different parties. I had a plain proof of this one 
 evening when I dined at his house in company with MM. 
 Chabrol de Crousol and D'Arbaud de Jouques, Merlin de 
 Thionville and Lanjuinais. The former were political 
 agents from Ghent, the latter active ringleaders in the 
 Republican conspiracy. " Well, Rambuteau," he said, after 
 dinner, " so you don't care to go South — you prefer to 
 remain in the Chamber ! You're right. If the Emperor 
 can save France, we ought to help and support him ; but 
 if we have to choose between him and France, you are too 
 good a Frenchman to hesitate." 
 
 Glancing at the faces of his other guests, I grasped that 
 this speech was meant for a sort of challenge to them ; had 
 I been alone, I should have thought he was anxious to take 
 my measure. I answered quietly that the manner In which 
 I had been chosen Representative by the unanimous vote 
 of the Grand College of the Loire, made it especially bind- 
 ing on me to justify the confidence reposed in me. Then, 
 as soon as I could withdraw, I flew to Caulaincourt. He 
 threw up his hands, exclaiming : " I am convinced he is 
 betraying us — and yet we are not strong enough to send 
 him about his business ! " " Then, my dear Duke," I 
 answered, " what you say amounts to this : the Emperor 
 is very ill, and we are all very ill with him, and Heaven 
 knows that France must take her chance." 
 
 All this gave me plenty of food for reflection. My 
 position was a rather delicate one. Marshal Suchet, who 
 was in command of the Army of the Alps, was very desirous 
 that I should be appointed Prefect of Lyons, being certain 
 of my loyal co-operation. But the Emperor refused his 
 request. " Lyons is so devoted to me," said he, " that if 
 I only sent one of my boots there, it would quite suffice 1 
 You want Rambuteau because he is efficient. That is an 
 additional reason for sending him to the South, upon 
 which we cannot reckon securely, he must choose between 
 Nlmes and Montauban ; later on, he can have Lyons ; but 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 139 
 
 this is the time for services, not for rewards." There was 
 no doubt that what I had done for the King lessened the 
 value of what I had done for the Emperor. Perhaps he 
 thought Lyons too near the Department from which he 
 had removed me, and was afraid of my personal influence 
 on the inhabitants, as evidenced by the flattering unanimity 
 manifested by all parties in electing me to the Chamber. 
 
 On the other hand, Carnot, Minister of the Interior, 
 had, without consulting me, proposed my nomination for 
 Dijon, and that with a warmth which was ill received. I 
 may as well state the reason which led him to think of me. 
 I had called at his house after my arrival in Paris, and I 
 had been rather coldly treated by him. Naturally, I felt 
 hurt. The same evening I said to Foucher : " What is 
 the matter with your colleague of the Interior ? Does he 
 think I am so very keen on obtaining a prefecture .'' I 
 mean to tell him that not only shall I not go to Carcassonne, 
 but that I shall go nowhere, and that I rendered quite 
 enough services last year to command, at least, both esteem 
 and consideration." Foucher burst out laughing : " Carnot 
 has not been here long enough to know you ; all he has 
 been able to see in you was the aristocrat and the chamber- 
 lain, and he has a dislike for both. Don't take any Depart- 
 ment till I see him ; you'll find everything will turn out 
 to your satisfaction." 
 
 The next morning I had a note from Carnot inviting 
 me to breakfast. He began by offering apologies for the 
 coolness of his reception, then he said : " I have sent for 
 all the despatches in which your name appears, and, after 
 reading your correspondence and your reports on the 
 Simplon and the Loire, I cannot give you a higher proof 
 of my confidence than by proposing you for Dijon, my 
 own country. You may always rely upon my assistance, 
 because I regard you as a good Frenchman, an able ad- 
 ministrator, and an excellent citizen." After this we were 
 reconciled ; I saw him frequently, and I still cherish a great 
 respect for his sincere devotion, his unshaken courage, and 
 his fidelity to the Emperor, as well as to his country. His 
 
I40 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was an old-world face, which was quite out of place in the 
 modern frame of his surroundings. 
 
 Nevertheless, during a whole fortnight I refused to 
 accept any mission ; then some words spoken by the 
 Emperor decided me. I learned that he was saddened — 
 more saddened even than annoyed — by the conduct of 
 several of his old servants, and that I was among the 
 number. I made up my mind at once, and wrote to him : 
 " Sire, I know that your Majesty wishes me to accept a 
 Department in the South. I am ready to start. For I 
 will not follow the example of those who, after having 
 received every imaginable favour from your hands in 
 happier days, now either refuse their services or higgle as 
 to their price. At the same time, however, I crave per- 
 mission to lay at your Majesty's feet the irrevocable decision 
 at which I have arrived, namely, that directly the present 
 peril is overpast, I retire into private life, and never accept 
 any public appointment in the future. I have resolved 
 upon this step because, in spite of all the proofs which I 
 have given your Majesty of my entire devotion to your- 
 self, you have nevertheless seen fit to doubt my loyalty and 
 good faith." 
 
 I preferred Montauban to Nlmes because Mme. de 
 Rambuteau had relatives in the Tarn-et-Garonne, and I 
 felt the need of whatever aid I could obtain. But I con- 
 vinced the Ministry that a dependent position at a distance 
 of two hundred leagues from Paris must be very embar- 
 rassing. It was therefore agreed, at a meeting held in the 
 Ministry of the Interior, that I should be invested with 
 the powers of Commissioner Extraordinary in addition to 
 those of Prefect. Carnot encouraged me ; whilst Davoust 
 said, if I succeeded in preventing civil war, I might consider 
 that I had done well. Foucher inquired as to my plans. 
 I answered : " I have none. It would be easy enough to 
 invent all kinds of projects. But the probability is that, 
 once on the spot, I should have to do the exact opposite of 
 what I told you. You send me there because you have 
 confidence in me ; you give me a clear field, because I 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 141 
 
 decline to bear the blame of follies which I have not com- 
 mitted ; I understand that I am to prevent civil war ; and 
 that for this purpose you will furnish me with men and 
 money ; all else is secondary. I shall either succeed or I 
 shall resign the position, so you have the whole matter in 
 a nutshell." My outspokenness made a good impression, 
 as I perceived from the Emperor's reception of me the 
 same evening. 
 
 I did not like leaving Paris without visiting S^monviUe 
 at Fremigny, the place of his self-imposed exile. I was 
 told that Louis XVIII. asked some one who had come from 
 Paris : " What is SemonviUe doing ? " " Sire, he has been 
 exiled." " Then my affairs must be going on well, for, if 
 they were not, he would be in high favour and in office." 
 As for myself, I must say that during the thirty-five years 
 I knew him, he showed the same kindness and affection to 
 the young man, to whom he would have gladly given his 
 daughter, as he afterwards evinced for his colleague, the 
 Prefect of the Seine and Peer of France. 
 
 " My dear friend," he said to me, " if I had been near 
 you, you would have resisted the very natural impulse to 
 which you have yielded. You are dazzled by the Emperor's 
 former glory, and you still believe in his fortune ; but you 
 are under a delusion. It is not Napoleon who has returned, 
 but a charlatan named Bonaparte. You are in the Chamber ; 
 but, however honourable may have been the circumstances 
 of your election, your position will not be the less difficult 
 on that account. On the other hand, you are a Prefect, 
 and a Deputy-Governor who saves a country may always 
 expect gratitude ; such a reputation is worthy of envy. Of 
 course revolutions live on reputations ; it is frightful to 
 think what a number of them they devour. A reputation 
 is also a sort of tontine ; and all you need is to live long 
 enough to see your investment increase in value. So, be 
 careful of yours ; confine yourself to your special functions ; 
 do as much good and as little evil as you can ; when events 
 take you by surprise, do what is needful, but no more ; 
 then, no matter what pressure may be brought to bear upon 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 you, retire, return to your home : that is the only way in 
 which you can succeed in keeping whatever you may have 
 acquired. Sooner or later you will find a post worthy of 
 your acceptance. If you remain in the Chamber or return 
 to it, you can neither become a Republican nor run any 
 risk of attacking the Emperor, nor take part in ruining 
 France beyond redemption. Therefore, set out for your 
 Department ; prevent reactions of every kind ; submit 
 yourself to the decrees of Fate, and then — I repeat it again 
 — return to private life, so that the good you have done and 
 the evil you have prevented may not be ascribed to any self- 
 interested calculation on your part. You will be calumniated, 
 possibly persecuted. The future will do you justice." 
 
 I followed these wise counsels, in spite of the attraction 
 which the r61e of Representative had for me. I informed 
 my colleagues that my mission, involving as it did extra- 
 ordinary powers, was only temporary, and that, after restoring 
 order and obedience, I should return to take my seat among 
 them. The Emperor sent back my Chamberlain's key to 
 me, saying that my election to the Chamber made it impos- 
 sible for him to raise me to the Peerage like S^bastiani 
 and others of his most intimate servants ; and therewith 
 I departed. 
 
 I passed through Burgundy in order to see my wife and 
 children, whom I did not care to expose to the dangers that 
 might arise from the violent passions of the South. At 
 Lyons I bade a last farewell to Henri de Vallin, then very 
 ill, and whom I was never to see again. In him I lost my 
 best friend. We had lived together for thirteen years like 
 brothers, nor did the refusal of my sister's hand or our 
 political differences (he was a Legitimist) ever raise the 
 slightest cloud between us. I have always cherished his 
 memory on account of his noble character and loftiness of 
 mind. Even now the thought of him almost moves me 
 to tears. 
 
 I stopped at Montbrison to arrange certain matters with 
 my successor and to thank my friends, and then hastened 
 to Montauban. My first visit was to Mme. de Balbi, sister 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 143 
 
 of the Due de La Force ; she was an old friend of the 
 Comte de Provence, and I had often seen her in Paris. 
 
 When I accepted the Prefecture of Montauban, I said to 
 her, " I reflected with joy that I should find you there, and 
 that you would help me in conciliating the country. But I 
 am bound to confess that though I could never be half- 
 hearted in the service of any cause when I have once 
 accepted it, I cannot blame those who act on the morrow in 
 precisely the same way as I myself acted overnight. Conse- 
 quently, you need have no uneasiness about the Royal 
 Volunteers. You are too sensible not to understand that 
 the future will be decided either by the armies in Belgium 
 or by those on the banks of the Rhine, and that any attempt 
 at a partial insurrection in the Departments would only 
 gratify a few personal ambitions without having the slightest 
 influence on general results. Here are the conditions 
 which, through your intervention, I propose to your friends. 
 I do not want to be told of any class that has been pro- 
 scribed or persecuted for its past. I intend to ignore the 
 existence of the Volunteers ; but neither do I wish on the 
 other hand to have any persecuting party, and shall there- 
 fore not allow combinations or confederacies. What I do 
 want is to secure respect and protection for Catholics as well 
 as for Protestants, for ministers as well as for priests, for 
 temples as well as for churches. But I shall require every 
 assistance in providing for the departure of the conscripts 
 and the National Guards that have been called out ; the taxes 
 must be paid freely ; there must be no riots or plots, and 
 you must await patiently the decisions of war and fortune." 
 
 Mme. de Balbi was a sensible woman, and the step I 
 had taken appealed to her. She asked a delay of twenty- 
 four hours, and, on the following day, sent M. de Preissac 
 to me. This gentleman was afterwards my colleague at 
 Bordeaux and in the Chamber of Peers, but had recently 
 served as Major of the Volunteers and the Verdets ] under 
 
 * Royalist companies secretly organised in the South of France after the 
 9th Thermidor, and so named because they wore a green uniform or a 
 green ribbon on the arm, in memory of the uniform of the Swiss who died 
 for the King on the loth of August, in defence of the Tuileries. 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Due d'Angoul^me. He thanked me for my proposals, 
 promised to second me as far as lay in his power, and 
 guaranteed the tranquillity of the Department. 
 
 I also met the leaders of the patriot party — almost all 
 Protestants ; I had some trouble in getting them to chime 
 in with my ideas, but, thanks to the assistance of the 
 President of the Consistory and the Mayor, I succeeded 
 in repressing them. I had more difficulty with the extreme 
 Catholics, especially those belonging to the Faubourg of 
 Ville-Bourbon. These latter were in such an excited frame 
 of mind that no story was too preposterous to find credence 
 with them, so embittered were they by the memories of the 
 cruel past. For throughout our long Revolution, Montau- 
 ban had always been the scene of intestine struggles, and 
 there was scarcely any one belonging to the various parties 
 whose hands showed no stains of bloodshed. 
 
 As for party songs, challenges, faction-cries, I did not 
 meddle with them, so long as they were not likely to entail 
 serious consequences. Luckily, I had four thousand 
 soldiers at my disposal, among them the 6oth of the Line, in 
 garrison at Roanne the year before, and one battalion of 
 which had returned with me across the snows of Mont 
 Blanc from the Simplon. It had seen me at work, and at a 
 time when, owing to the perturbation of the minds of the 
 people, all leaders, civil and military, were suspected of 
 treason, and it vouched for my patriotism. Moreover, the 
 Abb6 de Tr^lissac, Vicar General of the diocese, and a priest 
 whom F^nelon would have loved, rendered me the greatest 
 services, thanks to his influence over priests and laymen, 
 who were in a state of chronic excitement due to the anta- 
 gonism of the two creeds. 
 
 In fact, one day I received a deputation which betrayed 
 the greatest emotion, who had come to protest against the 
 cathedral being turned into a stable for the use of the 
 Reformers, a rumour having reached them that such a step 
 was in contemplation ! Now, the cathedral is built on a 
 rather steep elevation, and can only be approached by a 
 flight of a dozen steps, so I contented myself with replying 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 145 
 
 that, as I went every Sunday to the parish Mass, I should 
 surely be the first to oppose a profanation that was as odious 
 as it was improbable. But it did not take me long to realise 
 the depth of the chasm that split the Department into two 
 parts. 
 
 The Royalist party, consisting of nobles who, though 
 very numerous, were not very wealthy, and were mostly 
 Catholics, was closely allied with the common people through 
 the bonds of those confraternities which are so powerful in 
 the South ; and its influence over this class was all the 
 greater because it could dispose of the judicial authority, 
 and therefore hold out promises of immunity to its 
 adherents. The liberal party, made up principally of 
 Protestants, consisted of landholders, mostly well-to-do, or 
 manufacturers, who were the more circumspect because 
 their wealth made them objects of envy. If I add that 
 political hatreds were augmented by religious rancour, my 
 position will be easily understood. Nevertheless, at the 
 end of three weeks, I had succeeded in despatching seven- 
 teen hundred conscripts, and had assembled two thousand 
 soldiers, some at Montauban and others at Toulouse. 
 
 Then the federates of Cahors and Toulouse, displeased 
 at my opposition to every kind of federation in my Depart- 
 ment, sent me a deputation, partly solicitous, partly threaten- 
 ing, and accompanied by some of their leaders. I answered 
 that I would have no federation or anything else that was 
 likely to interfere with the measures I had adopted ; that I 
 had already recruited nearly four thousand men ; that the 
 taxes were paid, and that peace prevailed everywhere. 
 Further, I stated that I had not sent the Royal Volunteers 
 to the frontier because those whose duty it was to serve had 
 responded to the roll-call, and that I intended to leave 
 useless individuals at home. Finally, I told them that they 
 might bring any accusation against me they liked ; but that 
 I was their Prefect and Commissioner Extraordinary, a 
 member of the Chamber, elected by a Department I had 
 twice saved, and that no one should hinder me from doing 
 at Montauban what I had done in the Loire. They were 
 
 K 
 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 furious, and wrote off to Paris. I received a very affectionate 
 letter from Carnot, in which he assured me of his full confi- 
 dence, at the same time advising me to be cautious about 
 offending popular sentiment. I thanked him, and continued 
 to follow the course I had sketched out for myself. 
 
 At this time certain Royalist agents who had been arrested 
 in the neighbouring Departments were brought to Besan^on. 
 
 Their wives came and threw themselves at my feet, be- 
 seeching me to save them. I answered that it was impossible 
 for me to set them at liberty, but that I would have them 
 conveyed to Montauban, on condition that they pledged 
 their word not to try to escape or take part in any intrigue. 
 I placed them in the custody of two gendarmes, and allowed 
 them to select the best inn in the city as their prison, they 
 paying all expenses. 
 
 Shortly after that I was awakened at five in the morning, 
 and told that a stranger was below who wanted to speak to 
 me immediately. I got up, and found myself face to face 
 with M. de Marsillac, a gentleman I had known at Paris. 
 He informed me that General Decaen, Commander of the 
 Corps d'Arm6e of the South at Toulouse, was determined to 
 have him arrested and brought before a military commission, 
 and begged me to protect him. I was puzzled what to do. 
 Finally, I proposed the same conditions to him that I had 
 proposed to the others ; these he accepted, and when I had 
 " incarcerated " him, I started for Toulouse to confer with 
 the General. 
 
 The latter, who had been circumvented by the federates, 
 and whose vanity was wounded by my having retained his 
 prisoners, had written to me insisting on their being sent 
 back to him, and authorising the formation of the federa- 
 tions which I had forbidden. I explained the matter to 
 him with my usual frankness : " My motive in accepting 
 the mission of the Government sprang solely from the 
 belief that I could serve it effectively, not from any 
 anxiety on my part to secure employment ; my powers as 
 Commissioner Extraordinary made me independent of him ; 
 I had now adopted successful measures for recruiting. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 147 
 
 assembling the troops, and collecting the taxes ; my methods 
 were my own, and if he believed he had the authority to 
 reduce me by force, I was ready to leave the Department 
 that very moment. But it would be the beginning of civil 
 war, for I should ascend the tribune of the Chamber and 
 demonstrate that he was responsible for the French blood 
 that would be shed by French hands ; and my statement 
 would carry the more weight from the fact that I had made 
 myself responsible for the obedience of the Department, if 
 he were only willing to trust me." He looked steadily in 
 my face ; then, gripping me by the hand, he complimented 
 me in terms more soldierly than refined, adding : " I will 
 do as you wish, for you are the only one of the great 
 functionaries whom the troops do not accuse of treason." 
 He was an honest man. 
 
 After this I was wholly absorbed with plans for pro- 
 moting peace and concord ; I avoided everything like 
 coercion, save in the case of a man named Jafard, whom 
 I caused to be arrested ; he was, so to speak, the Tres- 
 taillons ^ of Montauban. He had been sentenced three or 
 four times to death or the galleys for robbery and murder, 
 but had always escaped owing to his influence with high 
 political personages. He had afterward robbed a tax- 
 collector, and the warrant for his arrest had never been 
 executed. I discovered that he had found refuge in the 
 house of a wealthy landowner, Comte O'Kelly, who, with 
 his son-in-law, M. de Termes, had armed his servants, with 
 the object of actually escorting the ruffian to the Garonne 
 and baffling the pursuit of the gendarmes. I immediately 
 requested these gentlemen to call at the Prefecture, and told 
 them that, while I understood the position of those honour- 
 able men who held opinions different from mine and who 
 might be expected to fight for them desperately, it had 
 never entered my head that gentlemen of their birth and 
 rank could become the bodyguards of an assassin ; that 1 
 
 ' A bandit who turned the White Terror to account in the South by 
 committing all sorts of robberies and assassinations, under the pretext of 
 political reprisals. 
 
148 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had given orders for Jafard to be captured, dead or alive, 
 and for the arrest of those who had rendered themselves his 
 accomplices by helping him to escape, and that, consequently, 
 they would have only themselves to blame if any misfor- 
 tune befell them. They were not slow in taking my words 
 to heart. 
 
 My honest friend Decaen, in his new-born zeal, adopted 
 measures of precaution for my personal safety, and every 
 night a battalion bivouacked on the square in front of the 
 Prefecture ; but, as my conscience was at peace, and being 
 satisfied with my conduct, I had no fear, and used to slip 
 out regularly through a little gate in the garden and enjoy 
 a stroll by moonlight on the banks of the Tarn, in company 
 with my secretary. I was often recognised, but never in- 
 sulted, and the only hostile manifestation I encountered was 
 from the little children who, when playing at war, used to 
 cry " Vive le Rot ! " after me. Thus calm was fully estab- 
 lished at Montauban when, suddenly, the news of Waterloo 
 and the Emperor's abdication reached us. 
 
 I was deeply afflicted, but not surprised. Feeling sure 
 that now there was no other alternative for France but to 
 return to Legitimacy, with the best conditions attainable, 
 nothing was left me but to finish my task and rest con- 
 tented with retiring into private life, having gained the 
 good opinion of all parties. 
 
 The seventeen days that followed were, I believe, the 
 most laborious and honourable in all my life. Placed 
 between adversaries whom it was necessary to reconcile by 
 moderating the impatience of one party and calming the 
 irritation of another, which was the more hot-headed 
 because it still controlled an armed force and could dispose 
 of 4000 soldiers, I went perpetually from one camp to the 
 other, in order to prevent ructions ; I was for ever occupied 
 in stopping quarrels, and checking threats and challenges in 
 the streets and squares. To the cries of " Vive PEm- 
 pereurl" I replied, "There is no longer an Emperor," 
 and to the cries of " Vive le Roi !" I answered " There 
 is no King as yet." To those who said, "Well, what 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 149 
 
 shall we cry ? " I answered, " Cry Vive la France ! Thut 
 is a cry that suits all times." 
 
 One Sunday some women fell on a number of officers 
 in a public walk, and tried to tear oiF their Crosses of the 
 Legion of Honour ; whereupon the latter promptly joined 
 forces, and flung the most violent into the river, the waters 
 of which were, fortunately, low ; I interfered in time to 
 prevent further mischief. On another day, some of the 
 garrison, exasperated by the provocations of the cadets, who 
 were beginning to appear in their uniform, gave chase to 
 them through the streets, as well as the women who had 
 joined them. I rushed to the rescue, and, wresting a gun 
 from the hands of a sub-lieutenant, I cried : " Would you 
 dishonour your epaulets by charging women and children 
 at the point of the bayonet 1 " 
 
 Nothing but the soldiers' respect and affection for me 
 would have enabled me to appease their anger and restrain 
 their burning desire to make reprisals, for they were beset 
 by outsiders who flocked to the barracks, solely for the 
 purpose of inciting them to violence : " In another fort- 
 night," they said, " you will be leaving Montauban, so that 
 if you sacked the town, you would, at any rate, secure a 
 certain amount of plunder, and nothing would happen to 
 you." Although these fomenters of disorder were, for the 
 most part, strangers to the army, still, the Generals of the 
 different corps, the leaders who were denounced daily, dared 
 not to impose too strict a discipline, and I was frequently 
 obliged to confine some of the soldiers to their quarters in 
 order to prevent a disaster. I felt a particular dislike for 
 the women of the lower classes. These harpies, blinded 
 by their fanatical attachment to religion and the Royalists, 
 braved every danger, jibed the men for their weakness, 
 preached rioting, and blended their private with their public 
 hatreds. 
 
 At length by dint of patience, kind words, and appeals 
 to the Royalist chiefs, I at last reaped the fruit of my 
 moderation. I let it be known that I should only retain 
 my office during the time needed to secure the submission 
 
ISO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the troops, whose co-operation was indispensable for the 
 common safety ; and I am bound to acknowledge that the 
 principal inhabitants did everything that lay in their power 
 to aid me. On the other hand, I often assembled the most 
 influential soldiers, the most prominent Protestants and the 
 leaders of the liberal party, and showed them that any 
 attempt at resistance would have no other result than to 
 create a number of victims. In this way the minds of the 
 people were so well prepared that when the news reached 
 them of the arrival of Louis XVIII. in Paris on the I2th 
 of July, and when, as the Royalists desired me to proclaim 
 the return of the King, I called a meeting of the chief 
 military leaders, I was assured that I was the only person 
 who could bring about a general submission, and that I 
 might reckon on their support. 
 
 With regard to the cockade, it was agreed that, before 
 changing it, we should await the orders of the Minister of 
 War. The troops and the National Guard were drawn up 
 in a square. I took my station on horseback in the middle. 
 I then announced the events that had taken place in Paris, 
 and the return of Louis XVI IL ; I told them that, for the 
 sake of France, her repose and her safety, our submission 
 must be unanimous, and that I now asked for this final 
 proof of their devotion and patriotism. Then, at a given 
 signal, the National Guards and the Royal Volunteers joined 
 the soldiers, and, after directing them to form into a column, 
 I marched through the city at their head. It would be 
 impossible to paint the enthusiasm of the women or the 
 calm, resigned dignity of the soldiers. All was over at 
 eleven o'clock. Nevertheless, I thought it prudent to 
 confine the troops to their quarters. 
 
 Everything would have passed off successfully had not 
 a detachment of Chasseurs returned, a few minutes later, 
 from a tour of inspection in the Department. They were 
 surprised at all this merry-making and at the sight of the 
 white cockades, and, irritated by some insulting remarks, 
 they drew their swords and wounded a few of the inhabi- 
 tants, both Volunteers and Verdets. I had them arrested 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 151 
 
 immediately, but this did not calm the public indignation. 
 In the twinkling of an eye the military stores in the town- 
 hall were pillaged, and the people marched on the gaol, 
 determined to massacre the prisoners. I hurried at once 
 to the building, and stood in front of the gate, using all the 
 arguments I could think of to prevent them from forcing 
 an entrance. 
 
 At the same time, I sent the commanders of the different 
 divisions to the barracks to restrain the soldiers, who were 
 exasperated by their comrades' danger ; and, for nearly 
 six hours, I confronted a crowd of madmen, brandishing 
 swords, levelling pistols, howling, " To arms 1 death to the 
 assassins!" At last I made myself heard: "What!" I 
 cried, " you have each of you a gun in one hand and a 
 sword in the other, and yet you ask for arms, while my 
 sword remains in its scabbard ! I am here in the midst 
 of you for the sole purpose of preventing you and the 
 prisoners from butchering one another ! " Towards even- 
 ing peace was restored, and every one went home quietly. 
 I believe that this was the only revolution since 1789 that 
 terminated without bloodshed. 
 
 As soon as I had managed to have the change of Govern- 
 ment proclaimed throughout the entire Department, and 
 had received the assurance that order prevailed everywhere, 
 I announced my departure. Nevertheless, the Commis- 
 sioners of the Due d'Angoul^me declared, in the name of 
 the Prince, that I might either keep the Prefecture of 
 Montauban or take that of Toulouse, if I preferred it. 
 I answered that my conduct had not been dictated by any 
 personal interest ; that my sole chance of winning the 
 esteem, if not the gratitude, of the inhabitants of the 
 Tarn-et-Garonne was to retire now when my intervention 
 was no longer necessary ; that with the establishment of 
 the King's authority my mission ceased, and that I could 
 not accept another. I added that it was my desire to with- 
 draw from public life, and that their presence, joined to 
 that of the inhabitants, at the moment of my departure. 
 
152 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 would prove I was free from peril and reproach, which was 
 what my conscience desired. 
 
 Thereupon I entered a carriage in the midst of an 
 immense crowd, among which were the leaders of the two 
 parties, and hastened to join my wife and children once 
 more. But I found my property in a wretched condition. 
 It had been occupied, for the second time, by the Allies, 
 and, what with forced contributions and requisitions of 
 every kind, it was two years before I could reduce my 
 estates to order or derive any profit from them. 
 
 A month after my departure, I received the most flatter- 
 ing expressions of sympathy and gratitude from the Prefect 
 who succeeded me, the Conseil G6n6ral, the Mayor of 
 Montauban, the Royal Volunteers, the Grand Vicar of the 
 diocese, and Mme. de Balbi. The Conseil G6n6ral of the 
 Loire also considered it their duty to give me a proof of 
 their regret and esteem. I reproduce these documents ^ 
 here, because I found them of considerable value to me, 
 when an attempt was made later to oblige all the higher 
 officials of the Hundred Days to defray the expenses of the 
 war, and when it was actually threatened to prosecute them 
 personally. The proposal was of course rejected, and, in 
 any case, it could not, apparently, have applied to me, as 
 it referred only to those who had joined the Emperor before 
 the 23rd of March. But, in a time of violent reaction, 
 no one can feel sure of not falling a victim to arbitrary 
 power ; consequently these documents were not only flatter- 
 ing tokens of esteem, but were valuable as a safeguard. 
 
 ^ We quote only the last : — 
 
 " Monsieur, — The members of the Conseil General of the Loire, in 
 session at Montbrison, have learned of your return to Rambuteau. This 
 circumstance enables us to give expression to our regret that this Depart- 
 ment is deprived of the advantage of seeing you again at the head of its 
 administration, for you have left behind you many claims on the gratitude 
 of the inhabit. ints. We, who have been especially the witnesses of your 
 labours, desire to pay a legitimate tribute to the wisdom you displayed in 
 difficult circumstances, and to your constant and zealous solicitude for the 
 public good and that of the Department confided to your care. — Believe us. 
 Monsieur," &c. (^Hei'e follow ten signatures.) 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 TWELVE YEARS OF LEISURE 
 
 THUS, after seven years of a feverish existence in the 
 midst ofj perhaps, the most extraordinary events in 
 our history, I was restored to what are commonly 
 described as the delights of private life. And high time, 
 too, so far as the welfare of my property was concerned. 
 Our house had been for two months one of the head- 
 quarters of the Allies, whom we had to lodge and board. 
 The grocer's bill alone amounted to 2700 francs. Out of 
 forty-two head of cattle there remained one cow ; seventeen 
 oxen had fallen victims to a requisition in a single day ; 
 not to speak of the assessments in money, &c., &c. God 
 save France from another invasion ! 
 
 As if these calamities were not enough, we had to 
 suffer the horrors of famine for two successive years. In 
 1 8 16 and 18 17, bread was sold at eight-pence a pound, 
 even in our mountains ; and but for the potatoes, half the 
 population must have died of hunger. What was the best 
 method of relieving such misery .'' In my opinion, the 
 most charitable plan that could be adopted was to give 
 employment. I had all my woods enclosed with ditches, 
 had two ponds cleaned out, and ornamental paths made 
 through my park ; in short, I employed as many hands as 
 I could, a proceeding that did not exactly improve my 
 impaired exchequer. 
 
 Owing to the death of my grandmother de Laviefville, 
 I was obliged to go to Paris at the beginning of 1 8 1 6. I 
 wore mourning, a very suitable garb, for all those who had 
 held high places during the Hundred Days were treated 
 as pariahs. Even the closest ties of relationship, as well as 
 
 153 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 those of friendship, were shattered by this sudden outburst 
 of party feeling. Thus, my cousin, Mme. de Lavillegontier, 
 requested me not to visit her. I was well received, how- 
 ever, by the Duchesse de Narbonne, the Abbe de Montes- 
 quiou, Mme. de Fdzensac, the S6monvilles, and by the 
 Jaucourts, who, after their return to France, had written to 
 my wife : " We cannot forget the children of our friend ; 
 tell us how we can serve M. de Rambuteau." I should 
 say the same of Mme. de Balbi, to whose unaltered friendli- 
 ness I feel sure I owed the gracious reception which the 
 Abbe de Montesquiou bestowed on me. 
 
 I saw a good many of my old friends besides, who 
 were pretty much in the same situation as myself — Marshal 
 Suchet and his wife, who never proved false to their 
 opinions ; General Belliard, General Andrdossi, &c. It 
 was now that I formed my close friendship with General 
 Foy. 
 
 I had known his wife in 1812 and 18 13, a charming 
 woman, whose popularity in fashionable society by no 
 means interfered with her duties as the mother of a family : 
 the manner in which she brought up her five children made 
 them in every respect worthy of being adopted by France.^ 
 They were living at the time in a little entresol in the Rue 
 de Verney, where I used to eat my leg of mutton in com- 
 pany with Sismondi. One morning they invited me to a 
 late breakfast, given to celebrate the deliverance of General 
 Drouot, who had just been acquitted and was leaving the 
 Abbaye. You may imagine our joy at this act of justice — 
 an act of justice indeed, for, during the Hundred Days, he 
 had refused to accept his salary for the past year spent in 
 the Isle of Elba, saying he had no right to take it, as he 
 was not then in the service of France. After our excite- 
 ment had calmed down a little, we noticed, with consider- 
 able astonishment, his fine new frock-coat, for he had always 
 been careless in the matter of dress. "Well," he said, 
 
 ' The national subscription opened in their favour exceeded a million 
 francs in a few weeks. Mme. Foy was the daughter of General Baraguay- 
 d'Hilliers. She had married General Foy in 1807. 
 
:Z/fi€- ^:zJM'Cri.e^ac ^(^ c 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 155 
 
 " you know I am very ugly, and a three weeks' imprison- 
 ment did not improve my appearance. But as I wished to 
 look my best on the day of my execution, I had this coat 
 made for me." 
 
 My stay in Paris gave me an opportunity of looking 
 into the affairs of the Duchesse de Narbonne, who had no 
 income except the little pension which we allowed her. 
 For the Restoration had suppressed all pensions granted 
 by the Emperor. I had hoped that the favour which the 
 Abb6 de Montesquiou enjoyed at Court would insure the 
 restitution of her annuity ; he was her nephew,^ and, having 
 been brought up by the Duchess, the latter had strong 
 claims on his gratitude. He assured me that he had made 
 every possible effort, had used all the influence he could 
 bring to bear on the King and the Comte d'Artois, but that, 
 owing to the remembrance in which the Comte de Nar- 
 bonne's devotion to Napoleon was still held, all his labours 
 had been in vain. This reminded me of what my father- 
 in-law once said to me : " Rambuteau, you are my adopted 
 son ; but you will find that, during your whole life, this 
 adoption will bring you more plague than profit. For 
 remember, that hatreds which are born of political differ- 
 ences die hard." But the Abb6 was mistaken. Louis 
 XVIII. sent a note for a thousand francs to the Duchess. 
 She returned it, with the remark that his Majesty had 
 undoubtedly sent it to the wrong address, as he had evi- 
 dently intended to bestow the money on the poor of his 
 parish. 
 
 The Emperor was more magnanimous, as I have already 
 remarked, for he sent Bertrand, the Grand Marshal, on the 
 23rd of March 18 15, to inquire into the situation of 
 Mme. de Narbonne, because, though hostile to the Empire 
 and faithful to royalty, she was the mother of an aide-de- 
 camp who had died in his service. 
 
 I did not, however, consider myself beaten. It struck 
 me that the pension of the Duchess might be included 
 
 ' He was the son of a sister of the Due de Narbonne, who had married 
 the Marquis de Montesquiou-Fezensac. 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 under the head of the debts of the Princes, for which the 
 Chambers had just voted 25,000,000 francs. Fortunately, 
 I found a supporter in the secretary of the Cornmission of 
 Liquidation, who was a particular friend of M. de Mes- 
 grigny. I reminded him how she had spent fifteen years 
 during the Emigration with Mesdames at Rome and 
 Trieste, during which time she had neither received her 
 allowance as Lady-in-waiting nor the money she had 
 advanced, nor did she even receive the legacy bequeathed 
 to her by Madame Ad61a'fde ; and I asked why should not 
 her claims be considered as among the debts due from 
 members of the Royal Family. The Abb6 de Montesquiou 
 despaired of any result. But, for all that, I obtained a 
 reimbursement of 180,000 francs, and her name was in- 
 scribed on the public ledger for a pension of 9000 francs. 
 And so the future of the woman who had been bequeathed 
 to me by M. de Narbonne was assured. 
 
 I will not mention my own troubles except to pay a 
 well-deserved tribute to the strength of character, business 
 capacity, and foresight of Mme. de Rambuteau. No one 
 ever grew rich in the service of the King, and, certainly, no 
 one ever grew rich in the service of the Emperor ; my 
 emoluments as Chamberlain and Prefect never in any way 
 equalled my expenses ; the Revolution, Emigration, and 
 Invasion did the rest. It was only by selling a part of my 
 estates, besides making other necessary sacrifices, and by 
 exercising a rigid economy with regard to what was left, 
 that I at last found myself in the possession of independent 
 but greatly straitened means. 
 
 I devoted all my energies to the improvement of my 
 property, and planted my first larches in 18 17. Whilst I 
 was Prefect of the Simplon, in pursuance of the Emperor's 
 orders, and with special reference to the naval constructions 
 at the port of Toulon, I had carefully studied the eighty 
 thousand hectares of forest land in the Valais. I had been 
 struck with the beauty of these trees, several of which were 
 a hundred and twenty feet high and fourteen feet in circum- 
 cumference. As the soil seemed very similar to that of the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 157 
 
 mountains and moors of Rjimbuteau, I had often thought of 
 acclimatising these larches on my own estates. Never did 
 any experiment succeed better. In thirty years, my nurseries 
 supplied me with thirty thousand larches, sixty thousand 
 pines, firs, cedars, and other coniferae, besides fifty thousand 
 fruit, forest, and ornamental trees. In this way I planted 
 magnificent woods, which are still the delight of my eyes. 
 
 My third daughter, Amable, was born the same year. 
 I have good reason to thank God for her birth, since she is 
 the only one of my daughters who has left me grand- 
 children. But for her, my old age would have been gloomy 
 and hopeless, for, alas ! I had the misfortune to survive 
 her ; but I thank God for not having suffered my family to 
 die out. 
 
 During the winter. Marshal Suchet called on me one 
 morning to ask my advice on an important matter. " The 
 Duke of Wellington," said he, " is urging me to go to the 
 Tuileries. I have confidence in your friendship and judg- 
 ment. What do you think I ought to do .^ " " Monsieur 
 le Marechal," I replied, " you are the only one left of our 
 colleagues who occupies an important and independent 
 position. All the debris of the Empire has gathered 
 round you ; your betrothal to the Court would end in a 
 marriage of reason, not of inclination. Learn to wait. 
 Your temperate language and your prudent conduct have 
 won you universal esteem ; the day will come when you 
 will be sought after ; and then your co-operation will be all 
 the more valuable, because you will have gained the confi- 
 dence of all parties." He took my advice, and it was well 
 for him that he did so.^ 
 
 I also met during the same winter, Sebastiani, Caulain- 
 court, and Stanislas de Girardin,^ who were glad enough to 
 
 1 He was, in fact, soon afterwards restored to the Peerage, and was 
 designated by the King as one of the witnesses to be present at the accouche- 
 ment of the Duchesse de Berry. 
 
 2 Son of the Marquis de Girardin, who had offered to Rousseau his last 
 asylum at Ermonville. He himself took lessons in music from the illustrious 
 philosopher, and owed his escape from prison during the Terror to this 
 circumstance, which was pleaded in his favour by Mile. Contat. 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 visit me in the country, but never went into society. My 
 intimacy with Sainte-Aulaire still continued, and I believe 
 that, both with regard to his mental and moral qualities, he 
 was one of the most remarkable men of the time. I shall 
 never forget how he tried to serve me on the occasion of his 
 daughter's marriage with the Due Decazes, when he pro- 
 posed my nomination to the Prefecture of Nimes. It was 
 at the time when Stanislas de GIrardin accepted that of 
 Dijon, and when Marshal Suchet, MoUien, and others 
 entered the Chamber of Peers. I refused it all the same, 
 for I was convinced that my success in dealing with the 
 Catholics and Protestants of Montauban was due to the 
 absolute confidence reposed in me by the Government, but 
 which I should not enjoy at Ntmes. There the leaders and 
 members of different parties would exact undertakings from 
 me which it would be either weak or base on my part to 
 give ; and consequently I should forfeit the confidence of 
 some and the esteem of others. It was therefore better to 
 remain in seclusion. 
 
 I gave somewhat the same answer to the Abbd de 
 Montesquiou, when, on two several occasions, he offered to 
 present me at the Tuileries. " No. I served you faith- 
 fully until the 25th of March, when you expressed your 
 approbation of my conduct ; but though you are still kind 
 enough to extend your approval to me, I feel that we 
 should never really understand each other, because we do 
 not belong to the same school." " I suspect that you con- 
 sider that Royalty is in a bad way .'' " the Abb6 said to me 
 on one occasion. " By no means : if your fears were as few 
 as our hopes, you would sleep more peacefully than you do 
 now. I have no wish to serve you, but I will never con- 
 spire against you. I intend returning to the Chamber when 
 I am forty. On that day I will go to the Tuileries to prove 
 my loyalty." 
 
 I did more than keep my word, for I never visited the 
 Palais Royal before the 3rd of August 1830, although my 
 friends had for a long time belonged to the party of the 
 Due d'Orl6ans. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 159 
 
 In 1 8 19, M. Descazes nominated me member of the 
 Conseil General of the Sa6ne-et-Loire and corresponding 
 member of the Department to the Conseil Central d' Agri- 
 culture. I passed the winter of 1820 at Paris. The exiles 
 of 1 8 15 had just been permitted to return. I was delighted 
 to meet Lobau, Bassano, and all the faithful once more, and 
 a ball was given to celebrate the event at Marshal Suchet's 
 on the 13 th of February, and in the midst of it M. de 
 Roche-Dragon announced the assassination of the Due de 
 Berry. There was a cry of horror and indignation. We 
 begged the Marshal, who rushed off at once to join the 
 King at the Opera, to convey to his Majesty the expression 
 of our respect and sympathy ; the surest effect of crime is to 
 draw antagonistic parties together. 
 
 The strong friendship I had for Salnte-Aulaire increased 
 my indignation at the violence of the ultras and their odious 
 calumnies against M. Decazes.^ The King himself was 
 deeply afflicted by the accusations, and even feared for the 
 Duke's life. One day that I was speaking on the subject to 
 Mme. de Balbi, she said : " That's just like the King ! 
 His fears are for his friends, never for himself. In 1790 he 
 entreated us to go away : ' Momeigneur,^ I said, ' women are 
 not generally killed, they are whipped sometimes ; and perhaps they 
 cry the first time, but they dont mind it the second, and I am 
 too devoted to you not to run the risk.^ Repeat what I have 
 said to M. Decazes, and tell him not to abandon the King." 
 But the tempest was stronger than the affection of the one 
 and the devotion of the other. M. Decazes was compelled 
 to resign from the Ministry. Our intimacy dated from that 
 moment. 
 
 I saw a good deal of Victor de Broglie in 1822, as well 
 as of his brother-in-law, Auguste de Stael, with whom I 
 soon made friends. This was about the time when the 
 Doctrinaire school was coming into prominence. I had 
 
 1 The ultras, who had been long trying to ruin him, accused him of 
 complicity in the assassination of the Due de Berry, and one of them, 
 Clause! de Coussergues, demanded that he should be arrested and tried. 
 Every one knows the odious words uttered on the occasion : " Your feet 
 have slid in blood! " 
 
i6o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 much veneration for the Royer-Collards and the Guizots, 
 but very little for their young adepts. " I have never 
 governed the State," I used to say to them ; " but I have 
 managed several Departments in rather troublesome times. 
 And it was only by advancing from the known to the 
 unknown, by taking care not to ruffle prejudices, by weigh- 
 ing every circumstance, that I managed to attain certain 
 results. Hence my reason for feeling some hesitation in 
 sharing your sublime confidence in the absolutism of your 
 Constitutional theories." 
 
 A characteristic trait of the Doctrinaires was their con- 
 tempt for all who did not indorse their views. I have lived 
 among them for nearly thirty years, but they have never 
 adopted me, and I certainly never desired that they 
 should. Such blind submission was repugnant to my free- 
 dom of thought and action ; though I found them often just 
 towards me, they were never kindly ; whilst the younger 
 disciples, when they realised that I was never likely to join 
 their number, treated me as a person of no account, in 
 spite of my friendship with their leader. 
 
 Broglie was the head of the school. He was a favourite 
 with my father-in-law, and accompanied him on his different 
 missions to lUyria and Poland, as well as to Vienna, where 
 he was attach^ to the Embassy. He was distinguished at an 
 early age for his eminent abilities, his political integrity, his 
 liberal opinions, his wide knowledge, nor did his maturer 
 years belie the promises of his youth. I had every reason 
 to feel proud of his friendship, although I cannot say that I 
 was ever intimate with him. He had married Mile, de 
 Stael in 1 8 1 6, and it was the happiest union I have ever 
 known during the twenty-five years it lasted. It fully 
 realised the dream of Mme. de Stael, who declared : " I 
 wish my daughter to make a love-match, provided it be 
 with a duke or a peer," 
 
 M. de Broglie was very friendly towards me during the 
 whole course of his life, and gave me a special proof of his 
 good-will by asking the hand of one of my daughters in 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU i6i 
 
 1832, for his younger brother, Comte de Rocca.^ Still, I 
 always felt rather ill at my ease in his salon when the 
 Doctrinaires happened to be assembled there, for all the 
 talk and laughter was confined to the adepts. They used 
 to form into two or three groups from which the uninitiated 
 — commonplace mortals like myself — were excluded, and so, 
 in spite of the affability of the masters, particularly of my 
 excellent friend, Auguste de Stagl, I could not help feeling 
 somewhat uncomfortable. So I fell back upon one of the 
 most amiable of the friends of the family. Mile. Arondal, 
 and was delighted when I could prevail on her to relate all 
 the particulars of Mme. de Stael's private life. 
 
 In 1822 General Foy was at the full height of his 
 glorious parliamentary career. I remember a dinner at 
 which I was present with Casimir Perier, Laffitte, Sebastiani, 
 Chauvelin, Girardin, Dupont de I'Eure, and Caulaincourt. 
 There was a long discussion on the Bourbons, and on the 
 chances of their being able to hold their own, and as to the 
 duration of the Constitutional regime. The General 
 summed up his convictions as follows : " If the Bourbons 
 accept the Charter unreservedly with all its obligations, our 
 duty as Frenchmen is not only to welcome them but to 
 serve them. No doubt they dislike us and feel reluctant to 
 employ us. But of what account are our sacrifices ? Not 
 for a moment must we allow them to weigh in the balance 
 against the advantage of re-establishing our prestige in 
 the eyes of Europe. For if we can once more restore 
 our locus standi as a nation, the future is ours, and we 
 shall need no more revolutions. The world at large will 
 be grateful to us for overcoming our antipathies, and for 
 sacrificing our individual interests for the attainment of 
 this object." 
 
 Everybody applauded. Such was, at that time, as it 
 was subsequently in 1828, the almost unanimous trend of 
 public opinion : the people would have accepted the 
 Bourbons, if the Bourbons had accepted the Charter. But 
 
 ' Madame de Stael had married secretly, in 1810, a young Italian officer 
 in the French service, Comte de Rocca. 
 
 L 
 
i62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from 1815 to 1830, the Royalist party thought much more 
 of securing the privileges which would accrue to itself if the 
 Bourbons returned to power, than of recovering the Crown 
 for the latter. Hitherto they had been powerless to re- 
 install a sovereign and equally powerless to safeguard his 
 throne, and many of their number declared openly that they 
 preferred to witness the downfall of Royalty to being sup- 
 ported by those who were at heart disloyal to the cause. 
 The year 1822 nearly proved fatal to me. I underwent an 
 operation for a hydrocele, due to a fall in 1 8 1 4, when I was 
 riding in great haste from Montbrison to Sainte-Etienne to 
 take measures against the invasion. A tumour was formed, 
 accompanied by high fever. Forbin, who attended me, 
 considered that Mme. de Rambuteau should be told of my 
 condition. She immediately hastened to my bedside. I 
 was very ill, but I felt convinced that if she arrived in time 
 she would save me. She called in Larrey, who operated on 
 me, assisted by the senior doctor of the Invalides. While he 
 was tying up two or three of the ligatures, he was so sur- 
 prised at my silence that he exclaimed : " Why don't you 
 scream ? You should just hear some of the old soldiers ! 
 they simply deafen me with their yells ! " " But," I 
 answered, " what is the use of screaming ? That would not 
 relieve me, for I should have to suffer all the same." 
 
