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P\3^3


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
DUC DE BROGLIE.








PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
OF THE LATE
1 78 5-1 8210.


74irancsfafeb anb tibitcb
BY
RAPHAEL LEDOS DE BEAUFORT.


'Ecce enim breves anni transeunt et semitam per quam non revertebar embulo.'
JoB xvi. 23.
WITH A STEEL PORTRAIT OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
WARD AND DOWNEY,
12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
1887.
[All Bighlts Reserved.]




-I'I
"N




eUbicateb
WITH PERMISSION TO
J. VERNON WHITAKER, ESQ.,
IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF KIND INTEREST SHOWN TOWARDS
THE TRANSLATOR.
*
"!   a








INTRODUCTION.


THE growing favour with which the public receives
autobiographies inspires the hope that this translation
may be read with interest.
The illustrious name of the author of the ' Recollections,' the exalted position he occupied, the historic
events he passes in review, the personages-English
and foreign-he portrays, and the prominent share he
took in establishing in France a governmental system
based upon the Parliamentary institutions of this
country, impart peculiar value to his ' Souvenirs.'
The late Duc de Broglie was the most perfect type
of the nobleman of old: strictly honourable, possessed
of high culture and sound judgment, a slave to propriety and etiquette, he was liberal-minded-though by
no means democratic-and the sworn enemy of every
form of despotism and tyranny. In these 'Recollections'
he always displays the utmost impartiality, whether he
discusses the acts of Napoleon or those of Louis XVIII.,




viii            INTRODUCTION.
of Charles X. or of Louis Philippe. It is a cause of
regret that death should have prevented the completion
of his Memoirs. Indeed, the work closes at a most
interesting period, that of his administrative career, the
recital of which would have offered a most instructive
study. However, as it is, it will, I venture to submit,
amply repay the trouble of a perusal.
This translation is, I know, full of shortcomingswhich it is now too late to remedy. The nature of the
work itself had suggested the introduction of numerous
notes, which have unfortunately been left out. If,
however, my work is fortunate enough to pass into
a second edition, I hope to be able to include the
omitted notes.
RAPHAEL LEDOS DE BEAUFORT.


LONDON, September, 1887.




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


ACHILLE CHARLES LEONCE VICTOR, Due de Broglie, the
author of these 'Recollections,' was born in Paris on
the 28th of November, 1785. His father was VictorClaude, Prince de Broglie, born in 1757, who in 1782
joined the Army Corps sent to the help of the United
States, under the command of the Marquis of Rochambeau, and was subsequently promoted to the rank
of Marechal de Camp, and sent in that capacity to
the Army of the Rhine. Being, at first, favourable
to the principles of the French Revolution, he was
elected by the Bailliage of Colmar to the Assemble
Constituante.  But his name and spirit of independence having aroused the suspicion of the Jacobins, he
was on various occasions arrested, then released by
the orders of the Revolutionary tribunal.  Having,
however, refused to acknowledge the decree which,
after August 10, proclaimed that King Louis XVI.




x


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


had forfeited his crown, he was again arrested, tried,
and sentenced to be guillotined, and executed on
Messidor 9, year II. (June 27, 1794).
Victor-Frangois, Duc de Broglie, Marshal of France,
victor of Corbach, Governor of the Three Bishoprics
(Metz, Toul, and Verdun), born in 1718, was the
father of the unfortunate Prince de Broglie.  He is
regarded by Jomini as the only one amongst French
generals who gave proofs of constant ability during
the War of Seven Years.  When the Revolution broke
out, he took refuge in Germany, and received the
command of the first corps of emigres who fought in
Champagne in 1792; he successively served against
France in the ranks of the English and Russian troops,
and died at Miinster in 1804. He is the author of
a curious series of memoirs concerning the various
incidents of the Seven Years' War.
Prince  Victor-Claude  de  Broglie  had married
Mademoiselle de Rosen, sole heiress to the name and
estates of the Rosen family, a family of considerable
importance in Sweden, whence it came and established
itself in Alsace at the close of the Thirty Years' War
and the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia. When
Prince de Broglie was arrested for the last time, his
wife had to share the same fate, and was sent with




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


xi


him to the prison at Vesoul.    She would in all
probability have shared her husband's doom, but for
the devotion of an old and faithful servant of the
family who, at the risk of his own life, successfully
managed to effect her escape and to see her safely
across the Vosges mountains into Switzerland.
On her return to France, after the revolution of
Thermidor, the young Princess de Broglie became the
wife of M. d'Argenson, a gentleman of considerable
means, of high culture, upright mind, lofty views, and
rare sagacity.  Having entered society in 1789, at
a time when all ideas relating to reform and liberty
were at a climax, and finding them in complete harmony
with his noble and generous impulses, he not only
openly advocated them, but carried them rather beyond
their legitimate bearing. He nevertheless, and despite
his socialistic tendencies, was a safe, reliable and
devoted friend; his judgment was unerring, and though
a perfect gentleman, he was frank to a fault; he hated
hypocrisy, and could never lower himself to play the
part of a courtier. Such was the man who brought
up the author of these 'Recollections,' and became like
a second father to him.
Under the direction of his stepfather, the Duc de
Broglie did not receive the frivolous education usual




Xii


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


amongst young noblemen of the old regime, but, on the
contrary, the solid and useful knowledge then given
in the ' Ecoles Centrales ' of the Republic.
Having been exempted from military service on
account of his short sight, at a time when every valid
Frenchman was called upon to take up arms, young
de Broglie, being anxious to serve his country, obtained
in 1809 his appointment as auditeur to the ' Conseil
d'Etat,' through the influence of his uncle, who was
then Bishop of Acqui, and chaplain to the Emperor.
In that capacity he was entrusted with various
missions to Illyria, to Spain, and to the Grand Duchy
of Warsaw, which were then in the power of the
French.  After a stay of some duration in the capital
/of Poland, he was sent as private secretary to M. de
Narbonne, then French plenipotentiary at the Congress
of Prague.
Although he served the Emperor, he endured rather
than he voluntarily submitted to his rule, the despotism
of which was repugnant to his feelings of justice and
to his ideas of constitutional government.
At the Restoration, in 1814, he was, owing to the disinterested efforts of his uncle Prince Amedee de Broglie,
former aide-de-camp to the Prince de Conde, appointed to
a seat in the newly-created House of Peers. Not having




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


*oo
Xlll


as yet, however, reached the age of thirty appointed by
law, he had to sit for more than a year as a silent
member; that is, he had to abstain from taking part in
the debates. He was exactly thirty years old when the
House of Peers constituted itself regularly into a Court
of Justice, to decide upon the fate of the unfortunate
/' Marshal Ney. In obedience to a most honourable motive,
and although he was not strictly bound to take part in a
debate already begun, he claimed the exercise of the right
to which his age now entitled him. On the fatal night
of December 4, 1815, he several times ascended the
tribune and endeavoured in vain to save the illustrious
/
Marshal from the doom that awaited him, and he was
one of the few peers who voted against capital punishment.
From that day, and until the Revolution of July, he
sat constantly on the benches of the Liberal opposition
/ in the House, and combated firmly though with moderation the retrograde tendencies of the Restoration, the
measures and the laws which brought discredit upon
the name of the House of Bourbon and eventually lost
his crown to Charles X. He displayed in those contests
a grave and powerful eloquence, sometimes seasoned
with cold and biting irony, and much ability in his
method of argumentation, which secured for him the




xiv


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


reputation.of having been one of the most eminent of
French Parliamentary orators.  The brilliant speeches
he delivered at that time in defence of the liberty
of the press are regarded as amongst the best specimens
of his oratory.
In 1817, he became acquainted with Royer-Collard,
de Serre, Camille Jordan, de Barante, Guizot, and
de Remusat, the chiefs of the party known to history
under the name of 'doctrinaire,' to whose efforts must
be ascribed the progress of Liberal ideas, which in
France, during the Restoration, paved the way for the
establishment of a constitutional monarchy.
The celebrated Madame de Stael was an old friend of
Madame d'Argenson's; the young Duc de Broglie was
thus, at an early age, admitted to the favour of
frequenting the select society which used to visit the
famous authoress of' Corinne,' and which was composed
of the elite amongst the celebrities of the day.
When, after the flight of Charles X. to Rambouillet,
in 1830, the Duke of Orleans was appointed Lieutenantgeneral of the Kingdom by the deputies assembled in
Paris, the Duc de Broglie was selected to sit with
Casimir Perier, Laffitte, Dupin and General Sebastiani in
the Privy Council entrusted by the Duke of Orleans with
the conduct of the affairs of the State, whilst the ordinary




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


XV


business of the Government was in the hands of a
provisional Ministry. This irresponsible position was,
however, ill-suited to the political views of the Due de
Broglie, who, on the elevation of the Duke of Orleans
to the throne, respectfully requested to be relieved from
what to him was an irksome office. The King complied,
but intimated his wish to see his former Councillor enter
the Cabinet which was about to be formed. The Duc de
Broglie chose the department of Public Worship, to
which was annexed that of Public Instruction; besides
which he was appointed President of the Conseil
d'Etat.
After the fall of the Laffitte Ministry, the Due de
Broglie joined the Cabinet of October 11, 1832, of which
he became Minister of Foreign Affairs; he, however, sent
in his resignation on the occasion of the failure of the Bill
relative to the United States indemnity. When, in 1835,
the King decided to accept the resignation of the
Ministry, in order to put a stop to the rivalry existing
between M. Thiers and M. Guizot, the Due de Broglie
was entrusted with the formation of a new Ministry, in
which he was offered the Presidency of the Council of
Ministers.  This new  Ministry only lasted a few
months, and had to resign on the question of the conversion of the Rentes. Here ended the active political




xvi


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


career of the Duc de Broglie, and although, during the
whole reign of Louis Philippe, he remained one of the
leading spirits of the Doctrinaire Party, he did not
enter any of the subsequent administrations.
The Revolution of 1848 found in him an irreconcilable and merciless adversary. Being imbued with
a perhaps excessive admiration for the English constitution and for the predominance of the aristocratic
element in Government and in society, he could not
see without feelings of horrified indignation the breaking
up of the legal oligarchy of the country by the masses
violently forcing their way into political life through
the breach of universal suffrage.
Indeed, he saw in this the destruction of the
principles of Parliamentary rule and of the balance between the public powers, the annihilation of all the constitutional fictions upon which the Doctrinaire Party
had based its political edifice, and which he, Duc de
Broglie, regarded as the ideal of political philosophy
and the highest expression of social progress.
After the coup d'etat of 1851, and the proclamation
of the Empire, the late Duc de Broglie strictly kept
aloof from  politics, and lived in the most complete
seclusion, devoting all his time and energy to literary
or philosophical pursuits. He died on February 25,




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


xvii


1870, at the very ripe age of eighty-four years, two
months, and twenty-eight days, and was thus spare'
the -grief of witnessing the third invasion and tlhe
dismemberment of his country, the interests of which.
were always paramount to him.   For many years, li
was a regular contributor to the Revue Franpaise, tli,
Nain Jaune (of which he was one of the founders), an i
other periodicals, for which he wrote a series,
valuable papers on legislation, administrative organiz --
tion, philosophy, religion, and literature.  Amongthis essays the following may be mentioned as the mo: 
remarkable: ' Du Droit de Punir' ('On the Right,!
Punishment'),' Sur la Peine de Mort' ('On Capit 
Z/Punishment '), ' Sur les Peines   Infamantes ' (' (C
ignominious Punishment '), and his ' Traite sur l'Exis
ence de l'Ame' (an ' Essay on the Existence of t!
Soul'), which is the refutation of the contrary thes:
advanced by Broussais in his famous work entit]h
' De 'Irritation de la Folie' (' On Mental Excitem( i
and Derangement').  He also wrote an essay upon
translation of 'Othello ' in French verse by M. Alfred *
Vigny, and another on the state of dramatic art i
France in 1830. He was already a member of tl
Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, when, i
1855, he was elected by the Academie Frangaise 1




xviii         BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH,
the seat left vacant by the death of his friend, Count de
Sainte-Aulaire, a distinguished historian, and father-inlaw to M. Decazes, the Minister of Louis XVIII. The
late Duc de Broglie also wrote an important work on
political history, entitled ' Vues sur le Gouvernement
de la France' (' Suggestions on the Government of
France'), published after his death.  His collected
writings and speeches, comprising three volumes, were
published in 1863.
Although the various acts of his administration as a
statesman have not always secured unreserved approbation, he does not appear to have ever been actuated
in his decisions by motives of personal interest or of
ambition; and, whilst opposing his acts and his
theories, his political opponents always professed the
deepest respect and admiration for the integrity and the
nobleness of his character.
On February 20, 1816, and despite the strong opposition of his family to what it considered a mesalliance,
the Duc de Broglie had married the beautiful and gifted
Mademoiselle Albertine Ida Gustavine de Stael, the
daughter of the celebrated Madame de Stael, who was
his junior by two years, having been born in 17 97___ 
The young Duchess de Broglie was as zealous a
Protestant as her husband himself was sincere a




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHI


xix


Catholic. Yet, notwithstanding the difference of their
creeds, and their growing fervour in opposite directions,
the most complete harmony never ceased to reign
between them during the twenty years of their
union.   This suffices to  give the highest opinion
of the moral loftiness of that noble couple who,
although of different creeds, furnished society with
a striking instance of constant and unbroken conjugal
love. The young Duchess had been brought up in the
Methodist faith, and was imbued with its rigidity of
principles.  Her religious austerity was, nevertheless,
toned down by her natural grace and the most exquisite
kindliness of heart.  She was, in all that relates to
moral or intellectual qualities, the daughter of her
illustrious mother.  She was, indeed, one of the most
remarkable women of her time, both as regards the
loftiness of her intellect and the moral beauty and
purity of her character. Her physical charms were in
thorough keeping with the superiority of her mind,
and, like those of her mother, her salons were the
meeting-place of not only the elite of fashionable and
aristocratic society, but all the most eminent persons
in arts, science, literature, and politics.  She died at
the early age of thirty-eight, in 1836.    She left
several daughters and a son, Jacques Victor Albert,




XX


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, the editor of the
'Recollections,' of which an English edition is now
submitted to the public. Prince, now Duc Albert de
Broglie, who was born in 1821, is, like his father,
both a prominent statesman and a brilliant litterateur.
He is the author of various important works, amongst
which may be mentioned 'A History of the Church and
of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century.' In
1862, he was elected by the Academie Franeaise to the
seat left vacant by the death of Father Lacordaire.
In 1871, he was sent as French Ambassador to the
Court of Saint-James, by M. Thiers.    Under the
Government of Marshal MacMahon, he was Minister
for Foreign Affairs, and afterwards President of the
Council and Minister of the Interior. In May, 1877,
he was again entrusted with the formation of a Cabinet,
in which he was President of the Council and Minister
of Justice.  He is a member of the Senate since 1875.
In politics, the present Duc de Broglie is a staunch
Conservative, devoted to monarchical ideas, and
strongly opposed to the tendencies of those who would
wish to place illimited power in the hands of the
masses.
RAPHAEL LEDOS DE BEAUFORT.


LONDON, May, 1887.




PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
DUC DE BROGLIE.
BOOK I.
1785- 1809.
I.
1785-1791.
I WAs born in Paris on the 28th of November, 1785.
My grandfather was then Marshal of France, Knight
of the King's orders, Governor of Metz and of the three
bishoprics.*  He had been out of favour since the
close of the Seven Years' War.
' Esteemed for his virtues, Marshal de Broglie was
still living away from the Court, where he used to be
seen only twice a year, and the errors and faults of which
he was not afraid to be always denouncing. He was the
Cincinnatus of modern times.'  These were the words
of a man whose opinions my grandfather did not share.
* Under the old French ihonarchy, the Bishops of Metz, of Toul,
and of Verdun, were temporal princes under the suzerainty of the
King of France.
VOL. I.                                 1




2


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I am not quite sure that there was any striking likeness between my grandfather and Cincinnatus: he had
neither laid aside the consular fascies nor turned his
sword into a ploughshare. The envoy of the Roman
Senate who might have met him clad in a hunting-dress,
braided all over, surrounded by the nobility of the
neighbourhood-wearing similar dresses, the gifts of
the Marshal, for whose pleasure the forest at Broglie
used to re-echo the cry of a hundred hounds and the
gallop of fifty horses-would have formed rather a poor
idea of his rustic simplicity. The truth is that he had
been unjustly deprived of the favour of the Court, and,
following the example of the proud patrician, he was
very reasonably wroth at it.
My father, then scarcely thirty years of age, was
Colonel of the Bourbonnais regiment and Knight of Saint
Louis.  Three years before-in 1782-he had joined
the army corps sent to the help of the United States
of America under the command of M. de Rochambeau.
The expeditionary force having, shortly after landing,
been detailed off to operate in Jamaica, my father
followed his regiment; and the fleet having been compelled through stress of weather to seek the shelter of
Porto Cabello, on the South American coast, he seized
the opportunity to make an excursion into the pro



OF TSHE DUC DE BROG~IE.


3


vince of Caracas.   After the signing of peace he returned to France, stopping at San Domingo on the
way.
A transcription from the account of his voyage is
preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale;* and from
this Count de Segur gave numerous extracts in his
'Souvenirs,' as did Monsieur de R6musat also in
the Revue Frainaise.   The original manuscript, entitled ' Journal de mon Voyage, commence en avril,
1792, et qui finira ne sgais quand ni comment't is in
my possession.
This diary, though much more ample than the transcription of it, breaks off abruptly in the middle of a
sentence.  The narrative itself is original and curious.
Through the thoughtlessness and joviality of a young
officer, fresh from the salons of Versailles and the dissipations of Paris, it is easy to detect the penetration
of a cultured soldier and shrewd observer.  My father
had prepared himself for that expedition by carefully
studying the causes and progress of the quarrel between
the United States and the mother-country- From him
I possess on this subject and on the incidents of the
* The French National Library.
t 'Diary of my Voyage, begun in April, 1792, and which will end
I know not when or how.'
1-2




4


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


war a brief but most faithful and complete record, to
which he appended an account of the Confederate States
as they existed in 1782.
My mother was sole heiress to the name and estates
of the Rosen family, a family of considerable importance in Sweden, whence they came and established
themselves in Alsace at the close of the Thirty Years'
War and the signing of the Treaty of Westphalis. She
was a woman of rare beauty and still rarer intellectual
gifts, whose qualities and virtues were even superior to
her physical and intellectual charms.
Although, since my father's return from America,
there existed between him and my grandfather a strong
difference of political views, my parents still lived at
the Hotel de Broglie, and there I spent the early years
of my life.
I have preserved but a faint recollection of the Hotel
de Broglie and its vast gardens, its salons and the
tapestry furniture; of my grandfather, his diminutive
figure and his short wig; still, I could swear that his
portrait, such as it is now to be seen at Broglie, in the
first salon, is a perfect likeness of him.  I have been
told that in this very salon, when scarcely three or four
years of age, I climbed up a screen to slap the face of
the victor of Berghen and Corbach; but I do not




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


5


vouch for the truth of this anecdote, and I hope it is
not true.
On the other hand, I have a very vivid recollection
of our journeys to Saint-R6my in Franche-Comte.
My mother used to take us there-my sisters and
myself-every year. Our great-grandmother, Madame
de Rosen, always received us with kindness, I remember also very distinctly the two journeys I made to
Strasbourg with my father.  His uniform of Colonelwhite, with purple facings-is present to my mind.
On our second journey, having been promoted to the
rank of Marechal de Camp, his uniform was blue and
gold.
About this time I was inoculated. The method was
then beginning to be known. The minds of people
were much divided-perhaps not without reasonrespecting its usefulness and its danger.  The decision
taken by my parents on this occasion was considered,
so I learned since, as the result of their ready inclination towards new ideas; and they were much blamed,
I suppose, for having exposed in my person the heir of
the elder branch of the family.
In 1789, my father having been sent to the Assemblee Constituante by the nobility of the bailliage of
Colmar, my parents removed from the Hotel de Broglie




6


PERSONAL RE COLLE CTIONS


to a small house in the Rue de Bourgogne. A tolerably
complete collection of papers, notes, and particulars,
entrusted to my father in the interest of the province of
Alsace, will be found in my papers.
I have preserved no recollection whatever of the
events of the 14th July, although I have still before
my eyes a coloured sketch of the taking of the Bastille,
given to me by my nurse. I have, therefore, retained
no recollection of the various events which led to my
grandfather being appointed to the command of the
army assembled in the environs of Versailles, or of his
leaving France-his emigration, so to speak-which it
brought about.  Marshal de Broglie, as related by
M. Alex. de Lameth, was informed by his son, Prince
de Broglie, and by me, that the Prince of Condethen head of the Council-still following up the enmity
which had existed between himself and my grandfather
since the Seven Years' War, had appointed him to that
command. The object of the prince was very simple.
If those measures offered any danger they would fall on
the Marshal, who would alone be compromised; if, on
the contrary, they secured a success consistent with the
wishes of the party, the Prince himself would reap the
advantage... The Marshal deemed quite correct the
information conveyed to him respecting the Prince of




OF THIE DUC DE BROGLIE.


7


Conde; but he replied to the envoys that ' obedience
to the King was a law which he had respected all his
life; that he anxiously hoped not to receive the orders
sent to him, but that he should obey, if they came from
the King.'
That he did, as everybody knows; but what is not
generally known is that he availed himself of the exalted position in which his obedience had placed him to
give the King the wisest and most moderate advice.
This the King himself testifies in the letter by which,
after the 14th July, he authorized the Marshal to give
up his command and to leave France. On a memorable
occasion my father, whilst protesting against a decision
of the National Assembly, affecting the misdemeanour
of Marshal de Broglie, entered into minute details upon
this subject, and quoted the very words of his father,
without being contradicted.
Having left the Hotel de Broglie and taken up their
residence in the house they rented in the Rue de Bourgogne, my parents used to entertain at dinner, and
often at evening parties, the leading members of the
Assemblee Constituante, or, to speak more exactly, the
members of the Left. My father was not one of the
forty-seven deputies who joined the tiers-etat on the
25th of June, 1789; but he was of those who,




8


PERSONAL RE COLLECTIONS


regarding the injunctions of their mandate as an unsurmountable obstacle, expressed their regret at being
unable to join the meeting.
I was only once present at a sitting of the Assemblee Constituante. I went there the day when my
father presided over it. The sitting was very stormy.
All I recollect of it is the noise, the shouts, and the calls
to order. The bell which my father was constantly
sounding is still ringing in my ears; but that recollection, dim as it is, comes very fresh to my mind,
whenever I gaze upon four prints which I placed in
my study nearly thirty years ago.  Of these prints,
which face each other, one represents the Vow
of Rutli; another the Barons of England imposing
the Magna Charta upon King John; the third the
Declaration of the Independence of the United States;
and the last, the Serment du Jeu de Paume. The
history of free governments among modern nations may
be read in these four great events; the character of
these nations, the fortunes of their governments, seem
indelibly engraved upon the very forehead of their
founders; their attitude, their looks and gestures seem
to proclaim them. From generation to geueration, from
father to son, from revolution to revolution, they all kept
their word; unfortunately, we Frenchmen are not the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


9


least faithful to our original, seeing that when but a
child I saw the outburst of the Jeu de Paume repeated
without reason, and, in my maturer years, too often
reproduced for the slightest cause.
During the two years which followed, the events
which struck me most were-first, the sacking of
the Hotel de Castries. From our house we could
hear distinctly the yells of the mob and the fall of
the furniture which they threw from the windows.
The second was the grand spectacle of the Fete of the
Federation.  I still see, in the midst of the excited
people which thronged the Champ de Mars, the ladies
wearing tricolour ribbons, and pretending to wield
shovels and to wheel barrows. My mother was one of
them.  Then I remember the flight to Varennes. We
were informed of it by my sisters' writing-master; what
he thought of it in his inmost soul I am unable to say,
but his face was the very picture of consternation.




10


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


II.
1792-1800.
THE Assemblee Legislative having succeeded to the
Assemblee Constituante, my father re-entered the army.
He became chief of the staff to the army of the Rhine,
commanded by Marshal Ltickner. Desaix,* then only a
lieutenant, was his aide-de-camp. Marshal Saint-Cyr,
at the beginning of his glorious career, was serving in
that army. In the first volume of his Memoirs he
speaks with praise of my father.
The situation was sad.  My father's brothers and
near relations had all emigrated. His own father had
disowned him, and wished no more to hear his name
mentioned in his presence. The Jacobins were violently
attacking him; they surrounded and in a measure
dominated Marshal Luickner, and   ardently applied
themselves to destroying the discipline of the army.
My father ran great dangers whilst endeavouring to
* Afterwards a general of Napoleon I.




OF THE D UC DE BROGLIE.


II


maintain order, and he had a narrow escape of being
murdered by the regiment of which he had been
Colonel.  A few friends, among whom were the Mayor
of Strasbourg, Dietrich, Rouget de l'Isle, the author of
the 'Marseillaise,' and others whose names are less
known, helped him in his endeavours.
Then came the 10th of August. My father protested against the decrees of the Legislative Assembly.
He was dismissed the service, and retired, for the
benefit of his health, to Bourbonne-les-Bains.  His
aide-de-camp, Desaix, shared his honourable disgrace.
Those events are faithfully related in the life of that
illustrious officer, published by M. Martha-Becker.
They are fully explained in the defence which my
father had prepared to read before the revolutionary
tribunal.
This defence is based upon numerous piecesjustificative s
(documentary evidence). Mention is made of several
arrests to which my father was subjected in 1792, but
which had no result.  Having been away from him
during all the latter part of that year, I do not know
anything more about him.   Acting, indeed, upon his
instructions, and doubtless from motives of security, my
mother had taken our family to England, whence
we soon returned, in order to avoid coming under




12


PERSON7AL RECOLLECTIONS


the laws which the new Government was daily aiming
at emigrants.  I have but a faint recollection of the
short time we spent in the neighbourhood of London,
with Madame de la Chatre, a friend of my mother, and
her son, a young man of great promise, who since met
with a glorious death at the attack of Port au Prince;
but I distinctly remember the precautions we had to
take when returning to France. An English boat
landed us, at night and in great secrecy, on the beach
of Boulogne. I recollect the state of excitement in
which we found the population, and which affected even
our own servants.  At Boulogne I was taken to the
theatre, and there saw the performance of ' La Mort de
Cesar.'
My parents having met at Lamotte, a country-house
near Arras, where we only resided a few months, my
father was again arrested there, and almost at once set
at liberty.  I do not know  under what pretext a
warrant had been signed for his apprehension; but I
must say that the persons who executed it were decently
dressed, and behaved like gentlemen, a fact which had
already become rare.
Soon afterwards we started for Saint-Remy. My
great-grandmother was dead; Saint-Remy belonged to
my mother, and there my sisters and I spent the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


J3


whole of the year 1793 and the first half of 1794.
There my father was again arrested, taken to the prison at
Gray, brought to Paris, and delivered into the hands of
the revolutionary tribunal.  There also my mother was
arrested and sent to the prison of Vesoul, from which
she fortunately escaped.
I remember much of the early days spent by my
parents at Saint-Remy.  I recollect the arrival of the
orders for their arrest. These orders were not executed
with force.  In a small room, still present to my
mind, which we used as dining-room, my parents
consulted together, in my presence, as to whether they
should obey the orders.    They decided freely to
do so.
How was such freedom possible in those days? I do
not know. But I have no doubt as to the fact itself.
My father having surrendered himself at Gray, and my
mother at Vesoul, we were left, my sisters and I, to the
care of servants.  M. Ali, an excellent gentleman,
resident at a place called Ormoy, a few leagues distant
from  Saint-Remy, kept me in his house for a few
months.  Ile had two nephews: one, fully grown,
though still young, had already served as a volunteer at
the siege of Luxembourg; the other was scarcely
fifteen or sixteen years of age.  For I know not what




14


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


family reason, one was named Tremoliere, and the other
Saint-Jules.  The first was amiable and of a cultured
mind; Saint-Jules was still but a big child.  I spent
some happy days in that family, but the course of events
separated me from  it at a very early age.    The
family, as I learned, died out, fifty years after the
time I speak of, in a modest and peaceful obscurity.
Strange to say, in the village of Ormoy, no one could
have suspected that we were living under the regime of
the Terror.
During the month preceding the removal of my
father to Paris, I was taken several times to Gray.  A
few days before his departure I saw him in his prison.
I have it from M. Clement, a gentleman from Doubs,
who met him on the way to Paris, conducted by the
gendarmerie, that that gentleman offered him safe
and easy means of escape, but my father refused to
avail himself of the opportunity.
He was incarcerated in Paris in the Bourbe prison,
then called Port-Libre apparently in derision.
He perished on the 9th of Messidor, year II. (27th
of June, 1794), one month to a day before the 9th of
Thermidor.
My mother, destined to the same fate, having offered
to do needlework for the prison, succeeded in taking,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I5


on a piece of wax, the impression of the key of a
passage opening out of the garret, which latter faced
the road.  An old servant, who had long been in the
employ of the Rosen family, had a key made from that
impression.  Alone, secretly, and unknown to us, he
took measures, waited at night at the prison door for
my mother, and accompanied her to Switzerland, after
crossing with her the gorges of Jura.  The family of a
postmaster, whose establishment was situated between
Vesoul and Saint-Cergues, received her and concealed
her for a few days.  On this occasion, as on many
others, an inhabitant of Saint-Cergues, named Trebout,
whose business consisted, to a certain extent, in aiding
emigration from France to Switzerland, lent his good
offices.  I have known that Trebout; he often boasted
of his services; he was an honest fellow, although,
under an appearance of coarse familiarity, he was not
wanting in vanity.
In order the better to conceal her project of escape,
my mother had expressed the wish that my sister and
I should come to Vesoul.  We arrived at the moment
when she was being vainly hunted for, and I shall
never in my life forget the consternation of the doorkeeper, the stunned appearance of the warders, the
awe of the prisoners, who trembled lest they should




PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


suffer, and all the uproar it caused. The servants who
had brought us, judging, not unreasonably, that it was
time to go, hastened to take us away. From that day
I have never set my foot within the prison at Vesoul;
but I never pass through that town, which I often
do, without a thousand thoughts of it coming back
to me.
I spent at Saint-Remy the period which elapsed
between the escape of my mother and her return.
Saint-Remy was sequestrated; -the furniture was sold.
I was present at the auction, seated by the side of the
public auctioneer, and shouting with him, no doubt
from sheer childish amusement; for it did not occur
to any of those present that there was anything in it to
wonder at. Yet I was not more ignorant than a child
of my age; I had been brought up with my sisters,
both older than I. I read, passionately, what few
books came under my hands, especially the 'Voyage
d'Anacharsis' and the 'Arabian Nights;' and I used
to realize, in imagination, in the gardens and park at
Saint-Remy, the scenes which struck me most in those
two works, so different from each other.
I was not entirely devoid of the power of reflection,
either. I still see from here the spot near the bath-room
where, I know not why, I was struck by the idea that I




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


17


was mnyself, and could not be any other but myself.  The
ideas of identity, personality, and necessity, suggested
themselves to me under their rigorously metaphysical
forms. I have never thought-of them since without
recollecting this first awakening of meditation.
Thanks to the tolerance of the local authorities, we
remained in the Chateau of Saint-Remy all the time
between my mother's escape and her return; but the
servants to whom we were entrusted, having no means
to procure for us an honourable livelihood, resolved to
bring us to Vesoul, and to recommend us to the charity
of the representative of the people, then on a mission
to that town.   It was, I believe, Robespierre the
younger. They dressed me according to the fashion,
and put a red cap on my head and wooden clogs on
my feet. We had to wait nearly an hour before being
admitted to the presence of our future benefactor.  He
received us pretty well, and gave us, out of my mother's
property, which was estreated, a provision of ten
thousand francs in paper-money, to enable us to leave.
I do not exactly know what was then the value of the
paper.
The 9th of Thermidor threw open the prisons-alas!
too late for my father-and brought back the fugitives
to their homes. My mother returned to France; the
VOL. I.                               2




PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


orders of sequestration concerning her Saint-Remy and
Alsace estates were quashed, through the intervention of
M. d'Argenson, who became a second father to us.
Soon afterwards I started with him for Paris, my
mother and sister following us. I was in the Workshop of Revolution on the very day of the 13th of
Vendemiaire.  We lived in the Rue de la Chaise,
facing the present Ho6tel de Croix.  This event of
Vendemaire 13 did not seem to me to have caused much
sensation amidst the population of our district.  There
was among the sections of our neighbourhood neither
unanimity nor enthusiasm, and the issue of the day inspired, indeed, neither much surprise nor much regret.
A few days afterwards, M. d'Argenson took me to
Ormesson.  It was a country residence situated a few
leagues from Paris, and then inhabited by M. Mathieu
de Montmorency.   A numerous and brilliant company,
as times went then, was assembled there.  For the
first time I saw Madame de Stael and her son, my
junior by a few years.  I tried vainly to recollect the
names of the persons present: I only remember M. de
Mery and M. de Lezay, afterwards Prefect of Strasbourg.
The conversation was lively; it naturally related to the
events of the day, and I have not the slightest recollection of anyone being much grieved.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


19


My mother arrived. We then occupied the whole
house in the Rue de la Chaise; besides which, my
mother hired a small country house at Boulogne. We
spent the winter in Paris, and the following summer
in our country house. I was entrusted to the care of
a tutor. His name was Guillobe. He had brought up
the MM. de Bondy and M. de Boulogne, son of the
Fermier-General of that name. He had travelled in
England, Scotland, and Ireland with M. de Boulogne,
and in the company of a gentleman much esteemed in
his time, M. Baert, author of a book about England
which still enjoys a certain reputation. M. Guillobe
was an honest, cultured, sensible man. I owe him a
great deal, and I preserve for his memory much affection and respect.
M. Guillobe, who was born at Loches, in Touraine, of
a respectable and modest family, with whom I spent many
agreeable hours, was acquainted with several deputies of
the department of Indre et Loire to the Convention
Nationale. I attended, with him, the last sittings of that
assembly, when it was nearing the last moments of its
miserable career, and was only engaged upon settling
the consequences of its wretched inheritance.
In the course of the eighteen months which my
mother spent either in Paris or in Boulogne, her house
2-2




20


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


was frequented by all that was left of the society she
had known formerly, that is, three or four years before,
and by a certain mixture of what has since been known
as the society of the Directory. Madame de Stael and
Madame de Valence, daughter of Madame de Genlis,
belonged to the latter, and it was through them that
society was admitted into our family circle.
To give some idea of the state of the manners of the
time, it will suffice to say that among the men who
occupied the most prominent position in the fashionable
circles of the day was a Swede, Count de Ribbing,
whose chief, or rather sole, merit consisted in having
openly abetted the assassination of the King of Sweden.
He was exiled for that very reason; but in a country
like France, where the Government was carried on
exclusively by regicides, and where most respectable
people, and the victims of the Terror themselves, lived
on intimate terms with them, the assassin of the King
of Sweden could very well, and without offending propriety, be received, welcomed, and treated with consideration.
This often occurred to me in 1848, when the best
friends of General Cavaignac were vainly endeavouring,
in his own interests, to induce him to brand as assassins
the wretches who tried to shoot King Louis Philippe. M.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


21


de Ribbing, after winning brilliant but transient successes
on a stage which was, after all, quite worthy of him,
contracted, if I have been well informed, not a very
honourable union, and died in circumstances verging
upon misery.
As may well be imagined, I was quite unused to the
society which thus posed and passed before me. I was
learning Greek and Latin as passably as they may be
learned in private tuition, for heaven knows how rudimentary my knowledge was! I witnessed the patriotic
fctes in the Champ de Mars and the rustic festivals in
the suburbs of Paris; like many others, I saw Madame
Tallien coming up to the Ranelagh disguised as
'Diana,' with her half-naked breast, wearing cothurns
on her feet, and dressed, if I may use the term, in a
tunic which scarcely covered her knees.
My tutor used often to take me with him to visit his
relatives, his friends, and all the persons with whom he
was acquainted.  Thus I spent several weeks in the
small town of Dourdan, in the house of Mesdemoiselles
Talibon, two of his cousins. They were old maids,
kind, devout, and passably amiable.  In that peaceful
and bourgeois society I used to hear a language very
different from that I was accustomed to at my mother's
table. The events of the day were there discussed in




22


PERSONAL RECO~LECTIONS


quiet another light.  There I never heard anyone regret
the old regime nor the monarchy; people there only wished
for a little rest, which they did not despair of obtaining
from the Directory; their shortsightedness was only
equalled by their indifference, even with regard to the
Baboeuf Conspiracy; the scandals of the time did not
much affect those people; the frequency and facility of
divorces were the most constant and almost the only
subject of complaint.
Having spent eighteen months between Paris and
Boulogne, my mother took up her residence at Ormes.
It was at that time a curious mansion, built by the
father of M. d'Argenson during his exile, and it had
been almost entirely pulled down by M. d'Argenson
himself during the last year of his life. Many travellers
will no doubt still recollect having seen, between Tours
and Poitiers, five leagues from Chatellerault, that chateau
on the centre of which stood a tower which could be
ascended from the outside by means of a circular staircase.  This residence had not been completed, but the
habitable portion of it was comfortable, and that which
was merely laid out was projected on a magnificent scale.
At Ormes, we met M. d'Argenson's sister, who
was then unmarried, and who afterwards became the
wife of M. de Murat.  She was a cripple, but remark



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


23


ably intelligent and witty, and extremely kind. My
mother had long been acquainted with her, and during
our stay at Saint-Remy the youngest of my sisters had
been confided to her care. We also met there, though
they lived apart from us, in an outhouse belonging to
the chateau, two natural children of M. de Voyer; one
was M. Bertenot, an abbe before the Revolution, the
other Madame de Rullecourt, widow of a general officer
killed in the attack upon the island of Jersey.  M. de
Voyer, their father, and father also to M. d'Argenson, had provided them with a small income, of which,
about the time I speak of, they had scraped together
what was left in order to finish their days together in
their native place. M. Bertenot was amiable, wellbred, cheerful, and a very pleasant companion.  His
sister was not like him, but she had two sweet and kind
daughters.  They both married, and I believe that the
youngest one, Madame Mahner, is still alive at the time
of writing these lines.
During the three closing years of the last century,
which we spent at Ormes in summer, and in Paris
in winter, two events-one of public character, the
other private-occurred, which left a special impression
on my memory. The first was my journey to Broglie.
Broglie had been taken from my grandfather as an




24


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


emigrant, and from my father on account of his execution.  It was for the last reason restored to us, thanks
to the courageous motion of M. de Pontecoulant, one of
the men who, during the course of our civil troubles,
honoured most the name of man and that of Frenchman.
The estate was returned to us in its entirety, although,
according to his marriage settlement, my father was
entitled to it only to the value of eight hundred thousand
francs. But the value of landed property had fallen so
low in 1794 that the whole demesne was not valued
beyond that sum. Afterwards, my grandfather's children
were indemnified for the extra value of the estate.
I entered Broglie as lord of the manor in a rustic car
driven in turn by my tutor and myself. The mansion
being uninhabitable to such an extent that it did not even
possess windows, and scarcely any shutters, I went to
lodge in the house of M. Anzoux, the village attorney,
who invited me to do so with as much kindness as readiness. All the people were, indeed, anxious to welcome
me, and regarded it as an honour. They all wished to
relate to me the revolutionary excesses which our home
had witnessed: how the cannons ornamenting the
terrace-those very cannons which my grandfather
had himself captured from our enemies-were carried
away in triumph to be made into pennies; how the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


25


books, which, however, were neither rich nor scarce,
were piled up, pitched pell-mell in trunks, and pompously transferred to the lumbery of the Town Hall of
Bernay, where, if I am correctly informed, they may
still be found in whatever state moths and mice
may have left them; how one fellow did this, and
another that; how, in short, the steward, M. Merimee,
was driven to flight from a window, leaving behind the
papers and documents relative to the estate-a professional mishap, in times of revolution. I almost witnessed the recurrence of such a misfortune in 1848.
Vanity of human things! The name of Merimee has
since acquired a certain fame in arts, and become illustrious in literature; but the inhabitants of Broglie, who
still remember the grandfather and his discomfiture,
have probably never heard speak of the son and of the
grandson; and that is no wonder, since, at the distance
of only forty leagues * from Paris, they do not seem to
be aware that their little village gave birth, in our days,
to Fresnel, one of the glories of France and of science.
After this, M. de Lamartine wonders that, meeting in a
convent of Syria with an aged and half-crazy English
lady, he should have been obliged to make his name
known to her and to reveal his genius!
* About 120 English miles.




26


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I only stayed a few days at Broglie.  My stay there
was rather an act of taking possession than a settlement.
I was too young, and my tutor too unfamiliar with that
kind of life, to induce us to remain. The management
of the estate was at that time undertaken, though not
officially, by  M. Lemonnier, then Commissaire du
Gouvernement to the authorities of the canton.* He was
a most honest and intelligent man, who had helped to
obtain for us the restitution of tie entire estate, without
any deduction for the benefit of the fiscal authorities.
M. Lemonnier, of whom I shall, perhaps, have occasion to speak a few words further on, had, it was said,
belonged in his youth to I know not what order bf the
regular clergy; but that is a point which never was
made very clear, and respecting which I have doubts.
The second event, the public event to which I
referred above, was the 18 Fructidor, followed shortly
afterwards by the loi des otages (law of hostages), the
emprumnt force (compulsory loan), and the motion for
the expulsion of all the ' ci-devant nobles ' from the
French territory.
At Ormes, we witnessed the passage of the deputes
Jfrctidorises, t removed like criminals, in closed car* A French administrative subdivision of the arrondissement,
itself a subdivision of the department.
+ Those who fell victims of the coup d'ctat of Fructidor.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


27


riages railed up like cages, to the seaport at which
they were to embark.   They halted, or rather the
police agent to whose care they were entrusted, and
whose instructions concerning them were the subject of
suspicion, caused them to halt in front of the avenue
leading to the chateau, and the frugal meal prepared
for them was fetched from the inn. They were not
allowed to alight.
My mother, my sisters, and I, we brought them
fruit and refreshments, which we were not forbidden to
give them. It was a painful spectacle; the indignation
was great, but the consternation was greater still.
Everybody foresaw the renewal of the Reign of Terror,
and resignedly prepared for it.
We were on good terms with the family of M. de
Menou, brother of General Menou, famous for the
vivacity of his opinions in the Assemblee Constituante,
as also by the part which he played in the war of
Vendee, and on the 13 Vendemiaire, and again during
the expedition to Egypt.  That kind and amiable
family, whose eldest son married one of my sisters
sometime afterwards, was, like our own, preparing for
exile. Between the Chhteau of Boussay, where they
lived, and Ormes, the interchange of communications
was constant; nobody dared hope to escape proscrip



28


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIOVS


tion, nobody knew exactly where to seek a refuge,
or how to realize the remains of a fortune barely
recovered.
None were more afraid than the members of the
clergy, and their apprehension was fully justified.  I
had just completed my religious education and my first
communion. My religious instruction had been entrusted to the care of a parish priest of the neighbourhood, public worship not being yet re-established in
Ormes.  The priest was a worthy ecclesiastic, who,
however, not being possessed beyond the virtues of his
avocation of any special ardour for martyrdom, was
somewhat perplexed at hearing again the threats and
blasphemies which, two or three years before, had
fallen on his ears, and in foreseeing the renewal of the
dangers which he had lived through without flinching.
The ceremony of my first communion, nevertheless,
was solemnized with a certain pomp: we were about
a score of children, accompanied by our families; the
authorities did not interfere, and the patriots of the
place contented themselves with smiling without uttering any injurious expression.
Those who did not live in the times I speak of
cannot form any idea of the state of profound distress
into which France had fallen during the interval that




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


29


lasted from the 18 Fructidor to the 18 Brumaire. In
plunging anew into the regime of the Terror, she did so
without consolation or hope. The glory of her arms
was tarnished, her conquests lost, her territory
threatened.  The 'regime of the Terror no longer
appeared to her in the light of a dreadful crisis,
of an awful paroxysm leading necessarily and shortly
to a salutary reaction, and, for that very reason, to
a better order of things. The reaction had failed; the
Government which it had founded was sending its
founders to die at Sinnamari. All the efforts made by
respectable people to secure the legal enjoyment of
their rights had been crushed by violence.  The only
prospect was a relapse into bloody anarchy, the end
of which, or the remedy for which, it was not possible
to foresee.
The 18 Brumaire was the remedy, but the 18
Brumaire was not sufficient.  What bad been wanted
for ten years was not coups d'etat, but genius, wisdom,
energy, all that which makes them excusable, causes
them to benefit society, and renders them purposeless in
the future.
Both in its results as in the intentions of its author,
the 18 Brumaire was precisely the reverse of the 18
Fructidor.  That is its glory.  It created that which




30         PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
the 18 Fructidor destroyed.  It established the state
of things which still subsists, notwithstanding the many
changes which have happened in France for more than
half a century, and for which it is not responsible.
The 18 Brumaire was salvation, and the four years
following it were a series of triumphs abroad over the
enemies, and at home over the principles of disorder
and anarchy.  Those four years are, with the ten years
of the reign of Henri IV., the'best and brightest period
of French history.




O THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


3i


III.
1800-1804.
WE spent those four years in turn in Paris and at
Ormes.
I was in Paris on the 3rd of Niv6se, at the time of
the explosion of the infernal machine.  I heard it from
the house where we then resided: it was the pavilion
in the Rue Saint-Dominique, in which Madame de
Genlis brought up the Princes of the House of Orleans.
That abominable attempt did not excite so much horror
and awe as might have been expected, so great was
then the carelessness and indifference of the public
mind, now incapable of emotions, depraved by the
Revolution.
I must, however, humbly confess that the iniquitous
reprisals, unscrupulously carried out by the Consular
Government, the arbitrary imprisonments, the suppression of newspapers, the indiscriminate transportationsnow the Jacobins paying for the Chouans,* and now
* The Royalist insurgents of Vendee.




32


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the latter for the Jacobins-did not, either, excite a
very strong indignation among the respectable class of
people. Society, which was being rapidly re-organized
by a powerful and, all things considered, a healing
hand, was not so particular.  Exiles of various periods
and opinions returned home in crowds, recovered part
of their property, petitioned for the rest, and did not
set themselves against the authorities who allowed
them to expect such restitution.  Those among Revolutionists who were really converted, or who proclaimed
themselves to be-who put aside their red caps until such
time as they could cut red ribbons and red heels out of
them (as they were ingeniously represented to be doing
in an English caricature of the time)-were indifferent
whether they rendered themselves guilty of fresh acts
of violence.  The friends of liberty-of true libertythe heirs of 1789, innocent of all the crimes committed
by the Assemblec Legislative and by the Convention,
had unfortunately allowed their ranks to be split up on
the 18 Fructidor. Among them some, moved by a
feeling of resentment which was indeed legitimate,
though perhaps imprudent, against the terrorists and the
regicides, had more or less closely allied themselves to
the partisans of counter-revolution, of whom Pichegru
was the head; others, owing perhaps to a justifiable




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


33


apprehension of the consequences of such alliance, had
not openly separated themselves from the Directory,
even after the detestable coup d'etat which for a time
deprived it of power. Through mutual mistrust they
were more inclined to reproach one another with the
faults of the past than to unite against the excesses of
the present. Simeon, in the Tribunate, would in no
case have lent his help to Benjamin Constant. Their
divisions left a free field of action to genius, wisdom,
glory, and fortune. The Code Civil and the Concordat,
the peace of Luneville and that of Amiens, met all
requirements and satisfied everybody.
I was then very young: brought up in the principles
of my father and of my step-father, I much inclined to
those who dreaded more the progress of dictatorship
than they appreciated its advantages. What most
shocked me was the appearance of a revival of the 
old regime, and the institution of the Legion of Honour
especially inspired me with an aversion, hardly reasonable, I admit, but which I never could thoroughly
conquer.  To make up for it, I took a lively interest in
the successes of our arms.  Our reverses during the
campaign of the year VII. had caused me deep concernit was my first patriotic pre-occupation; the victories of
Hohenlinden and of Marengo filled me with enthusiasm.
VOL. I.                               3




34


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I took besides' a livelier, if possible, though reserved
and silent, interest in the literary quarrels which were
then commencing, the activity of which was somewhat sharpened by politics.  ' Delphine' and ' Atala '
were published almost simultaneously; and these two
brilliant works, conceived under almost opposite inspirations, were the subject of interminable conversation in the salons of my mother.  Madame de Stael
/ was the ruling spirit of those salons. I do not recollect
having seen M. de Chateaubriand at my mother's;
but there were several of the prominent members of the
coterie of which he was already the leader, or rather
the idol. Madame de Beaumont, among others, used to
visit my mother pretty frequently.
I know  not whether it was during the summer
preceding, or in that following the 3 Nivose, that
I made a journey to Vendee and to Brittany in the
company of my preceptor.
He had relations in a small town situated in the heart
of Vendee, on the coast, beyond Machecoul, and called
Isle-de-Bonin.  We went there from Ormes, through
Angers, Saumur, and Nantes. It was shortly after the
quelling of the second outbreak, that which followed the
appointment of the First Consul, and which was the
work of Generals Hedouville and Brune.  The country




Of THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


35


I speak of had taken no part in the recent rising;
yet it still bore evident and numerous traces of the
ravages it had been subjected to a few years before.
The villages were still half-destroyed, the woods in
ashes, the fields untilled. The peaceful family in
whose home we were received, the neighbours who
frequented it, the inhabitants of the place and of the
surrounding districts, related to us the scenes of horror
they had witnessed, just as the bourgeois of Paris did,
when speaking of the slaughters of the 2nd September,
in a simple, familiar style, and merely for want of any
other topic. They interrupted their narration to perform
their domestic occupations; the gossiping so dear to the
inhabitants of all small towns was freely indulged in.
Strange nation, to which may be applied the words
which the author of 'Les Martyrs' * said of the genius
of Greece: ' Qu'elle ne peut faire, de la mort et des malheurs memes, une chose serieuse ' (that it cannot regard
death and misfortune themselves as serious matters).
From Bonin we returned to Nantes, and from Nantes
we reached Brest by way of Lorient and Quimper.
Those desolated countries presented everywhere the
same sight. Brest, on the contrary, was brilliant and
lively. Never, perhaps, had the harbour contained
* Chateaubriand.
3-2




36


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


-and never, perhaps, will it again hold-such a
large fleet of line-of-battle ships, frigates, and vessels
of all kinds and dimensions. Nearly all the French
navy, under the orders of Admiral Latouche-Treville,
nearly all the Spanish navy, under the command of
Admiral Gravina, were flying their flags in that
harbour: more than sixty line-of-battle ships were
collected there.
M. de Latouche-Treville  had been   my father's
friend; he was in command of the frigate La Gloire,
on board of which he went to America, and fought,
during the voyage, against an English line-of-battle
ship, a fight worthy of his name. He gave me a
most friendly welcome, and afforded me the means and
the opportunity of seeing everything. On the f6te-day
of the King of Spain, I dined on board the Spanish
Admiral's ship La Concepcion, with the general staff of
the two fleets, amidst the booming of the guns which,
from time to time, were fired from all the ships in the
harbour, and from all the batteries in the town. It
was an imposing and magnificent spectacle, which will
perhaps never again be excelled in grandeur. It needed
a most singular concurrence of circumstances to bring
together on one single spot of our coasts that immense
gathering of naval forces.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


37


After eight or ten days spent in a highly instructive
and entertaining fashion at Brest, we returned to
Ormes via Saint-Malo, Rennes, and Laval.
We passed but a short time at Ormes, which we
left for Paris, where my tutor made me attend the
lectures of the Ecole Centrale des Quatre-Nations.  I
attended the classical lectures (higher class) by the
Abbe Gueroult; those on belles-lettres by M. Dumas,
afterwards proviseur * of the College Charlemagne; those
on mathematics by M. Lacroix; those on natural
philosophy by old M. Brisson; and those on natural
history by M. Brongniart. The last-named was the
son of an architect of some reputation, and an intimate
friend of my tutor.
I used to attend at the same time the lectures of the
Ecole des Mines: those on chemistry by M. Vauquelin,
those on geology by M. Faujas de Saint-Fonds, and
those on mineralogy by the Abbe Haiiy. As may be
seen, I was not idle.  The three years I thus spent,
only leaving Paris during the holidays, are among the
best recollections of my life.
The Ecoles Centrales were then entirely free from any
restriction. Each professor taught after the method he
liked best, and was not subjected to any control with
* Principal.




38


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


regard to the choice of his subject, provided he did not
wander too far from the special subject assigned to his
'chair.' Admittance to these lectures was quite free;
each professor was entrusted with the police of his hall
during the lecture, though he possessed over the
students no authority whatever.  Once the lecture over,
the hall-keeper (porter) used to sweep the room, and
that was all.  Classical studies, divided into two classes,
were not of a very high standard, and mathematical
and physical studies were poor; M. Dumas's literary
lectures were brilliant and full of animation; and M.
Brongniart's lectures upon natural history were most
instructive and largely attended.  I have preserved
the papers he used to read, and, although science
has since much progressed and I have myself much
forgotten, I still sometimes peruse them with pleasure.
Similar freedom used also to obtain at the Ecoles des
Mines, admission to which used to be free; whereas
it ought, strictly speaking, to have been limited to
students having gone through the course of study at
the Ecole Polytechnique.
The professors at the Ecoles des Mines were not only
men of the highest merit, but also of uncommon kindness and inexhaustible benevolence. Foremost among
them was M. Haiiy, one of the most amiable savants




OF TIE DUC DE BROG LIE.


39


I ever met with during my long career.  His voice,
though clear and flexible, was weak, but his method of
tuition was marvellously lucid. IIe readily allowed himself to be interrupted, not only by the students but also
by the public who attended his lectures.  Often after
the lecture, having failed to grasp fully the co-ordination
and the connection of M. Hatiy's ideas, have I requested
him to explain to me one or two obscure points, when
he would at once begin afresh the whole lesson to
oblige me.  He often invited me to come to see him,
before the lecture, in his humble study, the furniture of
which comprised only a few straw-bottomed chairs and
a deal desk, surmounted by a crucifix, close to which
was a small oratory, where the worthy priest used
to say mass every morning.    He used to give me
his notes to transcribe, and, for a long time, I preserved the copies I made.




40


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


IV.
1804-1809.
IN this way the latter years of my education were
passed; my elder sisters married, and in the two
houses of which they became members I saw society
for the first time no longer as a child, but as a young
man.   The tutor of my brother, Rene d'Argenson, was
the son of a man who was well-known in the world of
letters and philology, M. Schweighaiiser, of Strasbourg,
the editor of Herodotus and of Athenaeus.  In his
company I visited several houses where the most
celebrated men of letters of that period used to meet,
and more frequently than any other the house of M.
Suard.   There I met what remained of society of
the eighteenth century-the  Abbe Morellet, Garat,
Daunou, Ginguine, and several others whose names
I have forgotten; M. Villers, who had just arrived from
Germany, and was introducing the philosophy of Kant,
to the horror of all who heard him; M. Vanderbourg,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


41


another French emigre, tinged with German ideas, and
who was then preparing, with all the ardour and the
sincerity of his unsophisticated enthusiasm, to bring
before the public the poems of Clotilde de Surville.
It was the period when the crusade against the
philosophy of the eighteenth century was beginning
in all its vigour, when M. de Chateaubriand and M. de
Fontanes, M. Joubert, and all the small coterie whom I
have already mentioned, opened the era of nineteenthcentury literature under the flag of the Concordat.
The strangest thing in this respect was the salon
of M. and Madame Suard.    Opposite influences were
working there silently.  In it there existed at the
same time a certain spirit of counter-revolution, and
the last echo of that philosophical spirit of which
the Revolution had in some respects been nothing but
the sad outcome and the fatal consequence.
M. Suard was an amiable man, with a refined and
delicate mind.  His views were liberal and moderate.
Nor was he inaccessible to the new ideas which the
reaction was diffusing, but his chief object was to draw
together again in his house one of those brilliant salons
in which his youth had been formed, and where an
unreserved liberty of views and of speech was never
dissociated from elegant and polite manners.  Madame




42


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Suard helped him to the best of her abilities, but
was rather a hindrance than otherwise, for she was
pedantic and stiff, and most of the company who met at
her house of an evening appeared to be more irritated by
le Gtetie du Christianlisme and the modern school than
did the master of the house.
The newspaper called Le Publiciste was their organ.
It was, so to speak, a moderate and clever medium to
soften the asperity of La Decade, the organ which stood
up for the eighteenth century, and the warmth of Le
Journal des Debats, the organ of reaction.
M. Suard was chief editor of Le P lbliciste, Mademoil  selle de Meulan, who afterwards became Madame Guizot,
was one of the wittiest contributors; M. de Barante,
then quite a young man, although already auditeurl to
the Conseil d'Etat, commenced his reputation in the
columns of that newspaper. He did not, however, long
contribute to it.  The excellent work which, about
that time, he wrote on the literature of the eighteenth
century, a work which was sent to the public competition proposed by the Institut, and which aroused the
wrath of that learned body, had rendered M. de Barante
too compromising a contributor for Le Publiciste.
About the same time, I also used to frequent another
society of wits, which used to meet at M. Legouv6's;




OF THE DUC DE BROGIUE.


it was chiefly composed of poets and dramatic authors.
MM. Say, Jouy, Arnaud, etc., were the leading spirits
of the party; there they used to carp at critics and
journalists.  M. Legouve, who was then closing his
career, was of an amiable, wise, and meek frame of
mind.   The celebrated surgeon Sue was, if I remember rightly, the first husband of Madame Legouve;
M. Eugene Sue was her son.
About the same time I entered society in the full
sense of the word.  Although my mother now used to
spend the whole year at Ormes, where, after my sisters'
marriage, she devoted herself exclusively to the education of her family, she was not forgotten by her friends
and by those with whom she had been formerly acquainted. The recollection of her, and the name which
I bore, easily opened to. me the houses where the
remnant of the old regime used to meet and give tone,
first to consular, and, soon after, to imperial society.
Foremost amongst such   houses was the Hotel de
Luynes, where Madame de Chevreuse, who was later
destined to pay with exile, and, perhaps, with her own
life, the independence of her language and of her conduct towards the Master of Europe, used to reign as
the queen of fashion.  I was introduced to M. de
Talleyrand, who received me with kindness. M. and




44


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Madame de Jaucourt, the intimate friends of my mother,
took me to Madame deLaval's, at whose very small house
in the Rue Roquepine all the old society, whose lead
was shared by M. de Talleyrand and M. de Narbonne,
used to meet.  There it was that I became acquainted
with the latter, already the friend of my parents, and
whose friendship was, for too short a time, the honour
and charm of my life.
During the year 1806 I spent the summer in
Belgium, in the Chateau de Francvarey, near Namur,
at the house of M. de Croix, who had married
Mademoiselle de Vasse, one of my cousins.    I also
went with M. de Croix's family on a journey to Holland,
where that gentleman possessed large estates.  Thus I
had the opportunity of studying that peculiar country
a little. At Antwerp, I made the acquaintance of M.
Malouet, a gentleman who, during our first Revolution,
enjoyed a most honourable reputation; he was now
prefet marithime,* having at last embraced the imperial
cause after a long emigration.  Very old though he
now was, he still preserved the fire of his youth and
the pristine vigour of his opinions, which, in 1806,
were as liberal as they were wise in 1789.
* An exalted naval appointment, generally given in France as a
sinecure to admirals on the retired list. There are only five prgfectures maritimes: Cherbourg, Brest, Rochefort, Lorient, and Toulon.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


45


Nothing was gloomier than the spectacle offered by
Holland at the time of my visit: its seaports were
deserted; only the hulls of a few dismantled ships
were to be seen at Amsterdam or at Rotterdam. The
warehouses were closed and the shops empty; grass
grew in the streets.  At ordinary times, the town of
the Hague offered alone a rather more animated appearance.  King Louis, his court, his Government, the
semblance of a diplomatic corps, lent some life to the
place; but, at the time of my visit, the King was
absent, the diplomatic corps was away, and the Government were on a holiday. All we saw there were the
few families of some opulent merchants, who, in spite
of the universal ruin, had preserved their wealth by
keeping up a secret intercourse with England, which
alone the Imperial Government could regard as a crime.
Being a foreigner and a novice, I could not, owing to
the shortness of my stay and to the peculiarity of the
circumstances, have with the leading members of the
upper middle class those intimate relations which
enable us to discover the innermost recesses of men's
hearts.  Nevertheless, I could not help being struck by
all the gravity and the solidity, the moderation, and,
at the same time, the indomitable resolution, the
patience and the foresight, which were noticeable in




46


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the conversations which used to take place at the
interminable dinners at which I was a guest.   It
almost seemed as though I saw those admirable burgomasters, with whose portraits Rembrandt and Vandyke
peopled the halls of the Amsterdam Penitentiary,
leaving their frames, and I heard them talk.  Great
and strange nation! so different from the German
nation, of which it was originally but a mere fraction,
just as its language was but a dialect of the German.
So different from the English nation, to which it is
related by so many years of alliance, so many commercial habits, and such unbroken intercourse.  So
different again from the French, and even from the
Belgian, its companion in the bitterest and most painful
moments of its existence; serious, sensible, thrifty,
and persevering nation, which gave for civil and
religious liberty the fullest ransom that man can
pay-eight years of ruin, struggles, scaffolds, and of
auto-da-fe-and which, knowing how to preserve its
simple tastes and ways, its quiet and insuperable
-energy, under the French domination, knowing how
to make use of those virtues under the Monarchy as
well as under the Republic, and to pass, as time went,
with a sort of magnanimous indifference, from under
the yoke of the one to that of the other, never, or at




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


47


least, hardly ever promised liberty by turbulence, or
order by servitude!
During my stay at Amsterdam I visited Saardam,
Nord-Holland, and the peculiar village of Broeck,
where they say that the produce of the old Dutch
commerce was deposited, or rather buried-diamonds,
laces, precious woods, and various other articles of
material wealth. After so many years, I do not know
what has now become of that village, but in 1806 it
certainly offered a most extraordinary sight.  The
streets were marked by means of boxwood hedges,
high enough to lean upon, and representing human or
other figures: now some whist-players, now again a
concert of musicians with their instruments.  The
street leading to the central square was in the shape of
the neck of a violin.  The streets were covered with
fine sand of various colours, methodically laid down in
regular devices, which were left undisturbed owing to
the fact that nobody ever crossed those artificial streets.
The houses of the village, surrounded by small gardens,
communicated by means of pathways; the back of
each house invariably led in to the street: in it
was fixed a door, which was opened to each inhabitant
only on three eventful occasions-birth, marriage, and
death.  Inside those houses were contained the marvels




48


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


which were so much talked about. Nearly all those
houses belonged to the members of the Amsterdam
Insurance Company; no one was admitted there unless
one of the proprietor's family. I have been told that
Queen Hortense, having insisted on entering one of
those houses at least once, could not overcome the
resistance which was offered to her, and very wisely
consented to desist.
From Amsterdam we went to Utrecht, the university
buildings of which were closed at that time of the
year. From Utrecht we went to Soreusse, where M.
de Croix's chief estates were situated.  We stayed
there some time, and there it was that, ignorant though
I was and am still of agriculture, I, with great pleasure
and some profit, heard the land-steward and the neighbours discussing at length the rural economy of the
country.  I regret having lost my diary of that
journey.  I kept this diary a long time, and it contained most curious observations on the subject.  After
half a century, and even more, I would not dare trust
my memory to supply the missing information. Yet
who, like myself, has not been struck by the sight of
those vast extents of country, so symmetrically divided,
of fields and meadows hemmed in, as it were, by
dykes, of crops carried away in carts drawn at full




OF THE DUC DE BROGIE.


49


gallop over the dykes, of enormous horses rushing
along with formidable noise, and causing the moving
ground of the roads, raised by the hand of man, to
shake under their feet, and then the animals eating,
out of mangers, bread and beer, just like their
drivers?
There is nothing so much unlike any other landscape as a Dutch landscape. If one passed with
eyes bandaged from France into Germany, Italy,
Spain, or even into England, one might, on the
bandage being taken off, experience some difficulty in
saying whether one had gone from one country into
the other; but in Holland, one feels quite in a strange
place as soon as one sets one's foot there: by going
there one has not only changed places, but regions.
On my return to Belgium I was shortly called back
to Paris on a business about which negotiations had
already been opened, although they had, until then,
been carried on with very little vigour.
I was then scarcely twenty-one years old. Having
been exempted from military service on account of my
short sight, I was anxious to enter the civil service,
then the most important career after the army. A
request with that object had been presented to the
Empress by my uncle, then Bishop of Acqui and
VOL. I.                              4




o5


'PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Imperial Chaplain.  The readiness with which my
uncle accepted that post, without incurring the blame
of his family, shows sufficiently the spirit by which
society in France was then animated.  It was scarcely
four years after the assassination of the Puke dEnlghien,
and my uncle, with the rest of his family, had only
just returned from exile.
At the time of which I am now speaking, that is, in
1806, my uncle renewed his solicitations; I made
several visits with him, and was introduced to M. de
Bassano and to the Arch-Chancellor.  I received the
promise of having my name entered as auditeiar on the
very next list of appointments; but the execution of
that promise was delayed more than two years, which
period I spent alternately in utilizing and wasting my
time.  Sometimes I passed the summer at Ormes, at
my sisters', but chiefly at Boussay, at Madame de
Menou's; the winter I spent in Paris.  I used to go
into society, although I did not much care for it, and
I read a great deal more than I studied. Like the
poet Bernard, I might have said: 'I was twenty, and
I had written a tragedy.' I had written two, which,
thank God! I soon threw into the fire.
About that time I became acquainted with two most
distinguished men, one of whom, much my senior,




OF TIHE DUC DE BROGL E.