 Shortly afterwards I was attacked by a very dangerous 
 fever. Larrey passed fourteen hours at my bedside and 
 treated me as if I had the plague. He had me covered with 
 hot oil, and then rubbed with warming-pans. As soon as I 
 perspired freely, he wrapped my head in ice. The con- 
 sequence was that whenever they removed the silk bag 
 which held the ice, in order to drain off the water, I 
 always lost consciousness, just as if it were actually attached 
 to this queer kind of head-gear. Notwithstanding the 
 sweat, which streamed from my body, he made me 
 swallow quantities of iced drinks in order to stop the 
 black vomiting. At last, after a week, he administered 
 large doses of quinine, so as to prevent a return of the 
 malady, and I owed my life to his treatment, for the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 163 
 
 Due de Richelieu, who was attacked precisely in the same 
 way and at the same time, succumbed in thirty-six hours. 
 
 General Foy called almost daily to inquire for me, after 
 quitting the Chamber, and he was sure to find Caulaincourt 
 at my bedside. The pleasure I took in their conversation 
 promoted my convalescence. Singular to say, never has 
 my mind been clearer, my perception quicker, and my 
 powers of expression readier. But it was ten months before 
 I was completely restored to health. 
 
 After that it was my daughters' turn to fall ill. All 
 three were attacked by brain fever during the autumn of 
 1823. 1 still shudder at the recollection of that time, for 
 no sooner was one out of danger than I had to tremble for 
 another. God preserved them to me ; but no one knows 
 the torturing anxiety which we long endured on account 
 of their health. 
 
 In the following year, however, happiness was restored 
 to our hearth. But I had my disappointments, neverthe- 
 less. Thanks to the Royalist zeal of M. le Prefet, I lost my 
 election to the College at Micon, for he saw fit to cancel 
 more than sixty votes given in my favour. This set-back, 
 by prolonging my enforced inoccupation, enabled me to 
 build Rambuteau. The first stone was laid on the 4th of 
 May 1824, and two years afterwards I was living in my 
 new residence. Just about this time, the Socidte de I'En- 
 couragement a 1' Agriculture commissioned M, Boscq to 
 inspect my larch plantations, and, on his report, the Society 
 awarded me their grand medal of gold as recognition of my 
 labours. 
 
 I spent the winter of 1826 at Paris, always with the 
 same friends : Bassano and Caulaincourt, who showed 
 me the contents of their portfolios stuffed with curious 
 documents, interesting for the different points of view with 
 regard to the events of 18 13, 18 14, and 1815 ; as well as 
 with Montholon (who was squandering the generous legacies 
 of the Emperor and trying to indemnify himself for his six 
 years' seclusion at St. Helena), S^monville, Royer-CoUard, 
 the Dupins, Laffitte, Girardin, &c. Subsequently I returned 
 
i64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the country, where I received Anselme de Braamcamp/ 
 very much excited by the political events that had just 
 caused his exile from Portugal. He refused to recognise 
 the institution of the peerage. 
 
 " My dear fellow," I said, after I had exhausted all the 
 reasons I could adduce for the necessity of a balance of 
 power, "apart from other considerations there is much 
 wisdom in knowing how to turn prejudices to account. 
 This knowledge is a most useful factor in governing, as the 
 Emperor (who knew something about the matter) always 
 declared. Those very men who pride themselves on their 
 exemption from prejudices are always those who are most 
 subject to their influence. Certain tales told us by our 
 nurses are those that remain the longest in our memories. 
 The only distinction that survived during the Revolution 
 was that enjoyed by a member of the Institute ; the posses- 
 sion of this privilege was deemed an honour by Bonaparte. 
 The Monges, Laplaces, and Berthelots were not the last to 
 take pride in a blue or red order or in the title of Count 
 and Baron. You are really far less advanced than we are. 
 Remember that it is not an easy matter to attach certain 
 forces to the shafts of the governmental car, which might 
 otherwise pull in an opposite direction. Did I succeed in 
 convincing him ? I doubt it. All discussions, especially on 
 political matters, always work round to the same spot. ' I 
 am right, and you are wrong.' " 
 
 I spent a part of the autumn at Coppet with Auguste 
 de Stael, who was at the head of a vast agricultural enter- 
 prise, and who held a great festival annually at which the 
 leading agriculturists of Switzerland and of foreign countries 
 were present. I returned the following year. His sister 
 was anxious that he should marry ; I did my best to second 
 her, for he was too religious and moral to lead the life of a 
 bachelor. " My mother," he said to me, " wished me to 
 marry an Englishwoman ; but as the Englishwoman had also 
 to be a Protestant, I found it impossible to comply with 
 her desire. The great obstacle in my way was the character 
 ' His brother had married the eldest daughter of Comte de Narbonne. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 165 
 
 of the women I met. Those who were pious and virtuous 
 were generally straight-laced prudes whose temper would 
 drive a husband crazy. Others had taken leave of all 
 decency, and left a would-be husband in no doubt of what 
 he might expect from them." 
 
 An unforeseen incident threw him at length in the way 
 of the charming woman who ultimately became his wife. 
 Their happiness, alas ! was short-lived, for, at the end of a 
 year, he became the victim of brain fever, a terrible and 
 hereditary disease that had attacked the mother and which 
 subsequently overtook his brother and sister, thus uniting 
 them all in one and the same melancholy fate. His friend, 
 M. Lullin de Chateauvieu, author of the Lettres de Saint- 
 James, conveyed the sad tidings to me at the very moment 
 of my election to the Chamber, and when the voters of the 
 Department of the Ain were ready to give me for colleague 
 one who was my brother in arms and always ready to fight 
 at my side. 
 
 In fact, I was elected in the month of November, in 
 spite of the opposition of the Prefect, M. de Villeneuve, 
 who, however, waged war against me in quite honourable 
 fashion. My opponent was M. Doria, the Ministerial 
 candidate and the President of the College, who had held 
 the seat for twelve years. We had been intimate friends ; 
 he was a man of honour, to whose fine qualities I rendered 
 full justice, but politics rupture all ties, and we may con- 
 gratulate ourselves when it does not shatter all reciprocal 
 esteem as well ! As for myself, I was the candidate of the 
 liberal and constitutional cause which I had served after the 
 fall of the Emperor, and I had announced, as early as 1824, 
 that I would sit between M. Royer-CoUard and General 
 Foy. Alas ! I had little time to rejoice over my success : 
 a cruel sorrow was awaiting me. I lost my sister, Mme. 
 de Mesgrlgny, who was the victim of an accident. One 
 night when she was going up stairs to her bed-chamber, the 
 taper in her hand set the ribbons in her cap on fire ; the 
 flames caught her hair, and, although immediate help was 
 at hand, she was seriously burned in the neck. It seems 
 
i66 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 the wound contracted the jugular vein, causing an attack of 
 apoplexy to supervene. 1 can still feel her arms about my 
 neck as she cried, " Save me, brother 1 " All remedies 
 were useless. In vain did Larrey (who loved her as his 
 own child) lavish the most devoted care on her : she ex- 
 pired at the end of two days. I have often spoken of our 
 childhood and of our great affection for each other. So 
 there is no need to dilate on my sorrow at her loss. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 IN THE CHAMBER 
 
 THE elections of 1827 were a decided victory for 
 liberal opinion, thanks to Chateaubriand, who, by- 
 countenancing the opposition led by C. P^rier and 
 Sebastiani, hastened the downfall of M. de Villde. Right 
 glad was I to find myself again among my old colleagues, 
 many of them, too, my old friends ; they formed the gallant 
 little cohort which had been fighting for twelve years under 
 the command of General Foy, and which had triumphed at 
 last. They were but seventeen to start with ; now recruits 
 were flocking to them from all quarters ; although they 
 were still not strong enough to become a solid majority. 
 But, with the aid of Chateaubriand's party, called the 
 " Reunion d'Agier " (after President Agier, at whose house 
 it used to meet), the two Centres, with a part of the Left, 
 were powerful enough to insist on the formation of a liberal 
 Ministry and on the election of Royer-CoUard to the 
 Presidency of the Chamber. 
 
 The Left also had its meetings at the H6tel d'Ogny, 
 under the direction of Casimir P6rier and Sebastiani, sup- 
 ported by Laffitte, Dupont de I'Heure, Royer-CoUard, and 
 Bertin de Vaux, all devoted to a constitutional monarchy. 
 As for myself, I took my seat next the lobby which separated 
 the Centre from the Left, on the same bench with Augustin 
 P^rier, Pelet de la Lozfere, and Dupin. 
 
 The opposition numbered several of the King's most 
 
 faithful friends, disgusted with an intriguing, onesided 
 
 administration, which was bent on excluding from its 
 
 ranks every man of any capacity. They found no lack of 
 
 courageous and able individuals amongst us ready to rally 
 
 167 
 
i68 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to any Government that would give liberty and prosperity 
 to France at home, and honour and independence abroad. 
 As a result of this closer connection and of our uniting 
 together for one common end, many prejudices were re- 
 moved, and, such is the power of disinterested loyalty, that 
 at the end of a few months MM. de La Ferronnays and 
 Hyde de Neuville had managed to convince Casimir P^rier 
 and Sebastiani that their intentions were as upright as 
 their own. 
 
 Whatever might have been our starting-point — no 
 matter whether it were Empire or Revolution, Emigra- 
 tion or Restoration — we were all ready to accept the 
 Bourbons, some because we were satisfied with the Charter, 
 others because we wanted to keep the Bourbons, and saw 
 that the surest way of doing so was to comply unreservedly 
 with the provisions of the Charter, and thus preserve the 
 conquests of '89. Doubtless the task was made more 
 difficult by the traditions which each side still retained. 
 But, by extending a hand to such Vendeans as Hyde de 
 Neuville and La Ferronnays, who grasped it with a con- 
 fidence of which they had no reason to repent as long as 
 they remained in power, we hoped that our devotion would 
 be understood and appreciated by the King. 
 
 Unfortunately, his mind was entirely warped by pre- 
 judices. He distrusted his best servants, who had dared to 
 tell him the truth, and his only prevailing idea was to 
 conspire against the form of Government created by his 
 brother — against that Charter of emancipation which was 
 intended to span the gulf between the past and future, and 
 to compensate France for her vanished glories by establish- 
 ing her liberty. I am convinced that ninety-nine per cent, 
 of the Chamber would have been inclined to give a favour- 
 able hearing to those wise utterances of General Foy, which 
 I have already recorded, and the sincerity of our senti- 
 ments (which we fully intended to carry out in our actions) 
 was enough to explain the existence of our union, which 
 even the Address of the 221 could not succeed in destroying. 
 It only needed the " Ordonnances " to drive us into the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 169 
 
 background and to restore our distinctive colours to each 
 one of us. 
 
 One of the most important points in our programme was 
 our alliance with the Reunion d'Agier; nevertheless this 
 alliance was vehemently opposed by the Abb6 de Pradt, who 
 hoped to play a great part among us. "How," he ex- 
 claimed, " can you speak of an alliance and of negotiating 
 with people who only yesterday were our opponents, and 
 who have been brought to join us merely by their regrets 
 and disappointments. How can you, I say, when you have 
 justice for your fulcrum and France for your lever ? " This 
 indignant declamation found little echo, and Mauguin, 
 bantering the Abb6 on his revolutionary inflexibility, re- 
 minded him of Jupiter Scapin. He had been publishing 
 works for ten. years, all intended to promote his candidate- 
 ship for the Chamber and to enhance the glory of his d6but 
 in the tribune, which, however, he never ventured to ascend, 
 not having enough courage to make that first appearance. 
 
 On this matter Stanislas de Girardin gave me some 
 sterling advice. "When you enter the Chamber," said 
 he, " be sure you are not afraid of the tribune. Such fear 
 is something like the involuntary terror of the soldier when 
 he is first exposed to the enemy's fire ; you must surmount 
 it at all costs. If you remain a fortnight without speaking, 
 you'll never speak. Begin as soon as the question of the 
 verification of powers is discussed ; do not attempt to be 
 eloquent ; test your capacity by letting yourself he heard on 
 questions that have no special importance. The power of 
 making long speeches will come later." 
 
 I took his advice, and found it to my advantage ; for it 
 Is most important not to break down in a first attempt ; 
 which create prejudices that die hard. Consequently, when- 
 ever I have ascended the tribune, during the ten years of 
 my parliamentary career, I have always been more anxious 
 to descend from it with honour than to win applause. 
 Moreover, I was too conscious of my limitations to anti- 
 cipate anything approaching an oratorical triumph. I was 
 amply satisfied when, as a business man and as an adminis- 
 
I70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 trator, I could make myself useful by scrupulously studying 
 my subject and by availing myself of the counsels of those 
 superior men in the Chamber who were willing to enlighten 
 me by their experience. I took less part, therefore, in the 
 debates than in the functions and commissions for which 
 my past experience had prepared me. My colleagues were 
 good enough to credit me with a certain measure of ability 
 in my management of such matters as came before me. I 
 remember a meeting at Chalon in 1828, after our election 
 to the Grand College, when M. Thiard, who was annoyed 
 by the counsels and recommendations of certain personages, 
 exclaimed, with some show of temper : " Ah, gentlemen, 
 let me alone 1 Every one to his trade I When you want 
 to speak of laws, talk to Rambuteau ; he has all that sort of 
 thing at his fingers' ends, when you want to talk scandal, 
 come to me ; no one can beat me at that ! " 
 
 In fact, the sessions of the Council of State, at which I 
 had been present during three years when in attendance on 
 the Emperor, besides the office of Prefect, which I had held 
 in times of storm and stress, my wide acquaintance with 
 men and things, my ten years' retirement, during which I 
 had devoted my leisure to the study of political economy, 
 and my connection with the most distinguished leaders of 
 the opposition parties during the winters I spent in Paris, 
 reinforced by a certain facility in delivery and a capacity for 
 grasping the essentials of a subject, had all contributed to fit 
 me for my r61e as a deputy. But before taking part in a 
 great concert one should have a clear conception of the 
 compass and pitch of one's voice, and I was not at all inclined 
 to tax the patience of my friends. It was enough for me 
 that my moderation, well-known devotion to constitutional 
 principles, and respect for illustrious memories had secured 
 me the approval of men like Royer-CoUard and Casimir 
 P^rier. 
 
 The first thing I did was to fulfil my promise to the 
 Abb^ de Montesquiou by going to pay my respects, as 
 deputy, to the King and Royal Family ; but I also visited 
 the Bertins, whose house was the daily rendezvous of a 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 171 
 
 part of the Ministry. It was at the club which met in the 
 offices of the D^bats, a sort of constitutional sanctuary, that 
 M. Hyde de Neuville, ex-Minister to Portugal, and a 
 friend of my brother-in-law, M. Braamcamp de Soral, intro- 
 duced me to the Marquis de la Ferronnays, of whom I 
 became the intimate friend. 
 
 He was the typical " perfect gentilhomme" as faithful as 
 he was brave and disinterested. It was his deep sense of 
 loyalty which led him to promote a reconciliation between 
 the King and the Charter, between the Revolution and the 
 Bourbons, and he reckoned on the co-operation of all well- 
 disposed people, judging their hearts by his own. P6rier 
 and Sebastiani had more confidence in him than even in 
 M. de Martignac, who, fearing to give any cause to the 
 King to doubt his fidelity, often kept unpleasant truths to 
 himself, while M. de La Ferronnays was always outspoken, 
 whatever his frankness might cost him. Thus, on one 
 occasion, when I was awaiting him at Hyde de Neuville's 
 house, he entered, quite beside himself with anger : " What 
 am I to do with a man who has just said to me, with the 
 utmost seriousness, and almost without listening to me, 
 ' My dear Marquis^ you wish to save my Crown, and you will, 
 perhaps, succeed in doing so ; but you will not help me to save 
 my soul, and that is the important point .' '" I have always 
 regretted that the state of his health forced him to retire 
 in 1828, for he alone could have prevented the rise of 
 Polignac, which from that moment was assured, to the 
 imminent peril of the country. 
 
 During the course of this session, I was nominated 
 member of a Commission charged with the duty of study- 
 ing the organisation of the Council of State. For a long 
 time the Opposition had demanded that the Judges presid- 
 ing over the Courts of Equity (in which all lawsuits and 
 matters of litigation were heard) should share in the privi- 
 lege of irremovability from office enjoyed by all magistrates, 
 seeing that the former had to pronounce judicial sentences ; 
 there were even some who recommended the extension of 
 this same privilege to all the other Judges. I had always 
 
172 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 admired the old State Council, composed as \t was of the 
 illustrious men to whom we owed the Civil Code ; for it 
 might, in some respects, be regarded as the very keystone 
 of the Imperial Government. As there was no danger of 
 publicity, the utmost freedom of speech was permitted ; 
 nay, more, encouraged by the Emperor, who sometimes 
 advanced false arguments himself in order to get at the 
 truth ; no one on these occasions made any pretence to 
 eloquence, and I confess the recollection of these sessions 
 somewhat lessened my appreciation of the finest discussions 
 in the Chamber, where I found that most of the speeches 
 were made for the gallery and seemed to come from the 
 lips of brilliant lawyers rather than of grave judges. 
 
 I understood, of course, that representative government 
 and the action of the Chambers and of the tribune would 
 deprive the Council of State of a good deal of its authority, 
 but, nevertheless, I felt that it was a necessary measure, 
 both for the forming of laws, the regulation of public 
 administration, and the maintenance of order and discipline 
 in the great administrative body, whose co-operation must 
 constitute the strength and security of the throne. The 
 Council of State, as the guardian of Royal institutions, 
 ought therefore to remain always under the control of 
 Royalty, and have nothing in common with Parliaments. 
 For one of the greatest benefits conferred by the Con- 
 stituent Assembly was the entire separation of the Depart- 
 ment of Justice from that of Administration, thereby 
 providing an absolute guarantee for judicial independence, 
 which had been insured by their measure for the irremov- 
 ability of Judges. 
 
 The Court of Cassation was the crowning of the 
 department of Justice, the Council of State that ot the 
 department of Administration, and the section of the 
 " Contentieux " (Equity Courts) maintained the division 
 of powers by removing to its tribunal all acts of litigation 
 which could not very well be dealt with in either depart- 
 ment. The wisdom of this arrangement has been justified 
 by time. But if in judicial matters eventualities can be 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 173 
 
 foreseen and prejudged with all the impassiveness of the 
 law, the same thing does not apply to questions belonging 
 to the department of Administration, which cannot forecast 
 the results of all cases or anticipate their delicate circum- 
 stances. It must be satisfied with laying down general 
 principles, always allowing sufficient latitude to the ad- 
 ministrative personnel to insure their execution. For this 
 purpose we have Ministers, Prefects, Mayors, &c. — legis- 
 lators on a small scale, and it is their decisions, rules, 
 regulations, &c., whose limitations are ultimately fixed by 
 the Council of State. Consequently, a permanent Council 
 of State would be more powerful than any Ministry, and 
 would thus constitute a danger for the country as well as 
 for the Government. Such were the views I put forward 
 in the Commission, and I was very much surprised at the 
 silence of M. de Cormenin, who read two or three 
 memoranda ; for this gentleman, eloquent as he was when 
 wielding his pen, had never been known to speak either 
 in the Chamber or in the Council. 
 
 M. de Portalis succeeded M. de la Ferronnays ; un- 
 fortunately his devotion to Royalty was of too recent a date 
 to permit him to venture on speaking unreservedly to the 
 King. So we began to feel that M. de Polignac's hour had 
 struck ; in fact he was already on the way to Paris. But 
 our leaders, whom we all hastened to join, raised such a 
 cry of alarm, and the attitude of the Chamber was so 
 threatening, that he quickly made his way back to London.' 
 Portalis was not the sort of man to inspire M. de Martignac 
 with energy : we soon perceived the fact on the introduc- 
 tion of the Municipal and Departmental Bill, which was to 
 be a pledge of union, but was really a second edition of the 
 double vote. Its aim was to supply a fulcrum to the 
 aristocratic party, aided by the General Councils, which were 
 henceforth to act as a counterpoise to the influence of a 
 popular Chamber. The law, in fact, would reduce the 
 number of electors by nearly a third, and this result, having 
 been represented to the King in its most advantageous light, 
 ' Where he was Ambassador. 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 decided him to consent to a measure which he had hitherto 
 regarded as a dangerous concession. 
 
 It had been almost settled that the scheme should be 
 submitted to Sainte-Aulaire, Le Pelletier d'Aunay, Pelet de 
 la Loz^re, Meschain, and myself, all of us ex-Prefects and 
 familiar with everything connected with the Departments. 
 But we were disappointed, and not a little surprised, when 
 we heard the Bill read in the Chamber by M. de Martignac. 
 After descending from the tribune, he was kind enough to 
 ask me what I thought of it. " You have tried," I said 
 " to please the Left and the Right, and you will satisfy 
 neither. The very principle that you have just asserted 
 will furnish me with arguments against you, and I shall 
 warn every one of the consequences which this Bill will 
 have in his own individual Department. I don't believe, 
 by the time I have finished, that you will find a single 
 member of the majority inclined to support you." 
 
 After that I shut myself up for three weeks with my 
 cousin, Choppin d'Arnouville ; we drew up comparative 
 tables of the electoral lists of the several departments and 
 arrondissements, and, after the debate on the bureaus, I 
 was elected a member of the Commission. I would have 
 been nominated reporter, had not Sebastiani been most 
 anxious for the position ; when I realised this, I retired, 
 having always preferred a friend to a success ; moreover, 
 the high position he held in the Chamber made up for his 
 kck of special knowledge on the subject. I was chosen 
 Secretary, and Dupont de I'Eure President. Guizot drew 
 up a brief statement of the principles at stake, and the 
 report concluded with a demand for the suppression of the 
 Conseils d'Arrondissement and the election of the General 
 Councils by all the electors. 
 
 The discussion was very animated. Royer-CoUard 
 said to me : " You are not strong enough for a hand-to- 
 hand struggle with Martignac, but I will make Vatimesnil 
 and his party over to you." Before entering upon the 
 separate clauses, an attempt was made to negotiate with 
 the Commission, and Dupont de I'Eure and I were 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 175 
 
 chosen to confer with the Government. But the Ministry 
 refused almost every concession, and Dupont de I'Eure 
 broke off the conference, saying : " I have been accused of 
 hostility to the Bourbons ; if I were their enemy, I should 
 rejoice at your obstinacy, for it will alienate the majority 
 from the Ministers and the King. But, in very truth, all 
 our efforts have been directed to the maintenance of the 
 institutions and the Government to which you claim we are 
 opposed." And nothing could be more sincere than were 
 his words. Although Dupont was not a man of superior 
 ability, he was thoroughly high-principled, an upright 
 magistrate and a moderate liberal. Provided that France 
 regained her independence, he cared very little at whose 
 hands it was received. In dismissing Dupont from office,^ 
 M. de Villele committed a grave fault. Having failed to 
 secure a seat for him in the Court of Cassation, for which 
 we had asked, and which M. de Ferronnays had promised, 
 if he went to the Tuileries, we had elected him Vice- 
 President of the Chamber. 
 
 At this period I often met M. Portal, ex-Minister of 
 the Navy ; he was then in high favour with the Due 
 d'Angoul^me, who could not have confided in a better 
 man. He persuaded me to visit the Prince. I was 
 honoured with an audience, well received, and listened to 
 with attention ; but I retired more grateful for my re- 
 ception than hopeful of the result of my frankness. 
 
 On Shrove Thursday, 1829, there was a (tte at the 
 Tuileries to which we were all invited. The Muette de 
 Portici was performed. This selection seemed to me odd, 
 to say the least of it, for the representation of a riot, the 
 tocsin, red-capped Revolutionists, in such a place and under 
 the very eyes of the Duchesse d'Angouleme, was distinctly 
 out of place. " What do you think of it } " Mme. de Balbi 
 asked me. " Upon my word, Madame, I can almost fancy 
 myself at the feast of Balthazar, with the three fateful words 
 writ large on the wall ! " My forebodings were so strong 
 that I took M. de Martignac aside, and said to him : 
 ' That of First President of the Court of Rouen. 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Monsieur le Ministre, there are circumstances in which the 
 most trivial incidents affect us deeply. Two things divide 
 us, the Conseils d'Arrondissement and the electoral lists. 
 Make this concession to us : allow the members of the 
 Councils General to be elected in the same way in which 
 the deputies are elected, and I promise to obtain from the 
 Commission the maintenance of the Conseils d'Arrondisse- 
 ment." " You are a good citizen," he answered, pressing 
 my hand, "but we have got to such a pass that, if you 
 asked me for a pin I could not give it to you." Some 
 days after, the Bill was withdrawn. 
 
 I was on the Budget Commission for the War and 
 Home Ministries, and here again, thanks to the conciliatory 
 spirit I displayed, I was able to render more than one service 
 to M. de Martignac, and specially to M. de Caux. In- 
 dispensable reforms had to be introduced into the War 
 Budget, notably for the Swiss Guard and the Staff of the 
 Princes. M. de Caux confessed as much, but he hoped to 
 obtain them from the King, and therefore begged us to 
 let him take the initiative in these painful concessions, and 
 thus save his Majesty's amour propre from being wounded. 
 He even pledged himself to bring them forward at the next 
 session, and to resign if they were not accepted. We agreed 
 to this delay ; the Budget was discussed quietly ; another 
 proof of our desire for concord. 
 
 I will not speak of the Commission of Customs, of 
 which I was Secretary, nor of the tedious discussions on 
 iron and sugar manufactures. Other events were hastening 
 to their fulfilment which were to render our peaceful 
 labours of no avail. The accession to power of the 
 Polignac Ministry had deeply wounded the majority. The 
 Right Centre, flanked by the Chateaubriand group, vied 
 with the Left in violence. Hyde de Neuville and Bertin 
 led the attack in the Dibats, while Royer-CoUard and 
 Guizot made use of the columns of the Globe, a journal 
 founded by the Aide-tot, le del taidera Society.^ It was the 
 
 ' A club founded in 1826 by Guizot, Odilon Barrot, and Barthe; it soon 
 included all the members of the liberal opposition. The manifesto said : 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 177 
 
 organ of the Doctrinaires, almost republican in sentiment, 
 deriving from Constitutional principles all that could 
 diminish the royal authority, and (resembling in this the 
 old Protestant party after the League) it sought to estab- 
 lish a system which should be almost independent of 
 Royalty. A third paper, the Temps, steered a middle course 
 between the Dibats and the National, and interpreted the 
 sentiments of a large portion of the Left ; its managers 
 were three deputies, MM. Gautier de Bordeaux, Augustin 
 P^rier, and myself. 
 
 The Opposition was therefore very powerful, having 
 rallied all its strength in defence of that Charter which had 
 restored to some the liberties won by the Revolution, to 
 others the ancient race of our Kings, and it will always 
 redound to the honour of Louis XVIII. that for ten years 
 he succeeded in revivifying and maintaining a monarchy 
 which had been restored under the most unfavourable con- 
 ditions, but to which France undoubtedly was indebted for 
 her subsequent peace and prosperity. The fact that he 
 died peacefully in the Tuileries was sufficient testimony to 
 the value of compromise and moderation. But, unfor- 
 tunately, Charles X. had very different political views. As 
 soon as the Chambers opened in 1830, I was unfavourably 
 impressed by M. de Polignac's attitude. He was well 
 aware that he was the object of legitimate suspicions ; all 
 the same, he affected a self-assurance, or rather a self- 
 asserting arrogance, which may have testified to his courage, 
 but certainly not to his parliamentary ability. No one 
 could have staked his own fortune as well as his master's 
 with greater recklessness and more ill-placed devotion. 
 
 The address of the 221 v.".s our answer. I attended 
 the different meetings held for the purpose of deciding 
 upon the terms in which it should be presented. The 
 Chateaubriand group astonished us by its impetuosity : 
 beneath which the sullen rumble of the disgraced Minister 
 
 " We can rely only on ourselves. If, then, we wish to preserve the remnants 
 of the rights so gloriously conquered forty years ago, let us remember : 
 Heaven kelps those who help themselves!' Hence its name. 
 
 M 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was plainly audible. On the other hand, Guizot and Royer- 
 CoUard displayed the ordinary gravity at the deliberation 
 which distinguished the manner of the Doctrinaire, mingled 
 (no doubt unconsciously) with a certain degree of pleasur- 
 able excitement, due to the thought that they were giving a 
 lesson to the Mamurras of loyalty.^ The address was the 
 work of the most ardent Monarchists ; Casimir P6rier and 
 Sebastiani took no part in it, in order not to interfere with 
 its success, for it was intended to be simply a salutary 
 warning, its aim being to point out the danger to the 
 King and prevent a catastrophe. And now, after thirty 
 years, I do not shrink from asserting what I then thought 
 and said, that, among the 22 1, who were afterwards so 
 misunderstood and calumniated, there were not three who 
 desired to overthrow the Throne. 
 
 Some days after the dissolution of the Chamber, I 
 happened to meet M. de Talleyrand at Mme. Gaucourt's. 
 He asked me what I thought of the situation. I told him 
 that, as far as I could judge, every one of the 22 1 would 
 be re-elected ; they would return irritated, and, reinforced 
 by other malcontents, would be very hostile towards the 
 Crown ; and, being convinced of the ill-will of the King, 
 would not leave him prestige enough to enable him to 
 govern. I went on to say that it would be very difficult 
 to steer clear of the mistakes made by the Constituent 
 and Legislative Assemblies, which, though they wanted to 
 retain the King, distrusted him, and only thought of tying 
 his hands, forgetting that his raison tTHre was to reign, and 
 that by their own actions they were preparing the way for 
 a new Revolution. It was therefore our duty, I urged, 
 to support Legitimacy. " Very fine sentiments, truly," 
 answered M. de Talleyrand, " but very futile. I do not 
 know who will bury the Bourbons, but I do know, and 
 that very well, that they are already dead at the present 
 moment, and will never come to life again." 
 
 ' Mamurra, a Roman knight, commissary and favourite of Caesar during 
 the expedition to Gaul, where he grew rich in the service of his master. 
 The epigrams of Catullus on his robberies, luxury, and fawning adulation 
 have rendered him famous among courtiers. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 179 
 
 And, when I asked him to explain what he meant, he 
 employed the same language as Corvisart had used on 
 another occasion, when his words made a deep impression 
 on me : " * ^^ man cannot act in opposition to his inherent nature.'' 
 In the case of Charles X., he is guided by a conscientious 
 principle which will involve him in the most momentous 
 consequences. I foresee these consequences ; but that is 
 my secret." What wonderful sagacity this man always 
 displayed ! It is easy to comprehend how, so far from 
 suffering from revolutions, he turned every one of them 
 to his personal advantage. One day Louis XVIII. expressed 
 his surprise at his continual good fortune in this respect. 
 " Sire," said he, with a smile, " Providence undoubtedly 
 protects me, and has ordained that misfortune shall always 
 pursue those who are antagonistic to me." 
 
 I was not mistaken as to my election ; I had more votes 
 than in 1827, thanks to the ill-advised proclamation of the 
 Kingj in which the 221 were declared to be enemies of the 
 Crown. On the evening after the election, two hundred 
 voters came to the drawing-room of M. Tondu to con- 
 gratulate me, and to ask for an account of the present 
 situation. I told them my colleagues would have the same 
 success that I had, and that, if the King kept his Polignac 
 Ministry, they would struggle to the last extremity ; but 
 that a Constitutional Ministry would certainly save the 
 situation. M. de Talleyrand, however, had made no 
 mistake either. At the very moment I was speaking, 
 everything was lost : the King was signing the Ordinances. 
 
 When they appeared, I was at the waters of Saint- 
 Alban with my wife and children. I anticipated trouble, 
 and therefore hurried back to Micon, where I heard of 
 " the days of July." I was electrified by the news. When 
 the mail-coach arrived on the 30th, flying the Tricolor, the 
 fall of the Monarchy was proclaimed, and the Prefect was 
 replaced by an administrative commission. I persuaded my 
 friends to take the initiative in the movement, so as to 
 prevent disorder. I then started at once for Paris, stopping 
 at Chalon, where I also persuaded the Sub-prefect to adopt 
 
i8o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the measures best adapted to restrain a population holding 
 such advanced opinions, and assured him of my support. 
 His courage and coolness were afterwards rewarded with 
 the Prefectship of the Landes. 
 
 I met the Duke de Chartres ^ in the forest of Lieursaint ; 
 he had left Joigny with his regiment. I gave him news of 
 our Department, and he decided to remain that night in 
 Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. 
 
 It was rather late when I reached Paris. I found 
 persons at the barriers making collections for the wounded. 
 The populace were returning from Rambouillet, and I 
 heard Pajol,^ who commanded the expedition, say that, with 
 five or six squadrons, he could have scattered the mob like 
 sheep, and not a single one of them would have been left 
 to return to Paris. 
 
 My first visit was to Casimir P6rier, who met me with 
 the words, " You must go to the Palais-Royal." Now for 
 ten years I had constantly refused to do so — not that I 
 entertained the slightest dislike for the Prince and his 
 family ; quite the contrary. The kindness shown by the 
 Duchesse d'Orldans and Mme. Adelaide to my sister^ had 
 touched me keenly. But I had always remained sincerely 
 attached to the house o^ the Emperor ; moreover, I did 
 not care to take part in any intrigue, and certainly not in 
 any conspiracy. So I always endeavoured to preserve my 
 independence, and, if I went to the Tuileries, it was merely 
 in my capacity as deputy, and then only once or twice a 
 year. In my opposition to the Ministry, I pursued the 
 path traced out for me by General Foy, and was faithful 
 to Legitimacy as long as it was faithful to the Charter. In 
 vain had Perier, Sebastiani, Dupin, and Auguste de Stad, 
 an intimate friend of the Orleans family, urged me to visit 
 
 '■ Eldest son of Louis-Philippe, colonel of the ist Regiment of Hussars. 
 
 ' An ex-general of the Empire, very hostile to the Bourbons. He had 
 at one time served under Comte de Narbonne. We know that this march 
 on Rambouillet forced Charles X. to depart for Cherbourg. 
 
 ' They had repeatedly tried to persuade her to become a member of 
 their household, and Mme. de Mesgrigny would have consented but for 
 her widowhood and the education of her son. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU i8i 
 
 the Palais-Royal ; I had rejected all their appeals. Now, 
 however, the case was different. In a quarter of an hour, 
 P6rier convinced me of my duty. I also had a talk on the 
 subject with Sebastiani. Both of them informed the Prince 
 of my intention, and I was notified that I should be received 
 early the next day. 
 
 I was punctual. On the way, I encountered Gautier de 
 la Gironde, one of the most notable members of the Reunion 
 Agier, and an old friend of the Duchesse d'Angoul^me. 
 "Where are you going.?" "To the Palais-Royal." We 
 chatted. " Well," said he, " when you pledge your fealty 
 to the Due d'Orl6ans, you can speak for two ; for I am 
 half with you ; in fact, we have no other resource." At 
 the Palace I expressed a wish to see Mme. de JVIontjoie, 
 who had been very fond of my poor sister ; she said she 
 would be pleased to receive me. I was then introduced 
 to her. 
 
 I found the Duke alone with the Duchess : he was in 
 a long frock-coat, an ordinary pair of trousers, and wore no 
 neck-tie ; she was wearing a cambric wrapper, and was 
 sitting at a small table pen in hand. His Highness 
 embraced me. He told me how glad he was to see me, 
 and how he had long wished to have me for a friend, 
 having always set the highest value on my character. 
 " Monseigneur," I answered, " I never do things by halves ; 
 when I devote myself to a cause, I devote myself entirely, 
 and always with the object of serving France ; I would 
 have served the late King with all my heart, if he had let 
 me. Now, however, you are the only person who can 
 save her ; and so I bring you the same unconditional 
 and boundless devotion which formerly I dedicated to the 
 Emperor." He embraced me again. "The only way in 
 which a person can show his confidence in a man like you 
 is to speak to him frankly and from the heart. I have no 
 cause for uneasiness with respect to England and Russia ; 
 but I have to think of Vienna — my natural enemy is 
 there I " " Monseigneur," I returned, " you may be quite 
 certain that if there were any hope for the Emperor's son, 
 
i82 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 1 should not be here. But we were taught in his father's 
 school that the welfare of France takes precedence of every- 
 thing. So that now that you alone can save the monarchy, 
 and avert the direst misfortunes — namely, the Republic and 
 civil war — all the Bonapartists will rally round you." 
 
 He then begged me to see Bassano and write to General 
 Drouot, both of which I promised to do immediately. He 
 also questioned me as to the feeling of the Chamber ; I 
 repeated the words of Gautier, which were an important 
 indication of the disposition of his party. Finally, he 
 added : " Still, I cannot accept the crown as long as the 
 King remains in France ! " At these words the Duchess 
 raised her head, and broke the silence she had maintained 
 until then. " No, M. de Rambuteau," she exclaimed, 
 " that is impossible ! " I was much impressed by her 
 emotion and tears. " Madame," I said, " revolutions 
 neither recede nor stand still. You will be a Queen before 
 Sunday, or you will never be one. To return to the 
 shades of Neuilly i$ no longer in your power : either the 
 throne or exile is your destiny and that of your eight 
 children." She sighed and made no answer. I dwelt at 
 length on the needs and expectations of France. Then I 
 took my leave of their Highnesses, and paid another visit 
 to Mme. de Montjoie. She would not let me go without 
 having been introduced to Madame Adelaide, who requested 
 me to repeat the conversation I had just had with her 
 brother. 1 rehearsed all I had said, but with even more 
 warmth, entreating her at the same time to use her influence 
 with the Prince. " If he fails us, we are certainly on the 
 high road to a Republic under the Presidency of M. de 
 Lafayette. Therefore he must come to a decision at once. 
 He cannot, of course, afford France the luxury of victories 
 and conquests ; neither can he rely on the ancient traditions 
 and the time-hallowed claims of Legitimacy ; but he can 
 be a new King, a citizen King, chosen by the Chambers, 
 acclaimed by the country, strong in the principles of '89, 
 sheltered and protected by that Tricolor flag which he has 
 served and carried. And so, profiting by the lessons which 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 183 
 
 he has learnt in exile, let the Prince resolve to depend 
 solely on the support of the people. For however worthy 
 of respect and consideration the clergy might be, no clerical 
 party could form a fitting basis for the Government, whilst 
 if, on the other hand, the nobility strove to revive its 
 prestige and privileges, it would soon discover that it had 
 lost all its influence on the country in losing its substantial 
 property. Thus unquestionably the day has come for the 
 middle classes to reign supreme, provided they be careful 
 to ameliorate the condition of their poorer brethren." 
 
 Madame Ad^la'lde requested me to write down a brief 
 summary of my ideas, as it would help her to make an 
 impression on her brother. Then I hurried to see Bassano, 
 and discovered that he held exactly the same opinions as 
 myself. He recognised the fact that nothing could be done 
 for the King of Rome, and that a Republic was inevitable, if 
 we did not do our best to prevent such a calamity ; he 
 assured me that all the friends of the Emperor — Drouot, 
 Lobau, Durosnel, Corbineau, Exelmans, &c. — would be on 
 our side. In fact, the letter which Drouot wrote in reply 
 to mine was a model of disinterestedness, patriotism, and 
 wisdom.^ 
 
 From there I went to breakfast with the Due de Broglie, 
 and met Prince Adrien de Laval-Montmorency, who had 
 arrived from Rambouillet on a mission to propose the 
 abdication of Charles X. and the accession of the Due de 
 Bordeaux under the Regency of the Due d'Orl6ans. " It is 
 too late," answered M. de Broglie ; " it might have been 
 possible three days ago ; now the game is played, and only 
 a dynastic sacrifice can save the country. We are bringing 
 about an English revolution ; France will have her 1688 
 with the nearest heir in the Constitutional line, as England 
 had, at that period, the nearest heir in the Protestant line. 
 The whole matter will be settled by the Chambers, and 
 that, too, without any further change in the Constitution. 
 What strength could a Regency have } Supposing that 
 
 * We have not been able to find this letter among the papers of Comte 
 de Rambuteau. 
 
i84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Henri V. were put on the throne, what could be done with 
 Charles X. and the Duchesse de Berry, and the Due and 
 Duchesse d'Angoul^me ? Every day would witness the 
 renewal of the same conflicts and the same difficulties." 
 
 Even M. de S^monville, who had exerted all his efforts 
 to save the crown of the Due de Bordeaux, could not gain- 
 say these arguments. He assured me that, if he had been 
 listened to at Saint-Cloud on the 29th and 30th of July, 
 and if the young Prince had been sent to the Palais-Royal 
 or to the H6tel de Ville, he would have been immediately 
 proclaimed. As for myself, I am convinced that the 
 Duchesse Marie-Amdlie would have received him as an 
 eldest son, and I knew the meaning of the tears I had seen 
 her shed on that morning. 
 
 During the day, I paid a visit to M. de Lafayette, who 
 was holding a sort of quasi-revolutionary court at the H6tel 
 de Ville. I saw M. de Talleyrand in the evening, after 
 the session at which the Chamber had selected the members 
 of the Commission of the Charter, which was to present its 
 report on the following day. He was very favourable to 
 the movement which he had so accurately forecast. " But," 
 said he, "would it not be better to create a Provisional 
 Government for four or five weeks, and thus allow the 
 Chambers to eff^ect the necessary changes, calm the public 
 excitement and prevent the usual tumult that follow in- 
 surrections .^ " "No," I replied, "that is not my opinion. 
 The revolution has taken everybody by surprise, and every- 
 body is already seeking to turn it to his own advantage. 
 The Chambers have only a semblance of power. If a head 
 is not given to the State immediately, in two days' time we 
 shall have to choose between the Republic at Paris and 
 Charles X. at Rambouillet. So far, the people have been 
 as generous as brave. To wait would be to supply fuel to 
 their passions. Moreover, do you feel competent to con- 
 trol the storm, and have you the quos ego of Neptune where- 
 with to still the waves .' " 
 
 And, indeed, the agitation on the following day was 
 extreme. As the National Guard had not yet been 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 185 
 
 organised, volunteers in rags mounted guard at the Palais- 
 Royal, and the entire populace of the quarter, which was 
 devoted to the Due d'Orldans, rallied round his residence 
 to protect it from pillage. For more than three months 
 these tatterdemalions were to be seen everywhere, in the 
 yards, on the staircases, in the ante-chambers ; and it was 
 only with great trouble, and at the expense of much 
 diplomacy, that they were at last prevailed upon to make 
 way for the National Guards. 
 
 The day was spent in cabals, where the policy to be 
 adopted in the evening was discussed. The Republican 
 party proposed to put the Chamber to flight or to compel it 
 to elect Lafayette President ; the success of the skirmish at 
 Rambouillet had elated the people, and everything was to 
 be feared. There is one man for whom I must express 
 my profound respect, having proved by his conduct on this 
 occasion that he was as good a Frenchman as he was a 
 clear-sighted politician, and this was M. Odilon Barrot. 
 More than any one else, he helped to enlighten M. de 
 Lafayette, and to persuade him to refuse the Presidency 
 of the Chamber or to proclaim the Republic, assuring him 
 that Louis-Philippe, with his own liberal institutions, would 
 personify the best of Republics : wise words which he 
 remembered, and declaimed when he presented the Prince 
 to the people at a window in the H6tel de Ville. 
 
 It was to Odilon Barrot that the France of 1830 was 
 indebted for her good fortune in escaping the scenes of 
 1848. We have long lived in hostile camps, but I have 
 always valued his noble character. In 1850, we met at the 
 Vichy waters. He was sad ; and, referring to the revolu- 
 tionary part he had played in recent events, he added : 
 " If I devoted all the remaining years of my life to re- 
 pentance, that would not be enough to atone for the error 
 of a day : I wanted the Monarchy to be reformed, not 
 overthrown." 
 
 And now the dangerous moment for the Chamber had 
 arrived. The mob, in a state of extreme excitement, filled 
 all the approaches to the Assembly, and no one could cross 
 
i86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the bridge through the menacing crowds without using the 
 password, "One of the iii^ Nevertheless, I heard the 
 following answer five or six times : " That's all very fine, 
 but you'll be thrown into the water if you vote for a 
 King." The manceuvre of the Republicans was palpable : 
 cheers for Lafayette were heard in all directions ; why 
 should he not profit by so fine an opportunity ? Under 
 the peristyle I found Benjamin Constant, Augustin P^rier, 
 and Alexandre Laborde, who were trying, with small success, 
 to pacify the crowds. I entered the hall. M. B6rard had 
 just finished the reading of his report ; M. de Salverte was 
 in the tribune, insisting that the debate should be adjourned 
 to the following Wednesday. The deputies seemed uneasy 
 at the clamour and threats which reached them from out- 
 side. "When he had finished, M. Laffitte, the President, 
 asked whether any one desired to speak on the question 
 of adjournment. Every one was silent. Happening to be 
 at the foot of the tribune, I ran rapidly up the steps and 
 made an address, which was practically as follows : " Gentle- 
 men, Paris has saved France from despotism ; now it is for 
 the Chamber to save her from the anarchy that is howling 
 at our gates ; it assumes the right of dictating how we shall 
 act, and threatens to throw us into the river if we demur. 
 I now demand that the abdication of Charles X., who has 
 violated the fundamental compact of the Constitution, be 
 officially recorded ; that the Due d'Orlians be called to the 
 throne ; that the report on the modifications of the Charter 
 be discussed in the present session ; and that the Chamber 
 shall not adjourn until it has accomplished this important 
 step. Recollect that in England the Parliament prevented 
 the civil war which was on the point of breaking out by 
 voting in a single night the Bill of Rights, at the same time 
 calling the Prince of Orange to the throne, and that this 
 fortunate precipitation insured to that country a hundred 
 and forty years of liberty and prosperity." 
 
 The debate on these proposals was very spirited. Sal- 
 verte opposed them ; they were about to be put to the 
 vote, when M. Guizot, who had been appointed that 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 187 
 
 morning Commissary to the Department of the Interior, 
 made a speech, in which he said : " The Chamber may feel 
 reassured as to the dangers with which it is menaced unless 
 it is frightened into holding a night session ; the Provi- 
 sional Government declares that it is strong enough to 
 protect it and guarantee its safety ; its deliberations will 
 be as free to-morrow as they are to-day." This ended 
 the discussion, which was adjourned. How often have I 
 deplored the action of the Chamber ! It was on that very 
 night, too, that Louis-Philippe was persuaded to reserve 
 the question of an hereditary peerage, a reservation which 
 foreshadowed its suppression, and which led the way to the 
 fatal measure from the effects of which the Crown suffered 
 during eighteen years. 
 
 The principle of heredity would have been the strength 
 of the Monarchy ; it would have attached the old nobility 
 to the new dynasty. Already more than fifty peers, who 
 ranked among the greatest personages of the Court and of 
 Legitimacy, had left Charles X. at Rambouillet, had made 
 their submission to Louis - Philippe, had shared in the 
 deliberations of the Chamber, and voted the deposition of 
 Charles X. What followed .'' Wounded by the with- 
 drawal of the fundamental principle of hereditary descent, 
 forty-four of these resigned ; the conservative forces were 
 divided into two camps ; many of the great families that 
 would have rallied to the new regime in hope of gaining a 
 peerage remained hostile to it, the more so as the King 
 possessed none of those powerful attractions which had 
 stood Napoleon in such good stead. He had nothing he 
 could restore, for the Revolution of 1830 had been attended 
 with no confiscations ; he had nothing to give, for heredi- 
 tary rights were all that had made a peerage worth accepting, 
 and a prize which had hitherto been much sought after. 
 
 " How is it," I said one day to Beugnot, with whom 
 I was on very intimate terms, " that you could make such 
 sacrifices for such a useless trifle ? " " Sacrifices, my dear 
 fellow ? Say, rather, how I could stoop to such mean- 
 nesses ! But — how could I help it .? You have no idea 
 
i88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 how valuable a title is when you want to use it to make 
 a fool of a woman and marry your son I " In fact, an heredi- 
 tary peerage was quoted at a million in every notary's office 
 in the country, and although the price fell down to half a 
 million, after the batch of peers made by M. de Vill^le, 
 still, half a million was not to be despised. 
 
 To fill up the vacancies caused by these resignations, 
 which deprived the Chamber of some of its most dis- 
 tinguished members, all belonging to ancient families, it 
 was necessary to have recourse to notabilities of the 
 Empire, then to the members of Parliament, who did not 
 always care for the honour, and passed it on to their 
 relatives ; as Sebastiani, Duchatel, and Dupin did. At last 
 it was offered as a sort of compensation to the deputies 
 who had been rejected by their constituents, so that the 
 peerage lost all its prestige, and ceased to be the dis- 
 tinguished circle which was intended by the Charter to fill 
 a place between the Chamber of Deputies and the Crown. 
 I am speaking quite impartially on this matter, seeing that, 
 having only daughters, I could not have any personal 
 interest in an hereditary peerage. My feelings and utter- 
 ances on the subject were dictated by mere political instinct ; 
 for I was convinced that we should retain all that we 
 possibly could of the old government in order to make 
 the new more acceptable to Europe. 
 
 I return to this session, which culminated in a great 
 display of emotion. I was joined in the Salle des Pas- 
 Perdus by Mauguin, who said, angrily : " Rambuteau, 
 after your speech this evening you deserve to be shot ! " 
 " Oh, nonsense ! " I retorted. " I could certainly count 
 many friends amongst my audience, but not a single 
 murderer ! " The fact was that congratulations rained on 
 me on all sides. Later on I asked him (for we had always 
 been on excellent terms until then) why he made such 
 an insulting remark to me. He answered : " I was furious, 
 because we wished to prolong the session at all costs ; we 
 had prepared a movement in favour of the Due de Reich- 
 stadt ; we were waiting for the arrival of the federates of 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 189 
 
 Rouen and other cities. All we wanted was to gain time, 
 and we thought we could count on you, because of your 
 devotion to the Emperor — and you turned out to be the 
 very man to ruin all our hopes ! " I proved to him how 
 vain these hopes were, as even Bassano and Drouot were 
 forced to own. I assured him that neither Lafayette nor 
 the Doctrinaires would have acknowledged the King of 
 Rome, and that, if we had acted in accordance with his 
 wishes, we should have incurred the risk of having a 
 Republic. Though he understood my point of view well 
 enough, I could not convince him. 
 
 During the night news came that mobs had assembled 
 at L'Estrapade and other places, and were to march next 
 morning on the Legislature and prevent it from holding a 
 debate. Consequently we all received messages after four 
 o'clock, summoning us to meet at six in the chamber, 
 which would be protected by about twelve hundred well- 
 disposed defenders, for the National Guard had not yet 
 been organised. Lafayette had promised to support us, 
 and so did Benjamin Constant and Laffitte ; the latter was 
 anxious that the triumph of Royalty should be regarded as 
 his work, and he employed his best endeavours in getting 
 Louis-Philippe proclaimed King. He was proclaimed 
 almost unanimously. The Charter was rapidly revised. 
 I took no part in the discussion, except incidentally, when 
 the question of the Israelitish cult came up. I proposed, 
 from a sense of justice, that it should be placed on the same 
 footing as the other religious denominations which were 
 salaried by the State ; all that was necessary to achieve this 
 was to incorporate a single clause in the Budget, and then 
 all citizens would be on a footing of equality. 
 
 On the 7th of August, the Chamber brought the new 
 Charter to the Due d'Orl6ans, who had already been invested 
 with power. I took the arm of General Clausel. The 
 popular excitement had ceased. For that matter, it was 
 open to doubt if the people really knew what they wanted. 
 We were spoken to several times on the way, being assaulted 
 by various questions such as, " You are going to make a 
 
I90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 King ; why not make an Emperor ? We'd as soon cry 
 ' Vive FEmpereur .' ' as ' Vive le Roi / ' " That is the kind of 
 thing one generally experiences in revolution. 
 
 As soon as the National Guard was organised, I at once 
 enrolled myself in the 2nd battalion of the ist Legion. I 
 was present at all the important engagements, and was on 
 duty at the Luxemberg the night of the trial of the late 
 Ministers. I still seem to hear the shouts of the rioters, for 
 the exasperation of the riot was then at its height ; no 
 one amongst them apparently understood the motives that 
 inspired the generous intervention of the Government, 
 for the Ministers were only bent on preventing bloodshed. 
 The very severity of the season served to increase the 
 people's violence. The same cry was re-echoed from camp 
 to camp : " Why can't they be thrown down to us .'' that 
 we may shoot them, and then go to bed 1 " We expected 
 to be attacked at every moment. It needed all the coolness 
 and energy of M. de Montalivet to secure the safe return of 
 the Ministers to Vincennes ; and indeed the first debates 
 in the Chamber so often gave rise to heated outbursts, that it 
 was clear that the influence of the recent violent scenes still 
 made itself felt on the minds of some of the members. 
 
 We had not yet learned the value of discipline, and our 
 leaders had some diflEiculty in wheeling us into line. On 
 one occasion, indeed, Sebastiani used such strong language 
 with regard to myself that, being deeply wounded, I thought 
 fit to write to him. I have kept his reply ; it is the best 
 evidence I can produce of our friendship — a friendship that 
 was only ended by death.^ But what self-control and 
 moderation do political differences exact ! I really believe, 
 that it was to the exercising of conciliation and courtesy, 
 which I made the absolute rule of my life, that I owed the 
 
 1 This is the letter :— 
 
 " My DEAR Count, — I pledge you my word of honour that no one heard 
 us, and you know I am too truly your friend to deceive you. / beg your 
 pardon for an expression which I really regarded as a joke between intimate 
 friends. I hope this will satisfy you. You know that friendship alone can 
 make me speak thus. I am doing what M. de Narbonne would have done." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 191 
 
 popularity I enjoyed with all parties, during the whole of 
 my parliamentary career. 
 
 I was a member of several Commissions ; first of the 
 Commission for revising the Liquor Laws, which was violently 
 opposed, and not less violently defended by M. Boursy, 
 Director-General of indirect taxes, who preferred to have 
 the duties reduced by a third rather than allow the insti- 
 tution itself to be touched. We were equally anxious to 
 husband it and preserve it by improving the resources of 
 the Treasury. 
 
 We had proposed, in order to make up the deficit, to 
 increase the tax on personal property, the taxable items of 
 which had been greatly extended since the Revolution, and 
 two Bills were introduced with this object in view. I was 
 appointed to report on them, and was thus frequently 
 bl-ought into contact with M. Thiers, Financial Under- 
 Secretary of State. Every morning MM. Saurimont and 
 Vitalis spent some time in initiating him into technical 
 details, and such was his wonderful facility of assimilation 
 that often, after listening to the first part of the discussion, 
 he handled the second ex professo. It was from that period 
 that our friendship dated, of which I have had frequent 
 proofs. 
 
 The two Bills were passed. Such laws have taught me 
 a useful lesson : namely, that we should always retain those 
 taxes which, so to speak, have been hallowed by custom, 
 and to which the taxpayers have grown used. The thirty- 
 six millions of reductions effected by these measures, at the 
 close of the year, were a benefit, for which no one felt 
 grateful. On the contrary, the collection of the new taxes 
 that were needed to counterbalance the old ones met with 
 such opposition that, either from weariness or necessity, we 
 were forced to reduce them by one half. This experience, 
 however, did not interfere with the suppression of the tax 
 on salt, which, in spite of some self-interested complaints, 
 had always been easily collected. Agriculture derived no 
 advantage from its removal, and the country-people showed 
 no appreciation of the so-called boon. 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 But the most important Commission of all was that of 
 the Constitution. I belonged to it, along with MM. de 
 Broglie, de Barante, Benjamin Constant, Augustin P^rier, 
 Guizot, Rimusat, and others. My first proposal was to 
 submit the revision of the Charter and the election of 
 Louis-Philippe to the sanction of the Primary Assemblies, 
 as had been done in the case of the Consulate for life and 
 the Empire. In my opinion, such a ratification would be 
 more effectual than any other. Guizot opposed this pro- 
 posal with great warmth. 
 
 " You are," said he to me, " a child of the Empire, and 
 your memories lead you to disapprove of Constitutional 
 principles. Did not the Act of its Parliament, in 1688, 
 suffice the English nation, and did not that Parliament 
 pursue its task in the name of the nation ? The case will 
 be identical in France, and there will be no need to recur 
 to revolutionary methods." " But," I answered, " the 
 English Parliament had an existence of several centuries ; 
 it was a legal authority, recognised and respected by all. 
 From the moment it had overthrown Charles I. and 
 restored Charles II. precedents gave it the right to dispose 
 of the crown, while no such power is lodged in us. The 
 return of the Bourbons was the work of foreigners ; the 
 conceded Charter, although it instituted representative 
 government, did not establish it on an immovable founda- 
 tion, as was proved by the events of July. Does not all 
 this fall far short of the three million votes that elected the 
 Emperor ? At the present moment we need have no doubt 
 as to how the nation will exercise its suffrage ; why should 
 we deprive ourselves of such a force ? " And I concluded 
 with a repetition of the words I spoke at Saint-Etienne to 
 the Comte d'Artois in reference to the Tricolor flag : 
 "You should keep it, Monseigneur, if only to prevent 
 it from falling into the hands of your enemies. For the 
 latter would certainly hoist it as a rallying signal directly 
 they thought that the right moment had come for turning 
 against you." 
 
 I failed, however, to carry my point. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBDTEAU 193 
 
 Another question with which the Committee had to deal 
 was that of the Civil List. One evening that I happened to 
 be with the King, he approached the subject. " Sire," I 
 said, " since your Majesty has deigned to consult me, 
 I think you should address the Chamber directly in a 
 message declaring that, so far as you were personally con- 
 cerned, ' a horse and sword ' were all you needed in order 
 to serve France, but that the honour and dignity of the 
 nation demanded more, namely, that its sovereign should be 
 suitably equipped to fill his place among the princes of 
 Europe, among whom the ruler of France has always 
 occupied the first rank." 
 
 He interrupted me : " What amount would you give 
 me .'' " " Sixteen millions." " I want eighteen. Laffitte 
 promises them to me." " Then, Sire, he has undertaken 
 more than he can fulfil, for your best friends think, as I do, 
 that sixteen millions will make your Majesty richer than 
 Charles X. was. You are no longer under the obligations 
 which formerly hampered the crown : the great offices of 
 the Court, with the subsidies to the royal theatres, cost 
 more than a million, and these your Majesty has abolished. 
 The Gardes-du-Corps cost three millions ; the Garde-Royale 
 and the Staffs, two ; there were five millions spent on pen- 
 sions, which the Chamber has decided to continue as life- 
 annuities. On the other hand, your Majesty has reserved 
 for yourself the revenue of the entire appanage of Orleans, 
 the income from which is three millions a year. It is only 
 politic to let the people see that there is a notable difference 
 between the old and the new Civil List. An allowance of a 
 million a year will be entered immediately on the Budget 
 for the Prince Royal, to be doubled when he marries ; the 
 Chamber further intends to provide for your children. 
 What more do you wish ? " 
 
 He was obstinate, with the result that, five or six months 
 afterwards, we had great trouble in getting a grant of twelve 
 millions for him. With the four additional millions that 
 would have been voted for him in the beginning, he could 
 have finished the Louvre and won the hearts of the 
 
 N 
 
194 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Parisians ; while the neglected condition in which he left 
 the palace of our kings, hoping, no doubt, that the excess 
 of the evil would bring its own remedy, created a bad 
 feeling both in the Chamber and the city. I warned him 
 more than once, at the risk of offending him, that when 
 a new Civil List was mooted the Chamber would, on the 
 demand of the city of Paris, take away the Louvre and 
 its dependencies from his control, so that the nation 
 might have the right to complete that grand building, 
 and that thus, through his own fault, the Crown would 
 lose the patronage of the Fine Arts, its noblest prero- 
 gative. 
 
 The reform of the electoral law was the most important 
 work of the Commission — I might almost say that it was 
 my own work, for I was entrusted, along with M. de 
 Barante, with the task of drawing up the Bill, his business 
 being with the text, mine with the formation of the colleges. 
 In order to accomplish this, I sought information from all 
 quarters, and listened attentively to all local deputations, 
 for I wished the several interests in the arrondissements to 
 receive fair treatment. In those that were to have two 
 representatives, I endeavoured to keep the industrial and 
 city interests entirely distinct from the agricultural interests, 
 so that each class might have its own supporters. 
 
 With regard to the territorial divisions, I grouped the 
 electors together, rather than the inhabitants, in numbers that 
 were pretty nearly equal. The lowering of the qualification 
 for voters favoured this system, which, by getting rid of the 
 scrutin de liste, insured a more honest selection and supported 
 the most estimable and capable candidates. Finally, I dis- 
 covered that I had increased the number of deputies by 39, 
 so that there would be 459 instead of 420 in the next 
 Chamber. Of course I had to defend my work before the 
 Commission, which proposed a score of modifications ; but 
 I succeeded in having them all rejected, and the scheme 
 was adopted in its integrity. So also was the lowering of 
 the suflfrage. We had proposed a plan for adding a number 
 of eligible men to the electoral colleges ; M. Dupin would 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 195 
 
 not hear of it, but events have proved how wise and far- 
 seeing our proposal was. 
 
 In the midst of my labours I was often cross-questioned 
 by M. de Lafayette. One day he took my hands, and, 
 clasping them in his, said, " These hands are full of privi- 
 leges, open them very widely, then, so as to satisfy all our 
 wants." " General," I replied, " I am ready to grant privi- 
 leges wherever I find the two conditions which I consider 
 indispensable for their use — these are independence and 
 capability. That is why I have never wished that the law 
 regulating elections should be restricted by Parliament ; on 
 the contrary, it should be free to advance with the times 
 and to extend its scope as circumstances may require. At 
 the present moment we are clamouring for the lowering of 
 the voting qualification to two hundred francs and capacity 
 in the voter. This appears to us to meet the present 
 necessities, but the future will do more, if it can. But to 
 bestow rights on those who do not know how to make an 
 intelligent use of them is like imitating those Indian statues 
 which have a hundred arms and no head." 
 
 The reins should never be slackened except for a good 
 reason, and I had occasion to give expression to my views 
 on this subject with reference to the Popular Societies. 
 The latter had been revived after the days of July. In the 
 Commission, opinions were divided as to the proper way of 
 dealing with them. M. Guizot, who strongly advocated 
 the right of free discussion, and was still under the influence 
 of the Globe and the Aide-tot, le Gel faidera Society, spoke of 
 introducing a law to regulate their existence and modify 
 their present abuses. Alarmed by a measure which would 
 give them a legal sanction, I imparted my fears to several 
 of my colleagues, and also thought it my duty to communi- 
 cate them to the King. He had, in fact, exacted a promise 
 from me that I woiild undertake no serious step in the 
 Chamber without notifying him previously. I therefore 
 went to see him : " Sire," said I, " it is impossible to govern 
 by methods that are inconsistent ; the Chamber and the 
 clubs naturally exclude each other ; if your Majesty wishes 
 
196 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to place his reliance in the Popular Societies, the Chamber is 
 useless ; if you do not, the clubs must be closed ; to-morrow 
 I intend to submit a proposal to this effect in the shape of 
 an address to the King, and I am certain of a great number 
 of adherents." He begged me to do nothing of the sort, 
 assuring me, with all that seductive grace and ability which 
 he possessed in so eminent a degree, that, though he shared 
 my feelings and saw the danger, he desired to think the 
 matter out for himself without being invited to do so by 
 the Chamber. A fortnight afterwards the National Guard 
 closed all the clubs in Paris, whereupon the King sent for 
 me in all haste. "Well," he exclaimed, "haven't I kept 
 my word with you ? Are you satisfied .'' " " Not quite, 
 Sire, for, if the National Guard can close the clubs to-day, 
 it can open them to-morrow, and I do not know whether 
 I ought to congratulate or pity your Majesty for being 
 guarded once more on every step of your grand staircase 
 by the ragged rabble who once saved the Palais-Royal from 
 pillage." 
 
 The close of the year 1830 was marked by a public 
 mourning. Benjamin Constant died on the loth of Decem- 
 ber. The crowds were so great at his funeral that the 
 members of the Chamber, not having a distinctive costume, 
 which would have enabled them to recognise one another, 
 and keep together in a body, were soon scattered among the 
 throng, in spite of the ushers and police. I was with 
 Dupin, who said, peevishly : " Let us get out of this, for it 
 is quite clear that, though we are all present, the Chamber 
 does not count for much ! " 
 
 Benjamin Constant was a very clever and distinguished 
 man, but he was of a litigious and eccentric turn of mind ; 
 and, in fact, so i>lasd that everything palled on him. His 
 writings were superior to his discourses, the effect of which 
 was spoiled by a monotonous delivery, added to a con- 
 spicuous lack of conviction. He had, moreover, an un- 
 fortunate trick of always swaying himself to and fro. He 
 was asked one day what he liked best in the world : " Ma 
 foi" he answered, " to win at a game of cards ; it is the only 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 197 
 
 pleasure left me in which I can find any amusement." 
 "But surely with aU your talents, and after so many 
 successes, you must be interested in other things ? " " No, 
 except, perhaps, in losing at a game of cards." For thirty 
 years his political principles have been the guide-book of 
 our younger generation. It was thus that he defined Con- 
 stitutional Royalty : " The power which passes judgment on 
 other powers, of which it should be the arbiter and the providence. 
 If the Chamber went wrong, the King should dissolve it and 
 appeal to the country ; if the Chamber of Peers showed too 
 great a spirit of resistance, he should create a sufficient 
 number of Peers to give him a majority ; finally, it rested 
 in his hands to change the executive power by changing 
 the Ministry." All this is very far removed from the 
 tenets of the " Doctrinaires " : " The King reigns and does not 
 govern." How can the supreme power be exercised, if it 
 remains impervious to every influence, in every direction ? 
 The fall both of Charles X. and of Louis-Philippe proved 
 that ministerial responsibility has never saved either King 
 or Crown. 
 
 At the beginning of January 1831 the attitude of the 
 Ministry became a source of serious uneasiness to the Re- 
 union de la Rue Rivoli, to which I belonged. After an 
 animated discussion, M. Etienne and I were sent as a 
 deputation to M, Laffitte. We requested a private 
 audience. He was surrounded by some of his friends, 
 amongst whom was B^ranger, and he assured us that he 
 had no secret they did not share, and that, in any case, our 
 society was too numerous to render secrecy possible ; that, 
 if we were there to accuse him of negligence, his answer 
 must be that this negligence was the inevitable consequence 
 of the embarrassed condition of his private affairs, but that 
 in three months they would be reduced to order, and then 
 he would devote all his time to the service of the King. 
 My answer was that we had come to tell him that, if he 
 severed himself from Casimir P6rier, 160 deputies, whose 
 spokesmen we were, would be found in opposition to him 
 on the very next morning after the rupture. He made 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 us many promises, which were but scantily fulfilled, as was 
 shown by the riot of the 1 3th of February. No doubt the 
 demonstration made by the Legitimists, under cover of the 
 anniversary service held in memory of the Due de Berry, 
 was the pretext if not the actual cause of the disturbance ; 
 but the absence of all protection, of all surveillance, allowed 
 a free vent to revolutionary passions. 
 
 One of the greatest faults of the King at that time was 
 the weakness that led him to sacrifice his friends. Ah, we 
 were far removed from that English Revolution which had 
 served as a model for the days of the 7th, 8th, and 9th of 
 August ! In 1688 the English Parliament had disposed of 
 the Crown with, at any rate, the tacit consent of the nation. 
 Instead of a Government deriving its strength from its 
 origin, we insisted on a Royalty supported by Republican 
 institutions from which every vestige of the old regime, 
 and even of the Empire, was to be banished, so that, when 
 the time came, a President might the more easily be 
 substituted for a King. 
 
 The abandonment oi t\\c fleurs-de-lis, effaced from the royal 
 armorial bearings, was a concession to Republican sentiment 
 which was as inexcusable as it was unnecessary. For the 
 preceding ten months, no protest had been raised against 
 them. France had chosen a Bourbon for King, and nobody 
 would have been surprised if he had used his own arms, 
 just as Napoleon had had his eagle. Louis-Philippe was 
 undoubtedly popular ; the cry of " Vive le Roi ! " which 
 greeted him whenever he appeared was sincere ; at the 
 review of sixty thousand soldiers on the 30th of August 
 in the Champ-de-Mars, he was acclaimed as enthusiastically 
 as Napoleon had ever been in the midst of his triumphs. 
 The tendency to rally round his person was so general that 
 I congratulated him on having received in succession three 
 irreconcilable adversaries of the Emperor : Lain6, the Abb6 
 de Montesqulou, and Royer-CoUard. He ought therefore 
 to have made his arms inseparable from his name. These 
 kind of concessions were displeasing to foreign nations. 
 They imparted a revolutionary colour to the new regime, 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 199 
 
 which, otherwise, would have been accepted by European 
 Courts as simply a change of individuals incidental to an 
 abdication. In consideration of the distrust felt toward us 
 by our neighbours, an alliance with England was not only 
 expedient but obligatory, and so, when the throne of 
 Belgium was offered to France, this fruit of a revolution 
 that was the daughter of our own had to be declined in 
 favour of an English prince.^ 
 
 The days that elapsed between the 13th of February 
 and the 13th of March were about the worst that had 
 been encountered so far. To financial troubles were 
 added street disturbances. Laffitte, in great dismay, was 
 constantly assembling some twenty of our number at 
 his house in order to discuss what measures should be 
 adopted. The last time I .was with him, he and I had 
 a bitter quarrel, and I left his study in high indignation. 
 At the door I met Admiral de Rigny, and said to him : 
 " My dear friend, if you want to see France thrown out 
 of the window, you need only stand here on the balcony ; 
 she'll soon be taking the leap." Luckily, Laffitte, having 
 no longer either money or credit, was forced to resign. 
 
 The King Immediately sent for Casimir P^rier. On 
 that day I happened to be dining with M. Coste, the editor 
 of the Temps. In the middle of the dinner a message was 
 delivered to me from Admiral de Rigny, asking me to go 
 with him and Casimir P6rier to M. Louis's house, and there 
 use our best endeavours to persuade the latter to accept the 
 portfolio of the Finances, as Pdrier was resolved not to 
 attempt to form a Ministry without Louis's co-operation. 
 After a time, M. Louis yielded his consent. P6rier then 
 said to me : " Rambuteau, you will belong to the Com- 
 mission of the Finances ; you will make an inventory of 
 the Treasury ; you will have our reputation in your hands. 
 Everything must be made public. If anything be con- 
 cealed, our measures are useless and our fall is certain." 
 
 ^ Leopold I. was, in reality, a German Prince of Saxe-Coburg, but he 
 had been naturalised in England after Waterloo, and, on his marriage with 
 Princess Charlotte, he had been created Duke of Kendal. 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 As soon as the Ministry was formed, the Chamber 
 named a Commission of Finance, of which I was elected 
 a member. To Humann and me fell the task of making 
 the inventory. We spent two days and two nights on end 
 over it. We found hardly two millions in specie in the 
 public coffers ; there were five millions in paper, the bills 
 of exchange for March and April had been discounted ; 
 two hundred and ninety-eight millions of Treasury bonds 
 were circulating at more than 6 per cent, interest. It was 
 necessary to provide for the half-year one hundred and 
 twenty millions to meet the expenses of the Ministry, which 
 were everywhere in arrears. We furnished an account of 
 this sad state of affairs to the Commission, and Humann was 
 named reporter. I said to him : " My dear friend, be sure 
 you keep back nothing ; if you do, I'll cross-question you 
 myself in the Chamber. I have signed all the documents, 
 and made up all the totals, and my papers are all in the 
 hands of P6rier and Louis. There can, therefore, be no 
 escape." He complied with my wishes fully and freely, 
 and so the three millions of Hayti,^ with sundry other 
 matters which certain persons would have liked to suppress, 
 were made public. 
 
 The financial system brought forward by M. Louis con- 
 sisted in creating credit by rigorously fulfilling all previous 
 obligations. A loan of a hundred millions at par was 
 voted, a good part of which was subscribed for by the 
 members of the Legislature, each subscribing according to 
 his means, and the public, seeing that the Chamber gave such 
 guarantees, became imbued with sufficient confidence to 
 seek a similar investment for their capital. 
 
 In the month of April 1831, I was recalled to Mdcon 
 by the elections. I was received with great kindness 
 and affection. The entire National Guard was waiting 
 for me at the pier where the vessel landed me, and it 
 
 ^ In 1825, Charles X. recognised the independence of Cuba, on con- 
 dition that an indemnity of 159 millions should be granted to the former 
 colonists. This indemnity was afterwards reduced to 60 millions, then to 
 an annual payment of 4,000,000, by virtue of an agreement that doubtless 
 concealed some irregularities. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 201 
 
 escorted me to Champgrenon. The next day, I was en- 
 rolled in the first company of grenadiers, and mounted 
 guard for the first time a few days afterwards. I spent 
 the night in patrolling. In the morning, after we had 
 been relieved, my comrades offered me a splendid break- 
 fast, to celebrate my admission into their ranks, after 
 which, headed by a band of music, they escorted me back 
 to Champgrenon through the faubourg La Barre, at the 
 same time calling my attention to the fact that its name 
 had been changed to that of Rambuteau.^ Then, during a 
 grand review, my wife fastened a knot of ribbons sent at 
 my request by Mme. de Lafayette, to the flag of the legion. 
 
 I was elected by an enormous majority. But, after 
 my return to Paris, I did not conceal from Casimir Perier 
 the impressions I had brought back from the department : 
 a trend of wild excitement had taken possession of men's 
 minds, the so-called liberal ideas were making such progress 
 that constitutional institutions were already beginning to be 
 considered as superannuated. The heredity of the Peerage 
 was condemned. Its abolition was an error, a very grave 
 error, as I have already said ; Pdrier held the same opinion, 
 and the mistake would not have been committed but for 
 that untoward adjournment of which I have spoken, and 
 during which Lafayette and his friends brought their 
 influence to bear on the King. 
 
 Louis-Philippe believed that a life-peerage would increase 
 personal authority, while, on the other hand, being hampered 
 by the Law of Categories,* he never was able, during his 
 whole reign, to get his best friend. Baron de Montmorency, 
 admitted to the Peerage. The latter could not succeed 
 his father, and, on account of his very loyalty, was made 
 the victim of wretched formalities. The King could not 
 
 ' This name was given to it definitely by the city of M4con after the 
 death of the Comte de Rambuteau. 
 
 ' According to the Law of Categories (December 29th, 1831), the King 
 was forced to choose the peers from certain categories : — Presidents of the 
 Chamber of Deputies ; Deputies who had served in three Legislatures ; 
 Marshals and Admirals ; Lieutenant-Generals and Vice-Admirals, after two 
 years' service ; Ambassadors after three years' service ; Councillors of State 
 after ten years' service. 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 forget, although it would have been to his advantage if 
 he had done so, the offences, and even insults, which had 
 been directed against him by a number of peers during 
 the reign of the Legitimists, so he was not unwilling that 
 a blow should be dealt to the entire institution, which had 
 been so steadily defended by Benjamin Constant in 1 8 1 5, 
 and which had been maintained in the Additional Act. 
 
 Now, it would have been easy enough to save it in 
 1830 ; all that public opinion demanded was the abolition 
 of the peerages created by Charles X. ; nay, a step further 
 might have been taken, and the whole Peerage renovated 
 from beginning to end, as M. de Talleyrand recommended. 
 But the suppression of hereditary rights was the worst 
 solution of all. It divided the Royalists into two camps, 
 at a time when they were not numerous enough in France 
 to support two royal candidates, and, as party-feelings always 
 induce men to sacrifice even their own interests, their 
 political rancour led them to become the allies of the 
 Republicans, simply that they might the more successfully 
 attack the Government. They advocated universal suffrage, 
 did not repudiate the license of the press, and, in short, 
 behaved in such a way, that if '48 disappointed their hopes, 
 they had only themselves in a great measure to thank for it. 
 
 As for myself, all I could do was to strenuously support 
 the maintenance of the pensions granted to a certain number 
 of Peers, in the name of the union existing between the 
 two Chambers, and of their joint complicity, if I may so 
 speak, with recent events. Had not several of the Peers 
 who were closely connected with the immediate associates 
 of Charles X. voted in favour of the accession of the Due 
 d'Orleans to the throne .'' People do not usually repudiate 
 obligations in the hour of their success which they have 
 contracted in their day of trouble. 
 
 The meeting of the new Chamber imposed many duties 
 on the re-elected deputies ; they had, in the first place, to 
 make the situation and the matters under discussion known 
 to more than two hundred colleagues whose zeal equalled 
 their ignorance, as well as to overcome their distrust and 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 203 
 
 secure their co-operation ; in addition to this, by way of 
 supporting the Ministry, they had to discourage the hopes 
 of some and soothe the regrets of others. Consequently, 
 things did not always work smoothly ; now and then, 
 irritating words were exchanged. Thus, one day I had 
 to reply to certain consequential individuals who thought 
 to win distinction by vilifying my past career. " Learn, 
 gentlemen," I said, " that I have never betrayed any con- 
 fidence, have never sold myself to any party, and that, if 
 I have served under three Governments, I have never 
 cringed, and have always acted with integrity and rectitude." 
 
 We had, besides, to work very hard : we spent more 
 than a month in discussing the different sections of the 
 Budget in the bureaus. In my department, we had to 
 study those of the Ministry of the Interior and of Public 
 Works. I personally filled the breach during sixteen sessions, 
 so, as a reward, I was appointed to the Commission of 
 Finances, and, later on, reporter. 
 
 I had still to examine the secret funds, made specially 
 interesting by the chapter on the " Black Cabinet." Since 
 the days of Louis XIV. this institution had been within the 
 jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was 
 concerned only with the correspondence of foreign diplo- 
 matic agents. Its organisation was a sort of State secret ; 
 it was composed of a number of trustworthy employes, 
 liberally paid, recruited, for the most part, from the same 
 families, son following father, and endowed with a sort of 
 cautious circumspection which had become a kind of 
 hereditary virtue, for I have known a family that could 
 reckon four generations in this service. The most in- 
 genious ciphers did not escape their penetration. All they 
 needed were three or four letters in order to interpret the 
 most delicate keys. They had, indeed, complete collections. 
 An impression was taken of every new seal in soft plaster, 
 which hardened rapidly. Only the rapid transmission of 
 the mail by the couriers to the Ambassadors caused them 
 some difficulty, but they generally succeeded in learning all 
 that was required from the correspondence of secondary 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 agents, who had recourse to the post. The Black Cabinet 
 was doubtless sometimes employed as a factor in domestic 
 politics, but much less frequently than was believed. 
 
 These various labours were, certainly, sufficient to fill 
 up my time. My secretary entered my study at six in the 
 morning. With his assistance I prepared my reports, after 
 a careful examination of all the official documents that were 
 likely to shed light on the subject upon which we were 
 working. I have sometimes read, pen in hand, seventy 
 columns of the Moniieur, in search of information on a 
 single point. No wonder, then, that I was nicknamed k 
 piocheur (the digger), and was sometimes met with the 
 question : " Where the mischief did you get all you have 
 just been telling us ? " "Why, in the technical works, and 
 the reports which are sent to each one of you, and which 
 not one of you ever read." At ten, I gave audience to a 
 string of petitioners for office, that thumb-screw of deputies 
 and governments, particularly after revolutions. After a 
 hasty breakfast I made my appearance at the several Com- 
 missions of which I was a member ; then, at two exactly, I 
 was in the Chamber, ready for my conference with Casimir 
 P6rier. 
 
 During the sitting I took my place behind him, when 
 he would often whisper to me : " Pay close attention to 
 such or such a point ; always keep yourself well prepared ; 
 you will have to answer in my stead from the tribune." 
 But, as soon as the critical moment came, his impetuous 
 activity got the better of him, and he failed entirely to call 
 to mind that he had intended to have recourse to others ; 
 so, all my preparations went for nothing ; my regret was 
 more for his sake than for my own, because I clearly saw 
 that he was exhausting himself in these incessant struggles, 
 instituted by Mauguin, Lamarque, and Jaubert, for the 
 express purpose of harassing him and driving him to act 
 quite inconsistently with his own character. 
 
 In 1829, when he would have saved the Crown if only 
 Charles X. had trusted him, he was considered too radical. 
 In 1 83 1 he was considered too conservative. Nevertheless, 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 205 
 
 he was the same man, with the same inflexible will and the 
 same rectitude. He had a horror of disorder and anarchy ; 
 he was incapable of weakness or compromise. Truly there 
 was something grand in loving him and fighting at his side, 
 because not a grain of personal vanity or self-interest was 
 to be discovered in the most hidden recesses of his soul. 
 He loved France passionately ; to serve her was his sole 
 ambition, and his sincerity was so obvious that he was fully 
 justified in declaring one day from the tribune : " I entered 
 public life as a man of courage ; my sole aspiration is to 
 leave it as a man of honour." At the time of the debate 
 on the secret funds, he said to me : " My friend, 1 have 
 no secrets from you. I have, therefore, ordered that all the 
 documents you may wish for should be communicated to 
 you ; you will study them and then judge for yourself." I 
 did so, and my inspection of these documents convinced me 
 of the soundness of all the departments ; the half of the 
 supplies granted were enough to pay the debts of the past 
 as well as those incurred by preceding regimes — nay, even 
 those incurred by the Committee of Public Safety ! 
 
 But in the winter of 1832 his strength began to fail. 
 He was discouraged, worn out by an opposition which his 
 irritability only rendered the more exhausting. I saw him 
 every day at Mme. Foy's residence, where he used to go 
 for a few moments' repose. He would accuse his friends 
 of weakness, indifference, desertion. " They are cowards," 
 he used to say, "who abandon me in presence of the 
 enemy. No one thinks of anything but his personal 
 interests, his personal ambition. They will not see that 
 I am reduced to the last extremity, that I am spending my 
 life for a cause that is not only the cause of duty, but the 
 salvation of the country." 
 
 Hurt by hearing him make no exceptions in his re- 
 proaches, I could not help exclaiming sadly : " And yet, for 
 the last ten months I have sat behind you, and have laid 
 my hand on your shoulder a score of times at every session, 
 and begged you to spare yourself. I have begged you, 
 over and over again, during the same period : ' Be calm ; 
 
2o6 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 don't get excited ; keep silent ; don't play their game ; 
 surely you must see that they are turning your feverish 
 impetuosity into a weapon against yourself, and that they 
 want to bury you under your very victories ! ' And, with 
 all your quick temper, you have never shown that I annoyed 
 you, you have never evinced the least impatience when I 
 expressed my disapproval at some of your actions. And 
 why not ? but because, in your heart, you did me justice. 
 Ah, you were juster to me then than you are now ! " He 
 threw himself into my arms. Alas ! in a few days he was 
 dead.^ 
 
 No doubt Louis-Philippe appreciated his value and his 
 devotion, but he was afraid of his imperious temperament 
 and the stubborn tenacity of his opinions ; he did not feel 
 at ease with so masterful a servant, and his death, whilst 
 occasioning him some regret, was undoubtedly a great 
 relief to him. As I sometimes acted the part of a prudent 
 intermediary between them, I may be allowed to know 
 something of the matter. Perhaps the King was thinking 
 of these good offices of mine when he said to me some 
 time afterward : "I am sorry I have not been able to do 
 anything for you, considering that you have rendered me 
 such important services ! " " Sire," I answered, " my 
 services to your Majesty have been as disinterested as 
 were those which 1 formerly rendered to the Emperor ; 
 sooner or later I shall find what suits me, but, if we are 
 ever to fall, we shaU fall together, and it is all the same to 
 me whether I fall from the entresol or from the fourth story." 
 
 The next year I was Prefect of Paris. 
 
 ' The day after this premature death, Comte Mollien wrote the 
 following letter to M. de Rambuteau : "The day (the i6th) upon which 
 you wrote to me will be memorable in our history. On that day we lost a 
 man whom the ablest of our politicians will surely permit me to call a pre- 
 eminently necessary man, even when compared to them. If he did not 
 succeed in correcting in many of our public men the modern tendency to 
 mingle in public affairs only for the purpose of advancing their personal 
 ambitions, he at least set them an example of an entirely opposite principle. 
 He also taught them what we all need to learn, that respect for conventional 
 usages and social proprieties plays a part in the affairs of this world ; he 
 had a keen sense of all their different values. Foreign diplomatists were 
 especially struck by this characteristic, which contributed not a little to 
 our peaceful relations with other powers," &c. 
 
Hello-? DujardiTi Pans 
 
 ' y///'^ ' ■^0^/97,1^" /'//■■ • Aft/^^/fHiCe-c 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 PREFECT OF THE SEINE 
 
 ON the 24th of June 1833 I took the oath of fidelity 
 to the King.^ I asked permission to add a few 
 words to the customary ceremonial, and said: "Sire, 
 your Majesty knows that I have never solicited the post 
 which you have deigned to confide to me to-day. The 
 cholera,^ my friendship for Casimir Pdrier, my devotion 
 to your august person, have alone decided me to abandon 
 the Chamber where I have had the good fortune to do 
 some service. I beg your Majesty to consider my presence 
 in the Hotel de Ville as that of a commander in a citadel. 
 My resignation shall always rest with you, and I will never 
 seek support from either individuals or measures in oppo- 
 sition to your desire and will." 
 
 I had long enjoyed the friendship of the Royal Family, 
 particularly that of Madame Adelaide, who allowed me to 
 
 * Long before this it had been intended that Comte de Rambuteau 
 should be appointed to the office so soon as it became vacant. Comte 
 d'Argout wrote to him some months previously : " You know that there is 
 a certain post which I am most anxious that you should fill. But as its 
 present occupant, Monsieur Bondy, is fairly popular, it will be necessary 
 first to find some other suitable appointment for him. At the same time, 
 I can assure you that every one with whom I have discussed the possibility 
 of your coming here eventually has expressed unfeigned satisfaction at the 
 prospect of having some one at the head of affairs who will be capable of 
 restoring order and setting to rights much that has been neglected. 
 
 "The Prefecture of the Seine is almost as important a position as a post 
 in the Ministry. But it will need much patience and courage to re-establish 
 it on a firm basis. I have no doubt that sooner or later we shall be able to 
 accomplish it. Meanwhile, I am doing all I can." 
 
 2 The terrible epidemic which had devastated Asia and Europe broke 
 out in Paris on the 26th of March 1832; it lasted for 190 days, and had 
 nearly 20,000 victims. Casimir P^rier was stricken two days after visiting 
 the H6tel-Dieu with the Due d'Orldans. 
 
 20f 
 
2o8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 visit her in the morning, whenever I had leisure, and con- 
 tinued this favour as long as she lived. " Whenever you 
 wish to warn or advise my brother," she said, *' but feel 
 any awkwardness in doing so, only come to me. By taking 
 me into your confidence you will not forfeit his, and you 
 will be all the surer of securing a hearing." 
 
 At no time did her affectionate protection fail me. 
 Before I had been Prefect of the Seine for a year, she took 
 me aside one day, and said : " My brother is very pleased 
 with your conduct, but he is quite sensible of the difficulties 
 of your situation — a situation rendered still more delicate 
 by your personal attachment to him. He has charged me 
 to extract a promise from you that, whatever happens, and 
 whatever annoyances you may have to endure, you will not 
 resign. He is strong enough to refuse to dismiss you, but 
 not strong enough to decline to receive your resignation 
 during a Ministerial crisis." She repeatedly reminded me of 
 this promise whenever circumstances occurred that involved 
 my administration in difficulties. 
 
 The first time my duties obliged me to address the 
 King officially was on the occasion of laying the foundation- 
 stone of the Pont des Saints-Pferes : " Sire," said I, " the 
 mission with which you have honoured me implies a great 
 obligation, which may be summarised in a few words : To 
 give the Parisians water, air, and shade," Such, in fact, was 
 my programme, my constant thought, the goal of all my 
 labours. These labours I mean to speak of elsewhere, for 
 the benefit of those who, instead of being scared by statistics, 
 are in quest of figures and documents ; and, should the 
 account of them fill only a single page of the history of 
 our Paris, that page will repay me for fifteen years of toil. 
 
 The Parisians are like children ; their minds must be 
 incessantly occupied, and, when it is impossible to present 
 them with the bulletin of a battle every month, or with a 
 new Constitution, one must amuse them by letting them 
 have some new public works that are worth a visit, or by 
 the display of various plans for the beautifying of the 
 city. Such entertainments serve as a safety-valve for their 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 209 
 
 continual craving for novelty, and their inherent love of 
 finding fault with the powers that be. 
 
 The National Guards had replaced the grognards of the 
 Empire. Napoleon had always taken care to ascertain the 
 feelings and hear the remarks of these old grumblers, and 
 it was equally necessary to feel the pulse of the National 
 Guards, for during the interval of 1815 to 1848 they con- 
 stantly troubled the repose of both Ministers and Sovereigns. 
 To teach a lesson to the authorities was apparently one of 
 the rights which they had acquired in 1830, and only con- 
 sidered it an exercise of their proper functions ; and such 
 good use did they make of this supposed privilege that one 
 fine day they discovered they had brought about a revolu- 
 tion when they had only intended to reform a Monarchy, 
 and, to their intense shame and astonishment, found that 
 they had created a Republic of their own making. 
 
 I sought, then, both to amuse Paris and to improve it 
 as well, by constructing monuments, opening streets, making 
 plantations and gardens, giving balls and fites ; in short, I 
 undertook whatever might prove beneficial as well as enter- 
 taining to the public, as will appear further on. My task 
 was by no means an easy one, owing to the jealousy and 
 rivalry which I encountered from different quarters. To 
 enable me to see my way clearer in every transaction, I 
 included in the Municipal Council the most substantial 
 and capable citizens to be found among the interested 
 parties, so that every cause might be represented and receive 
 fair consideration. I had learned, in the school of Casimir 
 P6rier, how it proves one's goodwill and creates confidence 
 in one's motives. In fact, it was Purler's custom to submit 
 all the great measures he intended to introduce during his 
 Ministry to Commissions of twenty or thirty members 
 chosen from the dlite of the two Chambers, without dis- 
 tinction of party. I followed his example in my humble 
 sphere, and it would be impossible to over-rate the immense 
 help I received from all those to whom I addressed myself, 
 no matter whether they were artists or literary men, or 
 magistrates or manufacturers, &c. 
 
 o 
 
2IO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 It is to them, it is to their strong and faithful co- 
 operation, that I am indebted for whatever good I was able 
 to achieve ; I am also bound to pay a tribute of heart-felt 
 gratitude to my dear and worthy companion. There were 
 no cases of distress which she did not succour, no mis- 
 fortunes which she did not console : all the benevolent 
 institutions benefited by her inexhaustible charity ; but what 
 contributed most of all to the prosperity of my administration 
 was her sympathy, her affability, her charming simplicity, 
 her fascinating courtesy. I have seen her receive three 
 hundred lady visitors on a Tuesday, for each of whom 
 she had a smile, a kindly word, and a cordial greeting. 
 She had wonderful tact in making every one feel at home, 
 always addressing some remark to each lady, which made 
 her feel that she had a personal interest in each individual. 
 
 How many prejudices were entirely disarmed by her 
 delicate savoir-faire, and how often she succeeded in capti- 
 vating those whose over-weening opinion of themselves made 
 them ready to take offence on the most trifling provocation. 
 Even the most exacting of her visitors yielded to the power 
 of her charms. Sometimes, when I have seen her ready to 
 drop from fatigue after a six-hours " At Home," she would 
 still find strength to say to me, " I do hope, my dear, they 
 have gone away satisfied, for when the wives are pleased, it 
 is easier to manage the husbands. In that case, my drawing- 
 room will be of some use to your cabinet." A Municipal 
 Councillor once said to her, " You have really educated 
 us, Madame la Comtesse, and made us capable of taking 
 our place in the best society," ^ And it was true, for 
 
 ' No one will be surprised that the daughter of the Comte de Narbonne 
 should possess these fascinating manners ; they came to her by inheritance. 
 The particular afFection which Queen Marie Amdlie entertained for her was 
 not lessened by misfortune and exile, as is shown by the following letter, 
 written to the Count on learning the death of the Countess : — 
 
 " Claremont, the Zth oi January 1857. 
 " My dear Count, — Neither age, time, nor absence can make me 
 forget my old friend, and it is from the depths of my heart that I add my 
 regrets to yours for the loss of your excellent wife, who was so good, so 
 charitable, and who always cherished so much affection for me. God alone 
 can console you, but you will also derive a very sweet comfort from the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 211 
 
 the Parisians are especially sensible of the attraction of 
 superiority. They have always wished to have persons of 
 distinction in authority. The National Guard was com- 
 manded by Comte d'Artois ; among its colonels were the 
 most illustrious marshals, and even the Ministers, men who 
 would have regarded obedience to a commander of lower 
 rank distasteful and painful. 
 
 In 1834, the King informed me of his intention to 
 summon me to the Chamber of Peers. I was undecided 
 whether I should accept this flattering offer or not. I had 
 not left the Chamber of Deputies without feeling a certain 
 pang of regret, shared by my colleagues, who wanted to 
 retain me. M. Dupin, the President, had even oflFered to 
 introduce a measure excepting the Prefect of the Seine from 
 that provision of the law which excluded public function- 
 aries from the Legislature ; but I objected, and for two 
 good reasons. In the first place, no one can be of sufficient 
 importance as to justify an exception to the law in his 
 favour; in the second, 'I had taken my new duties very 
 seriously, and I was convinced that they would occupy all 
 my time, especially as the Municipal Council was about to 
 be elected, and the authority with which it would be in- 
 vested would most probably increase the difficulties of my 
 administration. Nevertheless, the memories associated with 
 my parliamentary career were so gratifying that I hoped, if 
 circumstances permitted, to return to the Chamber at some 
 time or other. As regarded my elevation to the Chamber 
 of Peers, I thought it advisable to consult M. Thiers, 
 Minister of the Interior, with whom I had become more 
 and more intimate, although we occasionally had our little 
 quarrels, originating in those professional jealousies that 
 sometimes raise a cloud between Minister and Prefect.^ 
 
 sympathy of your two dear daughters. Tell them that I share their sorrow. 
 My children have also asked me to convey to you their regrets for the loss 
 you have sustained. — Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 " Marie Am^lie." 
 