5r


entertained the sincerest affection for me until his
death; the other, a little my junior, became my friend,
and remained so through all the vicissitudes of my
public career.
M. Desrenaudes, formerly chief vicar to M. de Talleyrand, when the latter was Bishop of Autun, the very
same who served Mass at the fete of the Federation,
and who since was, with Vicq d'Azyr, the chief author
of the great Report on Pablic Instruction presented to
the Assemblee Constituante-M. Desrenaudes was faithfully attached to M. de Narbonne, and he showed me
the liveliest friendship.  He occupied in the university an eminent and most deserved position, and he
introduced me to several members of that body.
It was at his house that I met for the first time
M. Villemain, who but a short while before was still
a student, but had already been crowned by the Institut for his charming eulogy of Montaigne. I was
present at his introduction to M. de Narbonne at the
latter's house, and the interview between the two constituted such an exchange of witticism, repartee, and
point as would have dazzled even Madame de Sta l. M.
Villemain has related the early incidents of his life
and of our acquaintance with his usual grace and
vivacity. What he did not say is that he was, even
4-2




52


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


at that period, what he never ceased to be-one of
the most delicate, subtle, and refined of men; one of
the noblest and most upright characters produced in our
days by our country.
About the same time, and whilst I was staying in
the country, that plot which in the official language of
the historians of the Empire goes by the harmless name
of 'Transaction de Bayonne' was planned and carried
out.
We were at Ormes, on the very line of route by
which news must travel; nothing that was passing
either way could escape our notice. I had a glimpse
of the Emperor as he went by on his road to Bayonne.
He stopped for breakfast, like any ordinary traveller,
at the inn of the place. He was no longer that young
First Consul, slim, unconcerned, with his slightly olive
complexion and his stern scowl, whom I had met for
the first time briskly striding through the Tuileries,
giving his right arm to Bourrienne, and holding a small
Turkish sabre under his left. Even outwardly everything was altered. He had grown very burly in waist
and shoulders, his little legs were thick and fleshy, his
complexion sallow, his forehead quite bald, and his
features strongly put one in mind of a Roman Emperor
as we see them on their coins. I will not say, like the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


53


servant at the inn, that in all he did he seemed to have
the crown on his head and the sceptre in his hand-I
myself saw nothing of the kind; but, standing there
like other lookers-on, crowding round to watch him go
in and out, it struck me that everything in him had the
air of an Emperor, but of an Emperor of the worst
period.
A few days later I saw the Empress pass in great
state, and fit to be painted as far as regards that part
of her that was not seen, and painted as regards that
which was. The splendid array of ladies-in-waiting,
bedchamber - women, and maids-of-honour followed
behind her, and the rear was brought up by the ladyreaders who composed the harem of her sultan, and
enabled him to put up still for some little time longer
with the enamelled charms of the chief sultana. It,
appears, however, that between the imperial couple it
was not an unconditional bargain; for, a few days
afterwards, we saw one of those odalisques return all
in tears, and the loafers learned from the valet who
accompanied her that she had been expelled for having
given herself too great airs.
Nobody at this moment could clearly understand
what was going on in Spain; everyone was more or
less ignorant of what was brewing at Bayonne; and,




54.


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


for the honour of humanity, I am inclined to think
that the Emperor himself went there almost in the
dark as to what he was going to do. He certainly had
laid the trap, but most likely he did not foresee altogether what excessive use of power, baseness, and
perfidy he would require to carry out his scheme.
One of the saddest fruits which all this bore we soon
saw with our own eyes.
M. d'Argenson was informed one morning by an
imperial courier that the next day the King of Spain,
the Queen, and the Prince de la Paix would spend the
day at Ormes. They were packed off-for this is the
proper word for it-in the custody (alas! this is also
the proper word) of General Reille, who was one of the
most brilliant and one of the most justly respected
aides-de-camp of the Emperor.  Ormes was one of
their halting-places. Very luckily, their household and
their kitchen staff preceded them, for ours would have
been at their wits' end to have waited upon and to have
served them as they were accustomed to be served.
They left Poitiers very early, and arrived at noon,
in the very carriages, I fancy, in which Philip V. went
to Spain; at least, I have never seen any carriages
like them except in contemporaneous pictures of the
reign of Louis XIV. They were enormous gilt boxes,




OF THE DUC DE BROGUIE.


55


with glass in front, behind, and at the sides, so that
anybody riding in them  was obliged to sit upright
without being able to rest in any direction.  These
boxes were hung on springs of white leather in a frame
of four huge gilt beams, to which it must have been
very difficult to harness post-horses.  Eight servants,
clad in the Bourbon livery, came from Bayonne, standing up behind the boxes, just as if they had been taking
a drive round the Prado in a state coach.  All this
parade, which was half sumptuous, half grotesque,
which was suggestive of want of foresight and of precipitation-this strange mixture of antiquity without
any prestige, of display without elegance-this exhibition of gilded misery, brought tears to the eyes and
a smile to the lips.  This was indeed Spain itself; it
was the Bourbon branch of Spain itself; it was the
royal couple itself!
We respectfully received the royal couple at the door
of their royal chariot.  The King was the first to get
out. He was tall, thin, and bald, but vigorous and in
flourishing health as far as his physical faculties were
concerned; in fact, I should almost doubt whether he
ever had any others, or whether it would not be doing
him too much honour to lay the state of tearful distraction in which he was during the whole day to the




56


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


charge of old age. The Queen was next to get out.
She was a small, elderly lady, or, perhaps, rather, a
little fairy, neat-as neat as two pins-stately, demure,
and reserved.  Then came the Prince de la Paix-just
the same as we had seen him for so many years in
Paris, a sort of cross-breed between a maitre d'h6tel
and a butler.  Then, last of all, his daughter, the
little Duchess of La Alcudia, of the blood royal, whom,
poor child, the Queen kept beside her and under her
eye.
The King did not stop an instant in the apartments
which had been prepared for him, but went striding
through the chateau and gardens, calling out, ' Godoy,
Godoy!' loud enough to split one's ears, for he evidently could not bear to lose sight of his favourite for a
moment. Finally, he settled down with him in the
billiard-room, and did not come out again till bedtime,
except for his meals. He talked incessantly on different
subjects with noisy vehemence and inexhaustible volubility, but without making the slightest allusion to the
circumstances of the hour.  He had quite the air of
King Lear, though it was only a false air.
The Queen, on the other hand, took possession of
her apartments and did not leave them again, although
the King asked her to do so several times. She re



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


57


ceived my mother with grave dignity and courtesy.
She asked her many regal questions: 'How many
children have you?' ' How many of them are boys?'
'How old are they?' ' How long has this chateau been
built?' etc.; and dismissed her without having mentioned her own personal position. The Emperor was
not named during the whole conversation.
At eight o'clock they were all in bed; at six o'clock
the next morning they had all gone, and the royal
equipage dragged with it the fortunes of the empire.
As a matter of fact, six months later the disaster of
Baylen took place, and a year later all the great army
passed before us, in mail-coaches, hurriedly and with
great uproar, glittering with gold and steel, filled with
joy and hope. I can still see the brilliant Auguste de
Colbert and his staff coming into my room one morning,
and pulling my legs, railing at my laziness. What
impulse, what decision, what confidence in success and
scorn towards the enemy they used to display! Of all
this gay, animated, noisy swarm, only one, alas! if I
remember rightly-Adrien d'Astorg -recrossed the
Pyrenees; nearly the whole of that great army left
their bones rotting on the Spanish battlefields.
General Auguste de Colbert was killed in Galicia.
He was the eldest of four brothers, who all raised




58         PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
themselves by their sword to the highest rank in the
army. Yet at the beginning of their career they had
been so badly off that they had only one mufti between
the four of them, which they wore turn and turn about.
Surely  a glorious name was never borne more
gloriously!




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


59


BOOK    II.
1809- 1813.
I.
1809.
TOWARDS the beginning of 1809, I was at last appointed
auditeur to the Conseil d'Itat.  I had requested to be
attached to the department of the Home Office, but I do
not know why I was sent to the War Office.
This department at that time consisted of M. de
Cessac as President; M. Daru and General Gassendi.
Four atditeurs were placed under them: M. Pelet, of
Lozere, M. Canouville, M. Tremont, and I.  M. Pelet,
of Lozere, was curator of the Crown Forests; M. de
Canouville, marechal des logis to the imperial household.  There was very little to do at that time in
the War Office department. I can find nothing, on
sorting my papers-which I always carefully preserved
from the moment I entered public life-except a few




60


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


abridged reports relating to prisons or to articles of
clothing.
This small amount of work was allotted to us by
M. de Cessac. He was, to say the least of it, a cold,
dry man, pre-occupied solely by the affairs of the
conscription, with which he was charged, and which
certainly were not likely to make him tender-hearted.
He wrote tolerably, although he was not a member
of the French Academy, but he was a good man at
heart, and more indulgent towards us young men
than he really seemed to be.
We sent in our reports to the whole commission.
M. Daru was a kind, amiable, open-hearted man, who
took an interest in everything; M. Gassendi was old,
rather gruff: he lived by himself, and never spoke a
word.  We took very little interest, or at any rate
I did, in the work, which, as I have said, was very
trifling, that we had to share amongst us; but I was
greatly interested in the sittings of the Conseil d'Etat
itself.
It then sat, if I remember rightly, three times a week,
in the gallery of the Tuileries which separates the
grand staircase from the wing which has since been
known by the name of the Pavilion Marsan.      At
the end of this gallery, opposite the staircase, on a




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


6i


platform raised to the height of two steps above the
ground, there were three desks: that of the Master
in the centre; on the right that of the High Chancellor,
and on the left, that of the High Treasurer. All along the
windows, which looked on one side on to the Carrousel,
on the other on to the chapel, there were ranged small
tables for the Councillors of State, beginning with the
Presidents of sections; at the end, and opposite to the
desk of the Emperor, there were other small tables for
the Maitres des Requetes.  Lastly, behind the tables of
the Councillors of State, in the recesses of the windows,
were placed other little tables for us humble azditeurs.
The Emperor, as a rule, presided at two out of the
three weekly sittings. He arrived, as a rule, about an
hour after the opening of the sitting-that is to say about
half-past four o'clock-interrupted the  debate, and
after the order of the day had been placed upon his
desk, introduced whatever subject he wished to have
debated.
He listened patiently and attentively.  He was fond
of putting questions, and did so frequently, especially to
Regnault de Saint Jean d'Angely, Defermon and Treilhard, but above all to the High Chancellor.  When
the debate had continued for some time he would
speak.  He was a lengthy speaker, without much




62


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


sequence of thought, and very incorrect, making use of
the same phrases over and over again; and, I must say
it with all humility, in his disconnected and often
trivial speeches, I never remarked those eminent
qualities which he evinced in the Memoirs which he
dictated to Generals Bertrand and Montholon.
These Memoirs remain quite a puzzle to me.   If
there was a writer endowed with the talent displayed in
them, with that lucid co-ordination of ideas, that clearness and unaffected simplicity of language, with that
proud and natural tone of authority, with that precision
-in short, with that correct style which proceeds from
the very habit of handling the pen-let that writer give
up his name and reveal himself.
But if, as there seems no room to doubt, Napoleon
is the real author of those Memoirs which bear his name,
if, then, his Memoirs, I think, prove that he was thus,
one of the greatest masters of our language, his talents
as a speaker, as is indeed the case with many others,
were far from equalling his talents as a writer.  But
at the time of which I am speaking I must allow that,
having reached the height of his power, being, as he
was, the object of adulation, and even of idolatry, he
was very far from bestowing that vigilant and powerful
activity on the management of public affairs which had




OF THE DUC DE BROGIE.


63


marked the first part of his reign. The records of
the debates on the Code Civil do him more honour than
the sittings at which I was present, and the abject
servility of the admiration which his slightest words
used to arouse perhaps makes me unjust towards him.
Two chief subjects took up the attention of the Conseil
d'Etat from the time I entered that body-the only
one in which at that time any activity prevailed-up to
the departure of the Emperor for the campaign of 1809.
These were the penal code and the mining laws.
Treilhard was rCalporteur of the penal code.  The
Emperor took very little part in the debate, which
seemed to have but little interest for him; the mining
laws exacted more of his attention. They contained a
difficult and delicate question of ownership, which
M. Fourcroy, iapcporteutr of the Bill, tried in vain to
solve, and a solution of which the other members
of the Council tried in vain to suggest.  The question
was whether a mine belonged in full right to the owner
of the ground-that is to say, whether the right of
ownership was indeterminable and could hold good even
to the centre of the earth.  The debate wisely ended in
a compromise, the members deciding that, strictly
speaking, the right of ownership could never be defended beyond the cultivable depth of the soil; that




64


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the newly discovered mine constituted quite a new
property; that, in that case, the State had alone the
right to concede it, provided it always admitted the
claim of the proprietor of the surface to obtaining the
privilege of the concession of the said mine.  The
term  'new property,' hit upon by the Emperor at
the close of the debate, terminated it amidst the loud
expressions of applause of the whole Council; that
term was, however, but the expression of an idea
which had already been in the minds of the members
for several previous sittings; but that expression was
forcible and striking-nothing more was needed to
kindle enthusiasm.
That first stage of my stay in the Conseil d'lItat
was marked by a memorable sitting.     The rapid
development acquired of late by the institution of the
Petits Seminaires had occasioned the Emperor some
anxiety.  He had commanded the attendance of the
Conseil de l'Universite before the Conseil d'Etat, and
there were unmistakable signs of a storm.  As usual,
the Emperor entered the Council Chamber about halfpast four. Observing that M. de Fontanes and he
Conseillers de l'Universit6 had been  granted equal
precedence with the Conseillers d'ttat, he seemed very
much vexed, and treated M. de Segur, himself a.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


65


Conseiller d'Etat and Grand Master of the Ceremonies,
with great brutality. He caused the Maitres des Requetes
to vacate the seats which they occupied at the lower
end of the Council Chamber, facing his own desk. The
Conseillers de l'Universite took the places of the
Maitres des Requetes, and the latter had to sit with
the auditeurs. Then the sitting opened.
In a tone which forbode strong dissatisfaction, the
Emperor addressed a few questions to M. de Fontanes.
He, however, seemed to listen attentively to the replies,
but soon after he burst forth.  He spoke uninterruptedly for nearly three hours on the claims and
encroachments of the clergy; he expressed himself
against them in most abusive terms. Although by
no means a devout body of men, the Council felt
rather shocked  than   convinced  by the  imperial
arguments.  The Emperor kept repeating ad nauseam
the following sentence: 'You are living under the
reign of Charlemagne and not under that of Louis
le Debonnaire;' then towards the close of his poor
speech, turning towards the aztditeurs, he apostrophised
them  in these very words: 'You will see, you will
see, young men, what will happen to you, when you
have an Emperor who goes to confession.'
If his intention was to produce an effect on us, he
VOL. I.                                5




66


PERSONTAL RECOLLECTIONS


quite failed, at least so far as I am concerned.  His
coarseness appeared to me quite natural, but his anger
merely assumed.  I believe that, generally speaking,
the impression was the same on all present, although
the greater part tried to rouse themselves to a different
feeling.  My impression is, indeed, that the scandal
brought about by that explosion of brutality was the
determining cause of the measure of which the new
auditeurs were the victims.  A distinction was made
between the old and the new nominees; we were no
longer admitted to the sittings at which the Emperor
presided, doubtless because of our not being deemed
sufficiently warm in our imperialism.  It was decided
that, in future, admission to those sittings should be
regarded as a reward, and whenever the Emperor
arrived, the last nominated auditeurs were requested to
leave.  Soon afterwards, however, the Emperor started
for the army in Germany.
I stayed in Paris during the first half of the
campaign of 1809.   A few days after the battle of
Wagram, I was sent to Vienna. It was the custom,
since the last campaigns, to send, every week, an
auditeur to headquarters.  He was usually instructed to
remit to M. de Bassano the despatch-box containing
the various communications, ministerial or otherwise,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


67


which the Arch-Chancellor addressed to the Emperor;
and, when the auditeur chosen for that duty was in
favour with the Arch-Chancellor, the latter, having
previously given him all necessary instructions,
directed him to reply to the questions which the
Emperor might put to him. I was not one of those
favourite auditeurs, although I had no occasion to
complain of my chiefs in general, or of the ArchChancellor in particular: I was very little known to
them.  Therefore, I started in complete ignorance of
the contents of the despatch-box, except that I knew
the decisions of the Conseil d'Etat on certain special
points, thus running the risk of being found unprepared
should the Emperor have questioned me.
On my arrival at Vienna, M. de Bassano, to whom I
delivered the despatch-box, took me at about eleven
in the morning to Schonbrunn, the residence of the
Emperor of Austria, then occupied by his victorious
foe. I waited from  eleven till seven  before the
Emperor gave orders to admit me. I spent those
eight hours in talking and walking about on the terrace
with the persons who, by their duty or their circumstances, were placed in pretty much the same position
as myself. Amongst them was M. Denon, who told me
the following anecdote: 'I had accompanied General
5- 2




68


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Bonaparte to Egypt. One evening, it was the very day
of the battle of the Pyramids, at the time when, being
very tired, I was about to take some rest, the General,
pointing his finger in the direction of the Pyramids,
from which we were not far distant, said to me, " We
must go there to-morrow morning."   "Oh no!" I
replied, " we have got time before us; who knows even
if ever we shall see France again?"  " We must go
there to-morrow morning," sternly insisted the General;
" who knows if a similar occasion will ever offer?"
Such a suggestion was a command; I went the next
morning to visit the Pyramids, and was well advised
in doing so, for after that day, however anxious I was
to do so, I never saw them again.'
Having waited about eight hours, I saw the Emperor
leave his study to go to dinner; he passed me, spoke
a few words in a brusque tone, and went away.
Such was my interview. I returned to Vienna both
pleased and vexed-vexed at not having been called,
pleased at not having been put to too severe a test.
I remained three weeks in Vienna, waiting until a
decision  should  be taken  about me.  Expectant
auditeurs were lodged at the State Chancellerie, a building close to the imperial palace, and the same where
Prince Metternich since resided.  The premises were




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


69


empty and quite unfurnished; to each of us was
allotted a small room, with a miserable bed, two straw
bottomed chairs, and a deal table. Madame Bassano
and M. Daru, Commissary-General of the Army, kept
open table for us.
At Vienna I met numerous generals and other officers
whom I had known in Paris. All of them, and, I am
bound to add, the marshals themselves, and even the
eminent personages whom I was in the habit of meeting
at M. de Bassano's, ardently longed for peace, though
they scarcely dared to hope for it-secretly cursing their
master-and, comparing the army as it was to what
they had known it to be, expressed grave apprehensions
for the future.
With some of these officers I went over the battlefields of Essling and of Wagram, the island of Lobau
and the principal military positions with which the
banks of the Danube were, as it were, bestrewn. All
the traces of war were still visibly to be seen, and one
might say still bleeding.  The beautiful village o7
Essling, which had been taken and retaken so many
times, was gradually recovering itself-the poor inhabitants were timorously re-entering their ruined
houses. On the battlefield of Wagram one saw where
the attack of Marshal Macdonald had taken place, the




70


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


position being clearly shown by half-buried corpses.
The whole plain along the banks of the Danube was
covered with crops which were half destroyed by the
effects of fire from the shells, and one could see the
dead bodies of the wounded who had fallen victims to
this conflagration lying scattered thickly about, and
exposed to the sun, which thoroughly scorched them
up.  It was a sorrowful spectacle, which did not, as
formerly, revive the joy of victory, the pride of power,
the spirit and the impulse of conquest.  The aspect of
the country, the appearance of the city of Vienna itself,
all glittering as it was with helmets and breastplates,
was sad and dull; the air of the conquerors in the
brutality of their actions was no more cheerful than
that of the conquered: both spoke bitterly of their
misery and of their sufferings, and if one may believe
those who had the closest intercourse with the Master,
he was himself no better pleased, and no more confident.
I was beginning to find my stay in Vienna rather
dull, when I received an appointment. It was at just
about the time that my colleague, M. de Tournon, was
sent to Rome as Prefect, and the appointment did not
seem strange, either to him or to anyone else. The
annexation of Rome to the French Empire, and the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


7 I


imprisonment of the Pope, had appeared a simple
matter, and one of no consequence to all the servants of
the Empire. It was to them equally simple and of no
more consequence to be excommunicated, and to undertake the administration of the patrimony of S. Peter.
Camille de Tournon, whom we used to call in joke
' Furius Camillus Capitolinus,' shared this indifference,
which was common to all of us. It is very doubtful
whether nowadays one would find such a complaisant
frame of mind amongst honourable and sensible men.
I was sent to Hungary as commissary to the comnitat
of Raab-Eisenburg. Until then, all the part of Hungary
occupied by the French troops had been placed under
the orders of one single commissary, who, at that time,
was AM. de Ricci, a friend of M. de Joncourt and of my
own family.
I have good reasons to believe that it was not owing
to M. de Ricci's administration having failed to give satisfaction that his district was divided; the cause of that
step was a more general one. The Emperor preferred
employing in the commissariat younger men to men
of riper years; he found the former more active, more
enterprising, more anxious to oppose themselves to the
peculations of the Commissions de Guerre, more determined to protect the inhabitants against exactions of




72


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


generals and other officers. He himself encouraged
their resistance; and, in the conflicts which arose from
the zeal of the auditeur and the general requirements of
the army, his decision always went in favour of the
acuditeur.  M. Daru, without the least scruple, and
though he could not allege even the shadow of a
grievance against M. de Ricci, split into three different
jurisdictions the district administered by that officer,
and appointed to two of them two young fellows whom
he saw without appointment and anxious to turn their
services to good account.
M. de Ricci, with whom I had long been acquainted,
received me with great friendliness, on the occasion of
my passing through Pressburg on my way to Raab; he
gave me some excellent advice, and handed over to me
the statistical notes which he had prepared respecting
the comitat of Raab and Eisenburg.    These notes
supplied me with the substance of my great work on
the economical and administrative position of those two
comitats; which work will be found amongst my
papers-a circumstance which absolves me from going
into fuller details here on the matter. The object I
had in view in that work was merely to reproduce the
impressions left upon me by the events which I witnessed and by the persons whom I have known, at the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


73


same time referring my readers to the documents which
I had carefully collected and classified respecting all
comments upon facts and things, or regarding exact
particulars as to the state of affairs and the conduct of
the persons mentioned.
M. de Narbonne was in command at Raab.   M. de
Bassano, knowing the friendship which existed between
us, had brought us together, a delicate and considerate
proceeding for which I always felt indebted to him.
The perfect understanding which never ceased, and
never could cease between us, rendered the relations
existing between the civil and the military administration easy and agreeable.  In all my quarrels with the
generals of the Army of Italy, I was always backed by
M. de Narbonne, and, when Prince Eugene or his
familiars spoke, with the soldierly language peculiar to
the time, about shooting down any commissary who
might prove recalcitrant to their wishes, their threats
left me quite unconcerned.
My duty was to take in hand the civil administration of the country, to place myself at the head of the
various authorities appointed to that administration,
and to arrange with them regarding the conduct of
each branch of the public service.  I had to superintend the return of all the ordinary and extraordinary




74


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


taxes, to remit to the army treasury the amount left
after deducting the sums indispensable for the management of affairs. It was also part of my business to
correspond regularly with the Commissary-General of
the whole army and the Paymaster-General.    That
constituted much responsibility for a young man so
wanting in experience as I was then; but it was also
a salutary exercise for those manly qualities-activity,
foresight, resolution, firmness, and daily attention to
everything.
I believe I did not unsatisfactorily perform my task;
I, at least, came in for a very small share of the
rebukes of which M. Daru was rather lavish towards
his youthful assistants.  Those rebukes, it is true, only
fell, as a rule, on those who went out of their way to
seek them at Vienna, under some pretext or otherweariness, worry, a taste for dissipation, or for anything else.  I had resolved to avoid that breaker
carefully, and I kept my resolve.  During all the time
of my stay at Raab, I never left the territory confided
to my administration; and, thanks to that precaution,
I avoided reprimands which, had I shown my face and
given occasion to think of me, I should doubtless have
incurred, whether justly or unjustly.
I deserve little credit for my prudence in this matter.




OF THE DUC DE BROGUE.


75


Intercourse with M. de Narbonne was full of charm.
His cheerful disposition captivated the inhabitants of
Raab and of the surrounding district quite as much as
his justice and his kindness disarmed their hostility.
The population of the districts occupied by the
French army in Hungary entirely lacked originality,
and was in no respect remarkable. The nobility went
to Buda under the protection of the Austrian Court
and army; the Bishop of Raab had followed suit. The
only difference between the middle classes of that town
and those of other European cities was the superiority
of the intellectual culture of the former.  They spoke
fluently a broken Latin mixed with German idioms.
According to competent judges, the Hungarian they
spoke was not pure; but, everything considered, my
opinion is that, even at the present day, it would
scarcely be. possible to find in France a fourth-rate
town containing such a number of intelligent men possessed of general information, and acquainted with the
current state of the affairs of their country.
The middle classes of the town of Adimburg, the
capital of the comitat of Eisenburg, were of a still
higher intellectual level than those of Raab.  They
were more dignified; they had more pride and resolution. Frequent contentions took place between us and




76


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the town council; discernment and perseverance were
greatly needed to carry on the debate, and it was with
the greatest difficulty that we obtained from it all that
the right of the strongest (the only fit expression to use
in this instance) entitled us to. I have retained a very
high opinion of that council, and I would fain be
assured that, at the time of the two invasions to which
we had to submit, the municipal councils of the chief
French towns displayed as much firmness and moderation.
As for the peasants of the two comitats, in spite of
the hussar uniform worn by them, they were still in a
state of almost complete serfdom. They obeyed without
a murmur, and supplied grain, forage, and means of
transport in the most submissive manner. Of course,
we must bear in mind that the uniform was nothing
but the Hungarian national costume borrowed from
civil life, and introduced into cavalry regiments.
During my stay at Raab, I often went to Altenburg
with M. de Narbonne.
Altenburg is a little town situated between Raab
and the fortress of Komorn, where peace was being
negotiated.  The plenipotentiaries were, on our side,
M. de Champagny, Foreign Secretary; on that of
Austria, M. de Metternich, Austrian Ambassador to




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


77


Paris before the war of 1809, and now destined to
replace M. de Stadion, then Foreign Secretary of
Austria. M. de Nugent assisted M. de Metternich.
The Emperor of Austria had left his army, and had
taken up his residence at the Castle of Dotie, a few
leagues from Altenburg.
All the most eminent personages of the Court of
Austria-all those, at least, who were on terms of
intimacy with the Emperor, rushed to the centre of
negotiations, ardently wishing for peace, though they
had but a poor hope of securing it.  Such were also
the views entertained by the French plenipotentiaries,
by M. de Champagny personally, and by the heads of
his department.  Circumstances proved, however, that,
in that respect at least, M. de Champagny was only
partly acquainted with the intentions of his master, the
Emperor wishing for peace, but reserving to himself
to make Austria pay for it as dearly as possible. Altogether, the outlook of the Conference was not promising,
although the important personages who composed it or
attended its sittings affected the greatest confidence in
its issue under the mask of the most lighthearted indifference.
Everybody knows how these negotiations ended.
The Emperors having agreed to exchange their views




78


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


directly, without any other intermediary than M. de
Bub'na, who was to carry their messages, the Altenburg
Conference died a natural death, after the waste of
much time and paper.
During his constant journeys between Schonbrunn
and Dotie, MI. de Bubna usually stopped at Raab, and
came to breakfast or to dine with M. de Narbonne,
whom he had known in Paris. Although his outward
appearance was that of a soldier, frank, open, even a little
brusque, his was a singularly subtle, quick, sharp, and
inventive mind. I took great pleasure in hearing him
talk, and in conversing, after he had gone, with M. de
Narbonne about the true sense of the semi-confidences
of which he was so lavish towards us, apparently supposing M. de Narbonne possessed of an influence
which the latter had not acquired, and which, when he
did so, never was very great.
Peace put a stop to those journeys backwards and
forwards; it delighted the army all the more because
of its being unexpected. During the time that elapsed
between the signature of the Peace of Vienna and the
evacuation of Raab, I saw, on his way to Vienna, the
aged Prince of Ligne, the old friend of M. de Narbonne
and of Madame de Stael, just as he is depicted in his
letters and in his writings-a cheerful, pleasant man, a




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


79


capital story-teller, and though laudator tempors acti,
yet the admirer of the manners of the period; very
fond of ridiculing the Austrian Court, and, according to
my ideas, very flippant for an old man of eighty, a
field-marshal with a hoary head, and covered with
scars.
When we left Raab we blew up the fortifications of
that place-a sad farewell, for which the only thing
that can be said is that it was conformable to the law
of nations. General Bertrand came to superintend this
work of destruction. I carefully followed all its details:
at the foot of the walls of each bastion and courtine,
holes were dug and then filled with powder; every
hole communicated with the outside by means of linen
bags also filled with powder, and the outward extremity of which opened out into a small wooden board.
When all the holes were thus loaded and arranged,
an artilleryman ran at full speed all along the wall,
and dropped a squib on each wooden board.  He had
no sooner turned the angle and was out of danger, than
the explosion took place, so exactly had the time it
would take the powder to catch been calculated to
correspond to the time it would take the artilleryman
to run along the wall.  I saw the latter tremble on its
base, oscillate for a few moments, then completely give




So


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


way, the summit falling on to the base amidst clouds
of dust, though almost without any noise from the explosion.
Before leaving Raab, I learnt, with some consternation, that instead of returning to France, and, perhaps,
being promoted there, I was to be appointed paymaster
to one of the regiments of Croats ceded to France by
the treaty of peace. Under that name must be understood a military district.  My residence was to be at
Petrinia, on the banks of the Unna, which separates
Croatia from Bosnia.
I returned to Vienna, where I remained for about
three weeks. As it was still occupied by the French
army at the time of my arrival, the military authorities
lodged me in the house of Count Nickle Esterhazy,
who received me with politeness, and soon afterwards
admitted me into his family circle.
He insisted upon keeping me after the departure of
the French army, and loaded me with every care, attention, and consideration.  My three weeks' stay in
that hospitable mansion was most pleasant, and I
divided my time between my excellent host and the
hotel of the Prince de Ligne.
This hotel, situated on the ramparts, was literally a
parrot's-cage. It consisted of a dining-room on the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


8i


ground-floor, a drawing-room on the first, and of a bedroom on the second floor. One went up from one to
the other by very steep stairs.  Each room   was
furnished with some straw-bottomed chairs, a deal
table, and a few other little articles of equal magnificence. There it was that the Prince de Ligne received every evening, and even, if necessary, every
morning, a small number of people who cared for the
pleasures of conversation more than for anything else.
There a supper was served regularly every night, consisting of a skinny fowl, and some spinach and hardboiled eggs. The evening, and often even the morning,
was passed in endless talk, in which all the events of
the Court of France under Louis XV. and Louis XVI.
were related in a style and manner in conformity with
the habits of that frivolous period; where the Prince
de Lignec ompared the feats of the Seven Years' War
with the battles of the Revolution and of the Empire;
where everyone, even a very young man like myself,
was constantly tempted to take part in the conversation, and to put in his word, whether it were good
or bad.
The family of the Prince was very amiable, and consisted of his three daughters: Princess Clary, Countess
Palfy, and Princess Flore, afterwards Madame de
VOL. I.                               6




82


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Spiegel, and of his granddaughter, Princess Christine,
afterwards Madame O'Donnell, the natural daughter of
his son.
The time which I passed in this calm and peaceful
company appeared very short to me, especially when I
thought of the strange solitude for which I was bound.
Before I left, I saw a very touching spectacle.  I refer
to the re-entry of the Emperor of Austria into his
capital, after all the painful events which preceded
the wretched peace of Vienna.  His people received
him affectionately and respectfully; it was really like
a family receiving its father after a long course of misfortunes, and sparing him all reproaches. If reproaches
were deserved, his people deserved them no less than
their sovereign. It certainly was Austria which, taking
advantage of the absence of the Emperor Napoleon in
Spain, and of the complications which kept him there,
declared war against him.  Thus she appeared in the
character of the aggressor.  But was Austria really
the aggressor? Was there another chance? Was there
any other means of escape from the terrible oppression with which France was then weighing down the
Continent?
I left Vienna at last, not without regret, overwhelmed
with tokens of friendship, of consideration, and of at



OF THE DUC DE BROGUIE.


83


tention from all those who had received me as a friend,
instead of treating me as an enemy; and amongst
these new and kind friends I must reckon the Prince
d'Arenberg, the friend of Mirabeau, of Queen Marie
Antoinette, the same whose memoirs M. de Bacourt has
recently brought to light.  I do not deceive myself at
all as to the reason of the kind reception which so many
persons, with so many different titles to distinction,
accorded me; my personal merit had very little to do
with it, and the affection which M. de Narbonne showed
me was the sole cause of it.
When I left Vienna, I went through Carinthia and
Carniola, and arrived at Laibach, the capital of the
Illyrian provinces, at the beginning of the rainy season.
There I found M. Dauchy, Commissary-General, under
whose orders I was placed for the future.
I remained at Laibach only a few days, and then
went on to Petrinia by a very roundabout route, by way
of Trieste, Fiume, and Carlstadt, travelling through
nearly the whole of Croatia in detestable weather, and
over shocking roads. At Fiume, I made the acquaintance of General Bachelu, who was in command of the
town, and who came, by order of the Emperor, to
inspect the state of defence of the Illyrian provinces.
General Bachelu told me, in his study, with much
6- 2




84


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


naivete mingled with humour, the following anecdote, of
which I have often thought since:
'I was,' he said, ' in a small town.' (He told me
its name, but it now escapes my memory.)   ' The
Emperor had ordered me to examine the state of the
place and its means of defence. I remarked to him
that, in order to turn those fortifications to the best
advantage, it would be necessary to knock down a lot
of small houses surrounded by gardens, which were
in the way of the ditches and outworks, adding that
as the place was of very small importance, and the
measure would be rather a harsh one, I scarcely felt
justified in resorting to it. I tried to point out to him
other points where a small amount of work would
suffice to attain the only object which could reasonably
be aimed at.  The Emperor listened attentively, without interrupting me; but his looks made up for his
want of words. When I asked him what his orders
were, he got up without replying, and then said to
me: "When a man is an engineer officer, he is bound
to be an engineer officer." Then he walked quickly
up and down the whole length of the room, and repeated: "An engineer is bound to be an engineer. It
is not worth while being an engineer, if one is not an
engineer;" then, after walking up and down like that




OF THE DUC DE BROGIE.


85


for about a quarter of an hour, he opened the door of
his own room, and said to me as he went out, banging
it violently behind him: "And an engineer should be
a man without any pity." But he gave me no orders,
and nothing came of the matter.'
From Fiume I started for Carlstadt, which is the
capital of Croatia, properly so called, where General
Carra Saint-Cyr, whom I had known for a long time,
was in command; and at last, towards the beginning of
the Carnival, which certainly would not be a very gay
one there, I arrived at Petrinia.  I had, however, no
chance of finding this out for myself, for I had hardly
begun to unpack my modest belongings and to settle
down, when I received an order from the Duke of
Ragusa, the Governor-General of the Illyrian provinces,
to return to Trieste.
The Duke of Ragusa was wise enough to comprehend
that it would be absurd to try ever to transform a regiment of Croats into a French commune; he very reasonably felt that the organization of this regiment, which
was half civil, half military, must indefinitely remain
just as it was. That organization, which was the work
of Prince Eugene in the palmy days of the Austrian
monarchy, whilst acting as a bulwark against the
Turks, also provided him with excellent regiments of




86


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


infantry which cost him nothing during times of peace,
since each family maintained the farmer-soldier which
it furnished to the conscription. As they were much
feared by the Turks, these families of soldiers protected
the whole southern frontier of the monarchy, and kept
all the border populations in check.
I returned to Trieste. There I found Mi. de Narbonne, who was in command; he introduced me to the
Duke of Ragusa, who received me with great kindness.
At this time the Duke of Ragusa, who was about
forty years of age, was of medium height, a strongly
and well built man, with dark, almost black, face, and
with a truly martial air. He was a nobleman by birth,
and, there is no denying it, he never allowed the fact
to be lost sight of. Having entered the Academy of
Artillery when quite a youth, his scientific education was
far superior to his literary one, but he was nevertheless
a cultured man.  Proud he was. Who was not so at
that time? Who would not have been so in his high
situation? Although he seemed rather extravagant at
first, in his general manners he was, taking him all in
all, very indulgent and obliging.  He prided himself,
and that not without reason, on being'a good administrator; he was enlightened, vigilant, a hard worker,
very attentive to business, took great care of the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


87


soldiers, and treated the people of the country with
justice. He was very much beloved by the military,
and honoured and respected by the generals who served
under his orders.  Misfortune and the injustice of mankind made him hard and bitter towards the end of his
life, and caused him to write in his memoirs, published
after his death, some things which are much to be
regretted. But he was worthy of a better fate, for he
was worthy of not having done those things which he
did, and of not having written that which he wrote.
His dream at that period, and one which was not at
all unreasonable, was to establish a viceroyalty in the
Illyrian provinces, founded, however, on very different
lines from that which M. Dauchy, Commissary-General,
was instructed to impose, without any distinction, on
the conquered countries. As, however, his views did
not in the least influence the Duke of Ragusa, M.
Dauchy himself applied for, and obtained, his own
recall. The Duke of Ragusa had sent in his resignation to the Emperor, and was awaiting his reply.
He made me the proposal that, whilst he was waiting, I should undertake the duties of Secretary-General
to his administration, an offer which I gladly accepted.
He had very justly placed full confidence in one of his
aides-de-camp, Colonel Jardet, a man whose judgment




88


PERSONAL.RECOLLECTIONS


was sound and trustworthy, and whose character was
even more so; a most intellectual, well-read, hardworking man, and one who was thoroughly, though not
blindly, devoted to his chief.
All the work to be done was divided between him
and me, but by no means equally. Jardet continued to
superintend every department which had anything to do
with the army; all the confidential reports between the
Duke of Ragusa and the Imperial Government fell to
his lot, whilst I was merely entrusted with the general
correspondence and the official reports to the civil
authorities.
We worked together, however, in drawing up the
memorial which the Duke of Ragusa submitted to the
Emperor with regard to the military organization of
Croatia, and as to the necessity of preserving it intact,
except so far as to place a French colonel at the head
of each Croatian regiment.
I had brought some particulars on this matter with
me from Petrinia, which were of use in supplementing
those which the Duke of Ragusa had already got
together. They will be found amongst my papers.
The Duke of Ragusa deserves the chief praise for this
excellent memorial on a very intricate subject; but it
was Jardet who drew up nearly the whole of it. It




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


89


was, I believe, never officially published, but it was
printed and put into the hands of the Conseil d'Etat.
I did not happen to be in Paris when it was submitted
to its members, and I have not been able to procure a
copy of it; but the review which bears the title ' Bibliotheque Universelle,' printed at Geneva, and which is a
sequel to the 'Bibliotheque Britannique,' has been more
fortunate than I.  The memorial is to be found there;
if not in its entirety, yet in all its essentials.
My short stay at Trieste was not calculated to lessen
my desire to return to France.  I lived en famille with
M. de Narbonne and his staff, and I was also very intimate with the staff of the Governor-General.
It was at Trieste that M. de Narbonne met his
mother, the Duchess of Narblonne, again.  She had left
France with Mesdames Royales,* and had been their
faithful companion in the land of their exile. She
remained faithful to their memory when she could offer
no further sacrifice to their misfortunes.  She was a
high-born lady and a noble soul. Never in all my life
have I been more impressed. She was dignified, proud,
and yet very gentle.  She had very small means, and
lived in absolute retirement.  She never received any
strangers or any of the inhabitants of Trieste.  In
* The title given to the daughters of the Kings of France.




9o


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


short, she would have nothing to do with anyone who
had not been about the person or in the service of
Mesdames Royales.  She even kept those to whom her
doors were not closed, her own son equally with myself,
whom she had admitted as a special favour, at a
distance.  She had a wonderfully well-balanced mind;
she never uttered a word of complaint or of recrimination, and never alluded to the past. She seemed like
a queen who had had to mourn the loss of her husband
and did not regret the loss of her supreme rank.
M. de Narbonne had also met again at Trieste one of
his friends, Count Pontgibaud, who had turned banker
during the Emigration, and who carried on that business
most honestly, skilfully, and successfully, but at the
same time too generously and with too much of the
feelings of a noble to be able to make a large fortune in
business.
The Duchess of Ragusa very soon arrived to throw
open and to preside over the house of her husband.
She was the daughter of the well-known banker, Perregaux, and the sister of one of my colleagues at the
Conseil d'Etat.  I had often met her in Paris. I had
spent days, I may say weeks, at her house at Viry. I
always found her to be a woman of a happy, lively disposition, fond of society, conversation, and of those




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


9I


entertainments at which she did the honours so well.
During her stay at Trieste, although she certainly
regretted Paris, she seemed to live in thorough harmony
with her husband; and I, for my part, never knew of
anything which could justify those reproaches which, in
any case, had far better have been spared her.
I was not, however, destined to enjoy a position
which was as agreeable to my tastes as it was favourable
to my promotion, for any length of time. M. de Narbonne left us, having been appointed Plenipotentiary
Minister in Bavaria, and was fully informed of the
negotiations which prepared the way for the marriage
of the Emperor Napoleon.     The Duke of Ragusa
received orders to send those auditeurs back to France
whose office as commissary was abolished when
Croatia was retained in its former military position. I
parted from him with genuine regret, and I have reason
to believe that this regret was mutual.  It also grieved
me to part from several persons who had welcomed me
at Trieste, above all from the two aides-de-camp of the
Duke of Ragusa, Jardet and Denis, the latter of whom
became famous under the name of Damremont, and who
both met with a glorious death on the field of battle.
It was hard, too, for me to separate myself from young
Aubernon, the son of the Ordonnateur-General of the




92


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


army, one of the friends I most often met, and with
whom I preserved the longest relations during the
course of my public life.
Rougier Lavergerie, the son of a prefect; Arnaud,
the son of the poet; Cochelet, brother to the maid of
honour of Queen Hortense; and Letardi, M. de
Corvetto's son-in-law, all of whom were my colleagues
and my friends, and whom I left behind in Illyria,
envied my fate; I myself was not disinclined to return
the compliment.
I returned to France by way of Venice, Milan and
Turin. I only spent a few days in each of those
famous cities. I did not know anyone in Milan.  In
Venice I might have called on General Menou, who was
in command there, but I had never been introduced to
him, and little wished to come in contact with him.
His conversion, if the expression may fitly be used,
from Christianity to Islamism, and the marriage which
followed upon his scandalous and ridiculous conduct,
inspired me with unsurmountable loathing.  I was
wrong, perhaps, for he was a good man at heart,
and the uncle of my sister.  Since his death, I have had
occasion to meet the woman whom he bought to make
her his wife; she had embraced Christianity, and was
burly, aged, and stupid.  She might, to perfection,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


93


have played the part of a tavern-maid. It was, indeed,
hardly worth while to change one's religion in order to
marry one's cook!
Venice was, at that time, devastated and quite deserted.
The aristocratic and the wealthy portion of the population had left it. The windows of the palaces were
closed wherever any were left; the magnificent pictures
profusely distributed among the churches were covered
with smoke and mildew; the theatre was closed; Saint
Mark's Square was dull and gloomy; only a few aged
guides remained to show visitors over the palaces and
other buildings.  The whole place presented a spectacle
of desolation.
Milan, on the contrary, was gay and brilliant; it was
then a capital.  The viceroy and his lady lived there
in great style; their court was animated: fine horses,
gorgeous carriages-nothing was wanting.   I have
visited that city since then, but I did not find it in the
same state of splendour.
Whilst passing through Turin I called on M. Alexandre de Lameth, my cousin, who was then prefect,
and I returned to Paris by way of Mont Cenis and
Lyons, towards the spring of 1810.




94


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


II.
1810.
ON my return to France, after ten months' absence, I
requested to be admitted again to the Conseil d'ltat,
with the favour of attending imperial sittings.  That
was but justice, and it was promised to me; but I had
to wait for the new quarterly list. I took advantage of
this delay to pay a few visits to my family, which had
of late undergone singular vicissitudes.
At the time of the coronation M. d'Argenson, had
come to Paris as President* of his canton.  Like all
his colleagues, he had, though much against his will,
received the Cross of the Legion of Honour; but he
had succeeded in evading that kind of civil conscription
into which the Emperor forced all persons who led an
honourable and independent existence, in order to secure
the fusion of all parties.
The respite was not of long duration.
* Chief Magistrate.
t One of the administrative divisions of a French department.




OF THE DUC DE BROGUE.


95


Having, later on, been called to Paris to figure, again
as President of his canton, at one of those constitutional
parades which the Emperor delighted in giving from
time to time before the public, he was, quite unexpectedly, appointed Prefet of the Department of Deux
Nethes (Antwerp), and thus placed in the alternative
position of being sent into exile, followed by continued
persecution, or of accepting the most important prefecture of France, that where huge civil, military and
maritime works were being carried out with the utmost
activity.
I can speak freely of M. d'Argenson-I owe him
everything.  The difference of our principles respecting religious and philosophical, and of our views on
social or political questions, never altered the tender
affection he bore to me, nor did it in the least diminish
the tender gratitude I always felt towards him.
There were two very distinct beings in M. d'Argenson: the sincere and disinterested dreamer, and the
business man who, in certain circumstances, might
have proved a first-rate statesman.
Having entered society at the time when the ideas
of 1789 were at a climax, he carried them, at a very
early age, far beyond their legitimate bearing. He
was, at heart and by conviction, a Socialist. He




96


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


believed and, whenever he had any chance of being
understood, he professed, that the repartition of property
in this world being the result of fraud and violence, it
was necessary to regulate it by means of an equitable
transaction.  He regarded it as a duty for all honest
men to devote themselves to the carrying out of such
an undertaking; and whenever a political crisis was
imminent or broke out, he was one of those honest men,
ready to risk fortune and life for the cause.  It was
indeed his cause, for he alone was earnest about it,
though never likely to gain anything by it.
Apart from this, and in the ordinary course of life,
M. d'Argenson was a man of rare sagacity, of a firm
and upright mind, of noble and lofty feelings; he was
diligent, strict respecting the exercise of his rights,
and very shrewd regarding men, whom he esteemed
collectively but despised individually more than was
reasonable. His delicacy could stand any test; he was
resolute and intrepid; in his domestic and social
relations he was reserved, taciturn, and perhaps morose,
though amiable and charming towards those he loved
and in whom he placed his confidence.
Being such as I depict him-and as such he will live
in my memory as long as I breathe-he experienced an
-extreme repugnance to serve the Imperial Government.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


97


Not that in his heart he preferred any other; for his
political speculations did not stop at this or that form
of tangible and lasting organization.  To reform society
before thinking of governing it, that was his ideal wish.
But he did not like the Emperor, and he detested
absolute power.  Having, however, been urged by his
friends and family, he assented to the proposal made to
him, at the same time warning those who pressed him
that their prudence would be of no avail, that 'a
divorce for incompatibility of character ' must soon be
pronounced, and that the persecution following upon it
could not be long delayed.    He was Prefect of
Antwerp for about three years.
The activity, vigilance and enlightenment which he
displayed in the conduct of affairs did him the greatest
credit; he was feared, respected, and, thanks to my
mother, even liked by the people of a country which,
much against its will, was bearing the yoke of France.
But his freedom of speech, his proud and firm attitude,
the impossibility of obtaining from  him  what he
thought contrary to justice or to reason, constantly
placed him in opposition to the chief and to the
collateral authorities.  Sometimes he used to tell us
curious anecdotes on this subject; I will quote but one,
which, however, is characteristic of the imperial regime.
VOL. I.                               7




98


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


M. Real was in Antwerp.    He was one of those
Jacobins who freely accepted being converted to the
principles of absolute power, and who rather proudly
wore the livery of their new master. Much more lucky
than Barrere, his former colleague and friend, who had
become a common detective, Real was Conseiller d']tat
and entrusted with one of the divisions of the police of
the empire; Antwerp belonged to his jurisdiction.
It was a Saturday evening, on the eve of some grand
festival, and M. Real, having inquired from the Prefect
whether the latter would attend the procession and
High Mass, M. d'Argenson having informed him that
such was not his intention, M. Real saw him privately,
rebuked him-at first with kindness, then quite in
earnest-and, in most edifying language, exhorted him
to do good and to show a good example. That was
precisely the language most likely to induce M. d'Argenson to persist in his resolution.  He hated hypocrisy still more than the making a public show of
himself. However, he promised to gratify M. Real's
piety, and to see that a seat as high as his position was exalted be prepared for his accommodation in the cathedral. Early the next day, he took
M. Real there, in order to show to him that everything
was in accordance with his wishes. The platform was




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIEE..99


raised, and on it there was a large easy-chair with crimson
velvet cushion. On his way out, as he passed the pulpit,
M. lReal pointed to it with his finger and said, with a
cunning smile, 'And to think that ten years ago we
used to preach theo-philanthropy in that very pulpit.'
M. d'Argenson simply shrugged his shoulders and
turned his back on M. Real.
That which caused the situation to be precarious was
precisely that which made it durable, or, rather, that
which enabled it to last. Every day bringing its ultimatum, there was hesitation to look upon it as being
earnest.  Two events brought the issue about.
The disgrace of M. de Talleyrand, which followed
the affair of Spain (I do not decide the point), brought
about the exile of a friend of his-M. de Montrond, a
gentleman well-known in Paris and in England for the
quickness of his wit and his happy repartees; a most
singular being, in whom certain high qualities redeemed,
in some respects, that which was questionable in his
life and reprehensible in his morals.
M. d'Argenson and M. de Montrond had been friends in
their youth, and their intimacy had never suffered from
the diversity of the lives they led. He selected Antwerp
for his residence. M. d'Argenson welcomed him as a
friend, opened his house to him, introduced him every7-2




100


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


where, did everything to make Antwerp agreeable to
him.  He received repeated cautions on this account,
but to these M. d'Argenson did not pay the slightest
heed.
That already, as they say in diplomatic parlance,
created strained relations. Then came the affair of the
Antwerp customs. Frauds had been committed in the
management of those customs.     The custom-house
staff was accused of having been concerned in the
frauds, and, not without cause, they were also ascribed
to the carelessness of the town council, and chiefly of
the mayor.   Having pointed out these excesses, M.
d'Argenson requested the prosecution and the replacing
of the suspected officials; but he insisted upon their
being replaced without noise or scandal, in the first
place because* it seemed unjust to him to allow of
their probity being suspected, and, in the second place,
because of their belonging to the highest circles of
Antwerp society, and also because of the difficulty
which had been experienced in obtaining their adhesion
to the imperial regime. A merciless prosecution might
furnish arms to the reaction.  The Imperial Government thought differently.  Under the pretence of clearing up the whole affair, it was not sorry to find the
* Seeing the circumstances of the frauds.-TRANSLATOR.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


IOI


opportunity of somehow taking its revenge of the malcontents.  M. d'Argenson having, however, declined to
lend himself to the scheme, as he had been called upon
to do, his refusal proved the drop which caused the
cup to overflow, and, to his great satisfaction, he was
recalled.
Everybody knows what followed.   The officials of
the custom-house and the municipal authorities were
committed to take their trial.  Public opinion became
excited; the jury  unanimously  acquitted all the
prisoners.  The Emperor, enraged at the issue, instructed the Senate to declare null and void the verdict
of the jury; he even gave orders for the prosecution of
the jurymen-an excess of power unheard-of before,
even during his reign, but which, happening on the
eve of his fall, had no other result but to hasten the
revolt of Belgium, and to throw it open to the allies.
To close this digression, I will at once relate the
sequel of all this, more especially as regards M. de
Montrond.
Already exiled from Paris, he was likewise exiled
from Antwerp, sent to Chatillon-sur-Seine, and forbidden to leave the place. However, wearying of such
a dull residence, he obtained a passport for Spain under
an assumed name, had four post-horses put to his




102


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


travelling carriage, and crossed France in great haste,
passing himself for some great personage entrusted with
a secret mission. Having reached Barcelona, which,
for him, was no safer residence than France, he embarked at night on a fishing-smack, and took refuge on
board one of the ships of the English fleet, in command
of Admiral Keith.
There fresh trouble awaited him. The story of his
mysterious journey had reached the ears of the Admiral.
He was suspected of being General Mouton, one of the
Emperor's aides-de-camp, and, in ignorance of the
object of his visit to the English fleet, he was closely
watched, whilst instructions were being obtained from
London and information collected from his friends in
England. In a few days his wit and his genial temper
won for him the sympathy of all the officers composing
the staff of the Admiral's ship, and the whole crew
sided with him against the Admiral himself; so much
so that one day at table, and as dessert was being
served, and as many bottles had already been emptied,
the Admiral having, whilst looking at the Frenchman,
uttered the following brutal and offensive remark, ' I
am of opinion that all Frenchmen, without exception,
are rogues,' M. de Montrond, looking him in the face,
replied, ' As for me, I am of opinion that all English



OF THE D UC DE BROGLIE.


I03


men are gentlemen; but I make exceptions.'  The
Admiral took the hint, and changed his attitude. I
have mentioned that he was happy in repartee. The
one just related may count among the best and the
boldest. The information received from London being
favourable to him, he started for England, where he
stayed until the Restoration.
As for myself, I spent in Antwerp all my leisure
time.  There I found M. d'Argenson giving all his
thoughts to his usual occupations, but, more than ever
sick of the imperial regine, preparing to retire, and
wondering whether it would not be better to forestall
compulsory exile by a voluntary one.
There also I found my mother, quite absorbed in her
domestic pre-occupations, in her books, in her charming
letters, always the same: kind-hearted, lively, full of
gaiety, matchless as regards the evenness of her temper,
with inexhaustible powers of conversation, taking an
interest in everything and giving up everything without the slightest effort. During the early part of my
youth I spent several winters alone in her company
without experiencing a single instant of void or dulness.
At the most difficult periods of my life her prudence
always was of great help to me. At home we used to
call her Madame de Sevigne, and those who have




104


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


known her will agree that she fully deserved the compliment.
I was soon recalled to Paris.   I re-entered the
Conseil d'I}tat, with the privilege of attending the
imperial sittings, and, at my request, I was appointed
in the section of Ponts et Chaussees.
M. Mole had just been selected as head of that department. Having been born in 1780, he was but five
years my senior.   His promotion had been rapid.
Several causes had contributed to create promptly for
him  an exceptional position.  In the first place, his
name-the Emperor was fond of historic names. Then
the little circle to which he belonged. I have already
spoken of this coterie, whose chief members were M.
de Chateaubriand, M. Joubert, and M. de Fontanes.
Although quite a young man, M. Mole was the hope
of that circle.  In the last place, a book which he
wrote under the title of ' Essais de morale et de politique.' The book was imbued with the spirit of ultramonarchical reaction prevalent at the time, but was
written in a grave and sober style, flavouring of the
seventeenth century. No doubt there was much in it
to find fault with, and, later, the author himself confessed to its weak points.  Nothing in it was, however,
of a vulgar stamp, and I caused many of M. Mole's




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


IO5


detractors to read it, who, much to their regret, could
not help doing it some justice.
It was M. de Fontanes who acquainted the Emperor
with the book and with the author; but it was the
latter who built his own fortune with the Master.
The Emperor was a great genius. He was the
greatest of generals; but he was also the greatest
of causezurs.  When he wished to make himself agreeable, so say the connaisseurs who approached him,
nothing equalled the grace, the variety and the
fecundity of his conversation on any subject whatever.
His supreme rank did not, without a doubt, mar the
effect, and it imparted special interest to the most
insignificant topics; his conversation, however, used to
dwell on subjects far from insignificant.
M. Mole was the best of listeners.   He used to
grasp most delightfully the thought expressed to him,
which, when need was, he completed, and in which he
opportunely placed his own word. His large penetrating eyes caught it, so to speak, on the very lips.  His
noble and fine features reflected its least suggestion.
In him the Emperor found someone to speak to, and
to speak on any subject; a sincere and enlightened
partisan of his views, who not only understood, but
reproduced them in lofty and elegant language; a




Io6


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


natural adversary of the Jacobins and of the ideologists
-the persons whom, at that time, the Emperor most
detested. For the first time, perhaps, the Emperor's
genius found itself 'in pleasant company,' if I may use
the expression, and enjoyed it, if only because of the
novelty of the thing.
M. Mole passed, therefore, rapidly through all the
degrees. He became successively auditeur, Maitre des
Requetes, Prefect of Dijon, Conseiller d'Etat, and
Directeur-General of the Ponts et Chaussees, all
within less than three years.
His merit was perhaps not in keeping with that
unprecedented promotion, yet it was real. Although
the Revolution had broken out whilst he was at
college, and his studies had suffered accordingly, his
was, nevertheless, a cultured mind.  He had read
our best authors with pleasure and advantage. Without being painstaking, he was fitted for public affairs;
his judgment was sound, his foresight prompt and
safe.  He was only thirty years old, yet he imposed
his authority on the Conseil des Ponts et Chausseesa body composed of savants who were not wanting in
vanity. In this case, again, the favour of the Master
was not altogether opposed to the result.  But the
respect which he commanded was sincere; he kept all




OF THE DUC DE BROGUIE.


I07


his subordinates at a proper distance, and met to
perfection the Emperor's purpose, which was to bring
into the various administrative branches requiring
special knowledge, applied science under the control of
general common-sense-a very wise purpose indeed.
In purely artistic matters, he allowed the broadest
latitude to men of art, still he controlled all the rest:
transactions, contracts, intercourse with the civil
authorities, relations with owners of private property,
etc.  He instructed the auditeurs placed under him to
draw up reports on all these various questions, and to
propose their solution.
That gave us a real and, everything considered, a
well-deserved importance.
M. Mole, who had received me most courteously and
gracefully, soon intrusted me with a delicate mission.
An old and lively dispute existed between the Prefect
of the department of Sarthe and the chief engineer,
who was supported by the ordinary engineer. The
Prefect was warmly upheld in his pretensions by the
Minister of the Interior, the engineer by the Conseil
des Ponts et Chaussees. All the efforts made, either
to clear up or to appease the disagreement, failed.  M.
Mole sent me on the spot, and instructed me to visit
carefully the progress of the works throughout the




Io8


PERSONAL RE COLLECTIONS


department, as though such were the sole object of my
mission, and, unknown to the contending parties, to
institute a private inquiry, for which I was to gather
information only from trustworthy persons who were in
a position to get at the bottom of affairs.
I was to find out those persons myself, and avoid
their seeing through the object of my questions.
I spent several weeks in the department of Sarthe;
I frequented all the roads and crossways.   I also
visited Mans society, and returned to Paris only after
having collected all the information desired and
prepared the solution of the difficulty by tracing its
original cause.
In my papers will be found the minutes of my
correspondence with M. Mole, who more than once,
during the course of the events which, later on and in
turn, brought us together or separated us, reminded
me of this matter.
On my return to Paris I assiduously attended the
sittings of the Conseil d'Etat.  The Emperor used to
convene it at Saint-Cloud, and some attention was
necessary in order not to miss the sittings; sometimes
the convocation was for seven in the morning, at other
times the sittings were fixed for one o'clock in the
afternoon and lasted until night.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


og9


The chief discussions of that time which I recollect
related to the organization of Holland into French
departments.  After having ceded to   his brother
the Dutch Brabant, the Zeland, and the Gueldra,
King Louis had at last made up his mind: he had
abdicated in favour of his son; Holland had been
first occupied by French troops, and then annexed to
France.
Being called to a seat in the Conseil d'Etat, and to
assist in the transformation of their own country, the
most exalted personages of Holland displayed in those
discussions the wisdom, the energy, and the coolness
which are the national characteristics of Dutchmen.
They opposed excellent reasons to the official and
worrying pedantry which it was sought to substitute
for their local customs.  They confronted form with
substance, elaborate precautions with their traditional
probity, and  statistics with  common - sense.  The
Emperor usually decided the issue in their favour, and
did not spare sarcasm to his ordinary advisers. He
never grew  tired of repeating to the latter that,
in Dutch administration, everything was based upon
the presumption of honesty and good sense, and
in our own upon that of stupidity and fraudulent
intent.




IIO


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


However, and notwithstanding the weight of
imperial approbation, French administration carried the
day in the long run.
Those grave discussions were not interrupted by the
faustissimce nuptic of the Emperor. He used to face
everything. Business and pleasure went on together.
Having, owing to the inferiority of my position, nothing
to do officially with the event which was being celebrated by splendid festivities, I only attended them as a
mere spectator; still, being young, anxious to see
everything, and started in the official world, I scarcely
missed one.
One morning-it was, I believe, at Compiegne-the
crowd was rushing to the gallery, through which the
Emperor was passing, now with the measured step of
a Prince of ancient lineage, now with hurried and
jerked strides. Everybody made room, and on each side
stood in a row.  Owing to circumstances quite independent of my will, I found myself in the first line.  In
the midst of so many stars and ribbons and embroidered
robes and uniforms, the Emperor noticed my humble
dress, came straight to me, and asked me for my name.
I told it him; then, with a kindly smile, he spoke
a few words to me respecting my stay in the Illyrian
provinces, and moved on, satisfied, I suppose, to have, in




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I I I


anima vili, given a proof of his omniscience and ubiquity.
He was much admired for it.
Like many more, I was present at the ball, of dismal
foreboding, which Prince Schwarzenberg gave in honour
of the Emperor, lately divorced, and of the new
Empress.  I still fancy I see them, seated side by
side, on two small contiguous thrones, in the farthest
end of a wooden hall, erected in haste, but gorgeously
decorated, and built against the drawing-room of the
Montesson Pavilion, which stood in the angle formed
by the Rue du Mont-Blanc and the Rue de Provence.
The Emperor was radiant with joy; still more so was
the Empress-a Princess of rather thick features, good
appearance, high colour, and apparently of a robust
constitution; such is at least the praise which, in several
instances, is bestowed upon her by the illustrious and
national historian of that period, still famous, though
scarcely national, if the welfare and future of our
country are to be taken into account.
Everybody knows that pride played an important
part in the imperial choice; the daughter of the Cesars.
was of a better house than a Russian Princess. Everybody knows also the part played by vanity in the order
and pomp of the ceremonies.   The ceremonial then
observed was the faithful copy of that followed on the




II2


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


occasion of the marriage of Louis XVI., of whom the
Emperor often spoke as being his predecessor, and whom
he sometimes termed his 'unfortunate uncle.' The
marriage settlement of poor Marie Antoinette was
scrupulously copied in drawing up the Imperial corresponding document; in order that everything should
be correct, M. de Dreux-Breze-the grand master of
ceremonies in 1789, the Dreux-Breze of Mirabeau-had
been gravely consulted and had gravely and minutely
furnished every detail.  Providence, alas! took upon
itself to carry on the counterfeit to the bitter end, and as
regards catastrophes, to cause the copy to be the faithful
reproduction of the original.
It was half-past eleven. I had taken up my position close to the chief entrance, in a corner of the room.
My eyes wandered purposeless over the groups of dancers,
whilst, I know not why, I was counting the number of
issues which had been left on three sides, and recollecting, also I know not why, that two days before, at the
ball given at the Hotel des Invalides, all the company
were shut up in a sort of wooden cage, with scarcely
any means of exit, so that, had a fire broken out, not a
single guest could have escaped, when suddenly looking
up at the ceiling, I noticed an ornamental wreath catch
fire and blaze up. I saw, I fancy I still see, Castellane,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


113


the companion of my youth, perched up on his high
legs, stretching up his long arms, in order to tear down
the smoking wreath.  I fancy I still see the Emperor,
whose eyes were then animated with the glance of the
battle-field, snatching hurriedly the Empress's arm,
dragging her along in his rapid, though even and
measured step. He pointed out with the hand that was
left free the various doors to the affrighted guests, who
shrieked without moving, and turned round to consider
the extent of the disaster, as he descended the small
stairs leading on to the garden.
Hte was well advised not to have hesitated, for his
foot had scarcely reached the grass when all the
chandeliers fell on the first-floor with a fearful crash;
and he had hardly crossed the last garden when the
staircase itself gave way under the weight of the people
who sought to escape.
I saw, I fancy I still see, poor Prince Kourakin,
eaten up with gout, covered with diamonds, and whose
enormous body was caught in the ruins, from under
which General Hulot, brother to the wife of Marshal
Moreau, was endeavouring to extricate him with his
remaining arm.  I fancy I still hear the heart-rending
shrieks of the victims, and those, perhaps no less so, of
the friends and relations who were calling and looking
VOL. I.                               8




I14


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


for each other in the darkness of the bowers, dimly
illumined by the lanterns hung up in the trees.  I
fancy I still see-a sight which I scarcely expectedM. de Chauvelin knocking his head against the trees,
and uttering loud and desperate lamentations because
of his failing to discover his wife, who did not ordinarily seem so dear to his heart.
Three-quarters of an hour had been passed in carrying the wounded to M. Regnault de Saint -Jean
d'Angely's hotel, situated in the Rue de Provence, facing
the garden, and in calming anxious people and consoling those whose friends or relations were dead or
wounded, when we saw the Emperor coming back,
wrapped in his gray frock-coat, his small hat placed
straight on his head, and, if my memory is right,
followed by the Grand Marshal Duroc and the Duke
of Rovigo.
He had accompanied the Empress to the extremity
of the Champs Ilysees; there, he had left her to make
her way alone to Saint-Cloud.
With his eyes fixed straight before him, and without
uttering a single word, he proceeded to inspect the
smoking ruins of the hall. I lost sight of him, plenty
of people being much more anxious than I was to see
the Master and to be seen. I was told, on the spot,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I I 5


that the charred remains of the unfortunate Princess
of Schwartzenberg, reduced to the size of a child
six years old, and identified by her diamond necklace,
which had remained intact, had been found in the
Emperor's presence. She had, apparently, re-entered
the burning hall in order to look for her daughter, and
the flooring, which covered a small lake, dried up for
tile purpose of building the hall, had given way under
her feet.  We have all known, either in Paris, London,
or Vienna, that daughter for whom the Princess lost
her life.  She was an amiable and cultured lady,
whom the stern hand of Death soon ravished from the
midst of the society of which she was the brightest
ornament.
The Emperor remained scarcely more than an hour
to inspect the scene of that fearful disaster, giving instructions, comforting or advising wherever required.
It has often been related that, after his departure, and
when the whole of the guests, those who were hurt and
those who were not, had left, the attaches of embassies
and their friends sat down to supper, and thus spent
gaily the rest of the night.  Having stayed very late
in that place of desolation, I did not see anything of
the kind, and feel convinced that the report is one
of those stories which are circulated as the necessary
8-2




II6


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


complement of all great catastrophes, and to satisfy the
malevolence of the masses.
I returned home about three o'clock in the morning.
I was then living in the Rue de la Madeleine, at the
corner of the Rue de la Ville l'Eveque, in a house
adjoining a timber-yard which has since disappeared.
The terrible scenes I had just witnessed haunted
my sleep, or rather that nervous slumber which follows
upon great mental agitation, and during which we
neither sleep nor wake. At daybreak I fell soundly
asleep, but was suddenly roused.  I was dreaming
of what I had seen a few hours before, and it seemed to
me as though the ceiling of the ballroom was falling
over my head; and the fact was that one of the piles of
timber in the adjoining yard had just tumbled down
with a terrible noise.  I rose hurriedly, saturated with
cold perspiration.
That sad occurrence put a stop to the public rejoicings, and left far-seeing minds face to face with the
anxieties, unmingled with any illusion, which the
coming war with Russia, of which the Austrian marriage
was but the prelude, and the still more inevitable
schism in the Church, awakened.
Indeed, everybody knows that, six years after the
signing of the Concordat, one of the two authors




OF THE DUG DE BROGLIE.


II7


of that eminently wise instrument was detaining the
other a close prisoner at Savone.  The Pope was
allowed to see and communicate only with his gaolers;
he was deprived of paper, pencils, ink, and pens.  It
is also known that the Pope, by way of legitimate
reprisals, was refusing to institute twenty-two bishops
appointed by the Emperor, and forbidding diocesan
chapters to admit those bishops, even as simple
capitulary vicars.
The storm which was threatening in those quarters
soon broke out over MI. Portalis's head.
His crime was being aware of what everybody knew
-that there existed a papal bull, forbidding the
Chapter of Paris to receive Cardinal Maury, and to
have also known what could be readily guessed-that
the papal bull was in the hands of the Abbe d'Astros,
first capitulary vicar. As Directeur G6neral de l'Imprimerie et de la Librairie, M. Portalis had nothing to
do with finding out and prosecuting a written document
which it was not intended to print; but, seeing that he
was the near relation of the Abbe d'Astros, he became
the scapegoat, and upon him fell the imperial wrath.
The Emperor's anger manifested itself on the 2nd or
3rd of January, 1811. It was not unforeseen. Everybody expected it, and the Conseil d'Etat was the place




PERSONAIL E COLLE CTIONS


appointed for its display; on meeting, everybody was,
therefore, whispering to his neighbour, and merely pretending to be discussing.  The Emperor came in at the
'sual hour.  I will not say that he looked severe, but
rather that he put on a mask of severity; everything
was affected in the scene which he had prepared.
He sat down, took his glasses in his fingers and held
them in the direction of M. Portalis.  After this, he
selected, from the order of the day, the item upon which
he opened the debate, putting the questions himself in
order to be answered.
Having several times renewed the same tactics, like
a cat who watches a mouse before clawing it, he turned
to the Arch-Chancellor, and asked him  whether M.
Portalis was present.  The latter having bowed affirmatively, the Emperor, so to speak, pounced upon his
victim, after the manner of a bird of prey, and shook
it, as it were, for more than an hour and a half, without
giving it time either to answer or yet to breathe.  At
length, having exhausted his vocabulary of invective,
and being out of breath, he ended with the following
crushing apostrophe:
'Leave my council, that I may never see you
again; go forty leagues away from Paris.'
Poor M. Portalis, who had had no opportunity to




OF THE DUC DE BROGIUE.


II9


speak a word, lost no time in obeying. He left hurriedly, forgetting, on his little desk, a half-opened notebook and his hat.
During all the time of the imperial speech, the
whole council remained silent and awe-stricken. Two
of its members, however, and I state it to their credit,
were courageous enough-for it needed courage to do
so-to interfere in that fable of the wolf and the lamb.
These were M. Pasquier and M. Regnault de Saint-Jean
d'Angely.
Had anyone been in the wrong, M. Pasquier, recently
appointed Prefect of Police, should have been the only
guilty party; he was not afraid of reminding his master
of it. M. Regnault, as was his wont, went to the
rescue of the weak, through sheer spirit of justice and
kindness of nature.
M. Pasquier, with whom I was already acquainted
(he had most obligingly, at the time of my mission in
the Sarthe Department, offered me a letter of introduction to his brother, who was Sub-prefect at La Fleche),
was then in the flower of his age. Having been born
in 1767, he was about forty-four years old. Being
heir to a name famous on the bench, and of which he
showed himself worthy in every respect, he entered
Parliament at the time when the turbulence of the Abbe




120


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Sabathier and of M. d'Espremesnil was the foreboding
of the storms of the Revolution; but he had no seat in
the Assemblee Constituante or in the Assemblee Legislative. Having been suspected during the Terror, he
only escaped through the discreet protection of Levasseur (from the Sarthe Department), a tolerably wellknown conventionnel and surgeon of his family; and
though he was finally arrested, that was late enough to
enable him to regain his liberty on the 9th of Thermidor. He often told me that, during those frightful
times, he had willingly, and at the same time in spite
of himself, witnessed the execution of Louis XVI.
' I occupied,' he said, ' an humble residence situate at
the end of the boulevard, close to the spot now occupied
by the Church of the Madeleine. I saw the fatal
tumbril slowly advancing; I heard the vociferations of
the mob which followed it. There was a vague rumour
that, before the execution, an attempt would be made
to rescue the august victim.  I did not believe it, but,
at all hazards, I left my house and mixed with the
crowd.   Having once entered the human stream, I
found it impossible to get away. I was first pushed
along, and then carried somehow quite close to the
scaffold, which had been erected at the entrance of the
Champs Elysees. I neither heard the words spoken by




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


121


the King, nor his conversation with the Abbe Edgeworth; but, whilst gazing on the crowd which was
uttering ferocious yells, I fancied that the faces bore
the stamp of terror a great deal more than that of fury.
When the executioner held aloft the gory head, all
that crowd, extending from the river to the Garde
Meuble, shouted with one voice, "Vive la Nation!"
and dispersed in every direction as fast as it could. A
few minutes afterwards, the executioner and his assistants
were the only occupiers of the square.'
Having remained away from public affairs under the
Convention and under the Directory, M. Pasquier was
on the point of entering into the Conseil d'Etat, during
the last year of the Consulate, when the murder of the
Due d'Enghien led him to give up his intention. Some
years after, he was appointed Maitre des Requetes, and
owing to his name and to his personal merit, he, like
M. Mole, soon rose to the rank of Conseiller d'Etat;
the Emperor having had the happy thought of modifying the character of the Prefecture of Police, and of
making it quite a political-a municipal-institution,
he insisted upon entrusting M. Pasquier with the duty
of carrying out that reform. And, indeed, he could not
have made a better choice.
M. Regnault was older than M. Pasquier, and, like




122


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


him, he was kind and obliging to me. Belonging to a
poor family whose members were honourably known as
petty magistrates, he had been brought up in the house
of President Saint-Fargeau, with the notorious Michel
Lepeletier. When a barrister, he became a member of
the AssembleCe Constituante; and although he sat on the
Liberal side of that House, he did not participate in
its excesses. On the 10th of August he was amongst the
defenders of the King; on the 13th of Vendemiaire he
sided with the adversaries of the Convention.  Circumstances having, during the campaign of Italy and at the
outset of the expedition to Egypt, brought him in contact with General Bonaparte, he actively supported the
18th of Brumaire. Having entered the Conseil d'ltat,
his rare aptitudes, varied knowledge, and facility as an
orator rapidly carried him to the post of head of the
department of the Interior and secured his appointment as Secretary of State to the imperial family.
The Emperor, who loved and appreciated him highly,
would doubtless have appointed him Minister of the
Interior, had he not regarded with mistrust the society
frequented by M. Regnault.
Of that society I only knew the esoteric part, if I
may use the word; that which used to meet at the
evenings of Madame Regnault, a lady of good birth,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLLIE.


I23


handsome, elegant, and highly esteemed at Court.
That society was mixed, and used to bring together,
on a footing of familiarity, public and business men,
men of the world and literary men, fashionable
ladies such as Madame Regnault herself, and ladies of
wit like Madame Hamelin and Madame Gay; but, as
a very modern writer maliciously puts it, 'more men
than husbands were to be seen there.'
Like all my colleagues of the Conseil d'Etat, I used
to visit that house.  I used also to attend the parties
given by Madame Hamelin and by Madame Gay,
both of which, I may say so without fear of exaggeration, were frequented by a society similar in every
respect to that one met at Madame Regnault's.
At the house of the latter I generally used to meet
with many men fully deserving to be known, amongst
others, Nepomucene Lemercier, with whom  I since
became intimate.  His character was one of the most
honourable of the time, and his mind one of the most
original.




124


PERSONAL RE COLLECTIONS


III.
1811.
I SPENT the first months of 1811 in Paris, working
a little, though less than I could have wished; studying
a little, though less than I ought to have done; devoting
myself with no energy to the distractions of official and
social life, though preferring the intercourse of everyday life in the same houses and with the same persons.
I generally finished my evenings at the houses of
Madame de la Grange and Madame Esmenard.
Madame de la Grange was a very old lady, an
intimate friend of Madame de Menou, the mother-inlaw of one of my sisters, and I had been introduced to
her house when first I entered society.  I was almost
like one of her family, which in itself was very
numerous.
Her eldest son was a general of division, and had
lost his right arm at the battle of Essling.  He had
married the widow of the unfortunate Suleau, one of




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I25


the victims of the massacre of the 10th of August,
and her father was a well-known painter in his day.
She was beautiful, amiable, and kind.  The course of
events, and the difference of our political opinions,
separated us, to my regret, under the Restoration.
Madame de la Grange's second son was a colonel.
He married a daughter of the Prince de Beauvau, and
to me he entrusted the mission of soliciting her hand
for him in marriage.
Her third son, at that time aide-de-camp to the
Prince of Neuchatel, afterwards became general of
division. He is now a senator.
Her fourth son, who had risen to the rank of colonel,
resigned his commission to become Secretary of Embassy,
and married at Vienna.
Madame de la Grange had also a daughter, a lady
of very amiable disposition, and of a highly cultured
mind; she was at that time maid-of-honour to the
Queen of Naples.   She married Colonel Carriere, a
good friend of mine.
When a young man I had been introduced to
Madame Esmenard by her husband, whom I had
frequently met in literary circles; he was a man of
education, and possessed a real talent for poetry.
Though not exactly brilliant, he had a refined mind.




126


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I do not know to what family Madame Esmenard
belonged; at any rate, she was a lady of lofty
character, even temper, well-balanced mind, and a
desirable acquaintance.  She had, at that time, three
very young daughters, the youngest of whom is now
a canoness in Bavaria.  She used to receive a rather
limited circle of wits and literati. At her house I
became acquainted with M. de Rossel, the travelling
companion of d'Entrecasteaux. I may here mention
that at her house it was that I met also a person who,
under the name of General Dubourg, which I fancy was
only assumed, played since almost a leading part in the
revolution of July.
My stay in Paris and my state of expectancy would
have been fairly pleasant, if I had had nothing to think
about besides my own personal enjoyment, but I saw
my colleagues being promoted one after another,
without there being any thought of me, although I
was generally spoken of in favourable terms.  However,
one evening, on entering M. de Bassano's drawing-room,
where I was received as a special favour, the master of
the house came up to me in a manner at the same time
embarrassed and haughty, and informed me that that
very morning I had been appointed as one of a batch of
auditears who were to accompany Baron Dudon, lately




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I27


appointed Maitre des Requetes, to the Northern Army in
Spain; he then left me without waiting for my reply.
I was thunderstruck.  It was not what might exactly
be termed a disgrace-my position could not have
warranted such an expression upon my lips-yet I was
greatly mortified.
My companions in exile were nearly all my juniors;
as for our chief, he was our equal but a day before.  A
mission to Spain was generally disliked, because of the
odious way in which things were carried on there, and
of the dangers attending it; besides which, that mission
being left to its evil fate in the Emperor's mind, once
sent out there, no return could be expected, no promotion hoped for.
On returning home I found the letter of appointment
waiting for me, and I spent the night in considering
what line of action I should take.
I could protest, I could plead my seniority and my
services; but I was in a state of irritation, and the idea
of asking anything for myself or of allowing anything
to be asked for me, I rejected.
I could certainly send in my resignation, but owing
to the difficulties and dangers attending the mission,.
I was afraid that my motives might be misinterpreted.
After weighing all considerations, I decided that it




128


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


would- be more dignified and prudent to start at once,
without even waiting for the order, without taking
leave of my superiors, without any complaint, to suffer
personally so far as I thought necessary in order to
protect my reputation, and then to send in my resignation if justice were persistently denied me.
I hastened my preparations without saying a word,
and started without seeing either M. de Bassano, the
High Chancellor, M. Mole, or even M. Dudon again.
I merely stopped at Ormes to say good-bye to my
mother, and left as soon as I heard of M. Dudon's departure for our common destination.
On my passage through Bordeaux, I was present at
the theatre the day when, between the two pieces, the
birth of the King of Rome was announced; and I
noticed, not without a certain amount of malicious
satisfaction, that, in spite of the efforts and precautions
taken by the Prefecture, the event was very coldly
received, only arousing a very meagre enthusiasm. My
own personal feelings were quite in harmony with those
evinced by the generality of the audience.
Having arrived at Bayonne, I learnt that M. Dudon
had already started, taking an escort with him at every
-stage. Having no right to demand so much, I was
obliged to wait until the next convoy should be formed.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


129


I remained at Bayonne about a fortnight. My companions in exile having arrived in the meantime, we
made each other's acquaintance.
The most distinguished amongst them was Pepin de
Bellisle. He was a man of a rare mind and a noble
heart. As,a matter of fact, he was much more to be
pitied, and had been treated a great deal more scurvily
than I.  His elder brother, who was also an auditeur,
had been sawn between two planks at Santarem, near
Lisbon. It was surely more than harsh not to have
remembered that fact when drawing up the list of
young men to be sent on such a pleasant excursion.
After him came Frochot, the only son of the Prefect
of Paris, a young man of great promise, endowed with
brilliant qualities and noble aspirations, though rather
a spoilt child, quick to take offence, and of a diffident
disposition.
I grew intimate with both of them, and was on
friendly terms with all.  O'Donnell, the favourite
pupil of my cousin, Alexandre de Lamech; Dutilleul,
brother-in-law to M. Mollien, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Duval de Beaulieu, a young Belgian, who
has since then played a most honourable part in the
affairs of his country; Fargues, the son of the senator
of that name; Saint-Chamans, brother of the General
VOL...                              9




I3o


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


so well known for his noble conduct during the revolution of July-they all, from the very first, displayed
towards me a friendliness which I returned, and which
ever after remained unchanged.
Montlear was only with us for a very short period;
he had contracted a left-handed marriage with the
Princess of Carignan, mother of the future King of
Sardinia, and this marriage having been made public,
he was speedily recalled.
The time having come to despatch a convoy, for
which an escort was generally provided at each stage,
we set off on horseback at a slow pace, following a
long train of carriages, and naturally disputing with
the other persons composing the convoy the miserable
sleeping accommodation offered by a country already
ruined by a war of five years' duration.
All I will say of the aspect of the country is that the
province of Biscay appeared to me very fertile, whereas
the two Castiles looked very barren: but, it being
strictly forbidden us to leave the road hemmed in by
our escort, lest we should be carried off by the insurgents and subjected to torture, I could not see much,
even supposing that anything remained to be seen,
amid the ruins of so many burnt villages. We travelled
for about a fortnight, including a stay of twenty-four




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


r3


hours at Vittoria and another of like duration at Burgos.  At last we reached Valladolid, where Marshal
Bessieres had established his headquarters. M. Dudon
was already there waiting for us.
Marshal Bessieres, who was killed later (1813) at
the battle of Lutzen, was tall, thin, and bony, and
stooped a little.  He used   to  powder his hair,
and wore it flat; his manner was cold and polite.
Like all military men, he did not look on the civil
assistants sent to him with a particularly favourable
eye, and preferred his commissaries of war; he, how.
ever, received us tolerably well.
M. Dudon, who was then thirty-five years old at the
outside, belonged to a good family of the Parliament of
Bordeaux.   He had begun his career as substitut in
the magistracy, and as auditeur in the Conseil d' tat.
Two misfortunes of a different kind had, however,
befallen him in the performance of his duties.  Speaking during the course of a celebrated divorce suit, he
had given his decree in favour of the woman, and had
married her later on, she being older and richer than
he was.  In 1806, having, as auditelur, been entrusted
with the despatch-box, he lost it on his way, and being
afraid to present himself at headquarters empty-handed,
he returned to Paris in order to acquaint the High
9-2




132


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Chancellor, a well-wisher of his, with his misfortune.
These two events had ruined his reputation, the
former as a magistrate, the latter in the Conseil d'i]tat;
so that after seven or eight years of public services his
position had not improved. It was only with great
difficulty, and because of his willingness to accept a
post which everyone else declined, that he secured his
appointment as Maitre des Requetes.  He was, for all
that, a cultivated, intelligent, active, and energetic
man, with whom intercourse was most agreeable. I
am unable to state whether he deserved all that was
said about him later on, and in very different circumstances; but during the time I served under him I can
certainly testify to the integrity of his administration.
The very day after our arrival, he settled with
Marshal Bessieres as to how the vacant posts were to
be distributed amongst us.
The territory occupied by the Army of the North was
divided into five Governments, which bore the numbers
3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
The third extended its jurisdiction over the province
of Navarre;
The fourth, over the provinces of Biscay, of Alava,
of Guipuscoa, and of Santander;




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I33


The fifth, over the provinces of Burgos and of
Soria;
The sixth, over the provinces of Valencia, of Valladolid, of Leon, of Toro, and of Zamora;
The seventh comprised the provinces of Salamanca
and of Ciudad Rodrigo.
If I am not mistaken, this thorough dismemberment
of the Spanish monarchy was destined to become, in
petto imperiale, an integral part of the French monarchy,
and it was proposed to divide it soon into departments.
For this reason a decree of January 15th, 1811,
which was fully explained in a series of minute instructions, had appointed, under the orders of Marshal
Bessieres, a Commissary-General, assisted by an unlimited number of auditealrs, as the head of the five
Governments, and had given him the upper hand over
the military administration itself.  The five Governments were all equally subjected (on paper, at least) to
the procedure of the French Administration.
The following divisions of territory were allotted to
us:
Pepin de Bellisle was sent as Commissary to Santander;




I 34


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


O'Donnell, to Vittoria;
Fargues, to Burgos, where he was later on replaced
by Feutrier;
Patry, into Asturia;
Saint-Chamans, to Palencia;
Mahe de Villeneuve, to Leon;
Gaultier, to Soria;
Gossuin, to Toro.
Those whose names follow remained at Valladolid,
viz.:
Duval de Beaulieu, as Commissary;
I, as Secretary-General;
Dutilleul, as Chef de la Comptabilite, under the
orders of his brother, at that time ReceveurGeneral;
Frochot, as Attache to the Commissariat-General.
M. Bessieres, being a relation of the Marshal, retained the Commissariatship of Navarre.
The town having been abandoned by its principal
inhabitants, lodgings were plentiful in Valladolid.  I at
first took up my quarters in very roomy, decent, and
cheap apartments situate in the chief square of the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


'35


town; but I did not occupy them long. I had only
been there two days, when, on getting up and looking
from the window, the first thing that met my sight was
a wretched priest who was being strangled in the
Spanish fashion. He was made to sit on a chair, and
choked by means of a cord which was passed round his
neck and tightened by means of a. wooden instrument.
There were eight others at the foot of the scaffold, all
reciting their prayers and waiting their turn. I started
back in horror, and the very same day I removed elsewhere.
After that Frochot and I went to live in a house
which was entirely empty; but we had the door and
the windows repaired.  We had fireplaces built, and
we put in sufficient furniture, so that the owners, when
they returned, must certainly have found it in a far
better state than when they left it. 
There was no society to frequent at Valladolid; no
house was opened to us; there was no theatre, and no
one to be seen in the public places. We Frenchmen
lived among ourselves.  Luckily the staff of the
Marshal consisted of men of eminence, several of whom
I knew.  General Caesar Delaville, a Piedmontese, a
man of a cultivated mind and of very high character;
Adrien d'Astorg; Auguste de Forbin, who was known




I36


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


as a successful painter and man of the world. At the
time I am speaking of, he was on duty with the Army
of Portugal.
The Marshal had always been fond of being surrounded by men of position, and he always treated
them with politeness, but without ever losing sight of
his dignity. M. de Montrond told me that one day,
when dining with him at Antwerp, he asked him to
allow one of his orderly officers to sit at the end of
the table.  That officer was the Duke de la Force, who
had lost everything he possessed except his sword.
All our amusements consisted in a few excursions in
the immediate neighbourhood of the town, when the
Governor, General Kellermann, allowed it, which he
did but seldom, and with good reason; in a few rides
on the ramparts; and, lastly, in a few walks along the
banks of the Douro, inside the town itself. And even
that pleasure had its dangers, for one evening, whilst
lying on the grass, we suddenly heard bullets whistling
about our ears, which proceeded from a small body of
insurgents who were firing on us from the opposite
bank of the river.
As for our work, it was excessive, but it had nothing
attractive in it. We were in one of the least hardlyused districts of Spain, at some distance from the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I37


theatre of war.  The territory was placed under a
mixed Government, where the harshness of a military
administration was softened by the co-operation and
the control of a civil administration; and, with the
secret design of annexing it to France, our chiefs were
instructed to deal gently with it.  Marshal Bessieres
was a cold, without being a hard, man, and severe
without being cruel. M. Dudon and all of us, his
assistants, made it a point of honour to protect the inhabitants as far as we possibly could, and to secure for
them, as far as it depended on us, the guarantees which
were part and parcel of the French legal administration. But, however much we might try, it was, nevertheless, almost impossible for us to escape the terrible
necessities of the time and the place.
I have opened at haphazard the register of Marshal
Bessieres' orders from April 11th, the date of our
arrival, to July 15th, the date of our departure-of
which register I have kept a copy-and I find, mixed
up together, the following minutes:
'1. Seeing that the presence of brigands in the partidos of Cevica and Peniafiel is favoured by the greater
part of the inhabitants;
'An extraordinary contribution of 400,000 reals on




I38


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the partido of Cevica del Torre, in the province of
Palencia, and of 300,000 reals on Peniafiel, in the
province of Valladolid, shall be levied.
'These contributions are to be paid without delay.
'2. Seeing that the refusal of the inhabitants of
Valladolid to furnish provisions, which we ordered in
our requisition of March 26th, threatens the safety
of the army;
'That this refusal is not occasioned by the scarcity
of grain, but by the ill-will of the inhabitants;
' That under such circumstances it becomes necessary
to make those responsible who, by their wealth, their
position, and the esteem in which they are held amongst
the common people, have the most influence on their
mind;
' An extraordinary contribution of a million of reals
is levied on the town of Valladolid.
'This contribution is to be distributed as follows:
500,000 reals on trade; 250,000 reals on the clergy;
250,000 reals on the inhabitants.  These sums are to
be paid within five days of this present decision.
'The Commissary-General will give to us a list
of fifty persons taken from amongst the most well-to-do
of each class, who shall be obliged to pay the contribution, sauf leur recours contre qui il appartiendra, under




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


I39


the penalty of being forced by means of military
execution.'
Another order of the 27th follows, which draws up
the list of the fifty:
' 3. Seeing the different reports as to the conduct of
the clergy of the province of Alava;
' All the canons of the Cathedral of Vittoria, all the
ex-monks residing in the province of Alava, and all
ecclesiastics whose conduct does not fully guarantee the
fidelity of their principles and their attachment to the
Government, are to be arrested at once.
' 4. Seeing that the merciful measures by which we
hoped to bring the people to submission have only
resulted in increasing the number of insurgents and of
partisans;
'A list is to be drawn up under the care of the
municipalities of the towns, and of the justices in
the villages, of all those persons who have left their
domiciles, and who do not live in the places occupied
by the French troops.
' All these persons shall be obliged to return within
a month; and when that term is over they shall be
supposed to form part of the bands of insurgents, and
their goods shall be confiscated, and all persons of
whom they are creditors in whatever respect, are for



I40


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


bidden to pay anything except into the hands of the
administrators of the national revenue.
'The fathers, mothers, brothers, children, nephews
of these individuals are declared responsible, either in
property or in person, for every act of brigandage
committed by the insurgents.
' If any inhabitant is carried off from his domicile,
three of the nearest relations of a brigand are to be
arrested at once as hostages. If that individual is put
to death by the insurgents, the hostages are to be shot
at once without any further formalities.
'Every person who shall absent himself from his
district for more than three days, from the date of the
publication of the present order, without permission,
shall be regarded as having gone over to the brigands;
his property shall be confiscated and sold within three
months, and all his relations indicated in Article 3
shall be arrested.
' No inhabitant will any longer be allowed to leave
his district without being provided with a passport,
which will be given him for a limited period. This
passport will only be given on the attestation of two
persons domiciled in the district, who shall guarantee
that at the expiration of the term mentioned in the
passport the bearer of it shall return to his district, or




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


14r


shall justify himself by residing in some place occupied
by the French army. In the opposite case the two
guarantors shall be arrested and taken to prison.
'Domiciliary searches will be made according to
the orders of commandants de place at such periods as
they shall think fit, and any person not provided with
ilne carte de setrete will be arrested at once.
'Those also will be arrested who harbour any individual who neither has a passport nor sune carte de
silrete.
'Anyone convicted of having held any communication
with the brigands shall suffer the punishment of death.
' The different districts are responsible for any damage
inflicted on national property, and also for any sums
of money, grain or animals, provisions or anything
else which belongs to the State, which may have
been carried off by the brigands without the inhabitants
offering resistance.
' The district where any damage shall have taken
place, or from where anything shall have been carried
off, shall be bound to make good the value of the loss
at once; and it will be reimbursed by an extraordinary
contribution to be levied only on the fathers, mothers,
brothers, sisters, and children of those who have taken
flight, or of brigands.




142


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


' Should such persons refuse to pay the sum which
is due from them on the assessment, their goods shall
be sold at the suit of the Commissary of the province
without any necessity for a judgment or of any
judicial act.
' 5. Considering the report which we have received
as to the conduct of the inhabitants of the district of
Morales, in the province of Zamora, and of that of the
same name in the province of Toro, and which show
that they have not conformed to the dispositions of
our order of the day of June 11, 1811, in which we
enjoined on the inhabitants to inform the commandants
of French garrisons and troops when bands of brigands
were on their territory, under pain of exemplary
punishment:
'An extraordinary contribution of 120,000 reals
shall be levied on the district of Morales, in the
province of Zamora, and of 100,000 reals on the
district of Morales, in the province of Toro.
'The cures of these districts are to be arrested and
taken to prison until they can be led out of the
country.
'Ten hostages will be taken from   amongst the
richest inhabitants of these districts, and they will be
retained until the whole contribution is paid up.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


'If within five days of the notification of this order
the extraordinary contribution is not paid, the districts
will be dealt with summarily.'
When, after the lapse of forty-six years, I read
again these terrible words, in which one would rather
see the language of a terrorist in Vendee than that
of a marshal of France, speaking in the name of the
author of the Code Civil and of the Concordat, I cannot
repress a feeling of deep regret and humiliation.  I
certainly had no hand in these acts; I had no voice
in the matter; and my name, placed below that of the
Marshal, only appeared there as a matter of form, just
like the name of some clerk at the bottom of some
warrant with which he has nothing to do. Nevertheless, I am fully sensible of the fact that I ought to
have risked everything rather than to have lent myself
to it; and I may think myself very lucky that none of
those orders which were printed and fixed to the walls
of Valladolid fell into the hands of the journalists
whilst I was minister. It would have been difficult to
have explained them, and party spirit would have made
good use of them.
A short time after we were regularly installed,
Marshal Bessieres left us with a portion of his army to
go to the aid of Marshal Massena, who was again




144


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


entering Spain after his disastrous campaign in Portugal, and who was closely pressed by the Duke of
Wellington.   The two Marshals between them, as
everybody knows, lost the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro,
and ours returned to us very much dissatisfied with
his colleague, who, for his part, was just as much so
with him.
Marshal Massena having been recalled, we saw him
pass through Valladolid with the remains of his staff in
rather a pitiable plight, accompanied by the wretched
mistress he had dragged with him all through his
campaign. He seemed to me very old, very broken,
and almost decrepit, although he was little more than
sixty years of age.  It certainly was a miserable and
ridiculous sight.
I think, without venturing to assert it, that it was
during the short period that elapsed between the return
of Marshal Bessieres and his departure for France, where
he went to assume again the command of the cavalry
of the Guard, that King Joseph arrived. That Prince
had obtained from the universal lord the permission to
be present at the baptism of the King of Rome, and to
take that occasion to plead the cause of his subjects.
I am only saying what was said then.
As a matter of fact, it is well known that at that




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I45


time it was his theme-or, if one likes it better, his
hobby-to maintain that in Spain all the difficulties
sprang from the presence of French troops, from the
exactions of their commanders, the number and the
harshness of the military executions; that beloved,
nay, adored as he was by the Spaniards, he would
reign peacefully and gloriously, if only he were relieved
of these mischievous allies.
M. Thiers has very rightly judged what amount of
truth there may be under this bragging; but the truth
is, that all the Spaniards who either had no arms, or
had arms no longer in their hands, speculated on the
vanity of their sham king in this respect, being quite
certain that if they had only him to deal with they
would soon get rid of him.
Everybody, therefore, was very curious to know
what he brought back with him from Paris, and how
far his eloquence, assisted by the need the Emperor
might have of his Spanish veterans to conquer Russia
and to drive the English out of India, might have
worked. Therefore, we were very much astonished to
see, at a levee which Joseph held at Valladolid, crowds
of Spaniards altogether unknown to us, and sprung
as it were from the ground, coming to kiss his hand.
The palace of the Government was full of them, and
VOL. I.                               10




146


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the King seemed delighted at it.  Less foolish than he
was, his visitors, after having heard him, withdrew sad
and discomfited, and we never heard anything more of
them. Nothing was more dull and slow than the state
dinner which the Spanish Commissary, Roxa, gave us
in honour of the happy return of his Majesty.
Towards the end of July, General Dorsenne, one of
the generals of the Young Guard, two divisions of
which, I believe, figured in our army, came to replace
Marshal Bessieres.  He was rather young and handsome, or, if one prefers the word, an insipidly goodlooking soldier, severe and haughty, d'un esprit court,
but upright and devoted to his duties. Under his administration the acts to which I alluded just now
became more frequent, and their harshness increased
from day to day.
The decree relating to the supreme police measures
against the relatives of insurgents was published anew,
embellished with clauses and provisions which might
perhaps have inspired the National Convention with
some scruples in its better moments; amongst others,
the provision which dissolved marriages contracted
between parties whose names appeared on the fatal
lists.
During the latter months of 1811, General Dorsenne




OF TIlE DUC DE BROGLIE.


147


and the Commissary-General visited nearly every part
of the territory occupied by the Army of the North.
They then lived amicably together. I accompanied
General Dorsenne as    Secretary-General;  Frochot
accompanied M. Dudon, and we travelled together in a
comfortable cabriolet, drawn by two excellent mules.
We went through the provinces of Medina del
Rioseco and of Palencia, a very fertile but quite flat
country, without either water or woods, and without a
trace of verdure, and thus we reached the kingdom of
Leon.  There the aspect was very different. It is the
theatre of the Diana of Monte lMayor. The plains of
Leon are watered by the Ezla and by a great number of
streams which descend from the mountains of Asturia
and Galicia. Interspersed by high ground and valleys,
intersected by avenues which line the streams, they
present a very charming and varied scene.
Our excursion extended as far as the entrance to the
gorges of Asturia; but we did not go through them, as
they are almost inaccessible except on horseback.
Besides that, we should have had to run the risk of
being fired at by the insurgents from under cover, and
of losing men uselessly. We might even have been
hemmed in, and then compelled to have forced our way
out again.
10-2




148


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


These gorges of Asturia remind me of the first scenes
of ' Gil Bias,' though I really do not know why, since
'Gil Blas' is a romance, and Lesage was never in
Spain. When from the heights of the Castle of Edinburgh one takes in at one glance the spots where
Walter Scott has fixed the scenes of his principal works
of fiction, there at least all is not fictitious, for the
author is drawing according to nature. Had Lesage
pictured it to himself or copied the reality at second
hand, or did my memory mislead me?  I do not know,
but what is certain is, that learned Spaniards claim the
original right to ' Gil Blas '-a claim which, as far as
its author is concerned, is worth more than all praises.
From the foot of the mountains of the Asturias we
went to Astorga, a small fortified town which closes
the entrance into Galicia.  Taken and retaken, this
unhappy place, with its narrow, crooked, and smoky
streets, presented a sorrowful sight.  Within it was
little better than a heap of ruins, but the fortifications
had been repaired with some care.
From Astorga we descended to Benvento, following
the course of the Ezla, which falls into the Douro near
that town; and on the banks of that river the whole
troop that accompanied the General-in-Chief, and he
himself first of all, was greeted by a volley from the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I49


other side. A few voltigeurs were sent after the insurgents, but without overtaking them. No one was
wounded, however.
We followed the course of the Douro from Benvento
to Zamora, a small town of about 10,000 inhabitants,
which is on the extreme frontier between Spain and
Portugal, and which contains nothing remarkable except
a palace of the Cid, which is in ruins. From  this
spot, still descending the river, we reached Toro,
another little town of about the same size, which had
likewise nothing remarkable in itself, but the name of
which is historical. There were promulgated, in 1505,
the famous laws of Toro, which form the basis of
Spanish legislation.
Returning to Valladolid, we stopped at Simancas, a
small town, where are kept, in a strong castle, the
archives of the Spanish monarchy-secret archives if
ever there were any, at least till the French invasion.
But at the period of which I am speaking it was given
up to subordinates, and was in a reduced state of confusion and almost of pillage.
M. Dudon busied himself, during the few hours
which he spent in visiting them, in reorganizing the
service de conservation, and gave strict orders that no one
should be admitted except by express permission of the




150


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


King or of the French administration; and thus he
took care of what was most needful for the moment.
As for me, I employed my few hours in hunting
amongst the archives, and suddenly I came on a little
dirty and torn manuscript in a, very bad state, which
had this title: ' Breves memorias de las vidas y tragicas
muertes de don Carlos, principe de Asturias, hijo de
Felipe II., rey de Espaia, y dofia Isabel de Valois,
princesa de Francia, muger de dicho Felipe II.'
I thought I had indeed found a treasure.  Such a
manuscript in such a place, the account of such an
event, apparently just as it had happened, since pains
had been taken to bury it in the sacred archives of the
iniquities of the monarchy. What a stroke of luck!
At last I was about to find the answer to this mysterious
and sad enigma. But the time was short. General
Dorsenne, who cared very little about such trifles, gave
orders to mount, and it was as much as anyone's life
was worth to be fifty yards behind.  I settled the
matter with the custodian, who was very glad to be
remis sur pied, and who, moreover, could refuse us
nothing.  He promised to have the manuscript copied,
and to send it to me to Valladolid.
He kept his promise; but nothing is done quickly in
Spain, so it only reached me just as I was setting




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I51


out for France, and was sent to my address in the
modest amount of luggage which I left behind me.
But then, again, nothing goes quickly in Spain, and so
I did not receive my luggage till the moment when I
was starting to continue my official pilgrimages. I
had no time to decipher a manuscript in very bad
Spanish handwriting.  I carefully put it away, and
forgot all abouL it for three years, two-thirds of which
I spent out of France.
I thought no more of it till 1814, after the Restoration. One evening, happening to be in the salon of the
Duchess d'Abrantes, who preludait then at the historiographical part of her time by writing small novels, she
confided to us (there were about half a dozen young
men and young women present) that she wished to
write a novel about Don Carlos.
When she said this, I remembered my precious
manuscript. I related how I became possessed of it,
and was asked to go and fetch it at once. I did so, and,
knowing exactly where I had put it, I brought it back
in triumph. I tried to translate it verbally on the
spot, as well as possible, to the delighted company;
but what was the general surprise and my own confusion at finding that it was nothing but a Spanish
version of the novel of ' Saint-Real.'  I leave my




152


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


readers to judge of the shouts of laughter this caused.
I was most mercilessly made fun of, and I made my
excuses with a good grace, as I do now that I am
telling the matter. But the question is, How was it
possible for the novel of ' Saint-Real' to have found a
place in the State archives of Spain?  It is a matter
which I cannot undertake to explain. I can only limit
myself to offering the communication of the said manuscript to anyone who may be curious about the
matter.
Our second tournee, which took us directly by the
road to France from Valladolid to Pampeluna, was much
shorter and much less varied than the first, and was
also not so pleasant.  The friendly relations that had
existed between the General-in-Chief and the Commissary-General had ceased for some time, and their
mutual fault-finding came to a head at Briviesca.  The
altercation was very violent, so much so, indeed, that
General Dorsenne that very evening sent an aide-decamp to Paris to ask for the recall of M. Dudon,
which, however, he did not obtain: and our two chiefs
did not meet any more, communicating with each
other after that only by letter or by messenger.
As Secretary-General I was necessarily that medium.
On every question of any importance M. Dudon ad



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I 3


dressed a very well-written and clear minute to the
General-in-Chief.  It was my business to explain it
to him, for he could not understand it himself, and
his opponent cunningly wished to make him feel it.
By this means matters went on very much as formerly,
and I remained in the fairly good graces of both
authorities.
We did not remain in Navarre for more than a week.
The country appeared charming to me ---well-wooded,
verdant, hilly, bounded on one side by the Ebro, on the
other by the Bidassoa.  Its aspect exactly resembles
that of the other side of the Pyrenees; I have often
thought of this since in the three journeys which I
have taken since to Cauterets and to Eaux-Bonnes.
The town of Pampeluna itself is interesting and original,
and, so to speak, picturesque like the surrounding
country.  It wears altogether the look of another age,
and when, on a fine night in summer, it, according to
the singularly happy expression of Victor Hugo, ferme
sa ceintzre de tours, it carries back the fancy far from
the period in which we are living.
When I visited the prison of Pampeluna, first with
the General-in-Chief and later with the CommissaryGeneral, I saw our law of suspects and of hostages in
full force. There might be seen, crowded together




154


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


pell-mell in the most noisome holes, the fathers,
mothers, husbands, wives, and children of those whom
we called brigands, because they resisted the paternal
sceptre of the King Joseph, and of taxpayers who
refused to obey our exactions.  These wretched people
shed copious tears and trembled in every limb when
they saw us, and not without reason, for there was a
report current amongst them that the French generals
did not feel the smallest scruple in hanging any of
them by way of a good example. A General Abbe
whom I never knew, and who did not figure in our
army, was quoted as an instance of this.  I do not
believe, if he exists, that he ever did any of the things
which are laid to his charge. Mutual calumnies were
very frequent in Spain at that period; but one must
also allow that everything was possible there, and that
everything was excused there on either side, if it can
be accepted as an excuse, by the atrocity of the
reprisals.
After our return to Valladolid, we spent the end of
the year very quietly there.
We had frequent communication with France, and
the Emperor, on the eve of his departure for the
Russian campaign, sent officer after officer to all points
of the peninsula.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


xI55


Most of these officers were really sent on service;
others, however, were sometimes sent for quite other
reasons.  It was a sort of ostracism inflicted on their
gallants, when the intrigues of the virtuous Princesses
of the blood imperial and of the great ladies of the
Court made stir enough to shock the freshly awakened
modesty of our newly-married crowned head.
Amongst the number of these unconverted penitents
was one of my friends, Jules de Canonville, aide-decamp to the Prince of Neuchatel, and brother of my
colleague of la section de guerce. I do not think I am
exaggerating when I say that during my exile in Spain
he underwent this disciplinary peregrination four times.
When, early in the morning, I heard a whip cracked in
the yard of our modest lodgings, I always expected to
see him come in. I had a bed got ready for him, so
that he might get a few hours' rest, and a good breakfast, so that he might recruit his strength, and then I
listened to his confidences.  He told me of all the
quarrels of the capitals; and, like the leper of M. de
Maistre, when the children called out to him as they
passed by the foot of his prison, 'Goodl-day, leper,' it
rather amused me.
I was not over-dull at times, as I had some resources. If the university of Valladolid was deserted,




I56


PERSOIAL RECOLLECTIONS


it yet had a very good library.  There were to be
found not only the Spanish but also the Greek and
Roman classics, and nearly all the best French works,
not only of the seventeenth but also of the eighteenth
century.  They willingly lent me all the books I
Wished to borrow. Now, as it happened, the very year
before I had regularly set to work at my studies again.
By this I mean the unenforced and disinterested pleasure
of learning for the sake of learning, of knowing for the
sake of knowing, of exercising one's mind with no
other object but to maintain and strengthen its
activity.
From an early age I had had a great taste for this.
Disappointment and business had rather deadened the
feeling, but it had come upon me again as strongly as
ever, and arose from a very small circumstance, from
which, however, dates an epoch in my life. When I
was starting for Croatia, I bought an incomplete copy,
which I still have, of the miscellaneous works of
Gibbon. During my journey I looked through the
third volume of it, called ' Extraits raisonnes de mes
Lectures.' Gibbon, in his retirement at Lausanne,
whilst putting the finishing-touches to his great work,
every evening entered in a book what he had studied
during the day, and the reflections which his readings




OF THE DUC DE BROGL E.


i57


suggested to him. This diary enchanted me. I was
delighted with this sample of a calm and quiet life,
which was only taken up with intellectual work. I
got it into my head that nothing could.be better or
more agreeable, and I made it the aim of my existence,
proposing to myself always to keep it before my eyes.
As soon as I arrived at Petrinia, I began a diary which
I called, like Gibbon's diary, 'Extraits raisonnes de
mes Lectures;' and I went on with it during all my
stay both in Algeria and in Spain.  It will be found
amongst my papers; and, if the course of events soon
forced me to interrupt it, it has in no way changed the
current of my thoughts or of my inclinations.
The taste remained, and I owe it much, for I owe to
it the happiest moments of my life after those which I
have devoted to domestic affection. I owe to it the
constant desire for retirement when I have been
engaged in public affairs, and the fear of being obliged
to re-enter public life each time I have left it.' If my
conduct on the whole has brought me some consideration, this attraction which study had for me deserves
all the honour.  Personally I have nothing to do
with it.




158


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


IV.
1812.
THE year 1812 opened on us under unfavourable
auspices. The town of Ciudad Rodrigo, which the
Spaniards justly regard as the key of Portugal, and the
Portuguese, with as much reason, as the key of Spain,
was attacked by the Duke of Wellington on January
8th, and capitulated on the 20th of that month.
General Dorsenne was almost entrusted with its
defence. The blame was laid on him. He was reproached for not having revictualled the garrison, for
having confided the command to an officer who was
unfit for the post, and for not having marched to its
assistance soon enough.
I do not know what truth there is in the matter, but
it is certain that General Dorsenne was recalled and
replaced by  General Caffarelli.  But as General
Dorsenne was in command of a division of the Young
Guard, which was ready to start on the expedition to




OF THE DUC DE BROG~LE.


I59


Russia, very probably that was the real reason for his
recall. His last order was dated December 19, 1811.
Master of Ciudad Rodrigo, the Duke of Wellington
menaced the line of communication between Bayonne
and the Army of Portugal. To cover it, Marshal Marmont, the successor of Marshal Massena, after having
fortified Salamanca as well as he was able, caused his
army to occupy the province of Valladolid, and fixed
his headquarters in that town.
The civil establishment to which I belonged was
thus cut in two, and the Commissary-General found
that he depended on two Generals-in-Chief.
The first order of Marshal Marmont was dated
February 4, 1812.
It was really a most fortunate thing for me to be
placed near him.  I told him how I was situated, and
he understood the matter at once, and promised me to
seize upon the first occasion, or even the first pretext,
for sending me back to France.
The occasion presented itself at the end of March.
The Emperor being on the point d'aller en guerre, ne
sait quand reviendra, Marshal Marmont determined to
send Colonel Jardet, his first aide-de-camp, of whom I
have already spoken, to him, commissioning him to lay
categorically before the future conqueror of all the




I6o


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Russias the critical position of the Army of Portugal,
its pressing needs, the perils which threatened it, and,
above all, the impossibility for it to subsist on the
territory which it had to defend.
In order to give more weight to the statement of
Colonel Jardet on this latter point, it was decided
between the Marshal and the Commissary-General that
I should accompany him, and that I should be ready
to support him if the Emperor, the Prince of Neuchatel,
or the Minister for War, should send for me.
I started with  Jardet, furnished with an order
formally drawn up, of which I have kept a copy. I
left Valladolid without regret, just a year, day for day,
since I entered it, making up my mind never to return.
We travelled slowly, on horseback, for five days and
five nights, flanked by a good escort, without any
accident.  Crossing the defile of Pancorlo, a sort of
pcte of rocks thrown into the very middle of Old
Castile, without any connection with the neighbouring
mountains, and which is traversed by a small river, we
met, as usual, the insurgents who skirted one bank,
whilst we followed the other. They fired some shots
at us, which neither frightened nor hurt us.
As we approached France, we were informed that the
insurgents were waiting for us in force, at a village




OF THE D)UC DE BROGLIE.


I6i


which was mentioned to us, and that they intended to
play a trick upon us. As a matter of fact, when, at
nightfall, we saw this village, it was all illuminated.
Arms were loaded, and the escort was formed into close
column.  Jardet and I took our places in the centre,
and I even, following his example, drew my little sword,
the guard of which was ornamented with a mummy
according to the imperial example, and which sword I
have still, having never worn any other. I cocked my
pistols, but all for nothing. At the moment we entered
the village all the lights were put out, and we traversed
it in silence and darkness. The insurgents had apparently found us more numerous and better prepared than
they had expected.
No sooner had we arrived at Bayonne than we
started immediately for Paris.
The Emperor did not have me summoned. In his
'Memoires,' the Duke of Ragusa has given a very
piquante account of Jardet's mission, of his interviews with the Emperor, and especially of the last.
No one, it is said, is so blind as he who will not see,
and at that moment the Emperor was one of those
blind people.
I saw the Prince of Neuchatel. He received me
rather badly, hardly listened to me, and wanted to send
VOL...                               11




I62


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONrS


me back to Spain. I got M. de Narbonne, who was
the aide-de-camp to the Emperor, to speak to him, and
he did not insist on the matter.  In any case I would
not have returned.  I saw the Minister for War, who
listened to me very attentively, and after having heard
me, he dismissed me, thank God! without troubling
himself either about me or my future destination.
I saw M. de Bassano, who from having been
Secretary of State had become Minister for Foreign
Affairs, and who offered me the post of Consul-General
at Dantzig. That would have been a total change of
career, and also have been taking, in the diplomatic
career, that one of its two branches which offers no
future.  I declined respectfully, and  recommended
myself to his good offices elsewhere.
The Emperor started with his civil and military staff,
resting at Dresden, as everyone knows, before passing
the Niemen, and delivering himself up to that great
adventure. I waited at Paris to see what the new
Secretary of State, M. Daru, who knew me, and to
whom I had written, would do with me.
But whilst waiting I did not altogether lose my time.
I had met one of my colleagues, Fargues, son of the
senator of that name, in Paris again; he had returned
before me, thanks to the intervention of his father.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


i63


He was attached to the Prefecture of Police, in which
there was nothing dishonourable then, as M. Pasquier
had cleansed that Augean stable, and transformed the
hot-bed of the political inquisition into a simple
municipal magistracy. Fargues proposed to me to
go with him on his tour of inspection of the prisons
of Paris, with which he was charged.
I accepted eagerly.  We visited several of them,
amongst others Bicetre, which at that time performed
the fourfold duty of State prison, prison for condemned
prisoners, almshouse for old people, and madhouse.
Naturally these establishments, which were contiguous
to each other, and enclosed within the same circumference, were separated from each other, and governed
by different boards of management.
The government of prisons and of hospitals, superior
as it was to the former system of government, was yet,
at that period, very far from being what it has since
become.   The prison of Bicetre was managed with
much firmness, humaneness, and prudence.      The
Governor, if I remember rightly, was the father of M.
Damiron, my excellent colleague at the Academy of
Moral and Physical Science.
I was present at the sad spectacle which the arrival
of those who have just been sentenced affords. I saw
11-2.




I64


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


them put on the prison dress, a matter which usually
calls for the employment of a good deal of physical
force. I was present when they were allotted to the
different wings of the prison, and I witnessed the noisy
reception which awaited them there. But I saw something more sad still.
At the extremity of a long, narrow, dark corridor,
was a small vaulted cell in which no light came except
from the corridor itself; a lamp was necessary there in
bright daylight.  There we found in that cell, which
by the way was very clean, a former Vendean leader
called Desol de Grizolles, who had been confined there
for ten years, because, so we were told, he had refused
to submit to the Consular Government.  When he saw
us come in, he did not rise from the small table at
which he was sitting, and which appeared to me to be
covered with books of devotion. He was well dressed,
and he wore a calm, grave, and almost serene look.
' Have you any complaint to make?' Fargues asked
him.
None.'
' Can anything be done for you?'
'Nothing.'
And then he began quietly to read again, and I went
out filled with respect and admiration.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


This martyr, worthy of the most just of causes, I
mean the first Vendee, remained in the cell where I saw
him till the Restoration. Being restored to liberty, he
returned to Brittany, and having obtained a command,
I was pleased to hear, in 1815, that during that
reactionary period he bore himself with much wisdom,
moderation, and prudence.
A few days after I was requested by the Duke of
Rovigo to call at the Ministry of Police. Next day,
at two o'clock, I did not fail to go, though without
guessing what he could want of me, and rather preoccupied with the idea of the interview. There I met
eight or ten of my colleagues, in uniform like myself,
like myself ignorant of the object of our meeting, and
like myself anticipating nothing good from it. We had
to wait about half an hour, when we were shown into a
room which adjoined the Minister's own private apartments. There he himself came out to us, and explained
to us with kindness and good-humour that he wanted
four or five of us to serve as Commissaries of Police in
the Hanse Towns. He expatiated complaisantly on the
desirability of the posts, and on the services we should
be called upon to render to the Emperor and to the
Grand Army. Each of us begged to be excused, in the
best way he could. I restrained myself. I mentioned




i66


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


my seniority and my services. The Duke of Rovigo was
not at all put out, but he kept to his point that he must
have four or five of us. Ile advised us to make the
choice amongst ourselves quietly, at the same time
giving us to understand that, if we put it off too long,
we might find we had made a bad bargain.
I had quite made Up my mind to risk everything,
even the cell of M. Desol de Grisolles, rather than to
suffer such a disgrace; but in order to avoid both, if
possible, I wrote to M. de Bassano, telling him what
had happened, and begging him to give me any post
where he liked and as he liked, as long as he got me
out of this hornets' nest. By return of post I received
my nomination as auditeur attached to the Embassy at
Warsaw.
That meant a change of career, for it meant entering
the diplomatic service on the lowest rung of the ladder;
but under the circumstances I did not hesitate.
Besides that, it really mattered but little to me, for
my decision was firmly taken to leave the imperial
service.  I was certain that to succeed in it, neither
activity, intelligence, nor zeal would suffice. Since I had
been in Spain, the whole service excited my horror; and
all I was anxious to find, in order to leave it, was some
door which should not be that of the Keep of Vincennes.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I67


I made my preparations rapidly, and travelled
through Germany more rapidly still.  On my road,
between Weimar and Gotha, I met M. de SaintAignan, brother-in-law  of M. de Caulincourt, and
Minister at the smaller Courts of Saxe.  We got out of
our carriages, and talked for a considerable time about
the present and the future, and about the enterprise of
the new Xerxes, who only required one thing in order
to resemble his devancier altogether, namely, that he
should have the marshes of Poland and the sands of
Russia flogged.
I stopped at Potsdam only a few hours, in order to
visit the tomb of Frederick the Great, and a few hours
at Berlin in order to get a general idea of that large
and melancholy city; passing through Frankfort-onthe-Oder and Posen at a rapid pace, I arrived in
Warsaw   a few days after the   ambassador.   The
Emperor had already crossed the Niemen, and the
Diet of the Grand Duchy had been convoked by the
roi grand duc.
The Embassy was composed of:
(1) The ambassador himself, who, quite as an exception, since 1789, was an ecclesiastic, the Abbe de Pradt,
Archbishop of Malines;
(2) A first secretary, M. Lajard, who had just




i68


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


returned from Persia, whither he had accompanied
General Gardanne, and on that journey had acquired
a taste for Oriental studies. He is now a member
of the Academie des Inscriptions;
(3) A second secretary, M. de Bumigay, who has
since made some figure as minister, and also as
ambassador, in Bavaria, in Switzerland, in Spain, and
at Vienna:
(4) Lastly of three attaches, not without reckoning
me:
(5) Amede de Brevannes, Conseiller d'Etat under
the Restoration, one of the most refined and delicate
minds that I have ever met;
(6) Samuel de Panat, nephew of the Chevalier de
Panat, Prefect under the Restoration, and a member
of the Chamber of Deputies under the Government of
July, a very clever and honourable man;
(7) Aubernon, whom I had known in Illyria, and of
whom I have already spoken.
To the personal staff, if I may call it so, soon were
added two men, well known at the beginning of the
Revolution, and who disappeared with it, though both
of them were worthy of a better fate. The first was
Pellene, secretary to Mirabeau, and, like him, a
Provenqal, who greatly helped his chief by looking




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I69


up facts, and preparing his arguments, and who was
the real author of the great speech on the right of
Peace and of War. The other, d'Andre, was at one
time a member of the Right of the Assemblee Constituante, but went over to the Left. He was won over
to resistance rather by his own reason than by the
Court. He was the victim, like so many others, of
follies in which he had not been an accomplice.
Forced to leave France in 1792, these two men,
after having wandered abroad, and endured all the
miseries of exile, at last found a refuge in Vienna,
each in some subordinate employment.    There, in
1809, M. de Bassano, in their time editor of the
Logogralphe, but who had since become all-powerful
with the all-powerful conqueror of Europe, unearthed
them, took them by the hand, and made them many
promises, which were quickly forgotten, but which
he remembered again when, left alone at Wilna,
whilst the Emperor was marching on Moscow, he
was charged, as it seemed, with the business of
resuscitating and organizing the kingdom of Poland.
Then he thought fit to summon to his side two fellowworkers who were intelligent enough to assist him,
and too obscure to compromise him.
D'Andre and Pellene were summoned to Wilna, and




170


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


requested to wait at Warsaw for further orders, in order
to come to an understanding with the ambassador,
which was all the more easy and pleasant for them
because they had known him for a long time past.
The kingdom of Poland having by degrees dissipated
itself in smoke, they remained with us definitely, like a
fifth wheel to a coach, which having absolutely nothing
to do, had, as it was, four times too many in having
four.
As a matter of fact I am not quite sure whether,
amongst the ideas which, at this period, crossed the
brain of the King of kings, that of re-establishing the
kingdom of Poland maintained its place for any length
of time.  I have always doubted it, for my part; I
doubt it still, in spite of M. Thiers, and precisely for
those very reasons for doubting which he brings forward,
and which do not seem sufficient to convince him.
If the Emperor had had, I will not say the wish,
but the slightest inclination to restore Poland, his first
care would surely have been to re-construct the Polish
army, the only fraction of the nation which had not
suffered from the partition, preferring exile to submission, and the French flag to that of Russia or Prussia;
he would have placed the whole Polish army once
more under the command of Prince Joseph Poniatowski,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I7r


the nephew of the last king of that unhappy country.
Then he would have made that army the right of the
Grand Army; he would have ordered it, first, to stir
Volhynia, Podolia, and all Russian Poland to revolt;
thus confederation would have been made easy, and
the army would thus have increased at each step and
made altogether la tache d'huile et la pelote de neige.  As
a new province was conquered, it would have become
incorporated with the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and
gradually the dismembered kingdom would have been
restored.
And, finally, in order to give force, life, and animation to the work, he would have chosen as representative
of his all-powerful goodwill, either some great political
personage, though such were certainly rare under the
imperial regime, or at least some brilliant and enterprising general, and one covered with glory; and of
this class he had more than one to his hand.
Instead of this, he did exactly the contrary.  He
maintained, increased, perpetuated the breaking-up of
the Polish army, leaving only a remnant to Prince
Poniatowski, and distributing at least two-thirds of it
amongst his corps d'armee and his guard.  He handed
over the undertaking of invading Russian Poland to the
Austrian army, whose most pressing interest it was to




172


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


check any patriotic rising there, and to repress every
hope of a return to the past.  Master of Lithuania, he
hastened a Government at Wilna, which was quite
distinct from that of the Grand Duchy.  Lastly, he
appointed as his representative, in the height of the
war, and amongst a warlike people, his almoner, who
styled himself, indeed, almoner of the god Mars, a man
who was covered with ridicule, and who was the
constant laughing-stock of the imperial Court.
The Abbe de Pradt, a very good sort of man in
reality, very regular in his life as a priest, in spite of
a little strong language which he used in familiar
conversation, possessed neither the gravity of a prelate
nor the bearing of an ambassador. A little priestling
of Auvergne, sent to the Assemblee Constituante by a
democracy of cures, and a member of the Right from
vanity and esprit de corps, having lived whilst an emigr8
by writing pamphlets, or anything that circumstances
might require, he later, like l'Abbe Maury, threw
himself, a corps perdu, into the imperial fortunes. I
do not think that he ever fully understood the object
his imperial master had in view when he sent him to
Warsaw, nor the real meaning of the written or verbal
instructions which were to guide his conduct.
I do not even know if M. de Bassano, who was




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I73


given to him as guardian, himself fully understood that
their master's purpose was to raise the enthusiasm of
the Poles to white-heat, to flaunt before their eyes the
flag of independence, to induce them to drain themselves of their last man and their last crown-piece,
without undertaking any responsibility towards them,
all the while reserving the power to make peace, at the
last moment, at their expense.
After all, and however it might be with regard to
our ambassador and his guardian, everything went
on smoothly at first. At the moment when I arrived
in Warsaw, the Embassy, with its chief at the head,
joined in the general patriotic demonstration. It was
a case of who could cry Polsko zye! (Long live Poland!)
loudest; of who could wear most ribbons of the Polish
colours on his hat and in his buttonhole; of who could
recite best, or applaud longest, the harangues copied
from Rulhiere, who for his part had copied them from
Thucydides or Livy; of who could give or partake of
most grand dinners, which would end by emptying
purses which were already very low, including that of
the ambassador, who was living on borrowed money
or on credit.
Thus matters went on till the moment when the
Emperor, who was on the point of departing for Wilna,




I74


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


and who thought apparently that we disguised too much
his true intentions, thought fit, when he gave an
audience to the Deputies of the Diet, to pour a great
pail of cold water on their heads.
The remedy had no effect on those unfortunate
people. They were pledged up to the hilt, and had
given all that they had; but it did take effect upon our
Embassy, and the Diet having dispersed, we were left
pretty much to ourselves, chattering day and night
about the Assemblee Constituante, about the past and
the present, uttering eagles' cries, and spending our
time tediously, whilst we waited for news of the Grand
Army.   Our ambassador continued, however, from time
to time to give grand dinners to those Poles whom
duties or curiosity kept at Warsaw, and to favour them
with a great amount of boasting, telling them how it
was in consequence of the misfortunes of the Revolution that he had fallen to the rank of archbishop and
ambassador. But the fire was extinguished, discouragement was in all hearts, and anxiety on all countenances.
By degrees everything calmed down, and our
Embassy itself was, more or less, dispersed.  The
ambassador, in order that he might seem to be doing
something, sent Aubernon into Galicia, and commissioned him to discover the state of public opinion in




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I75


this province, which, although Polish by origin, was
now under the dominion of Austria. He sent Panat
to the Saxon army, which was under the command of
General Regnier, who in his turn was under the orders
of the Prince of Schwartzenberg. The ambassador
only kept with him his two secretaries and the attaches,
Brevannes and myself.  I was instructed to come to an
arrangement with the Minister of the King of Saxony,
Grand Duke of Warsaw, till further orders, and to draw
up schemes of reform, on the French model, of the
political, administrative, and financial institutions of the
Grand Duchy.
I found, among the Polish Ministers of the King of
Saxony, honourable, sensible, and intelligent men, and
such as were well able to judge of the present situation;
two especially, M. Mostowski, Minister of the Interior,
and M. Matuszewicz, Minister of Finance, whose son
has since played a certain part in European diplomacy,
were men of very high intellect.
Our interviews, however, had no great result:
'Trois mois entiers ensemble nous pensames
Lumes beaucoup, et rien imaginames.'
Nevertheless, there will be found amongst my papers
some preparatory work on this subject, and statistical
information which is not without interest.




I76


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


As a matter of fact, there was nothing to -be done,
for the moment. The Grand Duchy was ruined, in the
first place, by the Continental system, next by the preparations for war, and lastly by the war itself; nobody
could tell what would become of it, and whatever
projects were made could be nothing but dreams.  But
according to our state of mind, equally removed as it
was from enthusiasm and from pessimism, I often asked
myself what it was possible, if not actually at the
present time to effect, at least reasonable to hope, for
this country, which by its misfortunes, its sacrifices and
its courage, was so worthy of our sympathy; which,
in the last century, had been the victim of the deepest
and most shameless perfidy, a country to which I was
much attached by family traditions, and to which my
great-uncle, Count de Broglie, had given the greater
part of his life. The recollection of this fact was still
alive in the minds of many, and caused me to be
received in a manner for which I was the more grateful,
since at that time I myself was not altogether fully
acquainted with the negotiations which, for so many
years, the Count de Broglie had carried on, both
openly and secretly, in the interests of Poland. Since
then, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, I have had occasion
to run my eyes over them; and among my papers there




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


177


will be found, on that subject, a statement which has
been very well drawn up, by a very practised hand.
Thinking occasionally about the future of Poland,
car que faire en un gite, a  ooins que lon ne songe, it
seemed to me that the best thing one could hope for
from the war, even supposing it turned out most
fortunately for France, was that the Grand Duchy of
Warsaw would be erected into a nominal kingdom,
with some small increase of territory; that, in order to
take Galicia from Austria, to take from Prussia the
small share of the partition which she still retained,
and from Russia, Lithuania, Podolia, Volhynia, Kiew,
and all the rest; that in order to establish or to
re-establish-for the word does not signify much-in
the midst of these three great thieves a true kingdom
of Poland, which would be their natural and perpetual
enemy, and to maintain it in their very teeth, Napoleon
would require more years for fighting than remained to
him for living. It would be a great thing for him to
provide a stepping-stone towards this object if he were
victorious, which was by no means certain, and if he
were generous, which was still less so.
How, then, could anyone build, and who could build,
on this first stone?
If the Emperor Napoleon at the height of his
VOL. i.                              12




178


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


power could do nothing, his successors, whoever they
might be, would certainly have still less power in the
matter, and the petty princes of Germany less again
than the former.  Saxony could indeed give Poland a
king when that kingdom existed, but it would be folly
to think of its re-establishing a kingdom of Poland for
its own profit.
Therefore, considering all things, there remained
only one of the three thieves, and, consequently, the
greatest of the three-he who had taken the lion's
share, who had power enough, and who was in a
position, to rob or to buy out the other two. There
could not possibly be a crown of Poland, unless the
Emperor of Russia took it into his head to restore it
himself and for himself, and to make the crown of
the Piasts and of the Jagellons one of the jewels of his
imperial crown; unless, indeed, he should think it
would be to his glory and for his interest to let loose
a satisfied and warlike nation against his European
neighbours, instead of crushing them by the assistance
of his semi-barbarous subjects.
At the beginning of his reign, that, indeed, had been
the favourite idea of the Emperor Alexander, and it had
been entertained for a long time by the elder of the
Princes Czartoryski, who had been his companion in




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I79


childhood, his friend in youth, and lager his Ministerthe same whom we have seen for twenty years in
France bearing with such dignity and equanimity the
burden of glorious adversity.
This plan, the execution of twhich was interrupted
by the first Russian war and merely delayed-an idea
which was secretly cherished even during the dreams of
the peace of Tilsit-was put off again by the fresh war.
But even this time I could not help thinking that it
was only delayed, and that, without intending it, we
should work for that object by our victories; that we
should transform  the Grand Duchy into a nominal
kingdom, in the first place for the King of Saxony, and
then some day or other for the Emperor Alexander.
It turned out in the end that we had worked for that
object by our reverses, and that the catastrophe of
1814 turned the Grand Duchy into a kingdom, and
made the Emperor of Russia King of that kingdom.
The fresh access of madness on the part of the poor
Poles in 1830 has, up to the present, prevented the
embryo from developing. Heaven grant that they may
not have destroyed their last plank of safety!
Although I was full of these ideas, I took care to
communicate them to no one; yet I was involuntarily
sympathising with those of our hosts, who were, like
12-2




I8o


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


myself, I thought, rather imbued with my own views.
The old Prince Czartoryski, father of the Minister,
sans portefeuille, of the Emperor Alexander, was GrandMarshal of the Diet; his youngest son was serving
bravely in the army corps of Prince Poniatowski; his
son-in-law, Count Zamoyski, was a man of considerable
importance in Warsaw; the old Princess Czartoryska
and her two daughters, the Princess of Wurtemberg
and the Countess Zamoyska, celebrated in France and
England for her beauty, in a manner did the honours
of the Diet with much grace and amiability.
From the very first, I was received with much
kindness in this hospitable house. The old Prince and
Princess had known my family in Paris under the old
regine, and soon what had been merely a kind reception made way for an intimacy. But I must say it
to their honour that, whatever might be their secret
thoughts, which I saw agreed with mine, I never
detected in them a word, a sentiment, a wish, which
was not, above all, for the success of our arms, and for
the momentary or lasting triumph of French influence.
As they knew that I intended to go over the Grand
Duchy, and to visit the salt mines of Wiliczka, the
Prince and Princess invited me to stay, both in going
and returning, at their castle at Pulawy-that magnifi



OF THE DUC DE BROG1E.