 ' M. Thiers was very quick-tempered, and M. Rambuteau sometimes 
 acted the part of mediator between the ruffled statesman and those who 
 had offended him. The following letter was occasioned by an unfortunate 
 
212 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " If I were certain," I said to him, " to remain in the 
 Hotel de Ville, nothing would be more natural than for me 
 to accept the peerage ; but, if you consider that I am not 
 likely to continue Prefect of the Seine for any length of 
 time, then I should prefer returning to the Chamber and 
 resuming the honourable place I have already achieved 
 there. I should be a new-comer among the Peers, and 
 have at least thirty competitors all older, abler, and more 
 experienced than myself. Do not expose me to the risk 
 of being obliged to send in my resignation as a Peer, 
 because, having failed to make any mark in my new 
 position, I find myself thankful to return to my former 
 seat in the Chamber with all the advantages it offers." 
 
 " My dear friend," answered Thiers, '* you are a faithful 
 and discreet lieutenant, although I must confess you have 
 sometimes enough determination to be troublesome ; hence 
 the occasional skirmishes which occur between the Ministry 
 and the Prefecture, but which do not alter my confidence 
 in you, or lessen my esteem and affection for you in the 
 slightest degree. You will succeed in the Hotel de Ville 
 because you so thoroughly understand your mission — that 
 I feel convinced you will achieve a triumph. Limit your 
 ambition to that ; you will have a long and splendid 
 career; and will see the downfall of more than one 
 Minister without sharing in it. Doubtless, with all your 
 
 expression used by Delassert during a debate on the Sunday Labour ques- 
 tion : — 
 
 " My dear Rambuteau, — I will answer M. Frangois Delessert directly 
 when he addresses me directly ; he has already done so often enough, not 
 to shrink from doing so again ; he will always find me ready to answer 
 courteously questions that are asked me courteously. If he is deputy of 
 Paris, I am deputy of Aix. I am also Minister of the King, and always 
 prepared to reply to every appeal, provided it be made in suitable terms. 
 The word scandal hurts me, and I say so. Twice you have accepted the 
 role of intermediary. You will be good enough to transmit my answer to 
 him whether it pleases him or not. The Administration of Public Works 
 is not the source of scandal ; it presents a spectacle of activity that is quite as 
 moral and useful as that of indolence ; it does not fix the days of labour, 
 &c., it neither prohibits nor permits Sunday employment. The workmen 
 are paid by the piece, and may choose their own time for doing the work. 
 
 " November Witi i^th, 1833." 
 
Emv.iwri DVBVFE 
 
 - ''y</<:/dC(Z-cc/^ x:/e ^y!a>t^!j-(xn^: 
 
 flelior^ Duiirdm'Par'is 
 
 <n^ - ^r/. tfZ^, 
 
 '('.y^f/iJejje , a^ i^ta-yrz/H^ii^c 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 213 
 
 talents and intelligence, and your special aptitude for 
 reporting on the Budget, you might make a good Secretary 
 of State. But you have neither the gifts nor the eloquence 
 needed in a member of the Council. If you were a Guizot, 
 a Broglie, or a Mole, I should say to you : ' Stay in the 
 Chamber, risk the vicissitude of political life, and you may 
 yet have your day of power ! ' But to be a Minister always 
 subordinate to another Minister, no matter how excellent 
 may be your work in your own department ; to see your 
 future at the mercy of the reverses or the faults of your 
 chief ; to fall at last while engaged in noble enterprises and 
 laborious toils that merit the highest approval — that is 
 to be simply a journeyman Minister, nothing more. You 
 deserve a better fate. You may repeatedly make one 
 of a Ministry, and yet leave no results to show that you 
 ever belonged to it ; whilst, on the other hand, you can 
 continue Prefect of Paris some fifteen or twenty years, do 
 good service to the city, and then retire, either voluntarily 
 or in consequence of a revolution, leaving behind you a 
 name that will be remembered." He was right : I accepted 
 the peerage.^ 
 
 As I have spoken of M. Thiers, I may mention that 
 it was to him I owed my acquaintance with M. Mignet, 
 his most intimate friend, and his loyal and faithful comrade, 
 who did me the honour one day to request my assistance 
 in a matter of singular delicacy. It had to do with 
 M. Thiers' approaching marriage. 
 
 M. Mignet spoke of his anxiety and regret at seeing 
 him reject several alliances which, beside bringing him great 
 advantages in the way of fortune, would insure him strong 
 political support. He also took General Garraube, a deputy 
 into his confidence, and it was agreed that we three should 
 have an interview with M. Thiers. 
 
 1 It had long been intended to give the peerage to Comte de Rambuteau, 
 and Comte d'Argout wrote the following note to him in October 1832 :— 
 
 " You are already aware of my desire to see your name figure in the first 
 list of Peers, but, after due consideration had been given to the subject, we 
 came to the conclusion that it would be unwise to deprive the Chamber of 
 Deputies of influential and able men like you, until there was a majority in 
 favour of the system of i8th of March." 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 He listened to us very complacently, at a little dinner 
 given in the home of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 thanked us for the affectionate interest we felt in his future 
 welfare, and added : " When I came to Paris (you re- 
 member it, Mignet) he and I were two poor comrades 
 without money and without protection. Both of these 
 I found in the Dosne family, which received me hospitably, 
 loved and adopted me. To the Dosnes I owe my first 
 successes, and now that fortune smiles upon me, and that 
 I have attained an influential position, I should be un- 
 grateful indeed if I did not share my honours with those 
 who protected me then. Such a debt of gratitude must 
 be repaid, and I shall never regret the decision I have 
 adopted." 
 
 I was also well acquainted with M. Pasquier for more than 
 thirty years, and used to visit him frequently, particularly 
 after Semonville resigned the office of Grand Refendary, 
 in 1834. His great mental powers, his vast experience, 
 his almost infallible insight into men and things, his calm- 
 ness of judgment, often led me to seek his advice. What 
 long conversations I have had with him, and what a pleasure 
 it was to listen whilst he related the important events in 
 which he had taken part, and gave a correct version of 
 incidents that had been entirely misrepresented, as well as 
 of details that had hitherto been unknown ! He wrote 
 them down in the last years of his life, and he regretted 
 that my failing sight did not allow me to read his memoirs 
 in manuscript. But he was good enough to read them 
 to me himself, and the charm of his voice lent an additional 
 attraction to his words. I remember his description of the 
 taking of the Bastille, at which he had been present in 
 Mile. Contat's carriage, and of the wedding dinner given 
 on the occasion of the marriage of Mile. Cabarrus,^ and 
 M. de Fontenay, which he related while we were dining 
 in the very same dining-room in which the banquet was 
 held, in the palace of the Archbishop of Paris ! 
 
 I remember, after the establishment of the Second 
 1 Afterward Mme. Tallien. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 215 
 
 Empire, which seemed more or less the result of the 
 indelible memories left by the First, and sought to em- 
 phasise my arguments by reminding him of the thrill that 
 shook Paris in 1833, when the Emperor's statue reappeared 
 on the Column, and again in 1 840, on the " Retour des 
 Cendres," when even the extreme severity of the cold could 
 not chill the heat of their enthusiasm, and which had now 
 sprung into life once more and given five million votes 
 to his nephew. " What you say is perfectly true," he 
 replied, "so true that after the Strasbourg affair, I said 
 to the King : ' Sire, the memory of the Emperor is so 
 deeply rooted in the heart of France, that had his son, and 
 not his nephew, returned, your Majesty would have been 
 dethroned on the spot.' " On another occasion, when we 
 were speaking of 18 14, he told me that, on receiving in- 
 formation, as Prefect of Police, of a plot to assassinate the 
 Emperor, he wrote to warn him : " I had left his service," 
 he added, " but could not forget his kindness to me when 
 I held office under him." I expect he referred to the plot 
 of Maubreuil, although he did not mention the name, but 
 I am not quite sure.^ 
 
 I have no more intention of giving an exhaustive 
 account of Louis-Philippe's reign than I had of fully 
 describing that of Napoleon. I shall only speak of the 
 events I witnessed, and the impressions they made on me. 
 Besides, I was too much occupied to have time to waste on 
 watching the doings of others. It is all I can do to recall 
 my own, having reached that time of life when one lives 
 more in the past than either in the present or future. 
 Certainly, I have forgotten much ; but there are certain 
 words which still linger in my memoryT— certain scenes 
 engraved, as it were, on my mental vision which I could 
 never forget were I to live for another hundred years. 
 One of these was Fieschi's crime. We all felt very uneasy 
 on the morning of the 28th of July 1835, when the King 
 was to review the National Guard in person. We had 
 
 1 No doubt he was thinking of Maubreuil. Chancellor Pasquier has 
 detailed the affair at full length in his Mdmoires, c. iii. p. 365, seq. 
 
219 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 heard disquieting rumours from different directions, just 
 the sort of reports that herald riots and criminal attempts. 
 I mentioned them to Marshal Lobau, and, when we entered 
 the King's cabinet to inform him that everything was in 
 order for the review, I entreated his Majesty to let the 
 aide-de-camp receive petitions presented to him instead of 
 allowing the petitioners to break through the ranks and 
 approach himself, paper in hand : "I have no objection to 
 your proposal," he replied ; " but, my dear Prefect, you 
 need feel no uneasiness ; if there is any danger it will come 
 from the windows and not from the streets." We went 
 down stairs ; I gave my arm to the Due de Tr6vise,^ who 
 had the gout, and found walking painful. 
 
 During the review groups of " gallows-birds" and such 
 like scoundrels were to be seen congregated together at the 
 corner of the Place Vendome, and in front of the Pavilion 
 de Hanovre and at the Porte Saint-Denis — the sort of bad 
 characters who never come together unless some disturbance 
 is at hand. At the entrance to the Boulevard du Temple 
 we found the Eighth Legion, whose lieutenant-colonel, M. 
 de Rieussec, took his place between General Aymfes, aide- 
 de-camp on service, and myself. I said to him : " You 
 had better go back and remain at the head of your legion, 
 for I see that your colonel is not there, but with the King." 
 Marshal Lobau was on his Majesty's right, M. de la Rue 
 on his left, and I was immediately behind him. The 
 Prince de Joinville was next to the Marshal, and the Due 
 d'Orleans next to M. de la Rue. M. de Rieussec answered 
 me : " Allow me to remain for a moment among you, as I 
 want to say a word to the Due d'Orldans about the races 
 at Chantilly." 
 
 We were packed so close that my knee was pressed 
 down under that of M. de Tr^vise, who had stayed beside 
 me since the beginning of the review. I was about to 
 apologise when this incident saved my life, for that very 
 momerit a loud detonation was heard, which I imagined to 
 be a misplaced discharge of fireworks. Our horses reared ; 
 
 ' Marshal Mo^ier. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 217 
 
 and, seeing that the Marshal swayed in the saddle, I put out 
 my hand to steady him, saying : " Take care, Marshal, or 
 you'll fall." Suddenly, however, his huge body leaned 
 over on my horse's neck, and M. de Rieussec dropped in 
 front of me. 
 
 Then I understood the truth. I vaulted over the body 
 of M. de Rieussec, and shouted to the King : " Forward, 
 Sire, and get out of the range of the firing ! " At the 
 same time, I pointed out the window from which a thick 
 smoke was escaping to the National Guards stationed on my 
 left, crying : "Seize that house and everybody in it ! " But 
 Major Flahaut had been before me, and was looking into 
 the matter. "Gentlemen," cried the King quite calmly, 
 " resume your places, and let the review go on." He told 
 me afterwards that, on turning round, I was the only 
 one he had perceived behind him. General Lachase and 
 Colonel Raffe of the Gendarmerie had been mortally 
 wounded ; one bullet had gone clean through the nose of 
 General Mathieu Aymes; General Dumas had received 
 another in his hat, and the Due de Broglie one in his 
 cravat. He never discovered its presence till we called 
 his attention to it at the Chancellerie, and then as he untied 
 the necktie the bullet dropped to the ground. The King's 
 horse had been struck with buckshot on the neck and the 
 crupper; his Majesty himself having received a bullet in 
 his coat, but he would not allow any mention of this. 
 
 The order to carry on the review prevented us at first 
 from realising the extent of the disaster ; indeed, I had 
 barely time to order Barriere (one of the two StafF officers 
 in attendance on me) to gallop to the Chancellerie and 
 reassure the Queen and the Royal Family as to the 
 King's safety, and then to proceed to my wife and inform 
 her that nothing had happened to myself. The National 
 Guard, in the course of the review, marched as far as the 
 Jardin de Beaumarchais, returning to the Place Vendome ; 
 and it was only when we crossed the spot where the catas- 
 trophe occurred, and which was spattered with blood, that 
 we understood all its horror. The wall of the Jardin Turc 
 
21 8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was riddled with bullets ; besides those victims who had 
 fallen in the royal procession, twenty-five or thirty of the 
 spectators and National Guards had also been injured. I 
 gave orders for their removal to the Hopital Saint-Louis, 
 where, alas, in spite of every care, very few survived their 
 wounds. Finally, the review was brought to an end by the 
 last eight legions, in the midst of a heart-rending silence, on 
 the Place Vendome. 
 
 There we experienced a poignant emotion, the Queen, 
 her daughters, the young Princes, and Madame Adelaide 
 were awaiting the arrival of the King with an anxiety easy 
 to conceive. They all threw themselves, weeping, on his 
 neck ; whilst on their side the ladies of their suites sprang 
 toward us and looked eagerly in every direction, one for a 
 brother, another for a husband, another for a father who 
 had escaped from this butchery; as for myself, I had the 
 happiness of clasping in my arms my wife and daughters, to 
 whom Providence had so recently preserved me. But the 
 ceremony was not over yet. In spite of the burning heat, 
 the King again mounted his horse, and we had to resume 
 our places and remain for the march past, which lasted 
 more than two hours. 
 
 The news spread as fast as a train of gunpowder. It 
 would be impossible to do justice to the enthusiasm of our 
 good National Guards, which found expression in their 
 cheers and hurrahs; not content with manifesting their 
 attachment to their sovereign by their cries, they broke 
 their ranks, and, pressing forward, tried to touch his boots, 
 as they could not reach his hand. Extraordinary creatures ! 
 whose hearts move faster than their heads, whose enthusiasm 
 of to-day does not efface the prejudices of the night before, 
 or save them from the illusions of the morrow ! Thus, in 
 1 847,1 I happened to be reviewing the Second Legion, also 
 on the Place Vendome, when the report of the attempted 
 assassination of Lecomte reached us. Thereupon a cry 
 rose at once from six thousand breasts : " To the Tuileries J 
 
 ' A slip of the memory ; the attempt to assassinate Lecomte occurred on 
 the i6th of" April 1846. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 219 
 
 to the Tuileries / lead us to the King!" I put myself at the 
 head of the legion, together with the colonel, and led it 
 into the courtyard of the chateau. The King came down, 
 holding the Comte de Paris by the hand. He was received 
 with as hearty cheers as when he had appeared before them 
 a dozen years or so before. The next day the Sixth and 
 Seventh Legions begged me to allow them to make a similar 
 demonstration, and if I had been authorised to do so they 
 would doubtless have evinced the same wild enthusiasm. 
 But only a few months later all this was forgotten ; it was 
 the National Guard that brought about the Revolution of 
 February. 
 
 The obsequies of Fieschi's victims were on a magnificent 
 scale. There was a procession of seventeen hearses, the first 
 containing the body of a Marshal of France, the last that of 
 a young girl, escorted by twenty-four of her companions, 
 and this spectacle made a deep impression on the people. 
 The whole cortege vividly emphasised the horrors of civil 
 strife, which strikes blindly, without any regard for age, 
 sex, or rank. When the King sprinkled the coffins, one 
 after another, with holy water, a visible shudder ran through 
 the crowd; many eyes were wet with tears; then the mortal 
 remains of these innocent people, united alike in a common 
 death and a common burial, were interred in the Invalides 
 in one and the same vault. 
 
 When I first entered the Hotel de Ville I kept myself 
 to some extent in touch with the Chamber and with politics, 
 for when a man has once taken part in parliamentary life 
 he is generally beset with a craving to retain a share in 
 all its thrilling experiences and its exciting intrigues. 
 
 But my duties as administrator soon monopolised all 
 my attention, and forced me to sever these bonds. I felt 
 that I could not do better than devote my time exclusively 
 to that Paris whose very name spells Glory. Gradually 
 everything else became indifferent to me, or rather dropped 
 out of my life entirely ; and, indeed, if it had been possible 
 to double my hours of labour, these hours would not have 
 sufficed for my task. I paid little heed to the words and 
 
220 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 deeds of Ministers. All I asked of them was to let me 
 accomplish my work, but I was inflexible directly I saw that 
 they were trying to hamper it. 
 
 I had, for instance, a very serious quarrel in 1838 with 
 M. Humann, the Minister of Finance, when he insisted on 
 remodelling the tax on licenses, so that he might get larger 
 returns from it. He had addressed circulars to the Prefects 
 and Directors of Taxes, calling their attention to the large 
 numbers of omissions on the registers and instructing them 
 to see to it that all those engaged in any industry whatever, 
 and who were not in the pay of employers, should hence- 
 forth figure on these registers. This question was one 
 of paramount importance to Paris, where so many little 
 industries have been created by assiduous labour, combined 
 with skill and ingenuity, and where so many artisans earn 
 their modest livelihood by working at home. Until now 
 they had been exempted from the tax. Moreover, from a 
 desire to show their sympathy with the indigent classes, 
 the Municipal Council had also remitted the tax on personal 
 property to all those who paid less than 200 francs in rent, 
 and to balance the loss incurred thereby by the Department, 
 it set aside 3,200,000 francs, raised by the returns from 
 the town-tolls. 
 
 The circular and the demands made by the Minister 
 aroused a very bitter feeling in the Municipal Council, 
 which had met to discuss the Municipal Budget. A 
 strongly-worded and well-reasoned motion, in which the 
 project was condemned, was introduced by M. Lafaulotte, 
 one of the most influential and moderate members of the 
 body. I had no difficulty in persuading them to adjourn 
 for a sufficiently long time to give me a chance of mediating 
 between them and the Minister. " My dear friend," I said 
 to the latter, "your officials have placed you in an awkward 
 position, at any rate as regards Paris. You are quite justi- 
 fied in trying to get the largest possible returns from the 
 taxes, but in doing so you should act with prudence. I 
 have been only five years in office, and yet the number of 
 licenses has increased from fifty-two thousand to seventy 
 
 i 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 221 
 
 thousand ; and the returns, from four millions and a half 
 to seven millions. Where I found a deficit of sixty-five 
 francs, I have created a surplus of nearly four hundred 
 thousand. And it is this increase which your officials wish 
 to appropriate, by driving me to place certain taxes on the 
 registers which will never be recovered, as, fdr example, 
 this one which you want to levy on twenty-five thousand 
 workmen, who are absolutely unable to pay their personal 
 quota. You are on the wrong tack. If I have increased 
 the revenue from licenses sixty per cent., it is because 
 I recommended the Tax Commission to make a note of 
 all those who can pay taxes, and erase from the register 
 the names of those who cannot. You know the resolu- 
 tion that has been laid before the Council. If it is carried, 
 as it undoubtedly will be, it will be certain to make a great 
 sensation, and no doubt five hundred communes will follow 
 the example of Paris. But if, on the other hand, you let 
 me manage the affair, I shall continue to act as I have done 
 ever since this question was raised — that is, as far as possible 
 in harmony with the Council ; and though I may have a 
 little skirmish with you now and then, I will act with 
 moderation, a course dictated by my own interests. It is 
 of course in your power to defeat me, but the conscious- 
 ness of having rendered an important service to the King 
 and to the Government by preventing serious troubles will 
 console me." He showed considerable annoyance, and even 
 a little anger, but he surrendered. We were never such 
 good friends again as we had been, but the city and the 
 State were none the worse off for that. 
 
 It was also in the interests of the city that I had a con- 
 versation with the King, in 1840^ relative to the Eastern 
 Question. I was taking a few days' holiday at Champ- 
 grenon, when the warlike reports I received from Paris 
 obliged me to hurry back to the city. I went at once 
 to Saint Cloud. The King spoke to me with consider- 
 able warmth of the sacrifices that the present complications 
 might entail on France ; men's minds were terribly excited ; 
 
222 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 there was a suggestion of war in the Treaty of London, 
 and it might be necessary to go to that length. 
 
 " Sire," I answered, " with your permission, I shall con- 
 fine myself to the effect which a war may produce on my 
 own Department. To my mind the most obvious result of 
 the present state of affairs has been to put a drag on busi- 
 ness for the last six months. On the 17 th of February the 
 octroi duties showed a considerable increase over the pre- 
 ceding returns; to-day, the 15th of September, there is 
 a reduction of 1,800,000 francs; so we can calculate the 
 loss at more than two millions and a half for the half year ; 
 this means that the consumption of provisions in Paris 
 during that lapse of time has been diminished by some 
 forty-four millions. If the mere dread of war has pro- 
 duced such consequences, your Majesty can understand 
 what the reality would do. You will have to send the 
 garrison to the frontiers, whilst only the National Guard 
 will remain to defend the Crown and society. Now, it is 
 composed of tradesmen, manufacturers, and persons who 
 have a fixed income of some sort or other. The manu- 
 factured products exported by Paris every year gives bread 
 to a hundred and sixty thousand workmen ; in addition to 
 this, there are always at least fifty thousand foreigners 
 in Paris, on whom fifty thousand Parisians depend for 
 their subsistence ; a war will paralyse the one class and 
 banish the other, and drive the rentiers and the saving- 
 bank depositors crazy. Sire, I will perform my duty, just 
 as I did in 18 14 and 1815 ; but to insure a display of equal 
 zeal on the part of the Municipal Council and people, I 
 must be able to show them that I have done my best to 
 set before your eyes the sacrifices they will have to make, 
 and also prove to them that the hour has struck when 
 honour and necessity demand such sacrifices." 
 
 The King took my observations in good part, and was 
 more pacifically inclined toward the close of the conversa- 
 tion than he had been at the beginning. 
 
 I will relate another conversation with Louis-Philippe, 
 which was of a wholly political character. It occurred at 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 223 
 
 the time when M. de Salvandy replaced M. Villemain,^ in 
 the Ministry of Public Instruction. The King said to me : 
 " Well, my dear Prefect, you see 1 have got another of 
 the fanatical votaries of your friend. Mole, to join my 
 Ministry. You ought to be satisfied now ! " " Oh, not 
 at all. Sire ; your Majesty is well aware of my opinion ; 
 a Constitutional King ought always to have a body of men 
 (un ministere en cas) outside the Ministry and close to his 
 hand, just as it is advisable to keep a spare carriage ; so 
 that if one carriage breaks down, the occupant can get into 
 the other and use it while the first (which he may find 
 serviceable later) undergoes repair. Now, when you de- 
 prive M. M0I6 of all his friends, one by one, you reduce 
 him to impotence, and, for the sake of prolonging the life 
 of the Ministry for a few days, you deprive yourself of 
 useful auxiliaries in the future. Should you ever ask 
 M. Mole to form a Ministry, he will have to beg MM. 
 Thiers and Barrot to give him some of their lieutenants, 
 who will certainly retort : ' As you are willing to play our 
 game, you must hold the cards.' What is likely to happen 
 in such a case I have sometimes heard your Majesty say : 
 ' That little dare-devil of a Thiers will get me out of this 
 scrape.' And so he did both as regards the Regency of the 
 Due de Nemours and the fortifications of Paris, but your 
 Majesty is too well advised not to distinguish between the 
 claims that may be made on you by a Ministry you have 
 yourself chosen and those made by a Ministry which has 
 been forced upon you." 
 
 I had a similar conversation some time afterward — I 
 think about the first of August — with Madame Adela'lde, 
 who was then very ill, but not confined to bed. She had 
 sent for me to discuss the state of affairs, which she did 
 not find at all as satisfactory as her brother imagined them 
 to be. She always encouraged me to speak frankly, and 
 I did so on the present occasion. I told her how imprudent 
 
 ' On the 1st of February 1845. Villemain, whose health was impaired 
 by his four years' service in the Ministry, resigned on the 30th of December 
 1844. 
 
224 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 it was of the King to place all his friends in the same 
 Ministry, reserving none of them for critical circumstances, 
 and thus making himself liable to the necessity of framing 
 an entire Ministry from the Opposition ; and how the omni- 
 potence of the majority placed the Prefects under the 
 control of the Ministerial deputies, and not of the King, 
 so that there was no longer a real Prefect, properly speaking, 
 except in those Departments which were influenced by the 
 Opposition. Moreover, Paris was hostile, and this hostility 
 was not confined to the so-called advanced liberals, but 
 extended to the middle classes generally. I cited the 
 support given to the candidature of M. Berger in the 
 Second Arrondissement, and told her the most influential 
 conservatives in the district had confessed to me that 
 more than three hundred of their friends had voted for 
 M. Berger, solely from a wish to convince the Government 
 of their dissatisfaction with the present condition of affairs ; 
 and that Colonel Talbot had voted for Berger with the 
 same object : I also told her that the National Guard was 
 untrustworthy, as was implied by the fact that for the past 
 five years the Government had not dared to hold a general 
 review of its legions ; moreover that the union between 
 Guizot and Duchatel was anything but solid, and that it 
 would be wise to satisfy public opinion in certain directions, 
 by making some sacrifices, like those effected in 1 840, with 
 a view to dissolving sundry threatening alliances and gaining 
 a hold on certain individuals in the event of probable 
 difficulties. 
 
 Madame Ad6la'(de listened with close attention ; but 
 she maintained that Guizot was a man upon whom one 
 could safely depend. I returned : "Your Royal Highness 
 will permit me to remind you that here, in this very place 
 where I have the honour to be sitting beside you, I saw the 
 King shed bitter tears because he had to surrender to the 
 Coalition and accept Guizot, who had been its mainspring, 
 as his Minister. Have you not yourself, Madame, fre- 
 quently expressed your dislike for the Doctrinaire school 
 and the finality of its theories .'' " 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 225 
 
 " True," she replied, '* but my brother removed my 
 prejudices by showing that none of his Ministers had been 
 so submissive to his will, none so ready to accept his views 
 in matters relating to the administration of Foreign Affairs, 
 and that Guizot had been the first, if not the only one, 
 who understood him and devoted his great abilities ex- 
 clusively to his service. Have you not often told me 
 yourself that Guizot defended you from the ambitious 
 intrigues of the Duchltel family ? " 
 
 " Certainly, and that is why I have not said one word 
 in his disfavour ; on the contrary, I am thinking of his 
 welfare as much as of the King's. He would return to 
 power all the stronger for the errors of his enemies, all the 
 better enlightened as to the state of the public mind and 
 the dangers of a majority composed of those whose interests 
 are purely selfish. Both his Majesty's age and that of the 
 Comte de Paris make it most desirable to avoid any conflict 
 with public opinion. We should unite all the well-disposed 
 in a policy that will insure the transmission of the Crown. 
 Our party-divisions must not lead us to surrender the 
 helm of State to the common enemy." 
 
 She promised to give careful consideration to our con- 
 versation, but death did not allow her time to do so. It 
 was a great misfortune : she was the only person in the 
 country to whom the King would listen, or who could 
 shake his confidence in Guizot, or the National Guard, or 
 the majority. For some time he had been growing more 
 and more irritable ; he was easily put out of temper, and 
 would fire up at the least contradiction, and after all, 
 however anxious one may be to serve others, one can't be 
 perpetually enraging them. Consequently it was always to 
 Madame Adela'lde that the true friends of the King had 
 recourse; she was always accessible, always a willing mediator, 
 and Montalivet, Gerard, and Dupin, who, without being 
 supporters of the Ministry, were devoted and loyal, found 
 her a most useful go-between in bringing their views before 
 her brother. 
 
 I can't say that the King was never dissatisfied with 
 
 p 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 my freedom of speech, which, however, I exercised but 
 seldom at this period : I was now simply an administrator, 
 in no way connected with politics, and so I was not often 
 consulted. And yet, thanks to my continual contact with 
 the lower classes, I was often in a position to communicate 
 very useful information. When the insurrection of '48 
 first broke out, many who, in the exercise of their duties, 
 ought to have gathered some hints of coming events, were 
 taken far more by surprise than I was. 
 
 I had, in fact, been very uneasy for a long time. I 
 was conscious of vague threatenings in the air. The same 
 strong feeling that had agitated the Chamber and France 
 in 1839 and 1840, at the time of the Coalition, were again 
 disturbing the people. A spirit of disaffection was spreading 
 almost everywhere. We were the victims of that malady 
 which is especially prevalent among the French : lassitude, 
 the disease that springs from a surfeit of prosperity ; and 
 which we often detect in women who live in great affluence. 
 These latter grow tired of domestic happiness, of the 
 commonplace pleasures of home, of the respect and con- 
 sideration that surround them, and so abandon themselves 
 to some passion or other, without calculation, without love, 
 without the heart being really affected, but from mere 
 thoughtlessness, because they crave for change and novelty, 
 anything, in short, to break the monotony of their daily 
 life. All they desire is a new experience, no matter 
 whether it be pleasurable or the reverse ; what they want is 
 something that will disturb the absolute serenity which is 
 boring them to death. 
 
 And it is the same with every prosperous nation, but 
 more especially with the Parisians. They cannot grow 
 accustomed to the smooth uniformity of a settled govern- 
 ment ; it becomes too wearisome, and, after a time, they 
 want something different, and, as I said to the King, at the 
 beginning of my administration, you must always keep their 
 minds employed as you would in the case of children, 
 otherwise they will be for ever in mischief When you 
 cannot give them a war, you must at any rate provide in 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 227 
 
 its place such substitutes as the erection of monuments, 
 public works, and all sorts of projects with which they can 
 glut their natural taste for criticism and their short-lived 
 curiosity. Such was the system I adopted to hinder the 
 elective Municipal Council from rushing headlong into 
 reforms, solely for the pleasure it took in innovations and 
 in winning popularity by demolishing the budget and the 
 Government. I kept it constantly occupied with works of 
 importance, proportioned to the resources of the city, never 
 attempting anything which might involve her future, and 
 never ceasing to defend her from responsibilities that might 
 sooner or later prove burdensome. 
 
 The fact is that in matters of administration one must 
 always anticipate the unforeseen, if I may so express myself. 
 I saw this clearly in 1 847, when the high price of cereals 
 proved a strong endorsement of all my previsions. I had 
 renounced the system of storing great supplies of provisions 
 and thus interfering with the freedom of commerce, a system 
 that, during the rise in the price of food in 18 16 and 1 8 17, 
 had cost the city thirty-eight millions. Doubtless the State 
 had taken more than the half of the burden on its shoulders 
 (about twenty-one millions), but I could not expect similar 
 assistance in my department, so great was the idiotic jealousy 
 which the provinces felt for Paris ; and the Chamber (where 
 this unworthy feeling found only too ready an echo) would 
 never have voted such subsidies, even had the Government 
 dared to propose them. 
 
 I arranged matters, then, in such a way that I was able 
 to do without them ; and, by scrupulously paying the old 
 debts, by respecting all engagements, and by never en- 
 croaching on the incoming revenues, I had nearly twenty- 
 five millions in the Treasury. In three daysjeverything was 
 ready for circulating, regulating, and distributing systemati- 
 cally the bread-checks to be bestowed among those who 
 could not afford to pay more than eighty centimes for the 
 loaf of four kilograms. Thirty-four millions of checks 
 were dealt out in this fashion, and four hundred and fifty 
 thousand persons succoured; so that even if we had had 
 
228 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 another bad harvest, the city would have been able to 
 continue these benefits. 
 
 As the last municipal elections had increased the ranks 
 of the opposition, by adding to the quantity and diminishing 
 the quality, it appeared necessary to find some guarantees 
 for the execution of my works. In support of the financial 
 measures, ratified by the Chamber in July 1848, I laid 
 , efore the Council a vast scheme for the expenditure of 
 ighty millions to be realised in five years. It embraced 
 the Halles Centrales, the town-halls of the 3rd, nth, and 
 1 2th arrondissements, the church of Sainte-Clotilde ; the 
 completion of quays and bridges, the lengthening of the 
 Rue de Rivoli, regulations for the proper management of 
 drainage, sewers, street-paving, &c. All this was to be 
 finished in 1853 : it was, in some sort, my last will and 
 testament, and it was time for me to sign it. 
 
 Every day the elections were sending persons to the 
 Council who were far more disposed to play the game of 
 politics than attend to the business of the administration, 
 and serve their own or their party's interest rather than 
 that of the city's. The spirit of sophistry and systematic 
 revolt which had invaded the Council and which, in the 
 Chamber, led thirteen out of every fourteen deputies to join 
 the opposition, penetrated also into the National Guard. 
 We had lost some of its most reliable chiefs, Ganneron, 
 Herard, &c. The latitude allowed to the non-commissioned 
 men to select officers and delegates outside the company 
 had enabled the secret societies to group their members in 
 certain companies, nineteen of which were noted as being 
 altogether hostile to the dynasty. Several officers actually 
 refused invitations to dine at the Tuileries, and those 
 who did not go quite to this length showed a studied 
 indifference to the matter. 
 
 Members of the upper classps all joined together to 
 form very select companies composed exclusively of the 
 elite, thus depriving all the less distinguished ones of 
 their salutary influence. Then, little attention Was paid to 
 the election of the non-commissioned officers, and thus the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 229 
 
 opposition was allowed to organise its supporters wherever 
 it took the trouble to do so. As for the rest of the citizens, 
 very little reliance could be placed on any of them. The 
 Parisian is a caviller by nature ; he fancies that he makes 
 himself important by his criticisms, and shows his refined 
 taste by adopting that nil admirari without rhyme or 
 reason. He seems to have retained faithfully in his memory 
 d'Alembert's advice to his son : " If you want to pass for a 
 highly intellectual person, always say, on every occasion, 
 that such or such a thing is bad, but carefully refrain from 
 saying why it is so 1 " Always the tarte h la crime of 
 Moli^re. 
 
 But there was something, still more grave and alarming, 
 which I had already ibrought to the notice of the King and of 
 the Ministers. A movement was spreading among the work- 
 ing classes, directed against the bourgeoisie, analogous to the 
 movement in the Tiers-6tat of 1789 against the privileged 
 orders. Every means was adopted to excite the jealousy 
 and hatred of the people ; their credulity was imposed 
 upon by the dream of a new social organisation, by baseless 
 theories, by verbose systems whose surest effect was not to 
 ensure their happiness and prosperity, but to lash them on 
 to fury against present conditions. The very education and 
 the acquisition of useful knowledge which we were trying 
 to place within their reach became an evil, on account of 
 the pernicious use to which they turned it. 
 
 Since 1832, the Polytechnic Association had organised 
 evening courses for workmen, and, although most of the 
 professors, and even the president himself,-had been com- 
 promised in the insurrection at the Cloltre Saint-Merry, I 
 did not reject their petition when, after my accession to 
 office, they begged me to patronise their work. The 
 language they used on the occasion, though somewhat 
 highflown, was not objectionable. I severely reproved 
 them for their past conduct ; but I soon discovered that 
 reflection, age, and experience had modified their views, and 
 I never had occasion to reproach them afterwards. Well, 
 strange to say, it was M. Perducet himself who, two months 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 after those February days, came to entreat me to disallow the 
 opening of new courses on constitutional government, be- 
 cause he feared that they might serve to mislead the class of 
 persons for whom this constitution was designed, by giving 
 them false ideas as to the rights of citizens and political 
 economy. 
 
 " These lectures," he declared, " will undo all the useful 
 and practical teaching given to the workmen ; they will be 
 stuffed with false ideas and badly digested opinions. In- 
 struction of that nature is not an advantage, but a danger 
 to themselves and society." 
 
 I discovered also that there were five journals, exclusively 
 intended for workmen (I knew the individuals who managed 
 them), not to speak of the propaganda carried on by pam- 
 phlets. Indeed, the very presence of M. Consid^rant in the 
 Council was a sufficient proof of the danger. It was a queer 
 and curious circumstance that he actually owed his election 
 to the co-operation of the legitimist party ! Yet he never, 
 then or later, concealed his ambitions and hopes. Thus 
 when, after a prolonged discussion in the session held on 
 the 1 8th, there was a conversation in which the most ad- 
 vanced members of the opposition took part ; the language 
 of himself and Delorme became so violent and aggressive 
 that at length I said, " I am going, for although this is 
 supposed to be a confidential conversation, I am bound to 
 remember that I am prefect." 
 
 I was followed into my cabinet by M. Seguin, who said, 
 " My dear Prefect, you know that my position as a manu- 
 facturer places me in daily relations with all classes of the 
 population. Don't deceive yourself; the situation is far 
 greater than any one supposes. People are getting tired of 
 the King a,nd want a change. Should the movement come 
 to a head, our only chance will be in the abdication of 
 Louis-Philippe and the regency of the Duchesse d'Orleans, 
 for Nemours is detested, and they won't have him at any 
 price." Besson, colonel of the 3rd legion, told me he could 
 place no reliance on it. Lariboissi^re, Husson, Lavocat, 
 Chapuis,and Boutarel said the same. Theist and 2nd legions 
 
GOMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 231 
 
 were, perhaps, not quite so bad, but they were decidedly 
 lukewarm. The mayors and the most loyal members of 
 the Council made no secret of their fears : there was no 
 doubt that, at the first collision, we should find indifference 
 and listlessness on one side, opposed to audacity and activity 
 on the other, and I felt certain we should see the uniform 
 of the National Guard in the ranks of the rioters and on 
 the barricades. Now it was an understood thing that the 
 regular army could only act against the people after the 
 National Guard had had its turn. Upon what force, then, 
 could we count i 
 
 I thought it my duty to communicate this information 
 at once to Guizot and Duchitel. I was received as coldly 
 as a man who wakens another at an unwelcome moment. 
 Nevertheless, I returned to the charge in the evening, when 
 I met Guizot at the residence of Mme. N . He ex- 
 claimed impatiently : " If you had as much work on your 
 hands as I have, you would not worry over this trash about 
 Paris." 
 
 As for Duchatel, he trusted the reports of Delessert, the 
 Prefect of Police, who, although he did not deny I had some 
 foundation for my alarm, assured me that the secret societies 
 would give no trouble at present. They would need three 
 or four months to make the necessary preparations, and the 
 struggle would be adjourned until spring. On the other 
 hand, the negotiations of the Ministry, represented by 
 Velet and Morny, with the two delegates of the opposition, 
 Duvergier and Massenisse, with regard to the banquet of 
 the 5th of February, forbidden by the Government, as well 
 as the repugnance of Odilon, Barrot, and Thiers to stake 
 their all in the quarrel, the good disposition of the troops 
 guaranteed by Sebastiani, the support of that part of the 
 National Guard controlled by Jacqueminot, all fostered a 
 feeling of false security in the minds of the Ministry who 
 felt sure of a majority in the Chambers. 
 
 Nevertheless, on Friday evening I went to the Tuileries. 
 I made several attempts to converse with the King, and tell 
 him of my anxiety. But it was hard to get him to listen 
 
232 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to anything he did not like. Some minister or other has 
 said, " The King speaks to me, but I do not speak to the 
 King." To obtain the attention of Louis-Philippe, you 
 had to push persistence beyond the verge of importunity. 
 In spite of his confidence and his kindness, I found him so 
 testy, not to use a stronger term, that I avoided putting 
 myself forward and speaking of even what concerned my 
 own sphere. I had not the same difficulties with the Due 
 de Nemours, who was much more affable. So, when I saw 
 that all my efforts failed with the King, I had recourse that 
 same evening to the Prince. I told him all I had heard of the 
 threats of the Republicans, the rumoured possibility of an 
 abdication, the disloyalty of the National Guard, the risk of 
 incurring a struggle which could be averted by wise con- 
 cessions, not to speak of the folly of prohibiting a banquet 
 of a hundred deputies * (who had thirty or forty thousand 
 supporters at their back) on the mere injunction of a 
 Commissary of Police. It seemed to me like tempting 
 Providence ! The Prince listened attentively and promised 
 to conceal nothing from the King. 
 
 On Saturday I had a grand dinner of sixty covers ; 
 among those who attended were diplomats, a few foreigners 
 interested in our affairs, mayors, deputies, municipal 
 councillors, and commandants of the National Guard. At 
 night there was a reception, which was crowded. All were 
 in a state of alarm, and all were agreed on the extreme 
 gravity of the situation. On that day, too, there was a 
 banquet at the Chamber of Commerce, to which the ex- 
 presidents had been invited. About eleven o'clock they 
 all came to me in a body. Their dean, M. Aub6, who 
 acted as their representative, informed me, in consequence 
 of the general excitement and commotion, and the anxiety 
 existing among merchants and men of property, they 
 appealed to me, as the chief of the city and as a vigilant 
 
 • Eighty-seven deputies had promised to be present at the banquet, in 
 spite of the prohibition of the Government. Fearing there might be a 
 collision, they changed their minds. Only Lamartine declared that, " even 
 if the Place de la Concorde (place of meeting) were deserted, and all the 
 deputies failed in their duty, he would still go alone to the banquet, with his 
 shadow behind him." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 233 
 
 friend of fifteen years' standing, to enlighten the King and 
 his Ministers on the situation. There were twenty-seven of 
 them. The step they had taken and the language of their 
 address produced considerable feeling in my salons, but no 
 surprise. The general opinion may be gathered by what 
 M. S6guin said to his wife : " We must attend the Prefect's 
 reception ; it will probably be the last one held in the 
 Hotel de Ville ! " Ah, how keenly, at these critical 
 moments, did I regret the loss of Madame Adelaide ! She 
 would have listened to me, and would have forced the 
 King to listen too. 
 
 I had seen M. Montalivet twice ; he shared my senti- 
 ments with regard to the National Guard and the banquet ; 
 he believed that only a change of Ministry could prevent a 
 crisis ; but how convince the King, now more impatient 
 than ever of any contradiction ? Marshal Gerard was still 
 more outspoken ; and yet all this foresight and perspicacity 
 were to be in vain ! 
 
 On Sunday, the 20th, I made my official visit to the 
 Public Savings Bank, for I was scrupulous in fulfilling my 
 duties as an administrator every year ; such visits evinced 
 my interest in one of my most useful institutions, and 
 also afforded me an opportunity of becoming thoroughly 
 acquainted with its machinery. I had the accounts trans- 
 mitted to me at the end of each month, and they furnished 
 me with valuable hints on the moral and financial condition 
 of the population. Now, on this morning there were 
 deposits of 315,000 francs, and withdrawals of 1,280,000 
 francs, while, on the preceding Sunday, there had been 
 800,000 deposited and 487,000 paid out. This symptom 
 appeared to me to be so grave that I at once wrote to 
 Duchitel to notify him of it. I have since learned from 
 General Tr^zel, at that time Minister of War, that at the 
 Ministerial Council, held on that very Sunday, he had 
 called the King's attention to the fact that it was necessary 
 to decide who should be Commander-in-Chief of Paris in 
 the event of an insurrection, representing to him that 
 Jacqueminot would not like to have to obey Sebastiani, 
 
234 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 because the National Guard ranked before the army, and 
 that Sebastian! could not be subordinate to Jacqueminot, 
 because this precedency did not extend as far as that.^ It 
 was agreed that the superior command should be entrusted 
 to Marshal Bugeaud and not to a Prince, for collisions 
 being possible, if not probable, it would not be advisable to 
 render the Royal Family responsible for whatever blood 
 might be shed. 
 
 After leaving the Council, Duch&tel informed Jacque- 
 minot of this arrangement. Whereupon Jacqueminot flies 
 into a passion, cries that he is dishonoured for ever if he is 
 deprived of his command, and tenders his resignation ! In 
 reality, he had long been on the look-out for an excuse for 
 resigning, believing that his resignation in such circum- 
 stances would favour his ambitions. But the confidence 
 both of the King and his advisers in Jacqueminot was so 
 extravagant that they actually believed he could cut his 
 way through all difficulties, and save everything. Then 
 Duchatel declared that he could not remain in a Ministry 
 from which his father-in-law had seceded, and he, too, 
 tendered his resignation. For five or six months he also, 
 in a roundabout way, had been trying to be freed from 
 the responsibilities of office ; he was somewhat jealous of 
 Guizot, and did not care to stake his last card on the game 
 of his colleague ; besides, he was anxious about his health, 
 and, as he was enormously rich and was possessed of real 
 talent, he thought it well to reserve himself for the future, 
 possibly for the chance of presiding over a new Ministry. 
 His ambitions were, indeed, on a large scale ; he himself 
 was to be President of the Council, his father-in-law 
 Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, 
 
 ' Sebastian!, brother of the Marshal, and formerly aide-de-camp to M. 
 de Narbonne, had always occupied high posts in the active army : quarter- 
 master-general in 1823, lieutenant-general in 1830 (eight years before 
 Jacqueminot), he had commanded the division of Paris since 1842. Jacque- 
 minot had left the army in 18 15 for industrial pursuits, then for politics, and 
 the Monarchy of July had rewarded him for his participation in the expe- 
 dition to Rambouillet by nominating him general of brigade on the staff of 
 the National Guard, and afterward commander. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 235 
 
 his brother in the Hotel de Ville — and all these dreams 
 were to be realised, too, during the old age of the King, 
 and under the regency of the Due de Nemours ! 
 
 But the King was not inclined to purchase the support 
 of the masterful Marshal Bugeaud at the price of these two 
 resignations. 
 
 He detested the Marshal, and did not conceal his 
 dislike. " Bugeaud in the Ministry of War ! " he said ; 
 " why, at that rate, my children could not dispose of a 
 single nomination in, the army, not even of a lieutenancy ! " 
 Accordingly on Sunday evening he said to General Trdzel : 
 " Keep back the decree I issued to-day, it is useless ; I shall 
 set matters right by sending Nemours to the staff." He 
 did send him on the following Tuesday, but charged him 
 to do nothing on his own responsibility, and to avoid a 
 collision at all costs. 
 
 I called on Delessert on Monday morning before nine 
 o'clock. I told him I had not come to pry into his secrets, 
 for I was well aware of his reticence on subjects connected 
 with the police, but that I felt it absoliitely necessary to 
 communicate to him what I had ascertained ; I then entered 
 fully into the particulars of the circumstances that alarmed 
 me. I emphasised the extreme peril of the situation. I drew 
 his attention to the blindness of the King, and I pointed 
 out the mistake which he made in believing that they could 
 command the support of the country because they had a 
 majority in the Chamber. Finally, I entreated him to 
 explain all this to the Court. He answered that he shared 
 my fears without dreading their consequences.- "The 
 agitation was more superficial than deep ; the insurgents 
 had neither arms, ammunition, nor organisation ; a very 
 large proportion of the opposition, afraid of being carried 
 to too great lengths, was resolved, as far as could be seen, 
 either to withdraw or come to terms; the ringleaders of 
 the secret societies were in favour of delay. No doubt the 
 danger was only deferred, and the future looked threaten- 
 ing enough, but nothing serious was going to happen at 
 present ; the very panic which had originated among the 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 citizens, and especially among the merchants, had, at any rate, 
 this advantage, that those who had anything to lose felt 
 that they must rally round those in power ; in short, all the 
 necessary measures had been taken ; and the Hotel de Ville, 
 in particular, would be protected by considerable forces." 
 
 I went on to see Sebastiani. " My dear friend," I said, 
 " you are quite satisfied with the spirit of your troops ; you 
 are willing to vouch for their fidelity ; you have assured 
 me that the Due de Nemours is the idol of the army ; it 
 is all very well to say this sort of thing at the Tuileries, and, 
 in case of a war with the English or the Russians, I should 
 never think of doubting the loyalty of your soldiers and 
 officers ; but a war in the streets of Paris is quite another 
 thing. Have you ever contemplated the possibility of 
 seeing the National Guard drawn up against you and 
 joining with the insurgents ? That is a matter you would 
 do well to consider, and, if need be, you should at once 
 march your men against the rebels, without leaving them 
 time for reflection nor their adversaries time to tamper 
 with them." But apparently Sebastiani was as deluded an 
 optimist as Delessert. 
 