I8r


cent place, which was destroyed during the Civil War
of 1830, and which only exists now in the verses of
Delille, which same verses hardly exist except in the
memory of his contemporaries, whose small number is
growing daily less.
I accepted the invitation gladly, and soon afterwards
I set out on my journey, like the curious and idle
man I was.
I spent about a fortnight at Pulawy on my way to
Cracow, and as long on my way back. I never saw a
residence more enviable, not even in England, which
is so justly renowned for its mansions, as for many
other things.
The castle was neither large, nor regularly built, nor
even magnificent, but the Vistula ran at its feet, and
its waters, bank-high, flowed through the gardens, the
park, and through all the country, under the shade of
a forest of venerable firs; on both banks were scattered
in profusion, like so many unconsidered works, monuments copied from the most beautiful models of Italy
and Greece-the tomb of Scipio, the temple of the
Sibyl, etc., or else such as retraced the grandest recollections of the history of Poland, and contained
most precious relics, consisting of weapons, jewels, or
other ornaments.




l82


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


In the centre of the garden was a small house
in Gothic style, built entirely, from the base to the
roof, of stones which had been brought either from
some monument or from some celebrated spot; each
stone had, as an inscription, the attestation of the
place it came from, and the date when it became part
of this little necropolis.  On the pediment was engraved
this line from Virgil:
' Sunt lacrymae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.'
I am not at all given to melancholy; it is a state of
mind which I can understand without experiencing it.
Yet I must confess that this spot was with me a
favourite resort; I frequented it constantly, and almost
involuntarily. When I reached it, I remained there,
and often caught myself, as I read the inscriptions
with which the walls were, in a manner, diapered, first
of all dreaming about the destinies of the unhappy
country, whose disjecta membra I saw raised up and
joined together like the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision;
then about the destiny of the noble family, which, in its
days of prosperity, had raised this monument to the instability of human things; and lastly, about the mysterious course of human destinies.  I almost fancied that
I heard, as one does when reading Bossuets ' Histoire
Universelle,' the crash of empires falling one on the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE,


I83


other, and I mechanically repeated the lines of Virgil,
who has generally very little sense when one tries to
understand him, but who awakens ideas and feelings in
the soul, like music, which no words can express.
The interior of the castle was very plain, but it
contained an immense library in all languages, and the
old Prince was a huge library in himself: he was a
great savant and a profound Oriental scholar; he spoke
all the European languages, and all their different
dialects, with a rare perfection, and knew the contents
of books just as well as he understood the language
in which they were written.  I shall never forget that,
at that period when the philosophy of Kant was shining
in Germany in all its brightness, and that of Fichte
was beginning to dawn, he explained them both to me
very clearly, and, at the same time, with gentle humour,
and so well that I profited by it, as will be seen a little
later on.
The old Princess, who was a little woman, was in
all respects a great lady, simple, rigid, exquisitely
polite, and full of kindness without laisser aller.
I do not know what truth or falsehood there may be
for the faults which the stories of her time lay to her
charge, but M. de Talleyrand has often told me stories,
amongst others those which go by the name of the




(84


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Duc de Lauzun, which are a tissue of lies and nonsense;
but, however that may be, the Princess Czartoryska,
whom I knew inspired respect, kept others at their
proper distance, and awakened in the mind no recollections that did not do her honour. Her two daughters
were ladies of noble character and cultured mind, whose
conversation was gentle and serious.  The frequenters
of this beautiful spot, whether strangers like myself or
familiars, were not considered unworthy of joining in
it. The real and sincere interest which I felt for the
cause of my generous entertainers, and perhaps even
more the perfect freedom of mind with which I
examined the chances of the future, without any
illusion, but also without being discouraged, ended in
my gaining their entire confidence, and when I took
my leave, I received tokens of friendship which I
remember to this day, though Pulawy and its inhabitants exist no more.
I left for Cracow, promising and intending to return.
Cracow is the cradle of Poland, gniasdo Polsky-a
small, quaint town, rich in historical associations. The
neighbourhood is charming; it is situated at the foot
of the mountains of Silesia, and the wooded gorges of
the mountains are wild, almost savage, occupied by
convents, and abounding in various delightful scenery.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I85


I carefully visited several times the salt mines of
Wiliczka, the possession of which is, or at least was
then, divided between the Grand Duchy-in which the
free city of Cracow was enclosed-and Austria, the
mistress of Galicia.  I shall not enter into any details
about the working of these mines, their riches, their
markets, etc.  These details can be found everywhere,
and the statistical information which I gathered and
have kept will, after the lapse of forty-six years, not
at all agree with the actual state of things.
At the period of which I am speaking, the descent
into these mines was made in a rather dangerous
manner.
Three leather straps were attached, as well as might
be, to the thick rope which was used to raise and to
lower the heavy weights by means of a pulley. These
three straps formed a very narrow seat, sitting on
which you had to clutch the rope with both legs and
one arm; the other arm being used to keep the rope
from the sides of the wall of earth or of salt which
formed the pits themselves. Thus you descended to
great depths, at the risk, if you did not make proper
use of the arm which was disengaged, of being roughly
knocked against the wall, or if you let go the rope with
the other arm or with the legs, or if the straps were to




i86


PERSONVAL RECOLLECTIONS


break, of being precipitated into the pit head-first.  I
have often thought of this, when reading in the
'Antiquary,' of Sir Walter Scott, the account of the
escape of Ochiltree and Lovel across the rocks, during
the storm; and, as an example of the force of imagination in such a case, I may say that, when several
times undergoing the trial of the descent or the ascent
which I have just described, I never felt any emotion,
whereas I can hardly look down from a second or third
story, leaning against a window whose ledge is breasthigh. After descending into the interior of the mine,
you went through it for hours.  It is a labyrinth of
galleries cut at random, according to the direction of
the seams.  It is so dark that you cannot get along
without the help of torches, and you can go several
leagues without retracing your steps.  You descend
from gallery to gallery, till at last the edge of a
tolerably large salt-lake is reached, which is crossed in
a boat, by the light of torches and amidst the noise of
the explosion of gunpowder, which detaches, with loud
reports, prisms of salt, cut with great difficulty in the
sides of the cave.  Nothing can give a better idea of
the entrance to Avernus, as described by the poets:
the boat which carries you might actually be, as far as
the imagination is concerned, Charon's boat.




OF TiHE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I87


On my return from Cracow to Warsaw, I stayed,
according to my promise, at Pulawy for a few days.
There I heard of the two terrible and fruitless victories
which the Emperor had gained, at Smolensk, on August
17, and at Moscowa, on September 7. Happily the
youngest son of Prince Czartoryski, who was serving
with the corps of Prince Poniatowski, had come out of
those two terrible days safe and sound. And here I will
relate what Prince Poniatowski himself told me later.
As he was explaining to me the attack on Smolensk,
and the evident impossibility of carrying a wall by a
charge of cavalry, he said, laughing, 'I do not know
exactly what the Emperor wanted us to do, but I fancy
how much he could demand without disgusting us.'
The account of the assault of Smolensk, as described by
M. Thiers, does not exactly agree with this incident.
When I reached Warsaw, I heard of the burning of
Moscow.
No one can properly judge, at this distance of time
and place, nor can history ever give, the impression
which this terrible event had on all minds.  From this
moment the horizon of the future appeared to all of us
charged with heavy clouds, continually and daily increasing, and, although everyone was anxious, nobody
hardly ventured to ask for news.




I88


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I tried to beguile myself and to lessen my anxiety
by applying myself unceasingly to the study of the
Polish language and literature. In Warsaw I had
met a French ecclesiastic, I think he was a canon,
who had lived for a long time in that town, and had
studied both profoundly.  He devoted a great part of
his mornings to me. He had written a very learned
grammar, which he allowed me to copy, and which I
have kept; and he was also superintending the publication of a dictionary, to which everyone subscribed, and
which I possess. I collected the works of the principal authors of note in that language, and have
managed to keep the greater part of them.  This time
again I found within myself a refuge from the times
and circumstances.
The approach of the hard weather, and the general
perplexity, brought back to Warsaw a great number of
families who had left it for a time. As a rule we
passed our evenings either at the house of Princess
Tiskewicz, sister of Prince Poniatowski, a great friend
of M. de Talleyrand, and a lady whom everyone had
known very well in Paris, or else at the house of
Madame de Vauban, who was separated, and very
much separated, from the Count de Vauban. The
Count played a certain part in the wars of Vendee,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I89


and published an insulting book about Count d'Artois.
Madame de Vauban had been for a long time maitresse
en titre of Prince Poniatowski, and as such, strange to
say, she had enjoyed in Warsaw all the power of a
legitimate wife. She behaved herself like one after she
had lost the functions of her office, and all society
continued respectfully to surround her.
Our evenings were very dull.
The ladies made lint, so as to be ready for any
emergency; and the men related to each other the
reports current in town and country.  We looked at
the thermometer, and lost ourselves in sinister conjectures.
We soon heard of the evacuation of Moscow, and
after that we remained without news for a long time.
Nothing was heard of the Grand Army; nothing of
the Prince of Schwartzenberg and General Reynier,
to whom was entrusted the duty of covering the Grand
Duchy against the army of Admiral Tchitchakoff.
There was, however, one man amongst us who
probably knew more than we did about the matter.
This was an Austrian diplomatist, who was in no
official position, M. Neumann, whom  many people
have known since in France and England. Rightly
or wrongly, he passed for the natural son of Prince




Igo


9PERSONVAL RECOLLECTIONS


Metternich.  I do not remember what his reason was
for living in Warsaw; he was a clever, well-read,
polite man, but we suspected that he was more inclined to report our uneasiness than to share it.
At last, after six weeks of perplexity, at the beginning of December, the ambassador sent for me one
morning.  It was very early.  I found him pale, and
in a state of consternation. Without a word he handed
me the bulletin of the Grand Army, the fatal bulletin
of the Beresina, which he had received during the
night. When I read it I was struck with horror,
prepared though I was for the worst, and in spite of an
amount of reticence which was discernible to the most
practised eye.  The ambassador ordered me to take
this mournful communication to M. Otto, our ambassador at Vienna, at once. The mission was anything
but an agreeable one, but there was no question of self
at such a moment. I made my preparations without
delay: I bought, in order to travel more rapidly, one
of those very light carriages which are called britska in
Poland, and by the end of the morning I was on my
road. I traversed the Grand Duchy very quickly, but
the Austrian provinces more slowly.  The report of
our disasters had spread there, confusedly indeed, but
generally. The rising of men's feelings against France




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I9I


burst forth on all sides.  I had some difficulty in
obtaining post-horses, and I was sometimes received
with remarks which at any other time I should perhaps
have been obliged to take notice of, but which I passed
over, under the circumstances, by pretending not to
understand German; which, by the way, was correct
in a certain sense; for though I could read German
fluently, I only understood it very badly.
As soon as I arrived at Vienna, I went straight to
the Embassy, where I found M. Otto, who was an
honourable man, a faithful servant, with a wise and
moderate mind, in   inexpressible  grief.  He was
walking about his study in all directions, a prey to
disquietude, assailed by contradictory reports which
came to him from all sides.  To give a correct idea
of his state, it will be enough to say that this twentyninth bulletin, which had almost frozen us with horror
at Warsaw, caused him irrestrainable joy: he threw
his arms round my neck, though he had never seen
me before, and wrote at once to Prince Metternich
to announce my arrival.  I dressed hastily, and we
started together for the Imperial Chancellerie.  It
occupied the very palace in which I had lived in 1809.
On our way, messenger of evil though I was, my
mind was divided between the unpleasantness of my




I92


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


errand and curiosity about the coming interview.  I
had known M. de Metternich slightly in Paris —
known him, that is, as well as the difference of
age and position between us would allow-I had met
him often in official and in fashionable society; I had
even been brought into closer contact with him at
the Conference of Altenburg.  I was impatient to see
what effect our wretched communication would have
upon him; whether or not pleasure at our disasters
would gain the upper hand over his vexation at learning
that the Emperor himself had escaped.
I must do him the justice to say that he did not
move a muscle. I never saw such self-possession.
He read the bulletin carefully, evinced quite an affectionate interest for the sufferings of our army, took the
protestations and the hopes of M. Otto in good part,
was overflowing in his appreciation of the resources
which the Emperor still possessed, and, as that very
day he was going to give a grand dinner, he invited us
both.
Now this was not all pleasure. I disliked the idea
of being dragged out, like some strange wild animal,
before company which naturally bore us no good-will;
but, nevertheless, I put a good face on the matter.
The dinner was long, dull, and silent. Everyone




OF THE DUC DE BROGIIE.


I93


looked at me, and spoke to his neighbour in a low
voice.  After dinner everybody was equally silent;
no one asked me any questions, and the company
separated early.
I spent three or four days in Vienna. M. Otto's
daughter was about to be married to one of my
colleagues, M. Pelet (of the Lozere). Neither M. nor
Madame Otto knew their future son-in-law.  I was
asked about him all sorts of questions; and as my
answers, which were strictly true, were very satisfactory
to them, these excellent parents overwhelmed me with
kindness.  They saw little society; and I soon found
out the reason. When I attempted to call upon some
of the people who had received me so kindly a few years
before, when I knocked at the hospitable houses which
had been opened to me so willingly, everywhere I
found the doors closed.
My only refuge was the porch of the Prince de
Ligne, where I was received, like I always was, with
open arms; and from him I learned positively what
I could already guess. Such was the state of the
ruling opinion, that, in high society, no one would
dare to receive a Frenchman unless he were obliged
to do so by State duties or by his official position.
As my mission was fulfilled, and there was nothing


VOL. I.


13




194


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


to detain me, I made haste to return to the theatre of
events, and so I started. The cold, which at first was
bearable, became'intense, and the thermometer fell lower
every hour.  The snow came down in great flakes, and
the roads, which had been open till then, were blocked
by it. I had had my little carriage put on a sledge;
but, in spite of this precaution, I was upset seven or
eight times before reaching Olmiitz. I thought it
would be tempting Providence to go on so, and I took
a grand resolution. I left my carriage at the inn at
Olmutz-God knows for whose profit-and I continued my journey in an open post-sledge, braving all
the inclemency of the weather. It was so cold that
two bottles of rum with which kind Madame Otto
had increased my outfit, wrapping them up in hay,
froze like pure water. When I arrived at Cracow, I
was absolutely benumbed; the sun's rays seemed warmless; but there I had a sublime idea, an idea which in
simplicity, in ability, in profoundness, equalled the egg
of Columbus and the wheel-barrow of Pascal, and I put
it down here for my own glorification; and if ever anybody else, besides myself, puts it into practice, my
name will be imperishable.
I bought a little cart merely covered with rough
awning; this I had placed on a sledge, and as it was




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I95


flat on the ground, there was no risk of being overturned. I had it filled with hay up to the top, and I
got into it up to the neck, just like they used to bury
the guilty Vestal virgins, and from that moment I did
not feel the cold; on the contrary, my feet and legs,
which had been benumbed and cramped, began to relax,
and, as the circulation set in, I suffered cruelly from
that pain which children know so well, and which nurses
call 'pins and needles.'
Half way to Warsaw, on getting out of my hay-loft
and entering the post-house, the name of which I have forgotten, chattering a few words of Polish in order to get
post-horses, I heard a sepulchral voice which, from the
depths of a bed placed at the end of the room, mumbled
a few words of French about equal to my Polish, but with
a very pronounced English accent. The voice belonged
to M. Barlow, United States Minister in France, who
had followed M. de Bassano as far as Wilna, continuing, with the tenacity of his countrymen and that of his
own character, his complaints about the results of the
Continental blockade. In order to avoid being taken
by the Russians, or robbed by the French in the
general confusion, he was returning to France by way
of Vienna. To guard against the cold, he had had his
carriage heated to such a degree that it gave him in13-2




x96


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


flammation of the chest, of which he was dying. In
vain I offered him  my services; he was very well
taken  care of by his own people.    He survived
our interview only a few hours.
I related this singular meeting to the Chamber of
Deputies when, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, I defended the treaty which justified the complaints of poor
M. Barlow.
When I arrived at Warsaw, I found that the ambassador had been recalled, and was preparing to
return to France. He was in travelling-dress, and
was arranging his hair accordingly.  He told me of the
passage of the Emperor, and of his own interview with
him at an humble inn, of his promises to the Polish
Ministers, and repeated to me what Napoleon had said to
them, which nearly agrees with what M. Thiers relates.
The ambassador, who departed on the very day of
my arrival, left the embassy, which thus became a
simple legation to M. Bignon.
The latter bad been Minister to the King of Saxony,
Grand Duke of Warsaw, which post he occupied when
the embassy was established. He had remained at Warsaw, partly, I suspect, to keep an eye upon us.  He succeeded his own successor, and under his orders I closed
one of the most variously occupied years of my life.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


I97


V.
1813.
I AM writing my own history; I am neither writing
history, nor for history; I mean to say nothing about
the disaster of Wilna, which, perhaps, was even more
terrible than that of the Beresina, nothing about the
defection of General York, nothing about the rout of
the shattered remnants of our army; nothing, either,
about the behaviour of King Murat, or of that of Prince
Eugene, which was as different as was the difference
between the two men.
We remained at Warsaw for about three weeks after
the  ambassador left.  We were   covered  by the
corps of the Prince of Schwartzenberg, which was
composed of Austrians and Saxons, and by the
remains of the Polish corps d'armee which was commanded by Prince Poniatowski.
M. Thiers mentions an armistice, which is said to
have been concluded at the end of the campaign, between




198


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the Austrians and the Russians, but I never heard a
word about it.   On the contrary, I remember very
well the contention which arose, almost immediately,
between the Prince of Schwartzenberg and Prince
Poniatowski: the former maintained that with thirty
thousand odd troops, the greater part of whom had not
suffered either during the war or in the retreat, we
might boldly attack the Russian army, which had
suffered almost as much as ours; the latter, whilst
not absolutely refusing, demurred, not without difficulty,
and more than once, to my own knowledge: the altercation grew so warm that duels between the Austrian and
Polish staffs nearly resulted from it.
Meanwhile time went on, events ran their course,
the French army evacuated Posen, the Russian army
was menacing Silesia, Warsaw was in a state of
ferment, and, whether we liked it or not, we had to
think of leaving it.
The Austrian army fell back on Galicia; the Saxon
corps d'armee marched towards Torgau, and the Polish
corps retreated on Cracow, and some of the great
Polish families followed it thither; amongst them was
that of Count Zamoyski.
The retreat was painful and difficult; the cold was
terrible, and the snow lay in heaps on the road; the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


199


train of vehicles and impedimenta was a long one, and
the unequal speed they travelled at made the maintenance
of order next to impossible. We were obliged to make
our first halt at Petrikaw, to get the laggards together;
then another at Ozenstochow, a curious fortified convent; and finally, in the best order it could, all the
caravan reached its last destination.
I had gone on first with Rumigny, our second
secretary, in my faithful little cart, which was drawn by
two good horses. We fulfilled the duty of quartermasters, which was by no means a useless one, since
the town of Cracow was not at all ready to be turned
into a capital at a moment's notice. Our first secretary,
Lajard, took charge of all the lagging expedition with
much sense, watchfulness, and activity.
Our legation found suitable quarters in an old palace,
which was easily made habitable. M. Bignon went to
reside there with Lajard and Rumigny, and there he
retained the greater portion of his former legation;
amongst others, two persons whom we shall meet with
again towards the end of this narrative, M. Miege, who
was later Consul-General at Malta, and M. Desage,
who was at that time very young, and who, from 1830
to 1848, played a modest but important part as director of the political division of Foreign Affairs.




200


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


As for me, my new chief left me to my own devices;
he allowed me to lodge where I could, and to employ
my time as I liked. I was not in his good graces; I
do not know, or, rather, I know too well, why.
M. Bignon was a faithful, and more than faithful
servant, zealous, and more than zealous; to speak
plainly, he was a devoted servant of the Emperor, and
of the imperial regime.  Having been Minister at
Warsaw before the war, he had been left in that
capital, as I said, with the confidential mission of
watching the Archbishop of Malines and his embassy.
He knew what to think about me. He knew that
whilst I spoke becomingly about the Government
under which I served, I neither felt nor affected any
fanatical adherence to it. He suspected my friends.
As he had nothing more to do now than maintain the
fidelity of the unhappy Poles and to give an account
of the state of public feeling, if my disposition and
character would have allowed me to assist in this
business, I should have been heartily welcomed; but,
not being able to hope for that, and being obliged to go
for information to other sources, he preferred, and not
unreasonably, perhaps, to hold aloof from me. I had
not only nothing to do with the correspondence, but it
was a secret from me, and he only spoke to me about




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


20f


the rain, of which we had plenty at that time, and of
the fine weather, which was still a very long way off.
I made up my mind how to act without regret and
without a murmur.
There was an observatory at Cracow which was
managed by two French and several assistant professors
whom they had trained. Their instruction was by no
means limited to astronomy-it extended over several
branches of physics, and even of chemistry.  I made
friends with them, and spent part of my mornings
there.
In the evenings, Count Zamoyski threw open his
small house to those guests whom he had been in the
habit of receiving at his residence in Warsaw, and
Madame Zamoyska did the honours with her usual grace.
I regularly passed my evenings there when I was
not invited to balls or to other social gatherings; forand it is a remarkable circumstance —the winter at
Cracow this year, as in other years, was a very lively
one, and the carnival went on as usual. The balls
were gay, the parties brilliant, and the ladies dressed
with taste. I doubt whether at this day, and even in
France, a winter in Lyons or Bordeaux could rival
what I saw with my own eyes at that time and in that
country.




202


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


During my stay in that city, I formed a few friendships with the staff of Prince Poniatowski, and with
the Prince himself.  The staff consisted of young men
of the highest families in the Grand Duchy, and exactly
resembled a French staff with this one exception, that
in the former, patriotic enthusiasm replaced the desire
for promotion and enthusiasm for the imperial cause.
As for the Prince, it was impossible to know him
without becoming attached to him.
On the field of battle, by common consent, he was
not merely a brave soldier, he was a hero; in his
relations with France he was not merely loyal, but he
acted like a knight of old, and his fidelity was all the
more meritorious because he did not at all deceive
himself. Whilst he looked upon his cause as desperate, he yet went straight on, with his head erect,
towards the fate which waited for him, and which he
was not long in meeting. In his manner of life he was
a grand seigneur of the last century; generous, liberal,
of easy morals and a lively character, and adored
by all who had much to do with him; he was the
comrade of his aides-de-camp, and was obeyed because he was always the first under fire, and because
he always shared with everyone all he happened to
have.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


203


It was a pleasure to accompany him to the drilling
ground, and to see him exercising his recruits. His
activity, his vivacity, his good humour and soldierly
manner, won him all hearts. Within the radius which
his corps d'armee occupied round Cracow, he would
take the first peasant he found, without any ceremony,
would have his hand well scrubbed, his hair cut and
his beard shaved off, and then would hand him over to
a non-commissioned officer, who taught him how to
handle his arms. At the end of a month the peasant
donned a uniform, and the Emperor of France had
in him an excellent soldier, ready and fit for anything, regretting nothing, and thinking of nothing
but of living and dying under his colours. But unhappily, a hundred yards off, within the radius which
the Russian army occupied, General Sacken did the
same thing, and encountered no greater difficulty in
doing it; he laid hands upon a similar peasant, perhaps
upon a relation of the one of whom we have first
spoken, he washed and trimmed him in the Muscovite
fashion, dressed him in a green uniform, and here was
an excellent soldier for the Emperor Alexander, ready
and fit for anything, regretting nothing, and thinking
of nothing but of living and dying under his colours.
Alas, unhappy country!




204


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


During the month of March, the Emperor, after
having raised an army of five hundred thousand men
with truly wonderful rapidity, recalled M. Otto from
Vienna, and M. de Narbonne was selected to replace
him. At the express and urgent request of the new
ambassador, I received orders to join him, and set out
accordingly.  I took leave of my friends, promising
them to seize the first opportunity of paying them a
visit, even if I could stay in Cracow but one day, and
I kept my word.
I arrived in Vienna at the beginning of April. M. de
Narbonne was already installed. He was accompanied
by his three aides-de-camp, Castellane, Tiburce Sebastiani, and Fernand de Chalot.  Charles de Montigny,
the adopted son of M. de Jaucourt, was attache to his
embassy; he had retained all the staff of M. Otto's
establishment, but only entrusted them with the affairs
of the chancellerie; I had the exclusive charge of all
political matters.
As he was received with open arms by the father of
our Empress, and by M. de Metternich, and overwhelmed with apparent or real signs of affection-the
one just as much as the other-M. de Narbonne had no
cause for complaint. He kept up a large establishment;
he was assiduously invited everywhere; the aristocracy




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


205


followed the example of their masters, but the devil did
not lose anything by it.
Nor did M. de Narbonne have any illusions. He
was quite able to distinguish all the hatred and hope
which were hidden under these assumed demonstrations.  He saw many people, morning and evening.
When he came home at about one o'clock in the morning, he found me alert in his study; he then told me
what his observations and reflections had been during the
day, and I noted them down, and, if possible, turned
them into a despatch. In the morning, when he woke up,
I submitted my night's work to his inspection, and after
either having approved of or corrected it, he generally
would add a letter in his own hand, which I copied
whilst his private secretary copied the despatch.  The
whole was then sealed and sent off, without anyone
except us three knowing anything] of the contents.
M. de Narbonne's private secretary was M. Tellier,
who has since died as Consul-General at Genoa.
If I were writing memoirs, I should here have a fine
occasion to expose in detail the progress of, and the
incidents in, the negotiations which, at this fatal period,
preceded the rupture between France and Austria; but
I shall not do anything of the sort, and that for two
reasons: first, because this work has already been




206


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


done, and very well done, by M. Thiers; and secondly,
because I co-operated in it beforehand, and this is how
it happened.
When, towards the middle of August, that is to
say, at the moment when hostilities broke out, M. de
Narbonne bade me good-bye, when he went off to shut
himself up in Torgau, alas! never to leave it again,
he gave me his despatch-box-a large black despatchbox, which I knew very well, since I used to keep it in
order-all his official and confidential correspondence,
both with the Emperor and with the department of
Foreign Affairs. The private papers of the embassy
were distributed and classified in this despatch-box.
When he entrusted me with the key of it, he particularly enjoined me not to give it up to anyone except to
himself.
M. de Narbonne was taken from us in a few months.
I religiously preserved what he had given into my
keeping for nearly twenty years, from 1813 to 1833:
the department for Foreign Affairs, not knowing, most
likely, that it was in my hands, never claimed it.
At that period it was the custom to allow diplomatic
agents to retain all documents of which they were,
virtute officii, depositaries, during their life, as long as
they were given up at their death; the department then




OF THE DUC DE BROGUIE.


207


interposing to take possession of such papers as they
thought fit, as the property of the State. Thus it was,
for instance, that the ' Memoires de Saint-Simon' were
forfeited by his family, and, for a hundred and fifty
years, remained buried in the archives of the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, on the pretext that he had been
ambassador in Spain.
When I became Minister for Foreign Affairs, I made
up my mind to put a stop to this double abuse. I
issued an order that every diplomatic agent, not
excepting the Minister himself, should, when he left
office, hand over to his successor, on leaving his post,
all papers and documents which related to his administration; that each should, on his own account, make
out an inventory and a statement of contents, which,
being signed by both parties, should free the diplomatic
agent, who had either been recalled or had resigned,
from all liability to inquiry or proceedings, either
before or after his death. He was merely allowed to
keep a copy of the papers or documents which he
might select, on undertaking to publish nothing without the knowledge of the department.
After having thus provided for the future, I looked
after the past.  I endeavoured, as far as I could, to
make the order retrospective, and to obtain, a l'amiable,




:208


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the restitution of the different documents which had
been dispersed, and, of course, I practised what Ipreached.
I returned the despatch-box of M. de Narbonne to the
department, without taking anything out; and M.
Thiers has drawn on the correspondence, documents
and narratives which it contained for the materials
which conclude his fifteenth volume.  It is a very
interesting  narrative: the facts are set out very,exactly, lucidly, and strictly-too much so almost; I
mean that their connection is too close, too connected
in the recital, and less interspersed with various accidents and incidents than they were in reality.
One must not be astonished at this.  The state of
affairs at Vienna was critical and precarious. In the
negotiations, or perhaps, to speak more exactly, in the
intrigues which were going on there, the interests at
stake varied with the chances of each day, and the
views of the different parties, which also were variable,
had more than one aim.
As a matter of fact, no one was deceived. The
Emperor himself, in his innermost thoughts, would
allow of no peace but such as he might dictate himself
with his foot on his adversary's neck. When he offered
Austria her share in the spoils of Prussia and of Russia,
he had no idea either of dazzling or of influencing her.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


209


He only negotiated in order to gain time, so as to be
able to finish his preparations. All he hoped and all
he wished for was to anticipate the defection of
Austria, and to be able to strike his great blow before
she declared herself against him, and then to have her
at his mercy, just as he had had Prussia at his mercy
after the Battle of Austerlitz.
As his only aim was to beat about the bush as long
as possible, he fancied he should succeed better by
opening such a negotiation, than by following the
advice which  Cambaceres, M. de Talleyrand, and
M. de Caulaincourt gave him, which was to leave
Austria to herself, without asking anything of her, or
offering her anything; and I think he was right. To
have done as they suggested would have meant giving
up that Power without any motive, and almost without
any pretext for resistance, at the solicitation of the
combined Powers.
But whilst Napoleon looked for no result from the
negotiations which he was carrying on, he nevertheless
gave himself to them, heart and soul, and brought his
ardour, his authority, and his impatience to bear, and,
as in everything else, the devil was in him; he spared
neither entreaties, promises, nor menaces, even at the
risk of hastening the dlenoueenlt. Who could tell,
VOL. I.                              14




210


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


besides, what an access of weakness or of ambition
might not have obtained from Austria? To a gambler,
the smallest card may seem to be able to win the
biggest stake.
On his part, M. de Narbonne saw clearly into the
Emperor's intentions without the latter having imparted
them to him, and he also clearly understood the true
position of Austria; that it would be suicidal on her
part to help France to crush Russia, and to destroy
what remained of Prussia.  He also very clearly saw
the tendency, and what would be the definite result, of
the negotiations; to press Austria to intervene, under
the guise of mediation, would be to authorize her to
levy her last man and to raise her last dollar; it would
be to make her the arbiter of the terms of peace; but
on the one hand his instructions were precise and
pressing, and he could neither neglect nor evade them,
for every French mail brought him a message to spur
him on afresh; on the other hand-shall I say it?he saw hardly any chance of peace, small as it was,
except in the road which, from no choice of his own,
he was taking. Who could tell whether the Emperor,
when he found himself placed between more than
favourable conditions, and the fear of having two
hundred thousand additional men to deal with, might




Of THE D UC DE BROGLIE.


2I 


not hesitate; whether just one grain of common sense,
one spark of wisdom, might not enter his head?
As for M. de Metternich, he knew the Emperor
perfectly, and was ready for anything; he thoroughly
understood his own position, and was ready to risk
everything; but, having made up his mind only to risk
all to win all, he did not choose to act except when
obliged to do so, and till he had exhausted all means
of avoiding action, till he had offered his master's
son-in-law such conditions as it would be invidious
and mad on his part to refuse; in any case, he only
intended to act freely, and in his own interests, without
allowing himself to be carried away by the various
prejudices, both from within and from without, of his
own country.
In such a complicated position, where everyone was,
in one way or another, playing a double game; where
everyone was pursuing two objects, one in default of
the other, it may be easily understood how everyone
was wide awake and on the look-out; how the smallest
fact, the slightest rumour, the merest word, a falling
leaf or a buzzing fly, was enough to set everything in
an uproar.  One day it was reported that the King of
Saxony, who had taken refuge in Bavaria under French
protection, had escaped, in a manner on the sly, in
14-2




212


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


order to put himself at the disposal of Austria in
Bohemia; another day, that the Prince of Schwartzenberg, who had retired into Galicia with his corpsd'armle, had received  an order from  the Emperor
Napoleon to re-enter the Grand Duchy, and to attack
the Russians; then that the Emperor of Austria, by
way of retaliation, had taken into his head to summon
Prince Poniatowski to quit Bohemia in order to rejoin
the French army, and to lay down his arms on the
way; then that the Emperor Napoleon forbade him to
do so, and that the two corps-d'armlee were on the point
of hostilities, etc., etc.
In a rapid journey which I made to Cracow on
this delicate subject, I found means to convince myself
that the state of distraction and perplexity which the
position of affairs engendered and maintained was not
confined to Vienna or to the more important places,
but extended everywhere, and descended to all ranks;
and I found it again, so to say, under the form of
insolent curiosity or of menace, at every post-house
where I changed horses, and at every inn.  Perhaps
this changeable current of agitation, news, apprehensions and conjectures does not stand out clearly
enough in the serious and exact narrative of I. 'Thiers;
but then again, perhaps, had he entered fully into all




OF THlE DUC DE BROGLIE.


213


this, he might have lost himself in particulars and
minute details.
The first difficulty to be got over was the inevitable and
impending hostile meeting between the Emperor and the
allies. This meeting might decide everything.  If the
Emperor gained a decisive victory, like that of Austerlitz or Jena, he would again be master of the world,
and nothing would remain for the Austrian Government
but to bend its head and ask for pardon. But if, on
the other hand, he was beaten, and driven back to the
French frontier with the sword in his loins, then the
Emperor Alexander would become the King of kings,
the Agamemnon of Europe, the deliverer of the Continent. The popular movement in Austria was dragging its Government at the tail of the allies, though she
only figured in the lowest rank, and in the background,
decried, despised, and declared to be a traitor to the
German Fatherland.
In order that M. de Metternich might keep a high
hand, it was necessary that he should have a free hand,
and for that very reason it was necessary that the
Emperor Napoleon should be the victor, and yet should
only be half a victor.
It can be easily imagined with what anxiety the
messengers were awaited, and with what avidity all




214


PERSOA'AL RECOLLECTIONS


news was received and commented on. I am not at all
exaggerating when I say that, in many hotels in Vienna,
the windows were opened because people thought they
heard the cannon during the Battle of Liitzen; neither
am I exaggerating when I state as a fact that there
were some military men who declared positively that
they had heard it.
The event, as one knows, turned out according to
the wish of M. de Metternich.  Although the Emperor
was victorious at Lutzen and at Bautzen, one after the
other, the victories were so hardly and so dearly won,
that he felt bound to accept the idea of a congress, and
himself to seek an armistice, so as to be able to recruit
his forces somewhat.  M. Thiers affirms that this,
desiring war as he did, was a great fault on his side:
that he let the chance of crushing the allies, and of
completing their destruction, slip.  If, in fact, that
depended on him, and if he committed such a mistake,
it was certainly the first of that sort with which he
had to reproach himself; and he paid dearly for it, for
it cost him the domination of Europe, his throne and
his liberty.  Whatever may be the truth as to that
mistake, real or imaginary, he certainly, after the blow
was struck, did make a grave mistake, when he commissioned M. de Caulaincourt to negotiate an armistice,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


215


because the very choice of the negotiator gave rise to
the idea that much more was at stake, and that it was
a matter of treating with the allies directly, without the
concurrence of Austria.
M. de Metternich, during the whole time that
the fortune of war seemed to waver, had put a very
gcod face on the matter, and sent us, hour by hour,
all the news which he received, with an openness
which wrongly aroused our suspicion. He was informed of the arrival of M. de Caulaincourt at the
outposts of the allies by M. de Nesselrode, who himself
started without delay for Vienna, in order to give
Austria an opportunity for breaking off the bargain.
That was the decisive blow.
M. de Metternich carried off his master, as it were,
and took him, without a rest, to Gitschin, in the middle
of Bohemia, into a castle which is situated at about an
equal distance from Dresden, where the Emperor Napoleon was, and from Breslau, where the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia were, and from there he
undertook to dictate his conditions to the belligerents.
Their departure had been so sudden, and had been
kept so secret, that we were only informed of it when
it was almost too late.
Two Frenchmen, whose names I have forgotten at




216


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


this moment   two old servants of French enmigres,
living at Vienna; the one in a small way of business,
and the other in some subordinate employ, but who,
both of them, were intimate with the people connected
with the imperial stables-came and told us of it.
M. de Narbonne at once went straight to M. de Metternich, and had rather a lively explanation with him.
All he got was good words and bad reasons. The
Emperor started in the evening, and met M. de Nesselrode on the way.   The next day M. de Narbonne
himself was on the road to Dresden. He only took
me with him, and told his aides-de-camp to meet him
there. The embassy remained at Vienna.
We arrived at Dresden at the beginning of June,
and remained till July 15.
M. de Narbonne was well received, and his leaving
Vienna at his own risk, without awaiting orders, stood
him in good stead; but he was reproached for having
executed his instruction with activity and carefulness.
Such was the lot of all servants of the State at that
period.  Without being  absolutely  received  with
favour, without having the real designs of his master
confided to him, he was kept in reserve for the Congress, or perhaps better, for the sham Congress which
was being arranged.




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


217


I have a very pleasant recollection of the five weeks
which I passed at Dresden. I spent my mornings
sometimes in visiting the picture-gallery, which is one
of the finest in Europe, sometimes in going over that
part of the neighbouring country which is rightly
called the Saxon Switzerland, but most frequently I used
to cross the Elbe by a half-ruined bridge, in order to
see our young conscripts being drilled in platoon and
manual exercise.  They seemed to me to be very
awkward, without any experience, and raw novices, and
the instructors who badgered them gave them an
appearance of timidity which they certainly did not
have before the enemy. It was a disquieting and sad
sight.
One day when I was giving myself up to those
thoughts, with my eyes fixed on several groups who
were trying in vain to keep step, I was joined by
General Mathieu Dumas, who was at that time Commissary-General of the Grand Army. I had known
him for a long time; he had been my father's friend
and companion in arms in America. I told him of my
presentiments, which, as he did not disguise from me,
he shared, and when M. de Narbonne soon joined us,
he told us the following anecdote.
'I was crossing,' he said, 'the very place where we




218


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


are now, with the Emperor, a few days ago, and with
him I watched the exercises, or rather the outline of
exercises which we are watching. The young soldiers
were not any more expert than they are just now, and
the drill-sergeants vied with each other in their abuse of
them, and the Emperor, who was very vexed, began to
find fault with the drill-sergeants who could do no
better. He even took the musket from one of them,
and took his place, but with no greater success.  Then,
turning towards me, and reading in my face the
thoughts which were passing through my mind, he said
to me in a half joking, half vexed voice 
'" You do not believe in miracles?"
"' Yes, I do," I answered, " provided I have time to
make the sign of the cross.'
' He broke off the conversation, spoke of something
else, and returned to his quarters.'
Our evenings were spent very gaily. The Emperor
entertained the King of Saxony, his family and his
Court, which had returned under the wing of the
victor after the victory, and which was well received
after making an apology.  The principal actors of the
Comedie-Frangaise had been sent to    headquarters
from Paris, and there was a dramatic representation
every other day.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


219


The pick of this company was staying, if I remember rightly, in the same hotel in which we lived.
We often saw them off the stage, and I knew them
nearly all personally. When a very young man, and
in the habit of going constantly to the Theatre Francais, I found it more convenient and cheaper, instead
of taking my ticket at the door every evening, to take
what was called then, and is, I believe, called so still,
an 'actor's pass.' That was the right which was
given to every member of the company to dispose of,
for his own profit, a place in the orchestra or in the
balcony. I had bought Dazincourt's passes; he was
a comedian of the old school, a clever and welleducated man, who used to tell me anecdotes of the
ancien regime, and had introduced me to several of his
brother actors.  Later, having made the acquaintance
of the celebrated painter Gerard, I had met, at the
delightful soirees which he used to give to the best men
in society and amongst artists whom it was possible to
gather together-I had, I say, met the principal
coryphees of our different theatres.  And then, if it
must be said, I took advantage of M. de Narbonne's
presence. Before the Revolution he had been on most
intimate terms with Mademoiselle Constat, by whom he
had a daughter, who went on the stage under the name




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PERSONAL RECOZLECTIONS


of Amalric Constat; but she remained on it only for a
very short time, as by her irreproachable conduct she
well deserved to make an honourable marriage. M.
de Narbonne never made mother and daughter known
to each other.  Mademoiselle Constat, who had at that
time retired from the theatre and was married to the
nephew of the poet Parny, kept a very good house in
town and country, and more than once I have been
there with her former associates, from whom she had
finally separated herself.
Thus the five weeks passed by rapidly, and all the
more so as there was no lack of political incident. M.
Thiers has very well related the different stratagems
which the Emperor Napoleon employed to obtain an
extension of the armistice, by leading his enemies to
hope for peace. He has related the celebrated interview of June 28, on the testimony of M. de Metternich
himself.  This narrative modifies, in more than one
respect, the violence and passion which public report
attributes to the crowned interlocutor.
No doubt M. de Metternich is to be believed in the
matter; but I am bound to say that, on the day itself,
and on the next and following days, the report to which
I have alluded was very fully believed by those who
were best informed and in the closest connection with




OF.HEE DUC DE BROGLIE.


221


the Emperor, and that certainly that dangerous expression, 'Hoow much has England given you?' has never been
denied by anyone.  I will add, from memory, that the
indifference which the Emperor, according to MI. de
Metternich, evinced respecting the losses of Germany
during the Russian campaign, had been expressed, a
few days before, with much more original simplicity'All1 told,' he said to M. de Narbonne, who repeated
his words to me the same evening, ' what has it all cost
me? 'Three hundred thousand mlen, and then there were a
lot of Germanzs amongst them/.'
At last, July 1.5, after much coming and going, and
numberless tergiversations, the Emperor appointed as
his plenipotentiaries at the Congress-which was to be
opened immediately at Prague, and which was to close
by August 16 at the latest, as this was the date of the
last extension of the armistice-M. de Narbonne and
M. de Caulaincourt. M. de Narbonne was to take with
him the two secretaries of the embassy at Warsaw,
Lajard and Rumigny, and two attaches, M. de Montigny and me; M. de Caulaincourt took with him his
first secretary of the embassy at St. Petersburg, M. de
Rayneval, who has since been ambassador to Spain.
M. de Narbonne started]directly, but M. de Caulaincourt was detained for several days, under a miserable




222


PERSONAL RECOLLECTION0


pretext.  The Russian and Prussian plenipotentiaries
had arrived at Prague by July 11.  M. de Narbonne
received his full powers and his authorization to proceed to an interchange of credentials before the arrival
of his colleague.
The first and last difficulty, which broke up the
Congress, arose on the subject of the exchange of
powers: the French plenipotentiaries insisted upon
the exchange of powers taking place at the Conference;
the Russian and Prussian plenipotentiaries took refuge
behind the mediator.*
In the meantime, I carefully visited all that was
worth seeing in the capital of Bohemia: the old and
the new town, the Kleinstadt, the Hradschin, where,
later on, Charles X. and his family found their last
refuge; the library, the museum, and the observatory,
Tycho Brahe's last retreat.  Many a time did I seat
myself on the bastion which, in 1741, my grandfather,
then but twenty-three years old, had scaled, side by
side with the grenadiers of M. de Chevert.
It is not my intention to give an account of the
Congress of Prague here; for all that concerned the
embassy of Vienna, I refer my readers to the account
of M. Thiers.  It is, besides, well known that this


* Austria was here the mediator.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


223


so-called Congress was only opened pro formd, that it
only lasted twenty days, that these twenty days were
spent in preliminary disputes, and that the plenipotentiaries never really met face to face.
I think I was about the only one, on our side or on
the other, who did not lose his time. Our two plenipotentiaries had commissioned me to draw up an exact
statement of the actual forces which the Austrian
Government had got together to back up its mediation;
and I performed the work actively, and, I believe,
successfully.  The means which may be resorted to
in order to get at the secret of a man who, strictly
speaking, is not one's friend, are never altogether blameless; those we employed were certainly not so, and, as
regards the share I took in them, I confess it to my
shame.  As a matter of fact, we managed to obtain
information from the different Austrian public offices;
we got possession of the muster-rolls, corps by corps,
regiment by regiment, man by man; and in many
cases we even managed to obtain, not merely copies,
but the originals themselves.  By means of those
documents, I drew up a report of the war-strength of
the Austrian army, the accuracy of which was afterwards proved by future events, and, to such an extent,
that it since occurred to me that M. de Metternich,




224


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


being informed of our schemes, tacitly favoured them,
being only too well pleased thus, and through us, to
bring pressure to bear upon the Emperor.
However this may be, that report (of which I have
preserved a copy, together with the documents on
which it was based) was thoroughly approved of by
our two plenipotentiaries on being submitted to them;
I discussed every point of it with them, and explained
the whole, and every detail of it, so much to their
satisfaction, that they instructed me to proceed to
Dresden at once, to deliver my report to the Emperor,
and thus lay before him, so to speak, the palpable
evidence of the enormous preparations which were
being accumulated against him.
I started, and lost no time on the way. On arriving
at Dresden, I called on M. de Bassano, and showed
him my report, explaining it to him, and asking him at
the same time, on behalf of M. de Narbonne and of
M. de Caulaincourt, to bring it under the notice of the
Emperor, and to inform me in case the latter should
require any explanations.
M. de Bassano promised to comply with my request.
He was dismayed, for he could neither refuse to
believe the evidence of the figures, nor the authenticity




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


225


of the documents from which these figures were taken;
so he told me to wait, which I did.
Having kept me waiting for a long time, M. de
Bassano returned at length. He was radiant with joy.
After a slight rebuke, the Emperor had convinced him
that our figures were a myth, and we idiots.
I insisted that I was right; he persisted the contrary, but I held to my opinion.
'My dear friend,' he said to me at last, 'the
Emperor knows more about this matter, as he does
about all others, than you and I, or all the rest of us
put together; and for me, his opinion is like a track
laid down in marble, on which I can walk in safety
without danger of losing my way.'
I still waited, but the Emperor did not send for me.
He, however, kept the paper I had had delivered to him,
and I think that, after all, he found it rather more
correct than he hoped for; at any rate, he was not long
in discovering the real state of affairs.
In the evening, before starting on my return journey,
I had a tolerably long interview with the private
secretary of M. de Bassano, who told me, unaffectedly,
that the Emperor would consent to peace only on his
own terms, and after having conquered all his enemies.
' If he gave up even the most insignificant place,' my
VOL. I.                              15




226


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


informant added, 'or were to retrace a single step, he
would have to reckon with the Corps Legislatif.'
My interlocutor, whom I knew well, repeated this to
me several times, like a schoolboy repeating his lesson;
and he was hardly the man to have invented the phrase
himself. He must, therefore, have had it from his chief,
who, for his part, was too infatuated with regard to the
Emperor for such an apprehension to spring from him.
The fear, therefore, must have come from the Emperor
himself. M. de Caulaincourt, to whom I related this
on my return, did not doubt it any more than I did.
The few days which remained, before reaching the
fatal term, passed quickly in useless negotiations.
During this short interval, Fouche, then Duke of
Otranto, arrived at Prague. The Emperor had summoned him to Dresden from Paris, no doubt to cut
short any intrigues upon which he might have entered;
and from Dresden he had sent him into Illyria, to
replace the Duke of Abrantes, who had gone quite mad.
Had the negotiations of Prague been meant in real
earnest, it would have been a decidedly clumsy proceeding, at such a moment, to nominate a GovernorGeneral to that very Illyria which was being ostensibly
offered to Austria; but at the stage at which we were
then, everything lost its importance.  The Duke of




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


227


Otranto remained with us for three days, had an interview with M. de Metternich, and talked nonsense to
him.I He spoke a great deal with us, but did not say
much; as for his appearance, it did not make up for
the hollowness of his conversation.  His actions were
certainly borne out by his disagreeable looks, which
put one in mind of a low blackguard; and no one
could possibly have guessed that, one day, he would
become Minister of the Most Christian King.
At last the fatal day arrived when the armistice
expired, when all hopes of coming to terms were over,
and when Austria, the mediator, became one of the
belligerents. We got ready to take our departure, the
more so as our position was hardly tenable any longer.
We could not pass through the streets without being
insulted; the theatres resounded with applause at the
jokes which cast outrage and derision on France, and
movable stages were erected so that the pieces might
be played under our very windows.
On the eve of our departure, M. de Narbonne
instructed me to call on M. de Metternich, in order to
settle with the latter all the formalities relating to
passports, escorts, safe-conducts, etc.  I drove to M.
de Metternich's at nightfall, so as to avoid any unpleasant adventure.  In order to reach the study of
15-2




228


PERSONVAL RECOLLECTIONS


the Prince, I had to pass through a number of rooms
crowded with generals and other officers of all ranks,
and with employes of every class and kind.
Whilst passing through this crowd of uniforms and
of embroidered coats, I was not altogether free from
apprehension; for I feared that I might hear some
remark or other which it would be equally difficult for
me either to notice or to pass over in silence. M. de
Metternich had, I think, something of the same feeling,
for he came to meet me, took me by the arm, and led
me rapidly into his study.
The small amount of business we had to transact
was settled in a few minutes, but he made me sit down
near his desk and detained me for nearly an hour.
It would be incorrect to say that we talked together,
for he was almost exclusively the only one to speak;
his eyes were moist, his hands worked nervously, and
his forehead was covered with perspiration. He explained to me in detail the designs he had formed, and
the efforts he had made since the day of our disasters
to preserve peace, to maintain the alliance between
Austria and France, and to reconcile the interests of
his own country, and the legitimate independence of
Germany, with the pride and the real interests of
France.  He called to mind the attacks to which he




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


229


had been subjected, the reproaches he had endured,
and the efforts he had made, making me, in a measure,
a witness of the extremities to which he was now
reduced.
He then enumerated to me fully the whole military
force which was arrayed against us, hastening, however,
to add that no one knew better than himself how formidable the Emperor Napoleon was, and that no one
had the least illusions as to the risks which Austria
was ready to run.  He explained to me the preparations which had already been made for the evacuation
of Vienna, and the dispositions which had been taken
to continue the struggle, even though it were after
another Austerlitz or another Wagram.
The only right I had to all these confidential communications, was the confidence with which the two
plenipotentiaries honoured me; but, strictly speaking,
all these explanations were not addressed to me, but to
the whole embassy; I was only the accidental depositary of a testament in extremis; or, I had better
say, it was the effusion of a soul, full of patriotic
and personal anguish, which poured out its innermost
feelings even to overflowing, without being able to
restrain them.
I took my leave of the Prince with a full heart.




230


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


My mind was assailed with gloomy thoughts, and I
was filled with an emotion which sprang from various
causes. I hardly remarked, as I went through the
palace, that the rooms were empty, nor, as I drove
through the town, that the streets were deserted;
everything was calm and dismal, and foreboding the
approaching storm.
'II succede a ce bruit un calme plein d'horreur,
Et la terre, en silence, attend dans la terreur.'
We left Prague the next morning, whilst M. de
Caulaincourt, who was supposed to be going to follow
us very soon, remained behind. M. de Narbonne was
not aware of the fact that since August 8, the day but
one before the declaration of war, and three days
before hostilities recommenced, his colleague had been
carrying on with M. de Metternich a sort of secret
negotiation, which had no better success than the
public negotiations, and which did not come to an end
until the 17th of the same month.  M. Lefebvre and
M. Thiers recently disclosed the existence and the
various incidents of this negotiation.
It must have been very painful for M. de Caulaincourt, honest and loyal to his colleagues as he naturally
was, to lend himself to the duplicity of his master in
this matter.  I am quite sure that he did it from a




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


231


sense of fidelity and of patriotism, rightly or wrongly
understood, but I am equally sure that the Emperor
would never have proposed such a thing to M. de
Narbonne, any more than he would have implicated
him, without his knowing it, in the arrest of the Duc
d'Enghien,
M. de Caulaincourt was a man of honour, his mind
was sound and upright, though rather narrow; his
character was sincere and firm to a certain extent, but
not sufficiently so to urge him to make every sacrifice.
This was the misfortune of his life, and this misfortune weighs upon his memory.
On our return to Dresden, my colleagues and I all
had orders to return to France immediately. I took
leave of M. de Narbonne, never to see him again. He
had no.presentiment of this, nor had I.  I cannot say
whether the command of Torgau, which was entrusted
to him, was intended as a favour or a disgrace; at any
rate, he succumbed there, if not in the full vigour of
his age, yet certainly in the fulness of all his faculties.
No general officer, young soldier, or veteran, supported
the retreat from Moscow with more courage and gaiety
than this nobleman born and reared at the Court of
Louis XV. In him the Emperor had a councillor who
was both more able and more faithful than M. de




232


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Talleyrand and more far-sighted and determined than
M. de Caulaincourt. For his own sake, it is not to be regretted that he was not alive at the fall of the Empire;
he would neither have betrayed it in its reverses, nor
deserted it in its last moments, and his position, at the
restoration of the Bourbons, would have been very
painful and unpleasant. No one knew better than I
did what inexhaustible kindness, natural generosity
and sincere affection, or what clearness and strength of
mind, he possessed under the outward charms and
light-heartedness of a man of the world, and no one
regretted him more bitterly than I did.
On my way back to France I met, at Hanau, two
officers attached to the Emperor's household, M, de
Mesgrigny, one of his equerries, and M. de Bausset,
the sous-prefet of the palace, and we had a more jovial
supper together than we ought to have had.  They
congratulated me on my return to France, and jested
about the unpleasantness of having to go through
another campaign.  I could not get them to enter upon
any serious topic. I do not know how they got out of
the disaster at Leipzig; all I do know is that neither
of them left his bones there.
On my arrival in Paris, as soon as I had seen my
family, I put myself at the disposal of the High




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


233


Chancellor, and requested to be allowed to re-enter
the ordinary  service of the Conseil d'Itat.  He
received my very modest demand favourably, but he
had other things to think about.
I spent in Paris the months of September and
October, and as a relief from the terrible preoccupation
of war, and the dreadful news which every mail brought,
chance led me into the path of philosophy again.
It was at the period when the crusade against the
philosophy of the eighteenth century was beginning.
M. Laromiguiere, one of its most ardent adepts, and
one of its best disciples, had given it the first blow.
Whilst flattering himself that he was putting it beyond
the reach of any attack, by means of ingenious
subtilties, he had really opened a breach, through
which M. Royer-Collard mounted bravely, with the flag
of Scotch philosophy in his hand, and which he even
widened.
M. Desrenaude, whom I met again in Paris, asked
me to be present at this duel, which kept all the
students on the alert. He took me with him to M.
Laromiguiere's course of lectures, and I do not know
why I did not go to that of M. Royer-Collard, but it
was not from any premeditated intention.
M. Laromiguiere lectured with extraordinary lucidity




234


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


and much charm. He was very witty and most captivating. He was very fond of arguing points with his
audience at the end of the lecture.  M. Desrenaude
was a friend of his, and so I made his acquaintance,
and often went to see him in his philosophical retreat.
By degrees the two friends admitted me to a closer
intimacy. It was their custom, during the fine weather,
to start for a walk in one of the environs of Paris once
or twice a week, at about three or four o'clock in the
afternoon, and to go and dine at some small country
inn.  They generally went with some other friends:
Garat, Daunou, Ginguene, and generally the dinner
lasted a considerable time, and philosophy, literature,
and occasionally even politics were freely discussed.
I was present at the warm disputes between Garat and
Laromiguiere.  The one was the ardent supporter of
the system of Condillac, pure and simple; the other
delicately introduced his own restrictions.  Of course
I was on the side of Laromiguiere; he was right a
thousand times over, though he was only half right.
Garat was supercilious, imperious, and irascible, and
was particularly distasteful to me, and, moreover, I had
a ground for ill-will against him.  About ten years
before, when I had hardly entered society, I was
present at the reception of the poet Parny at the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


235


French Academy, which then used to meet in the
Louvre between the two gates which open on to the
Carrousel, and where, since, the Orangerie has been
erected. Garat received Parny into the Academy, and
it was with inexpressible disgust that I heard him
praise the infamous poem which disgraces the works of
the new member. He, however, was wanting neither
in integrity nor in cleverness.  I got to know him
better rather later; but I always preserved my first
impressions of him.
I had occasion, at one of the dinners, to make use
of the instruction I had had from good old Prince
Czartoryski.
'You have just come from Germany,' one of the
guests said to me suddenly; I think it was Ginguene.
There, philosophy just now is making as much noise
as the cannon; or rather, it is philosophy which is
discharging the guns, raising up the schools against us,
and enlisting the scholars. What does that philosophy
teach? Is it the same which M. Villers explained to us
some years ago, and of which we understood very little?'
' I recently read,' Garat added, ' a big book of
Kant's, translated into Latin, of which I did not
understand anything at all.  Is that also German
philosophy?'




236


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I answered this appeal modestly, explaining as well
as I could the ideas which form the basis of Kant's
philosophy, the objections which it had encountered,
and the changes which it had undergone at the hands
of Fichte; and thus I gained some little credit, at very
little trouble.  Of course all that I explained was
looked upon as very absurd; and, as far as I am
concrened, that was about my own opinion.
Our dinners generally finished up with some remarks
on the news of the day. All the guests except myself
were terrified at the approach of a counter-revolution;
they were men of 1789, subjugated without being
overcome by the imperial regime, and they feared the
return of the Bourbons above everything. As for me,
I did not think enough about the matter to preoccupy
myself with it, either in a favourable or another sense.
The Emperor, defeated and a fugitive, returned to
Paris on November 7, and on the 14th received all
the high dignitaries of State at the Tuileries. For the
second time within a year he had lost an army of
500,000 men; but for him the question was to raise
a third one.
Faithful to my design to speak only of myself, of
what I did and saw, I shall say nothing of the events
which brought about the fall of the Empire or of the




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


237


intrigues which preceded it; of the quarrels of the
Emperor with the Corps L6gislatif, of his negotiations,
whether real or not, with the foreign Powers; of the
bravery displayed in the campaign in France; of the
fidelity of some of his servants, and of the defection of
others. I shall say nothing, because personally I knew
nothing about it; because to this day I know nothing
more than what I have read or heard. I will merely
say that in the two months which preceded the new
and last departure of the Emperor for the army, official
society, and even unofficial society, was divided between two salons-that of M. de Bassano, who had
again become Secretary of State, giving up foreign
affairs to M. de Caulaincourt; and that of M. de Talleyrand, who, though still in disgrace, was nevertheless
on his legs as a grand dignitary of the Empire.
These two sets mutually laughed at and denounced
each other. In the second, peace was clamoured for
at any price; in the first, they still reckoned on some
miracle of management on the part of the Emperor.
In the second was foreseen, silently, but with some
satisfaction, the definite fall of the Empire; in the other
its maintenance was passionately wished for.
I was in the habit of mixing with both sets about
equally, and I must confess that I was rather on the side




238        PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
of those who desired, without hoping for it too much,
the maintenance of the Empire, such as it was.   I
could not look calmly on the disasters of our army, if
we still had one; and the sight of those men, who,
after having served, flattered, encouraged, supported
the Emperor in all his follies and in all his crimes, now,
at his overthrow, inveighed against him, inspired me
with profound disgust.
However, nothing was yet decided, nothing was indeed yet clear, and the year 1813 was closing in profound and sinister darkness.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


239


BOOK III.
THIRD   PERIOD.
1814-1817.
I.
1814.
DURING the night between December 31, 1813, and
January 1, 1814, the allies, after much hesitation,
crossed the Rhine between Spires and Bale.
On January 24 the Emperor started for the army.
On March 31 Paris capitulated.
On April 2 the Senate declared the crown forfeited,
Napoleon abdicated on April 11.
Louis XVIII., recalled to the throne, returned to
France on the 29th.
On May 2 he laid down the principles of the Charter
in the Declaration of St. Ouen.
On May 30 he opened the two Chambers.




240


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I witnessed these events, only as a simple spectator,
without taking part in any of them; and as such, here,
in a few words, is what I saw.
I did not hear the name of the Princes of the House
of Bourbon pronounced till we heard the report of the
progress of the allies, and in measure as their progress
increased.  I need not say that I was quite a stranger
to the views which their partisans, as it was said, held,
and which, for my part, I doubt very much; but in the
houses which I was in the habit of frequenting, and
where, besides, people's minds were much divided, it
was impossible that the chances of the future should
not be discussed.  The Restoration came in for a very
small share of it; and, strange to say, in Paris nothing
was known either of the entry of the Comte d'Artois
into  Franche-Comte or of the arrival of the Duc
d'Angouleme in the south. I remember very well, for
example, the discussions of which the salon of Madame
de Jaucourt was the scene, and which were prolonged
far into the morning. M. de Jaucourt, although he
was a Senator and attached to King Joseph, was certainly deep in the confidence of M. de Talleyrand,
seeing that he became a member of the Provisional
Government. Even there, at his house, in his presence,
hardly anything was discussed except the alternative of




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


241


peace or a regency, and people were mostly inclined to
believe in peace. I can still hear M. de Damas, a
former emigre, who had returned a long time ago, but
who had remained an emigre to his very finger tips,
exhausting himself in arguments to justify, as well as
he could, the strategy of the allies, and maintaining
against everyone that they would arrive at Paris; but
even on this supposition he did not speak of the
Bourbons.
But if in the higher classes men's opinions were still
uncertain and very circumspect, the public discontent
made itself evident, and with curious anxiety I followed
its first manifestations. I shall never forget the evening when, sitting quietly at the Opera Comique to see
the representation of the 'Tableau Parlant,' an old
production of Marmontel and of Gretry, at the moment
that this anetta was being sung:
'Vous 6tiez ce que vous n'etes plus,
Vous n'6tiez pas ce que vous etes...
the applause burst forth from all sides, from pit to
gallery, and was renewed over and over again. Still
less shall I forget another scene, which I witnessed
two days later.  I was at the Vaudeville.  The police
had given orders for the performance there of an appropriate play, in which Cossacks plundered a village,
VOL. I.                                16




242


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


pursued young girls, and set fire to the barns: the
piece was outrageously hissed from the very beginning,
interrupted by the noise from the pit, and could not be
terminated.
What did the public wish for when they gave way
to such ardent demonstrations? They did not know
themselves: they were not thinking of the Bourbons;
they were not wishing for the allies, nor dreaming of
the Regency-but it was a mere ebullition of rage, let
what might happen.
One gets accustomed to everything. The alternating
successes and reverses during the short campaign in
France had so unhinged men's minds and upset their
conjectures, that, on the day when they learnt the
approach of the allies, nobody would believe it; and
only the roar of the guns, and the sight of the
peasants who were taking refuge in the suburbs with
their families, their cattle and their furniture, could
overcome the general incredulity.
The next day I got up at daybreak, and woke my
neighbour, M. de Norvins. We had made an appointment, and we went briskly up the boulevard and the
streets which lead to the Barriere de Clichy. Driven
back by the soldiers who were guarding that barrier,
we followed the Custom-house wall as far as the barrier




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


243


of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Turned away again,
and not without reason, by the National Guard and the
soldiers, we heard the cannonade and the musketry
fire approaching nearer and nearer. We then went
down the boulevard, where the crowd was beginning to
increase; and, without obstacle, we reached the height
of Mousseaux. From there we could very distinctly see
the forces of the allied army deploying, and some
sharp-shooters, who had advanced beyond the barriers,
we saw engage in slight skirmishes, which, as they
were ott of range, were of no consequence. Nobody
seemed to be in command in Paris; the National
Guard were without muskets, and no measure was
taken to urge the inhabitants to resistance.
On our return to the boulevards, between the
Madeleine and the Rue Montmartre, it seemed to us
as if the character of the crowd had altered; it was
no longer a frightened mass of people belonging to all
conditions of life, but it consisted almost entirely of
well-dressed people, and of women in elegant neglige;
it was almost like a public promenade. The shops,
which at first had been carefully closed, half opened
again; the restaurants were filled with men and women,
snatching a hasty breakfast.  The noise of the fight
was heard very clearly; and it was even said that
16-2




244


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


some shells fell into the adjacent streets, but I do not
believe it. The reports which were spread were, as
may be believed, of very various and very contradictory
character; nobody believed anything, and everybody
was expecting everything.
At nightfall we returned home. At that time I was
still living in the Rue de la Madeleine. On the way,
I stopped for a few moments at the Duchess d'Abrantes'
in the Rue des Champs-Elysees, and there I met
General Kellerman, whom I had not seen since he was
at Valladolid. He was relating the engagement of that
morning and the negotiations which had been entered
upon, and he spoke of the approaching capitulation,
the departure of the Empress-Regent, of the Ministers
and the whole Government. Not being able to do
anything further for my unhappy country, I resolved,
at least, not to be present at the occupation of Paris by
the enemy; and so I kept within doors at home, and
I saw neither the gloomy sight of the march of the
allied troops along our boulevards, nor the disgraceful
scenes which marked their entry.
I did not go out for several days, till our fate was
fixed-till the authorities of the Empire had disposed
of the Crown, had transferred our allegiance from one
Government to another, and prepared a fresh future for
France.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


245


I saw some of the persons who were engaged in
these transactions, without envying them. The Comte
d'Artois had just arrived; it was a case of who could
be presented to him first.  The old Royalists hastened
from the four corners of France, and the servants of
the Empire rushed to be beforehand with them. I was
urged to do the same, and not to neglect to take that
part in the Restoration which my name might be
worth to me; the more so, as having hitherto been
in a very obscure position, my conduct required no
apology. But everything that I saw inspired me with
profound disgust, and appeared rather ridiculous to me.
However, one morning, I could not resist the wish to
go incognito, that is to say, not in uniform and without
being announced, into the lower hall of the Pavilion de
Flore, where the Comte d'Artois was distributing smiles
and compliments to all comers. I went in very quietly,
without being noticed by anyone, and I went out in
the same way. I was told that M. de la Fayette had
presented himself the same morning from patriotic
motives; no others could possibly be attributed to
him; that, dressed in his old uniform of a general
officer, he had been taken for a former emigre, and as
such had been received with open arms; and that,
having stated his name, the Comte d'Artois stood,




246


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


aghast, and without saying a word, amidst the
indignant and dismayed audience. I do not know
whether the anecdote is true; for M. de la Fayette
never mentioned it to me, and I cannot conceive why
I never spoke to him about it myself.
Then came the entry of Louis XVIII., surrounded
by his family, and escorted by the marshals and
generals of the Empire.  I was present at the progress
of the cortege, merely as a curious spectator, and I
followed it from street to street, from boulevard to
boulevard, as far as the Tuileries; I do not think that
I am deceiving myself when I say that the crowd was
composed of two quite different elements; the one, by
far the most considerable of the two, was formed of
persons like myself, curious, sad, and resigned; the
other was composed of ardent loyalists, limited in
number, but noisy and    demonstrative: these two
classes, according to the quarter where the procession
was, increased or decreased more or less, but were
quite distinct; the latter predominated on approaching the Tuileries.
Louis XVIII., driving in an open carriage with his
family, had a frank and serious look, without any
apparent emotion; the Duchess d'Angouleme, that
grave and somewhat morose air which she always wore.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


247


M. de Chateaubriand has written some verses on the
fierce and sinister aspect of the troops before whom the
procession passed; but I observed them closely, and
nothing of that struck me, nor did I remark anything
to fix my attention. The generals on horseback around
the carriage were visibly agitated and unquiet.  I
returned home, only half satisfied and in a thoroughly
perplexed frame of mind.
From that moment, until the promulgation of the
charter, I followed the march and the progress of the
new Government, yet without making any overtures to
it; indeed, I kept myself at a distance from those
persons of my family or of my acquaintance who were
pledging themselves more and more to it.  Nevertheless, I was kept thoroughly informed of the progress
of the committee which was charged with the duty of
drawing up the charter, and that through a very singular circumstance.
I have spoken of my excellent friend and comrade,
Pepin de Bellisle. He had returned to France when
our army definitely evacuated Spain, and I had met
him in Paris again when I myself returned from
Prague. I saw a great deal of him. As he had been
brought up from his earliest youth by M. and Madame
Beugnot, and was almost like a child of the house, he




248


PERSONAL RECOLLE CTIONS


introduced me there.  M. Beugnot, who was then
Minister, ad interim, of the Provisional Government,
was secretary to the committee entrusted with the draft
of the new Constitution. Bellisle and I went to his
house nearly every evening. He regularly told us what
had taken place at the sitting of the morning; and we
remained discussing the subject till far into the night.
We found fault with him when he slackened in his
defence of constitutional principles, and if, as I think
is the case, he had some influence in the adoption
of certain contested arrangements, we, perhaps, had
something slightly to do with it.
M. Beugnot, who was born at Troyes, in Champagne, in an honourable but modest condition of life,
was called to the bar at an early age; later, in the
Assemblee Legislative, he was a member of that
courageous minority which did honour to the assembly,
and was imprisoned under the Terror; under the Empire he became successively prefet of Rouen, Conseiller
d'ltat, and administrator of the kingdom of Westphalia, and was certainly a very upright and enlightened man. His views were broad, simple, and
sagacious, his attainments varied, and his conversation
delightful.  He had seen many men and many things;
he had observed what he saw, and his memory was in



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


249


fallible. But he had not altogether escaped the fatal
effect of the successive revolutions whose crowning
was the imperial government; his spirit was not on a
par with his culture; he had not got enough backbone;
in a word, he belonged more or less to the race of
functionaries.
For all that, however, he did not, in the drawing up
of the charter, gain the upper hand as much as from
the superiority of his intellect, and his experience,
might naturally have been expected.   Amongst the
provisions which he allowed to pass, with but little
resistance, was one which affected my friend Bellisle
and myself very closely, namely, that which fixed the
age at which deputies could be elected members of
the Chamber at forty years.    That provision condemned us to more than ten years of political inactivity, and we reproached M. Beugnot bitterly for
it, a reproach which he repelled, as usually, rather
weakly.   By this it will be seen that I personally
was far from expecting the recompense which
awaited me.  I had totally forgotten that I was the
head of the elder branch of my family, and heir to
the duchy of Broglie, and that as such, since the
creation of a Chamber of Peers was contemplated, I
should naturally be summoned to it.