 Next I saw Jacqueminot. He was apparently unwell. 
 I found him at table, in his dressing-gown. I told him 
 that the seventeen colonels and lieutenant-colonels of 
 the seventeen legions, not to speak of mayors, muni- 
 cipal councillors, and thousands of others whose word 
 might be depended upon, assured me the National 
 Guard would not respond if they were called out. Some 
 of them would be at the prohibited banquet, some would 
 take part with the rioters ; even the best affected com- 
 panies would not resist the cry of "Long live Reform! 
 Down with the Ministry ! " It was therefore our duty to 
 open the King's eyes to the truth, and consequently I 
 wanted to take counsel with him as to the best way of 
 doing so. Furiously brandishing a smelt at the end of his 
 fork. Jacqueminot exclaimed : " If we were not friends of 
 thirty years' standing, I should tell you that you calumniate 
 the National Guard ; that you do not know it as I know 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 237 
 
 it ; and that I have only to mount my horse to have fifty 
 thousand men behind me. Those who have been telling 
 you the stories which you are so ready to believe are 
 nothing better than cowards and alarmists." 
 
 It was useless prolonging a conversation on these lines, 
 so I left him, praying with all my heart that he might be 
 right and the event might prove me wrong. 
 
 But I was by no means alone in my fears. When the 
 Queen received me that evening she showed her uneasiness 
 both by her words and the expression of her face. " My 
 dear Prefect," she said, " we are in a bad way ! " " Yes, 
 madame," I answered, speaking as a good subject rather 
 than as a courtier ; " but it is in the King's hands to save 
 the situation." " Speak to him frankly," said she. I 
 approached the King. At last I could oblige him to 
 listen to the truth ! 
 
 The scene is still vividly present to my mind. We 
 were between two windows, leaning against a console upon 
 which rested a magnificent filigree casket. I told him all 
 I knew, beginning with the plots of the Republicans, and 
 ending with my conversation with M. Siguin on the 
 abdication and on the regency of the Duchesse d'Orleans. 
 I likewise told him of the defection or coldness of the 
 National Guard ; the proceedings taken by the Chamber 
 of Commerce and its ex-presidents ; of the withdrawal of 
 deposits from the Savings Bank ; and of the sluggishness 
 of the Ministers, who, because they had a majority in the 
 Chamber, believed they were masters of the situation. 
 I spoke rapidly and impressively, for I was afraid of 
 exhausting his patience and of not being allowed to finish 
 all I had to say. In conclusion, I dwelt on the urgent 
 necessity of taking immediate action in order to stifle the 
 disturbance before it had time to break out. 
 
 At length the King interrupted me. " My dear Pre- 
 fect," said he, " certain persons have been trying to frighten 
 me for a whole year, and they have not succeeded. These 
 same persons have adopted another plan to-day, that of 
 frightening you, for they know how much I trust and like 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 you. But rest assured that all your apprehensions are only 
 a straw fire, which will burn out in a couple of hours. In 
 a week's time, my dear Prefect, you will heartily regret 
 your fears, and be very much ashamed of them, too." 
 Therewith he left me, perfectly satisfied himself, and in 
 high spirits. 
 
 I then fell back on the Due de Nemours, and once 
 more rehearsed my doleful anthem. I laid stress on all 
 that I had told him on the preceding Friday, reinforcing 
 my report with fresh particulars. I bitterly deplored the 
 King's incredulity, and did my utmost to convince him 
 that the crisis demanded not only courage, but prudence. 
 But all in vain ! He maintained that I was mistaken ; that 
 all the necessary measures had been adopted ; that they 
 were sure of the soldiers ; that the National Guard was 
 more faithful than I imagined ; and that the Ministers 
 knew from reliable sources that the banquet had been 
 abandoned, &c. I left in despair. That evening I saw the 
 Royal Family for the last time. 
 
 After my departure, the King said : " The Prefect is 
 a worthy fellow, useful and devoted, but he is breaking 
 down, and he is getting feeble-minded." I suspect, if 
 matters had turned out differently, I should have found it 
 rather difficult to keep my post. After Madame Adelaide's 
 death, his Majesty was my only support against the 
 ambition of Duchatel, who wanted to see his brother in 
 my place. Guizot opposed him, at least I think so, as 
 well as the rest of the Ministry. Had not this been the 
 case, Duchitel, by threatening the King, would perhaps 
 have attained the object of his hopes. It was a saying 
 of his, which I often heard him repeat : " If I am strong 
 enough, the majority will not balk me ; if I am too weak, 
 I may as well be defeated on one question as on another." 
 
 After quitting the Tuileries, I went to a fete at the 
 residence of the Prince de Ligne. All the leading members 
 of the diplomatic corps were present, and were evidently 
 uneasy as to the possible developments of the next day. 
 I picked my words carefully in conversing with them, 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 239 
 
 though I did not conceal my own impressions. I made 
 one more attempt to convince Duch^tel ; but he was still 
 hopeful of coming to terms with the opposition. He was 
 good enough to give me one piece of information. This 
 was to the effect that after I had ceased to take part in the 
 Parliamentary schemes, I had entirely lost all the political 
 influence which I had ever enjoyed ; that I was looked 
 upon as a good aedile, and a useful chairman in the 
 Municipal Council, efficient in preventing disorders (as in 
 the affair of the supply of provisions), and in settling 
 difficulties between different departments of the Govern- 
 ment, as in the case of the law for licences. In short, he 
 gave me to understand that I was a sagacious municipal 
 steward, but totally incapable of managing elections or of 
 rendering any Ministerial service, and as such should be 
 restricted to my own limited sphere. At the same time I 
 was kept in reserve as a sort of emergency man, because 
 it was not desirable to raise an outcry in Paris, or irritate 
 the Municipal Council ; but so far as the Ministry went, 
 I was neither liked nor even appreciated. 
 
 After these fruitless visits, I returned, for the last time, 
 to the Hotel de Ville, resolved, no matter what happened, 
 to do my duty to the end. On Tuesday, I was informed 
 that the troops were beginning to arrive. They were com- 
 posed of the 7th light infantry, the 63rd of the line, six 
 squadrons of cuirassiers, four pieces of artillery, a squadron 
 of the National Guard, and detachments of the 7th and 
 9th legions. General Taillandier, who was in command, 
 did not arrive until four in the evening ; it was M. de 
 Luzy, colonel of the 7 th, who commanded as senior officer. 
 I was very anxious for the general's presence, both on 
 account of the rivalry between the National Guard and the 
 army, and because Boutard, colonel of the 9th legion, was 
 rather susceptible. His tendency to jealousy did not, how- 
 ever, detract from his merit. I had known him well since 
 1839, when I had good reason to appreciate his courage at 
 the time of the insurrection of Barbes ; I saw him march 
 with one hundred and fifty grenadiers against the rioters 
 
240 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the Rue Baubourg, his men skirting the houses, and 
 he in the gutter, calm and tranquil, his sword under his 
 arm. For the last four or five years I had supported him 
 against certain individuals who had succeeded during that 
 time in preventing him from getting the command of his 
 company. 
 
 He said to me : " I bring you a hundred and eighty 
 men whom I believe safe and sure, but take care to feed 
 them well, for if I allow them to go home for their meals, 
 they will not return." I had a table laid, then, in the 
 great antechamber of the ushers, with thirty covers, for 
 the exclusive use of the National Guard ; I had another set 
 out for the officers of the line and staff; the general and 
 colonels ate with us, and the troops received (as they had 
 always done, for that matter, when on duty at the Hotel 
 de Ville), supplementary rations in bread, wine, cold meat, 
 and wood for the bivouacs. I had made preparations 
 for such a contingency long before. The bakery of the 
 hospitals was my resource ; it always had fifteen or sixteen 
 thousand rations ready. The bread having been baked 
 twenty-four hours in advance, nothing was easier than to 
 procure a fresh supply. I could make certain, on Tuesdays 
 and Wednesdays, of having from three to five thousand 
 rations early in the morning. 
 
 It was fortunate that I took these precautions, for, on 
 Thursday, the barricades cut off all means of communica- 
 tion ; the troops did not receive any distribution of either 
 victuals or forage, so that the horses of the artillery had 
 to be fed on bread. On Thursday morning I had been 
 obliged to make a clean sweep of the slaughter-house in 
 the neighbourhood ; so it was not surprising that the 
 insurgents found twenty-six legs of mutton on the spits 
 when they invaded the kitchens of the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 Naturally, one of the first questions I put to the 
 colonels of the line was to ask if they were quite sure 
 of their regiments. " I would vouch for my soldiers even 
 more confidently than my officers," replied M. de Luzy; 
 " they will follow the National Guard courageously." I 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 241 
 
 have already stated that for eighteen years it had been 
 settled that the army should march behind the National 
 Guard. Thus it was necessary that the latter should set 
 the example and open fire ; for that reason I lavished every 
 attention on Colonel Boutarel's men, those belonging to the 
 7th legion having disappeared on Tuesday night. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, we had been obliged to send 
 a very strong detachment to the Mairie of the 7 th Arron- 
 dissement, for the purpose of taking away the arms stored 
 there, which were insufEciently protected by the National 
 Guard. General Taillandier had also ordered a body of 
 soldiers to occupy the Place du Chatalet, where poor Major 
 
 de H was shot in the back at nightfall by a street 
 
 Arab. 
 
 During these two days of Tuesday and Wednesday, 
 I had as much as I could do to defend myself against the 
 entreaties and almost threats of the most advanced members 
 of the Municipal Council, who insisted that I should im- 
 mediately convoke that body. They told me I was in- 
 curring a grave responsibility by not consulting the Assembly 
 in such circumstances. But I held my ground, for I was 
 convinced that any rising of the Commune of Paris, in 
 whatever form, would be the ruin of the Monarchy, and 
 I declared that I should regard any unauthorised meeting 
 as an act of rebellion and deal with it accordingly. Certain 
 persons took up their residence in the Hotel de Ville to 
 act, I believe, as spies for the enemy, and to co-operate 
 with some of the employees ; I cared little, however, about 
 any public reports that might be circulated concerning my 
 conduct ; I made no secret of my determination to do my 
 duty and to make those around me do it also. 
 
 General Taillandier left us at five on Wednesday morning 
 to fetch his daughter from the Ecole Militaire ; he did 
 not return until four in the evening. Before starting, he 
 had ordered the cavalry to remain on horseback. It was 
 grievous to see these fine troops exposed to the heavy rain 
 and drenched to the skin, yet refusing to go under the 
 arches of the Hotel de Ville, where they would have had 
 
 Q 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 shelter. I had sent a messenger to Delessert at eight in 
 the morning to ask if I could go to the Tuileries. He 
 assured me that there was no cause for alarm, that none 
 of the secret societies had as yet invaded the streets, that 
 he believed it would be an easy matter to maintain order, 
 and that there would be no necessity to summon the sub- 
 urban police, who, though useful on an emergency, became 
 a nuisance at the end of twenty-four hours. All the same, 
 he added, that though I should probably find no difficulty 
 in reaching the Tuileries, he could not venture to guarantee 
 me an equally safe return. Such being the case I determined 
 to remain at my post, for how could I possibly desert it 
 in such a unparalleled crisis, when there was no Minister 
 in authority, no recognised head of the military ! Every- 
 thing combined to hurry on events, the retirement of the 
 Ministry, the intervention of the Due de Nemours, the 
 resignation of Jacqueminot, the hesitation of Sebastiani, 
 who, not caring to compromise himself, preferred to take 
 his stand behind the Prince, expecting that the latter would 
 be Regent and, possibly. King. So great was the mis- 
 management that nothing was provided for the troops, not 
 even cartridges ! At five in the evening. Colonel de Luzy 
 entered my cabinet, saying : " Monsieur le Prefet, I am 
 going with a battalion of my regiment and some Vincennes 
 sharpshooters to release forty Municipal Guards who are 
 surrounded and threatened at the Fabrique Lepage in the 
 Bourg Abbe Street. You have placed a detachment of the 
 National Guard at my service, but what am I to do with 
 them if you give me no cartridges ? " 
 
 Fortunately six months previously I had secured twenty 
 thousand for Sebastiani. Formerly (after the year 1830) 
 there had always been a large magazine at the Hotel de 
 Ville, but I had been obliged to remove this, whilst the 
 public works were being carried out, to avoid all risk to 
 the twelve hundred workmen. But I was then able to 
 satisfy both the Colonel and Taillandier, who came in at 
 the same moment. It was just then that we heard of the 
 attack on the Mairie of the Seventh Ward as well as that 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 243 
 
 on the Place S. Jean, where the captain of the 7th Light 
 Infantry was killed. And still no assistance had reached 
 us. I had sent three letters without getting any reply. 
 When Ministers go out of office, they don't care to com- 
 promise themselves by any last measures ; they leave their 
 successors to get out of the scrape as best they may ! At 
 six o'clock they came to tell me that a delegation from the 
 deputies of the Seine wished to wait on me. MM. Carnot 
 and Vavin were among the delegates. I received them in 
 my library. 
 
 They told me they were sent by their colleagues to 
 entreat me to convene an assembly consisting of the 
 Municipal Council, the Mayor, the colonels of the National 
 Guard, and the fourteen deputies of the Department, to 
 discuss the dangers with which the city was threatened. 
 They declared that the confidence reposed in their Prefect, 
 both by the common people and the Council, had led them 
 to take this step, as well as their respect for the Opposition, 
 and that the aim of the conference would be to bring 
 about a reconciliation between the King and his people. 
 
 I answered : " Messieurs, on accepting my functions, 
 I swore fidelity to the King. I will never lend a hand to 
 the restoration of the Commune of Paris. I should no 
 more think of being the President of such a body than I 
 should think of being a Mayor of the Palace. I thank you 
 for the honour you do me, and I hope you will take my 
 refusal in good part. If you believe that my presence and 
 personal influence can stop bloodshed, I will accompany 
 you to the barricades — only give me time to put on my 
 uniform." They replied that such was not their mission, 
 that they respected my sentiments, that they had intended 
 to warn me against such imminent dangers, and that they 
 regretted the view I took with regard to my duty. Two 
 years afterwards I had a conversation on the subject with 
 M. de Lamartine at a dinner given by the Council-General 
 of the Seine-et-Loire. " You should have accepted the 
 offer," said he, " and the Revolution would have been un 
 fait accompliy " I knew it," I retorted ; " but I preferred to 
 
244 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 leave you to take the initiative and the responsibility of 
 a calamity that will weigh heavily on France for a long 
 time to come." 
 
 Great excitement prevailed during the whole evening. 
 There was, however, good news from the Faubourg Saint- 
 Antoinc, which had, so far, remained quiet. The troops 
 in the Place de la Bastille had no trouble in communicating 
 with us, and we were every moment expecting a new Ministry 
 and the appointment of a Commander-in-chief, who would, 
 at last, take some definite steps. Suddenly, about ten o'clock, 
 the news of the firing on the Boulevard des Capucines burst 
 on us like a thunder-clap ; then came the torchlight pro- 
 cession with the bodies of the slain, along with the rising 
 of the more remote quarters and the descent^of the Faubourg. 
 At eleven, the tocsin rang out from Saint-Etienne-du-Mont 
 and Notre-Dame : it meant a general insurrection, and for 
 thirty-six hours we had been without a Ministry or a 
 Commander-in-chief ! 
 
 I had distributed to the troops all the provisions that 
 were left. I had emptied the bakeries and butchers' shops 
 as well as the grocers' and wine merchants' stores of the 
 quarter. Colonel Boutarel and his one hundred and eighty 
 men still remained with me ; but, foreseeing that a serious 
 attack would be made on the Hotel de Ville, I decided, 
 towards midnight, to put my wife and children in a place 
 of safety. I sent them to M. Jacquemin, a judicial agent 
 of the Hotel de Ville, whose house in the Rue de la Truan- 
 derie was close at hand and protected from bullets. I did 
 not allow them to carry away the smallest parcel with them, 
 and took care that no disorder in my apartments should 
 betray an intention of leaving, lest a panic should be 
 created by any indication of a possible sauve qui pent. 
 
 After the departure of my family, I spent a melancholy 
 hour pacing those salons, now lit up by flashes of fire, with 
 the ringing of the tocsin and the whizzing of musketry in 
 my ears, saying sadly to myself, " For fifteen years you have 
 been a father to this people, and yet, perhaps, after the 
 next few hours, you will leave behind you the reputation 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 245 
 
 of a murderer, for you are bound to do your duty and 
 defend this threshold to the end." At length, worn out by 
 fatigue, I threw myself on a couch, having previously given 
 directions that I was to be awakened on the first alarm. 
 
 I slept four hours. At five in the morning, everything 
 was in the same condition. At six, Sebastiani arrived with 
 General Garraube, whose hat had just been pierced by a 
 bullet. He told me Thiers was at the Tuileries, having 
 been sent for during the night; Bugeaud was appointed 
 Commander-in-chief and was resolved to act vigorously — 
 a column was already sweeping the boulevards ; he him- 
 self had orders to protect the Hotel de Ville, and would 
 establish his communications with the forces of Bugeaud 
 by the Rue Saint-Denis and the Rue Saint-Martin. I 
 remarked that these two streets were fairly bristling with 
 barricades, that fifteen of them would have to be carried 
 by storm, and that this could not be accomplished without 
 loss, for our soldiers would have to march in the open, 
 raked by a cross-fire from the windows. I reminded him 
 that we had only four pieces of artillery, and that it would 
 be easier for him could he effect his coalition in the line 
 of the quays and boulevards, because there were only two 
 barricades between the Hotel de Ville and the Bastille ; 
 both of them weak and not able to offer much resistance. 
 In this way I maintained the city could be cut into three 
 sections, which might be easily kept separate by cavalry 
 and cannon. 
 
 We were discussing these tactics in the hall of the 
 Council of the Prefecture, which served as our headquarters, 
 pointing to the positions of the barricades on a plan of 
 Paris, when in came Roger de Serensai, an aide-de-camp of 
 Sebastiani, who had left him with Marshal Bugeaud. He 
 brought the Marshal's order, written at the King's desire 
 and probably dictated by the new Ministry, to suspend 
 hostilities everywhere, to withdraw the troops, and leave 
 to the National Guard the task of restoring order and 
 policing the city. But the National Guard had no longer 
 any chief! In most of the legions no one knew who was 
 
246 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 their colonel or who were their officers : it was the abdica- 
 tion of authority in the presence of riot, to be followed 
 in a few hours by the abdication of the Crown. Sebastiani 
 was not deceived : he tore his sword from the scabbard and 
 flung it on the table, crying, " I am no longer anybody ; I 
 shall not interfere with anything, my command has come 
 to an end." Boutarel declared he could no longer restrain 
 his men, and he also would retire. I entreated the Generals 
 not to remove the troops, to mass them together, order 
 them to ground arms, and keep them well in hand, so that 
 if this conciliatory measure had not the anticipated success, 
 they would, at least, be able to resume the offensive, in 
 case they received fresh orders. They agreed to do as I 
 asked, and the troops remained on the square and quays 
 until two in the afternoon, when they returned to barracks. 
 
 After that our Generals turned all their attention to the 
 subject of breakfast ; Sebastiani was also anxious to make 
 his toilet, so I conducted him to my apartment. I was 
 rather surprised to see him lay a well-filled purse con- 
 taining 10,000 francs in gold on the mantelpiece : he 
 was evidently prepared for all emergencies, which proved 
 to me that he had very little confidence in a successful 
 resistance. 
 
 While they were breakfasting I noticed some disarmed 
 Municipal Guards in my courtyard. I was told they were 
 amongst those who had been rescued from the Lepage 
 workshops by Colonel de Luzy, and that they had been 
 only released on condition of laying down their arms. At 
 the same moment I was also informed that the courts of 
 the bureaus were being invaded by an insurgent column, 
 bent on finding these Municipal Guards and massacring 
 them. I implored Sebastiani to place them between two 
 companies of Cuirassiers drawn up on the quay, and then 
 to conduct them to the barrack of the Celestins, which 
 was close at hand, where they would be in safety. He 
 flatly refused. " I have received formal orders," said he, 
 " to avoid every collision ; I cannot risk taking any step 
 which would provoke a discharge of fire-arms. I am grieved 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 247 
 
 to the heart, but for all that I do not care to have to appear 
 before a council of war." 
 
 And yet, how could I allow these poor people to be 
 murdered? Thanks to the devotion of MM. Buffet, 
 Hudry, and Mignes, who stripped themselves of all the 
 garments they could spare, we disguised some of them, 
 shaving off their beards and moustaches, and thus enabling 
 them to escape in time. The others succeeded in hiding 
 in different parts of the Hotel de Ville, notably three who 
 took refuge under my daughter (Mme. de Mesgrigny's) 
 bed, where she discovered them on returning to her chamber 
 on Friday. Two of the rioters were stretched on the same 
 bed so dead drunk that she had no trouble in securing the 
 escape of the fugitives. But, alas ! all were not so for- 
 tunate, and many perished whose courage, fidelity, and 
 devotion to duty I had so often had good reason to 
 appreciate. 
 
 Still hoping to receive better news, I remained in my 
 cabinet, surrounded by the Generals and seven or eight 
 members of the Municipal Council, who had been urging 
 me all the morning to convoke the Assembly. Among 
 them were three or four evidently familiar with the pro- 
 gress of the insurrection ; they were there, I have good 
 reason to believe, to provide for my personal safety, 
 although they never said a word to me on the subject. At 
 one o'clock we heard of the King's abdication. Half-an- 
 hour afterwards a deputation from the National Guard 
 was announced. About fifteen officers entered, and their 
 spokesman said : " Monsieur le Prefet, the Hotel de Ville 
 belongs to the people ; it is the people who will give 
 orders in the future ; we have come to inform you that 
 your authority is at an end." " Very well," gentlemen, 
 I answered ; " you see before you Generals who have assured 
 me that the troops are powerless to protect or obey me ; 
 you see before you members of the Municipal Council who 
 can testify that I have done my whole duty, and yield 
 only to force ; I retire, and surrender my cabinet to you." 
 " No, no. Monsieur, we do not wish to banish you from 
 
248 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 your apartments, and we intend to take up our quarters 
 elsewhere." " God forbid, gentlemen, that I should con- 
 sent to remain in a place where I have no longer the right 
 to command. I shall be gone in a few minutes." They 
 passed out, but it was quite clear to me from their atti- 
 tude that some of them were there to protect rather than 
 offend me. 
 
 The Generals had vanished at the first words spoken. 
 I was alone. I then summoned my faithful Buffet ; I 
 threw all the papers I did not wish to leave behind me 
 into the fire ; then, taking my cane and hat, I descended 
 the staircase of the bureaus, passed through several platoons 
 of insurgents, and made my way along the entire north 
 fagade of the Hotel de Ville, keeping inside the railing, 
 for I could not very well force a passage through the bands 
 of rioters that still thronged the square. I met Victor 
 Hugo and the Mayor of the 7th Arrondissement, who 
 asked me for news ; I confirmed the tidings of the King's 
 abdication. They made at once for the Chamber, whilst 
 I hurried to rejoin my wife and children, whose anxiety 
 on my account may be easily conceived. After embracing 
 them, I went upstairs to find my secretary, Boullenois, who 
 was staying in the same house, for I wanted to send a 
 detailed report at once to M. Thiers. 
 
 At nightfall we had to separate. We had heard that 
 our apartments had been ransacked. But how could we 
 waste any thought for our personal misfortunes in presence 
 of those of the poor Royal Family ? My daughter and her 
 husband sought an asylum in the home of M. Louveau, 
 He Saint-Louis; we found a safe shelter in the residence 
 of M. Buron, the optician of my worthy friend and business 
 agent, Franfois Fabier, Rue des Trois-Pavillons. We were 
 obliged to cross several barricades. I was often recognised, 
 but never insulted or threatened. On the contrary, hands 
 were often stretched out to assist us ; and I was even fre- 
 quently invited to have a drink. I may also mention that 
 this feeling of sympathy and respect was still more strongly 
 manifested at the Hotel de Ville. When the people, in- 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 249 
 
 toxicated with their victory, were hurrying from salon to 
 salon, pushing and hustling one another, they stopped 
 before my portrait.^ Several voices cried out, " We must 
 not hurt it; he was a father to the workmen." During 
 the whole night well-disposed men mounted guard before 
 it, relieving one another ; then, at daybreak, they detached 
 it from the frame, carried it in procession through every 
 part of the Hotel de Ville, as if bidding it take farewell 
 of its home, and laid it gently on my bed, saying : — 
 
 " Dors, papa Rambuteau, 
 T' as Men niMU de faire dodo" 
 
 {Sleep, Papa Rambuteau, 
 
 Well hast thou earned thy lullaby!) 
 
 On the other hand, I regret to confess that our wardrobe 
 was entirely plundered ; but I am pretty nearly certain that 
 the thieves were the women of Saint-Lazare, who came on 
 that night, with other unfortunates, to ply their sordid 
 trade at the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 The next day, which was Friday, I traversed the whole 
 of Paris, starting from the He Saint-Louis for the Faubourg 
 Saint-Honore. Here again I was repeatedly recognised, for 
 I was on foot, with my daughter Amable on my arm, and 
 her husband beside me. I was treated with the greatest 
 courtesy. My wife also, who joined us in a cabriolet, 
 under the protection of a student of the Ecole Poly tech- 
 nique, overcame every obstacle without experiencing the 
 slightest annoyance. At length, we found ourselves all 
 together in the Hotel Sinet, where a suite of apartments 
 had bfeen offered to me, and I was urged to accept them by 
 M. Rougier, a son of the owner, and an employee in my 
 office. The same day, I wrote the following note to the 
 Mayor of the ist Arrondissement : — 
 
 "Monsieur le Maire, — In 1830, I did not consider 
 that my rank as deputy should prevent me from uniting 
 
 ' The portrait reproduced in the frontispiece. The original is at 
 Champgrenon. 
 
250 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with my fellow-citizens for the preservation of public order. 
 To-day I desire to resume my place in the same legion, as I 
 do not feel that my- age should dispense me from again 
 defending the rights of order and property." 
 
 I was soon afterwards enrolled in the company of Captain 
 Marcotte, a druggist, and, as soon as I received my uniform, 
 I joined the ranks. So, when a journal announced that I 
 had left for England, I was able to assure the editor per- 
 sonally that this was not the case. 
 
 Some days later, I had taken a cab for the purpose 
 of driving to the Ecole Poly technique, and thanking the 
 young gentleman who had escorted Mme. Rambuteau. On 
 alighting, the driver addressed me as, " Monsieur le Prefet." 
 " So you recognise me ? " I said. " Yes, Monsieur, I sus- 
 pected who you were when you got into my cab, and on the 
 way some of my comrades assured me I was not mistaken. 
 Ah, Monsieur le Pr6fet, you might drive through every 
 street in Paris without paying a sou ; for there is not a 
 single one of us who would not gladly drive you for 
 nothing ! You have done so much good to us that it 
 wouldn't be much of a return ! " These simple words, this 
 genuine gratitude on the morrow of a bloody revolution, I 
 regarded as an ample reward for all my labours, and as an 
 honour that would follow me into private life. 
 
 I took part in the seizures of arms that occurred on the 
 1 6th of March, 17th of April, and 15 th of May. I be- 
 longed to one of the battalions which drove the mob from 
 the Chamber of Deputies, with Laporte, Seguin, Generals 
 de Segur and de Saint- Yon, the Beauvaus, the two Bouill6s, 
 Vicomte d'Albufera, Magnoncourt, Nadaillac, &c. These 
 gentlemen had their servants with them to load their 
 weapons. At night, we all met at the house of one of their 
 wives, and, notwithstanding our differences of opinion, we 
 were all perfectly united, which was a new state of things. 
 This lasted until the end of May. 
 
 Before quitting Paris, I went to say good-bye to Marshal 
 Gerard. He told me that he had seen the King twice 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 251 
 
 during the three fatal days of February, the first time being on 
 Wednesday morning. Knowing what dangers were impend- 
 ing, he went to the Tuileries for the purpose of conferring 
 with his Majesty. He had much difficulty in getting 
 himself even announced, because the King was in the 
 Queen's ^.cabinet. He found his Majesty highly excited, 
 exclaiming the instant he saw him, "You have no idea 
 what t4iese business people are like ! I have been arguing 
 with them for actually three hours ! They want me to 
 pay a hundred and ten thousand francs above what I ought 
 to pay for the expenses entailed in connection with the 
 property I inherited from my sister, and in spite of all I 
 can say they won't listen to reason ! " Gerard was dumb- 
 foundered, and, try as he might to make the King grasp the 
 situation, the latter cut him short very sharply, protesting 
 that everything was going on well. Perceiving that the 
 Marshal was not convinced on this point, he dismissed him 
 abruptly, saying, '* Duch^tel is waiting for me ; so I cannot 
 keep you any longer; but believe me, my dear Marshal, there 
 will be an end to all this soon, and a very good end too ! " 
 
 The following Friday, the King sent for him in such 
 haste that the aide-de-camp who carried the message would 
 not give him time to put on his uniform, which had to be 
 sent after him to the Tuileries. He had hardly entered 
 when the King handed him his deed of abdication, com- 
 manding him to mount his horse immediately, and read it 
 to the people ; as the uproar could only be quelled by these 
 means. Gdrard took the King's own horse. He advanced 
 as far as the Rue de Rohan, intending to ride into the Rue 
 Saint-Honore ; but here his progress was checked by the 
 mob, which was partly composed of detachments of the 3rd 
 legion, who had forced their Lieutenant-colonel to march on 
 the Tuileries at their head, to the cry of, " Vive la Ri- 
 forme ! " Driven back by the rabble, and deafened by their 
 yells, he could make himself neither heard nor understood, 
 and was forced to return to the Tuileries. Thereupon the 
 King prepared for flight. 
 
 The Revolution was over. 
 
252 COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 
 
 And I also took my departure, but not till three months 
 later, when the spring had returned with its clear sunshine 
 and its gentle breezes. What had become of Champgrenon 
 and Rambuteau, and of my dear trees which I had neglected 
 for fifteen years in favour of other clients ? I longed for 
 their silence, their perfumes, and their verdure. Once more 
 I sought my beloved Burgundy, feeling sure that, among 
 my pines and larches, my oaks and elms, and beside my still 
 waters, I should recover the peace which is born of a quiet 
 conscience, and, in reviving my pleasant intercourse with 
 nature, should likewise revive the sweet memories of the 
 past forty years. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BRIEF OUTLINE OF A FIFTEEN YEARS' 
 ADMINISTRATION IN PARIS 
 
 I NOW come to the most laborious part of my career. 
 I should have to disturb many piles of dust-covered 
 documents which are at present reposing in the 
 Archives, if I attempted to describe it fully. No one has 
 any idea of the amount of figures, reports, inquiries, plans, 
 &c., which the construction of the most insignificant aque- 
 duct entails. This, however, has no bearing on the facts 
 I am about to narrate. Moreover, various volumes of 
 statistics were published by my direction during my term 
 of oflSce. May my successors find them useful, and may 
 they serve as a contribution to our municipal history 1 I 
 therefore propose to give a simple but comprehensive 
 account of a work to which I devoted all my energies, 
 without pause or respite — a work which I hoped would 
 have had even larger results. May I not be permitted, in 
 the closing years of my life, to cast a backward glance on 
 my labours, like the wayfarer, who, at the end of his 
 journey, sits down on the last kerbstone and measures with 
 his eyes the distance he has travelled and the long road 
 that winds behind him ? There is no vanity, no ambition, 
 in this review of my past. I am a landholder taking a 
 survey of his property. 
 
 I. Hospitals 
 
 The day after I was installed as Prefect, I went to visit 
 the Hotel-Dieu. Although bound by the very nature of 
 my functions to regard all Parisians as my children, I had 
 
 253 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 a special predilection for the poor and for those whose 
 poverty is an inheritance. They were the first-born of the 
 family, and should have my first visit by right of prima- 
 geniture. The impressions I received were sad enough : 
 neither the food, hygiene,^ nor the attention paid to the 
 inmates were what one had a right to expect in a city like 
 Paris. I hoped to be able to change the situation ; there 
 is no condition that may not be improved by time and 
 determination. Moreover, my plan lay plainly traced out 
 before me ; I must avail myself of the means at my dis- 
 posal for the betterment of existing affairs ; later on I could 
 gradually improve these conditions and create new ones. 
 
 The first detail to be studied was that of the food. 
 I had been struck by the difference between the creamy, 
 savoury, appetising look of the soup when it was in the 
 saucepans, and the insipid, colourless, almost repulsive, 
 appearance which it presented in the tureens. 
 
 I soon saw the reason : round loaves, almost all in 
 crumbs, were broken into it, and these absorbed the liquid 
 and deprived it of its savour. I had the loaves made long, 
 with more crust, to the great satisfaction of the patients. 
 Then, as there was more demand for soup in the hospitals 
 ^ than for meat, and in consequence an undue proportion of 
 water and vegetables was used in its making, I applied 
 to the Compagnie Hollandaise for samples of its products. 
 Every week samples of soups from the different hospitals 
 were laid on the table of the Conseil des Hospices, and 
 it did not take us long to recognise the superiority of 
 those supplied by the Compagnie. I visited its establish- 
 ments, and found that the secret of their success lay in 
 the application of steam heat and in the great number of 
 saucepans which they used, each containing fifty kilos ^ 
 of meat at the most. I ordered an experiment to be made 
 at the Salpetriere with thirty saucepans, which replaced 
 the two enormous cauldrons in which two entire oxen had 
 hitherto been boiled every day. Soon afterwards this plan 
 was generally adopted. 
 
 ' Kilo, about 2} pounds avoirdupois. 
 
~^^c^n^.^-d^ -^i-a^n/^u^/.e<:c/-^. 7r96^. 
 
 Helio^^.Dujardm PaTis 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 255 
 
 I found the central bakery so useful that I established 
 a corresponding butchery ; these two institutions, combined 
 with the general cellar of the hospitals and the pharmacy, 
 amply secured the success of my alimentary system. 
 
 I also set up a vast piggery on the Saint Anne farm. 
 I had noticed that the nuns in certain convents fattened 
 a few pigs and fowl on odd scraps and remnants, greasy 
 water, &c. It occurred to me that by following their 
 example the revenues of the hospitals would be increased, 
 and a little variety would likewise be introduced into the 
 fare of the sick. So I started two huge carts to make 
 the round of the hospitals three times a day, collecting all 
 the fragments that had hitherto been destroyed or wasted, 
 but which were now found sufficient for the fattening of 
 three hundred head of stock, renewed four times a year. 
 The hospitals were ' supplied with nearly three thousand 
 kilos of meat a week from this source alone, and thus a 
 saving of, at least, a hundred thousand francs was effected 
 annually. 
 
 As for hygiene, it was absolutely necessary to enlarge 
 the old buildings and construct new ones. This would 
 require time, but there was no reason why the sanitary 
 condition of the premises as they stood should not be 
 improved without delay. I had wooden floors substituted 
 for the rough brick and stone pavements ; large windows 
 were made for the purpose of airing the wards ; the 
 lavatories were isolated ; all the bath-tubs that could possibly 
 be introduced were set up ; special operating wards were 
 established ; the supplies of linen were doubled ; I issued 
 the strictest orders in regard to everything that had the 
 slightest bearing on cleanliness. I took care that those 
 under me exercised a scrupulous vigilance in all matters, 
 whilst the surprise visits which I paid now and then 
 (followed occasionally by a dismissal) did not decrease their 
 circumspection. In short, I was getting along at a rapid 
 rate, and certain fortunate occurrences enabled me to go 
 even faster. Thus, thanks to an opportune legacy of two 
 hundred thousand francs, I erected a building at Necker 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 containing one hundred and eighty beds for the sufferers 
 from scurvy and scrofula, who had been previously lodged 
 in low, unhealthy rooms. 
 
 One day when I was visiting this hospital, I expressed 
 my surprise at the wretched quarters into which the poor 
 children were crowded, when they ought to be breathing 
 the fresh air ; the answer I got was that there were no 
 recreation grounds. I called for a map of the institution. 
 Seeing there were more than four acres of unoccupied land, 
 I asked what use was made of it; one part was appro- 
 priated by the cows, another by the ass, and another by the 
 goats of the Lady Superior ! 
 
 I had all these useless tenants promptly sold, and, after 
 that the children had an ample playground. 
 
 There were many other abuses that required to be 
 suppressed. For instance, it had become customary for 
 the sick to pay two sous a week to the nurses, male or 
 female, who attended them. Those who could not pay 
 this imposition were, naturally, neglected ; whilst, on the 
 other hand, those who were better off than their neighbours 
 would exceed the sum in order to insure corresponding 
 advantages. I put a stop to this tax levied on misery by 
 obtaining a supplementary grant of 40,000 francs for the 
 hospital attendants, and insisting that the same care should 
 be given to all the patients without distinction. 
 
 I insisted also on the nuns taking their share in the 
 night watches, arranging that two, four, or six of them 
 should spend the night in the wards, according to the 
 number of patients, and thus prevent any negligence on 
 the part of the nurses. I met with some opposition 
 from the nuns, for they belonged to an Order whose rule 
 imposed on them a sort of cloistral retreat during the 
 night. Consequently, they retired at nine to what they 
 called the " Convent," and did not appear in the wards 
 until five the next morning. But I maintained that the 
 hospitals were not founded either for the Government, 
 or for the doctors, or for religious communities, but for 
 the sick. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 257 
 
 As Prefect, I was responsible for all the good that was 
 left undone, and for the shortcomings of all my subor- 
 dinates. Sometimes I was obliged to have recourse to the 
 Sisters belonging to Orders whose rules were less strict, 
 and I always found these holy women admirable exemplars 
 of abnegation and self-sacrifice. 
 
 As for the medical staff, I arranged that my appoint- 
 ments should be renewable every five years, with an age 
 limit of sixty years for surgeons and sixty-five for doctors, 
 because I discovered that some of our medical ofllicers 
 never came near the hospitals, being either incapacitated 
 from age or unwilling to lose the fees of their private 
 patients. But the title of hospital doctor is not merely 
 honorary, it involves obligations. 
 
 I also abolished the dissecting-rooms which were estab- 
 lished in all the hospitals, where the absence of surveillance 
 and the levity of the students were likely to lessen respect 
 for the dead and endanger the health of the living. A 
 vast building was erected at Clamart, with a hundred tables, 
 an abundant water-supply, perfect ventilation, and complete 
 isolation. All that remained in the hospitals was the in- 
 dispensable room for the autopsies needed by science or 
 exacted by judicial authority. 
 
 But relieving the needy is not everything. In addition 
 to that we have to protect ourselves against the knaves and 
 impostors who swarm among the poverty-stricken classes. 
 To give alms to them is to thieve from the real poor, for 
 these rascals frequently appear far more interesting than 
 their honest competitors. I put a stop to a good many 
 frauds, to one especially which was practised upon a 
 benevolent scheme of M, Monthyon. This generous 
 philanthropist, among his many other benefactions, had 
 instituted a considerable fund, the interest of which was 
 to be distributed among the sick on leaving the hospital. 
 The amount given to each of them was twenty sous, in 
 addition to ten francs paid into the charity bureau of their 
 ^^ Arrondissement.'" I found out that many came into a 
 hospital five or six times every year, solely for the purpose 
 
258 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of receiving the spoils. These rogues would spend some 
 three or four hundred thousand days in the hospitals, 
 entailing an outlay of 400,000 francs on the part of the 
 Committee for Public Charities ; nor was this all, for they 
 usurped the place of the genuine sick folk, who were often 
 refused admission for want of room. The twenty sous 
 pieces which were to be distributed were secretly marked, 
 and were nearly all recovered in the low taverns of the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 I therefore modified the regulations, appointing agents 
 who were to visit the homes of the sick poor, and bring 
 back as accurate an account as possible of the nature of 
 their illness and their circumstances. After that, a com- 
 mittee, over which I occasionally presided, discussed the 
 applications that had been presented. These measures 
 were also rendered necessary by the constantly increasing 
 number of the afflicted. In 1832 there had been 32,000 
 patients in the hospitals; in 1837 there were 85,000, 
 although there was no epidemic ; still, the average duration 
 of diseases fell from twenty-seven to twenty-two days, and 
 the deaths were 7000 instead of 8000 — a diminution of the 
 death-rate from 13 per cent, to 9 per cent. 
 
 Naturally, a considerable enlargement of the premises 
 became necessary. It was at the Hotel-Dieu that the most 
 important additions were made. The Saint-Charles wing, 
 built on the left bank, and containing six hundred beds, 
 completely intercepted the line of the quays. I had just 
 finished the canal of the Bievre as well as the lower wharves, 
 and the public warehouse for wines ; I had accomplished 
 the widening of the Jardin des Plantes ; and the Quai and 
 Pont des Miramiones were nearing completion. But it 
 was absolutely necessary to open the Quai Montebello and 
 unite it with the Quai des Augustins, if the 12th Arron- 
 dissement was to be included in the boundaries of Paris. 
 Nevertheless, I met with strong opposition in the Com- 
 mission des Hospices, which was unwilling that one of its 
 buildings should be sacrificed, even for the public good. 
 With the help of the doctors, however, I convinced its 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 259 
 
 members that wards containing two hundred beds in five 
 rows were necessarily unhealthy, not having sufficient ven- 
 tilation. I further pointed out that the buildings on the 
 Rue de la Barillerie would accommodate some of the beds, 
 whilst Necker and Beaujon would be enlarged to receive 
 the others. I assured them, moreover, that I was planning 
 an extensive establishment on the grounds of Saint-Lazare, 
 and that, finally, the city would pay two-thirds of the 
 expenses. I won my case. The opening of the Quai 
 Montebello cost more than 1,800,000 francs ; but was 
 that too much to pay for the clearing and improvement 
 of the left arm of the Seine and the line of the quays ? 
 I do not believe that Paris has regretted its money. 
 
 I introduced important reforms into the Hopital du 
 Midi. It was in a deplorable state. Although the object 
 for which it was founded* should have insured it special 
 attention, there was no distinction made between sexes, 
 ages, and circumstances. The fallen woman sent thither 
 by the police elbowed the respectable wife contaminated 
 by her husband ; young children, the victims of shameful 
 outrage, came here to be cured, and when they left were 
 the victims of a moral corruption far more difficult to heal 
 than their physical disease. I separated the sexes, founding 
 at Lourcine an establishment with three hundred beds, and 
 an annexe at Saint-Lazare for repjentant girls. 
 
 Lourcine had existed since 1829 : it was the work of a 
 charitable association which had intended it to be a home 
 of refuge, a sort of almshouse. But at Paris benevolent 
 impulses, however generous and ardent, are quickly chilled 
 when the attraction of novelty is over, and the obligation 
 of a yearly subscription becomes burdensome. Then an 
 appeal is always made to the city to take the place of the 
 founders. The work is offered to it as a free gift, or rather 
 its obligations are ; and no one objects to providing it with 
 a treat, provided it pays for the entertainment. Hence 
 many institutions have gone under which owed their origin 
 to a sudden impulse born of temporary enthusiasm. This 
 
 1 Intended for the treatment of venereal diseases. 
 
26o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was the case with Lourcine, hired by the city at the time 
 of the cholera, and purchased afterwards. I was very glad 
 to have it within my reach, and better pleased still at 
 finding a community willing to undertake duties of such 
 a repulsive character. Every person not belonging to the 
 staff was forbidden to enter, and I had an isolated dormitory 
 with thirty beds for patients under fifteen, victims for the 
 most part of violence, or of the abominable superstition 
 which teaches that the disease can be cured by communicating 
 it to a child. 
 
 I wrought a similar moral improvement by separating 
 the hospital from the neighbourhood of the prison. Crime 
 and misfortune were so closely connected in this institution 
 that its very name had become synonymous with every 
 scourge of humanity, moral and physical. The prison 
 belonged to the Department ; it was acquired by the Com- 
 mission des Hospices for a million, and the prisoners were 
 transferred to the block of buildings in the Rue de la 
 Roquette, which had been erected in eighteen months. 
 
 The next thing to be done was to improve the lot of 
 the insane. At Bic6tre, as well as at La Salpgtri^re, their 
 condition had absolutely appalled me. Most of them were 
 shut up in vaulted dungeons paved with flagstones ; their 
 bed was a big box filled with straw, and their only covering 
 was a counterpane. There were neither chairs nor tables, 
 because they might break them ; there were grated windows 
 with no glass in them, with a wooden shutter fastened 
 outside to protect them from cold by depriving them of 
 all light ; whilst the keepers might inflict the strait-jacket 
 whenever they felt disposed ! 
 
 In La Salp^tri^re these dungeons were built round five 
 large yards in which the milder cases were allowed to take 
 a few minutes' exercise daily. And these regulations applied 
 equally to 2800 unfortunates, of whom about 500 were 
 epileptics ! Not a fourth part of those entering left cured ; 
 douches on the head, falling from a height of ten or twelve 
 feet, were resorted to both by doctors and keepers, as the 
 best medical and disciplinary measure that could be adopted 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 261 
 
 for the patients ; but there was no compassion shown them, 
 no amusement provided, nothing done to alleviate the 
 miseries of a captivity which would in time have deprived 
 the sanest men of their reason. 
 
 For fifteen years I worked unceasingly to reform these 
 practices, and I had the comfort of seeing the number of 
 those restored to society and to their families doubled, 
 and also that of improving the lot of the incurable. Be- 
 cause a man has had the misfortune of losing his reason, 
 he should not be cut off from human sympathy. 
 
 One of my most successful methods was the employment 
 of the insane in manual occupations, which supplied them 
 with healthful exercise and relaxation. They cultivated 
 the land belonging to Bic6tre and Sainte-Anne, washed the 
 woollen bedcovers of the seventeen thousand beds of our 
 hospitals, bleached the cloth woven for the linen goods, 
 &c., experiencing a certain degree of satisfaction in 
 their labours and enjoying their sleep after them. They 
 were allowed, moreover, to have some agreeable additions 
 to their fare, besides escaping for a time from some of 
 the evil consequences of their isolation. The women were 
 occupied in picking cotton, making lint, and sewing. Some 
 of them were very skilful. They were paid from six sous 
 to six francs for making a shirt, the material being furnished. 
 Nine-tenths of the proceeds were given to the workwomen, 
 and represented a hundred thousand francs a year ; the 
 remainder belonged to the institution. 
 
 I sought to combine amusement with business ; so we 
 had music, concerts, even theatrical representations ; but 
 the latter did not produce good results. On the other 
 hand, there were idiot boys in whose case I discovered that 
 sparks may be struck from minds apparently dead. A 
 patient and intelligent professor taught them to weave 
 straw mats and coarse list oversocks ; then he tried to 
 instruct them in reading and writing. You may imagine 
 my surprise when, one fine day, a hundred copy-books were 
 set before me, of which at least sixty would have done 
 credit to a school. The success of the enterprise was 
 
262 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 proved by the fact that the class which at first numbered 
 twenty-five pupils had more than a hundred and twenty 
 at the date of my retirement. 
 
 Naturally, the buildings were enlarged to keep pace 
 with the requirements. At La Salpetri^re, a new quarter 
 was erected, with lodges and pavilions isolated in the 
 middle of the gardens ; at Bicetre, the old prison was 
 converted into dormitories. Everywhere I demolished the 
 cells and dungeons, and replaced them by warm, healthy 
 rooms ; some were wainscoted, and even padded, for the 
 use of the violently insane ; and so the dreadful places that 
 had been the scenes of so many horrors disappeared. 
 
 It was in the Gabriel pavilion at Saint-Louis that I 
 made the first trial of paying beds. I had been struck by 
 the well-bred manners and appearance of certain patients, 
 and, on inquiry, I discovered that many of them were 
 not only above want, but in easy circumstances ; and had 
 been sent by their relations who had been prompted by 
 economical motives to usurp the privileges of the needy. 
 Now, while it might be inhuman to reject them, it was 
 but just that the committee should be reimbursed for the 
 expense of receiving them. I had been cogitating my plan 
 for a long time, and should have wished to extend it to 
 all the hospitals, particularly to those in which there were 
 surgical operations, as well as to those designed for a special 
 purpose. It met with serious opposition from members 
 of the Commission des Hospices, who saw no reason why 
 the Assistance Publique (the Administration of Public 
 Charities) should ask for money, save, no doubt, that 
 which came from the city, for these gentlemen never 
 declined accepting our annual six millions. But I maintained 
 my opinion. There are people who, though far from rich, 
 are not entirely without means ; why should they be put 
 on a par with those who have absolutely nothing, and why 
 should not a fair assessment be levied on them for the 
 benefit of the destitute } I therefore devoted all my 
 energies to the task of establishing homes where persons 
 of slender means would find an asylum without having 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 263 
 
 recourse to charity. A candidate for the Incurables had 
 to wait four or five years before obtaining admission. The 
 price of board at the Rochefoucauld was nominally two 
 hundred francs, but in reality it was four. It struck me 
 that an institution where four hundred francs were charged 
 would be probably well supported. But the chief thing 
 was to find suitable premises. 
 
 The Commission solved the difficulty by sending the 
 orphans of the Saint-Antoine to the Foundling Hospital 
 in the Rue d'Enfer, and making over the building to me. 
 Thereupon, my house was established : it took the name of 
 Saint-Ferdinand, in memory of the Due d*Orl6ans. 
 
 On the other hand, Sainte-P^rine received persons who, 
 because of their social position and because they had still 
 some scant remnants of their fortune left them, did not 
 feel inclined to enter the municipal asylums, but were in 
 search of a retreat where they could combine economy 
 with independence. The number of applications in such 
 cases far exceeded that of admissions. I had new pavilions 
 constructed to meet this demand, and never was a single 
 apartment in one of them vacant. Who can tell how many 
 lives which had opened with every hope of a brilliant future, 
 some of which had been even famous, passed out of existence 
 in these homes, making no sign and forgotten by the world. 
 
 On my first visit there, I saw Clery, the brother of 
 Louis XVI.'s valet de chambre, who had received a pension 
 after the Restoration ; there, too, I saw Lady Stainville, 
 who, after having devoted thirty years to providing amuse- 
 ment to all Paris, had retired from her dreary trade to die 
 in a home ! And there were many others, too, whom I do 
 not care to name. 
 
 I would rather record the names of generous bene- 
 factors, like M. Brezin, who left four millions to found on 
 his estate at Guarches an establishment for two hundred 
 skilled workmen over sixty, who had been the architects of his 
 fortune ; they had been respectively cutlers, carvers, foundry- 
 men, locksmiths, &c. Or again there was M. Boulard, 
 one of Napoleon's upholsterers, who bequeathed 1,800,000 
 
264 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 francs for a similar house at Saint-Mand6, reserved for 
 twelve aged workmen belonging to his party. Unfortu- 
 nately, with the plan of the buildings he also left those for 
 his tomb and a chapel ; thus four-fifths of the legacy were 
 absorbed in the construction of the two latter, so that it 
 was necessary to modify the clause in his will, which 
 directed that no less than fourteen attendants should be 
 engaged to wait on the twelve inmates. 
 
 Devilla's legacy, equal in amount, but better employed, 
 established a home for old people of both sexes; the 
 Lambrecht legacy founded a similar institution at Cour- 
 bevoie for Protestants. We obtained, in fact, several 
 donations like the latter ; among others, one from Pastor 
 
 V , and from certain Protestant congregations, to 
 
 establish a home for penitent young women, under the 
 management of deaconesses. 
 
 But none of my works was more successfully accom- 
 plished in all its details, I think, than the H6pital Louis- 
 Philippe,^ so named because I wished to testify my respect 
 for the King by associating him with a popular institution. 
 In this case there was no question of simply effecting a 
 transformation but of beginning at the beginning. The 
 city owned a large piece of ground at Saint-Lazare, upon 
 which the Church of St. Vincent de Paul had been already 
 erected. The site was perfect, whether viewed from the 
 standpoint of health or convenience. I appointed a com- 
 mission, consisting of some of the ablest physicians, to 
 determine the main outlines of the plan, but they discussed 
 the subject for two years before they could arrive at any 
 conclusion. Moreover, the Commission des Hospices and 
 the Conseil Municipal, who considered the hospitals and 
 colleges as belonging essentially to the left bank, dreaded 
 any sort of rivalry with the Hotel-Dieu, and accused me of 
 sacrificing Paris to the suburbs. Eventually, the city con- 
 sented to bear two-thirds of the expense, estimated at six 
 millions, but the cost was actually ten. This fine structure 
 consisted of ten buildings united by a two-storey gallery ; 
 
 1 At present the Hopital Lariboisifere. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 265 
 
 it might have been made still finer from an architectural 
 point of view for the same sum ; my chief object being 
 to insure the conditions that would best promote the 
 preservation of health, all other considerations had to take 
 a second place. Without entering into too many details, I 
 have described what 1 did for the sick in the hospitals. I 
 had now to deal with a class not less interesting, the sick in 
 their own homes. 
 
 Here it seemed to me that external charity should 
 supplement the care given to patients by their families. In 
 the first place, I laid it down as a rule that, in all cases of 
 urgency or accident, every sufferer should have the right to 
 enter the hospital, and that the formalities of admission 
 should not precede hxit follow the admission. A wound, or 
 any serious accident, should at once command admission ; 
 an inquiry as to who the applicant was, and where he came 
 from, could be made later. But, in ordinary cases, when 
 the patient can find a bed, linen, warmth in his own home, 
 why remove him from the care of his family, when all that 
 is needed for his comfort is a little outside assistance ? 
 Why break up those domestic associations which form the 
 noblest and most moral of all ties, and must contribute 
 powerfully to the patient's recovery .'' By adding to the 
 medical attendance and the medicines (both, of course, 
 given gratuitously) about i fr. 35 c. — the average wages 
 of a day labourer — a poor family could be kept together, 
 provided care was exercised to prevent abuses. I com- 
 missioned M. Vee, Mayor of the ist Arrondissement, and 
 well known for his charitable zeal, to undertake the intro- 
 duction of this new regulation. The results justified all 
 my expectations, and I was about to extend it to the twelve 
 arrondissements when the revolution of '48 burst out. I 
 know that it has since become general. 
 
 Foundling Asylums 
 
 I now come to the branch of the public service re- 
 sponsible for the foundling hospitals. This is one of the 
 
266 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 heaviest burdens on the Assistance Publique ; more than 
 4000 infants are confided to it every year, and it must not 
 only provide for those of the capital, and of the entire 
 Department, but also for those of the neighbouring Depart- 
 ments as well. Out of 1500 women who are confined in the 
 Maternite, nearly two-thirds come from the suburbs or 
 from the provinces. There are always 17,000 children in 
 the Paris hospitals. Naturally, the administration tried to 
 reduce the number, either by restricting the use of the 
 "tour"^ or by exercising a strict watch on the stealthy 
 depositors who brought the children. I insisted that every 
 woman at the Maternity should give the breast for three 
 days to her baby before relinquishing it. Steps were taken, 
 at the same time, to induce her to keep it ; she was offered 
 a supply of baby linen or a nurse's wages for the first 
 month. Occasionally the maternal instinct came into play, 
 and the number of foundling infants diminished by a 
 quarter. 
 
 The " tour " may have its advantages, but it also 
 presents serious objections ; it smooths the way for moral 
 irregularities, and sometimes results in the abandonment of 
 even legitimate children. To have a child is a pleasure, to 
 rear it is a burden. Hence the tendency in some women 
 to rid themselves of the burden altogether, or to minimise 
 it as much as possible. For this reason, a superioress 
 advised me to have the children that were deposited in the 
 " tour," removed at once to another hospital, in order to 
 prevent their mothers from coming to recover them after- 
 wards by offering themselves as wet nurses, and thus 
 obtaining the remuneration which was given in such cir- 
 cumstances. The State should certainly do nothing to 
 befriend misconduct, and it is against its own interests to 
 promote the growth of a population without family ties, 
 the majority of which are usually unhealthy. 
 
 In Paris the Conseil de Revision never had to go 
 
 ' A box at foundling hospitals, working on a pivot, in which an infant 
 could be secretly deposited. A bell rang automatically, and the infant was 
 taken charge of by a nurse. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 267 
 
 beyond the number 180 when recruiting 100 men for the 
 service ; but in the 1 2th Arrondissement, in which the 
 children brought up in the hospitals were enrolled, it had 
 to make its selection from 300 ; and when the choice was 
 made exclusively from them, this figure was far surpassed. 
 
 In this department of my administration I was under 
 many obligations to M. de Watteville ; I succeeded in 
 having the office of inspector created for his special benefit, 
 so that he might not only co-operate with me, but take my 
 place when necessary. I am ready to do full justice to the 
 zeal and enlightenment of the Commission Administrative, 
 but it had one great defect : impersonal authority, in other 
 words, collective responsibility and the consequent absence 
 of individual responsibility. Everything was done in the 
 name of the Prefect, who was expected to sign measures 
 at the discussion of which he was rarely present, save at 
 the important sessions held three or four times a year. At 
 first, I had not missed any of them ; indeed I used to pre- 
 side for four hours during the week, and I often refused 
 my approval to motions voted by the dozen in my absence. 
 I also suppressed the supernumerary employes, which re- 
 sulted in saddling the bureaus with unnecessary officials ; 
 and at last I convinced the members of the Council (not 
 without some unpleasant collisions in spite of my good 
 temper) that I wished, not to diminish their authority, but 
 to prevent it from being made — unknown to themselves — an 
 excuse for acts of nepotism and useless expenses. One day 
 M, Desportes, with evident self-satisfaction, informed me 
 that he had caused some of the silver-ware in the Hotel-Dieu 
 to be sold, and two of the wards to be laid down in parquetry 
 with the proceeds of the sale. " I am tempted to change 
 places with you," I answered. " In order to be able to 
 spend money without official sanction or authorisation, 
 it is clearly better to be a councillor than a prefect." 
 
268 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Bureaux de Bienfaisance 
 
 The Bureaux de Bienfaisance received 1,800,000 francs 
 from the city, and about the same amount from private 
 charity. One of my first acts was to double the number 
 of beds belonging to them in the hospitals, feeling sure 
 I could not make a better use of them. I had excellent 
 opportunities for appreciating the admirable qualities of 
 many of the men at the head of this service in the several 
 arrondissements. Thanks to them, the number of the indi- 
 gent remained almost stationary, although there had been 
 an increase in the population of 300,000. Thus, there were 
 63,000 on the lists of the bureaus in 1837, and 67,000 
 in 1847. I did everything in my power, therefore, to 
 help the Bureaux de Bienfaisance ; they had a right to a 
 percentage on the receipts at the theatres and public 
 fites, a percentage always hard to collect and sometimes 
 disputed. The returns from it scarcely amounted to 
 400,000 francs ; I managed to have this sum increased to 
 1,500,000 francs, and I hear that the increase continues 
 to progress. I am glad to know that this Is the case. It 
 is but fair that the poor should derive advantage from the 
 amusements of the rich. 
 
 Such was the organisation of the diiFerent charitable 
 institutions ; consequently, when the cholera threatened to 
 break out on two separate occasions, I was prepared for it. 
 In 1 834 there were nearly 200 cases a day. I had taken all the 
 necessary measures without incurring a dangerous publicity 
 which would have provoked a panic and tripled the peril. 
 It is easy, then, to conceive my feelings on being summoned 
 before the Conseil des Ministres, and requested to have 
 20,000 huts constructed on the Champ de Mars for a 
 possible 20,000 victims of the ' epidemic. I represented 
 that it would be like ringing the tocsin, to put all the 
 foreigners to flight ; that It would be the death-blow to trade 
 and industry, and spell starvation to the working classes by 
 depriving them of work. It would, moreover, excite uni- 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 269 
 
 versal terror, and propagate the disease by working on 
 people's imagination. I said that all the necessary prepara- 
 tions had been undertaken at night, so as not to attract 
 attention by the lugubrious sights of 1832 ; in short I suc- 
 ceeded in reassuring the Council, and, thank God, my 
 measures proved to be only preventive ones. It was the 
 same in 1 846 ; then I was equally prepared, and more than 
 prepared. But Providence came to our aid and rendered 
 our precautions superfluous. Heaven be praised ! 
 
 Now, what was the cost to the city of the works men- 
 tioned in this summary, works which gave to the hospitals 
 three thousand more beds ? 
 
 Sixteen millions, with six additional millions for the 
 Hopital Louis-Philippe. To this must be added the quota 
 of the hospitals levied on their ordinary resources, for which, 
 however, a profitable transaction indemnified them to a 
 certain extent. In fact, they owned lands in every direc- 
 tion of considerable value ; but as the property yielded 
 an insignificant revenue, I prevailed on the governing body 
 to dispose of them, with this reservation, that a fifth of the 
 proceeds of the sale should be placed in the Government 
 funds, the interest being capitalised, so as to replace the 
 probable increase in their present value. The property in 
 the Rue Neuve-des-Mathurins was sold for 640,000 francs ; 
 the income derived from it used to be 1200; that in the 
 Rue Bergere went for 700,000 francs (rented at 10,000 
 francs) ; the property in the Boule-Rouge fetched 340,000 
 francs (rented for 40 francs) ; that of the Rue du Mont- 
 Blanc as well as that in the Rue de la Victoire were sold for 
 1,760,000 francs (rented for 12 francs); whilst the rest of 
 the land realised equally high figures, and had been rented 
 for equally low ones. This notable increase of revenue had 
 the effect later on of diminishing the subsidies granted to 
 the hospitals by the city, and so was a double advantage 
 for both. 
 
270 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 II. Children, Education, CRicHES, Asylums, 
 Schools, &c. 
 
 If it is well to relieve misfortune, it is still better to 
 prevent it by helping the people to rear their children and 
 enable the latter to earn a comfortable living. With this 
 object in view, I accepted assistance on every side, en- 
 couraging every one to do what they could, for I was 
 persuaded that the widow's mite should not be disdained, 
 and that the material and moral improvement of the work- 
 man is a duty in which all society, without distinction, 
 should co-operate. Now all that has any real worth is the 
 work of time, which respects and consecrates only what it 
 has contributed to establish. Therefore, if we are to hope 
 for lasting progress, we must begin with children, and 
 make them our starting-point for the regeneration of the 
 family of mankind. 
 
 The first crfeche (day-nursery) was founded in 1840 
 in the Rue de la P6piniere, by Mme. de Castellane, aided 
 by M. Marbeau, adjoined to the ist Arrondisement. It 
 contained twelve cradles. Others followed, more or less im- 
 portant, and also due to the efforts of charitable ladies. 
 I was prompt in visiting them, but I soon came to the 
 conclusion that it would be impossible to transform this 
 generous experiment into a municipal institution. In 
 fact, the expenses were considerable : 1 80 francs was 
 the minimum cost of each child, a sum far beyond the 
 resources of a workman's family ; and, even admitting that 
 the city could bear the expense, would not this sum — about 
 50 centimes a day — do more good if given to the mother ? 
 
 I used to see these poor little creatures brought in 
 the early morning in all weathers to the creche, wrapped 
 In wet swaddling-clothes and a rag of a blanket. There 
 the nurses made their toilet, and laid them, dry and 
 warm, in their little beds. But the very reverse of this 
 happened in the evening : they were again clad in their 
 livery of woe, were handed back to their mothers in the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 271 
 
 wretched tatters of the morning, and returned to their 
 home, garret or cellar, as the case might be. Could this 
 sort of treatment be beneficial to the babies? Then, as 
 regarded their food : if the mother came during the day 
 to give the breast to her child in the creche, she had to 
 abandon some of her earnings ; if, on the other hand, the 
 feeding-bottle was substituted, how many difficulties arose, 
 and how many became victims to this change of nutriment ! 
 The Maternit6 had, in fact, been obliged to abandon it, and 
 engaged nurses whenever possible. Moreover, might not the 
 mother's exemption from what should be her chief occu- 
 pation result in lessening her maternal love in a proportionate 
 degree ? Thus it seemed to me that the first thing to be 
 done was to give pecuniary help to the mother, and after- 
 wards to supplement this help by receiving the child into 
 a home. 
 
 Asylums 
 
 The asylum — or infant school as we should rather say 
 in this case — is an institution with a different end in view : 
 it takes children of from two to seven years, trains them 
 in habits of cleanliness, obedience, and religion, and awakens 
 their budding intelligence by means of games and the sort 
 of teaching that may be derived from recreation rather 
 than from education. It supplies, in short, the place of 
 a careful mother for fourteen hours, allowing the real 
 mother to devote her time to her occupations, either her 
 work at home or abroad, and thus earn her daily 
 wages. And this costs the city only 32 francs. At the 
 Home, the child does not change its clothes, and brings 
 its food in a basket ; and the walk to and fro provides 
 wholesome exercise. Moreover, the intercourse with its 
 little comrades makes it more sociable and docile, and 
 develops a spirit of emulation. To understand and ap- 
 preciate the value of an institution which I regard as the 
 greatest evidence of the progress of our age and of 
 priceless service to the people, the two Homes at the 
 Halle aux Draps, with their 900 children, should be visited 
 
272 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and inspected. When the Princess Bariatinski, appointed 
 by the Empress of Russia, head of the charitable establish- 
 ments of St. Petersburg, examined one of the Paris houses, 
 she was simply amazed. She made a study of its smallest 
 details, and could easily believe that fewer tears were shed 
 by this vast number of children within its walls than 
 amongst a score of those kept entirely at home. 
 
 Paris is indebted for its first asylums to Mmes. Pastoret, 
 Mallet, and other pious persons, under the direction of 
 MM. de Liancourt, Cochin, and Delessert. With their own 
 resources, they founded seven establishments, receiving about 
 700 children. As they had a rather precarious existence, 
 I authorised the hospices to grant them subsidies ; the latter 
 soon undertook to defray all the expenses ; the number of 
 institutions increased from seven to twenty, and that of the 
 children to 4000. The expenses had already reached 
 100,000 francs. The work was now sufficiently developed 
 for the Municipal Council to recognise it as a legalised 
 institution. It was acknowledged to be a work of public 
 utility, and was incorporated into the budget of primary 
 instruction. 
 
 It was a piece of good fortune for the Homes to pass 
 into the hands of the city ; they at once experienced the 
 benefit of the change. Premises that were too cramped 
 were enlarged ; every directress received an assistant ; the 
 staff was recruited from those who had been mothers, 
 rather than from the communities; a committee of lady 
 patronesses were deputed to act as superintendents and 
 overseers, whilst a general inspectress was appointed. In 
 1848 the number of homes was thirty-four, the number 
 of their inmates about 8000, and the expense of main- 
 taining them 250,000 francs. 
 
 Perhaps my only regret at leaving the Hotel de Ville 
 arose from the severance it involved from this work into 
 which I had put my whole heart. For childhood has 
 always specially appealed to me, and the sight of those 
 baby scholars was very pathetic. I loved to think how day 
 by day they carried home the seeds of the religious teaching 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 273 
 
 they received, and how fervently I hoped that the sound of 
 the lisping prayers they were taught to repeat would re- 
 kindle a spirit of devotion at their own firesides, and remind 
 their elders of the prayers which they, too, had offered in 
 other days. 
 
 Schools 
 
 After leaving the Home, the child naturally enters a 
 regular school. There were two classes of schools in 1830 ; 
 the Ecoles simultanies, entrusted to the Brothers of the 
 Christian Doctrine or to the communities and the Ecoles 
 mutuelles, in the charge of laymen. The first were specially 
 protected by the Government, the second by liberal opinion, 
 but all the schools were supported by the city. I was 
 careful not to espouse either side, allowing the parents to 
 choose freely, according to their opinions, or even pre- 
 judices. I took an equal interest in the two systems, 
 because elementary instruction is a debt owed by society 
 to those who depend entirely on their manual labour, and 
 it is a public duty to advance their welfare by education. 
 This impartiality had the double advantage of being just 
 in itself and promoting emulation. 
 
 Nevertheless, I noticed among the working classes a 
 marked preference for the schools of the Brothers. This 
 was the result of their modesty, their kindly discipline, 
 their devotion to the cause, and also of the competition 
 between the two systems. On one occasion I remarked to 
 Brother Philippe, the Superior-General (a man of high 
 principle, and actuated by the noblest motives) ; " Before 
 1830, my dear Brother, an imprudent and ill-advised 
 favouritism had roused tthe suspicions of certain classes 
 with regard to you. But when that compromising pro- 
 tection was removed, you felt that you had henceforth to 
 rely solely on your own services, your undeniable capability, 
 and the goodwill which all the teachers of the young in- 
 spire equally. You have, by your efforts, opened the eyes 
 of those who wished to keep them closed — you have sur- 
 passed yourselves, and gained far more tlian you have lost." 
 
274 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In 1 83 1, there were in Paris only seventy-one Brothers ; 
 in 1847 there were one hundred and twenty-two, with 
 thirteen thousand pupils of all ages, thanks to the addi- 
 tion of classes for adults, about which I intend speaking 
 later ; these courses were attended at night by young men 
 between twenty and thirty ; some pupils, indeed, were 
 over forty. One evening that I happened to be visiting the 
 Ecole de la Rue Mongolfier, I said to some of them : 
 " How do you like the teaching and the teachers ? " " Very 
 much, Monsieur ; the teaching is first-class, and, above all, 
 we feel that the Brothers don't look down upon us." This 
 was the secret of the preference shown for the Brothers. 
 As to the Sisters' schools (inferior to the lay schools so far 
 as the system, of teaching was concerned), they were also 
 much appreciated by the working classes, because they were 
 generally associated with charitable institutions, and were 
 managed by the nuns who were always ready to help the 
 families in times of trouble, moreover ; the children learned 
 more religion at these schools, and were taught domestic 
 economy and deference to their parents. 
 
 The Ecoles mutuelks possessed several advantages above 
 those of their rivals ; each school had room for close on 
 three hundred, and the standard of instruction was higher ; 
 consequently they drew their pupils from the bourgeois 
 and manufacturing classes, and were especially encouraged 
 by the Municipal Council, which made great sacrifices in 
 order to multiply them. In short, more than forty-five 
 thousand pupils were being educated in two hundred schools 
 of all descriptions in 1847, and the budget of primary in- 
 struction reached eleven hundred thousand francs. 
 
 But what was the best means of stimulating these little 
 people, and rousing in them a spirit of generous emulation ? 
 For several years the Council had been granting to the most 
 deserving, free places in the Ecoles des Arts et Metiers. 
 But the result was disappointing. Most of the graduates 
 were not sufficiently trained to make good foremen, and 
 had too much pretension to make good workmen. I 
 therefore instituted apprenticeship prizes. In every school. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 275 
 
 for boys or girls, the best pupils, after selecting their 
 several trades, were apprenticed to trustworthy persons, 
 with an allowance from the city of three hundred francs 
 for the first year, two hundred for the second, and a 
 hundred for the third. One hundred and twenty-six prizes 
 were distributed annually, and seventy-five thousand francs, 
 an expenditure which we had no reason to regret. 
 
 I also gave savings-bank books as rewards, and this idea 
 was so pleasing to the Due d'Orl6ans that, desiring on 
 the occasion of his marriage to show his interest in the 
 industrial population of Paris, he distributed seventeen 
 hundred bank-books among the most distinguished pupils, 
 each starting an account with thirty, forty, or fifty francs, 
 on condition that the interests on these sums, as well as on 
 the sums previously deposited, should be capitalised, and 
 that no money should be withdrawn before the depositors 
 reached their majority. Eight or ten years later, some 
 of these bank-books came under my eyes, and I saw deposits 
 for four, six, and eight hundred francs. 
 
 On the other hand, my visits to the schools became 
 more and more frequent, and the inducements I held out 
 increased in proportion : I arrived unexpectedly, examined 
 the children , inspected the premises, and wrote down my 
 observations on the register, always adding a word of 
 approval : it is so pleasant to be able to praise ! 
 
 I presided at the distribution of prizes, taking each 
 district in its turn. The last time I did so, it was in the 
 1 2th Arrondissement, in 1847. All the schools were 
 gathered in the amphitheatre of the Jardin des Plantes. 
 There were more than three thousand children present, 
 with their families. I said to them : " For the last fifteen 
 years I have come here to praise the pupils of this district, 
 and to congratulate their masters on their success. To-day 
 I wish to express my obligations to your parents. Thanks 
 to their care, nay, to their self-denial, I do not see a single 
 child among you who is not decently clad. I know what 
 toil and sacrifices this must have cost them ; I admire them, 
 and tell them so in the name of the City of Paris ; the fact 
 
276 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that they belong to the poorest of the arrondissements in- 
 creases our admiration and love. And you, too, my children, 
 should love them more than ever. Never allow your hearts 
 to forget what they have done for you ; your highest duty 
 in the future will be to make some return to their old age 
 for the care they have lavished on your childhood." 
 
 Courses for Adults 
 
 But in a city like Paris, besides elementary instruction, 
 there is need of supplementary education. Drawing, 
 especially, is essentially necessary. Now, there was only 
 one single school, attended by 400 workmen, in which this 
 branch was taught in the evening classes. Various attempts 
 were made in this direction by private individuals and by 
 the Brothers. The governing body proceeded immediately 
 to develop these useful experiments. In the first place it 
 furnished money for all the expenses, then it provided 
 buildings, regulated their management, increased their 
 number, and granted diplomas, while the Brothers on 
 their side started practical courses in all their establish- 
 ments. These efforts met with complete success. In 
 1847 Paris had thirty-four schools of art, frequented, 
 from eight to ten in the evening, by 10,000 workmen, 
 who were thus rendered more skilful, were consequently 
 better paid, and, best of all, were kept out of the public- 
 house with all its fatal temptations. 
 
 I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Association Poly- 
 technique, directed by M. Perducet : it not only gave 
 popular classes in drawing, but likewise in applied geome- 
 try, mechanics, chemistry, &c. It served as a preparation 
 for following the courses of the Conservatoire des Arts et 
 des Metiers ; in fact, it rendered incalculable service. At 
 the time of the English Exhibition of 1835, I heard that 
 the commissioners attributed the superiority of Parisian 
 industry to our art schools, which imparted a culture and 
 taste to our artisans which were unequalled elsewhere. 
 
 Of course I encouraged lessons productive of such useful 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 277 
 
 and moral results by being frequently present at them. I 
 often passed a whole evening at a class talking familiarly 
 with the good fellows, who were wonderfully responsive 
 to my least advances. I always impressed on them that 
 labour, even when not compulsory, was honourable, and 
 that the time had gone by when idleness was considered the 
 privilege of the well-born : no one had a right to spend 
 their days in sloth, not even those who had spent more or 
 less time in amassing a large fortune. To give up work 
 then, I declared, was like unyoking the horses from the 
 plough in the middle of a furrow. For that was precisely 
 the time when a man ought to profit by the experience he 
 had acquired, by the credit and public esteem he had won, 
 and to insure a wider and more bountiful harvest for his 
 family and country. I showed them that the value of 
 their manual labour could be doubled by knowledge and 
 intelligence, and that by educating themselves they would 
 certainly improve their condition. I also pointed out to 
 them that it costs dearer to feed a single vice than to feed 
 two children, and I quoted the names of many indivi- 
 duals who had begun as they were beginning, and were 
 now managing important enterprises, like Deniere, Czv6, 
 Charriere, Cail, Bietry, &c.^ 
 
 Every time the King visited the Exposition de I'ln- 
 dustrie, I made a point of bringing to his notice those who 
 had started at the bottom of the ladder and were now at 
 the top ; and although the prizes were granted without dis- 
 tinction of persons, he did not conceal his sympathy for 
 those winners who owed their success in life to their own 
 merit. When the Princesse d'Orleans visited the Cail and 
 Derosnes workshops, I drew the Comte de Paris aside into 
 a dark corner. " Monseigneur," I said, " it was from this 
 spot that M. Cail, then a simple fitter, started twenty-three 
 years ago to become the head of this great manufactory, in 
 which he now employs fifteen hundred workmen. In his 
 
 1 Denifere, manufacturer of artistic bronzes ; Ca.v6, the great mechanist, 
 whose business was purchased by the Cail factory ; Charrifere, maker of 
 surgical instruments ; Bifetry, manufacturer of French cashmere. 
 
278 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 case, his factory represents his Minister's portfolio. You 
 are going to see twenty splendid locomotives, six large 
 machines for cooking sugar by steam, and other machines, 
 worth, at least, eighteen hundred thousand francs." 
 
 I also introduced the teaching of singing into the 
 schools. Doubtless, music may not be of much practical 
 utility, but it lightens labour, shortens the hours, draws 
 men pleasantly together, and tends to make them forget 
 the pernicious gratification derived from strong drink. I 
 sought the co-operation of M. Wilhem, who was successful 
 beyond my hopes. In the Ecoles mutuelles the introduction 
 of music was comparatively easy, but in the schools of the 
 communities I met with some obstacles. I had too great a 
 respect for Brother Philippe's superiority of mind and his 
 progressive sympathies not to wish to have an explanation 
 with him. He confessed frankly that he did not care to 
 have outsiders introduced, as they might possibly interfere 
 with the customs and rules of the Order. I perceived that 
 in this he was not entirely wrong. But luckily M. Wilhem 
 solved the difficulty : he offered to give a course at the 
 mother-house in order to train the monitors from among 
 the younger Brothers. Singing-classes soon became general, 
 even in the schools for adults, where they were very popular. 
 For several years I was present at masses and vespers, sung 
 by societies numbering three or four hundred workmen, on 
 festival days at Saint Nicolas-des-Champs or at Saint-Mery. 
 I heard a high mass at Notre Dame sung at Christmas by 
 eight hundred voices. The presence of the orpheons was 
 soon considered indispensable to all school functions. I 
 could never have believed that music would become popular 
 to the extent of attracting thirteen hundred young people. 
 
 But in the schools for girls, and especially In those 
 taught by the Sisters, things did not work so smoothly. 
 The nuns (and in this they had the approval of many 
 mothers) apprehended certain dangers for little girls 
 possessing a fine voice. It was quite possible that some 
 might consider their training as a preparation for the 
 Conservatoire, and might renounce the modest careers 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 279 
 
 that lay before them for the illusive temptations of the 
 stage. The matter required consideration. I surmounted 
 the difficulty by deciding that there should be no soloists, 
 that the solos should be executed by a minimum of from 
 eight to ten voices, trusting that by this arrangement no 
 single child would find an opportunity for displaying her 
 own voice, and for cultivating her vanity in its possession. 
 
 Workrooms 
 
 As I have been speaking of girls' schools, I should 
 add that, until 1 8 30, they were connected with charitable 
 institutions founded by the hospices and managed by the 
 Sisters. In that year the Society of Elementary Instruc- 
 tion opened some alternative schools, which prospered 
 rapidly. For both classes of schools I appointed in- 
 spectresses, whose supervision extended to the convent 
 boarding-schools as well as to all private schools. But, 
 notwithstanding the success of my efforts, I could not close 
 my eyes to the fact that one serious defect still existed. 
 
 Primary education generally comes to an end when the 
 pupil reaches twelve or thirteen years. At this age boys 
 enter special schools or are apprenticed ; but it is not so 
 in the case of girls, who are not received as apprentices if 
 they are under fifteen. What could be done for them 
 during the two years they remained at home ? How were 
 their parents, away at their daily labours, to guard and 
 protect them ? There is no need to dwell on the dangers 
 incurred in such cases during the absence of the father and 
 mother. 
 
 Acting on the advice of M. Parent-Duch^telet and of 
 the Superioress of the Hopital de Lourcine, I established 
 workrooms for these young girls, in which they might be 
 taught all branches of needlework. This plan would pre- 
 pare them for life, and also be a moral protection. Thirty 
 workrooms were opened, attended daily by 1 800 children. 
 Several others were founded by private charity ; one of 
 the most important of the latter was dedicated to Saint 
 
28o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Ann, and was placed under the patronage of Mme. de 
 Rambuteau, who presided over it for fifteen years. Fourteen 
 hundred young girls were trained in this school. It was 
 so generously financed by gifts, lotteries, collections, and 
 grants from the Municipal Government, that my wife, 
 before resigning, was able to deposit 92,000 francs to the 
 credit of the Society, which was henceforward placed under 
 the protection of the law. 
 
 I have now described in general terms the improvements 
 I effected in elementary instruction. As regards higher 
 instruction, it is neither an obligation which is binding on 
 the nation, nor a right to which the people have any 
 claim — it is the business of those able to pay for it. At 
 the same time, it is well to facilitate its achievement as 
 far as possible for those who desire it. Persuaded that 
 the chief source of fortune lies in commerce and industry 
 — for which a ten years' study of dead languages is not 
 necessary — the Municipal Council, at my suggestion, 
 opened two great schools in which Latin and Greek were 
 replaced by modern languages. They were afterwards 
 known as the College Turgot and the College Chaptal. 
 Their success testified to their usefulness, and my only 
 regret was that they were not larger. Every year it made 
 me sad , to see 1 600 young men applying for admission 
 to the Ecole Polytechnique, while only 1 60, or at the most 
 200, were received. Thus 1400 of them, disappointed 
 in the hope of attaining the goal of their ambition, were 
 vainly groping about in search of a career that would have 
 been thrown open to them if their expectations had only 
 been less ambitious. They would have started as excellent 
 subordinates, then advanced to be foremen, then engineers, 
 and, finally, masters. Why should men of education and 
 energy shrink from devoting their talents to the true 
 sources of wealth ? Why should this prejudice in favour 
 of the liberal professions exclude from our manufactures 
 young men who are often without private means, and thus 
 condemn them to a life of questionable expedients .? 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 281 
 
 One day, when Louis -Philippe was expressing his 
 uneasiness at the increase of the working population, I 
 said to him, " No, Sire, that is not the danger ; it is not 
 the workmen wc have to fear, not the men who can 
 earn their living with their own hands, not the men whose 
 wages are steadily increasing, and whose condition is con- 
 stantly improving. Their labour is a guarantee for their 
 peaceable behaviour. It is the diclassh you have to fear 
 — the doctors without patients, the architects without 
 buildings, the journalists without journals, the lawyers 
 without cases, all the neglected, the unappreciated (as 
 they consider themselves), all the hungry, who, finding 
 no place for them vacant at the banquet, seek to upset 
 the table, in the hope of picking up the fallen dishes. 
 These are the people who make revolutions — the preachers 
 of anarchy, the freebooters of education ! Leave me, 
 then, to provide the people with the amount of instruc- 
 tion which its requirements demand." 
 
 Out of the 1200 lawyers inscribed on the register in 
 Paris, twenty become famous, eighty rich, 150 achieve 
 a modest competence ; the rest lead an idle, aimless life. 
 God only knows how they live, and doubtless many of them 
 bitterly regret not having turned their talents to account in 
 the pursuit of commerce or industry. This state of things 
 prompted me to persuade the Municipal Council to reduce 
 the exhibitions in the colleges a full third. And there were 
 still too many left. The half would have sufficed. Twelve 
 or fifteen exhibitions annually would have amply sufficed 
 for the free education of the children of those old city 
 employees who deserve a reward for their fidelity; more 
 than that number simply promotes a system of shameless 
 intrigue on the part of those who have no right to enjoy 
 the advantages of a liberal education without paying for it. 
 
 This does not mean, however, that the colleges were 
 neglected : RoUin, founded and administered by the city, 
 was considerably enlarged ; Henri IV. was altogether trans- 
 formed by the removal of the Bibliothfeque Sainte-Genevieve ; 
 Saint-Louis had an entire new fagade constructed on the 
 
282 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Rue la Harpe ; Bourbon received an annex which allowed 
 it to double its classes, and the isolation of Louis-le-Grand 
 was in progress by the acquisition of the neighbouring 
 houses and the transfer of the Ecole Normale to the Rue 
 d'Ulm. I was less fortunate in my attempt to found a 
 college with a full curriculum, attended by day students 
 only, on the extensive grounds belonging to Saint- 
 Lazare. It had struck me that the dense population of 
 the Faubourgs PoissonniSre, Montmartre, Saint- Denis, 
 Saint-Martin, &c., required an educational institution, 
 which, with the Church of St. Vincent de Paul and the 
 Hopital Louis-Philippe, would have completed the pros- 
 perity of this new quarter.^ Time was not allowed me to 
 overcome altogether the opposition of those who believed 
 that the left bank ought to have a monopoly of the colleges 
 and hospitals. 
 
 III._PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 Government Pawnshops, Savings-Banks, Mutual 
 Aid Societies, Conseil des Prud'hommes 
 
 Mont de "Piiri 
 
 The Mont-de-Piete is, in a certain sense, the i>ank of the 
 people: it is, therefore, needless to state that I took particular 
 interest in it. My first care was to obtain an absolutely 
 competent director, who would help me in effecting useful 
 reforms, especially in the way of economy, for we ought 
 to be able to lend to the poor for nothing. M. LafEtte was 
 at the head of this service, appointed after the Revolu- 
 tion of 1830 for political rather than administrative reasons. 
 He resigned in 1834. The King insisted strongly on 
 
 the nomination of an ex-deputy, M. B . I had an 
 
 audience with his Majesty, in which I told him that more 
 
 1 The idea was acknowledged to be excellent, and it was realised soon 
 afterwards by the foundation of the Lycde Condorcet, which is one of the 
 largest colleges in Paris. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 283 
 
 than 3000 employees were attached to the various depart- 
 mental services, and that most of them were very poorly 
 paid, their acknowledged honesty being the more meri- 
 torious on that account. Bur how could such disinterested 
 integrity be expected of them if their career depended, not 
 on merit, but on nepotism and ministerial and parliamentary 
 influence. If we cannot afford to be generous, we should, 
 at least, be just. Now, the place should by rights be filled 
 by M. Laroche, chief of the branch office for the last ten 
 years, and his nomination should mean the advancement 
 of fifteen other employees. The King yielded to my 
 
 representations, and consoled M. B with a general 
 
 receivership. 
 
 The Mont-de-Pi6te lends every year about 44,000,000 
 francs on pledges amounting to 1,500,000. But it pos- 
 sesses neither capital nor endowments. It disposes only 
 of the municipal securities paid into its treasury, which 
 amount to about 1,800,000 francs. Now, it needs ten 
 times that amount. It might have realised a portion of 
 this sum from the capitalised profits, but the law requires 
 that the entire amount of the annual proceeds from all 
 pledges (l>om) be paid to the hospitals. There was no 
 other resource than to borrow at 3 or 4 per cent. As 
 the rate of interest on loans is 8 per cent., the difference 
 served to cover the costs, which are far higher than is 
 supposed, for the half of these loans are less than 12 
 francs, and do not produce sufficient interest to balance 
 the expense. Yet 8 per cent, is a rather high figure. 
 Might it not be possible to reduce it ? 
 
 The first thing I did, with the consent of the Council, 
 was to abolish the custom of paying the annual i>oni to the 
 hospitals. In fact, what could be more illogical than to 
 relieve the poor at the expense of the poor.? Then we 
 adopted certain measures for the advantage of the borrowers. 
 Thus we reckoned the interest by the fortnight instead of 
 by the month, and this put 80,000 francs in their pockets. 
 The partial redemption of an article for the fraction of a 
 franc was authorised ; an exceptional service was instituted 
 
284 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 for Sunday mornings, but only for the redemption of single 
 articles, because, as the workmen were paid between Saturday 
 evening and Sunday morning, it was wise to protect them 
 from the temptations resulting from the possession of ready 
 money, by allowing them to pay off their debts at once. 
 For, as a rule, how much of their wages survive till Monday 
 morning! The number of pledges that were not redeemed 
 and sold fell rapidly in consequence from 140,000 to 50,000. 
 The expense of the valuation of small objects was shared by 
 the administration. 
 
 The heaviest burden for the public was the intervention 
 of the commissionnaires particuliers. In fact, the Mont- 
 de-Pi6te, according to the terms of its institution, ought 
 to have had four branch houses, and it had only one. 
 The so-called commissionnaires supplied the place of the 
 other three branches, without any authority to do so except 
 a commission from the Prefect, which could be revoked 
 at his pleasure. But the difficulties of a complicated liqui- 
 dation at each change of office had established a sort of 
 tolerance that worked out for their advantage. They were 
 allowed to name their successors. The office was in great 
 request, for it was not only lucrative, but had a sort of 
 Ministerial character. Their commission on their operations 
 was 2 per cent, for the loan, and 2 per cent, for the re- 
 payment, or 4 per cent, added to the 8 per cent, of the 
 administration. It would seem that such conditions were 
 calculated to induce intending borrowers to give them a 
 wide berth ! Nothing of the sort. Nearly three-fourths of 
 the loans were made through them, either on account of 
 distances or from a desire for concealment. There were 
 twenty-three of these commissionnaires, and they divided 
 annually among themselves 450,000 francs. 
 
 I had, of course, the right to suppress them ; the 
 Ministers even proposed twice that I should do so by means 
 of a royal ordinance. But I did not like to adopt such 
 a drastic measure : rigorous justice is not always equity. 
 Capital had been invested in the enterprise in all good 
 faith. I could not ruin honourable families at a day's 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 285 
 
 notice. I therefore preferred adopting a system of gradual 
 suppression, and for ten years I refused to sign a new 
 nomination. 
 
 To supply the place of the three branches, I created 
 auxiliary bureaus, which were managed inexpensively, and 
 every day sent the articles in pawn to the central house. 
 This innovation was very well received by the common 
 people : it had less success with borrowers of a higher 
 social status, who preferred to carry on their transactions 
 through the commissionnaires and so insure secrecy. The 
 poor were not the only persons who had recourse to the 
 Mont-de-Pi6te. I have seen princes of reigning families 
 there ; and have had caskets of jewels in my hands and 
 silver plate of great value. It is no secret nowadays that 
 individuals belonging to the most brilliant society are often 
 obliged to resort to the most disagreeable expedients to 
 raise money ! I imagine, however, I am hardly expected 
 to give the names on the present occasion. 
 
 After all, the commissionnaires were not grateful for 
 my moderation : they had, moreover, powerful supporters 
 in the Council, and, as they could not very well quarrel 
 with me (for I held their fate in my hands), they did their 
 best to make life miserable for the directors, MM. Laroche 
 and Sauve, who died successively at their posts. I am glad 
 to pay a passing tribute of respect to these upright and 
 benevolent men. 
 
 Savings-Banks 
 
 I have referred incidentally to my interest in savings- 
 banks. A thrifty workman is on the right road to become 
 an employer. I never missed an opportunity of discharging 
 my duties as an administrator with the zeal of a private 
 individual engaged in a work that concerned him personally, 
 for, as Prefect, I kept myself informed of all the details 
 of the service through the chief of the bureaus. Further- 
 more, the Municipal Council never withheld their support 
 from me. The twelve mairies of Paris and eighteen cantons 
 
286 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 were endowed with these useful institutions, to which the 
 suppression of lotteries brought increased prosperity by 
 substituting substantial benefactions for a deceptive illusion. 
 In 1848 there were 82,000 bank-books belonging to 
 workmen, and 75,000 to individuals in service, the total 
 representing a capital of sixty-five millions. But the 
 proportion varied considerably, according to the trade of 
 the workmen. Thus, 13,000 carpenters and stone-cutters 
 owned 10,000 bank-books, while 14,000 tailors and 17,000 
 shoemakers had less than 3000. 
 
 I had requested the magistrates of the Police Courts to 
 put this question to every prisoner brought before them ; 
 " Have you a savings-bank book ? " The immense majority 
 answered " No," naturally enough ; because those who 
 are industrious and economical seldom trangress the law. 
 Still, the savings-banks did not give satisfaction to everybody. 
 Thus, M. Franfois Delessert was defeated in his candidature 
 for election to the Chamber in the 6th Arrondissement 
 by a coalition of tavern-keepers, cafe-proprietors, &c., who 
 accused him of his unduly influencing their customers and 
 persuading them to lodge a good half of the money in 
 savings-banks that rightfully belonged to them. Was not 
 this his noblest title to the Presidency of the Caisse de 
 Paris, a post which I succeeded in obtaining for him as a 
 recompense .'' 
 
 Mutual Aid Societies 
 
 Another form of thrift was promoted by the Workmen's 
 Mutual Aid Societies, which I likewise encouraged. At 
 the time of the marriage of the Due d'Orleans they 
 numbered 176, with 20,000 members. At my suggestion, 
 the Council voted them a grant of 100,000 francs, re- 
 presenting a year's assessment at two sous a week. Ten 
 years later these societies had increased to 560, and, 
 although I was unable to have them all scheduled, I got 
 far enough to discover that 280 of them had 35,000 
 adherents, with a capital of 3,200,000 francs. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 287 
 
 One day, after I had presided at one of their meetings 
 in the Halle aux Draps and given them my customary 
 advice, a little old man stopped me as I vs^as leaving, and 
 requested me to furnish him with a summary of my re- 
 marks in writing. " I am," said he, " the little blue mantle^ 
 and your words are of more value than my money. I 
 want to have them printed and wrapped round my little 
 donations; every one will read them, and, long after the 
 money is spent, they will retain them in their memory." 
 I thanked M. Champion, with whose warm-hearted liberality 
 I was well acquainted. He had 20,000 copies of my address 
 struck off. Perhaps they were read by some of the men 
 who mounted guard before my picture at the sack of 
 the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 CONSEIL DES PrUD'hOMMES 
 
 Another proof of forethought in the working-man was 
 the institution of the Prud'hommes, a body of magistrates 
 to act as arbitrators between masters and workmen. It had 
 existed already in most of the industrial and manufacturing 
 cities, and I have recorded elsewhere my appreciation of its 
 services in 18 14 at Saint-Chamond and Saint-Etienne both 
 before and after the Invasion. I was therefore anxious for 
 Paris to benefit by this institution. But the multiplicity of 
 Parisian industries seemed an insurmountable obstacle, and 
 the most clear-headed men in the Tribunal of Commerce 
 and in the Municipal Council did not believe in its success. 
 Nevertheless, I was encouraged in the effort by some great 
 manufacturers. They thought that it would be possible to 
 unite a reasonable proportion of employers and employees 
 if certain industries, more or less similar, could be grouped 
 together. These we divided into four sections : metals, 
 
 ^ Name given to a generous philanthropist, M. Champion, who was to 
 be seen always on foot in every quarter of the city wearing a blue mantle, 
 and distributing alms of all sorts. He was an orphan, picked up by a poor 
 woman, became first an apprentice, then artisan, and finally a master gold- 
 smith. He had made a considerable fortune in the jewellery business. 
 
288 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 woven goods, chemical products and ceramics, and articles 
 de Paris, as they are styled. 
 