250


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Fortunately, others thought of it for me; my uncle
Prince Am6edee de Broglie, who as a former aide-decamp of the Prince of Conde might easily have caused
the balance to weigh in his favour, on the contrary,
without my knowledge, asserted my rights, with much
zeal and disinterestedness.  Besides that, the flood of
the Restoration was in my favour without it being
necessary for me to take any steps in the matter. I
was, however, much surprised at receiving, on the very
morning of June 4th, the writ summoning the future
Chamber of Peers, which was composed of former
senators and noblemen, to the halls of the Palais
Bourbon, where the Chamber of Deputies was sitting.
The sitting was imposing, solemn, and, taken as a
whole, satisfactory.  The King's speech, which was
grave and dignified, compensated, in a certain measure,
for the regret caused by the expressions, 'the charter
which has been granted' (la Charte octroyee) 'the nineteen years of our reign ' (les dix nezif annees de notre regne)
-for the anomalous speech of Chancellor Dambray,
and the weeding out of a certain number of senators,
about whom the public, by the way, cared but very
little.
I was thus transported, all of a sudden, by the mere
course of events, to the highest rank in society and in




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


25I


the State.  I had not deserved it by my services,
neither had I rendered myself unworthy of it by my
sentiments, my language, or my conduct. All that I
had to do was to make good use of this unexpected
good fortune.
I was twenty-nine years old, and for the last ten,
had disposed freely both of my time and of my modest
patrimony. The way in which I had made use of both
was not of a nature to make it difficult for me to
find a suitable partner in life. I had passed half of the
ten years in France, in what is called society, the
other half in foreign countries, where I was engaged in
public business. I had acquired a certain amount of
experience of men and things, and the course of my
studies had prepared me for public life, at least as
much as the greater part of my contemporaries.
The sentiments by which I was animated on entering public life were of the highest.  My views were
sound, my intentions upright, my opinions sensible.
Without despising or disparaging the ancien regime, any
attempt to restore it appeared to me puerile. From
my heart, and from conviction, I belonged to the new
state of society, and I very sincerely believed in its
indefinite progress; whilst detesting a revolutionary
state of affairs-the disorders which it brings with it,




252


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


and the crimes which sully it-I looked upon the
French Revolution, taken as a whole, as an inevitable
and  salutary crisis.  In politics, I regarded the
government of the United States as the future of
civilized nations, and the English monarchy as the
government of the present; I hated despotism, and
saw in the administrative monarchy nothing but a
period of transition. In all this, there was no doubt a
good deal of youthful fancy, and a little dreaming, but
nothing radically wrong, nothing which time and reflection could not have set right, nothing which was
not compatible with loyalty and honour.
I had employed the leisure afforded me by the deathstruggle of the imperial regime to commit to writing my
views on different political questions.  At the end of
one of these essays, to which, however, I attach no importance, I find the following passage:
'Montesquieu, carried away by his love for his
country, has often allowed the correctness of his judgment to yield, in order to represent to the French their
government as one of the three types on which all
others should be modelled. Mably did not disguise
the fact that he held a totally different opinion. It is
well known that he said one day, angrily, when some
reforms were mentioned: " So much the worse, for that




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


253


will preserve the old machine which ought to e destroyed."
Montesquieu's object was reasonable, and it is sad to
think that Mably was right.'
These few lines show my state of mind at that
period, and the faithfulness of my present recollections.
However, whatever the moderation of my views, and
of my character, the mere fact of their being contrary
to the prevalent current of ideas and feelings very soon
led to my being looked upon by the King and by the
highest classes in society as an embryo Jacobin. The
behaviour of M. d'Argenson had something to do with
this. He had distinctly and sharply refused the post
of Royal Commissioner, whose duty it was to install
the new regime, and to cause it to be acknowledged.
But what contributed most to discredit me in high
places, was on the one hand the intercourse which I
maintained with several of the servants of the imperial
regime: amongst others with M. de Bassano and M. de
Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely; and, on the other,
the acquaintance I formed with the members of the two
Chambers whose views were similar to mine: Tracy,
Lanjuinais, Boissy d'Anglas, Pontecoulant, Malleville,
Lenoir, La Roche, in the Chamber of Peers; Dupont
(of the Department of the Eure), Gallois, Ganilh,
Flaugergues, Raynouard, in the Chamber of Deputies.




254


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I took no part, however, in the debates which
marked the first session of the French Parliament, and
which chiefly turned on the bill with regard to the
Press laws, introduced by the Abbe de Montesquiou;
on the system of finance of the Abbe Louis, who has
since become, or rather remained, Baron Louis: on
the affair of General Excelmans, and the restitution of
the property of the emigres.  I might pride myself
upon my modesty in those circumstances, and say
that as I had no deliberative voice in the Chamber,
of which I was a member, it would have been presumption on my part to have spoken only for the
sake of being heard: but I prefer to confess freely,
that timidity had a good deal to do with my silence,
and, as is almost always the case, self-love had itself a
good deal to do with my timidity.
Besides that, I had other things to think about, and
better reasons to excuse myself.
At this time the great event of my life was drawing
near, the event which has decided my fate for this,
and, as I hope, for a better world.
Madame de Sta6l, who had been exiled during ten
years by the Emperor, who had with difficulty escaped
his tyranny by going all over Europe, from Geneva to
Moscow, from Moscow to Stockholm, and who had had




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


255


a triumphant reception in England, had returned to
France shortly after the advent of Louis XVIII.; she
had come back accompanied by her son, her daughter,
M. Rocca, her second husband, and Wilhelm Schlegel,
one of the stars of German literature.
She had been very intimate with my mother, as I
have already mentioned more than once.    Having
known her when I was a child, I was easily introduced to her.
Everything has already been said concerning Madame
de Stael. Full justice has been paid her; enlightened
men, honest men of all parties, those good and
sensible people who are beforehand with posterity,
and who prepare its decrees, agree in seeing in the
author of so many writings which will live as long as
our language, generosity of character, nobility of sentiment, power, breadth and refinement of mind, and a
rare diversity of natural gifts as well as of acquired talents,
not to mention the incomparable brilliancy of her conversation.
I shall add nothing to this, and, indeed, what could
I add?   Madame de Stael has rather harmed the
memory of her illustrious father than otherwise, by
overwhelming him with well-merited praise, thus inducing the ungrateful and malicious public to say of




256


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


him what the Athenian peasant said of Aristides. I will
not pay her memory this bad compliment, but I will be
satisfied with indicating one particular feature in her
character, which alone will suffice to explain many
things, and repel many imputations.
What characterised Madame de Stael above all, and
more than all, was, on the one hand, an impetuous,
imperious, irresistible activity for herself, and on the
other, if I may venture to say it, inflexible good sense.
In all the transactions of life, whether public or private,
in all the preoccupation of her intellect, study or
thought, of composition or conversation, her natural
genius carried her, or rather carried her off, to her goal
at one stretch, at one bound, without regard to difficulties, and exposed her somewhat to exceed the
measure of what was actual or possible.  She was the
first to perceive this, and to be shocked by her mistake.
Her wonderful discernment of what is true and real, of
what is hidden at the bottom of things or of men's
hearts, enlivened her, as it were, with a sudden inspiration, and went through her all at once like a
needle. The revulsion was sudden, the reaction complete, as they say in mechanics, in chemistry or
in medicine; and very often the disdain of all precautions to cover her retreat, to bring about transitions,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


257


left her at the mercy of the envy which malignant
mediocrity feels against superior minds.
I am firmly convinced that, if one were to look into
the matter closely, one would find at the bottom of all
the faults, real or supposed, and for the most part supposed, which have been rightly or wrongly imputed to
Madame de Stael, that what made her existence so
stormy, what made her intimate friendship, and even
her family life, so passionate, ardent and tumultuous,
was this strife between the two eminent qualities by
which in turn she was swayed, instead of their tempering and moderating each other.  I do not fear to add
that this destroyed her health in spite of the natural
strength of her constitution, and brought her life to a
premature close, in the vigour of her age and the
height of her talents.
She received me kindly; she was fond of titles,
historic names, liberal views; she hated the Emperor
and the imperial regime, and she resigned herself to the
Restoration without any illusions, without aversion,
without prejudice either for or against it, and in these
respects I suited her very well.
Soon I saw her nearly every day; I went regularly
to her house in the morning or the evening, sometimes
VOL. I.                               17




258


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


both, either in Paris or at Clichy, where she stayed
during the summer.
I became intimate with her son, who was several
years younger than I. Educated when quite young at
a German gymnasium (high school), then later, under
his mother's eyes, by M. Schlegel, he was an excellent
scholar, and almost as well versed in the knowledge of
antiquity as in the slightest shades and refinements of
the classics.  He had travelled a great deal, either
alone or with his mother, and spoke most modern
languages'with wonderful ease, and an extremely pure
accent.  Fitted for anything, he had passed the
examinations of the Polytechnic School with distinction,
without, however, in the end, entering the school itself.
Accomplished, haughty, and generous like his mother,
he'shared' her disgrace, and embraced her hopes with
joy and pride. But what most highly distinguished
him, and made him a man by himself, was the singular
aptitude he had for carrying into execution and practice
the speculative ideas of the rare intellects which surrounded his mother. He was, and he remained so all
his life, a matter-of-fact man. If his youth, his foreign
origin, the Swedish uniform which he still wore, had
not prevented his entering the public service in France,
and if death had not carried him off too early, I am




7,9       * 
t --- -          /"      -7 ve/    - --- 
-r


:.a








OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


259


convinced that he would have figured in the foremost
rank amongst the men of our time.
I shall not speak of his sister; I should find it too
difficult to have recourse, in order to express my
thoughts, to terms which might seem exaggerated,
while they would really be far below the truth. Those
who knew her intimately will understand me; as for the
others, whatever I might say, they could not do so.
I knew but little of M. Rocca. At the moment
when Madame de Stael returned to France, he was
suffering from a mortal illness which condemned him
to silence-and absolute silence. He was only seen at
long intervals. In the few words that I gathered from
him, he impressed me as a man of an original, rough,
and unaffected mind, which ought to have had something very keen about it.
On the other hand, I knew Wilhelm Schlegel very
well, and I shall often have occasion to speak of him.
I will wait for the opportunity, and will content myself
with saying here that he received me, as did all the
rest of the family, with much kindness.
My attentions seeming to be well received, I soon
conceived the highest hopes, and, towards the end
of the autumn, I started for Ormes, to obtain my
mother's consent; that she willingly gave me, and
17-2




260


PERSONAL RECOILECTIONS


returned with me to Paris. M. d'Argenson had been
the first to advise me to make this marriage, and he
followed soon after my mother.
The cordial and ready consent of my mother was
necessary for me to be able to withstand the storm
which my resolution raised amongst my family. Such
was the current of prevailing opinion, and the folly of
freshly exhumed noble prejudices, that my marriage
with the daughter of a Swedish grandee was looked
upon as a mesalliance. The opposition between M.
Necker and Marshal Broglie in 1789 was brought up,
and our families might have been Capulets and
Montagues; my uncle Amedee, to whom I was under
real and recent obligations, acted towards me as if I
had behaved ungratefully; in short, the uproar was
extreme, and increased hourly.
I remained firm, and the marriage was agreed upon,
and made public the very next day after my mother's
arrival in Paris, and was only put off because of the
arrangement of the settlements, which depended on the
restitution of two millions of francs which M. Necker
had generously lent the State.
I shall return to this subject later on.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE


26x


II.
1815.
THE last days of 1814 and the first three months of
1815 passed away with rapidity for me. I used to go
to bed late and to be up early; I used to study with
avidity during part of the night, and during the best
part of the morning, and to do my best in order to
become worthy of the position which had fallen to my
lot: politics, jurisprudence, political economy, finances,
public service, I read all somewhat hastily, and without
method.  After twelve, I used to spend the rest of the
day in the society of Madame de Stael, and at the
sittings of the Chambers.
On finding herself once more in her dear Paris, after
an exile of ten years, Madame de Stael moved in the
very highest society. Seeing that she was welcomed
and even sought for at Court, and by Ministers of
State, and treated with consideration in the Faubourg
Saint-Germain, her salon was the meeting-place of all




262


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the foreigners whom the Restoration attracted to Paris.
That was not what I most relished in it. In the
position in which France was then, all intercourse with
foreigners, whoever they may have been, was repugnant
to me in a certain degree; so much so, indeed, that,
my marriage not being yet public, I congratulated
myself upon not being invited, as a member of the
family, to the famous interview between the Emperor
Alexander and M. de la Fayette, which interview, as
everybody knows, had been successfully brought about
by Madame de Stael, in her own salon.  I often regretted afterwards not having witnessed that interview.
Among the foreigners whom I met in that salon, the
Duke of Wellington, Mr. Canning, Sir James Mackintosh, Lord Harrowby, and M. de Humboldt were the
most prominent figures.
Towards the Duke of Wellington I felt much respect,
though little sympathy. As regards the chief outlines
of his character, he was a regular Englishman-an
Englishman of the old stamp.   His mind was free
from affectation, upright, solid, and cautious, but harsh,
stiff, and rather narrow. Besides, his position, as well
as his fame, contrasted singularly with the awkward
and intrusive gallantry which he affected towards young
and handsome ladies, and which, it is said, he used to




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


263


carry as far as he was permitted to do.  He preserved
those manners even until his very old age, and the
anxious care with which all parties vied with each other
in throwing the veil over the ridiculous side of the
character of the hero of Waterloo is one of the chief
proofs of the good sense of the English nation.
Very different was Mr. Canning. There were two
personages in him-the wit and the statesman; but
those personages somewhat interfered with each other.
The wit was most brilliant-perhaps more so than was
becoming to the gravity of a future Prime Minister;
but the statesman quite made up for this: he was
haughty and scornful. Madame de Stael often used to
have lively discussions with the wit as well as with the
statesman, and it was a pleasure to hear her; I, however, used to avoid Mr. Canning more than I sought
him; he was not then the man he afterwards became,
and since then I have done him fuller justice.
On the other hand, Sir James Mackintosh was one
of the most amiable men I ever knew. His knowledge
was immense.   He was conversant with classical languages and thoroughly acquainted with German,
French, and English literature.  He was very like
Cicero in character as well as in features. At the time
I am speaking of, he was returning from Bombay, where
0~ll-~rL.J *I~




264


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


he had resided several years as Chief Judge, and his
high reputation, though long disputed, was beginning
to be firmly established in England. During the few
months which he spent in Paris, he was a constant
visitor to the house of Madame de Stael, where I became acquainted with him.   He always treated me
with a friendship which lasted until his death. His
'Memoirs,' edited by his family, bear witness to that
friendship, of which I have preserved a recollection full
of gratitude and veneration.
Lord Harrowby, who, before and after the period of
which I am speaking, was for a long time a member of
the English Cabinet, was a Tory of enlightened and
moderate views, exquisitely polite and of thorough good
sense.  I was very anxious in my curiosity concerning
England.  I used to endeavour in vain to reconcile
what I used to read in books written ex professo respecting that country, and what I used to see daily in the
public papers. Lord Harrowby used to gratify my
curiosity with untiring kindness. He evinced towards
me the interest which elderly persons of consummate
experience and kindly disposition naturally feel for
novices anxious to learn. I derived great advantage
from his conversation, and his friendship towards me
remained unaltered through the course of long years,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


265


for he died at a very advanced age. He was still alive
and a helpless cripple at the time when I was ambassador in London, and still honoured me with his
advice.
Of M. de Humboldt I shall not say much; everybody
knew him in France, where he resided for a great many
years.  He undoubtedly was, and is still (for he is still
alive whilst I am penning these lines) a most extraordinary man, whose erudition extended to every
branch of knowledge, whose activity was wonderful,
and of whom it may be said that he was acquainted
with everybody and with everything. On the other
hand, however, he was not a man whose company was
altogether safe. He was not free from malice, used to
cavil at everybody and everything, was very meddlilng,
as the English say, and knew the most trifling gossip
of the least important city in the two worlds quite as
well as the least secret and the least process of nature.
His conversation, though highly instructive, was boring
precisely because it was inexhaustible, replete with
facts and allusions of every kind, and interspersed with
numberless and endless parentheses; it also became
insipid because of the compliments he used to lavish,
without rhyme or reason, upon everybody. I have not
known his brother, although he was then in Paris,




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


where he showed himself the decided adversary of
France. Everybody agrees that he possessed a mighty
intellect and an ardent heart. I regret to be unable to
speak of him otherwise than by hearsay.
The three considerable personages amongst Frenchmen whom I usually saw at that time were M. de
Chateaubriand, M. de la Fayette, and Benjamin Constant. It would be difficult to mention three others
more unlike one another.
M. de Chateaubriand was not then frequenting the
salon of Madame de Stael. If I remember rightly, it
was only in 1817 that he became a constant visitor
there; but we often saw him at the Duchess of Duras',
who became, later on, one of his passionate admirers.
Madame de Duras was then residing in the Rue de
Grenelle, close to the Rue de Bourgogne, and next door
to Madame de Stael's.  In size and features she was
very much like that lady, and did her best in order to
make the likeness all the more striking. Her mind
was refined and her character noble, but her existence
was miserable because of her position being false even
in her own eyes. She was the daughter of a conventionnel, M. de Kersaint, a Breton nobleman, sincerely
Republican, but ardent and too fond of speaking in
public, as were then nearly all Republicans. Although




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


267


her father could not be reproached with any criminal
act, many regrettable speeches of his could be quoted.
She was indebted for her cushion at Court to her
marriage, and the latter to the chance of emigration.
That proved a great drawback to her at the beginning
of the Restoration; so much so that her behaviour in
the highest society was a perpetual compromise between
the pride of her rank and her filial affection. Being of
a very feeling heart, she was, unfortunately not without cause, living in constant suspicion of her personal
attractions. Her refined and cultured mind was equally
anxious for and afraid of the society of literary men,
lest her affability should give rise to familiarity on the
part of her visitors.
M. de Chateaubriand, like M. de Kersaint, belonged
to the Breton nobility. He was as Liberal as he, if
not after the same fashion. Being triumphant at the
Tuileries, a warm partisan of the Restoration, and the
most prominent writer of his day, and, besides, quite
taken up with Madame de Duras, it was quite natural
that he should take the lead in the society she used to
receive.  He fulfilled all the conditions necessary to
become the ideal of the mistress of the house, who had,
long before, felt towards him a deep admiration.  Indeed, whilst writing this, it occurs to me that six or




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


seven years before the Restoration, at a time when the
Empire was in full swing, I spent two days at the
chateau of Usse, where Madame de Duras was then
residing with her husband and her two daughters. She
then, with an enthusiasm which I sincerely shared,
read to me the famous article of the Mercure, which
almost led to the arrest of its author.
M. de Chateaubriand was, therefore, the most conspicuous visitor at Madame de Duras'. It is worthy
of remark that even then-that is, at the very height
of his reputation, in the fulness of hope and glory-he
already was what we have known him in his days of
adversity and decadence: arrogant and scornful, and
displaying complacently his individuality, almost cynically naive, and his envious, bitter, and morose vanity;
he was dissatisfied with everything and with everybody,
each and all; he already was the man we see in the
' Memoires d'Outre Tombe.'
I did not often see M. de la Fayette at Madame de
Stal's; he used to live on his estate at La Grange,
and it was only at intervals that he came to Paris.
There I used to visit him at his house.  I also used to
meet him at M. de Tracy's and at the houses of various
friends of his. M. d'Argenson had also renewed with
him an intimacy which had been long interrupted. I




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


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loved and admired M. de la Fayette very much; I
heartily shared his sentiments, and that made me rather
more Liberal than Madame de Stael would have wished
me to be, and gave me in society the reputation of
being the enemy of the House of Bourbon. I was not
so, for my part; as for La Fayette, he had not yet
changed his allegiance; indeed, he not only did not have
anything to do with the event of the 20th of March —he
was not a Bonapartist-but he had no hand whatever
in the plot which Fouche, Count d'Erlon, LefebvreDesnouettes, and the brothers Lallemand organized in
a very different direction from  that of the plot of
March 20.
Seeing that I do not write history, I do not draw
portraits.  That of M. de 1a Fayette has indeed been
drawn with a masterly hand by M. Guizot. In my
opinion it is faultless, except that the odd mixture of
the aristocrat and of the demagogue, so striking in
La Fayette, does not perhaps come out in sufficiently
broad relief.  M. de la Fayette had to be loved for
his own sake, which, indeed, required no effort, for one
derived no satisfaction from being a true friend to him.
He scarcely made any distinction between a respectable
man and a rogue, or between a man of sense and a fool;
the only distinction he used to make was between those




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


who said and those who did not say what he himself
used to say. He was a regular prince, surrounded with
people who flattered and plundered him. All his fine
fortune, so nobly earned, offered, and received, was
squandered by the hands of spies and adventurers.
Neither was there any inducement to follow him as
a leader; he was ever ready to mix himself in any
undertaking, at the bidding of anybody, exactly like
noblemen of the good old time, who used to fight for
the sake of fighting, for the pleasure afforded them by
danger, and to gratify their wish to oblige a friend.
What I say here I told him a hundred times during
the course of an intimacy which only closed with his
life, and the recollection of which will end only when
I die.
As for Benjamin Constant, if one of the men who
knew him best, M. de Barante, one of the shrewdest
and most sensible men of our time, ever thinks fit to
bring to public light the notice he communicated to
me, the world will become acquainted with the least
nuances of that sorry and peculiar character, than
which, at the period of which I am speaking, nothing
was more curious to study.
Benjamin Constant was then no longer the tribune
of 1800, that leader of a growing opposition, almost




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


271


at once decapitated with the mighty sabre of the first
Consul.  Still less was he the Jacobin serving his apprenticeship in the directorial regime, professing the
necessity of rallying round it, preluding to the 18th
Fructidor,  and  bitterly  denouncing  the  English
Restoration.
A voluntary exile of ten years in Germany, and the
sight of the ravages wrought by the Emperor Napoleon
in that unfortunate country, had completely changed
his views. He used to uphold the legitimacy of the
rights of the princes, and cursed the usurpation in
terms which a Coblentz refugee would not have disowned; he saw no salvation for the people and no
hope for liberty, except by the maintenance of the old
monarchies and of traditional institutions; every new
king was, in his eyes, a usurper, and every usurper a
tyrant.
That fit of ultra-Rhenish orthodoxy was not very
deep-seated, and therefore did not last long; it, however, had the happy result of inducing him to support
sincerely the views and interests of the new Government, and to place at the disposal of the constitutional
cause the valuable and wise suggestions and the useful
information he had couched in the notes with which his
pocket-book was filled; to that task he devoted himself,




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


and without any after-thought. He it was who truly
taught to the new nation the principles of representative government, whilst M. de Chateaubriand taught
them to the emigrants and the nobility.  Until then
the new nation, and even the soundest minds in it,
were still sharing the ideas of 1791.  The history of
the constitution drawn up by the Conservative Senate
bears witness to it in that respect.  The debt of our
country towards Benjamin Constant will never be
adequately acknowledged.  His  various  pamphlets
enlightened the cleverest men, illumined the general
public, and transformed into commonplaces truths which
were previously unknown or misunderstood; that is
the first of triumphs in philosophy and in politics.
I collaborated with him in that work, although the
assistance I gave him was more of the nature of that
given by a journeyman to his employer. I helped
him to convey through the technical terms of our
legislation the ideas borrowed from British laws, and
to tone down the translation.  I suggested to him the
main outlines of one of his pamphlets-certainly not
the best-that which treats of the responsibility of
Ministers and other agents of the Executive; an essay
on this subject will be found in my papers; it had been
*one of my first works on entering public life.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


273


I also used very often to converse with him about
his book upon religions, which he was then editing, but
which was published later on. In that respect a great
change had also taken place in his mind. He was no
longer the sceptic with regard to the future- the
runaway pupil, already blase though beardless, wearied
of everything before knowing anything; such, in short,
as he appears to us in his pitiable correspondence with
Madame de Charriere.   He was no longer that partisan
of the boldest and most barren doctrines of the philosophy of the last century, that autochthon, if I may
use the expression, of the most wrecked of the religions
of the heart and mind, preparing to inflict the finishing
stroke to the infamous one,* to cause the religious
traditions of all times and of all countries to destroy
and stamp out one another mutually.
In that respect, too, Germany had thoroughly
changed his views from white to black, or rather from
black to white. German erudition, then in full progress, led him to be ashamed of Holbach, Diderot, and
Dupuis. Far from persisting in his hatred and contempt for all religions, he was now rather inclined to
* An allusion to Voltaire's sentence, in which, with reference to
religion, he said: 'Ecrasons l'infame' (' Let us crush the infamous
one ').
VOL. I.                                18




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PERS ONAL RECOLLECTIONS


revere them  all alike, as containing great truths and
leading on the path of many others.  He had reversed
the plan of his book, and used to say to us laughingly:
'I had collected three or four thousand facts in
support of my first thesis; those facts have turned
round about at the word of command, and now attack
the opposite side. What an instance of passive obedience!'
In short, from a sceptic he had become a mystic,
than which nothing indeed could be more natural.
Scepticism is a capital instrument of warfare, or a most
convenient pillow for lazy minds; but, by a thinker,
it cannot be used as a shelter from the storm; it is, on
the contrary, a harbour open to all winds; the mind
gets wearied of ever drifting about without aim or
purpose, and, through sheer lassitude, mysticism is
resorted to as the last refuge of logics at bay.
To this I must add that Benjamin Constant did not
limit himself to pure speculation; practice played also
its part, provided it be admitted that mystics may be
practical men.  He spent his time in Switzerland with
Madame de Krudener, then very famous, and who
made up for the faults of her youth and the romance
of her ripe years by converting the Socinians of Geneva,
and ruling, at Lausanne, over a little group of semi



OF THE DUC DE BROGIUE.


275


Catholics more devoted to Madame Guyon than to
Calvin; the latter were, however, very intellectual and
witty, and I shall perhaps have the opportunity of speaking of them again later on. In Paris Constant again
met Madame de Krudener, who was enjoying the favour
of the Emperor Alexander, and acting as the guide of
his conscience, and almost as his confessor. He resumed his former intimacy with her, and without
assuming the familiarity of authority which his position
authorized, without sharing in the least the dream of
the holy alliance which was being quietly mooted, he did
not altogether keep aloof from the farces that were being
played. He thus, for instance, used to spend whole
nights in the drawing-room of Madame de Krudener,
in tie company of many other new converts, sometimes
praying on his knees, at other times stretched on the
carpet in fits of ecstasy; all to no purpose, for what he
used to ask from God, God sometimes permits in His
wrath, but regards with detestation. Being in love
with Madame Recamier, who, though already on the
turn of life, was still beautiful, Benjamin Constant
begged of God to turn the lady's heart in his favour,
and as God was turning a deaf ear to his prayers, the
lover made up his mind to apply to the devil, which
was more natural.
18-2




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PERSO2NAL RECOLLECTIONS


I am not joking; I relate.
One day, or, rather, one night, Benjamin Constant,
Auguste de Stael and I were returning by coach from
Angervilliers, a country seat then belonging to Madame
de Catellan.  The night was dark, the weather stormy,
the sky illumined by frequent lightning, and thunder
was roaring in the distance; the gallop of our horses
and the wheels of the coach added further to the noise,
and frequent sparks from the pavement marked the
track followed by the horses.  Benjamin Constant
chose, or took advantage of, that precise moment to
make to us the singular confidence relative to the
efforts he had made, thank God in vain, in view of
striking a bargain with the enemy of mankind. He,
no doubt, intended to make fun of us, but he was, in
reality, also making fun of himself, though he did not
like to acknowledge it; his forehead was pale, and a
sardonic smile was wandering over his features. He
began in the tone of bitter irony so familiar to him;
he gradually turned serious, and, whilst explaining to
us the tomfoolery to which he had had to submit, his
dreams dispelled almost as soon as they were born, his
recital became so expressive and so poignant that,
when it closed, neither himself nor any of us were
inclined to laugh; he fell, and we too, I humbly




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


277


confess it, into painful reverie, full of anguish.  We
reached Paris without having exchanged one single
word.
I fancy that, retracing afterwards in his work-a
book treating of polytheism amongst the Romans-the
grievous picture of the superstitions to which progressive
and reckless incredulity led the best and most enlightened Greeks and Romans, the descendants of
Phocio and of Cicero, Benjamin Constant must have
recollected his own past, and that his personal experiences came to the help of his erudition.
At any rate, I was not long discovering that, as far
as he was concerned, the magie noire had no better
success than the mzagie blanche, and that the evil one
had also been hard to him.
Indeed, a few days afterwards, I was present at a
ball given by M. Greffulhe, the father of the gentlemen
of that name, then well known in Parisian society, and
of Madame de Castellane.  M. Greffulhe was then the
owner of a vast and charming residence situated at the
top of the Barriere de Clichy.  That estate has been
since parcelled out, and has become a lonely neighbourhood, in which dirty and tortuous streets have been
opened.
The ball I refer to was a masked ball; no one was




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


admitted to it unless he wore a mask. I myself wore
one, like everybody else. I soon noticed that a lady
whom I knew well, and who did not disguise her voice,
took hold of my arm, left it, and took it again, without,
however, having anything to say to me. That lady
was Madame Recamier herself. Her game seemed all
the more singular to me, that, having known her for
many years, having spent whole days, and even whole
weeks, with her in the country, I had never been either
the admirer of her beauty or the object of those
meaningless preferences which she used to lavish upon
all men, tall or short, young or old, handsome or ugly,
dull or witty; which preferences-truth compels me to
say-were quite harmless, and only indulged in in
order to keep up her practice in the art of making
herself agreeable. Her game, therefore, was not
intended for me.   She was carrying on an open
flirtation with Benjamin Constant on one hand, and
with Auguste de Forbin on the other, and made use of
me as an instrument. She took pleasure in arousing
their respective jealousy by pretending to notice me;
as I wore a mask, Benjamin Constant thought I was
Forbin, and the latter mistook me for the former;
which proves that she little cared for both. I cut.short that charitable pastime, which became neither my




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


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position nor my disposition, and could only result
in saddling me with two silly quarrels, by leaving
the ball before midnight. If I remember rightly,
it was on going out that I heard, for the first
time, the news of the disembarking of the Emperor at
Cannes being whispered about. The Government had
learned it that very morning.  On the following morning everybody knew it.
Justice compels me to say that, from the very
beginning, Madame de Stael saw clearly what it all
meant: the rebellion of the troops, the resignation of
the country, royalty upset, and the Emperor back to
the Tuileries.  She listened with most unconcerned
incredulity, rather even with a sort of repressed compassion, to the deluge of promises and menaces, of
invectives and imprecations, which were being uttered
around her; she exhorted everybody to do his duty
out of self-respect, for the honour of the cause and of
the flag, but without urging anyone to compromise
himself, persevering nevertheless in her love for France,
although not feeling the slightest confidence in the
France of that time.
She, also, made up her mind instantly.
Louis XVIII. had promised to give orders for the
two millions generously lent to Louis XVI. by M.




280


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Necker* to be inscribed amongst the debts of the
royal family, which were to be paid by France, and
certainly that was but strict justice: the money represented a personal debt, which had been spent for the
benefit of the State. But that promise fell naturally
with the person who had made it. In the foretaste of
their triumph, the Bonapartists pressed Madame de
Stael not to leave Paris, but to remain and declare
herself in favour of the Emperor, promising her no end
of fine things in case she complied.  I have heard
M. de la Yalette, who used to live in the same house
as Madame de Stael, become more and more pressing
in his request as the fatal moment drew nearer; and
Prince de Beauvau, tutor to the King of Rome,
warranted that he could obtain anything.
Madame de Stael received these insinuations with
the contempt they deserved, and packed up in haste,
exhorting me to remain so long as there would be any
chance of resisting the new ebb of imperial despotism,
and appointing to meet me at Coppet when all such
chance should no longer exist.
I remained.  Government and society presented a
miserable sight.  People used to look eagerly for false
news without believing a word of it; they used to
* Madame de Stael was, as we know, the daughter of M. Necker.




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


28I


wax warm over discussions which no one regarded as
serious; they used to prepare for resistance with the
firm resolution of not waiting for the first shock; they
used to swear hatred to the tyrant, and at the same
time took the necessary precautions for being favourably treated by him when the time came. Forbin used
to drag his big sabre in the drawing-room of Madame
Recamier; and Benjamin Constant used to brandish
therein the article which, to his misfortune, he had
written in the Journal des Debats, although they were
both far more preoccupied with the effect they produced
on the lady of the house than with anything else. A
stupid crowd had gathered at the Tuileries, and shouted
'Lonq live the King!' until such time as they should
shout ' Long live the Emperor!' Both Chambers felt as
much dethroned as royalty itself; their secret committees
were not better protected than the study of the Princes,
and their halls were frequented as freely as the cafes
where people come in quest of intelligence.
The royal sitting, which Louis XVIII. attended
to announce his intention of dying on his throne whilst
defending his people, produced, however, a favourable
impression.  It gave rise to the same kind and degree
of emotion that a play well performed usually inspires
in both actors and audience-a real, though not sincere




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


emotion, which has not the slightest meaning for anybody. Once the curtain was dropped and the old King
had been removed in his armchair, the farce was
played and nobody cared about it.   The ordinary
sittings testified to the general weariness by the absence
of all discussion, and the readiness with which the
Government obtained all they thought fit to ask. The
latter were like those hopeless patients whose slightest
wishes may be complied with without making their
case either better or worse.  In the evening, M.
Laine, President of the Chamber of Deputies, and the
only gentleman who, in all this, preserved some
dignity, courage, and foresight, used to gather at his
house the persons whom he deemed the most resolute
and sensible; amongst the latter were the members of
the former Committee on the Address in 1813-that
address which, in some sort, sounded the death-knell
of the Imperial Government; and others too, M. de
Sacy, Dupont (of the department of Eure), Benjamin
Constant, etc.  I used to attend those meetings regularly.  As they did not possess any official character,
they failed to lead to any useful result, and only ended
in idle recriminations.
Amongst the proposals which used to be mooted
there, for what they were worth, the only one that had




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


283


any sense, and that might have proved somewhat efficacious, was that whose object was to fill the vacancies in
the Chamber of Deputies by getting the latter to elect
itself its new members, and direct itself to select men
whose names were respected and popular. That would,
no doubt, have been a coup d'etat, though a useful and
harmless coup d'etat.  However, the proposal failed,
owing to the positive refusal of M. de la Fayette and of
M. d'Argenson, whose names had been put forward first.
M. de Lally used to play a comedy every evening
at those meetings.  He used to begin his interminable
harangues by shedding torrents of tears over the misfortunes of the House of Bourbon, and wound up by
uttering a torrent of insults against each member of the
royal family.
I used to spend at home the leisure time left me by
the sittings of the Chamber, and the meetings of which
I have just spoken, in the company of the young friends
whom I had made in the course of the trial of General
Excelmans. I mean the editors of the Censeur Earopeen,
the most liberal, resolute and disinterested paper which
ever honoured our time and our country: I also refer
to several of their contributors, amongst whom was
already Augustin Thierry, who afterwards acquired for
himself a sad though glorious fame.




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


We often used to stroll together about the streets,
squares, and public promenades, mixing with the crowd,
and listening to the conversations; everybody was
then dull, calm, and indifferent; though  free from
regret or hope, people were not quite devoid of apprehension.
'My dear,' the Emperor said, a few days afterwards to M. Mollier, ' they let me come with the same
indifference with which they let the others go.'
That is true, just like the word of Cromwell, who,
hearing joyful hurrahs around him, is said to have
remarked to Shurloe: ' Those people would shout still
louder and more joyfully if they saw me taken to the
scaffold.
At last the fatal moment came.  On the day of the
departure of the King I had no occasion to call at the
Tuileries.  I did not belong to the Court.  It would
have been impossible for me to feign for those concerned a regret which I really felt, though not exactly
for them; seeing the opinion they very unjustly had of
me in those quarters, they might have regarded me as
a secret enemy, perhaps even-how do I know?-as a
Bonapartist openly acting the spy. Everything was
possible at that time and on the part of such people.
I therefore was satisfied to witness from the out



OF THE DUC DE BROGI0E.


285


side, like the loafers, ill-disguised preparations for a
flight; for, in the official language of the moment, and
amidst the protests of which everybody was lavish, the
departure looked much more like a flight than like anything else. From the outside and through the windows,
it was easy to notice the hurry, the precipitation, and
the confusion of the inmates who were hourly expecting to hear the charge of the Imperial Grenadiers.
Whilst seeing that little man, whose fame was enhanced
by the glory of a hundred victories, leading a handful
of old braves, upsetting the frail royal edifice by a
touch of his finger, and kicking down the scenery of the
play whose performance he thus abruptly cut short, I
could not help remembering the scene of Cervantes'
work in which the hero of La Mancha enters a booth
of marionettes, and seeing a doll dressed up as a
princess and bound to a cardboard giant, draws his
big sword and cuts in two the dungeon and the
prisoners, the showman and his booth.
The day following the departure of the man whom
the public let go with the most profound indifference,
which day was also that of the arrival of the man whom
the public let come with similar unconcern, was still
gloomier than the day before. Paris was dismal: the
public promenades were deserted, the caf6s and other




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PERSOAAL RECOLLECTIONS


meeting-places were half closed; people avoided one
another in the streets; you only met with belated
soldiers, officers enjoying themselves, and privates in a
state of ebriety, shouting, yelling the ' Marseillaise 'the eternal burthen of rioters-and offering to everybody, in a jeering tone, and, so to speak, on the point
of their sabres, tricolour cockades.
At nightfall the little play was performed before the
great one. We saw Saint-Didier, former prefect of the
palace, at the head of the imperial flunkeys-footmen,
officiers de bouche,* cooks, and scullions, each having unearthed his livery-take triumphant possession of the
apartments in disorder, of the beds still unmade, of the
ranges still smoking, and drive away with broom and
skewer those of the royal flunkeys who still remained.
In the dead of night the master arrived. He came
like a robber, as the Scriptures term it, than which no
expression was ever more fitly applied.  He ascended
the large staircase of the Tuileries, carried in the arms
of his generals, of his ex-Ministers, of all the past
and future servants of his fortune, whose faces, however, exhibited as much anxiety as joy.
He had scarcely taken his seat when he heard the
words of constitution, liberty, and all the rest of it,
* A pretty French expression, meaning the chefs, or head-cooks.




OF THE DUC DE BROGUIE.


287


ringing in his ears; he had himself set the example in
his proclamations. They were, besides the by-word,
the hobby of the time, the jargon of the circumstance.
It was a bitter pill for the Emperor, but he readily
submitted to swallow it.
During the few days which I spent in Paris, and in
the few Bonapartist salons which I never ceased to
frequent, God knows all the shaking of hands, all the
protests and assurances that were lavished on me; it
reminded one of the early days of the Assemblee Constituante.
I attached to those protests, sincere or affected, only
the importance they deserved; they were so many
variations on that theme which depicts the time as it
was: ' How could I not be a Liberal? I served in the
Mamloucks.' Yet they were so many manifestations
which rendered a relapse into imperial despotism impossible, at least at first, and prepared the coming ruin
of the despot. Such was, indeed, my hope; I even
explained my views in that respect one evening, in the
salon of Madame Gay, in the presence of the literary
and public men who, under the first restoration, contributed to the editing of the iain Jaune. I had
witnessed the birth of that satirical sheet in the bosom
of that society.  I had often attended the evening




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


meetings at which the articles were discussed and decided upon.  I was not even quite a stranger to the
editing of the paper, in so far that I permitted the jokes
and the anecdotes which I used to relate in rather a
malignant spirit, I confess, to be published in that
paper.  I frankly told those present, amongst whom
were the future editors of La Minerve,* Jouy, Jay,
Etienne, and others, that, in my opinion, all hope of
making a Constitutional King of Napoleon was folly,
as was also all hope of hindering him from rushing into
fresh adventures, and from bringing back the foreigners
to Paris; that, in my judgment, the only thing to do
was to take advantage of the constitutional wind that
was blowing, in order to organize a Government which
would rid France of the Emperor and prevent a second
invasion.
Seeing that the elder branch of the House of Bourbon
had fallen, much by its own fault, into great discredit,
I pointed out to the younger branch as the sole hope
of respectable and sensible people.  That was not
because I was either acquainted with any plot, or in
intimate relations with the Duke of Orleans. I had
been introduced to him, and he had received me with
kindness; besides, I seldom used to see him, but his


* The name of a Paris newspaper.




OF THE D9UC DE BROGLUE.


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position pointed him out naturally as the only suitable
person in the circumstances in which we found ourselves.  I even recollect now that, two or three days
before the arrival of the Emperor, and as I was seeking in my mind for some means of resistance, I started
in order to talk about the Duke of Orleans to Carnot,
whom I had never seen, and with whom I, therefore,
was unacquainted. He was not at home, and I did not
take any further steps in the matter.
I hastily left Paris for Ormes, lest it should occur to
the constitution-mongers to place my name in that.capit mortulun of the royal House of Peers which
was intended to become the nucleus of the imperial
one. This was, however, a groundless apprehension; I
even learned, soon afterwards, that my name having
been uttered before the Emperor, he had not taken
the hint.  I then returned to Paris, and found that
Benjamin Constant had been raised to the post of Conseiller d'Etat, that he was in favour with the Emperor,
and that he was rapidly becoming the nymph Egeria*
of the latter and the Solon of France.
He had left Paris on the news of the arrival of the
Emperor, and had, I believe, taken refuge at Angers,
* A sarcastic allusion to the nymph who is said to have suggested
legal reforms to Numa Pompilius.
VOL. I.                               19




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PERSONIAL RECOLLECTIONS


as a protection against a proscription which there were
reasons for him to fear. He had published a thundering article in the Journal des 1)Cbats. Since the days of
Tacitus and of Juvenal, never had tyranny been thus
denounced to public execration.
Having been reassured by his friends, he came back.
The Emperor, who was much cleverer than he, who
nevertheless was a great deal so, expressed a wish tj
see him. Benjamin Constant complied, and left the
interview as far convinced of the good intentions of
the Emperor as he could be convinced ot anything,
which, in truth, does not mean much.
On entering the vast apartment which he occupied,
Rue Saint Honore, I noticed in the yard a hired carriage
waiting for him, and, in the anteroom, a uniform of
Conseiller d'Etat spread on a sofa.  In the drawingroom Benjamin Constant was conversing with MI. de
Humboldt; they were reciprocally expounding their
respective doctrines. I have some reason to suspect
that MI. de Humboldt had had something, and even
more than something, to do with the conversion of
Benjamin Constant; at any rate, on leaving, I saw him
laugh in his sleeve and rub his hands by way of expressing his satisfaction.
Benjamin Constant did not enter into any explana



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


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tions with me. I did not ask him for any. We both
accepted the situation as it was: I confined myself to
telling him, and again repeating to him, that his honour
and reputation would be at stake if he should be lacking
in firmness towards the Emperor; that he should not
give way on any question of principle, but carefully guard
France against the only too probable return of despotism.
He assented to all I said;'we examined together the
essential points, and agreed on all but that relating to
the heredity of the House of Peers.  I maintained that
an hereditary House of Peers, against which, either by
their refusal or by their absence, all the historical
names of old France and many of those of new France
would protest, could not help falling at once into discredit, and could not pass any good or useful measure.
M. de Humboldt supported my argument. We endeavoured together to hit upon some other arrangement, but failed to succeed; and I fully perceived that
everything had already been decided beforehand.
Fairness compels me, however, to confess that Benjamin Constant did not try to make use with me of the
seductive powers which only succeeded too well with
a man who seemed much more difficult to convinceI mean Sismondi, the historian of the Italian republics:
a man of enlightened, liberal, honest, and disinterested
19-2




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


mind; of whom, against all expectation, Benjamin
Constant made a Bonapartist of circumstance.
Being the witness of manceuvres which I could not
help-being scarcely acquainted with Sismondi, and
having, therefore, no right to offer him any advice-I
remembered, on that occasion, something which had
been told me respecting a comedy or proverlbe performed a few years before at the theatre at Coppet, and
whose singular subject was 'Temptation in Paradise.'
Benjamin Constant figured in it as the Tempter, and
played his part, so I was told, with an art, finish, and
go more deserving of admiration than of envy.
Be that as it may, if he succeeded with Sismondi,
the harm he did was not very great.  Sismondi was a
foreigner, member of the Representative Council of
Geneva, and fondly attached to his country; had not
his noble character preserved him from the attempt, it
would have been impossible to enroll him in the service
of the Empire.  All he could be induced to do was to
approve of the Hundred Days-that alone was already
too much-and to write a few articles which appeared
in the 3Iontiteur in defence of the acte additionnel; so
that his support was rather a manifestation against the
Bourbons and the old 'regime than anything else.
That acte additionnel at last saw the light; it was




OF THE D UC DE BROGLIE.


293


submitted by yea and nay to the sanction of the people,
and obtained it as easily as its predecessors had done,
and as its successors will do. At the same time, it
aroused a reprobation as general as the signatures
which were appended to it were numerous. No attention was paid to whatever wise and liberal provisions it
contained.  It was a new constitution granted; a new
edition, corrected and revised, of the statutes of the
Empire.  What more could be needed to allay the
discontent of a public and of a nation which, alas!
little cares for the reality?
For my part, I thought it was seriously meant. I
found in it many efficacious and sincere provisions,
being already imbued with the idea which always
struck me, and in accordance with which I have always
acted, namely, that in politics we must not dream of
the ideal, but tend with energy and perseverance to
what is possible. I quickly made up my mind; I left
Paris, the malcontents, the discussions and the worry
of the time, and I went to reside at Broglie first, and
afterwards at Evreux, in order to secure my election as
member of the House of Representatives.
The line of conduct which I intended to adopt was
straight and simple. The two Chambers, appointed
according to the provisions of the acte additionnel,




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


ought, in my opinion, to lay hold, from the very first,
of that measure, good in substance but incomplete, to
take advantage of the circumstances in order to enforce
its authority, to reform what needed reform, and to
prepare for the struggle with the Emperor, in case he
should come out victorious over the coalition which
was gathering abroad against him; at the same time,
it was indispensable not to refuse him anything which
he might judge necessary to the defence of the country,
and to abstain from taking the initiative of any personal
attack against him. In coming forward as a candidate,
I neither paraded nor hid my principles and my intentions. But I was not Bonapartist enough for either
the electors of Bernay or of Evreux.  The electoral
colleges of the Empire, as they existed before the
abdication, had been maintained by the acte additionnel.
I did not suit them, and I was sorry for it, without
being surprised.  The authorities were less particular.  The prlfet did his very best for me, but then
he was my former comrade, Maurice Duval, of whom I
shall have occasion to speak later on; but M. Quinette,
one of the regicides, who was at that time imperial
commissaire extraordinaire, and whom I had never seen,
seconded the efforts of the prefet, and, as he was
entrusted with the duty of filling the vacancies




OF TIlE DUC DE BROGLIE.


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in the conseil gen6iral of the department, he appointed
me proprio motul-a nomination which I very foolishly
accepted.
It was not long, in fact, before I found myself placed
in the face of a very awkwlard dilemma. I was asked to
take the oath of allegiance. At that time, my ideas
about a political oath were not very strict; I thought,
just as many good people think when they take the oath
nowadays, that a political oath binds the person who
takes it to nothing more than not to conspire against
the State, not to betray it, and have no communication
with its enemies. On these three points I felt perfectly
easy; nevertheless, owing to the frame of my mind,
the oath was repugnant to me. I gave no answer;
I tried in vain to get out of it by letting the matter drop.
But at last, when I was brought to the point, I could
only make up my mind to take that step by silencing my
conscience, and at the present time I am satisfied that
my conscience was right and my reasoning was wrong.
I now see that to take the oath of allegiance to any
Government whatever means to espouse its cause, to
put one's hopes in it, to do one's best to sustain it,
even at the price of resisting it. In good faith, such
were not my feelings towards the Government of the
Hundred Days.   That is an act of my public life that I




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PERSOVAL RECOLLECTIONS


much regret, and of which I cannot think without a
feeling of shame.
I returned to Paris after my discomfiture.  The
barometer stood at ' stormy.' There was no longer any
hope of peace; I will not say no more chance, for there
had never been any chance of it. The whole of Europe
was preparing to fall upon us.  The moment was illchosen for quitting one's post.
On June 1, I was present at the Champ de Mai,
which took place on the Champ de Mars.     I only
looked on from   a distance, as I dislike crowds,
and pomp and parade still more.  'There are,' said
Chamfort,' three things which I hate really and figuratively: noise, wind, and smoke;' and I am fully of
his opinion.
I saw the imperial party pass by in gala dress,
with waving plumes, cocked hats, short Spanish cloaks,
shoes with large bows, and the rest of it.  Such a
masquerade, at the approach of such a crisis, when
France was on the point of being invaded and divided
by the action of these very fine people, inspired me with
as much indignation as contempt.
I saw the Guards and several regiments of infantry
of the line pass by with a martial air, a proud bearing,
but with an anxious look, like men who are quite ready




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


297


to play a game for double or quits. As they marched
past the Emperor, there was an ardent and yet a sombre
look on their faces, and one might almost fancy that
the words 'Morituri te salutant' were about to pass
their lips; and the tremendous shouts which they gave
by command spoilt the impression without destroying it.
The Emperor's speech was, no doubt, lofty, telling,
and dignified; but it smacked too much of the theatrical
hero and of the parvenu of glory. What need was there
for him to hoist himself on to a stage in order to speak
loftily or to boast when he spoke of great events? And
then, was it the proper time for this when France,
reduced to her former limits by one invasion, was
struggling under the blow of a second, and seemed to
have no hope of escape except by a miracle? How
much more worthy of respect and admiration were the
simple words of William III., when he cut the dykes
of Holland in the face of the armies of Louis XIV., of
Turenne, of Conde, and of Vauban-when he said to
those who laughed at his preparations: ' We can but
die in the last ditch.'
William III. conquered neither Italy nor Egypt; he
won neither a Marengo nor an Austerlitz; but neither
did he twice surrender his country to the foreigner.




2C8


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


He did not, three times in two years, sacrifice five
hundred thousand men to his pride; he would have died
in the last ditch of Waterloo; no one would ever have
seen him playing the part of Themistocles, and begging
for a refuge at the Court of the Grand M3onlqarqle.
During these few terrible days which followed the
Champ de Mai and the departure of the Emperor, I
scarcely left the Chamber of Representatives.  The
House of Peers went for nothing; no one attended
its sittings. I did not witness the uproar which Marshal Ney caused when he related, perhaps too faithfully,
the disaster of which he was cpa's magnla, and for which
he soon paid with his life; but I witnessed the first appearance of Manuel, and I was fortunate enough to
hear Bertrand Barrere discuss seriously, a hundred
yards away from the place where the National Convention sat, the advantages and the dangers of an hereditary
peerage.
Just about the same time another farce was being
played at Saint Denis. The worthy rival of Barrere,
Fouche (of Nantes), an ex-member of the Order of
Oratorian Friars, commonly called his Excellency the
Duke of Otranto, like Barrere, and even more so, if
possible, a horrible monster of blood, mud, and bile,
was just then consummating his last act of treason-the




OF THE DUC DE fBROGLIE.


299


least, certainly, of all his many little sins-by taking
the oath of fidelity to the descendant of Saint Louis,
and to the brother of Louis XVI., as his liege lord.
His sponsor in this business was the former Bishop
of Autun, who, after he had in succession thrown off
his cassock at the fall of the monarchy, his toga at
the fall of the Directory, and his coronet as Prince of
Benevento at the fall of the Empire, once again had
simply become Prince Talleyrand, Prime Minister to
his Most Christian Majesty.
I wonder what figure the Most Christian King cut
between these two unfrocked ecclesiastics? I have no
idea; but I have been told that when seeing them
getting into their carriage together, Pozzo di Borgo said
to his neighbour, laughing: 'I should like to hear what
those lambs are saying.'
When he took possession of the Tuileries with his
Prussians, Bliicher drove the Government Commission,
of which Fouche was still President, out of the palace.
He went into the Luxembourg, wherefrom he drove
the Peers, who were deliberating under the presidency of Cambaceres.  M. Decazes, who had been
reappointed Prefect of Police, took the keys of the
Chamber of Representatives, and left the members to
break their noses against the iron grating if they liked.
a 0           dw0u   s ~V  ~IIU




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


M. de la Fayette tried to force it, and, to that effect,
to make it a point of honour for the National Guard to
do so, but without avail.
I was present, as a mere spectator, with M. d'Argenson, at this royal 18th of Brumaire, which for the
second time put an end to the First Empire, until
such time when I should be present as a victim at
the imperial 18th of Brumaire, which put an end to
the  second  Republic.  During that interval, the
Tuileries, the Luxembourg, the Palais Bourbon, were
twice carried by' le populaire.'  I use the classical
expression so as to avoid employing any other.
Much has been said against, and much fun has been
made of, the Chamber of Representatives. The Emperor
himself had set the example by comparing the deputies
with the monks of Constantinople, who used to grow
hoarse in arguing the point whether there was or not
any special light on Mount Thabor, whilst the ram of
the enemy was battering the town-gates in; but,
frankly speaking, what could that Chamber do?
When it assembled, it found war imminent, and the
Emperor on the point of leaving for the front, after
having, as dictator, exhausted all the resources which
the state of the country was capable of affording him.
Could it, then, honourably presume otherwise than that




OF TiHE DUC DE BROGLIE.


301


the war would be successful; and was not the Chamber
therefore obliged to oppose the domination of the
victorious despot?
Let us suppose, however, that it had done otherwise-that it had thrown itself into the arms of the
Emperor or grovelled at his feet;-would that have
made him more the victor at Ligny, or less the vanquished the next day?    Would that have given
Marshal Ney eyes to see, and to Marshal Grouchy ears
to hear?
Or let us suppose again that, after the precipitate
return of the Emperor, the Chamber of Representatives,
instead of forcing him to abdicate, had, as the Roman
senate  did after the disaster of Cannae, thanked
him for not having despaired of his country, and had
enthusiastically voted the levee eln masse of every Frenchman, what advantage would that have been to him?
On hearing this, neither Wellington nor Blucher would
have pushed on to Paris; they would have waited three
or four days till they were joined by the 250,000
Russians and 250,000 Austrians who were crossing
the Rhine at that very time, and the Emperor would
have found himself under the walls of Paris, with what
remained from his army after the Battle of Waterloo,
opposed by six or seven hundred thousand victorious




302


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


foreigners. Would he have awaited the attack, and set
fire to the four corners of the capital?  We know
that he was no more a Rostopchine than he was a,William III., and in 1815 he would have acted precisely as he did in 1814.
No reproaches, that is, no merited reproaches, can be
laid to the charge of the Chamber of Representatives.
for the turn taken by events.  No doubt, the attitude
of the senators, sitting on their benches as if they were
curule chairs, in the face of the barbarians, was, in
1815, more grotesque than sublime; and even more
so were the half-dozen of Brutuses and Gracchuses who
bawled and gesticulated as in the good old times. But
how could that be helped?  The good old times were
out of fashion. All times, good or bad, must eventually
do the same.
'Sire,' said Vardes to Louis XIV., on his return
from his long exile, and when he saw the frequenters
of the (Eil-de-bocuf making fun of his dress, which was
rather antiquated, 'when one has lived in disgrace
for a long time, one is not only unhappy, but one also
becomes ridiculous.'
Now began what has been called, and not without reason, Tie Terror of 1815. Nothing, indeed, was
wanting to complete the analogy, except that it did not




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


303


last so long and was not so general; which, I must
allow, is certainly something.
Directly after the earliest news of the Battle of Waterloo was received, on June 25tlh, the mob of Marseillesthis time I will call them by their right name-rushed
at all Bonapartists, real or supposed, and amongst
others on a little colony of Egyptians, commonly called
Mamelukes, and cut them   to pieces.  On July 15,
Trestaillons,* with a handful of adventurers, at the
head of the so-called Royalist Volunteers, fell upon
the Protestants of Nimes, and massacred a great
number of them.   Marshal Brune was murdered at
Avignon, August 15, and General Ramel at Toulouse
on the 17th of the same month.     Until then the
Government had nothing to do with those excesses,
and confined itself to deploring in a timid sort of way
what it could hardly prevent, and scarcely dared to
repress; but almost at the same time the judicial
reaction commenced.
Labedoyere, who had been arrested in Paris on
August 2, was condemned by court-martial, and shot on
the 19th. In the eyes of the law he was certainly very
guilty, and in the eyes of reason very foolish; one
could not help pitying him, however, for all he had done
* The nickname of Jacques Dupont.




304


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


was to forestall the enthusiasm of his brothers-in-arms
by one day.   I had known the unfortunate man at
Madame de Stael's; for a long time, and during the
most brilliant period of the Empire, he had honoured the
exile of Coppet, and had been one of those select few
who there staked their safety, their future, and perhaps
even their liberty, by acting 1lhidre Alzire or lMalhomet.
The brothers Faucher, who were arrested on the
same day as Labedoyere, were convicted by courtmartial and shot August 27.   Their fate and their
history is well known. I would rather have upon my
head and on my hands the blood of Marshal Brune,
who was murdered in a cowardly manner at close
quarters, than have had anything to do with the
sentence passed on the brothers Faucher.
M. de la Valette was arrested August 16, and condemned to death November 20.
Marshal Ney, who was arrested August 6, was sentened to death December 6.   I will say a few words
about those two trials.  But as they both took place in
the presence of the Chambers, the former under their
influence, and the latter through the intervention of one
of them, I must first stop for a moment to explain the
circumstances which preceded and followed the meeting
of the Chambers.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


305


I shall pass over the entrance of the King into
Paris, the occupation of the capital, the spoliation of
the museum, the attempt to blow up the bridge of Jena,
the first negotiations which paved the way for the treaty
of November 20. I had nothing to do with all those
incidents, and only witnessed them from a distance;
but I will remind my readers that, on July 13, five
days after his return, the King, by the advice of his
Talleyrand-Fouche Ministry, struck a series of couph
d'Xe'tat.
By an ordinance, he constituted a new  body of.electors, and convoked them for August 14;
He provisionally revised and modified five articles of
the Charter;
He struck off the roll of the peerage all those who
had had seats in the Imperial Senate, and replaced them
by a big batch of good royalists;
By an ordinance published July 24, he exiled thirty.
eight persons, some of them very well known, and thb
others altogether unknown.
By the same ordinance he handed over to the military
tribunals an indefinite number of generals who had
taken part in the events of March 20.
This inauguration of the new reign, with the aim,
we were told, of strengthening the Talleyrand-Fouche
VOL. I.                              20




306


PERSONAL iRECOLLE CTIONS


Ministry, which was our only guarantee against the
ultra-royalist reaction, seemed to me to augur badly.
for the future, for it set an example of violence to
people who would readily give themselves up to it.
Events soon justified my apprehensions.   Even
before the elections were over, M. de Talleyrand had
already thrown his colleague overboard.  The story
goes that Carnot, whose name was on the list of exiles,
went to see Fouche and said to him:
'Where do you wish me to go, traitor?'
'Where you like, fool!' was the answer of his former
colleague on the Comnite de Salllt public.
The traitor soon joined the fool.  At first, he had the
offer to go as Minister to the United States, and this he
refused; then, like the heron in the fable, he was very
happy and quite pleased to accept the post of Minister
to Dresden, and he left France, almost disguised, lest
le should be pelted as he went through certain towns;
finally this old and hideous monster retired to Gratz,
where he died soon afterwards in the arms of a.young
and high-born lady, whose royalism had taken a fancy
to him during that short interval of folly when the
counter-revolution went mad over him, when the Comte
d'Artois and the Duke of Wellington carried him in their
arms and laid him at the gouty feet of Louis XVIII.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE'.


307


M. de Talleyrand's turn soon came. When the
elections were over, he disappeared before the shadow
of that undiscoverable Chamber, which he had invented
and manufactured with his own hands. On October 7,
the two Chambers, one quite new, the other having cast
its skin, met to pass-to begin the game, and almost by
acclamation-a Draconian Bill on seditious writings and
cries, a Bill which suspended individual liberty, and
re-established the cours privotales.
All this was hateful to me.
I had been deeply mortified by the brutal treatment to which the Chamber to which I belonged
had been subjected.  To my great regret, I saw the
greater number of the former senators, with whom I had
worked in 1814, leave it. My vexation had even gone
so far, that I had resolved to send in my resignation,
and of my own accord to take my place amongst those
who had been eliminated. As the royal coup d'etat
had thrown open the Chamber of Deputies to men of
twenty-five years of age, I thought I would try to
re-enter public life by this means.  On this subject, I
consulted M. de Pontecoulant, who, of all my former
colleagues, inspired me with most confidence from the
loftiness of his character, his intellect, and his experience. He generously deterred me from carrying out
20-2




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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


my intention, and gave me some good advice, which
I followed with reluctance.
As I was not yet quite thirty years old, I made this
a pretext for neglecting the sittings of the House of
Peers; but I carefully attended those of the other
Chamber, where everything I heard increased my
aversion for the ruling party more and more.   I
do not exaggerate when I say that the violence
of that party, within the Chamber and outside the
Chamber, in the tribune and out of the tribune,
whether it wore a coat or whether it wore a petticoat, recalled in every detail the worst days of the
National Convention. And this fury-for that is the
only fit word to use-reached its height when the
case of M. de la Valette was decided. It may truly
be said that this trial was really a piece of good
fortune, in so far as that it cost no life, and divided
into two camps the royal Jacobins on the one hand, and
on the other, honest and sensible men, no matter what
their origin or the different shades of their opinions.
I am not going to say anything of the ground itself for
this affair-never was a more barefaced injustice committed-nor of the depositions of M. Ferrand. Since
then I could never overcome my feelings of indignation
and disgust whenever I happened to be near him. But




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


309


this I can declare, that nothing can give any idea of
the joy which the escape of the condemned man caused
throughout Paris-I mean, of course, excepting the
Court and the Faubourg Saint Germain. It very nearly
caused a general illumination. Early that morning, M. de
Montrond came to see me, and said, with that composure
which he alone could maintain when making a joke:
'Dress yourself; get ready; arm yourself; a great
crime has just been committed; M. de la Valette, in
spite of all human and Divine laws, has escaped from
his prison in a sedan-chair, and the King, on learning
that news, got into another, and is pursuing him as fast
as he can. But it is thought he will not be able to
overtake him.  The porters of M. de la Valette have
the start; besides, he is not so heavy as the King.'
I was more inclined to throw my arms round his neck
than to laugh. M. Bresson performed, doubtless, an act
of great courage and generosity when he took the proscribed man into his own apartments, in the very buildings of the Foreign Office. He braved the 'white
terror' like he had braved the ' red terror' at the trial
of Louis XVI., but I would almost venture to affirm
that at whatever house M. de la Valette might have
gone to he would have been welcomed.
His escape had been conducted with great prudence




3Io


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


and resolution.  One of those who staked most on the
matter I knew very well, and he did not obtain the
share of celebrity which he deserved for it.  This was
a young man, M. de Chassenon, who took M. de la
Valette up into a cabriolet, in which he was waiting
for him within fifty yards of the Conciergerie, whilst
Mademoiselle de la Valette remained in the sedanchair.  He drove the   cabriolet himself, and by
numerous twistings and turnings he baffled the
pack of pursuers. He said to M. de la Valette:
'I have here four double-barrelled pistols, each
loaded with two bullets. If they come up with us,
make use of them.'
' Please God, no!' the latter answered.
'You would be lost as well as I! Therefore,' added
Chassenon, whipping up his horse, 'I will set you the
example.'
And he would have done as he said, for he was an
honourable and courageous man, though rather hotheaded.
Esprit de Chassenon was the son of a President of
the Parliament of Brittany, and brother of M. de
Curzay, Prefet of Nantes, and one of those who defended the Restoration in the crisis of 1830. I had
known him in my youth; he used often to come to




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


3r1


Ormes. His father lived near Poitiers, in a very
fine house, surrounded by a large garden, which was
adorned with statues. One day, when I was walking
about in it with him, he showed me the statue known
under the name of the Remouleur,* and explained it
to me in these terms: He was a slave, and whilst
sharpening his knife he overheard the plot of the sons
of Brutus in favour of Tarquin; he told Portia, the
wife of Brutus, of it, and gave her the knife, with
which she gave herself a deep wound in the thigh, and
handing the knife to her husband, she said: ' Pcete,
non dolet.'
Of course, the son of such a father could not have
been very well educated; but though he was devoid
of culture, he certainly had a very good opinion of
himself.  Almost as soon as he had attained his
majority, he squandered his small fortune in folly
and extravagance, and after he had become auditculr,
like myself, I met him  once at Fiume, where as
commissariat officer he had a foolish quarrel with
General Bachelet; and again in Poland, where he had
a still more foolish quarrel, in which he gained nothing
except a wound from a pistol shot, from which he
never altogether recovered. I had lost sight of him,


* Knife-grinder.




312


3PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


when I heard the part he had played in the escape of
M. de la Valette. We shall come across him again once
or twice in the course of these recollections.
Whilst the man who had been condemned by the
Cour d'Assises thus defied, not justice, indeed, but
iniquity, in its own palace, the trial of Marshal Ney,
which had already commenced, went on, giving rise to
numerous incidents.
On November 9, the Marshal had appeared before the
court-martial, which was composed of marshals and
generals who, for the most part, had, like himself,
taken the side of the usurper, and who would certainly
have spared his life. He objected to this court, and
demanded to be tried by the House of Peers, whose
members were nearly all his enemies.    How   his
counsel, the two Berryers (father and son) and Dupin,
allowed him, or caused him, to commit this fatal error
-for fatal is the proper word for it-I have never
been able to understand.
It is well known that on November 1 1-that is to
say, the day after that on which the court-martial had
declared itself incompetent to try the Marshal-M. de
Richelieu, the successor of M. de Talleyrand, came into
the House of Peers like a madman, holding in his
hand a speech, the whole of which had been written by




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


3I3


M. Laine, and demanded justice in the name of Europe
-calling, as it were, on the House to despatch Marshal
Ney-just as if it related to a Bill.
The House, mutilated and packed though it was with
thorough Royalists, listened to this speech with such
indignation that the next day-the 12th-M. de Richelieu apologized for it. Nothing could better prove the
state of mind of the Court than such a freak on the part
of two prudent, moderate, and humane men.
When the House of Peers had resolved that it
would regularly constitute itself into a court of justice
to decide upon the fate of Marshal Ney, it carried its
respect for forms so far as to impose upon itself all the
formalities prescribed by our code of criminal instruction; it proceeded, through commissaires, to the examination of the documents, decided by arret that the
accused must be committed, and fixed November 21 for
the opening of the debate. Until then, I had no reason
to think about the matter: a whole week had to elapse
before I should be entitled to a vote; but the sitting of
November 21 having been adjourned to December 4,
on the application of the Marshal, the eventful day was
fast approaching.
What was I to do?
I could avoid taking part in the verdict, and I had




314


PERSONAL RECOLLE CTIONS


more than one pretext for doing so. It is a judicial rule
that a judge is not to take part in any trial that has
already commenced. But I did not like the idea of
sheltering myself behind this excuse, and I took my
own course without speaking to anyone about it.
On December 4, I took my seat.   I entered the
Council Chamber at eleven o'clock in the morning,
when the members had already assembled. The Council
Chamber is the place where the House deliberated, and
to which the public was not admitted. It was the picturegallery. Even now, I can still see the place of every
member whom I knew, and that which I occupied on the
last bench. It seems inconceivable, but if I were required
to do so, I could take my oath in a court of law that the
matter for deliberation was the question of knowing
whether Marshal Ney should be permitted to plead the
capitulation of Paris. The House of Peers committed a
fault, a great fault —I might almost say a crime -by
closing the mouth of the accused on this subject.  I
can hear M. Mole speaking fiom one point of view and
Lanjuinais and Porcher de Richebourg from another.
That sitting marked an era in my life, and it formed an
epoch in the career and in the destiny of the House of
Peers. How could I have made a mistake? It must be
so, however, seeing that the official report states that




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


315


this sitting was held not on the first, but on the last day
of the trial, at the end of the pleadings; but whilst I
acknowledge my error, my reason submits, for my
memory remains intractable, and I repeat it: were I to
consult the latter only, I should take an oath even
against the accuracy of the official report. Such a thing
makes one tremble for human justice, for on what do its
decisions and the fate of accused persons depend?
I do not intend to enter into any details about the
public part of the trial; all historians give an account
of it, and the Mloniteur is to be found in all public
libraries. On the very first day, whilst I was speaking
with Lanjuinais, who sat next to me, he asked me and
a few colleagues to go to his house that evening, in order
to discuss the state of affairs, and to decide how we were
to act under the circumstances. I readily accepted, but
the meeting was only attended by the master of the
house, M. Porcher de Richebourg, and myself.  The
others, if indeed there were any others, had apparently
thought better of the matter.
We were promptly agreed as to the decisive result.
It was certain that the Marshal would be found guilty,
and we decided to vote for any penalty-except that of
death-which would be likely to carry the largest number
of votes; transportation, which might soon be commuted




3I6


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


into simple exile, seemed to us to be most appropriate
both as regarded the man and the circumstances.
But we could not agree as to the sense and the form
which we should give to our vote, or as to the choice
and explanation of our motives.
Lanjuinais maintained that we ought to take refuge
behind the capitulation of Paris, which the House
would not allow the counsel for the defence to discuss,
but which it could not prevent the judges going
into.
Our reply was that the capitulation of Paris did not
protect the Marshal as far as the signatories were concerned, who, moreover, had no power to bind Louis
XVIII. with regard to his own subjects; which was true,
strictly speaking.  Lanjuinais defended himself badly;
if he had merely said to us that, in a criminal matter,.
it was sufficient that a legal means could be alleged
according to the letter of the law, no matter what might
be its moral value, in order to profit the accused party,
and that in this matter the maxim, ' Favores ampliandi
odia restringenda,' ought always to be adopted, he would
have convinced us.
Porcher maintained that we should limit ourselves,
whilst acknowledging the crime, to urging the glorious
career of the Marshal, and the great services which he




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


317


had rendered to the State, which argument could also
be very forcibly insisted on.
As for me, I had a system which I still regard as
valid, but which, as I must allow now, was not very
well adapted to gain votes for the unfortunate Marshal.
I thought, and I still think, that a Government when
it is standing, and as long as it stands, has a right to
appeal to the laws, public force, the courts of justice,
and, in extreme cases, to the scaffold itself, for its defence; but if it falls, it belongs to history, and to history
alone, to pronounce between conquered and conqueror;
to decide on which side right, justice, and the real and
legitimate interests of the country were; whether the
conquerors were rebels or liberators.  I thought, and I
still think, that if the course of time or of events set up
again a Government which had been overthrown, that
Government has no right to revert to the past and to
hunt up its former adversaries for acts which preceded
its re.establishment. In such a case, to strike is no
longer to defend one's self; it means revenging one's self
and singling out one's victims, not on account of the
crime itself, but because of such and such a circumstance; it is worse than decimation, for, seeing that the
drawing of lots is a matter of chance, it is at least
impartial.




318.PERSOVAL RECOLLECTIONS


I say, again, that those views appear correct to me
even now; but how was I to make them acceptable to,
or even understood by, an assembly which was merely
moved by passion and resentment, when I failed to secure
for them even the approval of the benevolent persons.
with whom I had previously discussed the matter?
We separated, each of us still holding his own
opinion; but the very next day the Chancellor seemed
to make a point of bringing me face to face, so to say,
with my own foolish suggestion.
Instead of putting the question in the usual way,
that is to say, in a complex form, embracing fact and
law-instead of saying, ' Is the Marshal guilty of hightreason?'-the Chancellor divided the indictment: he
first of all put the question of fact.
'Did the Marshal read the following proclamation
to the troops?'
To this there was no other answer than 'Yes,' seeing
that the Marshal himself admitted it; then came the
point of law:
' In doing this, was the Marshal guilty of hightreason?'
The question embarrassed nobody but me. Lanjuinais got over the difficulty by voting 'Yes,' adding that,
in his eyes, the crime was covered by the capitulation




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


319,


of Paris. Porcher got over it by voting ' Yes,' reserving his appeal to the generosity of the Chamber for the
vote on the penalty, which would naturally follow the
vote as to the Marshal's guilt. I was in a fix; for
I could neither resort to an evasive answer, nor had
I any dilatory expedient to fall back upon. During the
whole time the names were being called-and, as I
was one of the last, it was tolerably long-I was perplexed and nervous, as anyone else would have been;
it was my first appearance as a speaker, and I was
going to begin by ' smashing the windows.'
When the moment came, I got up; and so that I
might not be overcome by any feeling of weakness, if I
should lose the thread of my arguments, I immediately
answered 'No' to the question.  This no, which was
being repeated from mouth to mouth, gave rise to a
general whisper, which enabled me to give my reasons
without being interrupted, seeing that hardly anyone
listened to me.
' There is no crime' (if these are not my exact
words, they express my meaning)-' there is no crime
when a criminal intention does not exist; no treason
without premeditation; no one becomes a traitor on the
first impulse. In the facts so justly laid to the charge of
Marshal Ney, I see neither premeditation nor a design




320


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


to betray.  He was from the first sincerely determined
to remain faithful, and he persisted in that resolve up to
the last moment, when he gave way to the enthusiasm
which appeared to him to be general, and which was
only too much so, in fact. It was a weakness which
history will denounce severely, but which does not, in
the present case, come under the definitions of the law.
Besides, there are events which, owing to their nature
and extent, are outside human justice, though they may
constitute guiltiness in the eyes of God and of men.'
I must say this for the House, that the boldness,
I might almost say, considering the time and the circumstances, the scandal of my first vote, excited neither
exclamations nor murmurs, and that, at the end of the
sitting, no one turned away from me or gave me the
cold shoulder any more for that. Nevertheless, we were
living, and, at that moment, we were deliberating in an
atmosphere of intimidation which was truly revolting.
I will only give one instance of it.
Amongst the former senators who were retained in
the new House of Peers, there was a little General
Gouvion, who was, I think, no relation to the Marshal.
I had known him at Antwerp, where he was in command at the period when M. d'Argenson was residing
there as prefct, and I sometimes used to talk with him.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


32I


Some time before the sitting opened, I saw this little
man coming, going, sitting down again, like some one
in trouble. At last, he came to me, and asked me what
I meant to do, that is, how I was going to vote. I
explained it to him: he evidently did not understand
me, but said to me simply:
'I shall do as you do.'
'Very well,' I answered; 'then sit down beside me,
and we will mutually encourage each other.'
He sat down beside me, and when the time came for
voting on the Marshal's guilt, he voted ' Yes,' like all
who had preceded him; and when the time came for
voting on the punishment, he said 'Death,' like all who
had preceded him.
Poor man! just the same thing happened to him
which had happened to Marshal Ney, in the Square at
Lons-le-Saulnier.
Since then I have been present, and really even
taken part in, another session of the Chamber of Peers,
which was fully as solemn, that which pronounced on
the fate of the Ministers of Charles X. We were in
the midst of a rising; the city resounded with the
march of trains of artillery and swarmed with patrols,
and firing, which came nearer every moment, was
heard in all directions. All we had to defend us was
VOL. I.                              21




322


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the National Guard, which joined in the rising, and
loaded us with abuse. Nevertheless, I am not afraid
of affirming that the moral pressure was much less
than in 1815; had it been the same, I do not know
what would have become of the Ministers of Charles X.
-When the verdict was given, it had to be signed.
Several peers who had abstained, that is to say, who
had refased to vote, refused to sign. In this, they were
no doubt logical, but did they think of anything but of
themselves and of getting rid of their own responsibility? I leave it to public opinion.
As for myself, I did not hesitate. I had taken part
in the trial, and had voted freely as to his guilt, on the
punishment, on all the incidents of the trial. My views
had not prevailed, but that did not free me from following out my role as judge regularly and to the end, and
so I signed.  What would become of justice if the
minority were not to submit to the majority?
At the time, it was said repeatedly that when the
sentence was delivered, the peers sat down to table,
and that the sitting terminated in a good supper, and
really in a sort of orgie.  Anonymous engravings
appeared, which were secretly circulated, in which we
were represented, glass in hand, almost like the
Prodigal Son in the engraving in Royaumont's Bible.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


323


This is an arrant calumny, for there was neither a
supper nor anything like it.
As the sitting began at ten o'clock in the morning
and did not finish till after midnight, M. de Semonville
had a refreshment-bar put up in one of the rooms;
during the intervals of rest anyone could go and get
some broth, or a little bread, or some other refreshment.
Nobody sat down, nor did any conversation pass there.
I returned home very late; at that time I was living
in the Rue Le Peletier, near the boulevard. As I could
not sleep, I opened my window at day-break, and I saw
an English battalion stepping forth through the street,
the drums beating and the band at its head.
It was at this very moment that the body of
Marshal Ney, which the enemy's steel and shot had
always respected, fell, pierced by twelve French bullets.
The general of these English, who was the real
commandant of Paris at that unhappy period, could,
with one word, have prevented that wretched holocaust.
It would have been better for his glory to have done
violence to the text of the capitulation than to the
conscience of Louis XVIII., by forcing a regicide
terrorist on him as Minister.
After the trial of Marshal Ney came the amnesty.
Like nearly all the laws of that period, it was so full
21-2




324


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


of exceptions that it bore more resemblance to a list of
proscriptions than to anything else. This was nothing,
however, compared to the propositions which emanated
from the Chamber itself, and which had to give way
to it. The defence of this law rather did honour to the
Minister; its success on nearly all points strengthened
the moderate party and rallied the waverers to it.
I carefully followed the debates in the Chamber of
Deputies, and I was getting ready to fill up the measure
of my crimes, in the eyes of the ruling party, in resisting the law as an unconstitutional and arbitrary one,
and as lacking all principles of right, of justice, and of
reason.
The Chamber of Peers, as far as depended on it,
spared me the trouble and the odium   of this.  It
decided, from love of peace, that there should be no
discussion, and the law was passed without a report,
without debate, without even the shadow or pretence of
investigation.
I had the speech which I had prepared printed; I
had it distributed, in spite of the entreaties of the Prefect
of Police, M. Angles, and I sent it to Madame de Stael.
The speech was worth nothing, and would have
produced no good effect. The views on which it was
based were, no doubt, honest and sensible, but the style




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.             325
was obscure, pedantic, and often incorrect. When she
sent it back to me, Madame de Stael declared that she
had not understood a word of it; she had underlined
every page and every line of the proof.  It is still in
my library.
The affair concerning the two millions of Madame de
Stael, which her son and I had been following up
before Government, being settled, and as my presence
in Paris, novice as I was, and in the position which I
had created for myself, could not in any way have a
salutary effect, I started for Italy, whither dearer and
more pressing interests were calling me.




326


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


III.
1816.
AT the approach of the rainy season, Madame de Stael
had left Coppet. Travelling rapidly through Piedmont,
the Legations and Tuscany, she settled at Pisa with her
daughter and M. Rocca, whose health was declining
more and more. M. Schlegel accompanied her.
Auguste de Stael and I started for Pisa at the
beginning of January, 1816. I took my brother Rene
d'Argenson with me, as his health, though not so precarious as M. Rocca's, nevertheless caused his parents
some genuine anxiety, which, however, was happily dispelled.
We crossed the Jura, which was covered with snow,
with great difficulty, and the next day but one after our
departure we arrived at Coppet about the middle of the
night.
My marriage settlement was drawn up by the local
notary, M. Bory, and, whilst he was going on with it,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


327


I made my debut at Geneva, and was introduced to all
the society which, at that period, constituted the honour
and the brilliancy of that glorious little republic.
I already knew M. Sismondi, whom I had often met
in Paris; I also knew M. Pictet Diodati, member of
the Corps Legislatif in France, and of whom it was
said that he had hesitated for some time in his choice
between his two countries.
Madame Rilliet Huber received me cordially. She
had been Madame de Stael's friend from childhood,
and as long as she lived her house never ceased to be
ours.
I made the acquaintance of Frederic de Chateauvieux,
of professor Pictet, and M. Vernet, his son-in-law; of
M. Dumont, the friend of Mirabeau; of M. Bellot, the
friend of M. Dumont, and of several other distinguished
personages of whom I shall often have occasion to speak
later on.
I only spent two or three days at Coppet, and during
those two or three days I only went twice to Geneva;
but that was enough to make me sincerely attached to
it, seeing how favourably disposed I was then towards it.
M.. Sismondi and M. de Chateauvieux were the
witnesses who signed the settlement. Professor Pictet
took me under his charge in the kindest manner; he




328


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


went with me everywhere-to the library, the Church of
St. Peter, and into all the different parts of the town,
which is so rich in memories of various kinds.
When all was settled, we started.
M. Sismondi accompanied us.   He was going to
Pescia in Tuscany, where his mother lived. He was
to meet there the Misses Allen, sisters-in-law of Sir
James Mackintosh, the eldest of whom he was going
to marry.
We crossed Mont Cenis rapidly, but with a good
deal of trouble, and entering Tuscany by Parma and
Bologna, we merely passed through Florence.
After our arrival at Pisa, and the signing of the
settlement, some days passed before the formalities
with regard to the dispensation were gone through in
Rome, in spite of the zeal displayed by M. de LatourMaubourg, who was then at the head of the French
Embassy.
At last my marriage was celebrated, February 15,
at Leghorn, and at Pisa on the 20th of the same
month.
At Leghorn it was celebrated before the French
Consul, M. Miege, whom I had known at Warsaw, where
he was attache to the legation of M. Bignon.  Since
then he had done duty as Consul at Malta, and we




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


329


owe to him a history of the Order of Malta which
possesses both merit and interest.
The Catholic service was performed by a priest to
whom the cure of the parish delegated this duty, and
the Protestant service by an Irish clergyman called De
Lacy.   He gave Mademoiselle de Stael a little English
Bible, which I keep, and shall keep, please God, all my
life, as a priceless relic of her who is no longer here
below.
'Pisa, February 20-mid-day-Casa Roncioni!'
I have not the courage to add a word to these few
words written in that Bible by another hand than
mine.
Our witness was an Englishman, Robert Smith, who
was very well known in his own country at that period
under the familiar name of ' Bob Smith'; he was a
brother of Sydney Smith, who was so celebrated, as a
writer in the Edinburgh Review, for his playful and
caustic humour, and for a number of pamphlets which
Swift himself would have envied.
Robert Smith was an excellent man in every sense of
the word, a thorough Englishman, except that he did
not possess the defects of the national character.  He
was a man of a broad, solid, cultivated mind; his




330


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


amiability was unassuming; he was meek, and ever
ready to oblige. His rare qualities, and still more, if it
be possible, the unhappiness which was visibly imprinted on his face, inspired people with deep interest for
him. He had come and settled at Pisa, to try if possible,
to save the life of the last of his daughters, the only one
that remained to him; he saw her declining rapidly,
without hope, without illusion. The blow was all the
heavier for him, as at an early period he had sought in
domestic life a refuge from, and consolation for, the
failure of his public life.
He had been a fellow pupil of Canning, whose
bosom  friend he had continued to be.  During the
course of their studies, and on their first entry into the
world, he was, by common accord, recognized as the
superior of him who acknowledged no other; he surpassed him in eloquence as in everything else, and when,
being scarcely of age, he entered Parliament, his appearance was looked for, like that of a star, before which all
the rest were to pale.  This expectation was fatal to
him; he got up, began to speak, got embarrassed, sat
down, and then remained, as it were, glued to his seat.
He himself told me this distressing scene, with a
smile on his lips, and tears in his eyes, with charming
simplicity, to teach me a lesson, and to exhort me




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


331


to overcome that timidity which, he used to say, is
nothing but vanity.
In England one hardly ever gets over such a failure.
Robert Smith, at the request of his friends, (and he
had many and very good ones), more than once tried
public life outside Parliament; he was very soon disgusted at, or discouraged by it; his domestic misfortunes thoroughly poisoned his existence; I never
met a man more worthy of being pitied, loved, and
honoured.
At Pisa, that hospital for affections of the chest,
there were still other English figures to be seen, sadly
walking Lungarno: amongst others Lady Bute, who
regularly every year went through the whole of Italy
on horseback, at the head of a regular cavalcade of
children and of servants, where her daughter, since
known under the name of Lady Sandon, shone in all
the splendour of youth and beauty.
These English people of every condition and very
diverse characters, made up in part, and in a very great
part, the society met at Madame de Stael's; but the elite
of the society of Pisa and the professors of the University were also received there with eager curiosity.
I am ashamed and sorry to say that I cannot here
name the persons who formed that select society. My




332


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


memory, which is usually very trustworthy, misleads
me on this point, but on the whole I was very
favourably impressed; it is true, however, that just
then, I had an excellent reason for seeing everything in
the best light.  My general impression is that, in that
society, the men were more serious, and the women
more refined than either have appeared to me since in
the two Italian towns in which I have lived, Florence
and Naples.
I have also preserved an agreeable recollection of the
members of the university; they were learned, modest,
reserved men, which is rare in Italy. The most amiable
and best known was Rosini, author of 'La Monaca di
Monza.'
During the time that we spent at Pisa we made an
excursion to Pescia and to Lucca.
At Pescia we met M. Sismondi again, with his
mother, who had taken up her residence there several
years previously, one of her daughters having married
one of the principal inhabitants of that little town.
The mother was worthy of such a son. Grave, austere,
and serene, she was a veritable matron of a republic
founded by Calvin. I spoke for a long time with her
and her son about the latter's literary future.  He had
just finished the purely historical portion of his work




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


333


on the Italian Republics, and he thought of stopping
short there, as far as that work was concerned.  I
tried hard to induce him to condense, in a last volume,
the history, at once so varied and so confused, of so
many small States of different origins and fortunes, and
to bring out the bond of unity which existed at the
bottom  of their various vicissitudes.  He consented,
and that was one step gained. We then tried to find
out what other work should succeed this, so as to fill
up, in a measure, the other half of the life of its author.
He thought rather vaguely of a history of France. I
eagerly seized upon this idea, and we examined in long
conversation from what point of view it would be well
and useful to look upon it.  The title of the work
itself, 'Histoire des Frangais,' is the outcome of those
conversations; and this title is the answer itself to
the question we were discussing.   The history of
France scarcely has ever been, at any time, anything
more than the history of the Kings of France, of their
principal servants, and of their acts and deeds.  The
moment had come for writing the history of the nation
itself, of its real origin, of the development of its internal civilization and of its gradual formation.  On
this plan and with this design the great history of
Sismondi was conceived: a history which he brought




334


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


down to the thirtieth volume, and to the reign of
Louis XV.
This work, though not free from defects, possesses
real and considerable merit; the scholarship is sound,
exact, and varied, and it is a conscientious work-conscientious rather than true, for the first parts show too
much the dislike with which the House of Bourbon inspired the author, and the indignation which the state
of France excited in him during the first period of
the Restoration.  The Merovingian and Carlovingian
Kings suffered much more than was reasonable; and we
often said to him in joke, that ' he visited the sins of
the children upon the fathers to the twentieth generation.' But both the work and the author improved
much during the course of years.  In the latter part
of his life the mind of the author became more impartial, more expanded, and more modest.  The last
volumes of the 'History of the French' are much
better than the first, and the century of Louis XIV.
seems to me to be almost faultless.  It is a pity that
his style is always rather heavy, rather incorrect; and,
to use the technical expression, always rather partakes
of that of the Protestant refugees.
From Pescia we went to Lucca, where we only spent
a few hours. It is a small town which contained then,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


335


and probably contains now, nothing worth seeing except
the impress of the Imperial rule, which it has retained
just as sand retains the impress of the foot. Princess
Elisa, otherwise called Countess Bacciochi, had modelled
it after the Saint Cloud, or the gompiegne of her brother;
and as she had left it, so we found it in 1816; and
such I found it again, since then, in 1840. At Lucca we
found several persons who were worthy of figuring on a
higher stage; I am sorry I cannot remember their names.
After her return to Pisa, Madame de Stael began to
get rather tired of the place, and with the first breath
of spring she transferred her establishment to Florence.
There society was just as brilliant as it had been
dull and rigid at Pisa. Like in all capitals, whether
they be large or small, the social movement, if I may
use the word, was divided between strangers and
natives.  Strangers, the English especially, against
whom the continent had been so long closed, abounded
in Italy.  Lord Burgersh, now Lord Westmoreland,
was the representative of England at the Court of the
Grand-duke of Florence.  He was a genial man, and a
good musician, rather than  anything else.  Lady
Burgersh was young, amiable, and kind, and she kept
up a fairly grand establishment. The Austrian Legation came after the English. M. and Madame Appony




336


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


were preparing for the part which they played so long
in France. They were both diplomatists by profession,
that is to say, they were foreign to everything that was
not formality and conventionality.
The French Legation was of so little account, that I
do not even remember who was at the head of it.
Neither do I remember the name of the Russian
Minister, provided there was one, which I do not recollect. As for Russian visitors, they were swarming.
The native society met in the morning as a small
party, at the house of the Countess of Albany, and the
evening was given up to numerous reunions, balls,
concerts, routs, etc.
The Countess of Albany nee Countess de Stolberg,
widow of the last of the Stuarts, and of Alfieri, without
having ever married him, connected, I do not know
how closely, with a French painter called Fabre, was,
iu spite of her high birth, her aristocratic alliances, and
her illustrious friendships, a good, rather vulgar woman,
or one might rather say, a regular gossip.
Every day, between two and three o'clock in the
afternoon, she opened her shop for chatter and scandal.
Every member of the little club brought his or her
contribution of the gossip of the previous day, seasoned
up with their little comments.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


337


Not everyone who wished was admitted into this
circle.  Madame de Stael was an exception, and I
myself was admitted as a natural consequence of her
admission; but I did not take any advantage of the
privilege; from the very first, I had made up my mind
to that. Scandal has always seemed to me to be the
most childish and foolish thing in the world.
The evenings were lively, gay and animated in every
way. I have forgotten the names of the Florentine
beauties who formed their great attractions.  I hardly
remember any Italian women but those whom I have
met later on other stages: in Paris, London, Naples or
elsewhere.
Two Genoese ladies who have since become almost
French, or rather Parisian, through their long sojourn
in our capital, distinguished themselves as their leaders,
Madame Durazzo and Madame de Brignole, the wife of
one of my colleagues at the Conseil d'Etat.  Madame
Durazzo was then at the height of her beauty; we met
the two sisters almost daily, and they were often
accompanied by the little daughter of Madame de
Brignole. This little girl is now  the Duchess of
Galliera, and when, after forty-two years, I look at her,
I fancy I still see the little Marinette: her face has
really not altered at all.
VOL. I.                              22




338


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


However, I did not take too much advantage of the
higher society of Florence, any more than I did of the
small female club of the Countess of Albany; in
Florence, society, properly so-called, was composed of
foreigners, and of what in Paris we called ultras, that is
to say, the old prejudiced aristocracy, and refugees of
the imperial regimc. Both were nearly equally distasteful to me. I only went into society with extreme
reluctance, and I was looked upon as unsociable and
disagreeable; I did not complain, on the other hand,
for I, foolishly enough, looked on that as being dignified and patriotic.  Madame de Stael, who bore with
me in this as best she could, with an amount of patience
which was by no means natural to her, with difficulty
persuaded me to allow myself to be introduced to the
Grand Duke and Duchess of Tuscany. I submitted
to the inevitable, and I was presented, dressed, or rather
disguised, in the court suit lent me by M. Corsini,
whom I had known as Conseiller d'Rtat under the
Empire when Tuscany formed part of it. The Grand
Duke was a little, gentle, polite, timid, embarrassed
man, with a cultivated mind, well versed in science,
and thoroughly conversant with the literature of all the
countries of Europe.  I made the acquaintance of his
librarian, and through the latter I visited his library.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


339


Nothing more calculated to excite covetousness has ever
come, not into my hands, for it was reserved for the use
of the master, but under my eyes. It was a wonderfully
well-chosen collection of classical or semi-classical authors
in all the ancient and modern languages which possess
works worthy of that name.  They were arranged in
perfect order, and bound with taste and simplicity.
They were equally pleasant to the eye and easy to use;
I never got tired of turning over their leaves.  I went
there constantly, and from there into the four rooms of
the Pitti palace, which contain, as I think, more
treasures than the Vatican, more than the museum in
Paris, even more than the gallery of Florence, adorned
as it is with what are called the tribunes.
Towards the end of Lent I made, with Auguste de
Stadl, not exactly a journey, but just an excursion
to Rome, where I spent Holy-Week. Being thus,
whilst there, free from the control of Madame de Stael,
I gave myself up to my unsociableness without constraint. I absolutely refused to set foot inside the
French embassy, whose head, if I remember rightly, the
Bishop of Saint Malo then was; consequently I was
not presented to the Pope, which I did not the least
regret. I passed my time in going over the city, the
monuments, the galleries, and in attending the religious
22-2




340


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


ceremonies.  On Easter Monday I returned to Florence
alone, where we remained three days, till the beginning
of May.
About that time we set out together to return to
Coppet.
I have preserved a delightful remembrance of our
crossing the Apennines in the first breath of spring, and
in particular of a village called Mascaro, where we
spent a long evening.  The air was delightful; the
woods and meadows were bright with fireflies, which
swarmed amongst the green; the monotonous murmur
of the brooks seemed to form a continual bass to the
happy and harmonious song of the villagers; all nature
seemed to be wearing its festal dress and uttering its
festal song.
We only spent one day at Bologna. The town was
dull and deserted. All the elite of the inhabitants had,
more or less, taken part in the mad enterprise of Murat.
Everyone felt that his life or his fortune was menaced;
those who were most compromised had taken their departure; the others had either gone into the country or
remained shut up in their houses.  Any intercourse
with Madame de Stael would most probably have been
fatal to them.
In return for this, however, we stayed several days




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


341


at Milan. I already knew all the exterior of that citythe cathedral, the Brera, the principal monuments; I
had seen and admired all that remains of Leonardo da
Vinci's Last Supper, now unfortunately much disfigured
by smoke; but, as I said at the time, I had made no acquaintances. On this occasion it was different; Madame
de Stael was known, and her drawing-room in the inn
was never empty.  Amongst the first to arrive was
Monti, the poet, celebrated then, and perhaps even
more so now, but at that period unhappy and very
much decried.   The momentary reaction could not
forgive him for having sung The praises of the French
Revolution, of its feats and also of its excesses in Italy.
I met there M. Gonfalonieri, the hope and the ornament
of the Italian Liberal Party, who since has paid for that
honour by a long term of imprisonment in the dungeons
of Spielberg. I met the Abbe de Breme, a Piedmontese,
who was then very well known in Italy, and very worthy
of being so. I met also other persons whose names I
cannot recall to mind at present, but which I shall think
of perhaps later, and as occasion requires.
Monti, it must be allowed, cut a poor figure. He
assumed an humble attitude, and his conversation was
not brilliant. Madame de Stael tried in vain to raise
him in his own eyes and in those of others.




342


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


On the other hand, M. Gonfalonieri was handsome,
witty, full of animation and of generous enthusiasm. He
had nothing to do with the imperial regime, nor had he
dawdled in the antechamber of Prince Eugene. He got
ready for the contest, in which he succumbed, for a
cause which was worthy of him, and for a country
which, even if it has not hitherto been able to sustain
that cause worthily, has not abandoned him.
M. de Breme was Abbe only in name, and much
against the grain. He never fulfilled any ecclesiastical
functions; he was a professed freethinker, and devoted
himself to philosophy, literature, and society. He had
a powerful intellect and varied attainments, and was
really amiable; but already his position as a sceptic,
under his bands and in his clerical position, pained me.
He clashed with Schlegel-Wilhelm Schlegel, whose
brother, after having devoted half his life to writing
books on pantheism and obscene novels, suddenly became a Roman Catholic; and Wilhelm Schlegel, at the
period of which I am speaking, seemed about to do the
same thing. He had been seized with an ardour, which
was not of long duration, for the externals of the Roman
Catholic worship, and his disputes with the Abbe de
Breme were interminable.
Neither of the disputants gained the advantage over




OF TIE DUC DE BROGLIE.


343


the other either in thesis or antithesis; their arguments
were not good, whatever their opinions might have
been, and I was glad to see the moment arrive for our
departure, which separated the combatants.
Madame de Stael returned to Switzerland by Mont
Cenis and Savoy, accompanied by M. Rocca and M.
Schlegel.  Auguste de Stael, his sister, and I risked
going over the Simplon, which pass was still obstructed
by show.  On our way we paid a visit to Como, to its
lake and its islands.  In the mountains and in the
Valais the weather was still bad, but on the banks of
the Lake of Geneva we found spring in all its brilliant
beauty. As we went through Cologny we stopped for
a few moments at the house of Madame Necker de
Saussure, and I was introduced to her for the first time.
She was at Nice when I passed through Geneva at the
beginning of the year.
I arrived at Coppet almost at the same time as the
Session of 1816 closed in Paris. I had no motive for
returning to France, where the spirit of reaction, which
had been heated by the events at Grenoble, continued
to increase the number of political trials. Being devoid
of any personal credit, without any authority, knowing
nothing of the ruling passions of the moment, and only
rendering imperfect justice to the Ministry which was




344


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


fighting against them, I remained in Switzerland during
the spring and summer of 1816, and did not leave
Coppet till October.
Whilst, willingly or unwillingly, I left French politics
alone, I allowed myself in some measure to be carried
into the arena of Swiss, and above all of Genevese,
politics. The struggle in Switzerland was the same as
in France, and the same in Geneva as in the rest of
Switzerland. It was the struggle against the victorious
counter-revolution, and of the revolution which had
been beaten by its own excesses, but which was represented in its defeat by those choice and enlightened
men whom it had oppressed, and in its results by the
interests which it had created.  This justice must be
done to the Swiss and Genevese counter-revolution,
that it was much more moderate than that in France;
that it neither desired to shed blood nor to take.reprisals on the enemies who had robbed it, and, after
all, wanted little more than to re-establish the old order
of things, which were objects of regret as innocent as
they were powerless.
I threw myself, with all my heart, into the party
which opposed the Government of Geneva.
I have already mentioned its leaders: Dumont,
Pictet Diodati, Bellot, Frederic de Chateauvieux; on




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


345


a more advanced plan of liberalism, Fazy-Pasteur; in
a sphere in which politics took less part, the celebrated
naturalist De Candolle; Favre Bertrand, a man of the
world and a learned philosopher, who devoted a large
fortune to the advancement of literature and art in his
country; and lastly, Constant Achard, nicknamed the
'Chinese,' who seemed really during his travels to have
contracted some resemblance with the inhabitants of
the Celestial Empire, and who was a man of intellect
and of sense, under an habitual outside of sarcasm and
of fun.
Dumont certainly was the first amongst them.  He
entered the Protestant ministry very young, but abandoned it very soon. Exiled from Geneva in consequence of the troubles which preceded the French
Revolution in that city; transplanted to St. Petersburg,
where he only lived a very short time, having travelled
with Lord Lansdowne as his guide; then having
become, with other Genevese-Claviere, Penchaud, etc.
-one of the fellow-workers of Mirabeau, and the real
author, as it was said, of the famous address to the
King on the question of dismissing the troops; and
after having finally retired to England, where he
remained till the Revolution, and where he acquired
a well-deserved reputation as the friend of Romilly and




346


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the translator of Bentham-he did not return to his
own country till the Revolution, which gave life to
Geneva by separating it from France.
He brought back to it the fruits of a long experience,
the feelings and the habits of a thorough Englishman,
and an exact knowledge of the rules and practices of
Parliamentary life.  The Representative Council owes
him its regulations, which were copied exactly from
those of the House of Commons, and that was enough
to counteract the effects and the puerilities of the constitution which the reactionary party granted to the
Republic. In a canton of 40,000 inhabitants, of which,
as a matter of fact, the town of Geneva made up threefourths, it was almost impossible that a representative
council of a hundred and fifty members, whatever might
be the electoral system, should not contain the best
men amongst the population; it was hardly less impossible that it should encounter the least resistance in
the executive power which it chose itself, and thenceforth, if this council were to deliberate according to
wise and just rules, and such as would protect the
minority, that minority would have nothing to fear
from the passions of the majority-nothing serious,
that is, nothing that could contain any trace of
tyranny.




OF THEl DUC DE BROGLIE.            347
Having been a preacher in his youth, Dumont
was a born orator. His example and his teachings
formed others who soon equalled him, even if in
some respects they did not surpass him: Pictet Diodati
was bold and incisive; Bellot solid and vigorous-he
was the leading advocate at the Geneva bar; M. de
Candolle was a man of upright, firm, and candid mind
-he used to express himself with wonderful lucidity.
As for M. Fazy-Pasteur, they say that he sometimes
rose to positive eloquence.  I shall not add anything
to what I have said respecting Frederic de Chateauvieux in the notice which is prefixed to his last work.
Altogether, the real object of the representative system
had been gained: small questions, questions of the day
and of the hour, became great ones by being discussed,
and hotly preoccupied men's minds; great questions,
fundamental questions, were by common accord respected.
At Coppet I was in the habit of seeing the members
of the Opposition, or at least the greater part of them,
with one exception, M. Pictet de Rochemont, the
brother of Professor Pictet.  I do not know why he
seemed to treat Madame de Stael with such coolness;
I hardly ever met him except at the house of Madame
Necker de Saussure, where, on Tuesdays, some of the




348


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


principal members of the Government used to meet, of
which, however, M. Pictet de Rochemont was one of
the most active and legitimate opponents.
Madame Necker is too well known, her appearance,
her life, her mind, her writings have been too well described in the notice prefixed to L'Education Progressive,
for me to add a single word to it.  She bore worthily,
or we may say rather, she honoured the two most
illustrious names, which themselves honoured their
century.  Without being equal to Madame de Stael,
her memory is inseparable from that of the latter, and
after twenty years of family life, my regret is that I
knew too little of her.
The deafness with which she had been afflicted early
in life had increased so much at the time of which I
am speaking, that it was quite impossible to converse
with  her for more than half an hour, without the
greatest fatigue on both sides.  This made all fresh
intimacies almost impossible, and I could hardly appreciate the extent and the loftiness of her intelligence, or
the force and refinement of her judgment, except by
flashes, as it were; the more, however, I lived with
people who had known her from her youth, or from
their childhood, the more I learnt to respect and
admire her.




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


349


During the course of that summer, three men who
were celebrated, at least at this period, in a very
different manner, were in the habit of frequenting
Coppet.   Lord Byron, M. de Stein, and General
Laharpe; a fourth, who was then quite young and
unknown, made a short stay there.
Lord Byron, who was a voluntary exile, and who
had managed, not without some trouble, to pass
amongst the higher classes of his countrymen, if not
for the devil in person, at least for a living example of
Manfred or of Lara, had taken up his abode for the
summer in a charming residence on the Eastern shcre
of the Lake of Geneva.   There he lived in company
with an Italian doctor called Polidori, who imitated
him as well as he could.  There it was that he composed several cf his smaller poems, and tried to inspire
the good people of Geneva with the same horror and
terror as he did his fellow countrymen; but he only
half succeeded, and it was pure affectation.  'My
nephew,' said Louis XIV., when speaking of the Duke
of Orleans, 'is a mere blusterer about his crimes.'
Lord Byron was a mere blusterer about his vices.
As he was proud of being a good swimmer, and of
his management of a boat, he used to cross the lake in
all directions, and came tolerably often to Coppet.  His




350


PEiRSONAL RE COLLE CTIONS


appearance was pleasant without being refined. His
face was handsome, but lacked expression and originality; his figure was round and short, and he did not
move his crippled leg with as much ease and carelessness as did M. de Talleyrand. His conversation
was heavy, and fatiguing because of his coarsely liberal
common-places and of his paradoxes, and was seasoned
with impious jokes, such as are very common in the
language of Voltaire.  Madame de Stael, who used
to turn everybody to account, tried hard to make
something of him, but did not succeed; on the whole,
as soon as curiosity was satisfied, his society had
nothing attractive in it, and no one cared for him
to call.
M. de Stein, who was only passing through Switzerland on his way to Italy, was a tall, strong, stout
German, with bright eyes and a harsh and jerky manner
of speaking.  His looks and his language breathed
indignation against the German sovereigns, small and
great, who claimed, after the victory, to re-establish
absolute power, to break their word, to betray the
promises which they had made to their people, and
alone to reap the fruits of a struggle which they had
neither begun nor carried on. He expressed himself
with the greatest disdain about his own sovereign,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


35I


about the Court of Prussia and the German bureaucracy. All was lost, he said, after having been won
by torrents of blood.  Upright men, who had a
hundred times exposed their lives, and undergone
persecution, exile, confiscation for these ungrateful
wretches, had nothing left but to shake the dust off
their feet when taking their departure, and to wrap
their heads in their cloaks.
I thought his indignation natural, and his resentment
legitimate; but I thought the way he expressed them
were both excessive and out of place in a foreign
country, and above all before Frenchmen, who, without
too much malice, might be tempted to rejoice at the
miscalculations of their conquerors.
General Laharpe was a very different man.
Having retired for the future from the world and
from business into the bosom of his family at Lausanne,
in the canton of Vaud, of which he might rightfully
call himself the deliverer, he there passed his latter
days in grave and dignified repose.  His very small
house, simple outside, modest within, overlooked at one
glance the whole theatre of the struggles of his youth,
and of the successes and reverses of his riper years-the
smiling and magnificent water of the Leman. His
wide brow, covered with hoary hairs, crowned, in a




352


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


manner, the features of his manly face. His eyes,
shaded by thick and well-drawn eyebrows, darted
flames when required; his aged form had remained
energetic and robust.  He was fond of relating the
history of the Swiss Revolution, of mentioning, frankly
and without regret, the part he had taken in it, and the
violent deeds, to which he had willingly lent his name
and his arm.  He expressed himself with respectful
disdain about the sovereigns, the princes and the
personages with whom the course of events and the
adventures of his life had brought him in contact; but
he spoke, only with enthusiasm and with tears in his
eyes, of the ancient founders of Swiss liberty, forgetting
that that very liberty had taken its rise in those same
little cantons which he himself had oppressed and
devastated in the name of the directorial union.
These reflections did not escape me, but, nevertheless, I could not listen to him without emotion. Many
a time did I call on him in his retreat.   I was
particularly attracted to it, because my two friends of
the Censeur were staying at Lausanne.  Driven from
France, they had found a refuge there, but only a temporary one; the protection of General Laharpe was not
sufficient to enable them to remain there, and they
were obliged to retire to England.




OF THE DUC DE BROGIUE.


353


For the present I shall only say one word about M.
Rossi.  Though hardly twenty-five years of age, he
was the honour and the leading light of the bar at
Bologna when Murat undertook his unfortunate expedition.  Constrained in a measure by his fellow-citizens
to take the part of this stage-king, he left his country
to avoid persecution, the threats of which followed him,
however, to Rome and to Naples. Geneva was more
hospitable to him than Lausanne was to Comte and to
Dunoyer, and Geneva reaped the benefit of this, as I
shall show later on, and on various occasions.  In
1816 he had only just arrived, and I scarcely saw him.
Towards the close of that summer, I also became
acquainted with two most distinguished men: Lord
Lansdowne and Lord Brougham; and I remained their
friend during the whole period of my public life.
The Parliamentary session was closed in England.
Lord Lansdowne was travelling with his family; he was
visiting Switzerland, and intended to spend the autumn
in the South of Italy. He was intimately acquainted
with Madame de Stael, and received me with unfeigned
kindness.  He was then already what he has never
ceased to be, the very model of a high-born Whig.
His birth was equal to his fortune, and his fortune
equal to his culture; he made a simple and correct use
VOL. I.                               23




354


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


of both; he was liberal and munificent. Nothing was
wanting in him to make of him the leader of his country,
excepting the desire to occupy the foremost rank and to
maintain himself in it.
Henry Brougham, now Lord Brougham, was then at
the height of his fame, and in the full enjoyment of his
splendid faculties.  Nothing could escape his mighty
and almost feverish activity. Law, jurisprudence, arts,
political and social economy, natural sciences, mathematics, physical sciences-he studied everything, thoroughly and simultaneously; and the rich variety of his
conversation was quite in keeping with the wonderful diversity of view and of points of view of his powerful mind.
He settled at Coppet, and, during his stay, interrupted by
various excursions, I took advantage of his kindness
by putting to him many questions concerning the rules
of English procedure. I was then engaged on an important work on individual liberty, which I never
completed, but which will be found in my papers, and
which, I believe, contains some ideas worth remembering.
M. Brougham wrote also for me, currente calamo, some
rather extensive notes on that subject, and it is from
the reading of those notes, which will also be found
in my papers, and from the conversations to which they
led between us, that dates my ardour in the study of




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


355


English legislation, a study which cost me so much
time and labour.
Much to my regret, I left Switzerland in the early
part of October. I was called to Paris by my private
affairs and by my desire to take up my residence close
to the house in which Madame de Stael was to live;
my brother-in-law came with me in order himself to
select that house. As we were on the point of departing, we witnessed the arrival from Lausanne to Coppet
of the two patriarchs of the little sect or mystic
church of which I spoke respecting Benjamin Constant
and his semi-conversion. Of the two, M. Gauthier, aged
and really ill, only passed through Coppet; the other,
M. de Langallerie, not so old and only ill in words, remained some time in our midst. He was a short, fat
little man, quite burly, rather vain and fond of good
fare-such, in fact, as the droll stories of last century
represent confessors of nuns and spiritual directors of
devout women. One could scarcely help smiling when
hearing him complain of his poor stomach whilst doing
honour to the dinner, and of his sleeplessness, after
having snored to his heart's content in a comfortable
armchair.   His meek, insinuating twang was quite
irksome; but, as soon as he spoke on purely spiritual
subjects, it was impossible not to admire (the expres23-2




356


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


sion is not too strong) the depth and delicacy of his
ideas, the shrewdness and justness of his observations,
the endless resources, the marvellous expedients of his
dialectics, which now plunged into a maze of arduous
and subtle argumentation, without losing sight of the
subject, and now rose to true eloquence, and would certainly not have been disowned by masters of pulpit
eloquence. I may freely say so.  I have no taste for
mysticism: contemplative life never possessed any
attraction in my eyes. A state of constant prayer,
carried on to ravishment and to ecstasy, always inspired me with suspicion, and the dogma of pure love expressed in the language of human passions always seemed
to me, even in the incomparable writings of Fenelon on
'Tranquillity of Mind,' even in the ' Spiritual Letters'
of Bossuet, a kind of profanation. But we may understand sentiments which we do not share; we may acknowledge the profound grandeur and truth there are in
the doctrine of thorough abnegation, and in a constant
impulse towards perfection, and, on those two points,
the arguments of, perhaps, the last disciple of Madame
Guyon and of Antoinette Bourignon were, doubtless,
ingenious and striking.
It is certainly not easy to explain, from an historical
point of view, how those two female Elijahs had, on




OF THE DUC DE BROGL~IE.


357


leaving this world, dropped their cloaks on that new
Elisha; how the almost ultra-Catholic traditions of
Saint-Francis of Sales, carefully collected, carried to
the extreme by ill-balanced minds, and spread on one
side of the slopes of the Jura mountains, reached the other
side, and were handed down, for more than a century,
from father to son, in the midst of the families of Protestant refugees: on the contrary, it is easy to conceive
how, at a period when the philosophy of the eighteenth
century was flourishing amongst a sect which professes
free discussion, and in a country where Arianism,* and
even Socinianism, were openly taught in the pulpit, it
came to pass that people who were naturally pious, and
anxious to remain Christian, though in keeping with
the progress of their time, should have preferred, as far
as religion went, sentiment to dogma, and the abnegation of reason to its abuse.
Such was, more or less, the state of mind of Madame
de Stael; such also that of M. Necker, although the
latter sought refuge rather in the exclusive development
of evangelical morals.  Whilst showing themselves
sincere Protestants and dutiful Christians, they both,
in their writings and in their conversations, always


* A sect named after Arius, who denied the divinity of Christ.




358


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


avoided entering into any controversy concerning
miracles and mysteries.
I do not recollect whether I left M. de Langallerie
at Coppet, or whether he started before me; but that
matters little. On reaching Paris, I found that a great
change had taken place.  The order of the 5th of
September had been issued; the Chambre introuvable
was dissolved; the intrigues of the reactionary party
were thus cut short, and the Cabinet was, therefore,
established on a firmer basis.
Having had nothing to do with that memorable act,
being then scarcely acquainted with the Minister or
with the small group of enlightened men who had
successfully carried it out, I was delighted, like everybody else, although I did not quite appreciate all the
amount of vigour, perseverance, and skill which must
have been required for its execution. It was only a
little later that I did full justice to the act itself and
to its promoters.
The elections followed closely on the order of the
5th of September; they were favourable to the Cabinet.
The Parliamentary Session of 1816-1817 opened on
November 4, the very day appointed by the order.
Some time before, Madame de Stael had arrived in Paris
with her daughter, M. Rocca, and Herr Schlegel.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


359


She was not to see another winter.
She had long before felt the first symptoms of the
disease which was to carry her off. A constant sleeplessness, the cause of which, unknown at first, used to
manifest itself by a general restlessness of the lower
limbs, and compelled her to get up as soon almost as
she had gone to bed, and to walk rapidly about the
room until daybreak, soon assumed all the characteristics of a threatening attack of paralysis.
She struggled heroically with the invading disease:
being invited everywhere, she used to go everywhere.
She used to keep her house open to all, receiving all
the distinguished men of every party, rank, and origin
in the morning, at dinner, and in the evening, taking
the same interest in politics, literature, and philosophy,
in serious or frivolous society, in quiet and intimate or
noisy circles, in Ministerial or Opposition meetings, as
she used to during the early days of her youth.
The Session opened on November 28, with the
debate on the Bill concerning elections; I mean the
active and real Session, the first few days having been
devoted to the appointment of the various committees
in both Chambers, and in that of Deputies to the
verification of the contested elections.
The Elections Bill-famous since under the name of




360        PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
'Law of February 5, 1817'      was, like the order
of September 5, the work of that small number of
enlightened men who formed, as it were, the general
staff of the Cabinet, and who soon became well
known as belonging to what was termed the 'Parti
Doctrinaire.' Those men were Royer-Collard, De Serre,
Camille Jordan, De Barante, and Guizot.
Madame de Stael was acquainted with M. de Barante,
and with Camille Jordan.
The father of M. de Barante had been Prefect of
Geneva; his delicate consideration towards the exile
of Coppet brought about his disgrace under the Imperial
regime. That consideration is one of those recollections
which outlive events, and are handed down from father
to son.
M. Camille Jordan had played, under the Directory,
an honourable and even brilliant part; it was at that
time that Madame de Stael made his acquaintance.
The turn of his mind was rather provincial, though
refined; his heart was tender and   generous; his
eloquence real, though laborious and over elaborate;
his conversation was most attractive.
M. de Barante, having   been  appointed  directeur
general des contributions indirectes, regarded it as a point of
honour to bring Madame de Stael into relations with




OF THE D UC DE BROGLIE.            36I
M. Royer-Collard, who was already the leader and the
mouthpiece of the Parti Doctrinaire: I make use of that
word by anticipation, for it was not yet in fashion.
The interview took place at dinner, in M. de Barante's
house. I witnessed it. The two chief personages easily
agreed on all points; but methinks they were rather
disappointed with each other-if not, I am greatly mistaken. Madame de Stael found M. Royer-Collard rather
too arrogant and pedantic, and her vivacity rather took
M. Royer-Collard by surprise.  He never came to her
house.
As for M. de Serre and M. Guizot, I never saw either
of them at Madame de Stael's house.




362


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


IV.
1817.
THE Elections Bill, having been carried with great
difficulty in the Chamber of Deputies, was taken before
the House of Peers in the beginning of January. It
had to undergo the ordeal of an ardent and laborious
discussion. In support of the Bill, I had written a
little speech, which I delivered very badly, and which
was not listened to.
The prospects of the Bill were not very bright.
A Bill relative to individual liberty followed the
Elections Bill. I wrote another speech to oppose that
Bill. This second speech was better than the first,
and had also a little more success.  It was especially
successful with the small doctrinaire group, whose
existence and rising importance I have pointed out.  I
was much praised for it; it even brought about offers
to me, which I scarcely heeded.
The majority in the Chamber of Deputies was then
composed of two sections, one of which was openly




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


363


Ministerial, and of which the doctrinaire group was
both the head and the mouthpiece, and the other,
composed of independent members, more hostile than
friendly to the Ministry, and which supported it simply
out of opposition to the reactionary party.
The same features were noticeable in the House of
Peers, though not to the same extent.  I belonged to
the independent section in both Chambers, either
personally or through my connections.
I felt much hesitation in going over to the opposite
camp.
That in which the course of events had placed me
was growing daily more antipathetic to me. There
reigned in it a certain short-sighted spirit, narrow and
imbued with routine. Without any bad intent or any
fixed idea, its members were following the revolutionary
path. They fancied they were doing wonders by reviving the jargon, the pretensions and the grand airs of
our first political assemblies; they really were the
people who had neither learned nor forgotten. Nothing
was more opposed to my views than that party. I was
then, and have always remained since, though with the
moderation which experience gives, an innovator as
regards order, entirely free from the regret of the past,
whatever the latter may have been, and longing for the




364


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


future. Pour l'avenir was the motto of my mind, as it
is that of my family. Even at the present day, after
so many disasters and deceptions, I can scarcely resist
hoping, and, whatever may be the ultimate result, I
work to bring about better days.
Nothing was less suited to my preoccupations of the
time than those political discussions.  I was then
passionately studying-the term  is not too strongthe history, the constitution, and the legislation of
England. I was also studying, with an affection which
grew to be filial, the history of our revolution in the
writings of M. Necker, the errors of the Assemblee Constituante, the crimes of the Assemblee Legislative and
of the Convention, and the turpitude of the Directory.
By reading those writings, I became aware of the
intelligence of English and American institutions, faithfully examined with great loftiness of views and much
penetrating shrewdness. The more I progressed with
that work, the more I felt out of place in the party
which called itself exclusively Liberal. Though having
the same aim in view, our spirit and direction were
quite opposite. Yet, on the other hand, to become
Ministerial in the face of the foreign occupation, and
under the effective tutelage of five or six Foreign
Ministers, was extremely repugnant to me.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


365


I took no part in the rest of the Session, which terminated with a very warm discussion over the Credits.
It ended on March 28.
I had, indeed, some much more serious preoccupations. Madame de Stael was suffering from a mortal
complaint, and her disease was daily becoming worse.
Having exhausted what little strength she still possessed, she dropped into our arms one evening, in the
latter part of February, whilst ascending the stairs in
the hatel of M. Decazes.  She had to be carried back
to her carriage, and thence to her bed, when an attack
of dropsy declared itself; this, having been energetically checked, disappeared, but unfortunately left the
premonitory symptoms of a paralytic stroke.
On March 1, the birthday of my eldest daughter,
Madame de Stael vainly tried to get up.
Gradually, however, her energetic will gained the
upper hand.   She was got out of bed, dressed, and
carried into the drawing-room, where she used to
receive visitors during part of the morning, feeling
interested in everything, and chiefly in the incident of
the famous Saint-Helena manuscript, the origin and
fate of which I related somewhere else.  She often used
to give dinners. Her children used to do the honours
of the table, and to preside in her salon of an evening.




366


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


When the fine weather came, she was transferred
from the house in the Rue Royale in which she used to
reside, to a house in the Rue Neuve-des-Mathurins,
where there used to be a vast garden. I knew that
house very well; it was the very one where, several
years before, Madame Gay used to live. I also knew
the garden very well; I had spent there many pleasant
evenings until a very late hour in the company of many
literati and wits, in the midst of a very mixed and
lively society. The authoress of 'Corinne' was now
being wheeled about in a bath-chair, in a half-slumbering state, happy only when she could sleep soundly.
The disease, which did not take a turn for some
time, soon resumed its terrible progress: from the extremities, the paralysis reached the vital parts. We
had recourse, in vain, to the highest medical skill in
Paris-from old Portal, the former medical attendant of
Madame de Stael, to Lerminier, Corvisart'spupil, and
physician to the Emperor Napoleon during the campaign in Russia. I used to be constantly going from
one doctor to another, in the company of Dr.
Esparon, who was himself one of those whose services
we had engaged, and who, in his generous anxiety to
render himself useful, devoted part of his time to act
as a guide and interpreter to the members of the whole




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


367


faculty.  In the course of those errands, I again met
with Dr. Laennec, my former fellow-student at the
Ecole Centrale des Quatre-Nations. He did not know me
again, and I should not myself have recognised him.
He was a man of lofty mind with a weak appearance;
he stood himself in great need of medical care. His
door used to be watched by a female Cerberus, who
only opened it at fixed hours. Dr. Esparon and I
had to wait for a very long time before being admitted
into a little oratory, the only furniture in which consisted of a crucifix and a low chair for kneeling in
prayer. Laennec proved of little use to us.
The faculty of Paris not holding out to us any hope of
a cure, not even the prospect of relief to the sufferings of
Madame de Stael, she expressed a strong desire to trust
her case to M. Butini, a Geneva physician, then enjoying
a very high reputation. I started for Geneva. M. Butini,
having from the very first judged that the case was
hopeless and the catastrophe imminent, declined, notwithstanding my urgent entreaties, to run the risk of a
useless journey, which might have proved detrimental
to his own health: he was already a very old man.
Another physician, also renowned, though less so than
M. Butini, was not so inexorable.  His name was
Dr. Jurine. I took him with me to Paris, and he




368


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


decided to come much more on account of his affection
for Madame de Stael, than for any other reason. It
was too late, and his discernment was not even rewarded by the appearance of success.
Night and day, Madame de Stael was devotedly
tended by her daughter and by an English lady who
had been residing in Geneva for many years, and whose
existence, after being filled with storms and misfortunes,
had become one of ardent and boundless affection for
our family. Miss Randall (that was her name) and my
wife used to spend the night in turn at the foot of the
bed of our dear patient; as for my brother-in-law and
myself, we used to watch in turn in the small drawingroom which opened on the bedroom of Madame de Stael.
We noticed, however, that the fatal issue was fast approaching: the nervous agitation had become constant,
the spasms more and more frequent. Madame de
Stael had not the slightest illusion as regards the
gravity of her case.  She preserved to the last the
loftiness of her mind, the vivacity of her wit, her
kindly disposition towards everybody, and her keen interest in all that was going on. She only was afraid that
she might not see herself die: when falling asleep she
used to express her fears that she might never wake
again.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


369


Sad presentiment 
On July 13, at about eleven o'clock in the evening,
after a day of very hard suffering, everything seemed at
rest in the bedroom of Madame de Stael. She was
dozing. Miss Randall was seated beside the bed of the
patient, one of whose hands she was holding in her
own; my wife was lying, exhausted with fatigue, on a
folding-bed; as for my brother-in-law, he was resting
on a couch. I came home, and threw myself undressed
on my bed. At about five o'clock in the morning, I
woke suddenly, left my bed, and hurried to the room
of Madame de Stael. Miss Randall, who had fallen
asleep, and who, as said before, held in her hands one
of my mother-in-law's hands, had found, on waking,
that hand cold as ice, the arm and the whole body
motionless.
All was over.
The usual medical adviser, having been fetched in
haste, found on the bed only a lifeless corpse.
I shall not try to depict the desolation that ensued.
I do not profess to make either portraits or pictures.
What Madame de Stael used to be, to her children
and to those who lived in her intimacy, cannot be fully
understood by anybody else.
As morning went on, and when the first outburst of
VOL. I.                              24




370


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


grief made room for despondency, when the dismal
preparations were over, I took my wife and my brotherin-law to the apartment occupied by me in the Rue
d'Anjou. M. Jacquemont, the father of the famous
explorer of that name, who lived on the second story,
had the kindness to place his own apartments at my
disposal. There I left M. Rocca, M. Schlegel and
Miss Randall, and returned alone to the house of the
deceased, there to spend the night.
Benjamin Constant came to see me, and we watched
together at the foot of the bed of Madame de Stael.
He was filled with deep and sincere emotion.  After
having exhausted personal recollections and the regrets
of the past, we devoted long hours to serious reflections. All the problems which naturally rush to one's
mind in the presence of death we examined and solved
in a manner satisfactory to both.  Benjamin Constant
was a theist, but, as I previously pointed out, theist
though he was, he avoided sceptical influences only
through mysticism. My convictions were quite different,
and much more decided.   The time is drawing near
when I shall have to explain them.
Madame de Stael had, in her will, expressed the
wish that her body should be transferred to Coppet,
and her coffin placed in the monument raised by




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


37z


Madame Necker for herself and her husband. Her
body was embalmed, and the coffin containing it carried
away slowly under the charge of M. de Stael, accompanied by M. Schlegel.  I started first, with my wife,
my daughter, Miss Randall and M. Rocca.
On arriving, I had to get everything ready for the
sad ceremony.  That required some precautions.  It
was known that the remains of M. and Madame Necker
were placed in a sepulchral chamber, situated in the
very centre of the monument; it was also known that
they were not inclosed in coffins. Madame Necker
being, during the latter years of her life, possessed by a
fear of premature burial, had provided in her will that
her body, and that of her husband after his demise,
should be placed in a basin of black marble, and preserved in spirits of wine.
In my presence, and only by one workman, I had the
walled door of the monument pulled down; I entered
alone; the sepulchral chamber was empty; in the
centre stood the marble basin, still half filled with
spirits of wine. The two corpses were lying beside
each other, and covered over with a purple cloak.
The head of Madame Necker had given way under the
cloak; I did not see her face; that of M. Necker was
uncovered, and in a perfect state of preservation.  I
24-2




372


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


kept myself the key of the inclosure surrounding the
monument; and I appointed a trustworthy person to
keep watch, so as to prevent any indiscretion.
The funeral was conducted in an impressive yet
simple manner, on the day following the arrival of the
corpse at Coppet; the whole town of Geneva regarded
it as a duty to accompany Madame de Stael to her last
resting-place. The whole procession stopped at the
entrance to the inclosure. Only my brother-in-law and
I, followed by four men carrying the coffin, entered the
monument. The coffin was placed at the bottom of the
basin. I had the door walled up afresh, and it has
never been reopened since.  In the meantime, I had
prevailed upon my wife to stay in her apartment.
Other matters also demanded our attention.  The
marriage of Madame de Stael with M. de Rocca had
been solemnized by a Protestant minister, of the canton
of Vaud: having been kept secret, it now required to
be subjected to official regulations.
The same formalities were needed as regards the
certificate of birth of Alphonse Rocca.  That child,
which was secretly brought up by the aforesaid
minister, was weakly, and in a deplorable state of
health; Auguste went to fetch it, brought it back,
and placed it into the hands of its father.  As for




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


373


me, I went to Lausanne, and arranged there with
M. Secretan, the friend of General Laharpe, and leading barrister in the canton of Vaud, to have both
certificates redrafted according to the official regulations. This was done, by mutual agreement, and
without any difficulty, before the tribunal civil, which,
I believe, used to sit at Aubonne.
After this, M. Rocca left us; he stayed temporarily
in Geneva, and prepared to start for Nice, with his son
and his brother, M. Ch. Rocca. He did not long
survive Madame de Stael.  We returned to Paris in
order to wind up the estate. Living in Paris having,
through our bereavement, become quite hateful to my
wife, who was almost distracted, we took advantage of an
invitation addressed to us by the excellent General La
Fayette, and went to reside for some time at La Grange.*
This was the second time I had visited that hospitable
and fine estate, under the roof of the kindest of men.
During my former stay there, a year before, I had met
the celebrated Mr. Bentham, friend and philosophical
patron of my friend Dumont; the truth is, however,
that Bentham's person no more attracted me than did
his utilitarian system.  I had taken with me to La
Grange a young American, Mr. Ticknor, who had been
* The name of the country seat of General de la Fayette.




374


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


introduced to Madame de Stael by Jefferson, and who
acquired afterwards in literature a well-deserved reputation. Mr. Ticknor is now the pride and the ornament
of the town of Boston, itself still the pride and ornament of North America. I shall again have frequent
occasions to speak of that old and faithful friend.
During my second stay at La Grange, I met there,
for the first time, the young Ary Scheffer,* who then
showed promise, since fulfilled. I also met many
persons whose names I do not now recollect.
The elections brought us all back to Paris; thence
I went to Evreux.
These elections were the first application of the Law
of February 5.  It turned out successfully, ultra petita.
Although those elections brought into the seats of the
Chamber of Deputies only men naturally called by their
position to sit there-although no objectionable names
were mentioned amongst those of the unsuccessful
candidates- the contest was pretty sharp, and the
manifestations sufficiently noisy to alarm the King and
the Court, to disturb the Minister, author of the newly
applied electoral law, and to place weapons in the
hands of his adversaries.
* A talented French artist, whose daughter became the wife of
M. Ernest Renan.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


375


I confess I had a share in that want of prudence
and moderation. The two candidates whom the party
to which I belonged-the Liberal, or so-called, party
-got elected, at Evreux, over the Government candidates; they were both highly respectable men, justly
enjoying public consideration, of moderate views, but
popular, and inclined to court popularity.  Their election, having been preceded by very animated meetings,
and followed by a sort of demonstration, was regarded
in the department of Eure as a victory for the
Jacobins.
That honeymoon, so to speak, of the Liberal Party
did not, at the very first, procure any advantage to
Benjamin Constant.  The Hundred Days were still too
recent. He, however, reappeared on the political stage
by means of two very trenchant pamphlets and a
quarrel in his paper with M. Mole, in the course of
which they both told some hard truths about each
other.
That was also the time he chose to bring out his
novel entitled 'Adolphe'-Adolphe, the grandson of
Werther, the son of Rene6 the European, the father of
all the Werthers, of all the Renes, of all the Adolphes,
which have since then infected our literature.
* The title of one of Chateaubriand's writings.




376


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


I never liked novels: the great beauties which are
to be met with in them are few, and seem to me quite
out of place; novel-writing is, in my opinion, a
spurious and pernicious kind of literature; it enervates
the spirit without ennobling it; it depraves imagination
by deceiving it. For the ideal of private life, which, if
it exists, should be free from excess and affectation,
simple, severe, and dignified, like private life itself, it
substitutes an ideal borrowed, as it were, and to order,
in which the grand features of poetry, dressed up in the
jargon of the day and of the circumstance, and the
leading personages of history, cut up and reduced to
the pattern of our neighbour, stifled for want of air, and
cramped for want of space to move in, are devoid of
lofty impulse, and grotesquely commonplace; in novels,
passion degenerates into vulgar flirtation when it does
not rush into fits of frenzy.
But, of all novels, those I like least, or rather, to
speak sincerely, those I most dislike, are those which I
may term   Roman's confessions, in which the author,
under the name of his hero, morally undresses before
the public; exhibits in the eyes of everybody, with a
sort of compunctive pride, the miseries and the wounds
of his soul, just as the beggars, in the old Spanish
stories, used to invite people at the doors of convents to




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


377


count their sores, and to touch their ulcers. ' Adolphe'
is the first, if not in date, at least of its kind, of those
new Guzmans d'Alfarache and Lazarilles de Totmes.*
Besides, the novel was not very novel for me.
Benjamin Constant had, during the Hundred Days, read
several extracts from it on various occasions, one of which
-it was at Madame Recamier's-deserves to be mentioned here, seeing that I have omitted to do so before.
On that occasion the company numbered about fifteen
persons.  The reading had lasted for nearly three
hours.  The author was tired; as he was nearing the
denouement, his emotion became greater, and increased
with his fatigue. Having reached the end, he was unable to master his feelings any longer, and burst out
sobbing; the contagion spread among the company,
already much moved: for some time nothing could be
heard except sobs and cries; all at once, and owing to a
physiological effect which, doctors say, is pretty frequent,
the sobs, becoming convulsive, made room for nervous
and irrepressible fits of laughter, so much so that, had
anyone entered at that moment and seen the state which
both the author and his audience were in, he would have
been quite at a loss what to think of it, or how to explain the effect by the cause.
* Names of personages in old Spanish stories.




378


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


The Parliamentary Session of 1817 to 1818 opened
on November 5.
The result of the elections had modified the position
of parties.  That to which I belonged-the Liberal
side of the House-had become all the more arrogant
and inclined towards revolutionary ideas. Periodical
banquets were instituted, which were presided over in
turn by those of the Liberal Party who sat in the
Chamber of Deputies. I often attended those dinners;
the language resorted to at those meetings quite
displeased me; I was still more displeased by the
direction  given  to minds and ideas.   I quietly
severed all connection between the ringleaders and
myself.
The purely Ministerial Party, being, not unreasonably,
alarmed, had become somewhat retrograde, and, for that
very reason, was still less attractive to me.
But the head of that party, the small phalanx to
which the public had given the denomination of doctrinaire-a name which was rather willingly acceptedwas daily making new advances to me, and my ideas
had gradually become similar to those which came from
that party. By entering its ranks, I naturally inherited
the position of my mother-in-law in society, just as I
had inherited the title and the rank of my grandfather




OF THE DUC ZDE BROGUIE.           379
in the State. I, therefore, joined an Opposition which
had hopes of power with some chance of obtaining it.
It remains to be seen what use I made of those advantages, with which my personal merit had nothing
whatever to do.