 The members of these four chambers were to be elected 
 by the common assembly of masters and workmen. This 
 last point was warmly contested in the preliminary discus- 
 sion of the Council of State, where no one had any faith in 
 the possibility of a mutual understanding. I defended my 
 plan with great persistency. I said that if the interests of 
 either party were exclusively at stake, each party would 
 naturally vote for their most influential members, but that 
 as, on the contrary, it was a question of electing members 
 for a court of arbitration, I felt convinced that the work- 
 men would vote for the employers they liked best, the 
 employers would vote for the most intelligent workmen, 
 and that I, for one, had confidence in the good feeling of 
 both employers and workmen. I won my case. 
 
 Of the 3160 disputes brought before the Tribunal of 
 Conciliation, nearly 3000 were settled on the spot. Only 
 a few were carried to the Tribunal of Commerce. The 
 Section des M6taux was the first to act, and at the begin- 
 ning the Chamber sat in the Palais de Justice. It had a 
 home of its own in the Rue de la Douane as soon as the 
 organisation was in full activity. Two years later the 
 three other sections were inaugurated in their turn. In 
 1847 they arbitrated in the case of 6,000,000 industries 
 and between 50,000 patentees and 200,000 workmen. 
 
 IV 
 
 [The very ample notes which Comte de Rambuteau has 
 left on this part of his administration are full of figures 
 and statistics which could not very well find a place in 
 this sketch. These notes are instructive, but a little dry. 
 We shall therefore confine ourselves to explaining his 
 principles and the motives which actuated him. We may 
 possibly fail in conveying a complete impression of all he 
 did, but it would need a technical work to furnish an 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 289 
 
 exhaustive account of his labours, which were the beginning 
 of the transformation of Paris.] 
 
 " The three things I am especially bound to secure for 
 the Parisians," I once said to the King, " are water, air, and 
 shade " — I might have added : " And not to the inhabitants 
 of Paris only, but to all those within my jurisdiction," for 
 I have always considered that Paris should be the eldest 
 sister of the suburbs, and should treat them the more 
 generously in consideration of the fact that she is every day 
 becoming more and more indebted to them. A considerable 
 proportion of the artisans and workmen of all grades em- 
 ployed in her commerce and industries have their homes 
 in those outlying districts, where living is cheaper, and have 
 therefore strong claims to administrative protection. 
 
 The Municipal Council frequently demanded that the 
 communes within the fortifications should be annexed to 
 the city. I always refused my assent. I did not believe 
 that the benefits derived from the octroi ^ supplied a suffi- 
 cient reason for the change, and I never failed to recall the 
 fact that, when a similar plan was brought before the 
 Council of State in 181 1, the Emperor had formally op- 
 posed it. 
 
 "In a great capital," he said, "the wages of the work- 
 men are often insufficient to lodge and support them 
 decently. It is absolutely necessary for them to get away 
 from the city, and so escape the urban taxes and the high 
 prices, unless we are prepared to imitate the English, who 
 give parish relief to their workmen. It is right that the 
 hard-worker should have a chance of finding health and 
 recreation outside the walls." 
 
 I added that two-thirds of the 70,000 horses employed 
 in Paris were stabled outside the barriers, by which a saving 
 of 50 francs a head was effected ; that, if the communes 
 were annexed, their inhabitants would migrate beyond the 
 boundaries in the same fashion ; that an experiment had 
 
 * A duty on comestibles levied at the entrance of Paris. 
 
 T 
 
290 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 been made in the case of Le Gros-Caillou ; i and that in the 
 three districts on the left bank there was an immense extent 
 of waste land, while Ivry, Montrouge, and Vaugirard were 
 tripling their population. Indeed, new buildings were 
 rapidly springing up in the outlying districts ; villages and 
 hamlets were becoming important additions. There was 
 every facility for erecting churches, schools, markets, 
 fountains, &c., for the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis, 
 where the population — 34,000 in 1804 — was to increase 
 during 1848 to 185,000. 
 
 I worked, therefore, for the interests of the outlying 
 districts. I completed two great lines of circumvallation, 
 one a league, and another three leagues distant from the 
 fortifications, in order to establish easy communication 
 between the thirty-two roads leading to the capital, and to 
 permit the rapid transmission of merchandise. Three 
 millions were expended on this improvement, independently 
 of what was spent on the new bridges over the Seine and 
 Marne, and on the works for navigation. 
 
 The question of sanitation occupied me equally. The 
 suburban population was abundantly supplied with water by 
 companies, but little attention was paid to the removal 
 of household slops ; hence, pestilential sewers were the 
 result of the lack of proper drainage. I had water-courses 
 made in every direction, and thus the approaches to the 
 city were cleansed from this nuisance. There was an 
 enormous cesspool near Montfaucon, which served as a 
 receptacle for the night soil of the whole capital ; and 
 whenever the wind was in the north, Belleville and La 
 Villette were infected by the tainted air. This I succeeded 
 in removing. I selected a spot in the forest of Bondy 
 whither all this foul matter could be transported. But it 
 was no slight matter to convey 600 cubic metres of detritus 
 every night, and in all weathers, to a distance of fifteen 
 kilometres. The difficulty was overcome by a distinguished 
 
 ' There were, in fact, only 22,000 inhabitants in Le Gros-Caillou, while 
 in the suburban quarters, each occupying a similar area, there were 
 200,000. Yet the expenses for police, lighting, paving, sewers, &c., were 
 the same. 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 291 
 
 engineer, M. Mary, who suggested that a vast trench 
 should be dug at La Villette, from whence a conduit 
 16,000 metres long should start, through which the refuse 
 might be propelled by means of a forty horse-power steam 
 engine. I also isolated the knackers' enclosure in the plain 
 of Aubervilliers ; whilst the BiSvre and the water-furrow of 
 the Gobelins were embanked, paved, arched over in parts, 
 and furnished with sluices. 
 
 Perhaps there is nothing of greater importance to Paris 
 than its streets and highways ; I was therefore a sort of 
 road-inspector Prefect. The first point to be gained was 
 to ascertain clearly what were the undisputed rights belong- 
 ing to my jurisdiction. There is no doubt that, at the 
 time of the Revolution, when the sales of the convents and 
 of other national property took place, their rights were 
 infringed as regards the extent of the frontage of their 
 domiciles, either for the purpose of opening new roads or 
 for the widening of those already existing. But these 
 rights were for the most part forgotten, and become, as it 
 were, a dead letter. So I had all the contracts which had 
 been made at this epoch overhauled and a general analysis 
 drawn up of the reservations stipulated, in order that all 
 plans, present or future, should have as much light shed 
 on them as possible. 
 
 During his reign the Emperor had ordered the under- 
 taking of great works, almost exclusively at the expense of 
 the State, and, consequently, on his own responsibility. 
 Under the two Restorations, however, things were different. 
 The Municipal Administration alone took the initiative in 
 all such enterprises, subject to the laws of expropriation, 
 to which it had to conform. Hence many embarrassing 
 circumstances arose which involved many sacrifices. Thus, 
 it could only appropriate ground that, in a certain sense, 
 was really a part of a public thoroughfare ; every other part 
 remained under the absolute control of the proprietor, and 
 so we had buildings, in our finest streets, without depth or 
 breadth, wretched constructions, unworthy of a great city. 
 
 I had made an offer to the Government to extend the 
 
292 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Rue de Rivoli to the Hotel de Ville and the Rue Saint- 
 Antoine, without any expense to the State, provided I were 
 allowed to take possession of a side strip of fifteen metres 
 on each side, the sale of which would have covered a good 
 deal of the cost. It was the only way to insure fine houses 
 and to embellish the city, and yet it was not until 1 850 that 
 a law ratified what I had been vainly demanding for fifteen 
 years. 
 
 I have often been reproached, as has also M. de 
 Chabrol, with not having prepared or followed one grand 
 uniform plan. I could easily have done so ; I had only to 
 make use of the numerous projects already produced, and 
 construct a vast programme from them, with which, per- 
 haps, posterity would have associated my name. But we 
 must not forget that the plans of yesterday are no longer 
 those of to-day — what will be those of to-morrow .'' Since 
 1790 more than 1200 streets have been laid out on a 
 system which is now condemned as defective. The increase 
 in population, the briskness of traffic, the use of vehicles in 
 industries formerly dependent on hand labour have trebled 
 the number of carts and waggons ; moreover, the side- 
 walks, useful though they are, have lessened the width of 
 the streets, which no longer suffice for the increasing busi- 
 ness. Should all the streets be widened, then ? But if so, 
 would not the rights of all those house-owners be interfered 
 with who originally built their residences within the limit 
 prescribed by the authorities ? Was it not better to 
 facilitate traffic by the great branch roads, which were 
 successively opened and prolonged, such as the Rues de 
 Rivoli, Lafayette, Rambuteau, and the lines of the quays 
 and boulevards ? 
 
 All these plans, executed with patience and perseverance, 
 cost considerable sums, but much less than they would 
 have done had all the schemes been published simul- 
 taneously. In fact, when the city decides on either opening 
 new roads or widening others, all the real property affected 
 thereby is at its disposal. Consequently the owners could 
 neither let it, nor raise a mortgage on it. They have a 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 293 
 
 right to their land or to an indemnity. Now, the city may 
 not, at the moment, have the necessary resources. It must 
 have recourse to a loan, and we can easily conceive how 
 onerous such a system would become when applied to a 
 general plan. 
 
 Never could the Municipal Council, as a vigilant guar- 
 dian of the finances, have consented to mortgage them in 
 this fashion. A plan of alignment, on the other hand, 
 gives the owners time to rebuild, and they can be treated 
 with on the basis of the incoming revenue shown by the 
 Budget. It is time enough to borrow when the estimates 
 are very high. 
 
 Another reason for not undertaking a great number of 
 important works at the same time is that, by so doing, a 
 certain risk is involved with regard to the workmen who 
 are employed. 
 
 About this I should like to say a few words. Under 
 normal conditions, the opening of streets in Paris and the 
 construction of private dwellings (which is a natural result) 
 gives employment to about fifty thousand artisans. Extra- 
 ordinary works have the effect of disturbing the equilibrium, 
 because they increase the price of provisions, and they cause 
 a rise in wages and rent. Added to this, they draw crowds 
 of workmen from the provinces, who are attracted by the 
 hope of higher wages and greater comfort, and who, having 
 once tasted the pleasures of city life, cannot make up their 
 minds to return home when the job is ended. Being un- 
 employed, they are a prey to all the temptations of want 
 and idleness, not to speak of the pernicious influences and 
 wrong-headed ambitions of the club orators. Thus, in 
 1828 and 1829, the public works having declined for lack 
 of funds, less than the average number of workmen were 
 employed, consequently more than half the combatants 
 of July were recruited from the unemployed. Eighteen 
 years later the same causes produced the same effects. The 
 completion of the fortifications threw between thirty and 
 forty thousand workmen out of work ; the events of 
 February had suspended all activity. The only resort the 
 
294 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Provisional Government could think of was to fall back 
 on the National workshops, from which resulted the days 
 of June, which cost France more blood than a glorious 
 battle would have done. 
 
 I was always desirous of avoiding such perils by main- 
 taining, a just proportion between the works undertaken 
 and the men needing employment. The Masons' and 
 Navvies' Labour Exchange met every morning on the 
 Place de I'Hotel de Ville ; that of the joiners and car- 
 penters on the Place du Ch^telet. When I saw that 
 many of them were idle for several days in succession, 
 I anticipated by some months the expropriation voted by 
 the Municipal Council, and thus the one or two million 
 francs granted to the Street Commission produced four 
 or eight millions worth of immediate labour. When con- 
 ditions were reversed I delayed the expropriations in the 
 same proportion, and I believe, by maintaining this sort 
 of counterbalance, I avoided those great panics so produc- 
 tive of that kind of speculation in which the contractors 
 are ruined and the workmen not benefited. 
 
 But I do not care to give a detailed account of the 
 streets I opened, levelled, and aligned, nor of all the works 
 accomplished under my direction. I only wish to speak of 
 the principle upon which I acted. For example, I was 
 never anxious to open thoroughfares in places where the 
 indemnity to be paid was three or four times greater than 
 the value of the ground. That would have been imitating 
 the scullions of the Due de Richelieu, who burned the 
 wood for the sake of selling the ashes. I gave up my 
 scheme for widening the Rue Saint-Denis and the Rue 
 Saint-Martin, because my plan of uniting the Place du 
 Ch&telet to the boulevard by a new street was less costly. 
 I tried especially to open thoroughfares in places where 
 fine buildings with magnificent fagades were likely to be 
 erected, such as the Rue de Rambuteau, for instance, 
 which cost nine millions, while the buildings fronting it 
 must have cost fifty. But I did not sacrifice " Vieux 
 Paris" to any privileged quarters. On the contrary, as 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 295 
 
 I was myself a child of the Marais, brought up in the 
 Place Royal, where my grandmother Laviefville had her 
 hotel, I was fond of sauntering through the little Rue 
 Sainte-Avoye, where my father was born, and where his 
 father and mother had died. 
 
 I made special efforts to improve the thoroughfares in 
 this quarter, and certainly they needed it. As soon as it 
 rained most of them were transformed into rivers, which 
 had to be crossed on planks ; there were no pavements, 
 no gutters ; so that the foot-passengers were drenched 
 with the drippings from the roof. In summer there was 
 no street-watering ; the slops of the household could be 
 seen stagnating in front of the houses, and diffusing that 
 characteristic odour of rotten cabbage which always enabled 
 the Parisian, on his return from abroad, to recognise his 
 native city. Hence malaria, fever, and other diseases, all 
 of which disappeared before cleanliness. The lighting 
 was so insufficient that, after the shops were closed, the 
 few lamps placed at long intervals only served to make 
 the darkness more visible. 
 
 Every year I had from seven to eight thousand cemented 
 sewers constructed, which not only disinfected the soil, but 
 made it possible for convex causeways to take the place of 
 the old cisterns, cleft in the middle by a gutter. I tried 
 every sort of paving, all of which I could describe most 
 technically, from the homeliest kind to the muddy, dusty, 
 costly macadam, which, however, has the virtue of deaden- 
 ing the sound of traffic ; I reserved it for the approaches 
 to hospitals, courts, and theatres. In 1833, there were 
 hardly 16,000 metres of pavements; in 1848, there were 
 195,000 for the streets alone — not to speak of the squares, 
 quays, boulevards — all fully equipped with sewers, side- 
 walks, gutter-pipes, and making in all 1400 streets, that 
 had been metamorphosed, covering an extent of about 
 260 kilometres. Still, with all my efforts, I never was 
 able to have a law passed compelling proprietors to con- 
 struct footpaths. 
 
 Naturally, in these circumstances, a good deal of soil had 
 
296 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to be carted away, and it was the fashion for some time, to 
 call every hole, ditch, or obstruction a Rambuteau. People 
 are like children ; they always forget that no lasting ad- 
 vantage can be obtained without a temporary sacrifice. 
 This did not prevent me from pursuing my task, and I 
 hope Paris will remember all I did for its boulevards, which 
 I levelled, smoothed, and repaired, from the Bastille to the 
 Madeleine, as well as for its quays, which were reconstructed 
 from the Louvre to the Pont de Bercy, besides those which 
 were newly built. I hope it will remember how I improved 
 its squares and the Place de la Concorde, which cost the 
 city two millions, and the Place du Trone, which occasioned 
 a further outlay of two millions and a half, with its barrier 
 and its columns surmounted by statues in bronze. 
 
 I tried to embellish them by planting trees, those good 
 friends of man which gladden the eyes and purify the air. 
 Was I not bound to make some compensation for the many 
 gardens which had been destroyed to make room for public 
 or private buildings .? I was so careful of my plantations 
 that the people were in the habit of remarking, with good- 
 natured sarcasm : " The Prefect would rather have a tooth 
 pulled out than a tree pulled up." And to increase the 
 convenience of the pedestrians, I had benches placed 
 wherever I could find room. Is it credible that, until then, 
 there had not been a single such bench in Paris, so strong 
 was the opposition to any interference with the hiring of 
 chairs ? So when, later on, I saw heavily laden men resting 
 for a moment on those benches, or old people taking a sun- 
 bath, with their canes between their knees, or looked at 
 mothers indulging in a little gossip as they supervised 
 their children at play, or when at eventide I watched whole 
 families seated together in happy groups, I felt rewarded 
 with my efforts, and satisfied with them and with myself. 
 
 Water 
 
 It is by the management of the water supply that the 
 administration of a city can be best judged. Now it is an 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 297 
 
 actual fact that, not so very long ago, the Parisians were 
 limited to less than eight litres of water a head. To-day, 
 each of them may dispose of a hundred litres. In 1830, 
 there were in Paris 146 street-fountains ; after I abandoned 
 my office, the number was 1 840, with a discharge of 20,000 
 litres for each. I must admit, however, that I found this 
 necessary work in a fair way towards execution. M. de 
 Cabrol had pretty nearly completed the works on the 
 canal of the Ourcq which were to give to the city 4000 
 water-inches.* The next thing was to distribute it, and 
 this required 200,000 metres of cast-iron pipes and six 
 great reservoirs, each 10,000 cubic metres. That of the 
 Rue Racine, built on the moats of the Enceinte de Philippe- 
 Auguste, those of the Pantheon and Vaugirard, fairly 
 honey-combed with ancient quarries, involved the laying 
 down of considerable foundations ; it was necessary to dig 
 wells from 50 to 60 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter, in 
 which columns of concrete were sunk to support the arches. 
 These reservoirs were filled during the night, and doubled 
 the consumption in the daytime. 
 
 But this was not enough. I laid down pipes for the 
 waters of the Clignon, and increased the resources by 
 25,000 cubic metres ; the city bought back all the private 
 concessions that lessened the water supply at Arcueil, and 
 they were reserved for the upper quarters of the left 
 bank, which those of the Ourcq could not reach. It was 
 for the same purpose that I sank a well at Crenelle on the 
 advice of a commission of engineers and scientists, for 
 which M. Arago acted as reporter. But what trials, nay, 
 what disappointments, fell to my share during eight years ! 
 Nevertheless, I was not left to myself; no sum that I 
 asked for was refused to me, and my joy may be conceived 
 when, one fine day, the water suddenly gushed forth, rising 
 35 metres high, with an unexpected volume of 2400 cubic 
 metres ! 
 
 Afterwards, I proposed to the Government to sink a 
 similar well, 800 or 900 metres deep, in the Jardin des 
 
 ' A water-inch is twenty cubic metres. 
 
298 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Plantes, to furnish warm water to the hot-houses, baths, 
 lavatories, and different offices of a thickly-populated 
 district. The Revolution of 1848 prevented the realisation 
 of my project, which would have been set on foot at once 
 if there had not been a division of opinion on the choice of 
 a contractor. I supported M. Mulot, the contractor of 
 Crenelle, who had already proved his capacity, and who, 
 from being a simple workman, was now a man of mark — 
 thanks to his industry and intelligence. 
 
 To these resources should be added the steam pumps of 
 the Seine, which were costly and clumsy, particularly that 
 of Notre Dame, which obstructed the great arm of ^^the 
 river. We conceived the idea of replacing them by tur- 
 bines, erected at the fall of the Pont-Neuf : in this way, the 
 great arm would be freed, and then trains and boats would 
 require only three hours to go from the Pont d'Jena to 
 the Pont d'Austerlitz, while previously it took three days 
 to make the passage, at great expense, and sometimes it 
 entailed considerable risk. The sluice of the Pont-Neuf 
 was furthermore to serve as a waterway for the little arm, 
 into which fourteen sewers emptied themselves, and which, 
 when dried up by excessive heat, became a regular hotbed 
 of infection. 
 
 But to have water is not enough. It must be whole- 
 some. The waters of the Arneuse and the Mory, which, 
 in summer gave an unpleasant grassy taste to the Ourcq, 
 were reserved for cleaning purposes, as were those of the 
 Menilmontant, the oldest water brought to Paris. As the 
 number of vessels anchored in the basin of the Villette was 
 a source of contamination, the canal water was carried back 
 to the Pont de Flandre ; filters were connected with pumps 
 on the Seine. Thus, in a sense, I exhumed street-fountains 
 from the bowels of the earth, thus turning to account the 
 supply of water which before my time had been allowed 
 to run away under the footpath which was parallel with the 
 street. I can still see the women, squatting on their heels in 
 order to ladle this rare and precious water into their porrin- 
 gers, and now that water flows abundantly ! It had always 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 299 
 
 been my wish to enable every one to draw freely from foun- 
 tains rising to the height of fifty centimetres from the ground. 
 Private individuals, however, were forbidden to transport it 
 in water-carts for the purpose of selling it. Every one has 
 the right to drink at the river ; but it is only fair that 
 those who wish to have the river brought to their homes 
 should pay for it. 
 
 Of course, this improvement was rather costly, but the 
 city was amply compensated for its expenditure by the 
 subscriptions. In 1848, 5300 householders were sub- 
 scribers ; the lowest price was 70 francs a year, and con- 
 ferred the right to a daily supply of fifteen hectolitres. 
 The lavatories, baths, and industrial establishments obtained 
 notable reductions, and yet the yearly water-rate rose from 
 240,000 francs to a million and a half. So the undertaking 
 was not unprofitable — indeed, it proved so lucrative, that 
 an English company offered to supply the water to all the 
 houses and to every story in them. The Municipal Council 
 gave careful consideration to the proposal, but, after much 
 deliberation, refused to alienate the rights from Paris, which, 
 if the measure succeeded, would have lost the fruits of its 
 sacrifices, and, if it failed, would have to confront a diffi- 
 cult liquidation. 
 
 Finally, wishing to blend the useful with the ornamental, 
 in following the precept of our good friend Horace, I de- 
 termined to embellish Paris with some ornamental foun- 
 tains, most of which were designed by Visconti : among 
 them, those of the Place Richelieu, the Place de la Concorde, 
 and the Champs-Elysdes, whose waters, after pleasing the 
 eye, were restored to the canals, for I never sacrificed what 
 was needed for practical purposes to the promotion of mere 
 display. I wished in this way to perpetuate the memory of 
 some great men. A beautiful fountain was erected at the 
 gate of the Jardin des Plantes as a tribute to Cuvier; another, 
 the work of Pradier, took the name of Moliere, and rose in 
 front of the house where he died. Another, on the Place 
 Saint-Sulpice, was adorned with statues of Bossuet, Fdnelon, 
 Massillon, and F16chier ; whilst behind Notre Dame, in the 
 
300 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 midst of a garden which I had myself planted, a fountain 
 was erected of a religious character, and with a statue of 
 the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 Gas 
 
 Next after water came light. For a long time Paris 
 had been demanding gas. Two private companies had 
 made an attempt to supply it, one to the neighbourhood of 
 the Luxembourg, the other to the Boulevard des Italiens 
 and the adjacent quarters, but neither of them had suc- 
 ceeded. There were only sixty-three gas-lamps in the 
 public streets. As it would have been rather difficult to 
 embark on one general undertaking to include the whole 
 capital, I divided the city into six sections, each section 
 having its own company. All the companies, however, 
 were bound to help each other in case of need. The chief 
 point was to obtain a perfectly secure canalisation. For, 
 out of six thousand cubic metres starting from the gas- 
 works in the Faubourg Poissonnifere for the Faubourg Saint- 
 Germain, hardly three thousand crossed the Pont-Neuf. 
 The rest was lost in the soil, not without contaminating it. 
 This difficulty was disposed of by testing the pipes with 
 boiling oil. 
 
 I was inclined to be generous with regard to the first 
 prizes I offered for private as well as public lighting. It was 
 only right to encourage the initial efforts of the companies, 
 for they were devoting considerable capital to an enter- 
 prise that might, or might not, prove successful. I was not 
 troubled, either, by the expenses incurred by the illumi- 
 nation of the Place de la Concorde and the Hotel de Ville, 
 for both furnished a practical proof to the Parisians of the 
 advantages of gas. And the experiment was most con- 
 vincing. Very soon afterwards the streets could boast of 
 their nine thousand burners ; only three thousand lanterns 
 survived, and these were in out-of-the-way quarters. Re- 
 sult : the companies were able to multiply their capital 
 sixfold. After that, the success of the enterprise was 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 301 
 
 assured, and the city could then regulate its conditions 
 according to its own interest. 
 
 I persuaded my colleague, the Prefect of Police, who 
 directed the lighting department, to join me in appointing 
 a committee to confer with the companies in order to fix 
 the rates, get them to form a combination, and to insist on 
 the construction of 150,000 metres of new causeways to the 
 confines of the boundaries of Paris, &c. For two years the 
 point remained under discussion. At length there was an 
 agreement, which was submitted to the Municipal Council. 
 But that body could not agree amongst themselves. Some 
 members considered the commission too exacting; others, and 
 they were the majority, preferred not to bind the city by a 
 contract : they advocated an award, after competition, to the 
 highest bidder. This I promptly combated. I declared it 
 would be grossly unjust to despoil, as it were, those who 
 had risked so much on a most hazardous enterprise, which 
 they had undertaken quite as much for the good of the city 
 as for their own. I pointed out that competition in the 
 present circumstances did not offer any guarantee ; that they 
 must either repeal the concessions (an act of robbery to 
 which I would never consent) or maintain the status quo 
 until their expiration, even though these concessions might 
 deprive Paris of incontestable and immediate advantages. 
 After a fortnight's discussion the contract was accepted. 
 
 I have often congratulated myself on the fact that in 
 this affair, as in every other, I was never tempted to engage 
 in any speculation, and that I never dreamed of putting 
 even the smallest portion of my capital into any of those 
 enterprises. Consequently, I was always able to speak as 
 Prefect, and not as an interested party. I was always able 
 to give an energetic support to the causes I believed good, 
 and thus the reproaches of neither my opponents nor my 
 conscience interfered with the absolute independence of my 
 actions. 
 
302 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 v.— BUILDINGS 
 Prisons 
 
 I did for the prisons what I had done for the hospitals. 
 Besides that of the Rue de la Roquette, which preserved 
 the unfortunate inmates of Bic^tre from the odious contact 
 with criminals condemned to death, I hastened to finish the 
 construction of the new penitentiary in the same street 
 intended for young prisoners. Until then, little attention 
 had been paid to them. Now, however, philanthropy had 
 founded the colony of Mettray, and generous men like 
 MM. Demetz, Berenger, Charles Lucas, Moreau, Delessert 
 were devoting aU their energies to the task of saving the 
 young. The Courts were more inclined to retain such 
 prisoners in their guardianship, the more such chances of 
 moral improvement increased. There are now six or seven 
 thousand of these juvenile criminals in France, and surely 
 they have special claims on our assistance, for the door of 
 repentance is never shut in the face of the young, who are 
 always either the victims of passion or of bad example, and 
 who are generally guilty of a " first offence." How many 
 would have escaped from further crime if they had been set 
 on the right road in their early years ! 
 
 The same feeling prompted my reformation of the 
 Correction Paternelle, which I transferred to a section of 
 the prison for young offenders. There, unknown to one 
 another, bearing a number instead of a name, visited only 
 by the director, chaplain, or persons deputed by their 
 families, they would have an opportunity of coming to 
 their senses and preparing for a new life in which there 
 would be nothing to connect them with their past. Im- 
 portant improvements were undertaken at Saint-Lazare, 
 the Conciergerie, and the Madelonnettes, as also at the alms- 
 houses of Saint-Denis and Villers-Cotterets. I purchased 
 a piece of ground in the Rue de Clichy, upon which I 
 erected the Debtors' Prison, and I converted Sainte-Pelagie 
 into a prison for political offenders. But my great experi- 
 
COMTE DE RAM BUTE AU 303 
 
 ment was made at Mazas, where I introduced the system 
 of cells. I hesitated for a long time before embarking on 
 an undertaking involving an expenditure of five or six 
 millions. Nevertheless, inasmuch as my daily relations with 
 the courts, magistrates, and prison directors convinced me 
 that the prisons were schools of crime, that robberies and 
 murders were planned among the prisoners, and that most 
 of the worst crimes were arranged to take place on the 
 very first day of their discharge ; when I reflected that those 
 merely under arrest, and who were perhaps innocent, were 
 thrown into this horrible promiscuous crowd, and then, even 
 if they were acquitted, were soiled with an indelible stain, 
 it seemed to me that hesitation was no longer possible, and 
 that I had a social duty to fulfil. I planned a vast building, 
 with all the improvements lately realised in Europe and 
 America ; I even visited the English prisons, and I consider 
 Mazas is an unique establishment, with its numerous 
 parlours, its hundred enclosed walks, its fourteen hundred 
 cells, furnished with gas, ventilators, water-taps, &c., and 
 all in sight of the altar which occupies the centre of the 
 building. Here all are able to gaze on the promise of 
 divine compassion and forgiveness, for it is written : " There 
 is more joy in Heaven for a sinner who repents than for ninety- 
 nine just persons who need no repentance" 
 
 Mairies, Markets, &c. 
 
 The town-halls^ also date from this period, and cost 
 about three millions. Until then, the only buildings devoted 
 exclusively to the official business of a district were those 
 of the 8th and 9th Arrondissements. In the other districts 
 the officials had their offices in a hired house, and these were 
 sometimes scattered in different buildings, thus rendering the 
 performance of their duties very difficult. I did my best 
 to provide each arrondissement with a municipal building, 
 with offices for the registration of births, deaths, and 
 marriages, and for the use of the Justice of the Peace, the 
 ^ Mairies— public-halls for the official business of the arrondissements. 
 
304 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 staff of the National Guard, and the Bureau de Bien- 
 faisance. 
 
 I was not less liberal in expending money in the interests 
 of commerce : the bonded warehouses, the foreign shipping 
 buildings, the salt emporium, and the toll-house were 
 erected on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin. This 
 district began to assume the appearance of a Dutch city, 
 and its population rose in a few years to 30,000. Numerous 
 markets were either built or enlarged, and others contracted 
 for. 
 
 As to the Halles Centrales, although I was not allowed 
 to complete them, I had, at any rate, the honour of seeing 
 my plans adopted, of obtaining twenty-two millions from 
 the Municipal Council, and of removing every obstacle to 
 their construction. Nothing was omitted in the preliminary 
 draughts. I sent a Commission to visit the finest markets 
 in Germany, England, Belgium, and Holland, so that we 
 might profit by the experience of our neighbours, They 
 were to cover fifty-four thousand metres of ground, and 
 be handed over to the public in 1850. They have since 
 been extended, and the total expenditure has risen to forty 
 millions. I do not regret it : " The Halles," so Napoleon 
 used to say, "should be regarded as the Louvre of the 
 peopled 
 
 Another building which I had not time to erect, but 
 whose plans I had studied and drawn up, in concert with 
 the Municipal Council and the Government, was the Opera. 
 It was intended to rebuild it on the Place du Palais-Royal, 
 which was to be extended as far as the Rue de Rivoli and 
 the Rue Saint-Honore. The principal fagade would have 
 fronted the square ; the lateral fagades, the Rue de Rivoli 
 and the Rue de Saint-Honore. This project would have 
 corresponded admirably with the clear spaces in front of 
 the Louvre, and with the extension of the Rue de Rivoli 
 to the Rue Saint-Antoine, while going straight to the Tour 
 Saint-Jacque, recently acquired by the city with the object 
 of restoring it and enclosing it with a square. The Opera 
 would have then stood on a magnificent thoroughfare, two 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 305 
 
 leagues in length, joining the Barriere du Trone to the 
 Barriere de I'Etoile. It would have imparted life and charm 
 to the centre of Paris, which foreigners were begmning to 
 abandon for the boulevards. With reference to this I 
 remarked to the King : " If your Majesty does not look 
 out, in twenty years, old clothes, brought from the Temple, 
 will be sold under the arcades of the Palais-Royal ! " And 
 there was some foundation for this statement. In 18 12, 
 each arcade was rented for 3000 francs. In 1848 they 
 brought in only two thousand, although rents had then 
 been doubled. The Revolution, however, put a stop to 
 my plan. 
 
 Place de la Concorde 
 
 I was more successful with the restoration of the Place 
 de la Concorde. Disturbed by the scheme of M. Humann 
 to alienate the whole line of the Cours-la-Reine for building 
 purposes, I at once demanded the cession, already stipulated, 
 of the Champs-Elysees to the city, and I next proceeded to 
 prohibit the erection of any structure between the square 
 and the Avenue de Marigny, in order to preserve the view 
 of the gardens and hotels. To carry out my plan, four 
 squares would be needed, with four handsoma fountains, so 
 as to unite the Tuileries to the Champs-Elysees without 
 interfering with the beautiful view. But the King was not 
 at all satisfied. " When completing a work," he said to me, 
 " we should always conform to the main idea of the artist 
 who originally conceived it. Now Gabriel designed the 
 square with the buildings of the Garde-Meuble to limit its 
 extent, with towers to indicate the corners, and with two 
 fountains and a central monument. As it is the city that 
 defrays the cost, I cannot enforce my wishes, but I can with- 
 hold my approval. Besides, I have another reason for 
 placing the obelisk ^ in the middle — as it commemorates no 
 political event it is sure to remain there ; whereas, if the 
 space were left vacant, you might, some day or other, see 
 
 ' The Obelisk of Luxor (Thebes), presented in 1831 to Louis-Philippe by 
 Mohammed Ali. 
 
 U 
 
3o6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 an expiatory monument or a statue of Liberty instead of 
 the obelisk." 
 
 Seeing that there was some force in the King's reason- 
 ing, I yielded. Indeed, I had no •wish for a repetition 
 of those huge snow-mounds of 1828, which were nick- 
 named, "les Alpes Mangines," after the then Prefect of 
 Police, nor the temporary buildings erected for the Exhibi- 
 tion of 1834. But I regretted that the King refused his 
 consent to the demolition of the moat which ran in front 
 of the Tuileries, for I should have greatly liked to erect a 
 handsome flight of steps at each end with a plantation of 
 lime trees. These latter would have afforded a grateful 
 shade to those foot passengers who were obliged to cross 
 the square, where the heat in the summer was quite tropical. 
 The King presided at the inauguration of the obelisk. 
 There were more than 900,000 spectators at this curious 
 function. Throughout the ceremony, the Queen persisted 
 in placing herself in front of the King. I besought her to 
 allow the crowd to catch a glimpse of his Majesty. 
 
 " Do you undertake to be responsible for his life.?" was 
 her answer. And the poor woman, haunted by the recol- 
 lection of Fieschi, could only think of exposing her own 
 person in order to protect her husband. 
 
 Palais de Justice — Churches 
 
 But there was perhaps no public edifice that required 
 enlargement and restoration so much as the Palais de 
 Justice. I appointed a Commission, consisting of repre- 
 sentatives from the different judicial bodies, to report to 
 me on the defects and mistakes of this building, and the 
 best methods of correcting them. Then I entrusted M. 
 Huyot with the task of making an estimate of the necessary 
 expenses : 22,000,000 francs would be needed for carrying 
 out the repairs, which were not to involve any disrespect to 
 the works of the past, or to the artistic souvenirs of eight 
 centuries. The Cour des Comptes, transferred to the Quai 
 d'Orsay, was acquired, and the Prefect of Police installed 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 307 
 
 in it. In the great hall of the Cour Royale I placed the 
 famous picture of Jean de Bruges,^ I restored the kitchens 
 of Saint-Louis, and, above all, I rescued the Sainte-Chapelle 
 from the neglected condition in which this pure Gothic 
 jewel had lain so long. But M. Huyot died, and the 
 Revolution of '48 arrested all these works. Thank God, 
 they have been resumed and completed. 
 
 Naturally, I did not sacrifice the other churches of Paris 
 to the Sainte-Chapelle. Each one of them was embellished 
 and improved in some way or another, which it would take 
 too long to describe. 
 
 Everybody is familiar with the vast works at Notre 
 
 Dame, of which the State bore the chief expense. Saint- 
 
 Severin was extricated from the mass of houses which 
 
 surrounded it, and its front was rebuilt. Saint-Philippe 
 
 du Roule was greatly extended ; Saint-Paul, Saint-Louis, 
 
 were restored, as likewise was the Chapel of the Virgin at 
 
 Saint-Gervais, one of our most charming specimens of the 
 
 Gothic style. I made Saint-Germain I'Auxerrois into a 
 
 place of worship, and with the help of the 900,000 francs 
 
 voted to me by the Municipal Council, I was able to 
 
 remove all traces of the onslaught which the blind fury 
 
 of the mob had made on the building. I completed both 
 
 Saint-Denis du Saint-Sacrament and Notre Dame de Lo- 
 
 rette by having the marble pillars and arches in the interior 
 
 of each highly polished, so that these might harmonise 
 
 with the other details of their brilliant Italian decorations. 
 
 But I made one great mistake, namely, that of having a 
 
 magnificent Pieta executed in gilded bronze at a cost of 
 
 700,000 francs, and which would have been far more 
 
 beautiful if it had been carried out in marble. As to the 
 
 frescoes for the walls, these were so successful that they 
 
 suggested to me the idea of substituting similar frescoes 
 
 for the pictures which the city had ordered to be painted 
 
 for the other churches, notably at Saint-Thomas d'Aquin 
 
 ^ It is the triptych generally attributed to Memling rather than to Van 
 Eyck. We know that in consequence of the circular of May i, 1904, for- 
 bidding religious symbols in all the Courts, this masterpiece of early art has 
 just been removed. It is now in the Louvre. 
 
3o8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and Saint-Germain-des-Pr^s : the latter was our only church 
 in the Byzantine style, and this I wanted to serve as a sort 
 of souvenir of Saint-Marc at Venice. 
 
 The Government had left the task of restoring all the 
 interior of the Madeleine to the city, except the works of 
 art which were not universally popular. I can still re- 
 call the holy indignation of the Princesse de Craon as she 
 stood before the Pfecheresse of Marochetti, and I well 
 remember the letter she wrote to me protesting against 
 " that colossal Juno " with her opulent charms, less likely to 
 inspire repentance than sin. 
 
 Saint-Eustache was scraped, swept, scrubbed, and these 
 proceedings brought to light some old frescoes which 
 served as models for the complete restoration of all the 
 chapels. It was also decided that the clumsy portal of 
 Soufflot, so different from the Renaissance style of the 
 building, should be removed and replaced by an arched 
 doorway in harmony with the general architecture of the 
 building. This task was entrusted to M. Lesueur. One 
 of the most agonising hours of my life was that which I 
 passed in this church when the grand organ, which had 
 just been put up, caught fire. I was there, alone with the 
 cure, watching the progress of the flames, which the engines 
 were unable to control. Suddenly, the captain, pointing to 
 a trap-door overhead, exclaimed : " If the fire finds an out- 
 let yonder, the roof timbers will be involved, and the church 
 is lost, for our pumps cannot reach such a height, and then 
 I am afraid that this forest of flames will destroy the whole 
 district." Fortunately, his fears were not realised. The 
 damage to the church amounted to 200,000 francs, not 
 including the loss of the organ. 
 
 I finished the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, as well as the 
 square and the fountain. I had hoped to reconstruct the 
 Archbishop's Palace in front of the Hotel de Ville, the 
 plans having been ready and accepted in 1848. However, 
 I had the good fortune to be able to build two fine new 
 churches, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and Sainte-Clotilde. I 
 wished the latter to be, in some sort, a monument to the 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 309 
 
 virtues of the Queen, and therefore would have liked 
 to dedicate it to her patron saint, just as I had built a 
 hospital bearing the King's name. The Queen, in her 
 modesty, refused me permission. " You must yield to 
 her," said the King ; " but on the day of the consecration, 
 Sainte Clotilae shall become Sainte Amelie ! " As many of 
 the churches I had built or repaired were Greek or Roman, 
 I intended that the new church should be Gothic, a style 
 which is more in harmony with our traditions and religious 
 customs. So I took Saint-Ouen of Rouen as my model. 
 The Municipal Council approved, but I had to struggle for 
 five years with the Conseil des B^timents Civils, which was 
 supported by the Institut. This delay and the events of 
 '48 prevented the execution of the plan. But, at least, I 
 had the gratification of seeing it completed after me. 
 
 Hotel de Ville 
 
 I have kept the reconstruction of the Hotel de Ville 
 for the close of this long narrative. It was my house, my 
 home, and was the scene of the last days of my life, which 
 ended there ; for, though since my retirement my days have 
 been calm and restful, I do not reckon them amongst those 
 which belong to my life — they have been too idle. Cer- 
 tainly, I do not claim the entire credit of havihg initiated 
 this superb edifice : another would have done as much ; but 
 its reconstruction had become necessary and had long been 
 expected. Napoleon had dreamed of it already. My merit 
 is to have overcome the resistance of the Municipal Council, 
 and, in a new structure, to have preserved for Paris her old 
 monument. Besides urging the advantage of centralising 
 all the municipal services in the heart of Paris under one 
 roof, and the beauty of this district, which (with its new 
 thoroughfares radiating in every direction) was quite trans- 
 formed, I turned to account the great saving that was 
 effected in the public fetes given to the people and to 
 royalty. Till now they had been held in temporary struc- 
 tures, and had cost more than six millions, from 1810 to 
 
3IO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 1 830, without leaving any visible result behind them. On 
 this point I addressed myself to two men who differed very 
 much from each other in the nature of their talents, 
 M. Godde, the city architect for twenty-five years, and 
 M. Lesueur, Grand Prix of Rome, and well versed in 
 Renaissance architecture. The programme I proposed 
 obliged them not only to preserve the ancient Hotel with 
 a religious respect for the past, but also to stamp the new 
 parts with its characteristic style, just as if the monument, 
 begun in 1535 by Boccador, had been completed in accord- 
 ance with his plans three centuries later. 
 
 The estimates, for the buildings alone, were fixed at seven 
 millions. The Municipal Council made a protracted re- 
 sistance ; there was only a majority of one in favour of the 
 project, and, after the vote, MM. Aube and Ganneron 
 came to me and said, " We voted for you against our con- 
 science and because of our personal attachment to you, for 
 we are persuaded that the expenses will be much greater 
 than you think." Now, on the ist of January 1848 I had 
 expended altogether thirteen millions ; all that was left for 
 decorative purposes was about 120,000 francs. And there 
 were other things I had not foreseen. 
 
 In the first place, I realised that the inner court between 
 the old and new building, which was sixty feet high, would 
 resemble a well. Why should it not be covered with a 
 dome of iron and glass, in the interior of which the finest 
 staircase in Paris could be built capable of being transformed 
 on grand fete days into a living Veronese ? My idea was 
 adopted. It cost 1,300,000 francs. Then, we found the 
 old Hotel in such a state of decay that all that remained of it 
 was the fa9ade on the square and three walls on the court. 
 The rest had to be rebuilt, including the roofs.i But the 
 
 ' This renovation stirred up the author of Notre-Dame de Paris, who 
 wrote the following letter to Comte de Rambuteau : — 
 
 " I am overwhelmed with work, Monsieur le Prdfet, at the present 
 moment ; nevertheless, it is impossible for me not to abandon it for the 
 moment and write to you. You have started work on the roofing of the 
 ancient fagade of the Hotel de Ville. This operation, Monsieur le Prdfet, 
 alarms all the friends of art in the highest degree. Is it possible that any 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 311 
 
 expenses went on increasing, although I was always waging 
 war with my architects on this subject, with M. Lesueur 
 especially, who, carried away by his artistic impetuosity, 
 gave orders without counting the cost. 
 
 Nevertheless, I exceeded by forty-two thousand francs 
 the sums voted by the Council for the decoration of the 
 Grand Staircase, and, after 1848, it was suggested that I 
 should have to pay the money. I replied that it was the 
 only case in fifteen years where I had pledged my personal 
 responsibility, and that I was ready to make good the 
 amount, provided I were allowed to have inscribed on the 
 pedestals of the sculptures that, after having paid for them 
 out of my own pocket, and acquired the right of doing 
 what I wished with them, I had made a gift of them to the 
 city. I heard nothing more about the matter. Although 
 the fittings of the interior were very costly, all that was 
 spent on the private apartments of the Prefect and his 
 family was forty thousand francs. 
 
 The King thought the structure very beautiful. He 
 was a delicate judge in matters of art and taste. He 
 deigned to remark that I had collected many memorials of 
 royalty in a municipal palace. He admired the woodwork, 
 carved by Jean Cousin, placed in the Salon du Zodiaque, 
 in which the Duchesse de Longueville gave birth to a child; 
 and the statue of Henry IV. over the door, and that of 
 Louis XIV. in the court. He promised that I should have 
 his, and said, on leaving : " I thank you, my dear Prefect, 
 you have given me a fortress hidden beneath roses." The 
 defensive arrangements had not escaped his notice. 
 
 I may be permitted to add the testimony of Marshal 
 
 one should dream of lowering this roof and modifying its angle in any 
 fashion whatsoever ? I cannot believe it. However, an attempt of some 
 sort has been made. In the case of a building which is so complete, so 
 graceful, so perfect in every way, as the Hotel de Ville of Paris, the lower- 
 ing of the roof (a proceeding which is always barbarous) would be an act 
 of the utmost gravity, an outrage on a masterpiece. I appeal to your 
 enlightened and noble intelligence. Do not, Monsieur le Prefet, allow 
 this distressing undertaking to be carried any further. — Receive, &c. 
 
 "VicTO Hugo. 
 " 15th of August 1839." 
 
312 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Bugeaud to that of the King. In 1845, on his return from 
 Algiers, he spent a whole morning inspecting the Hotel in 
 its smallest details, from the great stable — which could 
 accommodate two hundred horses — to the roofs, so ar- 
 ranged that a battalion could manoeuvre on them, and he 
 said to me: " My dear friend, I pledge you my 'word I 
 could defend the Hotel de Ville, in case of an attack, with 
 three thousand men against thirty thousand." 
 
 Why didn't he, then ? 
 
 The f^tes of the Hotel de Ville have been much 
 talked of.^ The finest was the one given at the marriage 
 of the Due d'Orleans in the old building, at which six 
 thousand persons were present. M. Visconti had surpassed 
 himself. He had erected in the court a salon, cooled by 
 playing fountains, and perfumed by thirty-two thousand 
 pots of flowers. Two thousand four hundred bouquets were 
 prepared for the ladies. Dinner and supper were both got 
 ready in the Hotel itself ; all passed off in an orderly fashion 
 not often seen on such occasions. And, as the Ministers 
 had previously made me responsible for the safety of -the 
 King, from the moment he crossed my threshold, twelve 
 colonels of the National Guard acted as his bodyguard 
 during the seven hours. 
 
 The balls and receptions I gave in the old rooms in 
 winter, at which the Princes were always present before 
 their marriage, were very successful, especially those from 
 1835 to 1841, in spite of the magnificence of the new 
 apartments. One of the reasons probably was that not 
 
 * It was after one of these fetes that Louis-Philippe, on his return to 
 the Tuileries, wrote the following note to Comte de Rambuteau ; it was 
 accompanied by the toast he had pronounced : 
 
 ^'■Monday night, igth of June. 
 
 One 0^ clock in the morning. 
 
 " My Dear Prefect,— You know that I had no stenographer to-day ; 
 but as you desire it, I have tried to remember what I said to you, and 
 I send it to you enclosed. I am not at all sure that I have recalled the 
 exact expressions which 1 used, but I am quite sure that my heart beats 
 now as then, and that my sentiments do not vary. 
 
 " Good-night, my dear Prefect. I thank you once more for the beauti- 
 ful f^te the city has given me, and for the manner in which it has been 
 conducted. " L. P." 
 