380


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


BOOK IV.
FOURTH PERIOD.
1818-1822.
I.
1818.
I SHALL divide the twelve following years into three
distinct periods.
From 1818 to 1822 the efforts of all good and
sensible people were directed towards reconciling the
Restoration and the Revolution, the old regime and the
new aspirations of France.
From 1822 to 1827 all their efforts were directed
towards resisting the growing influence of the counterrevolution.
From 1827 to 1830 all their efforts were directed
towards moderating and regulating the reaction in the
opposite direction, and everyone knows to what extent,
and why, those efforts failed.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


38i


I shall limit myself, as is my rule, to recalling
the part which it fell to my lot to take in all these
changes, the outcome of which (I will not take upon
myself to decide whether it was fatal or favourable)
will, in history, be always called the Revolution of
July.
The Session of 1818 opened with a small success
for the Doctrinaire Party, which was soon, however,
followed by a slight check. Of the five candidates
who were presented to the King by the Chamber of
Deputies, four belonged to this almost infinitesimal
party: M. de Serre, M. Royer-Collard, M. Camille
Jordan, and M. Beugnot.
M. de Serre was chosen.
He endeavoured to inaugurate his presidency by the
reform, or, rather, by the remodelling, of the Chamber,
taking for his basis the English House of Commons.
In this he imitated what M. Dumont had successfully
carried out at Geneva, a reform which I had explained
to my new friends. M. de Serre was less fortunate
than  M. Dumont.     He  found  an  insurmountable
obstacle in that spirit of routine which our first elective
assemblies had bequeathed to us. His proposal, which
was assailed on all sides, was thrown out on February 20.  I have very often regretted it since, and I




382


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


am convinced that, if the chief points of this proposal
had been adopted, it would have had a great and
wholesome effect on the progress of the debates, and,
by this means also, on the direction of public affairs in
general.  It is very strange that M. de Serre, a returned emigre, an officer of the army of Conde, a provincial lawyer, a magistrate who was versed solely in
the ways of the courts of justice, should, by instinct
and almost by divination, have understood the essential
conditions of Parliamentary government better than
the most enlightened of his colleagues.
The three chief Bills which were debated during the
Session were laid before the Chamber as soon as it
met:
The Press Bill, November 17;
The Bill for the Renewal of the Concordat, on the
23rd of the same month;
The Bill for Recruiting the Army, on the 29th.
The Doctrinaire Party raised its standard on the
question of the Press Bill. Nearly the whole of this
staff, without any soldiers, were members of the Conseil
d'Etat. At the time of the preliminary deliberation,
all the members of the Conseil had proposed to submit
all offences of the press to the consideration of a jury.
Defeated on that field, they appealed to the Chamber of




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


383


Deputies, and brought forward their proposal again in
the shape of an amendment.  This was to act, if not
in opposition to the Government, at any rate independently. I was one of the number.
The debate was bold and brilliant.   M. RoyerCollard went so far as to maintain that a jury alone
had legitimate jurisdiction in all matters concerning the
press, seeing, as he said, that offences of this nature
can only be taken cognizance of in equity.
This was a case of endangering the cause by exceeding the proposed measure, and I had many a discussion
with him on the subject.
M. Pasquier, who was then Garde des Sceaux, having
rashly ventured on ground of which he did not know
much-I mean bringing in the celebrated debate which
took place in the House of Commons in 1791, on
the nature and limits of the power of juries in
matters concerning the press —and as his mistakes were
numerous, our divan held a consultation.   In my
quality of a student just fresh from attending his
classes, I drew up the heads of a reply for Camille
Jordan, which was highly applauded.  It was a real
success, of which I had my small share.
This Press Bill, which was very badly drafted in all
respects, and which had been very badly used during




384


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIO~NS


the debate, received its death-blow in the Chamber of
Deputies, although the amendment with regard to the
jury had been lost.  The House of Peers finished it
off; but before dying it had given birth to a child.
Its last clause prolonged the censorship over newspapers and periodical publications for a year.  During
the height of the struggle, this clause was detached,
and became an independent Bill. Admitted in this
shape by my new friends, it was attacked by my old
ones, and I myself attacked it vigorously in the
House of Peers.   No doubt I was wrong, for the
liberty of the press was impossible in the face of
five hundred thousand foreigners; but, though my
attack was not successful, it did not injure me in
the eyes of my colleagues, and my venture was well
received.
The Bill for the Renewal of the Concordat was not
discussed.  After vehement and long disputes, the
Minister and the Commission could not agree, and soon
afterwards the Concordat itself was abandoned.  It was
the favourite hobby of M. de Blacas, who was at that
time banished to the embassy at Rome, and it was a
work of pure counter-revolution; the party were more
tenacious of it than the King, and the King than his
Ministers.  I shall have occasion to revert to this




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


385


subject later on, when I come to speak of a negotiation
with which I was entrusted in 1833, by the express
desire of the Chamber of Deputies, and the singular
ending of which I shall have to relate.
The Bill for the Recruiting of the Army was, for the
Session of 1818, what the Electoral Law had been for
the Session of 1817: I mean a field of battle between
the Ministry and the Royalist Opposition. It was also,
like the Press Bill, a field for skirmishes between the
Ministry and the Doctrinaire Party.
The fundamental idea of this law, as Marshal SaintCyr conceived it, was borrowed from the works of my
grandfather, which were deposited at the Ministry of
War, and of which I possess the copy. Marshal SaintCyr himself was very particular to declare this several
times during the course of the debate, and to make use
of a justly honoured name.  This idea was to divide
the French army into as many corps-d'armee as there
were distinct districts in France, each district having to
keep up the corps-d'arm&e which bore its name to its
full complement of men, each corps being a small army
in itself, composed of regiments of all arms, with
artillery, engineers, military train, etc.
This system was vigorously attacked and sturdily
defended. It is not my business to look upon it from
VOL. I.                                25




386


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


a military point of view; politically I see great advantages in it, which I have endeavoured to explain elsewhere.
But, nevertheless, that was not the field of battle.
It was on the question of the veterans, the object of
which was to rehabilitate the Army of the Loire, which
had recently been disbanded; it was on promotion by
seniority, the object of which, whether it be good or
bad in itself, was to withdraw the army from the
influence of the Court, and from the retrospective
invasion of the emigration.
On these two points the struggle was violent,
abusive, interminable.  The Royalist Opposition exhausted all its arsenal of invective and recrimination.
The Ministry, supported by the Doctrinaire Party,
replied with vigour and authority. The Bill itself had
been prepared under the eyes of the Marshal by a
commission of which M. de Barante was chairman.
The preamble to the Bill had been drawn up by
M. Guizot, and the speech with which the Marshal
closed the debate was also due to the former statesman.
Its success was immense.
But, whilst supporting the Ministry on all essential
points of the Bill, the Doctrinaire Party attacked it




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


387


vehemently on one particular point. It insisted that
the contingent which was levied every year should also
every year be the object of a separate law.  The
Minister refused to agree to this; I really can hardly
tell why. At last the struggle ended in a compromise.
It was settled that the permanent law should settle the
principle of the annual contingent, and that a particular
law should fix annually the number of men to be
deducted from this contingent, as also the number of
men to be raised in each district of departments.
Nothing could have been more reasonable.
The debate in the House of Peers was long,
without being as violent as that in the Chamber of
Deputies. My name was dowf to speak in favour of
the law, but my turn did not come.
The labours of the Chambers were my habitual point
of contact with the Doctrinaire Party, and my only point
of contact with the Government, properly so called.
They did not look upon me as an opponent, although I
was not regarded as being one of their party. At Court
and in aristocratic society I was looked upon as a
Jacobin, although my bad reputation did not reflect on
my wife and family. On the contrary, my wife's exalted
reputation reflected on to me, and the amiability of her
brother was an excuse for my moroseness. They were
25-2




388


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


in the habit of frequenting the highest circles together,
and in some measure attracted them to my house. The
extreme beauty of my wife, the superiority of her mind,
the vivacity and the charm of her conversation, exercised an irresistible charm on all who were brought
into relation with her.
The society which I received in my house, and the
principal features and general complexion of which M.
Guizot has indicated in the second volume of his
'Memoirs,' was composed of very different elements.
In the first rank there figured the principal remains
of Madame de Stael's society, which was already
divided into two opposite camps; on the one side
M. de la Fayette, Benjamin Constant, etc., and on
the other M. Mathieu de Montmorency, De Montlosier, De Custine, and others.  Then there came
the principal members of the Liberal side in both
Chambers, who met periodically at the house of M.
Laffitte, and the principal members of that intermediate
opinion, who were beginning to be called the Left
Centre, and who met periodically at the house of M.
Ternaux.
Lastly there came, outside politics, the younger men
who were the friends of my brother-in-law, and the young
women with whom my wife was intimate: Madame




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


389


de Castellane, Madame Anisson, Madame de SainteAulaire. I had known Madame de Sainte-Aulaire before my marriage, and had met M. de Sainte-Aulaire in
society in my early youth.  Since the Restoration my
connection with both had become closer and closer.
The Doctrinaire Party engrossed the conversation in
their house as in mine.
Small as it was, it was already divided into chiefs
and adepts, and newly formed as it was, into young and
old Doctrinaires.
The wise men of the party were, as I have said
above, M. Royer-Collard, M. de Serre, M. Camille
Jordan, and M. Beugnot, at whose side M. Guizot
was already taking his place, young as he was. M.
Royer-Collard  possessed authority;  M. de   Serre
eloquence; M. Guizot activity of mind in all matters,
lofty views, and a great variety    of knowledge;
Camille Jordan was the most amiable and the most
engaging. His mind was candid and elevated, his disposition affectionate and modest, his memory full of
recollections, if one may say so without tautology; his
persuasive and deep-seated tenderness of soul was
united to a vein of sarcasm, at the same time ingenuous and stinging; he used to be called the 'angry
sheep.'




390


PERSONAL RECOLLE CTIOVS


The young Doctrinaires, who since then have all
made themselves a certain name in letters or politics,
were at that time grouped behind M. Charles de
Remusat, the princeps juventutis of the period, who had
one of the most naturally richly endowed minds I have
ever known, and behind M. Germain, the brother-inlaw of M. de Barante, a man of feeling and of reason,
who was too soon taken from us.
Jokes and jests, as I have said before, were freely
indulged in against the Doctrinaire Party; Royalists
and Liberals, insignificant newspapers, and important
pamphlets joined in the game to their hearts' content.
In order to put an end to this, M. de Remusat had
the idea to get hold of their jokes, and to carry them
to the extreme, so as to get the laughter on our side by
despatching us with a good grace.  He composed, and
sang, in the various salons we used to visit, a very
witty poem, which everyone began to repeat with outbursts of laughter, and which, I hope, will not be lost,
although it was never printed.
I can only remember the few following verses, which
may give some idea of it:
'Aujourd'hui tout le monde pense.
En y pensant je me suis dit:
D'un parti chacun est en France 
I1 m'en faut un grand on petit;




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.3'


391


Or, il en est, un fort paisible
Quii daigne m'otivrir sa inaiscn:
C'est un parti tre's peu, visible
Et presque un etre de raison.
'Avant hier, quelqui'un m'y p-resente
Le parti s'e'tait, attroupe;
Toute la faction pensante
Se tenait sur un canap6.
'Nos majeste's sont d6cide'es,
Dit, le doyen, je, vous admets;
Sous la garde de nos ide'es,
Venez placer vos int'rets
Mais, en suivant, notre bannie're,
Souvenez-vous de parler haut;
iRepandez partout la lumie're,
Sas tre plus clair qu'il ne, faut.
'Faites de la me'tap)hysique;
Tous les matins exactement;
Abstenez-vous de la pratique
Toute l'anne'e e'troitement;
Doutez fort de la theorie,
Afn de vivre longuement;
IDe notre abstrait-e confr~rie,
C'est le triple coinmandernent.
'Notre parti, qui crolit hC' 1ombre
A besoin d'uui public discret;
Vous jouerez le role du nombre;
Placez-vous sur ce tabouret.
-' Monisieur, quand donc espe'rez-vous
Q ue notre, regne, nous arrive?
-Mlonsieur, 1'avenir est iA nous.




392


P3ERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


-Mais il n'y parait pas encore.
-N'importe le temps n'est pas mur;
Mais il viendra.-Quand?-Je l'ignore,
Et voila pour quoi j'en suis sur.'*
This lively piece of badinage reconciled the public
to the pretensions which had quite gratuitously been
assigned to us, and enabled us to carry on quietly our
* Nowadays all the world is thinking. In thinking of this, I
said: 'Everyone in France belongs to some party; I must select one,
whether small or great; now, there exists a most peaceable party
which deigns to receive me; that party is not prominent, and is
almost a sensible party.'
The day before yesterday some one introduced me to it; the whole
party had assembled, and the thinking faction had found room on
one sofa.
' Our Majesties having agreed,' quoth the leader, 'I admit you;
come and place your interests under the care of our ideas; but il
following our banner, mind you speak up; spread the light everywhere, but don't be clearer than you need be.
'Carefully every morning mind you study metaphysics; abstain
strictly from practising them all the year round: have strong doubts
on theories, so that you may live long; that is the threefold conmmand of our abstract brotherhood.
'Our party, growing in the shade, requires a discreet public; you
will act as a stopgap, so get you on this stool.'
-' Sir, when do you hope our reign will come 
-' Sir, the future belongs to us.'
-' But it does not appear so now.'
-' No matter, the time is not ripe yet; but it will come.-When?
-I don't know; and that is the reason why I'm convinced of it.'




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


393


weekly meetings, and to discuss the questions of the
order of the day.
The only two members of the Ministry who came to
my house were M. Mole, whom I had known for a long
time, and M. Decazes, who had married the eldest
daughter of M. de Sainte-Aulaire by his first marriage.
M. Mole, as I have already said, was very amiable,
and, in spite of the vehemence of his opinions-in spite
of the reserve which his character and position imposed
on him-seemed to take pleasure in our society.
The visits of M. Decazes were less frequent; in fact,
we rarely saw him except at the house of his motherin-law.  He cared less than M. Mole for the literary
discussions, which formed the chief topic of our conversations of the moment.  It was at this period, if I
am not mistaken, and in the salon of Madame de SainteAulaire, that M. de Lamartine first appeared in Parisian
society. I can fancy that I still hear him reading his
'Meditations' for the first time, and that I am again a
witness of the first sensation which they caused.  At
this period also appeared the first volume of the 'Essai
sur l'Indiff6rence en Matiere de Religion' (Essay on
Indifference in religious matters), which created great
indignation on the one hand, and an equally great
admiration on the other.  Other writings, which were
bU I~V  L~V



394


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


well worthy of fixing the public attention, marked at the
same time the revival of a literary spirit under the
auspices of political life-the philosophical lesson of
M. de Laromiguiere, that amiable metaphysician of
whom I have spoken more than once; the philosophical researches of M. de Bonald; the Essay on the
monarchical system under Louis XIV., by M. Lemontey;
'the Memoirs' of Madame d'Epinay.   Heaven only
knows to what interminable discussions those works
gave rise in our drawing-room, and what quick repartees
these discussions excited amongst so many witty and
cultured people.
My brother-in-law and I contributed our share by
editing the 'Considerations sur la Revolution Frangaise'
V    (Considerations on the French Revolution), Madame de
Stael's last work, upon which she was engaged until
the day when the pen fell from her failing hand, a
work which was ended without being finished, and
which she had expressly charged us to revise.
A revision was indeed indispensable.
Madame de Stael used to write her books, so to say,
currente calamo. Her plain writing-desk, which I have
religiously kept, she used to place upon her knees; she
wrote almost without any erasures, on copy-books
without any margins, and, when the book was finished,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


395


she had the whole copied into a series of copybooks, to which she made additions and variations;
a second copy followed the first, and then, often, a
third, which underwent the same system of correction, and generally the printing was done from this
third copy, and the text was, besides, corrected in
the proofs.
The  manuscript of the    ' Considerations sur la
Revolution Francaise' (Considerations on the French
Revolution) was only in the second copy, which I have
preserved in the library at Broglie.  It was the more
necessary that it should be carefully revised, owing to
the great value which the authoress put on it. It was,
indeed, as she thought, the public life of M. Necker in
opposition to his private life-it was a last monument
of filial piety, the final portion of which was originally
intended to be but a living commentary on, and the
historical development of, the principles laid down, and
of the events related in the first.
As may be easily guessed, the work as it went on
greatly exceeded its first conception; it had acquired
by degrees much greater dimensions and extent. It
made a great sensation, the Royalist Party being very
irritated at it, the Extreme Left of the Liberal Party
being moderately satisfied with it, whilst all the rest of




396


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the public looked upon it as the exact truth, and took it
for their vacle mecan.
My brother-in-law and I revised it conjointly; but,
as he had more leisure, the chief part of the labour fell
to him.
Our time being taken up by those various occupations, the winter passed quickly by.  The Session
having finished early, we also set out for Switzerland
early and settled down at Coppet to spend the season.
In May my second daughter was born. We found
there the same society which I have already described,
but increased by one figure, who was hardly mentioned
in the first account, and who was beginning to attract
much attention: M. Pelegrino Rossi, who was then
lecturer of Roman law in the Geneva University, and
preluding to his high reputation as a jurist.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


397


II.
1819.
I MUST own plainly and without consideration that, if
this work should come under the notice of my political
friends, perhaps they would bear me a grudge for it; if
it should come under the notice of our common opponents, perhaps they would be satisfied with it; but,
above all things, the truth. I look upon our conductand by 'our,' I mean here all the most honourable and
sensible portion of the Liberal Party-I say, I look
upon our conduct, with regard to maintaining the
electoral bill, and, consequently, the overthrow of the
Richelieu Ministry, as a capital fault.
As a matter of fact, we all accepted the Restoration,
either on principle, or from inclination, or from reason.
Thenceforth it was necessary to treat with it-without
temper, without disdain, without impatience-to take
note of its weak points, and, so to say, to steer ourselves clear of its breakers.
It should have been neither a matter for complaint




398


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


nor for astonishment, to find very little inclination for
a Constitutional Government in the reigning house;
but it was a real piece of good-luck that the King
actually thought that he was the author of the Charter,
and that he threw an author's self-love into it.
It should have been neither a matter for complaint
nor for astonishment to find the emigration -the
emigration from within as well as that from without,
and God knows that the latter was not the worst-to
find it, I say, fossilized with prejudices and folly, mad
with rancour, eager for the spoil of all the good things
of this world, demanding everything, ruling everything,
embroiling everything; but it was a real piece of good
luck to have an emigre at the head of the Government
-an emiigre of the old nobility, who had left France in
1789 and returned in 1814-an emigre who was an
honest man, and one with a heart and with reason-an
emigre who, whilst he was a patriot in a foreign country,
was independent at Court, who despised the popularity
of his caste as he did that of faction; a man whose disinterestedness was superior to every trial, whose fidelity
was above every suspicion; a good administrator, as
far as q man can become such in a barbarous country,
modest about what he did not know, but holding out in
everything for right and good sense. For a Restoration,




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


399


for King and people, for the Government and the
governed, he was a pearl of great price.
Lastly, there should have been no matter either for
complaint or surprise that, after ten years of a revolutionary regime and fourteen years of absolute government, there should have been only very few men found
in France who had the love of liberty in their heart,
and who could mentally grasp its essential conditions;
but it was a real piece of good-luck that there were
men in the Ministry who belonged to the new France,
and men who, threatened in their political existence by
others who had sprung to life again from the old
France, were accustomed to business, and used to all
the details of civil and military administration, under
the very eye of a clever and watchful despot-men who
were obliged, whether they liked it or not, to depend for
support and for the means of action on Parliamentary
procedure and Liberal institutions.  Such indeed were
M. Pasquier, M. Mole, M. Corvetto, and even, in some
respects, Marshal Saint-Cyr.
It was necessary to preserve such a King, such a
Minister, such a Ministry, as the apple of one's eye; it
was necessary not only to support them, but to support
them  in their good intentions, whether they were
natural or imposed upon them by circumstances, and




400


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


thus it became needful neither to press them beyond
measure, nor to frighten them at the wrong time.  It
was even necessary to overlook many of their faults;
at this price a start was made, and at this price only
could the ground that had been gained be maintained.
One day, in 1831, at the very height of the strifes of
that period, M. Casimir Perier said to us, ' Your support is no use to me when I am right; when I am
wrong is the time you ought to support me.' He was
right, and this whimsical idea is as good as an axiom.
We did not know so much about it in 1819, but we
did know enough already to have no excuse for sacrificing
the Ministry of M. de Richelieu in order to support the
electoral bill.
Really, M. de Richelieu was only half in the wrong,
and was not alarmed without some reason.  The Bill
as to elections, good as it was in principle, was imprudent
in some respects, and was evidently bearing revolutionary fruit. It was hardly possible to maintain it
as it was, and the proof of this is that the Ministry
formed for this very object was the next year obliged
to give up the Bill.  Good sense seemed to recommend
a compromise.  By substituting the election by arrondissements for election by departments; by abolishing also
the scmrtin de liste; by limiting the number of electors




OF THE DUC DE BROGIUE.


40r


admitted simply on account of their being taxpayers,
just as we limited in 1850 the number of electors admitted to the franchise by universal suffrage-I mean by
the reasonable and moral condition of a domicile of
three or five years, the Bill of February 5 would have
lost all its disadvantages, and satisfied the King, the
Ministers and all reasonable people, without crushing the Ministry; this example of moderation and of
sincerity would, on the contrary, have pledged them to
a right path more and more, and, according to all appearances, have led them step by step further than any
of us at that period would have dared to hope.
Instead of this, our resistance (I say our, for we did
nothing in the matter except by my wishes and by
what I said in private conversation) brought about the
retirement of M. de Richelieu, and the breaking up
of the Ministry, without giving us the power of forming a new one which should be subservient to us, and
should be strong enough to carry on the struggle which
would fall to its lot.
The successor of M. de Richelieu, M. Dessole, was
an old general of the Army of the Rhine; a man of discriminating judgment and a moderate mind, but who
knew nothing of the difficulties of Parliamentary Government; whose conduct in 1814 and during the Hundred
VOL. II.                             26




402


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Days had been honest and sensible, his services of a
medium order, and whose reputation had almost been
forgotten; he was, in fact, a last resource, or, if you
like, a stopgap to fill the place of Prime Minister for
M. Decazes, who did not yet seem to have mettle
enough to occupy it. M. Louis made an excellent
Finance Minister, although he was no speaker; M.
Portal was an enlightened man, a hard worker, and
a man of sense.  M. de Serre alone represented the
party.
The attack on the new Ministry began as soon as the
Session opened. It was only with great difficulty that
the indispensable Bill which prolonged the imposition
of the land tax for six months, and which had been
vehemently opposed by the Right in the Chamber of
Deputies, was carried in the Chamber of Peers, and it
was also with great difficulty that the proposal to vote
a national recompense, which he had assuredly so well
earned, to M. de Richelieu, passed both Chambers
without an amendment. The same resistance was offered
on the part of the Right to the Bill which was to
regulate the date of the financial year; but all this was
but the prelude to the grand attack.
On the 20th of February, the day on which the
House of Peers was summoned to examine the pro



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


403


posed Bill on the financial year, old Barthelemy, the
late member of the Directory and a victim of the coup
d'etat of Thermidor, asked leave to speak, and proposed
to bring up the Elections Bill.
It had been expected.
The Right of the House had allied itself to the
Ministry which had recently been turned out; on this
ground we were in a large and evident minority, and so,
in spite of the efforts of the new Ministry, there was
no uncertainty and scarcely any debate.
My name was put down amongst the first speakers,
but I had no opportunity, and had to be contented with
having my speech printed; I do not think it was bad,
and it contained several very good arguments on the
nature and the fame of Parliamentary institutions.
The same thing happened, and happened to me also,
with regard to the Bill the debate on which had been
interrupted. On February 26, the proposal of Barthelemy was carried by 94 votes to 60; on March 4,
the Financial Year Bill was thrown out by 93 votes
to 64. The majority, which was devoted to the former
Ministry, carried on its hostility towards the new one
triumphantly. I was sorry that I could not obtain a
hearing, as I had prepared a series of arguments which,
I think, might have embarrassed our adversaries.
26-2




404


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


War being thus declared within the House of Peers,
and as a consequence between the two Chambers, it was
necessary to prepare for it.
On March 5, the day after the Bill as to the
financial year was thrown out, an addition, vulgarly
called a batch, of sixty-one peers was inflicted on our
Chamber.   Amongst them    were seen most of the
remains of the Imperial rigine, with the exception of
Marshal Soult, over whom the recollections of 1814
and of Waterloo still hung; the greater part of the
generals of the Army of the Loire, those who had been
prosecuted in 1815, Becker, Belliard, and others
besides.  In the second month of our new Liberal
Ministry, we were in for a coup-d'etat; I say coupd'etat, although it was rather an infraction of the
spirit than of the letter of the Charter.  Strengthened
on this side, the Government, in a fair fight, got the
proposal of Barthelemy thrown out in the Chamber of
Deputies, who did not ask for anything better.  The
debate was like a thunderbolt: for the Right, M. de
Serre was bold, eloquent, passionate; during the course
of it, M. de Sainte-Aulaire denounced the massacre of
the Protestants in the department of Gard, with different
success from that which M. d'Argenson had obtained
in 1815.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


405


Having thus regained the upper hand, he was obliged
to mark his return to power, and to signalise his victory
by some brilliant success. Press legislation was the
most urgent matter; there were no longer any foreign
troops on our territory, and no further pretext for
tergiversation or delay; in 1818 we had demolished
all the projects of the defunct Ministry, and the time
had come to carry out our principles, and to perform
our promises.
Officially, M. de Serre was Garde des Sceaux, whilst
in fact he was the representative of the Doctrinaire
Party in the Ministry. In these two-fold capacities, he
had to act for himself, and he took M. Guizot and I
as his assistants, or rather as his collaborators, and
eventually, after several negotiations, the work which I
had prepared prevailed in its essential ideas; as it is
still, after many vicissitudes, the foundation of our
actual legislation, I am responsible for all in it that
belongs to me.
I had divided the whole of the legislation on the
press into three distinct parts:
(1) The definition of crimes and misdemeanours.
(2) Procedure.
(3) The guarantees which were to be demanded
from the periodical press.




406


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


This division, which was accepted by the Government, could not then encounter, nor has it ever
encountered since, any difficulty in the Chambers.
From  that there sprung three Bills brought in
simultaneously, but severally distinct; I insisted on
this point, and I carried it, as I have always been very
much opposed to every principle of codification. I
have given my reasons in a voluminous note, which
will be found amongst my papers.
The three Bills were founded on a common basis,
namely, that no distinction could be admitted between
the various means of publication, whether it were
printing, lithographing, drawing, engraving, or even
public speaking, but that the fact of publication must
be real, voluntary, and regularly verified.
I had divided the first Bill into four heads:
Provocation to crimes or misdemeanours.
Offences against public morals.
Offences against the constituted authorities.
Defamation and abuse of private individuals.
At first I had some trouble with my collaborators,
who wanted to reduce these four heads to provocation
only, by giving it a wide and elastic signification; but
I had not much difficulty in convincing them that it
was as contrary to the reality of facts as it was to




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE,


407


strictness of language to confound acts which merely
led to wrong-doing with those which directly carry it
out and consummate it.
After this first point was gained, I reduced provocation followed by deeds to simple complicity, as is
allowed in the penal code; every species of particular
provocation had thus its own particular definition contained in that of every sort of crime or misdemeanour;
and lastly, when the provocation had had no results,
it sufficed, ccec eris paribus, to reduce the penalty in
proportion.
The procedure was unassailable from the logical point
of view; it was so simple, so straightforward, so short,
that, in theory, it has held good up to the present; but
its defect, if it be one, was that, as it excluded all
arbitrary decision, there was no other remedy but to
load it with exceptions. The Council of Ministers, with
M. Decazes at their head, were not behindhand in this
respect, and thus opened the way for their successors,
who since then, from time to time, resolutely followed
it. I must, however, do M. de Serre this justice, to
say that he supported me from beginning to end.
Under the name of outrages a la morale publiqzte
(offences against public morality), I understood in my
own mind, not only offences against universal morality,




408


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


or against natural religion, that is the basis and confirmation of morality, but outrage on any particular
form of worship, any natural or positive belief, seeing
that it was worthy of legitimate and lawful respect, as
the consequences of a sacred right, that of searching
after truth, and that every man should be allowed to
worship God according to his intelligence and to his
conscience.
Whilst granting full freedom to all philosophical and
religious controversies, subject to the one condition
that they should not be insulting, that is, that they
should be carried on in grave and moderate language, I
intended to declare everything that exceeded this contrary to morality and forbidden by public decorum, as
the legislature looked upon itself as incompetent to
protect anything else except the right which all sincere
convictions had to mutual regard and consideration.
The intention was just and wise; liberty of discussion in any matter is incompatible with good order
and public peace, except under such conditions, but it
was difficult to set out this idea clearly with the
aphoristic precision of legal language.
The Bill which I had drawn up, such as it was,
having been adopted by the Ministry in default of
anything better, was attacked almost equally by free



OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


409


thinkers and believers of all persuasions, but it was
skilfully defended by M. Cuvier, with authority by M.
Royer-Collard, and with incomparable eloquence by M.
de Serre; it was carried in both Chambers by means of
a high hand, and, like my theory of provocation, was
soon lost in exceptions and circumlocutions.
I had chosen the word ' offence' to designate a misdemeanour committed by means of publication against
the King, the Chambers, the princes of the blood-royal,
and the heads of foreign Governments.
This word corresponds, as a matter of fact, to a
correct and delicate shade of idea: individual or
collective persons who, by their dignity, can be
insulted: they cannot be libelled or calumniated.
The word was found to be correct, and was maintained.
Libel and calumny cannot result in injury, except
when proceeding from equal to equal, that is to say,
when arising between persons whom the constitutional
compact regards as being on a par, even though those
very persons should admit certain distinctions between
themselves.
Libel is the imputation of some dishonouring fact;
calumny is the false imputation of the same fact.
Taking into consideration the difference in the sphere




4IO


4PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


where the two terms could be applied, in my Bill I left
the injured party the choice of taking proceedings for
libel or calumny. By this means, in the latter case, he
would have the right to bring his opponent to book,
by calling on him to prove the alleged facts; but, I
must allow, in the other case some suspicion of the
truth of the alleged fact was allowed to rest upon the
injured party. I think my system was just and manly;
it did not sacrifice the innocent to the guilty; but,
thanks to the effeminacy of our manners, the opposite
system prevailed.
Proceedings for libel alone were admitted.
Much to my regret, I had to give way with regard to
the conviction of private individuals, but I kept firm as
far as concerned public functionaries.  I maintained,
and I got it passed with great difficulty, that every
public functionary who was attacked with regard to his
office, should be obliged, in bringing an action, to urge
or to submit to the proof of the fact imputed to him, and
if the fact were proved true, he should have no right to
any explanation.
This arrangement caused the liveliest debates in our
little preparatory council; I was supported by M. de
Serre, M. Royer-Collard, and M. Guizot; I am not
exaggerating when I say that M. Cuvier cried from


- -- - --- - --




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


4II


vexation and anxiety. He gave way, however. Quite
as lively and as long was the debate in the two
Chambers, and for a time it had the same success; I
say for a time, for it was one of the first points that
were sacrificed in the reaction that set in the very next
year; according to my views it formed an implied, but
an integral part of the constitution itself.
There was no difficulty about the definition of abuse,
nor any difficulty on procedure as to sending provocations, outrages, offences and libels, to the Courts of
Assize, that is, to a jury; but, on the other hand, there
was a great difficulty as to the principle of seizure when
applied to prosecuted publications.  I was against all
seizure before, during, and even after prosecution
followed by conviction.  I had maintained this theory
with extreme vehemence and from profound conviction
in the previous year; I brought it forward again without success; in spite of my efforts, all I could obtain
was a regularisation of the system  of seizure, which
made the fact of publication illusory and untrue.
I left the regulation of the periodical press to my
collaborators.  M. Guizot, the chief author of the third
Bill, defended it with much vigour and success. On that
occasion, he gave utterance to some memorable words,
which have not obtained the celebrity which they merit.




4I2


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


'In politics, absolute principles are only absolute in
so far as they are despotic, and will not allow men to
examine into them to see whether they are true.'
I shall not enter at any further length into the rest
of the details of the Bill, but will refer my readers for the
whole of it, the general principles and questions of detail,
to the great report which I was commissioned to draw
up, and to the defence of it which I made since on two
solemn occasions; besides, the text itself of the principal
Bill, such as I framed it, will be found amongst my
papers, in its pure and strict simplicity.
All this possesses but little importance nowadays, in
the voluntary state of slavery which France enjoys and
in which she rejoices. Who thinks about the liberty of
the press, unless it be to kick it? But, if ever this state
of mind changes, if the days of 1789 and of 1830 come
to be put in a clearer light, perhaps the labours of which
we are speaking now will not be altogether forgotten.
This debate on the Press Bills was the bright period
of the Doctrinaire Ministry. The rest of the Session was
not so brilliant; however, the various proposals of the
Finance Minister obtained, and what is better, deserved,
general approbation.  Amongst the Bills which he
introduced, the one which had for its object to spread
about, and to some extent to scatter abroad, the public




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


413


debt, instead of keeping it concentrated in Paris, was
most attacked.  He authorized the Receivers-General
to pay the interest of the debt in each department, and
the tax-payers to set off this interest against the landtax.  I strongly defended this measure, and pointed
out its present and future advantages, especially the
latter.  M. Louis had not been sufficiently struck with
this, and allowed that he could not have done as well
as I did. Since then I have taken up these ideas on
loans and taxes in a new essay, which will be found
amongst my papers.
The Session closed on July 17.
It had been a brilliant, agitated and noisy one. M.
de Serre had all the honours of it, although he had
compromised himself twice in different ways by the
boldness of his language; once declaring that the
majority of the Convention had always been sound, the
other time declaring that the banished regicides should
never re-enter France.
I had become intimately connected with him during
the course of this Session.  He consulted me on the
preparation of his work on the real and practical state
of things in England, and, whenever requested to do so,
I used to furnish him with arguments.
We, however, very nearly quarrelled about the case




4I4


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


of the regicides; not that I held any other opinion than
he did with regard to that crime, but because it increased the injustice of which the regicides were victims,
and no one knew better than M. de Serre that their
banishment was unjust; no one had striven harder than
he to prevent it.  Besides that, it meant breaking,
without motive or consideration, with the Liberal Party,
which was at that time supporting the Ministry, and it
also showed little regard for me, being as I was, in a
manner, the bond of this alliance.
It was rather difficult to reconcile us; when leaving
for Switzerland, I promised,not without some reluctance,
to return to sit on the committee which was entrusted
with the reform of the Jury Laws.
This year I only spent two months altogether at
Coppet, and I did not lose my time there; I prepared
my great work on Jury Reform, a work which carried
me further than I reckoned on.  On taking the work
in hand, I found myself progressively led on to introduce the reform of our code of Criminal Instruction as
far as regards:
The Examination of Proofs-what the English call
Evidence;
The Interrogation of Witnesses-what the English
call Cross-examination;




OF THiE DUC DE BROGLIE.


4I5


The Interrogation of the Accused;
The Part the President should take in the Trial;
The System of Pleadings before and after the Debate.
Amongst my papers will be found my minutes of
this great work, the essential points of which I discussed beforehand, during the vacation of the Royal
Court of Paris, with M. Girod (of the Ain), who lived
near Coppet; besides this, I was instructed and supported during this discussion by M. Rossi, Mi. Dumont,
and M. Bellot.
In Switzerland I met this year, as simple travellers,
two men whom I had known in very different positions,
M. de Bubna and M. de Bassano.
M. de Bubna was at that time Governor of Lombardy.
He was coming from Milan, and I do not know whether
his journey to Geneva covered any political arriire
peznse. I can say, however, that I found him  very
different to what he seemed in 1809, at the time of
the conferences which preceded the Peace of Vienna.
A cold and reserved demeanour had taken the place of
that soldierly good-nature and unaffected frankness
which he used to parade: he spoke but little, and
expressed himself in evasive terms about the state of
Germany, and the feelings of the Northern Powers
with regard to France.  I did not urge the point, and




4I6


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


our intercourse was limited to a dinner which I gave
him, and a visit which he paid me before his departure.
On the other hand, I found M. de Bassano the same
as I had left him. He had lost none of his simple and
pedantic admiration for his Emperor: Napoleon had
never made war except from necessity; he had never
been the aggressor; he was the meekest of men, and
had only succumbed to treason from within and without.
We reverted several times to the past, but it was in vain
that I asked him the reasons why M. de Narbonne
was sent to Torgau.  He avoided giving an answer,
although that was above all things what I wanted to
get out of him.
Before returning to Paris, I made a journey, or,
rather, a mere excursion, in Switzerland, which was a
country full of interest for me.
On my arrival at Paris, I found our affairs in a very
bad state.  There was nothing unnatural in that.
During the first three years which followed the Restoration, the Ministry of M. de Richelieu had struggled
against the reactionary party, depending on the King,
on the sensible party, or at any rate on that which
followed the Court and the highest society; and lastly
on the four great Courts of England, Russia, Austria
YIIVIVM b~VCIIVV~YH  L  b




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


4I7


and Prussia, whose ambassadors constituted a sort of
permanent congress in Paris. Now nothing of the sort
existed any longer, or, rather, one might say that the
reverse was the fact.
With the exception of the King, who continued to
support M. Decazes both openly and in his heart, all
the friends of the Richelieu Ministry attacked its
successors.  The ambassadors joined in the cry. The
quiet and sensible portion of the bourgeoisie was frightened
at the progress of revolutionary ideas.  The only aid
which the Liberal Party in its triumphant arrogance,
sailing before the wind, as it was, gave to our little,
timid, and frightened Ministerial Party, was to make
fun of it, and quite openly to boast that very soon it
would turn it out.
The state of affairs in Germany and the menacing
attitude of the Holy Alliance complicated the situation.
I cannot here enter into any details about the disturbances which, in all that great part of Europe, followed
upon the peace of 1815, about the mutual recriminations
of peoples and of Governments, about the ferment in
the universities and the tumult of associations, those
firebrands of the great patriotic movement of 1813;
but, nevertheless, it is a fact that the success of the
revolutionary spirit in France, which was more apparent
VOL. II.                              27




4I8


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


than real, reacted on the other side of the Rhine, and
when the murder of Kotzebue, in the name of liberty,
accompanied by the words ' Vivat Tetltonia!' had spread
terror in all high places, France, with her Minister at
the head, was put under a ban by all the Courts and all
the sovereigns.
At the time when I arrived in Paris, all the plenipotentiaries of all the German States, small and great,
were assembled at Carlsbad, in order, as was said, to
provide for the common safety.  M. de Metternich and
M. de Hardenberg had come to an understanding at
T6plitz some days previously. Nothing was known as
yet about their projects, but great disquietude reigned in
our camp; it certainly was quite as great as that
which we inspired, and which was soon to increase still
more.
The meeting of the electoral colleges had been fixed
for September 11, and the state of the public feeling
boded no good.   A vacancy having occurred in the
department of the Sarthe, Benjamin Constant was
elected; this was much better, or rather much worse, if
one regards the consequences, when the election of the new
fifth (of the Chamber) took place.  The Extreme Right
having coalesced with the Extreme Left, the latter won
thirty-five, the former four, and the Ministry only fifteen




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


419


seats out of fifty-four, Gregoire was elected by a
majority of thirty-eight votes, of which the Extreme
Right made him a present.
Almost at the same moment the resolutions adopted
at Frankfort became known in Paris, as was also that
terrible protocol which, throughout Germany, subordinated the constitutions of the different States, the
government of the universities, that of all associations,
and of the press, to the control of the Diet, by investing that body with the right of intervention, and
by creating in its midst a tribunal of political inquisition.
But it soon became known that this was not all;
that the Congress was adjourned till the month of
November, and was then to reassemble at Vienna. It
was repeated from mouth to mouth and in all political
parties, whether with a good or bad intention, that
explanations would be demanded from the French
Government as to the course it intended to pursue;
and in consequence some trembled in every limb, whilst
hope brightened the eyes of others.
The Ministry, that is to say, the King, M. Decazes,
and the Doctrinaire Party-for the other Ministers,
except M. Decazes and M. de Serre, excellent as they
27-2




420


PERSOVAL RECOLLECTIONS


were in their own departments, were of no great account
in political matters-the Ministry, I say, to define it
thus, found itself placed in the unpleasant alternative
of either holding out against the influence of the ambassadors and the threatening attitudes of their respective
Courts, the invectives of high society, and the fears
of the honest and timid bourgeoisie, or very greatly
modifying its line of conduct by sacrificing, more or
less, the Electoral Bills.
The Ministers themselves were struck-and how
could they avoid being so?-by the increasing ascendency of the Revolutionary Party in the elections, and
of revolutionary ideas in the Ministerial Left, and so
they thought, all things considered, that the situation
was no longer tenable; that it was necessary to make
the inevitable sacrifices, and reform a law which
periodically endangered everything. When I say the
Ministers, I mean M. Decazes, M. de Serre, and M.
Portal; the three other Ministers, M. Desolle, M. Louis,
and Marshal Saint-Cyr, thought that the change was
more dangerous than the status quo; but, if I am not
mistaken, their resistance might have been overcome;
only one thing was wanting to that end-if they were
agreed as to the evil, they must come to an agreement
as to the remedy; if they were agreed as to the end




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


42 I


to be attained, they must come to an agreement as to
the means whereby to attain it.
And this was the stumbling-block.  The Doctrinaire
Party itself, that very small party, whose principal
strength lay in the union of its members, was split
into two; on one side, M. Royer-Collard, M. Camille
Jordan, M. Beugnot, M. de Barante-and on the other,
M. de Serre, M. Guizot, and myself. M. Decazes
and the King inclined to our views.
There was one point, however, on which experience
had enlightened us: there should be no elections by
departments, no more scrutin de liste. As far as this
was concerned, there was no difficulty; but by common
consent the remedy, if it were reduced within those
limits, would not be enough; and it was very doubtful
whether, in order to pass so restricted a measure, the
number of votes which might be gained in the moderate
party of the Right would counterbalance the number
of votes which might be lost on the Left.
M. Royer-Collard and his followers thought they
could remedy this deficiency by reducing the number
of electors; that is to say, by striking off each list
a certain number of voters who were least heavily
taxed.
M. de Serre and I, on the contrary, thought that




422


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


the number of voters was already too limited, and we
proposed to maintain it as it was by giving those who
were most heavily taxed two votes instead of one,
following the principle of commercial companies,
where the number of votes allotted to each shareholder increases according to the number of his
shares.
According to our system, the elections would have
been by arrondissements, and each person paying yearly
at least three hundred francs in taxes would have had
a vote in the constituency thus established; and then,
everyone who paid six hundred francs in taxes would
have formed another constituency for the departmental
elections.
The former of these two systems could be easily seen
through; it was a mere makeshift; by curtailing each
list, it cut the Gordian knot without undoing it; to
exclude those who were least heavily taxed, without
any other reason than the danger of their influence,
seemed arbitrary and almost brutal; but if the idea of
reducing the number of voters by making a certain
number of years of domicile compulsory on electors in
general, and the fact of having carried on this occupation for a certain number of years compulsory on all
tax-paying electors-an idea which was perfectly just




OF THE D UC DE BROGLIE.


423


and sensible-had then occurred to our minds, that
system certainly would have had the preference.
In theory there existed very grave objections to our
system; in practice, as will be seen, it did not turn out
badly; but what principally alarmed timid minds was
precisely that which made us value it.
The number of electoral constituencies could not
well be increased without increasing the number of
deputies. This would be to interfere with the Charter,
and to return to the semi-coup d'etat of the Talleyrand-Fouche Ministry, which was sacrificed by the ordinance of September 5; now, from the moment that
hands were laid on the sacred ark, why not go on to
the end? why not reap entirely all the benefits of the
enterprise?
All enlightened men agreed in acknowledging that
the number of deputies was too limited; all acknowledged that the condition that they should be forty
years old was too strict;  experience proved more
and more clearly that the re-election of one fifth of the
total number of members, by subjecting the Chamber
to yearly changes, also, as a matter of course, must
cause any Cabinet whatever to suffer from the change.
'The leaves fall in October,' M. Cuvier said jokingly,
'and the portfolios fall in November.'  Our plan had




424


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


no other object than to combine the double vote of the
more heavily taxed, to increase the number of deputies,
to reduce the age to thirty, and to cause the Chamber
to be entirely re-elected. This was no longer an expedient which was, of itself, rather disgraceful; it was
the inauguration of the Parliamentary system regarded
in its broadest outlines.  The greatness of the object
and the liberality of its basis would, as we thought,
amply compensate for any unpopularity which the vote
might justly provoke.  It was a legal coup d'etat and a
Liberal coup de force.
The collective Legislature, that is to say, the King
and the two Chambers, were to assume, as in England,
the name of Parliament.
Amongst my papers will be found the original of the
plan which I had thought out and submitted to M. de
Serre; it differs, if I remember rightly, in more than
one respect from the plan finally adopted, and published
by M. Guizot in the second volume of his ' Memoirs;'
the preamble, as I drew it up for M. de Serre, will also
be found in my papers with many copious notes on the
principal questions included in this Bill.
Our disputes amongst ourselves could not remain
secret. The public was promptly informed of them.
In a momient, the three Ministers who persisted in




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


425


supporting the Electoral Bills became the heroes of the
Liberal Party.  The other three and the whole Doctrinaire Party were nothing but apostates, renegades,
low intriguers who had been bought for cash downz.
I was the first to be denounced; I was in a manner
the scapegoat.   As I had recently left the Liberal
ranks in which the others had never figured, I was not
only a deserter with arms and baggage, but also a
traitor who gave up his companions-in-arms. These
were amongst the least of the little amenities with
which the newspapers of the party used to comfort me
daily.
I did not take much heed of it; too little even,
perhaps; for, with a light heart, I made my position
worse in other respects.
I have spoken of the Committee which was entrusted with the examination of the Bills on the reform
of the jury system.  I was one of the members of it,
and I scandalized it.
Two questions, in fact, preoccupied, above all others,
the Committee and the public: the drawing-up of the
jury-lists, and the settlement as to the number of votes
necessary in case of a verdict of guilty.
As to the first question, no one seemed to get beyond
the simple idea of drawing up in each department a




426


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


general list, on which should be inscribed alphabetically
the names of all the citizens who were liable to become jurors; to settle legally what should constitute
liability; to draw by lot, for each meeting of the
assizes, a special list, from which, in each case, the
public Ministry and the accused person should have
the right of challenge.
I opposed this system.
I maintained with that vehemence which I then
brought to bear on all discussions that, in criminal
matters, one could not plant one's self firmly on the conditions of liability; that it was one thing to unite with
five or six hundred electors in the choice of a deputy,
but another to pronounce, with eleven other jurors, on
the fortune, the honour, or even the life of a fellowman; that the special list should be taken from the
general list, and that the selection should be left to the
prefet, as it was in England to the sheriff, with the exception that the right should be reserved to the accused, in certain cases, and particularly in political
matters, to challenge the list, in globo, and to demand
its drawing by lot.
I said that my system had this advantage, that it
guaranteed justice, in ordinary cases a list worthy of
confidence, and in doubtful cases (political or other



OF THE DDUC DE BROGLIE.


427


wise) an excellent list, as the prefet could not prevent
the challenge in globo, except by redoubled care and
impartiality.
I still maintain that my system was good, although
it did not prevail; but it is easily conceivable that
neither the system nor its author were popular.
As to the second question, the whole Committee
thought that the regime which had been introduced by
our Code of Criminal Instruction ought to be abolished.
It is known that by the terms of this code, since a
mere majority did not appear sufficient for a verdict of
guilty, the court was called upon to intervene, and to
vote with the jury.  Thus, then, there were seventeen
votes (twelve jurymen and five judges), and their
majority, when thus reinforced, was deemed to be sufficient; ergo, it was a minority of two judges which,
being added to an insufficient majority of seven jurymen, worked this miracle.
'One can see in that,' said M. Royer-Collard,
'nothing but the work of statesmen in a state of
delirium; out of respect, one should turn one's eyes
away.'
Certainly nothing was more true. But what was it
proposed to substitute for it?  A verdict of guilty by
eight votes to four at least, and seven to five for an




428


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


acquittal; thus the minority would prevail over the
majority, and the balance would be in favour of an
acquittal.
I opposed this system.  I maintained that it could
not fail to produce what it did produce in 1791, and
in the year V.: an habitual verdict of acquittal.
I maintained that the choice lay between two
systems: the one which was more vigorous in appearance than in reality, namely, that in which the
votes were merely counted: the system of the simple
majority; the other more just and more practical in
reality than in appearance, that in which the votes are
rather weighed than counted: the system of unanimity,
which was necessary either for a verdict of guilty or not
guilty.
In fact, such is the natural tendency of juries to
clemency, they have such a difficulty in getting over
it, such is their dislike to undertake the responsibility
of a serious verdict, that if we hold in favour of conviction by a relative majority, it is nearly certain that
offenders will frequently get off with impunity. And
to go further: according to my ideas, the adoption of
such a course would seem as if we were anxious to
secure frequent immunity for offenders.  As for myself,
I thought, with all English lawyers, that the principle




OF THE DUC DE BROGSLIE.


429


of unanimity was the very essence of the jury system;
that in ordinary cases it was the only process which
counterbalanced personal precautions, flights of fancy,
and logical quibbles; the only one which in doubtful or
delicate cases guaranteed a free, wide, and serious discussion amongst the jury; the only one which made
the decision depend on the severity of real convictions,
rather than on the number of semi-convictions; the
only one which, by making all the jurymen responsible
for the verdict, overcomes weakness, lays bare reticence,
prevents disavowals and individual protestations, and
maintains the dignity and the authority of justice in
the eyes of the public.
I answered those who alleged that the unanimity of
a jury was only a fiction, by pointing out to them the
immemorial example of England and of America.
To the commonplace objection that English juries
were starved to force them  to come to a unanimous
verdict, I replied that it was an old story, like the sale
of women at market, or trial by judicial combat; that
the presiding judge at the assizes had the power, which
he used when needful, to provide for the wants of the
jury when their discussion extended over several hours,
which was, however, rarely the case; and, lastly, I
answered those who brought up again the eternal




43~


PERSONAL RECOLLEC IONTS


objection of the difference between the French and
English characters, by citing the example of France
herself.
It will hardly be believed that, out of a Commission
consisting of twenty-five members, the majority of whom
were actively-employed magistrates, I was the only one
who remembered that, for twelve years (from the year V.
to 1808), the principle of the unanimity of juries had
been applied without difficulty and without protest
throughout France, under this one condition, that
when the jury could not agree in twenty-four hours,
the case should be tried at the next sitting-a rare
occurrence, which had never happened more than forty
times a year, out of several million cases, and which
would not have happened at all if the time had been a
little extended. Out of eighteen hundred sentences pronounced in four years by the criminal tribunal of the
Seine alone, the jury could not agree only in twentyone cases.
When I cited these facts, my fellow-Commissioners
seemed perfectly amazed; when, to support my statement, I produced the excellent work published on this
subject by M. Cadart, Conseiller to the Court of Cassation, they were obliged to give way; but nevertheless, for the lawyer, I remained a dreamer, and for




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


43I


the Liberal public a hardened criminal, who dreaded
the acquittal of the guilty far more than the condemnation of the innocent.
It would have been much worse if time and the
course of events had allowed me to produce, in its
entirety, my plan of reform, which I indicated above,
and in which I was going to demand:
1. That the Court of Assize should be reduced to one
Judge, who was to preside and direct the case.
2. That this Judge should have no knowledge of the
instruction, but should become acquainted with each
case only at the trial.
3. That the examination of the accused should be
reduced to indispensable questions: to the proof of
identity.
4. That the pleadings as to facts should be transposed from the end to the beginning of the case, so
that the public prosecutor having laid down the facts, as
he understood them, and named the witnesses he was
going to produce in support of them, should produce his
witnesses at once, should examine them himself, and
should then allow them to be cross-examined, one after
the other, by the counsel for the defence, and that,
when this first stage of the case was over, such counsel
should be allowed to do the same, neither side being




432


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


allowed to speak, after the examination of the witnesses,
except on some point of law.
5. That the examination of witnesses should bear
only on the facts of the case, leaving out everything
that had nothing directly to do with it, and, above all,
the past life of the accused.
6. That witnesses on mere hearsay should be
rigorously excluded.
7. That, at the close of the case, the Judge, who untill then should remain silent and impassible, only interposing to maintain order, alone should speak; that he
should sum up the evidence on both sides, weighing it
for and against the accused, giving his opinion on each
portion of the evidence to the jury, explaining their
duties to them, and also the legal meaning of the legal
points referred to on one side and the other.
When I took the most enlightened members of the
Commission aside and explained this system to them;
when I told them  that trials were carried on thus in
England and in the United States; that nothing was
easier than to introduce this system into France,
contrary to our judicial habits though it might seem;
when I declared that the result would be an amount of
speed, clearness, and impartiality and authority of
which they had no conception, they listened to, without
much believing me.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


433


I determined, before proceeding further, to ascertain
their real disposition.
I asked M. de Serre to appoint as president of the
next assizes M. Girod (of the Ain), my accomplice, as
has been seen, in the plan of the reform in question.
I asked M. Girod to use his discretionary power in
order to realize, as far as possible, the plan which we
had concerted  between us.    No one could have
performed the task better, and the attempt succeeded
beyond all our hopes.    Business was got through
with unexampled rapidity; the examination of witnesses, reduced to essential facts, and only to questions
bearing on the case, explained the case to the jury, so
that they hardly took time to deliberate. The impartial
and silent part played by the Judge, his forbearance
towards the accused-whom he only asked formal
questions, whom he did not torture by trying to make
him contradict himself, by laying traps for him, by
hustling him-gave his summing-up an immense influence over the jury; the summing-up was the cause of
the verdict.
When witnessing that spectacle with the satisfaction
of being, so to speak, the author of it, I suddenly
remembered that, a few months before, I had taken old
Lord Ellenborough, Chief Justice of the Court of King's
VOL. II.                             28




434


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


Bench, who was certainly an arch-Tory, and nearly the
most illiberal of Englishmen, to this same assizecourt, and that, after having been there for scarcely
ten minutes, he took up his hat in a rage, and said to
me, in a low voice, ' For shame!'
He would have been satisfied with the trial over
which M. Girod (of the Ain) presided: it had assumed
a humane, sensible, serious character; it had laid aside
the character of embroglio, that melodramatic air which,
in France, counterfeits and disfigures the administration
of criminal justice. But, at the same time, I was not
long in perceiving that the melodrama was very dear to
the public; that the lawyers very much regretted their
happy moments of eloquence, and the magistrates the
pleasure of torturing the accused with their tongue,
seeing that they could not do it in any other way.
The attempt had no results.
My proposition had none either. I was diverted
from it by other cares, which, if not greater, were at
any rate more pressing.
As a matter of fact, as the project for the reform of
the Electoral Laws ripened, so the disagreements between
the Ministers became more pronounced; a crisis was
approaching, and, as a counter-blow, the separation
between the Liberal and the Doctrinaire Parties also




OF THE DUC DE BROGIUE.


435


became more pronounced; the separation became
complete through the action which was brought against
the Society of the Liberty of the Press, of which
society I must here say a few words.
I was one of its founders.  It was formed, in 1818,
out of the fragments of another society, which was
still-born in 1817, the father of which was Manuel,
and in which, full as I then was of the ardour of a
novice, I had very foolishly joined.  The object of
this society was to collect subscriptions for the benefit
of writers who were condemned for political offences.
Nothing was more disrespectful towards the law, or, in
fact, more illegal. I soon perceived that.
Manuel, the' doli fabricator,' was the sponsor of M.
Lafitte, who was to act as treasurer for the subscriptions.  He had drawn up the programme; we had
circulated it; but M. Lafitte having disavowed Manuel,
we had our shame for our pains. We withdrew the programme, and the society died without having scarcely
lived.  From  its ashes we formed a new   society,
whose object was legal; we intended    to discuss
amongst ourselves the conditions of sound legislation
on the Press.  But this time, also, our association
did not fulfil the legal conditions.  Being more
than twenty in number, and not being provided with a
28-2




436


PERSONAL RECOLLE CTIONS


formal authorization, the authorities would have been
justified in interfering with us; but, as the custom of
allowing meetings more or less similar to those which
were held now at the house of one of us, now at the
house of the other, had been introduced for some time,
the Ministry of M. de Richelieu closed its eyes; and
later the Ministry of M. Dessolle, to whom we gave
some good support in the great discussion about the
Press Bills, protected us openly.
All went well as long as the Dessolle Ministry itself
went on well; but as soon as it divided, our society
did the same. My friends and I were in a minority, a
usual occurrence with the Doctrinaire Party; we left
off attending the meetings, and others took our place.
Our opinion on electoral reform was attacked there
with the greatest vehemence: M. Decazes and M. de
Serre were attacked by the same blow; and they,
finding that they had enough unavoidable trouble on
their hands without seeking for any gratuitous trouble,
caused the society to be warned to cease its meetings,
under the penalty of being prosecuted.
Thereupon there ensued great stir and uproar, and
oaths to resist to martyrdom-in short, all the demonstrations which are regarded as indispensable in similar
cases. I was loudly called upon to explain myself, and




OF THE DUC DE BROG~IE.


437


to answer as to what conduct ought to be observed. I
very simply replied that there could be no two views;
that as the society had no legal right to exist, as soon
as the toleration with which it had been treated was no
longer exercised towards it, there was no alternative
but to submit, except that it was open to us to request
by legal means the abrogation of Article 291 of the
Penal Code.    I was called   upon  to have  my
answer printed. I did so in a few lines; and I
waited with perfect calmness for the flood of insults
and recriminations which the Liberal newspapers soon
poured out upon me.
I shall here close this cursory, though rather long,
sketch of a year, most fertile in events of importance
both for the country and for myself, and give extracts
from a diary which my wife wrote every evening at
that period.  Those extracts are not quite so dry as
what precedes, and nothing can give a more exact idea
of the state of society and of the working of men's minds
at the time:
'Sept. 19.-I expected, after seeing the elections
in the papers, to see everyone in a state of excitement,.... especially when I remembered that last
year the election of M. de la Fayette had upset the




438


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


whole of France, and nearly the whole of Europe.
Well, everything is quiet, and almost asleep.....
The King has acted better respecting the election of
Gregoire than he did respecting that of M. de la
Fayette.....
' One is so used to agitation that one hardly feels it
any more.
' Those people who said nothing under Bonaparte,
who hardly raised their voice in 1815, cry out to-day
against a powerless Government. They will not forego
the merit of displaying courage to-day any more than
they wished to forfeit the security afforded them previously by their cowardice. They are like the man
who boasted of having cut off the head of a giant who
had already lost his head....
'Benjamin Constant is taking a certain Goget, a
journalist of the Sarthe, about with him in Paris, and
the journalist treats him without the least ceremony.
This man Goget said, before him, to M. Decazes:
" Had I been eligible, I should have got myself elected
instead of M. Constant."'
'Sept. 25.-M. Ramond, who came to see me this
morning, complained of the depravity of the country.
"The nation," he said, " complains of the Chambers
and of the Ministry; all that really is the country




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


439


itself; it is like an ill-looking woman who complains
of her looking-glass."'
'Sept. 30.-Madame de Sainte-Aulaire said to me
this morning that M. Decazes is very unhappy, especially about the silence of his friends...... When
one remembers his immense popularity of last year;
these very same newspapers, which held to him as to
their saviour; the Stock Exchange, whose funds had
fallen very low for fear of his overthrow, one cannot
help reflecting on the rapidity of this change, and on
the want of delicacy on the part of those who now
overwhelm him for the same faults which they knew so
well when they were almost at his feet.
'What France wants is not morality; it is life, internal sap. One might sometimes think that the whole
nation is like the prefectures in small towns, which have
nothing but the front. If there was nobody to look at
the French people, they would cease to exist, to such a
degree do they exist only for others.
'The Congress of Carlsbad has just established a
general censorship of the Press in Germany. That
measure has frightened people here, for it is well known
that the eyes of the whole of Europe are turned towards
us, out of distrust.'
' Oct. 1.-M. de Montlosier, who has just returned




440


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


from Germany, says that all the students at the universities lead a regular and even austere life, do not
gamble or swear, and do not fight duels any more, and
carry their self-imposed severity so far as not to wear
shirts, on account of its being an effeminate custom.
This nation, which is enthusiastic without being passionate, is a very extraordinary thing, and all the more extravagant because it never allows itself to be disturbed
in its chimeras through being carried away by realities,
and because it calculates its dreams as one calculates
one's business, and calmly reasons about absurdities.
'A certain M. Hervey, a subaltern Liberal, came
to lunch with us yesterday.... I noticed that he
possessed that taste for arbitrary measures so noticeable
in all the complaints of his party against the Government.  He denounced the missionaries, and said:
'" Indeed, they would not have been tolerated even
under the old regime."
'"For that very reason," I replied, "we must
tolerate them now"....     The Liberals are angry
because the King does not give places at Court to the
men of the Revolution.
'" They worry me," said Benjamin Constant, the
other day, " to know whether the King is sincere; what
the devil does that matter to you?  Is the King your




".... I   1.... r!?i!" 1;~ X::  - -'i  ".....   I 


OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.             441
mistress?  One of these fine days they will kill themselves, like Werther, because they doubt the sincerity of
his love."
'Victor is very much pleased with yesterday's sitting
of the Commission on Juries.  He has carried his point,
that the examination of the accused should be omitted;
he hopes that the Bill will be a good one.'
' M. Guizot told me that he was very uneasy about
the state of affairs in Europe; that the different
sovereigns had expressed themselves very unfavourably
towards France, especially the Emperor Alexander. All
this consensus of universal censure is directed against
us like a battery.'
' Oct. 2.-The uneasiness about European affairs is
very great.  That court of investigation which is established at Mayence seems to be directed against
France. However, the sovereigns have avoided mentioning the word. What is feared here is, that they may make
some proposal to the King to join that alliance, and to
change his Ministers. The Emperor Alexander said:
" We must draw a cordon round France, and raise a
barrier between it and Europe, for it is a pestilential
country."  His conduct is pitiable; all his good sentiments were nothing but whims.
'It is now fashionable to run down the Ministry.




442


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


'Folly at home and the fears aroused by the position
taken up by the Powers make the situation very critical.
France is not in a state to bear a war.
' Gregoire has sent us his justification, which justifies
nothing; but Auguste has answered him, begging him to
send in his resignation for the sake of the public interest.
'The hobby of our Liberals is economy; in liberty
they see nothing but a basin of cheap soup.
' M. Decazes is very low-spirited. Madame acted as
sponsor at the christening of his child yesterday, and
grumbled all the time.
'M. Decazes' opinions are neither for nor against
liberty; his taste is rather for arbitrary power, which
he would use mildly and reasonably; but at the same
time he has a wonderful talent for action, and although
the Ministry is more Liberal than he is, he always
guides it, and when it comes to a question of action in
any way opposed to his own, it is he again that acts,
because he is the only one who has any activity.
'M. de Serre is very firm; he never bends, but he
has no spirit of enterprise; he remains firm in his
place like a rock, yet, like a rock, he never advances.
' I have had M. de Serre to dinner with two or three
English lawyers. He is at once blunt and timid in his
manners, and has much more of the Englishman than




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


443


of the Frenchman about him.   I had a great deal of
trouble to get up a conversation between him and the
Hon. Mr. Ward [afterwards Lord Dudley], although
Mr. Ward desired nothing better.
' M. de Serre is tall; at first his face is not pleasant;
there is something timid in his eyes, which contrasts
very strongly with the very pronounced expression of
his other features; but when one looks at him closely,
one discovers something sincere and sensible in his
eyes. He is wonderfully simple, and he is unpolished,
but not arrogant, in his manners. " The little I saw of
Madame de Stael," he said to me, "pleased me
extremely; she was very kind to me, and invited me
to her house; but I thought I should be lost in the
crowd, or that, if she saw me, I could not take upon
myself to say anything."
'He spoke to me of my mother's book.  He agreed
with her on very many points-amongst others, on the
necessity of an aristocratic element.
' " That is a point," he said, " on which I do not
agree with your doctrine."
"'But," I answered him, "one cannot create the
aristocracy."
'"Certainly not, but one must take care of what
remains of it.  I have read scarcely anything," he




444


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


added, "and I have no more time for reading at
present; but I profit by the reading of others, and by
that of your mother above all."'
'Oct. 6.-On Wednesday evening, M. Villemain was
most amusing. His mind rather resembles Benjamin
Constant's; it is impossible for him to speak seriously
for two minutes together, and he has an inconceivable
awkwardness of body, just as if his limbs also did not
hang properly together, and as if, at the very first
misunderstanding, they were quite ready to part company, each going its own way...
' Oct. 9.-M. Guizot told me that M. Decazes was
quite incapable of betraying people with whom he was
connected; that he did not like the opinions of the
Doctrinaires, but that he was very fond of them personally. He is a very peculiar being; he is absolutely
devoted to the King, and would follow him to Kamtschatka; he has no taste for liberty.
'In the evening, Benjamin came to call on me with
M. de la Fayette.    The conversation turned on
Gregoire. We spoke of the proposal to exclude him
from the Chamber. Benjamin Constant and M. de la
Fayette exclaimed against it: they said that that
would cause him to be re-elected in twenty departments.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


445


'M. de Barante came to see me and was exceedingly
nice; he spoke to me about the general weariness and
his own dislike for his position.
'"This country," he said to me, "is a country
where everything loses its interest, because everything
is talked about.  If one knew that the end of the
world was coming, the event would be so much talked
about that the excitement caused by the news would
have subsided by the end of a week."
'He spoke to me of M. Royer-Collard's idea, of
proposing to exclude Gregoire from the Chamber as a
regicide. I pointed out to him the disadvantages of
such a course.
'" Quite so," he replied; " but it might do very well
as the beginning of a line of action, if the Ministry was
prepared to pursue a more energetic course, to propose
to double the number of the members of the Chamber,
and to alter the limit of age; this double blow might
have its advantages."
'Victor does not think so; he believes it would be a
very dangerous precedent, and that it would be exceedingly wrong to set principles aside for a cause which
has now nothing to defend it.
'The families of those who were condemned at
Grenoble have sought for permission from the Conseil




446


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


d']tat to prosecute General Donnadieu.... The
amusing part of the matter is, that the seven widows
who are seeking for justice for the death of their
husbands have all married again.
'" The mistake of M. Decazes," M. Guizot said, " is
always to try to cure great evils with small remedies;
he thinks that everything can be cured with herb-tea."'
'Oct. 18.-The successor of M. de Riviere has been
appointed. But General Dessolle has never had the
courage to tell him of it, and has allowed him to return
to Constantinople.
' There are no more men," said M. Guizot;
"every morning I open the Almanach Royal to look for
Ministers... This lack of men, this death-like breeze
which has passed through the country, is a very extraordinary thing. The ultras are quite right when they
say that everything tends to death, but they are dead
themselves; they are like the fool who said of his
fellows: 'They are all fools, but I, who am the Eternal
Father, will judge them rightly.' It is vanity which
has dried up all the living roots of this country."
'I asked M. de Barante whether M. Royer-Collard
would not enter the Ministry.
'" Some one is wanted," he replied, "who has authority in the Chamber, and he is the only one who has any."




OF THE D UC DE BROGLIE. 


447


' "But where are the difficulties?"
'" They spring from M. Royer-Collard himself."
'The Journal des Debats announces that the Royalists
will make a scene in order to prevent Gregoire from
taking the oath.
'M. Comte, whom we saw two days ago, told us that
he let his hands drop when he read all that Gr6goire
had written.  Can anyone conceive that a man should
have been attacked with such fury without anyone
taking the trouble to find out the facts of his past life.
All the honest patriots are like the Ministers with
regard to the King; they say:
'" If we become unpopular, we shall become
discredited, and shall no longer be able to do any
good."
' The Doctrinaires and their paper, Le Conlrrier, are
thoroughly hated. M. Lafitte said to Auguste:
'" If I had had any inclination to leave the Right,
Le Courrier would have deterred me."'
' Oct. 22. —M. Constant came last night; he showed
great anxiety concerning Gregoire, and deadly fear
as to the issue. He told me one thing which distresses
me very much, and that is that Gregoire was really
very much shaken and very undecided, that he wished
to be persuaded to send in his resignation, but that




448


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


he had received a letter from M. d'Argenson begging
him not to move in the matter.  " When one sees,"
M. Constant said, " how distressed this wretched man
Gregoire is, one understands that, like the rest, he has
forgotten his own words."'
' Oct. 23.-Auguste himself went to see Gregoire
yesterday. He read the letter of M. d'Argenson with
his own eyes; it bore his signature alone, but in a
postscript he added: " Messieurs Demargay and Fradet
unite with me in all that I have written to you." The
following passage is taken word for word from the
letter:
'"Very   dear and honourable colleague, we have
been told that some persons have been urging you to
send in your resignation, but were you to do so, you
might discourage the other departments from rising to
that height of patriotism to which the department of
Isere has risen. At the moment when the Congress of
Carlsbad threatens all patriots, they cannot dispense
with such a leader as you are."
'This wretched man, Gregoire, received Auguste with
tears in his eyes, thanked him for his letter, and begged
him to let him have all the information which he himself might obtain.
'Victor made up his mind to go and see the man for




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


449


himself, and he asked Benjamin Constant to come and
breakfast with him.
' Benjamin arrived too late, quite white and nervous
because he did not exactly know how to gainsay his
speech of the previous day. He stammered a few words,
and ended by saying, "If twenty members of the Left
will go to Gregoire's, I will go; otherwise, I will not."
He added that, if he were to demand Gregoire's resignation, he should not be elected the next year. I tried
to calm him, by talking to him about the miserable
position in which the unhappy man was placed. "Ah!
as for that," he said to me, "if I were his friend, it
would be all very well; but as it is, I should not care
in the least were he to die of grief."
' Lanjuinais came to dinner, and we witnessed another
comedy.   He is a man who is as brave as a lion, as
firm as a rock, but who has the most confused brain that
ever was. Thus, we had declamations on the Jesuits
and on the Missionaries, old speeches delivered before
the Convention, quotations from  the Gospels; his
ideas were inconceivably incoherent, and he constantly
went from one subject to another. He began by attacking the imperial printing-office, then he went on to
a polyglot Bible, to Sanscrit, to the East, etc. We
took him aside to speak about Gregoire, but then he
VOL. I.                              29




45~


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


began to inveigh against the want of good faith of Pitt
and of Coburg, against the emigres, mixing all this up with
Christian humility, saying that Gregoire was in the
wrong, but that it would be cowardly to send in his
resignation; springing from one end of the room to the
other, talking at one moment in a very low, at the next
in a very high voice, and putting his arm round our
waists. At last, after letting him go on talking for two
hours, quoting Latin wrongly, etc., Auguste at length
managed to tempt him with the idea that Gregoire might
write a capital letter when sending in his resignation.
' Sunday morning.-The Government has just dissolved the Societe de la Presse,* which had fallen into
thoroughly low hands. On Monday morning I saw
Benjamin Constant, who told me that he was delighted
at it.  To day he has printed a protest in the Renonmee..... He is trying to embarrass Victor by
saying that he never withdrew from that society, being
quite sure that from the very moment that it was dissolved, he would not go and disavow it. Benjamin
Constant's articles were so well aimed, he so questioned
Victor, that he thought himself obliged to answer them.
This he did in a very short letter, but one which
settles the question.  The Liberals are furious.
' M. de Saint-Albin came to see him yesterday, and
* Press Association.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


451


told him that people were very much surprised at his
demanding Gregoire's resignation. His reply was:  I
have accepted the name of Jacobin, so long as it was
applied only to M. de la Fayette and to M. d'Argenson;
but if Gregoire is to be one of them, I will have nothing
more to do with it. I mean to go and ask him to send
in his resignation, and I wish this to be knovwn."
'Gregoire formally declared that he would not do this.
'On Tuesday Victor dined at M. Guizot's with M.
Decazes. He found that he was thoroughly determined
to follow out a clear and firm course, as he rightly appreciated the situation, and wished to remedy it ener-.
getically. It is their positive intention to introduce an
Election Bill which shall give to the two Chambers the
name of Parliament; shall limit the duration of each
Parliament to seven years; shall double the number of
Deputies, fix their age at thirty instead of forty; and
modify the manner of elections by dividing them partly
into elections by arrondissement and partly by department.'
' Nov. 3.-Yesterday I went to see Talma take the
part of Augustus in Cinna; it was really wonderful.
It was simplicity itself.  He speaks to Cinna just as
we should speak to some ungrateful person in our owxn
room, sitting on one of our own chairs. Till now I
* Corneille's famous play.
29-2




452


PERSOiNAL RECOLLECTIOINS


never fully understood all the beauty that there is in
the character of Augustus. Talma plays it like an old
man who is kind because he is tired of what is bad,
fearing lest he should be isolated, and forgiving, not so
much from magnanimity as from the fear of being forsaken, and from the wish no longer to be obliged to
listen to reproaches which are only too well founded;
feeling remorse, but such remorse as is quite compatible with absolute power, with a position in which
the slightest acts are looked upon as sublime: it is a
thoroughly philosophical spectacle, and one which
Talma has conceived in all its force.'
' Nov. 10.-We are now in a more disturbed situation than we were last year.  Three Ministers, M. de
Serre, M. Decazes, and M. Portal, are in favour of
strong measures; the other three are against them.
Gouvion   Saint-Cyr said, " Wait till my army is
organized, and, if the Jacobins make a move, I will
throw them out of the windows."  MI. Louis is frightened of breaking with the Left, and M. Dcssole is
frightened of everything..... M. de Serre came to
see Victor, and asked him to join the Ministry. Victor
explained to him how unpleasant this wolld be for
him; how his late conduct would be attributed to
ambition; how he should frighten the Centre; his few




OF THE DUC DE BROGULE.


453


claims, his youth, his slight authority, etc. M. de
Serre felt all this; but his answer was that the present
necessities were too urgent to allow everyone to follow
the usual course.  At last Victor told him that, if it
were absolutely necessary that he should join the
Ministry to settle the balance in favour of the great
measure, he would consent to do so, but that nothing
except absolute necessity would induce him to do so.
' Paris is in a state of ferment.  The report is going
about that M. Decazes is in treaty with the tltras, and
that M. de Serre is betraying Louis XVIII.
'We have seen M. d'Argenson. As usual, he has
shown himself perfectly kind and amiable.  He fully
entered into Victor's position, and-this struck me as
being strange-he advised him to join the Ministry.
In the main he is truly glad at heart, but when he is
asked whither he is tending, he cannot tell you.'
'Nov. 17.-On Sunday M. de Serre came to see
Victor again, to talk with him once more about the
Ministry.  He told him that their plan was to choose
the most honourable men of all parties, and that, consequently, they had thought of MI. Roy, of Victor, and
of M. Royer-Collard; that they had even sent an
express to NM. de Richelieu. Victor still gave him the
same answer as before.




454


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


'M. loyer-Collard came this evening, with the
intention, I suppose, of seeing Victor, who was not at
all well, and in bed.  He laid down the law as usual,
and said to us:
'" The Ministry must be refitted.  I do not think
that any good will result from all this.... "
'" But," I replied, "the selections may be good."
'" But," he answered, " even good men may be too
exacting."
'He expresses his doubts in the most dogmatical
manner, and his uncertainty about the real state of
-affairs is most emphatic.
' M. Guizot does not know what has been written
to M. de Richelieu, so that they are mutually deceiving
each other.
' M. Royer-Collard had been to see MI. Decazes, and
offered him very hard terms. IHe began by saying
to him:
'"I shall not accept, if you are to remain as
master."
' M. Decades remained very pensive; he did not like
all this in the least.'
' Nov. 19.-M. Royer-Collard has been to see Victor,
and spent part of the morning with him.  The conditions which he laid down were very hard.




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


' 455


'" I wish," he said, " that the flag of this Ministry
be the moral expulsion of M. Decazes."
' He does not want M. Decazes to remain in office as
President of the Council. He also will hear neither of
M. Mollien, nor of M. Pasquier, nor of M. Portal.
' M. de Serre seemed to reckon on Victor's co-operation-a fact which troubled the latter very much.
'" I cannot bear to seem to hide myself," he said.
'It was a long time before he went to sleep.
'Yesterday morning, the 18th, he came into my
room with a long letter, in which he explained all the
reasons which led him to believe that he should damage
the cause.
'At six o'clock M. de Serre came.  He had sent
Victor's letter to M. Decazes, who had taken it to
the King, and he brought the     King's answer to
M. Decazes.   It is a very gracious letter, very well
written, and evidently intended to be shown.  Victor
is thoroughly delighted at it.
'Nov. 20.-The public agitation is very great. The
stockbrokers are disconcerted; the excitement is great;
funds are falling. People are frightened at the measure,
and at the names which propose it.
'M. Mollien came this morning to ask Victor's
advice, and he persuaded him to accept office.




45 6


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


' M. de Barante tells me that M. Royer-Collard is
very angry, and that he cannot be pacified.  After a
long conversation, he finished by saying to M. de Serre:
'" Very well; 'we shall perish, and that wvill be another
solution of the difficlty."
'The country has never been in such a state of
confusion.  The party of Ternaux is now frightened
at the new Ministry, after having been frightened at
everything.
'Everything that M. de Serre says seems to me to
be of value.  It appears to me that his words come
from and touch the heart.'
'Nov. 24.-M. d'Argenson dined with us yesterday.
Victor spoke with him very earnestly. He listens most
attentively, enters into all the ideas of the person who
is talking to him, and then does not alter his opinion in
the least. He kept on saying to us:
'" The object of all this is to have a docile national
representation."
'The Centre of the Chamber offers to change the
Electoral Laws without interfering with the Charter;
it also offers to grant a censorship of the Press. This
proves that it is not the love of liberty which restrains
it, but fear, a Protean feeling which assumes all sorts
of shapes.'




OF THE DUC DE BROGLIE.


457


'Nov. 29.-I have been to the royal sitting. These
ceremonies are always impressive. The peers came
in their robes.  Nothing is so ridiculous as these
quite new costumes of bygone days; it is like the
artificial ruins in English gardens.  The King had
great difficulty in walking.  His entrance was cold and
solemn. He began his speech in a nervous voice, but
the speech is excellent.  The law is laid down in it
in clear, firm, and loyal terms.  His language was
patriotic. He said, "Our institutions, our country...."
He had never put himself so much in touch with his
people.  But he hesitated; his delivery was poor;
he corrected himself at the very moment when most
vigour was required; he trembled when speaking of
his unshakeable decision. He was badly attended: the
Keeper of the Seals, who was ill, was not present.
'M. Decazes seemed very unhappy; Gregoire was not
present, and he was not called upon to take the oath.'
'Dec. 1.-I think that the speech has had a good
effect.'
' Dec. 3.-Yesterday M. de Talleyrand dined with
me.   At present he is very well disposed towards
Victor, and he courts him very much. He speaks like
a prince, that is to say, whatever he says tells, no
matter what may be its real value. During all this




458


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS


time I was trying to detect what my mother had told
me of the grace of M. de Talleyrand, and I had some
difficulty in fixing so much charm and brightness on
that grave and worn-out face.
'"If they wish to pass the Bill," he said, "the
Ministry must be decided not to accept any amendment; there must be no negotiations, and no intrigues."
He repeated this twenty times to each person, adding:
" That is what must be done; that is the way to
succeed."
' We afterwards spoke of M. de Serre; he praised his
talents.  It was said that M. de Serre often hesitated
and sought for words when he was in the tribune.
M. de Talleyrand said: " One is always at liberty to
seek for one's words, as long as one finds them." He
possesses a sort of power.  He is an old wreck of the
azcien rg imze, and the past, unworthy though it be,
always preserves a certain empire over men's minds.
'I am very sorry that I was not present at the
sitting of the 6th; it was very stormy; Gregoire was
expelled amidst cries of " Vive l roi!"  The first part
of the sitting, it is said, resembled the Convention, and
the other that of 1815.  The people in the galleries
loudly expressed their feelings.  It is a very funny
thing to hear, nowadays, all the sophisms of power in




OF THE, DU C DE BROGLIE. 


459


the mouths of Liberals: "not to go too far," " to change
nothing," etc.
' M. de Chauvelin, M. Constant, and M. Dupont (of
the department of the Eure) were appointed as members
of the Commission on the Address.  M. Royer-Collard
voted for M. de Chauvelin. M. de Barante said that he
was the pandemonium of arguments.
' M. Mole made a very witty remark to me: "Vous
ferez un coup d'etat, parce que vous etes plus temeraires
que decides."`'What a situation ours was! We were placed between two obstacles, being on one hand bound to
people who are perhaps deceiving us, and, on the other,
fearful of damaging liberty whilst striving after order.
Victor practises what he calls the great principle in
politics, that is, to help the weaker; the minority calls
for justice.
' M. Decazes is ill.  M. de Serre gnashes his teeth
because he cannot go out.  M. Beugnot does not dare
to leave his room.
'The Commission on the Address could not agree;
each of the three parties drew up its own, which was
rejected by the two others.
* 'You will bring about a coup d'etat, because you have more
daring than decision.'




460


ITHE DUC DE BR 0GLIE.


' In France liberty acts as a mask for every secret
passion; instead of diffusing light all round, it only
serves to hide it.
'Last Sunday I saw poor Camille Jordan-a man
who is worthy of all admiration. He is so ill that he
can no longer sit down; he suffers excruciating pains,
and yet he has never been more zealous for the public
good, or more full of curiosity and ardour; his mind is
in its prime youthful vigour, and at the same time full
of maturity and experience.
'It is now a question of proroguing the Chambers at
once, and going on with the six-twelfths of the Budget,
already granted, until March 1.'
' Dec. 26.-Yesterday's sitting was astonishing; the
Ministry had an immense majority; one cannot tell
what to depend upon with this Chamber.
' M. de Chateaubriand says that the Royalists will
perish through excess of virtue, like one dies from
eating too much melted fat.
' It seems quite clear that there is a split in the camp of
the ultras. M. de Montmorency is at the head of the moderates, and M. de Chateaubriand at the head of the others.'




ALPHABETICAL INDEX
TO THE CHIEF NAMES CONTAINED IN VOL. I.


A
Abbe' (General), 154
Abrant'es (Duchess of), 151, 244
Abrant~s (Duke of), 226
Academy of Artillery, 86
A cadulenie (des 1J'?SCriI)tiof5s, 168
Academy   of  Moral and    Physical
Science, 163
Achard (Constant), 345
Acqui )Bishop of), 49
Acte Additionnel, 292, 293, 294
Adimrurg, 75
'Adolphe,' 375, 377
Agamernnon, 2103
Ain, 415, 433
Alava, 132, 139
Albany (Countess of), 336, 338
Alexander (the Emperor), 178, 179,
180, 203, 213, 215, 262, 275, 441
Alfieri, 396
Algeria, 157 [read Illyria, which see]
Ali (M.), 13
Alsace, 4, 18
Altenburg, 76, 77, 78
Altenburg (Conference of), 192
Allen (Misses), 328
Almanach Royal, 446
Alzire, 304
America, 2, 4, 36, 217, 429
Amiens, 33
Amsterdam, 45, 47, 46
Amsterdam Penitentiary, 48
Amsterdam Insurance Company, 48
Anciem reqimne, 219, 251, 458
Andre' (d'), 169
Angers, 34, 289
Anglhs (M.), 324
Angoul~me (Due d'), 240


Angonieme (Duchess of), 246
'Angry Sheep),' 389
Anisson (Madame), 389
Anjou (Duc d'), 370
Antwerp, 44, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101,
103, 136, 320
Anzoux [read Auzoux, which see], 24
Apennines, 340
Appony (Madame), 335
Appony (M.), 335
Arabian Nights (the), 6
Arch-Chancellor (the), 50, 67, 118
Arenberg (Prince d'), 83
Argenson (M. d'), 18, 22. 23, 54, 94, 95,
96, 98. 99, 100, 101, 103, 253.260,268,
283, 300, 320, 404, 448, 451, 453, 456
Argenson (Rend d'), 326
Arianism, 357
Aristides, 256
Army of Italy, 73
Army of the Loire, 386, 404
Army of the Rhine, 401
Arnaud (M.), 43, 92
Arras, 12
Arrilt, 313
'Arri6-e pense'e,' 41 5
Arrondissemven/,i, 400, 422, 451
Artois (Count d'), 189, 240, 245, 306
As.sembhle consatitaiCoe, 5, 7, 8, 10, 27,
51, 120, 122, 169, 172, 174, 287, 364
Assenblde Ldgislative, 10, 32, 120, 248,
364
Astorg (Adrien d'), 57, 135
Astorga, 148
Astros (the Abbh d'), 117
Astoria, 134, 147, 148, 150
Atala, 34
Athenoeus, 40
Aubernon, 91, 168, 174




462


ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE


Aubonne, 373
Auditeur, 50, 59, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72, 91,
106, 107, 126, 129, 131, 133, 166, 311
August (the 10th of), 122, 125
Augustus, 451, 452
Austerlitz (Battle of), 209, 213, 229,
297
Austria (Emperor of), 67, 77, 82, 212
Austria, 76, 77, 82, 175, 177, 185, 205,
208, 209, 210, 212, 213, 215, 226, 227,
228, 229, 416
Austrian Court, 79
Austrian Marriage, 116
Auto-da-fe, 46
Autun (Bishop of), 51, 299
Auvergne, 172
Auzoux (M.) 24
Avernus, 186
Avignon, 63
B
Babceuf Conspiracy, 22
Bacchiochi (Countess), 335
Bachelet (General), 3 1
Bachelin (General), 83
Bacourt (M. de), 83
Baert (M.), 19
Bale, 239
Barante (M. de), 42, 270, 360, 361, 386,
390, 421, 445, 446, 456, 459
Barcelona, 102
Barlow (M.), 195, 196
Barons of England, 8
Barrere, 98, 298
Barribre de Clichy, 242, 277
Barthelemy, 403, 404
Bassano (M. de), 50, 66, 67, 69, 73, 126,
128, 162, 166, 169, 172, 195, 224, 225,
237, 253, 415, 416
Bassano (Madame de), 69
Bastille (Taking of the), 6
Bastion, 79
Bausset (M. de), 232
Bautzen, 214
Bavaria, 91, 126, 168, 211
Baylem, 57
Bayonne, 52, 53, 55, 128, 129, 159,161
Beaumont (Madame de), 34
Beauvau (Prince de), 125, 280
Becker, 404
Belgium, 44, 49, 101
Belle-Isle (Pepin de), 129, 133, 247, 248,
249
Belles-Lettres, 37
Belliard, 404
Bellot (M.), 327, 344, 347, 415


Benevento (Prince of), 299
Bentham, 346, 373
Benvento [read Benavente], 148,149
Beresina, 190, 197
Berghen, 4
Berlin, 167
Bernard (the Poet), 50
Bernay, 25, 294
Berryers (the two), 312
Bertenot (M.), 23
Bertrand (General), 62, 79
Bessibres (Marshal), 131,132, 133, 136,
137, 143, 144, 146
BessiBres (Commissary), 134
Beugnot (M.), 247, 248, 381, 389, 421,
459
Beugnot (Madame), 247, 249
Bible, 329, 449
Bibliotheque  Tationale, 3
Bibliotheque Universelle, 89
Bibliotheque Britanzique, 89
Bicetre, 163
Bidassoa, 153
Bignon (M.), 196, 199, 200, 328
Biscay, 130, 132
Bishoprics (the Three), 1
Blacas (M. de), 384
Bliicher, 299, 301
Bohemia, 212, 215, 222
Boissy d'Anglas, 253
Bologna, 328, 340, 353
Bombay, 263
Bonald (M. de), 394
Bonaparte, 68,122, 438
Bondy (M. de), 19
Bosnia, 80
Boston, 374
Bori (M.), 326
Bordeaux, 128, 131, 201
Bossuet, 182, 356
Boulogne, 12, 19, 22
Boulogne (M. de), 19
Bourbon livery, 55
Bourbon branch, 55
Bourbon (House of), 269, 283, 288, 334
Bourbons (the), 232, 236, 241, 242,
292
Bourbonnais Regiment, 2
Bourbonnes-les-Bains, 11
Bourgeoisie, 417, 420
Bourgogne (Rue de), 266
Bourignon (Antoinette), 356
Bourke (Prison), 14
Bourrienne, 52
Boussay, 50
Boussay (Chateau de), 27




c CHIEF NAMES CONTAINED IN VOL. I


463


Breme (the Abbe de), 341, 342
Brera, 341
Breslau, 215
Bresson (M.), 309
trest, 35, 37
Brevannes (Amed4e de), 168, 175
Brigandage, 140
Brignole (Madame de), 337
Brisson (M.), 37
British Laws, 272
Britska, 190
Brittany, 34, 165, 310
Briviesca, 152
Broeck, 47
Broglie (Count de), 176
Broglie (Marshal), 1, 6, 7, 10, 23, 24,
222, 260
Broglie (the late Duc de), 1, 5, 28
Broglie (the father of the late Duc de),
2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 24,
33, 36
Broglie (the mother of the late Duc
de), 4, 5, 9, 14, 17 18, 19, 21, 23, 27,
34, 103
Broglie (Prince de), 6
Broglie (Duchy of), 249
Broglie (Prince Amedee de), 250, 260
Brongniart (M.), 37, 38
Brougham (Lord), 353, 354
Brumaire, 29, 30, 222, 300
Brune (General), 34
Brune (Marshal), 303, 304
Brutus, 311
Brutuses, 302
Bubna (M. de), 78, 415
Buda, 75
Budget, 460
Bumigay (M. de) [read Rumigny],
168
Burgersh (Lord), 335
Burgersh (Lady), 335
Burgos, 131, 133, 134.
Bute (Lady), 331
Butini (MA.), 367
Byron (Lord), 349
C.
Cadart, 430
Caffarelli, 158
Calvin, 275, 332
Cambaceres, 209, 299
Camille de Tournoy, 71
Candolle (de), 345,.347
Cannae, 301
Cannes, 279
Canonville (Jules de) [read Canouville],
59, 155


Capulets, 260
Caracas, 3
Carignan (Princess of), 130
Carinthia, 83
Carlovingian (Kings), 334
Carlsbad, 418
Carlsbad (Congress of), 439, 448
Carlstadt, 83, 85
Carniola, 83
Carnival, 85
Carnot, 289, 306
Carra-Saint-Cyr (General), 85
Carriere (Colonel), 125
Carrousel (Place du), 61, 235
Castellane, 112, 204
Castellane (Madame de), 277, 389
Castiles, 130
Castries (Hotel de), 9
Catellan (Madame de), 276
Caulaincourt (M. de), 167, 209, 214,
215, 221, 224, 226, 230, 231, 232,
237
Cauterets, 153
Cavaignac (General), 20
Ccesars (the daughter of the), 111
Celestial empire, 345
Censeur Europeen, 283, 352
Cerberus, 367
Cervantes, 285
Cessac (M. de), 59, 60
Cevica [read Cevico de la Torre], 137,
138
Chalot (Fernand de), 204
Chamber of Deputies, 168, 196, 250,.
253, 282, 283, 307, 324, 362, 374,
378, 381, 383, 384, 385, 387, 402,
404.
Chamber of Peers, 249, 250, 253, 321,.
324, 402
Chamber of Representatives, 298, 299,
300, 301, 302
Chambre introuvable, 358
Chamfort, 296
Champagne, 248
Champagny (M. de), 76, 77
Champ de Mai, 296, 298
Champs-Elysees, 104, 105
Champ-de-Mars, 9, 21, 296
Champs-Elysees (Rue des), 244
Chancellor of the Exchequer, 129.
Charlemagne, 65
Charlemagne (College), 37
Charles X., 222, 321, 322
Charon's boat, 186
Charriere (Madame de), 273
Charter, 239, 305, 398, 404, 423, 456




464


ALPHABETICAL INVDEX TO THE


Chassenon(. de), 310
Chassenon (Esprit de), 310
Chateaubriand (M.. de), 34, 41, 104,
247, 266, 267, 268, 272, 460
Chateauvieux (Frederic de), 327, 344,
347
Chatellerault, 22
Chatillon-sur-Seine, 101
Chi~tre (Madame de la), 12. -Chauvelin
(RI. de), 114, 459
Chevert (M. de), 222
Clief de lae Comptabilife, 1 34
Chevreuse (Madame de), -13:
Chief Justice, 433
'Chinese' (the), 345
Christianity, 92
Christine (Princess), 82
Cicero, 263, 277
Cid (Le), 149
Cincinnatus, 1, 2
C2inna, 451
Ciudad Rodrigo [read Ciudad-Rodrigo],
133, 158, 159
Civil War, 181
Clary (Princess), 81
Clavi~re, 345
Clement (M.), 14
Clichy, 258
Clotilde de Surville, 41
Coblentz, 221
Coburg, 450
Cochelet, 92
Code Civil, 33, 63, 143
Colbert (Auguste de), 57
Cohaar, 5
Cologny, 343
Columbus, 194
Comidie Fran-air,, 218
Comitat, 71, 72, 7.5, 76
Comitj de salut public, 30.5 
Co22mcmanlnts (le p~lace, 141
Cormmis,;saires Extraordlinaires, 294
Commissaries of Police, 1065
Commissary-General, 74
Commission dle Guerre, 71
Como, 343
Compi~oie, 110, 235
Comte (M1.), 353, 447
Conciergerie (the), 310
Concordat (the), 33, 41, 116, 143, 382,
384
Cond(o, 297
Conde' (Prince de), 6, 7, 250, 4821
Condillac, 234
Confederate States, 4
Conference (the),7, 222


Congress of Prague, 222
Congress (the), 216, 221, 222, 223, 419
Conseil d'Etat, 59, 60, 63, 64, 67, 89, 90,
94, 104, 108, 109, 121, 122, 1243, 131,
132, 233, 337, 382, 446
Conseil des Ponts et Chausse'es, 106,
107
Conseil de l'Universite', 64
Conseillers d'Etat, 64, 65, 98, 106, 121,
168, 248, 289, 290, 338
Conseillers de l'Universite', 64, 65
Conseiller, 430 
'Consideirations sur lae Pirolutiomi,' 394,
395
Constant (Benjamin), 133, 266, 270, 272,
2714, 275, 276, 277, 278, 281, 282,
289, 290, 291, 292, 355, 370, 375,
377, 388, 418, 438, 440, 447, 449,
450, 459
Constantinople, 3000, 446
Constat [read Contat] (Mademoiselle),
219, 220
Constat [read Contat] (Amaleric), 220
Constitutional Government, 398
Consul-General, 295
Consular Government, 31, 164
Consulate (the), 121
Continent (the), 82
Continental Blockade (the), 195
Convention neeationale, 19, 32, 121, 122,
146, 298, 308, 364, 413, 449, 458
(Conventionnel. 120, 226
Coppet, 280, 292, 304, 326, 327, 340,
343, 344, 347, 349, 354, 355, 358,
360, 370, 372, 396, 414
Corbach, 4
C'orinne,' 366
Corneille, 451
Corps d'Armie, 385
Corps Leigislatif (the), 226, 2371, 327
Corsini, 338
Corvetto (M. de), 92, 399
Corvisart, 366
Cossacks, 241
Council Chamber, 64, 65, 314
Councillors of State, 61
Counter Revolution, 236
Coup de Fyorce, 424
C'osp d'Etat, 33, 283, 305, 307, 403,
404, 423, 424, 459
Cour d'Assises, 312
Coors Prevotales, 307
Court of Assize, 431
Court of France, 81
Court of Cassation, 430
Court of King's Bench, 434




CHIEF NAM.zES CONTAINED IN (701. L.


465


Courtine, 79
Cracow, 181, 184, 185, 187, 194, 198,
199, 201, 203, 204, 212,Criminal Instruction (Code of), 414, 427
Croatia, 80, 83, 85, 88, 91, 156
Croats (Regiments of), 80, 85, 88
Croix (7 de), 44, 48
Croix (HUtel de), 18
Cromwell, 284
Cross-Examination, 414
Crown Forests, 59
OChr6 (the), 142
Curzay (M. de), 310
Custine (M. de), 388
Custom House, 101
Cuvier, 409, 410, 423
Czartoryska (Princess), 180, 184
Czartoryski (Prince), 180, 187, 235
Czartoryski (Princes), 178
D.
Damas (M. de), 241
Dambray, 250
Damiron (MA.), 163
Damr~mont, 91
1)antzig, 162
Danube, 69, 70
Daru (M.), 59, 60, 69, 72, 74, 162
Dauchy (Commissary-General), 83, 87
Daunon, 40, 234
Dazincourt, 219
Decade (La), 42
Decazes (MI.), 299, 365, 393, 402, 407,
417, 419, 420, 421, 436, 439, 442, 444,
446, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 457,
459
Defermon, 61
De Lacy, 329
Delaville (General Caesar) [read de la
yulle], 135
Delille, 81
Deiphine, 34
iDeiikarcay (M.), 448
Denis, 91
Denon (M.), 67
Diputes Fructidorise's, 26
De-sage, 99
Desaix (Lieutenant), 10, 11
Desol de Grizolles, 164, 166
Desrenaudes (MI.), 51, 233, 234
Dessolesi (M.), 401, 420, 436, 446, 452
Deux-Ne'thes (Department of), 95
'Diana,' 21
Diana (Monte Mayor's), 147
Diary (Gibbon's), 157
Diderot, 273
VOL. I.




Diet (the), 167, 174, 180, 419
Dietrich, 11
Dijon, 106
Directeur-Ce'neral de lae Librairie el de,
l'Imprimerie, 11 7
Directeur -Ge'neral des ContributionsInadirectes, 360
Directory (the), 20, 22, 33, 121, 299,
360, 364, 403
Divan, 383
Doctrinaire, 362, 363, 378
Doctrinaire Ministry, 412
Doctrinaire Party, 381, 382, 385, 386,
387, 389, 390, 415, 419, 421, 425,
434, 436
'Doti Fabricator,' 435
Dofia Isabel de Valois, 150
Don Carlos, 150, 151
Donnadieu (General), 446
Dorsenne (General), 146, 147, 150, 152,
158
Dotne (Castle of), 77, 78
Doubs (Department of), 14
Dourdan, 21
Douro, 136, 148, 149
Dresden, 162, 215, 216, 217, 224, 226,
231, 306
Dreux-Breze' (MI. de), 112
Dubourg (General), 126
Dudley (Lord), 443
Dudon (Baron), 126, 128, 131, 137, 147,
149, 152 
Dumas (General Mathieu), 217
Dumas (MI.), 371, 38
Duinont, 327, 344, 347, 373, 381, 415
Dunoyer, 353
Dupin, 312
Dupont (of the Depaitment of the
Eore) [read Dupont de l'Eure], 353,
382, 459
Dupuis, 2713
Duras (Duchess of), 266, 267, 268
Durazzo (Madame), 337
Duroc (Grand Marshal), 114
Dutch Brabant, 109
Dutch Commerce, 47
Dutilleul, 129, 134
Duval (Maurice), 294
Duval de Beaulieu, 12), 134
E.


Easter Monday, 340
Baux-Bonnes, 153
E bro, 153
Ecoles centrales, 37


29*




466


ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE


Ecole centrale des Quatre-Nations, 36,
367
Ecole des Mines, 37, 38
Edgeworth (the Abbe), 121
Edinburgh (Castle of), 148
Edinburgh Review, 329
Egeria, 289
Egypt, 27, 68, 297
Egypt (Expedition to), 122
Egyptians, 63
Elbe [read Elba], 217
Elections Bill, 359, 362, 403, 451
Electoral Bills, 420, 425
Electoral Laws, 434, 456
Elijahs, 356
Elisa (Princess), 335
Elisha, 300, 357
Ellenborough (Lord), 433
Embassy (French), 328, 339
Embroglio [read Imbroglio], 434
Emigration, 90
'Emigre,' 382, 398
Emigres, 216, 254, 450
Emperor (the), 52, 53, 54, 57, 61, 63, 64,
65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 77, 83, 84, 87, 88,
94, 95, 97, 101, 104, 105, 106, 107,
108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115,
116, 117, 118, 121, 122, 127, 145,154,
159, 160,161, 162, 165, 167, 169, 170,
173, 187,192, 196, 200, 203, 204, 206,
208, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216,
218, 220, 221, 224, 225, 226, 229, 231,
232, 236, 237, 238, 239, 254, 257, 279,
280, 284, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 294,
297, 298, 300, 301, 416.
Empress (the), 49, 53, 111, 113, 114,
204
Empress Regent (the), 244
Enghien (Duke d'), 50, 121, 231
England, 11, 19, 45, 49, 90, 102, 103,
180, 181, 189, 255, 264, 331, 335,
345, 352, 353, 364, 413, 416, 424,
426, 429, 432
English Cabinet, 264
English Caricature, 32
English Fleet (the), 102
English Lawyers, 428, 442
English Legislation, 355
English Line-of-Battle Ship, 36
English Procedure, 354
English Restoration, 271
Entrecasteaux, 126
Epinay (Madame d'), 394
Erlon (Count d'), 269
Esmenard (Madame), 124, 125, 126
Espafia, 150


Esparon (Dr.), 366, 367
Espremesnil (M. d'), 120
Essai sur l'indifference en Matiere de
Religion, 393
Essais de Morale et de Politique, 104
Essling, 69, 124
Esterhazy (Count Nickle), 80
Etienne, 288
Eugene (Prince), 73, 95, 197, 342
Eure (Department of), 375
Europe, 169, 214, 217, 254, 296, 313,
338, 417, 438, 439, 441
Evidence, 414
Evreux, 293, 294, 374, 375
Excelmans (General), 254, 283
Extreme Left, 395, 418
Extreme Right, 418, 419
Ezekiel, 182
Ezla [read Esla], 147, 148
F.
Fabre, 336
Fall of the Empire, 236, 237
Fargues, 129, 134, 162, 163, 164
Faubourg Saint-Antoine (the), 243
Faubourg Saint- Germain (the), 261,
309
Fauche (the brothers), 304
Faugas de Saint-Fonds, 37
Fau.stissimnce nuptice, 110
'Favores ampliandi odia restringenda,'
316
Favre (Bertrand), 345
Fayette (M. de la), 245, 246, 262, 266,
268, 269, 283, 300, 373, 388, 436,
438, 444, 451
Fazy-Pasteur, 345, 347
Federation (Fete of the), 9, 51
Felipe, 11, 150
Fenelon, 356
Fermier-General, 19
Ferrand (M.), 308
Feutrier, 134
Fichter, 183, 236
Finance Minister, 402, 412
Financial Year Bill, 403
First Consul, 34, 52, 271
First Empire (the), 300
Fishing-smack, 102
Fiume, 83, 85, 311
Flaugergues, 253
Flore (Princess), 81
Florence, 328, 332, 335, 338, 339, 340
Florence (Grand Duke of), 335
Fontanes (M. de), 41, 64, 65, 145
Forbin (Auguste de), 135, 278, 281




CHIEF NAMAES CONTAINED IN VOL. I.


467


Force (Duke de la), 136
Foreign Office, 309
Foreign Secretary, 76
' For shame!' 434
Fouchd, 226, 269, 298, 299, 306
Fourcroy (M.), 63
Fradet (M.), 448
Francia, 150
Franche Comte [read Franche-Comte],
5, 240
Francvarey (ChAteau de), 44
Frankfort
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 167
Frederick the Great, 167
French Academy, 60, 235
French Administration, 133
French Parliament, 254
French Revolution (the), 252, 341, 345
Fresnel, 25
Frochot, 129, 134, 135, 147
Fructidor, 26, 29, 30, 32, 271
Fuentds d'Onoro [read Fuentes de
Onoro), 144
'Furius Camillus Capitolinus,' 71
G.
Galicia, 57, 147, 148, 174, 177, 185,
198, 212
Galliera (Duchess of), 320, 452
Gallois, 252
Ganilh, 253
Garat, 40, 234, 235
Gard (Department of), 404
Gardanne, 168
Garde Meuble, 121
Garde des Sceaux, 383, 405
Gassendi (General), 59, 60
Gaultier, 134
Gauthier (M.), 355
Gay (Madame), 123, 287, 366
Geneva, 89, 254, 274, 327, 343, 344,
345, 346, 349, 353, 360, 367, 372,
373, 381, 396, 415
Geneva (the L^ke of), 343, 349
Geneva (Representative Council of),
292
Genie (lid Christianisme (Le), 42
Genlis (Madame de), 20, 31
Genoa, 205
Gerard, 219
Germain (M.) 390
German philosophy, 235
Germany, 40, 49, 66, 167, 178, 183,
221, 228, 235, 271, 273, 415, 417,
419, 439, 440
Gibbon, 156


'Gil Bias,' 148
Ginguind [read Ginguend], 40, 234,
235
Girod (M.), 415, 433, 434
Gitschin, 215
Gniasdo Polsky, 184
Goget, 438
Gonfalonieri (M.), 341, 342
Gordian Knot, 422
Gospels (the), 449
Gossuin, 134
Gotha, 167
Gouvion (General), 320, 452
Gracchuses, 302
Grand Army (the), 165, 174, 189, 190,
217
Grand Duchy, 167, 171, 172 175, 176,
179, 180, 185, 189, 190, 202, 212
Grand Monarque, 298
Grand Master of the Ceremonies, 112
Grange (Madame de la), 124, 125
Gratz, 306
Gravina (Admiral), 36
Gray, 13, 14
Greatest of Generals (the), 105
Greatest of Causeurs (the), 105
Greece, 35, 181
Greeks, 277
Greffulhe (M.), 277
Gregoire (the Abbe), 419, 438, 442,
444, 445, 447, 448, 449, 450, 457, 458
Grenelle (Rue de), 266
Grenoble, 343
Grttry, 241
Grouchy (Marshal), 301
Gueldra, 109
Gu4roult (the Abbe), 37
Guillobe, 19
Guipuscoa, 132
Guizot (M.), 269, 360, 361, 386, 388,
389, 405, 410, 411, 421, 424, 441,
444, 446, 451, 454
Guizot (Madame), 42
Guyon (Madame), 275, 356
Guzman's d'Alfarache, 377
H.
Hamelin (Madame), 123
Hanau, 232
Hans Towns, 165
Hardenberg (M. de), 418
Harem (the), 53
Harrowby (Lord), 262, 264
Haiy (the Abbe), 37, 38, 39
H6douville (General), 34
Henri IV., 30
29-2




468


ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE


Herodotus, 40
Hervey (M.), 446
High Chancellor, 61, 128, 132, 233
High Treasurer, 61
His Most Christian Majesty, 299
Histoire des Franfais, 333
Hohenlinden, 33
Holbach, 273
Holland, 44, 45, 49, 109, 297
Holy Alliance, 417
Holy Week, 339
Home Office, 59
Hortense (Queen), 48, 92
Hostages, 140
1H6tel des Invalides, 112
House of Commons, 346, 381, 383
House of Orleans (Princess of the), 31
House of Peers, 289, 291, 298, 308,
312, 313, 314, 320, 362, 363, 384,
387, 402, 404
House of Representatives, 293
How much has England given you?
221
Hradschin (the), 222
Hulot (General), 113
Humboldt (M. de), 262, 265, 290, 291
'Hundred Days' (the), 292, 295, 375,
377, 402
Hungary, 71, 75
I.
Ideologists, 106
Illyria, 92, 157, 168, 226
Illyrian Provinces, 83, 87, 110
Imperial Chaplain, 50
Imperial Chancellerie, 191
Imperial Government, 45, 88, 96, 100
Imperial Grenadiers, 285
India, 145
Indre-et-Loire (Department of), 19
Infamous One (the), 273
Infernal Machine, 31
Institut (the), 51
Instruction, 431
Insurgents, 140
Ireland, 19
Isbre (Department of), 448
Islamism, 92
Isle-de-Bonin, 34, 35
Italian Liberal Party, 341
Italian Republics, 291, 333
Italy, 49, 122, 181, 297, 325, 331, 332,
335, 341, 350, 353
J.
Jacobin, 451


Jacobins (the), 10, 31, 32, 98, 106, 308,
375
Jacquemont (M.), 370
Jagellons, 178
Jamaica, 2
Jaucourt (1M. de), 43, 71
Jaucourt (Madame de), 44, 204, 240
Jardet (Colonel), 87, 88, 91, 159, 160,
161
Jay, 288
Jefferson, 374
Jena, 213
Jena (the Bridge of), 305
Jersey (Island of), 23
Jesuits, 449
Jeu de Paume, 9
John (King), 8
Joncourt (M. de) [read Jaucourt], 71
Jordan (Camille), 360, 381, 383, 389,
421, 460
Joseph (King), ]44, 145, 146, 154, 240
Joubert (M.), 41, 104
Journal des Debats (le), 42, 281, 290,
447
Jouy (M.), 43, 288
July (Government of), 168
July (Revolution of), 126, 130, 381
Jura (Department of), 15, 326, 357
Jurine (Dr.), 367
Jury, 101
Jury Laws, 414
Jury Reform, 414
Juvenal, 290
K.
Kamtschatka, 444
Kant, 40, 83, 235, 236
Kersaint (M. de), 266, 267
Keeper of the Seals, 457
Keith (Admiral), 102
Kellermann (General), 136, 244
Kiew, 177
King of Rome, 128, 144, 280
King Lear, 56
Kleinstadt, 222
Knight of St. Louis, 2
Komorn (Fortress of), 76
Kotzebue, 418
Kourakin (Prince), 113
Krudener (Madame de), 274, 275
L.
La Alcudilla (Duchess of), 56
La Bedoybre, 303, 304
La Charte Octroyee, 250




CHIEF NAMES CONTAINED INV VOL. I.46


469


La Conception, 36
Lacroix, 3 7
Laiinnec (Dr.), 367
Laffitte (M.), 388, 435, 447
La Flbehe, 119
La Grange, 2 68, 3 73, 3 74
La Gloire, 36
Laharpe (General), 349, 351, 352,373
Lalbach, 83
Lain6, 282, 313
Lajard (M.), 1671, 199, 221
Lallemand (the Brothers), 269
Lally (M. de), 283
La Mancha, 285
Lamartine (M. de), 25, 393
Lamech (M. Alex. de) [read Lameth],
129
Lameth (M. Alex. de), 6, 93, 129
La Mlinerve, 288
'La Monaca di Monza,' 332
La Mort de Cesar, 12
Lamotte, 12
Langallerie,
Lanjuinais, 253, 314, 315, 316, 318,
449
Lansdowne (Lord), 345, 353
Lara, 349
La Roche, 253
Laromiguibre (M.), 233, 234, 394
Last Supper, 341
Latouche-Tre'ville (Admiral), 36
Latour-Maubourg (M. de), 328
Laudator temporis acti, 79
Lausanne, 156, 274, 351, 352, 353, 35-5,
373
L~auzun (Duc de), 184
Laval, 3 7
Laval (Madame de), 44
Law of Nations, 79
Lazarilles de Cortbs [read Corm'es], 3 77
Le Courrier, 447
'L'Edncation Progressive,' 348
Lefebvre (M.), 230
Lefebvre-Desnouettes, 269
Left (the), 7
Left Centre, 388
Legations (the), 326
Leghorn, 328
Legion of Honour, 33, 94
Legislative Assembly, 11
Legouv6 (MN.), 42, 4-3
Legouve' (Madame), 43
Leipzig, 232
Lemay, 351
Lemercier (Ne'pomucene), 123
Lemonnier (Mi.), 26


Lemontez (Ml.), 394
Lenoir, 253
Lent, 339
Leon, 133, 134, 137
Leonardo da Vinci, 341
Le Peletier (Rue), 323
Lepeletier (Michel), 120
Le Populaire, 300
Lerminier, 366
Le Sage, 143
'Les Martyrs,' 35
Letardi, 92
Levasseur, 120
Levee en masse (the), 301
Lezay (Ml. de), 18
Liberal Ministry, 404
Liberal Party, 375, 378, 395, 397, 414,
417, 425, 434
Liberty of the Press, 435
Ligne (Prince de), 7 8, 80, 81, 193
Ligny, 301
Lisbon, 29
Literaeti, 366
Lithuania, 172, 177
Livy, 173
Lobau (Island of), 69
Loches, 19
Logogrcaphe, (the), 169
Lombardy, 415
London, 12, 102, 103, 115, 2605, 337
'Long lire the Emperor!' 281
'Long live the King!' 281
Lons-le-Saulnier, 321
Lorient, 35
Louis (the Abbe'), 254
Louis (Baron), 254, 402, 413, 420, 45Z
Louis (King), 45, 109
Louis le Whbonnaire, 65
Louis XIV., 54,- 297, 302, 334, 349, 394
Louis XV., 81, 231, 234
Louis XVI., 81, 112, 120, 179, 299, 309
Louis XVIII., 239, 246, 255, 279, 281,
282, 306, 316, 323, 453, 45 7
Louis Philippe, 20
Louvre (the), 235 
Louvel, 86
Loz~re (Department of), 59
Lucca, 322, 334
Liickner (Marshal), 10
Lun6ville, 33
Lungarno, 331
Luitzen (Battle of), 131, 214
Luxembourg (the), 299, 300
Luxembourg (the Siege of), 13
Luynes (li~tel de), 43
Lyons, 25




470


A4L PHA4BE TICA L INVDEX TO THE


MI.
Mably, 252
Macdonald (Marshal), 69
Machecoul, 34
Mackintosh (Sir James), 262, 263,
328
Madeleine (Church of the), 120, 243
Madeleine (Rue de la), 244.Mcgie blanche, 277.Magie noire, 277
Magna Charta, 8
Mahe' de Villeneuve, 134
Mahuer (Madame) [read Mahuer], 23
Mahomet, 304
Maistre (M. de), 155
Maitre des requ6tes, 65, 106, 121, 127,
132
Malines (Archbishop of), 167, 200
Malleville, 253 
Malouet (M.), 44
Malta, 199, 328
Malta (Order of), 329
Mamelouks (the), 287
Manfred, 349
Mans, 8
Manuel, 298, 435
MArengo, 33, 297
Marinette, 335
Marie Antoinette, 83, 112
Marmont (Marshal), 159, 160
Marmontel, 241
Mars (the God), 172
'Marseilicaise' (the), 11, 286
Marseilles, 303
Martha-Becker (MI.), 11
Mascara, 340.Aass~na (Marshal), 143, 144, 159
Massena (Marshal) [read Masse'na],
143
Matuszewiez (MI.), 17-5
Maury (Cardinal), 117, 172
Mayence, 441
Medina del Rioseco [read Rio Seco], 147
'Meditations,' 393
'Memoires d'Outre tombe,' 268
Menou (General), 27, 92
Menou (Madame de), 50, 124
Menou (XI. de), 27
ilfercure (the), 268
Me'rime'e (M.), 25
Merovingian, 334
Mery (M. de), 18
Metz, 1
Mesdames Royales, 89, 90
Mesgrigny (M. de), 232
Messidor, 14




Metternich (Prince), 68, 76, 77, 90, 91,
92, 204, 211, 213, 214, 215, 216,
220, 221, 223, 227, 228, 229, 230,',
418
Meulan (Mademoiselle de), 42
Mii~ge, 99, 228
Milan, 92, 93, 341, 415
Military Execution, 145
Minister for Foreign Affairs, 176, 196,
207
Minister of the Interior, 107, 122
Ministerial Left, 420
Ministerial Party, 378, 417
Ministry of Police, 165
Ministry of War, 385
Mirabeau, 83, 112, 168, 327, 345
Mole' (MI.), 104, 105, 106, 107, 103
121, 128, 314, 375, 393, 399, 459
Mollien (M.), 129, 284, 455
Moniteur (the), 92, 315
Montagues, 260
Alontaiyne, 51
Mont Cenis, 93, 328, 343
Montholon. (General), 62
Monti, 341
Montigny (Charles de), 204, 221
Montesson (Pavilion), 111
Montlosier (MI. de), 388, 439
Montl~ar, 130
Montmartre (Rue), 243
Montmorency (M. Mathieu de), 18,
388, 460
Montesquieu, 252, 253
Montesquiou (the Abbi de), 254
Montrond (M.- de), 99, 101, 102, 136,
309
Morale, '142
Moreau (Marshal), 113
'Morituri te salutant,' 297
Morrelet (the Abbe'), 40
Moscow, 169, 189, 231, 254
Moscowa, 187
Most Christian King (the), 227, 299
Mostowski (MI.), 175
Mostowski
Mount Tabor, 300
Mousseaux, 243
Mouton (General), 102
Murat (MI. de), 22
Murat (King), 197, 340, 353
N.
Yain Jaune (the), 287
Namnr, 44
Nantes, 34, 35, 310
Naples, 332, 337, 353






CHIE F NVAME S CONTAILVED INV VOL1. I


471


Naples (Queen of), 125
Na~ole'on, 62, 82, 91, 1 77, 196, 209,
212, 213, 215, 220, 229, 239, 271,
288, 366, 416
N1arbonne (Duchess of), 89
Narbonne (M. de), 44, 51, 73, 5, 7-6,
78, 83, 86, 89, 90, 91, 162, 204, 205,
206, 208, 210, 216, 217, 219, 221,
222, 224, 227, 230, 231, 416
National Assembly, 7
National Guard (the), 243, 300, 323
Navarre, 132, 153
Necker (M.), 260, 280, 3057, 364, 371,
395
'Necker de Saussure (Madame), 0343j,
347, 348, 371
Neuchaftel (Prince of) [read Neufcha'tel]
125, 155, 160, 161
Nesseirode (M. de), 215, 216
Neumann (M.), 189
Neuve-des-Mathurins (rue), 366
-New property, 64
Ney (Marshal), 298, 301, 30-4, 812,
314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 1320,
321, 323.
Nice, 343, 373
-Niemen, 162, 167
Nimes, 303
Niv6se, 31, 34
Nord Holland, 47
-North America, 374
Northern Powers, 415
Norvins (M. de), 242
Nugent (M. de), 77
0.,Ochiltree, 186
-,Odalisque, 53,YiDonnel (Madame), 82
O'Donnel, 129, 134
Y-Eil-de-bo??uf, 302
*Qfliiers de boutche, 286
-Old Castile, 160
Olmiitz, 194,Opdra, Comique (the) [read O16raComique], 241
Opposition (the), 347, 379,Orangerie (the), 235,Oratorian Friars, 298
Ordonnateur-Gdndral, 91
~Oridans (Duke of), 288, 289, 349
-,Ormes, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 31, 37, 43, 50,
52, 54, 128, 259, 289, 311,Ormesson, 18,,Ormoy, 13, 14, 34
#,tranto (Duke of), 226, 227, 298


Otto (M.), 90, 91, 92, 93, 204
Otto (Madamie), 193,194
(Jettrage.,; a la morale publiqu~e, 417
ozenstochiow, 199
P.
'Phete non dolet,' 311
Palais Bourbon, 250, 300
Palencia, 134, 147
Palfy (Countess), 81
Parnpeluna, 152, 153
Pancorlo [read Pancorbo]. 160
Panat (Samuel de), 168, 175
Panat (Chevalier de), 168
Papal Bull, 117
Paris, 3, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 2.5,
31, 37, 49, 50, 56, 66, 69, 78, 89, 90, 91,
93, 94, 95, 99, 101, 104, 108, 115, 118,
124, 126, 129, 1301, 145, 152, 161, 162,
180, 192, 218, 226, 232, 233, 234, 239,
240, 241, 243, 247, 258, 260, 261, 262,
264, 265, 268, 275, 277, 285, 287, 288,
289, 293, 296, 301, 303, 305, 309, 314,
1316, 319, 323, 325, 3027, 338, 339, 343,
355, 358, 366, 367, 373, 374, 413, 415,
416, 417, 418, 419, 438, 453
Parliament, 119, 424, 451
Parliamentary Government, 401
Parma, 328
Parny, 220, 234, 235
'Parti Doctrinaire,' 360, 361
Pascal, 194
Pasquier (M.), 119, 121, 163, 383, 399,
455
Patry, 1134
Pavillon de Flore, 245
*Pavillon Marsan, 60
Paymaster-General, 7-4
Peace of Vienna, 7-8, 82, 415
Pelet, 59, 193
Pellene (M.) [read Pellenc], 168, 169
Penal Code, 437
Penchaud, 345
Pefiafiel, 137, 138
Perier (Casirnir), 400
Perregaux, 90
Persia, 168
Peschia, 328, 332, 3134
Petits Sdminaires, 64
Petrikaw, 199
Petrinia, 80, 83, 85, 88, 157
Pheidre, 304
Philippe V., 54
Phocio, 277
Piasts, 178
Pichegru, 32




472


ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE


Pictet Diodati (M.), 327, 344, 347
Pictet de Rochemont (M.), 347, 348
Piedmont, 326
Pisa, 326, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 335
Pitt, 450
Pitti (the Palace), 339
Podolia, 171, 177
Poitiers, 22, 54, 311
Poland, 167, 169, 170, 171, 176, 177
178,181, 184, 190, 311
Polidori, 349
' Polsko zye!' (Long live Poland!), 173
Polytechnic School (the), 258
Poniatowski (Prince Joseph), 170, 171,
180, 187, 188, 189, 197, 198, 202, 212
Pontgiband (Count), 90
Pontecoulant (M. de), 24, 253, 307
Ponts et Chaussees, 104, 106
Pope (the), 70, 117, 339
Porcher de Richebourg, 314, 315, 319
Portal, 366, 402, 420, 452, 455
Portalis (M.), 117. 118
Port au Prince [read Port-au-Prince],
12
Portia, 311
Port-Libre, 14
Porto Cabello, 2
Portugal, 136, 144, 158, 159, 160
Posen, 167, 198
Potsdam, 167
'Pour l'avenir,' 364
Pozzo di Borgo [read Pozzo-di Borgo],
299
Prado (the), 55
Pradt (the Abbe), 167, 172
Prague, 221, 222, 226, 230, 247
Prefect of Police, 119, 299, 324
Prefet Maritime, 44
Prefet, 95, 310, 426, 427
Prefecture of Police, 163
Presbourg, 72
President of the Council, 455
Presidents of Sections, 61
Press Bill, 382, 383, 385, 412, 436
Press Laws (the), 254
Prince de la Paix, 54, 56
'Princeps Juventutis,' 390
Princes of the House of Bourbon, 240
Provisional Government, 240, 248
Prussia (King of), 215
Prussia, 170, 177, 208, 209, 210, 351
417
Publiciste (Le), 42
Pulawy, 180, 181, 184, 187
Pyramids (Battle of the), 68
Pyrenees (the), 57,153




Q.
Quimper, 35
Quinette (M.), 294
R.
Raab-Eisenburg, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76,
78, 79, 80
Ragusa (Duke of), 85, 86, 87, 88, 91,
161
Ragusa (Duchess of), 90
Ramel (General), 303
Ramond, 438
Randall (Miss), 368, 369, 370, 371
Ranelagh (the), 21
Rapporteur, 63
Rayneval (M. de), 221
Raynouard, 253
Real, 98, 99
Recamier (Madame), 275, 278, 281,
377
Receivers-General, 413
Receveur-General, 134
Regency (the), 242
Regicides, 20
Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, 61,
114, 119, 121, 122, 253
Regnault de Saint-Jean    d'Angely
(Madame), 122, 123
Regnier (General) [read Regnier], 175
Reille (General), 54
Rembrandt, 46
Remouleur (the), 311
Remusat (de), 3, 390
Renan (M. Ernest), 374
Rene, 375
Rennes, 37
Renomnee (the), 450
Representative Council, 346
Report on Public Instruction, 51
Republic (the), 46, 346
Republic (the Second), 300
Restoration (the), 103, 125, 151, 165,
168, 240, 245, 250, 257, 262, 267,
268, 310, 334, 380, 389, 397, 398,
416
Revolt of Belgium, 101
Revolution (the), 23, 31, 106, 120, 168,
174, 219, 345, 346, 380
Revolutionary Tribunal, 13
Revolutionary Party, 420
Revolutionists, 32, 41
Revue Franfaise (the), 3
Reynier (General), 189
Rhine (the Army of the), 10
Rhine (the), 239, 301, 418


I




CHIEF NAMES CONTAINED IN VOL. I.


473'


Ribbing (Count de), 20, 21
Ricci (M. de), 71, 72
Richelieu Ministry, 397, 417
Richelieu (M. de), 312, 313, 400, 401,
402, 416, 436, 453, 454
Right of the Strongest (the), 76
Rilliet Hubert (Madame), 327
Rivibre (M. de), 446
Robespierre (the Younger), 17
Rocca (Alphonse), 272
Rocca (M.), 255, 259, 326, 343, 358,
370, 371, 372, 373
Rocca (M. Ch.), 373
Rochambeau (M. de), 2
Roman Emperor, 52
Romans (the), 277
Romalns Confessions, 376
Rome, 70, 328, 339, 353, 384
Romilly, 345
Roncioni, 329
Rosen (Madame de), 5
Rosen (Family), 4, 15
Rosini, 332
Rossel (M. de), 126
Rossi (M.), 353, 396, 415
Rostopchine, 302
Rotterdam, 45
Rouen, 248
Rouget de l'Isle, 11
Rougier Lavergerie, 92
Rovigo (Duke of), 114, 165, 166
Roxa (Seior), 146
Roy (M.), 453
Royale (Rue), 366
Royalist Opposition, 385, 386
Royaumont, 322
Royer-Collard (M.), 233, 360, 361, 381,
383, 389, 409, 410, 421, 427, 445,
447, 453, 454, 456, 459
Rulhibre, 173
Rullecourt (Madame de), 23
Rumigny, 189, 221
Russia (the Emperor of), 178, 179
Russia, I4 -5 W1     17, tI,208,
210, 366, 416
Russian Princess, 11
Russian Campaign, 154, 221
Rutli (the Vow of), 8
S.
Saardam, 47
Sabathier (the Abbe), 120
Sacken (General), 203
Sacy (M. de), 282
Saint-Albin (M. de), 451
Sainte-Aulaire (M. de), 389, 393, 404


Sainte-Aulaire (Madame de), 389, 393,,
439
Saint-Aignan (M. de), 167.
Saint-Cergues, 15
Saint-Chamans, 129, 134
Saint-Cloud, 108, 114, 235
Saint-Cyr (Marshal), 10, 385, 386, 399,.
420
Saint-Denis, 298
Saint-Didier, 286
Saint-Farjeau (President), 122
Saint-Francis of Sales, 357
Saint-Helena, 365
Saint-Honore (Rue), 290
Saint-Jules, 14
Saint-Louis, 299
Saint-Malo, 37, 339
Saint-Mark's Square, 93
Saint-Petersburg, 221, 345
Saint-Real, 151, 152
Saint-Remy, 5, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23
*' Saint-Simon' ('Memoires de'), 207
Salamanca, 133, 159
San Domingo, 3
Sandon (Lady), 331
Santander, 132
Santarem, 129
Sanscrit, 449
Sardinia (King of), 130
Sarthe (Department of), 1C7, 108, 119,
120, 418, 438
Saumur, 34
Savone, 117
Savoy, 343
Sax [read Saxony], 167, 178
Saxon Switzerland, 217
Saxony (King of), 175, 179, 196, 211,.
218
Say, 43
Scipio, 181
Scheffer (Ary), 374
Schlegel (Wilhelm), 255, 258, 259, 326,.
342, 343, 358, 370, 371
Schinbrunn, 67, 68
Scotch Philosophy, 233
Scotland, 19
Schwarzenberg (Prince of), 111, 175,
189, 197, 198, 212
Schwarzenberg (Princess of), 115
Schweighauser (M.), 40
Scriptures (the), 286
Scrutin de Liste, 421
Sebastiani (Tiburce), 204
Secretan (M.), 373
Segur (Count de), 3, 64
Semonville (M. de), 323




474


ALPHABETICAL INIDEX T'O THE


Senate (the), 101, 239, 272, 305
-Serment du jeu de Paume, 8
Serre (M. de), 360, 361, 381, 382, 389,
402, 404, 405, 407, 409, 410, 413,
419, 420, 421, 424, 433, 436, 442,
443, 452, 453, 455, 456, 458, 459.
-Service (le Conservation, 149
Seven Years' War, 1, 6, 81
Se'vigne' (Madame de), 103
'Shurloe, 284
Sibyl (the), 181
~Silesia, 184, 198
Simanicas, 149
'Sim~on, 33
'Simplon (the), 343
'Sinnamari, 29
Sismondi, 291, 292, 327, 328, 332
Smith (Robert), 329, 331,Smith (Sydney), 329
Smolensk, 187
Socialist, 95
'Soci~'te'de la Presse,' 450.Socinianism, 357
'Socinians (the), 274,Solon, 289
Soreusse, 48
Soi,133, 134
Soult, (Marshal), 104
S. Peter, 71, 328
'Spain (King of), 36, 54
Spanish Admiral, 36,Spanish Navy, 36
'Spiegel (Madame de), 82
Spielberg, 341
Spires, 239
'Spiritual Letters,' 356
Spain, 49, 53, 54, 55, 82, 99, 101, 127,
136, 144, 145, 148, 150, 1.51, 152, 14,
155, 157, 158, 162, 166, 168, 221,
247
Stadion (M. de), 77
Sta,~l (Auszuste de), 276, 326, 343, 359,
371, 372, 442, 447, 450
Staiil (Madame), 18, 20, 34, 51, 78,254,
255, 256, 257, 259, 261, 262, 263,
264, 266, 268, 269, 279, 280, 304,
324, 325, 326, 327, 331, 335, 337,
338, 339, 340, 341, 343, 347, 348,
350, 353, 355, 357, 358, 360, 361,
365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 372,
373, 374, 388, 394, 443.
~Sta~l (Mademoiselle de), 329
State Prison, 163
Stein (M. de), 3049, 350
Stock Exchange, 439
Stockholm, 254


Std)berg (Countess of), 336
Strasbourg, 5, 11, 18, 40
Stuarts, 336
Suard (M.), 40, 41, 42
Suard (Madame), 41, 42
Subst ituat, 131
Sue (Eug~ne), 43
Sue (Surgeon), 43
Suleau, 124
Sultana (the Chief), 53
Sweden, 4
Sweden (King of), 20
Swift, 329
Switzerland, 15, 168, 274, 343, 344, 350,
353, 355, 396, 414, 415, 416
Swiss Revolution, 352
Syria, 25
T.
Tablecait pcsrlant (the), 241
rfacitus, 290
Talibon (Mesdemoiselles), 21
Talleyrand (M. de), 43, 44, 51, 99,
183, 188, 209, 232, 237, 240, 306,
307, 312, 350, 457, 458.
Talleyrand (Prince), 299
Talleyrand-Fouch6 Ministry, 305, 306,
423
Talhien (Madame), 21
Talma, 451
Tarquin, 311
Tchitchakoff (Admiral), 189
Tellier, 205
'Temptation in Paradise,' 292
Ternaux (M.), 388, 456
Terror (the), 14, 20, 27, 29, 120, 248,
302
The Hague, 45
The'Atre Fran~ais (the) [read T~hiatre
Fran~ais], 219
Themnistocles, 298
Theo-Philanthropy, 99
Theriniidor, 14, 17, 120, 403
Thiers (M.), 145, 170, 187, 196, 197
206, 208, 212, 214, 220, 222, 230
Thierry (Augustus), 283
Thirty Years' War, 4
Thucydides, 173
Ticho Brahe, 222
Ticknor (Mr.), 373, 3714
Tiers-Etot (the), 7
Tilsit (Peace of), 479
Tiskewicz (Princess), 188
Torgau, 198, 206, 231, 416
Toplitz, 418
Toro, 133, 134, 142, 149




CHIEF NAMES CONTAINED IN VOL. I


475


Tory, 264, 434
Toul, 1
Toulouse, 303
Touraine, 19
Tournon (M. de), 70
Tours, 22
Tracy, 253, 268
'Tranquillity of Mind,' 356
'Transaction de Bayonne,' 52
Trdbout, 15
Treilhard, 61, 63
Tremont (M.), 59
Tremolibre, 14
Trestaillons, 363
Tribunal Civil, 373
Tribunate, 33
Trieste, 83, 85, 86, 89, 90, 91
Troyes, 248
Tuileries (the), 52, 60, 236, 246, 267,
279, 281, 284, 286, 299, 300
Turenne, 297
Turin, 92, 93
Turks, 85, 86
Tuscany, 326, 328, 338
Tuscany (Grand Duke of), 338
Tuscany (Grand Duchess of), 338
U.
United States, 2, 3, 8, 195, 252, 306,
432
University (the) 331
Unna, 80
Usse (Chateau of), 268
Utrecht, 48
V.
Valais (the), 343
Valence (Madame de), 20
Valencia, 133
Valette (Mademoiselle de la), 310
Valette (M. de la), 280, 304, 308, 309,
310, 312
Valladolid, 131, 133, 134, 135, 138,
143, 144, 145, 149, 150, 152, 154,
155, 159, 160, 244
Vanderbourg (M.), 40
Vandyke, 46
Vardes, 302
Varennes, 9
Vasse (Mademoiselle de), 44
Vatican, 339
Vauban (Madame de), 188, 189
Vauban (Count de), 188
Vauban, 297
Vaud (Canton of), 351, 372, 373


I
I


Vaudeville, 241
Vauquelin, 37
Vendee, 27, 34, 143, 165, 188
Vendemiaire, 18, 27, 122
Venice, 92, 93
Verdun, 1
Vernet, 327
Versailles, 3, 6
Vesoul, 13, 15, 16, 17
Vicq d'Azyr, 51
Victor Hugo, 53
Victor (the late Duc de Broglie), 445,
448, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455,
456, 457, 458, 459
Victoria [read Vitoria], 131, 134, 139
Vienna, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 80, 83,
115, 125, 168, 169, 190, 191, 193,.
195, 204, 208, 212, 214, 215, 216,
222, 229, 419
Villemain (M.), 51, 144
Villiers (M.), 40, 235
Vincennes (Keep of), 166
Viry, 90
Virgil, 182, 183
Vistula, 81
' Vitat 'eutonia.' 418
'Vive la Nation!' 121
' Vive le roi!' 458
Volhynia, 171, 177
Voltaire, 350
' Voyage d'Anacharsis (the), 16
Voyer (M. de), 23
W.
Wagram, 66, 69, 229
Walter Scott (Sir), 148, 186
War Office, 59
War with Russia, 116
Ward (the Hon. Mr.), 443
Warsaw, 166, 167, 170, 171, 172, 173,
174, 177, 180, 187, 188, 189, 190,
191, 195, 196, 197, 198, 201, 221,
328
Warsaw (Grand Duke of), 175, 196
Waterloo, 263, 298, 301, 303, 304
Weimar, 167
Wellington (Duke of), 144, 158, 159,
262, 301, 306
Werther, 375, 441
Westphalia (Treaty of) 4
Westphalia (Kingdom of), 248
Westmoreland (Lord), 335
Whig, 353
Wiliczka, 180, 185
William III., 297, 302
Wilna, 169, 172, 173, 195, 197




I




476                 ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
X.                                     Z.
Xerxes, 167                            Zamora, 133, 142, 149
Zamoyski (Count), 180,198, 201
~Y'.*    ~      Zamoyska (Countess), 180, 201
York (General), 197                    Zeland, 109


END OF VOL. I.


BILIING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.








THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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DATE DUE, E., 


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