COMTE DE RAMBUTEAU 313 
 
 more than a thousand persons could be accommodated 
 -in the old apartments ; consequently the company, to a 
 great extent, was very select. Later, the standard was 
 lowered by the increase in number, although Mme. de 
 Rambuteau always took care to do the honours of the 
 house herself, and never received any lady who had not 
 been presented to her. Our duties, our relations, com- 
 pelled us to give a larger and larger place to the municipal 
 element. But I would never consent to allow the city to 
 defray the expenses of my receptions, because I wished 
 Mme. de Rambuteau should be the mistress and not the 
 housekeeper of the Prefectoral salons, free to open or close 
 their doors at her pleasure. I paid out every year forty 
 thousand francs more than my salary. Although my 
 personal resources suffered, the dignity of my office was 
 enhanced, and I did not think that less was due, on my part, 
 to the first magistracy of Paris. 
 
 And yet it is not of these f6tes, adorned by the presence 
 of the most distinguished men of France and of foreign 
 lands, that I sometimes recall the memory ; it is not to 
 gilded figures and decorated wainscots that my mind most 
 frequently turns : it is to the garden of the Hotel de Ville, 
 where, whenever I felt harassed and fatigued, I found a 
 refuge among my flowers, where I re-created my patience 
 and courage, where, away from men, I took my rest and 
 threw crumbs to the birds. 
 
 And to-day, as I look back on this long administration, 
 it seems to me that I did not fail in my task. Grander 
 and finer things have been achieved since, bolder things have 
 been done ; money, too, has been spent more lavishly. 
 
 Well, I left the city without debts ; I made no heavy 
 demands on the taxpayer ; I was sparing of the people's 
 money, and I always remembered Sully's encomium in 
 praise on Henry IV. : " The late King was a good economist^ 
 
INDEX 
 
 Achon, Comte d', victim of revolution, 9 
 
 Marquis and Marquise d', victims of 
 
 revolution, g 
 
 Mile, d', her marriage and death, 10 
 
 Ad(51aide, Madame, the King's sister, 
 181, 182; her friendship with Ram- 
 buteau, 207, 208 ; discusses affairs 
 with him, 223, 224 ; only person to 
 whom the King would listen, 223 ; her 
 death, 225 
 
 Alexander, Emperor, his answer to M. 
 de Narbonne, who had brought him 
 Napoleon's final proposals, 67 
 
 Allier, the, Rambuteau appointed Prefect 
 
 ■ of, 133 
 
 AngoulSme, Duchesse d', Rambuteau's 
 interview with, 1 18-120; her interview 
 with the Duchesse d'Orleans, 121, 
 122 ; Mme. de Rambuteau introduced 
 to, 122 ; her pleasure at Rambuteau's 
 reception of her, 122 
 
 Army of Italy, its dilapidated condition 
 after Leipzig, 93 ; loss of soldiers while 
 crossing the Simplon, on account of 
 storm and avalanche, 94 ; difficulties 
 of making a passage for it through the 
 snow, and hardships endured by, 
 
 96.97 
 Artois, Comte d', Lieutenant-General of 
 the Kingdom, 114, 123 ; his interviews 
 with Rambuteau, 124, 125; at St. 
 Etienne, 125, 126, 127 ; his reception 
 in the Loire, 127, 128 ; his behaviour 
 on the occasion of Napoleon's landing, 
 
 131 
 
 Augereau, Marshal, in command at 
 Lyons, 103 ; his despair at his small 
 number of troops, 103, 104 ; Ram- 
 buteau procures horses for him, 106, 
 107 ; sends latter the Cross of the 
 Legion of Honour, 109 ; retreats from 
 Lyons, 1 10 ; his movement on Franche- 
 
 Comt^, III ; retires behind Isere and 
 burns the bridge, II2; he is under 
 suspicion, 123 ; is recalled, 128 
 
 B 
 
 Ralbi, Mme. de, 142, 143, 154, 159 
 
 Ballet des /cAecs, the Emperor and the 
 author take part in, 36, 37 
 
 Barrot, Odilon, 185 
 
 Barthelot, family of, I seg. 
 
 ■ Sire Claude de, 2 
 
 Claude de, grandson of above, 3 , 4 
 
 Claude, father of the author of 
 
 the Memoirs, 4 ; marries Mile, de 
 Laviefville-Vignacourt, 5 ; refuses to 
 emigrate, 7 ; his blindness, 7 ; his 
 arrest, 8 ; his deliverance, 9 ; partly 
 recovers his sight, 11; his advice and 
 generosity to his son, 15, 16; his 
 death, 49 
 
 Philibert, de, 2, 3 
 
 Philibert de, son of above, tragedy 
 
 of his life, 5, 6 
 
 Bassano, Due de, 35, 41, 44, 50, 66; 
 appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 135 ; his return from exile, 159, 163, 
 
 183 
 Berry, Due de, assassination of, 159 
 Berthier, Marshal, dinner given by, on 
 
 occasion of the Comte d? Rambuteau's 
 
 marriage, 34 ; his answer to Mme. de 
 
 Souza's request, 34 
 Bertins, rendezvous of Ministers at, 170, 
 
 171 
 Beugnot, his answer to Rambuteau about 
 
 titles, 187, 188 
 " Black Cabinet," the, account of, 203, 
 
 Black Cardinals, 37 
 Bohemia, separatist movement in, 3 1 
 Bordeaux, Due de, proposal to place, on 
 the throne, 183, 184 
 
 31S 
 
3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bourbons, trend of public opinion con- 
 cerning in 1822 and 1828, 161, 162 ; 
 Chamber ready to accept, 168 ; Talley- 
 rand's remarks upon, 178 
 
 Braamcamp, Anselme de, 164 
 
 Broglie, Victor de, 159; head of the 
 Doctrinaire school, 160 
 
 Caen, Napoleon at, 48 ; his orders con- 
 cerning the repression of the riot at, 63 
 
 Cambacer^s, Arch-Chancellor, 42, 56, 1 37 
 
 Cardinals, refuse to be presented at 
 Emperor's marriage, 37 ; forbidden to 
 wear their Cardinal's robes, hence 
 known as Black Cardinals, 37 
 
 Carnot, Minister of the Interior, 139, 
 140, 146 
 
 Caulaincourt, 15; Napoleon's high praise 
 of, 71 ; associated with the Comte de 
 Narbonne in negotiations for peace, 92, 
 
 , 135. 138. 157- 163 
 
 Chamber, the, ready to accept the Bour- 
 bons, 168 ; division in, on Municipal and 
 Departmental Bill, 173-174; on acces- 
 sion of Polignac Ministry, 176 ; address 
 of the 221, 177, 178; dissolution of, 
 178 ; dangerous moment for, 185 ; de- 
 bate on Rambuteau's proposals ; 186; 
 loses most of its distinguished mem- 
 bers, 188 ; revises the Charter and 
 brings it to the Due d'Orleans, 189 
 
 Champgrenon. Chateau of, built in 
 1580, 2 
 
 Charles X., 177; Talleyrand's remark 
 concerning, 179 ; the " days of July," 
 179 
 
 Chartreuse, the, of Pavia, property of, 
 appropriated to the use of the St. 
 Bernard Hospice, 83 ; spring of water 
 purchased for, 84 
 
 Chateaubriand, his address to the Aca- 
 demy and Napoleon's censure of, 63, 
 64 ; helps the Liberal party, 167 
 
 Cherbourg, magnificent roadstead of, 48 ; 
 Napoleon at, 48 
 
 Chevreuse, Mme. de, noted for her for- 
 tune, and as a mirror of fashion, 20 ; 
 misadventure and exile of, 21 
 
 Choiseul, M. de, at Mme. de Laval's 
 receptions, 20 
 
 Constant, Benjamin, 186, 189 ; on Com- 
 mission of the Constitution, 192; his 
 death, 196; description of, 196; his 
 definition of Constitutional Royalty, 
 197 
 
 Constitution, the Commission of, 192 
 seg. 
 
 Conti, Princesse de, 4; her witty say- 
 ings, 5 
 
 Corvisart, 136 
 
 Council of State, Commission to study its 
 organisation, 171, 172, 173 
 
 Coup d'etat, Bonaparte's, social condi- 
 tions restored by, 13 
 
 Court of Cassation, 172 
 
 Cretinism, M. de Narbonne's report on, 
 87. 88 
 
 Crevola, gigantic monoliths from the 
 marble quarries at, for the Arc de 
 Triomphe at Milan, 89 
 
 D 
 
 Damas, Comte Roger, named Governor 
 
 of Lyons, 128 ; Rambuteau's opinion 
 
 of, 128, 129 
 Dauphine, Mme. la, 121 
 Decaen, General, 146, 148 
 Decazes, M., compelled to resign from 
 
 the Ministry, 159 
 Despriaux, M. and Mme., 12 
 Dessaix, his monument at the St Bernard 
 
 Hospice, 84 
 Doctrinaire school, 159; characteristic 
 
 trait of, 160; the Globe, the organ of, 
 
 176, 177 
 Dress adopted by elegant youth of the 
 
 day, II 
 Droits-riunis, 115 
 Drouot,General,breakfast given in honour 
 
 of his deliverance, 154, 155, 183, 189 
 Dupont de I'Heure, 167, 175 
 Duroc, Grand Marshal, his kindness to 
 
 the author, 65, 67 ; saying of his re- 
 called by Rambuteau, 103 
 
 £tats de Blots, Les, by M. Raynouard, 
 private representation of before Napo- 
 leon, 63 
 
 Famine in 1816 and 1817, 153 
 Ferrand, Comte, his famous speech, 123 
 
 and note, 129 
 Fesch, Cardinal, 103, 124, 125 
 Festa, Mme., anecdote of, 52 
 Fieschi, outrage committed by, 215-219 ; 
 
 his victims, 217 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Fitz-James, Duchess de, 19, 20 
 
 Due de, 1 24 
 
 Flahaut, origin of his fortunes, 34 ; aide- 
 de-camp to Napoleon, 34 
 
 Fleurs-de-lis effaced from royal armorial 
 bearings, 198 
 
 Fouche, his advocacy of M. de Narbonne, 
 33 ; friendship with, 34 
 
 Foucher, his plot against the Emperor, 
 137, 138, 139 ; asks Rambuteau of his 
 plans, 140 
 
 Foy, General, Rambuteau's close friend- 
 ship with, 154 ; his convictions re- 
 garding the Bourbons, 161, 163, 165 
 
 Frondeville, M. and Mme, de, 120, I2i 
 
 Gall, his lectures, 22 
 
 Gambling, rage for, when author was 
 young, 20 
 
 Gerard, Marshal, unable to convince 
 King of his danger, 250, 251 ; en- 
 deavours to read the King's deed of 
 abdication to the people, but driren 
 back by the rabble, 251 
 
 Girardin, Stanislas de, 157, 158, 163, i6g 
 
 Gironde, Gautier de la, 181 
 
 Gondo, gallery of, 89 
 
 Grognards, Napoleon's care to ascertain 
 theirfeelings, 209 ; replaced by National 
 Guards, 209 
 
 Guizot, 176, 178, 186, 187; on commis- 
 sion of the Constitution, 192; advo- 
 cates free discussion, 195, 224, 225 
 
 H 
 
 Hanseatic cities, sever their ties with 
 
 France, 96 
 Hardeck, General, 112, 113 
 Hotel d'Ogny, meetings of the Left at, 
 
 167 
 Hungary, movement to separate, from 
 
 Austria, 31 
 
 J 
 
 Jacqueminot, Commander of the National 
 
 Guard, 233, 234, 236, 242 
 Jafard, Rambuteau orders his arrest, 147, 
 
 148 
 Josephine, her friendship with M. de 
 
 Mesgrigny, 15 ; her kindness to the 
 
 author, 35, 36 ; her divorce, 35, 36 
 
 K 
 
 Krudener, Mme. de, her visit to the 
 Grande Chartreuse, 13 
 
 Labedoy^re, 136 
 
 Lafayette, holds quasi-revolutionary court 
 at H6tel de Ville, 184, 1S5, 186, 189, 195 
 
 La Ferronnays, Marquis de, 168, 171 ; 
 his retirement from public service, 171 
 
 Lafitte, 167, 189, 197 ; forced to resign 
 his Presidency, 199 
 
 La Harpe, M. de, his course on litera- 
 ture, 12 
 
 Larches, acclimatised by Rambuteau, 
 '57; gol<l medal awarded him in 
 recognition of his labours, 163 
 
 Larrey, operates on Rambuteau, 162; 
 attends Mme. de Mesgrigny, 166 
 
 Laval, Mme. de, her liaison with the 
 Comte de Narbonne, 19 ; her daily 
 evening receptions, 19 ; celebrities 
 assembled at, 19, 20 
 
 Laval-Montraorency, Prince Adrien de, 
 his mission to propose abdication of 
 Charles X. and accession of Due de 
 Bordeaux, 183 
 
 Layen, Princesse de, perishes in the fire 
 at the Schwarzenberg f^te, 39 
 
 Laviefville-Vignacourt, Mile, de, marries 
 father of author, 5 ; her terrible dis- 
 figurement from small-pox, 7 ; her 
 arrest, 8 ; her deliverance, 9 ; returns 
 to Paris, 12; her receptions, 13; her 
 death, 14 
 
 Lobau. General Comte de, aide-de-camp 
 to Napoleon, 47, 57, 58, 70 ; his 
 return from exile, 159, 183 
 
 Loire, Rambuteau made Prefect of, 102 ; 
 holds its own against the enemy, 109 ; 
 its reception of the Comte d'Artois, 
 127, 128 
 
 Louis XVin., arrival in Paris after 
 Waterloo, 150; his suspicious nature, 
 168 ; his compromise and moderation, 
 
 177 
 Louis-Philippe (see Due d'Orl^ans), his 
 mistake concerning hereditary peerage, 
 187, 201 ; sacrifices his friends, 198 ; 
 his popularity, 198 ; his behaviour on 
 the day of the Fieschi outrage, 215- 
 219; his irritability, 225; refuses to 
 realise the gravity of the revolution 
 until forced to take flight, 232, 237, 
 238, 251 
 
3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Louvre, its neglect by the King, 193, 
 194 ; nation anxious for its completion, 
 194 
 
 Lowenburg, Gothic castle of, 45 ; wardens 
 of, in antique costume, 45 
 
 LuUin de Chateauvieu, author of Leltres 
 de Saint-James, 165 
 
 Luynes, Mme. de, her receptions, 20 ; 
 gambling at, 20 ; close of, 21 
 
 Lyons, organised vendetta at, II 
 
 Rambuteau at, as Prefect of the 
 
 Loire, 103 seii.; advance on, by General 
 de Bubna, 104 ; National Guard of, 
 organised by Rambuteau, lo8, 109 
 
 M 
 
 Maillard, gives his views as to the ad- 
 ministration of the borderland in 
 Holland and Belgium, 56; congratu- 
 lated by the Emperor and made Master 
 of Requests, 56 
 
 Marie Louise, the author's description 
 of, 38 ; birth of her son, 44 ; her 
 household, 50, 51 ; begs Napoleon 
 on her knees not to appoint M. de 
 Narbonne as her grand-master, 5 1 
 
 Martignac, M. de, 173; Bill read by, 
 in Chamber, 174; is opposed by 
 Rambuteau, 174 
 
 Mathis, Mme., favourite of the 
 Emperor, 36 
 
 " Mativons," informers, vendetta or- 
 ganised against, in Lyons, 1 1 
 
 Meillerie, rocks at, celebrated by 
 Rousseau, 85 ; blown up to make 
 room for a road, 85 
 
 Mesgrigny, Mme. de, sister to the 
 author, appointed assistant governess 
 to Mme. de Montesquiou, 43, 65, 
 122 ; her death, 165, 166 
 
 M. de, marriage of the Comte de 
 
 Rambuteau's sister with, 13 ; his ac- 
 quaintance with Josephine, 15; sent 
 to Vienna to announce the preg- 
 nancy of the Empress, 43 ; equerry 
 to the Emperor, 61, 65 
 
 Metternich, Comte de Rambuteau's 
 acquaintance with, 23 5 his diplo- 
 matic conversation with M. dej Nar- 
 bonne, 32 
 
 Mignet, M., 213 
 
 MoM, in the Ministry, 223 
 
 Montauban, Rambuteau at, 142 seq. ; 
 riotous scenes at, 148, 149, 151 
 
 Montesquiou, Abbe de, member of the 
 Provisional Government, 113, 114, 
 
 118; his verdict of Rambuteau's 
 conduct, 118; discusses matter of 
 uniform with Mme. de Rambuteau, 
 121 ; letter to, from Rambuteau on 
 occasion of Comte Ferrand's speech, 
 123 ; on occasion of the Emperor's 
 landing, 130, 154, 158 
 
 Montholon, General, assumes command 
 of army of the Loire, 109; forced to 
 fall back on Lyons, no; plans with 
 Rambuteau for saving Roanne, 112; 
 Augereau's movements prevent their 
 success, 112; in Paris after St. 
 Helena, 163 
 
 Morel, M., creator of Btmonville, 
 Sceaux, and La Malmaison, 25 ; his 
 directions for the improvement of 
 Rambuteau, 26 
 
 Muetfe de Portici, its performance at the 
 Tuileries, 175 
 
 N 
 
 Napoleon, his coup d'Jtat, 13 ; M. de 
 Narbonne's letter to, 26-31 ; his ob- 
 servation concerning Talleyrand, 33, 
 34 ; his plan of action after Wagram, 
 35 ; divorce from Josephine con- 
 cluded, 37 ; his fondness for amuse- 
 ment, 36 ; takes part in the ballet 
 des ichecs, 36 ; his marriage, 37 ; his 
 conduct on the night of the birth of 
 the King of Rome, 44 ; journeys to 
 Cherbourg, 47, 48 ; his bad reception 
 of Bishop of Seez, 47 ; his affable 
 reception of notabilities of Caen, 48 ; 
 at Cherbourg, 48 ; his selection of the 
 Queen's household, 50, 51 ; his favour 
 towards M. de Narbonne, 51 ; his 
 orders concerning the fauteuils, 52 ; 
 his retired life, 52 ; daily routine of, 
 52, 53 ; his piebald horse, 53 ; portrait 
 of Napoleon on, 53 > his speeches at 
 the Council of State on the National 
 Guard, 53, 54 ; on creation of the 
 new nobility, 54 ; his remarks on his 
 own mission and success, 54, 55 ; on 
 prejudice, 55 ; his denouncement of 
 Portalis, 55, 56 ; his gift for discover- 
 ing the right man for the right place, 
 56 ; his manner of speaking, 56, 57 ; 
 his opinion of the indissolubility of the 
 national tie, 57 ; his orders have to be 
 carried out minulely, 57 ; his good 
 nature and general courtesy, 58 ; his 
 breakfast, 59 ; dines in private except 
 on Sunday, 59 ; his long hours of 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 work, 59 ; arrangement of the tables 
 when guests were invited, 59 ; strict 
 economy of his household, 60 ; no- 
 thing allowed to be privately ordered, 
 60 ; amount spent on his wardrobe, 
 60 ; his usual dress, 60 ; strict regula- 
 tions concerning regimentals, 60 ; per- 
 mission of entry to the Throne-room 
 and other state apartments allowed 
 according to rank, 61 ; attends mass 
 every Sunday, 61 ; his severity of 
 rebuke and delicacy in bestowing 
 praise, 61 ; his affection for, and 
 pride in, his soldiers, 61 ; affair of the 
 Vendean officer, 62 ; always preserves 
 his dignity, 62 ; his hatred of the 
 mob, 62 ; his orders for women 
 rioters to be shot, 63 ; forbids M. 
 Raynouard's play to be performed, 
 63 ; his censure of Chateaubriand's 
 address to the Academy, 63, 64 ; fond 
 of talking on serious subjects, 65 ; 
 sends final proposals to Emperor 
 Alexander, 68; his quarrel with the 
 Pope, 69 ; compares the courage of 
 the ancient nobility with that of his 
 veterans, 70 ; remarks of his aides-de- 
 camp concerning, after the return from 
 Moscow, 71 ; his remarks to the 
 author concerning the disastrous cam- 
 paign, 71 ; his conversation with 
 M. de Narbonne concerning his son 
 and the future constitution, 72 ; sends 
 M. de Narbonne on embassy to 
 Vienna, 91 ; refuses to accept the 
 conditions of peace, 92 ; his last 
 orders to Rambuteau, 113; at Elba, 
 129; his landing, 130; summons 
 Rambuteau, 135 ; interview with, 
 136; his few friends, 137; his idea of 
 retiring to Hungary, 137 ; his abdica- 
 tion after Waterloo, 148 
 Narbonne, Comte, afterwards Due de, 
 forced to fly the country, 17 ; meets 
 his wife after fifteen years' separation, 
 18 ; Ambassador to Vienna, 19 ; 
 Emperor confers title of duke upon, 
 and permission to adopt his future 
 son-in-law, 19 ; his liaison with Mme. 
 de Laval, ig ; his letter to Napoleon, 
 26-31 ; sent as governor to Raab, 31 ; 
 discovers movement on foot to separate 
 Austria from Hungry, 31 ; refuses gift 
 of silver service from the province, 31 ; 
 takes Hungarian costume as souvenir, 
 31 ; sent to the Illyrian Provinces, 31 ; 
 his first interview with the Due de 
 Raguse, 32; nominated French Minister 
 
 to Bavaria, 32 ; his diplomatic conver- 
 sation with Metternich, 32 ; his recep- 
 tion by the Emperor Francis, 33 ; 
 writes to Fouch^ regarding Austrian 
 alliance, 33 ; recommended to 
 Napoleon by Talleyrand to take 
 charge of official negotiations with 
 England, 33 ; Emperor's displeasure 
 towards, 33 ; friendship with Fouch^, 
 33> 34 i with Marshal Berthier, 34 ; 
 character of, given by Talleyrand, 34, 
 note ; Napoleon wishes to appoint him 
 to Queen's household, 50 ; is dissuaded 
 from so doing by Queen's entreaties, 
 51 ; is made aide-de-camp, and given 
 money to clear his debts, 51 ; his happy 
 repartee to the Emperor, 51 ; his answer 
 when questioned as to the duel in which 
 he had acted as a second, 62 ; account 
 of his own duel fought when young, 
 62 ; charged to convey Napoleon's final 
 proposals to the Emperor Alexander, 
 67 ; his boutade in answer to the 
 Emperor's angry remark about the 
 Pope, 69 ; his cheerfulness and cour- 
 age during the terrible retreat, 70 ; 
 Napoleon's conversation with him 
 concerning his son and the future con- 
 stitution, 72 ; is sent to 'Vienna, 72 ; 
 magnificence of his appointments, 73 ; 
 his death, 91 ; his loyalty to Napoleon, 
 91, 92; endeavours to persuade Na- 
 poleon to accept the offered condi- 
 tions of peace, 92 ; his farewell letter 
 to Rambuteau, 93 ; his widow pen- 
 sioned, 93 
 
 Narbonne, Duchesse de, pensioned by Na- 
 poleon, 93 ; pension suppressed at the 
 Restoration, 155 ; Louis XVIH. sends 
 a note of a thousand francs to her, 
 which she returns, 155 ; her son-in-law 
 secures renewal of pension, 156 
 
 Marie Adelaide de, betrothed to 
 
 the author, 16 ; dramatic incidents 
 connected with her early life, 17, 18; 
 description of, 23 ; her marriage with 
 author, 24 ; nearly loses her life, 24, 
 {See Mme. de Rambuteau) 
 
 Nassau, Princesse de, anecdote of, 74, 75 
 
 National Guard, Napoleon's speeches 
 concerning, 53, 54 ; his old grognards, 
 209 ; fears concerning, at the time of 
 the Revolution, 232, 234, 236, 238 ; 
 left without a chief, 245 ; deputation 
 from, informs Rambuteau that his 
 authority is at an end, 247 
 
 Neuville, Hyde de, ex-minister to Por- 
 tugal, 168, 171, 176 
 
320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ney, Napoleon's high praise of, 71 ; his 
 extravagant loyalty, 123, 124 
 
 Nobility, new, Napoleon's speech on the 
 creation of, 54 
 
 O 
 
 " Oreilles de chien," long locks of hair 
 worn by fashionable youths, 1 1 
 
 Orleans, Due d', his interview with 
 Rambuteau, i8l, 182 ; revised Charter 
 brought him, 189 
 
 — ;- Duchesse d', widow of Philippe- 
 Egalite, her interview with the 
 Duchesse d'Angouleme, 121, 122 
 
 Paris, Rambuteau's administration in, 
 253 seq. ; hospitals, 253-265 ; foundling 
 asylums, 265 - 267 ; Bureaux de 
 Bienfaisance, 268, 269 ; creches, 270, 
 271 ; asylums, or infant schools, 271- 
 273 ; schools, 273-276 ; courses for 
 adults, 276-279 ; workrooms, 279, 
 282 ; provident institutions, 282-288 ; 
 his general works for the improvement 
 of Paris (water, air, shades, light), 
 289-301 ; buildings (prisons, markets, 
 &c.), 301-305 ; restoration of Place 
 de la Concorde, Hotel de Ville, Palais 
 de Justice, 305 to end. 
 
 Parisians, Rambuteau on, 208, 209, 229 
 
 Pasquier, M., his interesting remi- 
 niscences, 214, 215 
 
 Pauline, sister of Napoleon, her salon, 
 36 ; her milk diet and country excur- 
 sions, 68 
 
 Peerage, hereditary, Louis Philippe's 
 mistake concerning, 187 ; loss of pres- 
 tige by, 188 ; further discussion on, 
 201, 202 
 
 Pellapra, Mme., Emperor's first meeting 
 with, 36, 37, note ; at Caen, 48 
 
 Perier, Casimir, 167, l68, 178, 180; sent 
 for to form a ministry, 199 ; his im- 
 petuosity, 204 ; his character, 205 ; 
 his failing health and death, 205, 206 
 
 Pierre-Chatel, state prison of, impression 
 left on author by, 69, 80 
 
 Polignac, Ambassador in London, 171, 
 173 ; his Ministry, 176 ; his attitude in 
 the Chamber, 177 
 
 Popular Societies, 195 ; closed by the 
 National Guard, 196 
 
 Portal, ex-Minister of theNavy, 175 
 
 Portalis, Napoleon's denouncement of, 
 55, 56 ; succeeds M. de la Ferronnays, 
 
 173 
 Provisional Government, 113 
 Frud'hommes, the, 116, 287 
 Prud'hon, fine painting by, in Council of 
 
 State, 53 
 
 R 
 
 Raguse, Due de, commands in Illyrian 
 Provinces, 31, 32 ; Comte de Nar- 
 bonne's first interview with, 32 
 
 Rambuteau, when acquired by the Bar- 
 thelot family, I ; in the hands of the 
 enemy, iii ; occupied a second time 
 by the Allies, 152, 153 
 
 Rambuteau, Comte de, (author of 
 Memoirs), his birth, 6 ; attacked by 
 smallpox, 6 ; his affection for his 
 sister, 7 ; entreats the release of his 
 parents, 8 ; returns to Rambuteau 
 with his mother, 10; accident on the 
 way, ibid. ; is introduced into society 
 at Lyons, 11 ; description of fashion- 
 able costume worn by, 1 1 ; studies 
 at the Jlcole Polytechnique in Paris, 
 
 12 ; pays a visit to the Grande Char- 
 treuse with Madame de Krudener, 
 
 13 ; his early life in Paris, 13 ; mar- 
 riage of his sister, 13 ; death of his 
 mother, 14; his presentation to the 
 Emperor, 15 ; included in Court in- 
 vitations, l6 ; his dress, 16 ; his 
 father's generosity to, 16 ; proposals 
 for his marriage and betrothal to Mile, 
 de Narbonne, 16 ; attends Mme. de 
 Laval's receptions, 19, 20 ; visitor at 
 the H6tel de Luynes, 20 ; takes part 
 in society theatricals, 20 ; attends 
 Gall's lectures, 22 ; makes the ac- 
 quaintance of Metternich, 23 ; his 
 first interview with his fiancee, 23 ; his 
 affection for his father, 23 ; his mar- 
 riage, 24 ; introduces his wife to his 
 father, 24, 25 ; his pleasure in his 
 country life, 25 ; learns of M. Morel 
 the art of planning his gardens, 25 ; 
 his consolation later on in horticulture, 
 25 ; takes his wife to Rambuteau, 26 ; 
 chosen as chamberlain by the Em- 
 peror, 35 ; reproached for taking the 
 side of the Emperor, 35 ; his answer, 
 36 ; attends the salon of the Emperor's 
 sister, 36 ; takes part in the ballet des 
 ichecs, 36 ; is attracted by Mme. Pel- 
 lapra, 37 ; on special duty on occasion 
 of Emperor's marriage, 37 ; his de- 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 scription of the ceremony, 38; of 
 Marie Louise, 38 ; his efforts at rescue 
 during the fire at the Schwarzenberg 
 f§te, 39, 40 ; honourably mentioned 
 by Emperor jn recognition of, 40 ; 
 secures reprieve for an ex-soldier, 40, 
 41 ; his successful efforts on behalf of 
 the widow of the Governor of Erienne, 
 
 41 ; becomes Commensal of the Tui- 
 leries, 42 ; attends the Council of State, 
 
 42 ; in favour with the Emperor, 43 ; 
 his description of the night when the 
 King of Rome was born, 44 ; ordered 
 to carry the news to the King of West- 
 phalia, 44 ; account of the King's 
 court and of his reception, 45 ; his 
 advice to the King, 45 ; his opinion 
 of the latter's surroundings, 45, 46 ; 
 is present at the christening of the 
 King of Rome, 46 ; accompanies Em- 
 peror to Cherbourg, 47 ; his friendship 
 with General Comte de Lobau, 47 ; 
 has money given him for distribution, 
 and also a bag of jewels, &c, to leave 
 as tokens wherever the Emperor had 
 been well entertained, 49 ; receives 
 news of his &ther's death, 49 ; recalls 
 pleasant days spent with latter, 49, 
 50 ; is ordered to remove all the fau- 
 teuils except those of the Emperor and 
 Empress, 52 ; anecdote of Mme. Festa, 
 52 ; quotes Napoleon's sayings, 53-56 ; 
 arouses Napoleon's anger, 57-58 ; 
 Emperor friends again with him, 58 ; 
 lodged in the Black Corridor, 65 ; 
 invited to spend nearly every evening, 
 with three others of the household , with 
 the Emperor, 65 ; their subjects of 
 conversation, 65, 66 ; purposely spoils 
 Talleyrand's chance of going to War- 
 saw, 66, 67 ; meets various royal per- 
 sonages at Aix, 68 ; his country excur- 
 sions with the Princess Pauline, 68 ; 
 other excursions to Mer de Glace, &c., 
 69 ; recalled to Paris on return of Em- 
 peror fi:om Moscow, 69 ; Emperor's 
 speech to, concerning the campaign, 
 71 ; appointed Prefect of Montenotte, 
 and then Prefect of the Simplon, 73, 
 74 ; starts for his new post, 76 ; finds 
 grave state of affairs in Switzerland, 
 77 ; his waiting policy, 78 ; discovers 
 document of importance and sends it 
 direct to Emperor, 79 ; is warned of 
 a conspiracy, 79 ; his conciliatory 
 speech to the conspirators, 81 ; is 
 rewarded with the Cross of the Re- 
 union, 82 ; learns his work by personal 
 
 attendance at the different offices, 83 
 makes a tour of his department, 83 
 account of his ascent of the St. Ber 
 nard and of the Hospice, 83, 84, 85 . 
 purchases spring of water for the 
 Chartreuse at Pa via, 84 ; brings away a 
 herbarium from Martigny, 85 ; visits 
 the Valais, and inspects works at 
 Meillerie, 85, 86; his action as regards 
 the custom-house officers and cure of 
 abuses, 87 ; his report on cretinism, 
 87, 88 ; lays first stone of the Hospice 
 du Simplon, 88 ; his admiration of the 
 great road across the Alps, 88 ; has 
 covered gallery constructed at Schalbet 
 as protection from avalanches, 89 ; 
 visits Baveno and the Borromean Isles 
 and other places, 89 ; hears mass every 
 morning, 89 ; his reception in the 
 Valais and overwhelming hospitality 
 of its inhabitants, 90; popularity, 91 ; 
 receives news of the death of his father- 
 in-law, 91 ; latter's last note to him, 
 93 ; describes dilapidated condition of 
 the army of Italy, 94 ; terrible diffi- 
 culties encountered in providing for 
 army and in opening a passage for it 
 through the snow, 95, 96 ; warns the 
 Ministers of the disaffection in Switzer- 
 land, 96 ; held in high estimation by 
 the Swiss, 96, 97 ; is obliged to leave 
 his post on account of invasion by 
 Allies, 98 ; he and his little band made 
 cross fifty leagues of mountains 
 through the snow of winter, 98-101 ; 
 two women share their dangers, 99 ; 
 deplores the inertia of France at this 
 crisis, loi, 102 ; reaches Macon, 
 where he meets his wife, 102; his 
 friendly reception by the Emperor, 
 loi ; appointed Prefect of the Loire, 
 103; his meeting with Cardinal Fesch, 
 103 ; writes from Lyons complaining of 
 corruption, 104, 105 ; has orders to 
 replace the commander of the forces 
 and others, 105 ; choses Marquis de 
 Rostaing, 105 ; pays particular atten- 
 tion to the recruits, 105 ; his arrange- 
 ments for the work of manufacturing 
 arms, 106 ; procures horses for Mar- 
 shal Augereau, 106, 107 ; organises 
 provisional squadrons and battalions, 
 107 ; the service of requisitions, 108 ; 
 and the National Guard, 108 ; manages 
 to obtain arms for them, 108, 109 ; 
 receives the Cross of the Legion of 
 Honour, 109; Augereau's retreat 
 leaves him unprotected, iioj mea- 
 X 
 
322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 sures taken by, for defence, no, in ; 
 saves 130,000 guns, in; makes 
 Saint-Bonnet-le-Chateau chief town of 
 department, in ; is joined by his 
 wife and children, in ; plans with 
 Montholon for saving Roanne, 112; 
 Augereau's movements prevent their 
 success, 112; secures good conditions 
 for Roanne, 112 ; sets out for Paris, 
 113; melancholy appearance of P'on- 
 tainebleau, 113 ; the Emperor's last 
 orders to him, 113; directions given 
 him from the Provisional Government, 
 113; suggests rectification of the line 
 of defence, 114; refuses to enter the 
 Gardes du Corps, 114 ; returns to his 
 post, 114; re-estabhshes the droits- 
 rdunis, 115, 116; his difficulty as 
 regards the pay of the soldiers, 116, 
 117; re-establishes a commission for 
 liquidating forced sales of supplies, 
 117; suffers from the intrigues of the 
 RoyaHsts, 117 ; his interview with the 
 Duchesse d'Angouleme, 1 18-120; 
 conversation with Mme. la Dauphine, 
 121 ; his letter to M. de Montesquieu 
 at the time of the famous speech on 
 " the straight line and the curve," 123 ; 
 his attitude towards the change of 
 affairs, 123 ; summoned to meet the 
 Comte d'Artois, 123 ; his interviews 
 with, 124, 125 ; conducts him to St 
 Etienne, 125, 126; gives him advice, 
 128 ; his opinion of Comte Damas, 
 128, 129; resolves to remain in his 
 department, 129 ; his letter to Montes- 
 quieu on hearing of the Emperor's 
 landing, 130 ; measures adopted by, at 
 this crisis, 130, 131 ; his answer to 
 the Emperor's letter, 131 ; difficulty of 
 his position, 131, 132; espouses the 
 cause dear to his heart, and starts for 
 Paris, 132, 133 ; appointed Prefect of 
 the AUier, 133 ; his short stay at 
 Moulins, 1 34 ; nominated to Prefec- 
 ture of Carcasonne, 1 34 ; sets out for 
 Paris, 135 ; interviews with the Em- 
 peror, 1 35, 1 36; dines with Foucher, 1 38; 
 accepts Prefecture of Montauban, 140 ; 
 is invested with powers of Commissioner 
 Extraordinary, 140; goes to Montauban, 
 142; his desire to secure respect for 
 Protestants and Catholics, 143 ; diffi- 
 culties encountered in dealing with 
 different parties, 144, 145 ; is opposed 
 to every kind of federation, 145 ; his 
 decision as to the Royalist agents, 
 146 ; conference with General Decaen, 
 
 146 ; causes Jafand to be arrested, 
 
 147 ; receives news of Waterloo, 148 ; 
 his difficulty in maintaining order, 
 148, 149, 151 ; establishes the King's 
 authority and retires lirom public ser- 
 vice, 151, 152 ; finds his property 
 despoiled, 153 ; his reception in Paris, 
 154 ; his friendship with General Foy, 
 154 ; secures restitution of his mother- 
 in-law's pension, 155, 156 ; his pecuni- 
 ary difficulties, 156 ; devotes himself 
 to his estate and the planting of woods, 
 156, 157 ; his daughter Amable, 157 ; 
 refuses to be presented at the Tuileries, 
 158 ; nominated member of the Conseil 
 General of the Saone-et- Loire and of 
 Conseil Central d' Agriculture, 159 ; 
 his acquaintance with the Doctrinaire 
 school, 159-161 ; undergoes operation, 
 162: his further illness, 162 ; his three 
 daughters attacked with brain fever, 
 163 ; spends winter in Paris, 163 ; 
 receives Anselme de Braamcamp, 164 ; 
 visits Auguste de Stael at Coppet, 
 164 ; elected to the Chamber, 165 ; 
 loses his sister, 165 ; his colleagues in 
 the Chamber, 167 ; pays his homage 
 to the Royal Family, 170 ; on com- 
 mission for the organisation of the 
 Council of State, 171, 172 ; opposes 
 M. de Martignac, 174; his remarks 
 concerning the performance of the 
 Muetie de Portici at the Tuileries, 175 ; 
 on Budget Commission for 'War and 
 Home Ministries, 176; part manager of 
 the Temps, 177 ; unfavourably im- 
 pressed by Polignac, 177; attends 
 meeting to decide concerning the 
 address of the 221, 177 ; interview 
 with Talleyrand, 178 ; is at Saint- 
 Alban when hears of the " days of 
 July," 179; hastens to Paris, 179; is 
 persuaded to go to the Palais Royal, 
 181 ; his interview with the Due 
 d'Orl^ans, 181, 182 ; his urgent ad- 
 dress to the Chamber, 186 ; his views 
 concerning the Israelitish cult, 189 ; 
 Sebastiani's strong language with re- 
 gard to, igo ; on several Commis- 
 sions, 191 ; meets M. Thiers, 191 ; his 
 opinion on taxes, 191 ; on Commission 
 of Constitution, 192 ; his discussion 
 with Guigot, 192 ; speaks to the King 
 on the question of the Civil List, 193 ; 
 his work on the Bill for the reform of 
 electoral law, 194 ; on Commission of 
 Finance under new Ministry, 200 ; en- 
 rolled in the Grenadiers, 201 ; his re- 
 
INDEX 
 
 323 
 
 election, 201 ; his day's work, 204 ; 
 his account of Casimir Perier, 205, 
 206 ; his answer to the Bang, 206 ; 
 appointed Prefect of Paris, 206 ; his 
 friendship with the Royal Family, 207 ; 
 his programme of the duties of his 
 new office, 208 ; seeks to amuse as 
 well as improve Paris, 209 ; help given 
 him by his wife, 210 ; consults M. 
 Thiers about accepting a peerage, 212, 
 213 ; his account of Fieschi's crime, 
 215-219 ; his quarrel with the Minister 
 of Finance, 220, 221 ; his discussions 
 with the King and Madame Adelaide, 
 221-225 ; is conscious of a feeling of 
 disaffection everywhere, 226 ; his 
 policy as Prefect of the Seine, 227 ; 
 his scheme for the expenditure of eighty 
 millions on the improvement of Paris, 
 328 ; is early aware of impending 
 revolution, 229 ; cannot obtain hear- 
 ing of the King, 232 ; his fruitless 
 efforts to convince the King and those 
 in authority of the seriousness of the 
 situation, 235, 237, 238, 239 ; his 
 precautions against the inability arising 
 of obtaining food, 240 ; refuses to con- 
 voke the Municipal Council, 241 ; re- 
 mains at his post at the H6tel de 
 Ville, 242 ; refiises to convene an 
 assembly to discuss the danger, 243 ; 
 distributes last of provisions and places 
 his wife and children in safety, 244 ; 
 he and others save a party of Munici- 
 pal Guards, 246, 247 ; deputation from 
 the National Guard inform him that his 
 authority is at an end, 247 ; he leaves 
 the Hotel de Ville, 248 ; he and his 
 family find shelter, 248 ; rioters ran- 
 sack his apartments, but spare his por- 
 trait, 249 ; they carry it in procession, 
 249; their couplet on "Papa Ram- 
 buteau," 249 ; his letter to the mayor, 
 249, 250 ; enrols himself in Captain 
 Marcotte's company, 250 ; meets with 
 gratitude, 250 ; takes part in seizure 
 of army, 250 ; retires to his country 
 estate, 251 ; outline of his work in 
 Paris {see Paris) 
 Rambuteau, Mme. de, is introduced to her 
 husband's father, 24, 25 ; her child 
 born, 26 ; her visit to Rambuteau, 26 ; 
 her care of her father-in-law and the 
 estate during her husband's absence, 
 36 ; adopts customs and sometimes 
 costumes of the Swiss, 77, 91 ; accom- 
 panies her husband to the St. Bernard 
 in a snowfall, 83 ; joins her husband at 
 
 Saint- Bonnet, in; her energetic be- 
 haviour saves the money of the depart- 
 ment, III; in Paris with her husband, 
 113; discusses matter of uniform with 
 Abbe de Montesquieu, 121 ; introduced 
 to the Duchesse d'Angouleme, 122 ; 
 indefatigable help given by, to her 
 husband, 210; affection of Marie 
 Am^lie for, 210, noie 
 
 " Reunion d'Agier," Chateaubriand's 
 party, 167, 169 
 
 Revolution, the, account of, 229 seg. ; 
 question as to who should be com- 
 mander-in-chief in case of, 233, 234; 
 entry of troops into Paris, 239 ; com- 
 munications cut off by barricades, and 
 difficulty of getting food, 240 ; attack 
 on the Mairie of the Seventh Ward, 
 242 ; fighting in the Boulevard des 
 Capucines, 244; tocsin rung from 
 Saint - ^fitienne - du - Mont and from 
 Notre Dame, 244 ; King's command 
 to stay hostilities, 245 ; rioters enter 
 Hotel de Ville, 249 ; seizure of arms, 
 250; mob driven from Chamber of 
 Deputies, 250 ; end of, 251 
 
 R&y, Mme. de, she and her family victims 
 of the Revolution, 9 
 
 Roanne, Rambuteau's efforts to save it, 
 112; secures good conditions for its 
 surrender, 112 
 
 Rome, King of, description of the night 
 of his birth, 44 ; ceremony and festivities 
 at his christening, 46, 47, 181, 183, 
 188, 189 
 
 Royalists, their general imprudence, 129 ; 
 their influence over the common people 
 in the south, 145 
 
 Royer-CoUard, 163, 165 ; elected Presi- 
 dent of the Chamber, 167, 176, 178 
 
 Rymon, Aim^ de, 2 
 
 Sainte-Aulaire, association of his destiny 
 with that of the author, 74, 75, 158 
 
 Salle, Madame de la, hostess of the 
 returning emigr(s, 12 
 
 Salons, description of, 21 ; chief holders 
 of, 21, 22 
 
 Schwarzenberg, Prince of, 15 ; fete given 
 by, on occasion of the Emperor's 
 marriage, 39 ; terrible fire and loss of 
 life at, 39, 40 
 
 Princesse de, crushed by a falling 
 
 chandelier during terrible fire at fete, 40 
 
 St. Bernard, Hospice of. Abbey of St. 
 Maurice annexed to, by Emperor, 83 ; 
 property of the Chartreuse at Pavia 
 appropriated to use of, 83 ; number of 
 travellers annually received by, 83 ; 
 
324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 deep attachment of the monks to, 84 ; 
 its foundation by Bernard de Menthon, 
 84 
 
 St. Etienne, manufacture of arms at, 106 ; 
 captured by the Allies, in; Comte 
 d'Artois at, 125, 126; entertainment 
 provided for his reception, 127 
 
 St. Maurice, Abbey of, annexed to St. 
 Bernard Ilospice, 83 ; reservoirs at, 
 85 ; fisheries owned by, 85 
 
 Sebastiani, 157, 167, 168, 178, 181 ; his 
 strong language with regard to Ram- 
 buteau, 190, 234, note ; his anger at the 
 King's command, 246 
 
 Seez, bad reception of Bishop of, by 
 Napoleon, 47 
 
 S^monville, M. de, offered post of 
 Director of the Ministry, 135 ; his 
 gloomy views, 135 ; Rambuteau visits 
 him at Fremigny, 141 ; his view of 
 affairs and counsel to his friend, 141, 
 142, 163 ; his efforts on behalf of Due 
 de Bordeaux, 184 
 
 S^pibus, M. de, one of the conspirators 
 at Bugne, his majestic sorrow, 80 
 
 S^ran, Duchesse de, 118, I2i, 122 
 
 Simplon, the, source of wealth to 
 Switzerland, 76, 88 ; first stone of the 
 Hospice laid, 88 ; destructive avalanche 
 on, 94 ; difficulties of making a passage 
 for army through the snow, 95 
 
 Stael, Auguste de, 159, 161 ; his agri- 
 cultural enterprise, 164 ; his marriage 
 and death, 164, 165 
 
 Mme. de, 29, i6o, 161 
 
 Suchet, Marshal, 154, 157, 158; ball given 
 by, in honour of return of exiles, 159 
 
 Switzerland, conspiracy in, 79, 80 ; de- 
 voted to the Coalition, 96 ; disaffection 
 in, 96 ; invasion of, by Allies, 96, 97, 98 
 
 Taillandier, General, in command of 
 troops brought to Paris, 239, 240, 241 
 
 TallejTand, at Mme. de Laval's recep- 
 tions, 20; kindness of, to Comte de 
 Rambuteau, 24 ; recommends Comte 
 de Narbonne to take charge of official 
 negotiations with England, 33 ; his 
 after indifference to him, 33, 34 ; 
 Napoleon's remarks concerning, 34; 
 his character of Narbonne, 34, note ; 
 loses his chance through the author of 
 going to Warsaw with the Emperor, 
 67 ; his remarks about the Bbur- 
 bons, 178 ; about Charles X., 179; his 
 sagacity in turning everything to his 
 personal advantage, 179 ; his remark 
 on himself, 179, 184 
 
 Talma, at Aix, 68 
 
 Theatricals, private society, much in 
 fashion in 1805, 20 
 
 Thiers, Financial Under-Secretary of S tate, 
 191, 211 ; his advice to Rambuteau 
 about accepting a peerage, 212, 213; 
 his friends anxious he should make a 
 good alliance, 213 ; his answer to them, 
 214, 223 ; sent for to the Tuileries 
 during Revolution, 245 
 
 Tyrol, malcontents of, and insurrection 
 in, 78, 79 
 
 V 
 
 Valaisan Republic, separate States of, 
 and rivalries existing between, 78 ; 
 overwhelming hospitality of its in- 
 habitants, 90 
 
 Vallin, Henri de, 142 
 
 Vaud, Canton de, its loyalty to France, 97 
 
 W 
 
 Wagrani, campaign of, 26 
 
 Westphalia, King of, luxury of his house- 
 hold, 44, 45 ; his hankering after 
 independence, 45 ; discusses his situa- 
 tion with Comte de Rambuteau and 
 receives advice from latter, 45 
 
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