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 Beside the tfiaiu topic this book also treats of 
 Subject No. On page Subject No. On page 
 
n 
 
MEMOIES OF 
 COUNT HOKACE DE VIEL CASTEL 
 
IN THE PRESS. 
 
 ]vebm:oirs 
 
 OF 
 
 PRINCE ADAM CZARTORYSKI, 
 
 AND 
 
 His Correspondenee with the Emperor Alexander I. 
 
 With Documents eelative to the Prince's Negotiations with 
 PITT, FOX, AND BROUGhllA]^:, 
 
 AND AN ACCOUNT OP HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH 
 
 LOED PALMEESTON 
 
 AND OTHEK ENGLISH STATESMEN DUEING HIS STAY IN LONDON 
 
 IN 1832. 
 
 T\Aro Vols., Demy 8vo. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ADAM GIELGUD. 
 
 REMINGTON & CO., Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. 
 
MEMOIRS OF 
 
 LIBU 
 
 1 / 
 
 COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL 
 
 a (Etroniclc of t^c principal Orbcnts, i^olitical ant) Social, 
 
 tiuring tfjc l^cign of 
 
 NAP'OLEOIsr III 
 
 FEOM 1851 TO 1864 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 THE COUP D'ETAT-MAKRIAGE OF THE EMPEROR TO MADEMOISELLE DE 
 MO>"TIJO— VISIT OP QUEEN TICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT TO PARIS- 
 CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE CRIMEAN AND PRANCO-AUSTRIAN 
 WARS AND THE ITALIAN REVOLUTION 
 
 AND 
 
 EPISODES AND ANECDOTES OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND COURT 
 
 Translated and Edited by 
 
 CHAHLES B:OUSFIEIjr) tv, J/e.^, 
 
 TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOL I 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 EEMINGTON AND CO PUBLI8HEES 
 
 HENllIETTA STEEET CO VENT GARDEN 
 
 [^AIL Rights Iieserted\ 
 
NOTE BY ENGLISH EDITOR. 
 
 In translating and editing these Memoirs it lias been 
 deemed advisable to omit much, but everything of 
 real interest, whether personal, social, or political, has 
 been carefully retained. 
 
 Count Horace de Viel Oastel's official position, and 
 his close and intimate relations with members of 
 the Imperial Family and Court, gave him exceptional 
 opportunities of observing and noting all that is 
 recorded in the following pages. 
 
 a !^. Q 9 1 
 
 «7 *.J O »J J 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1851. PAGE 
 
 Princess Mathilde at home — Chaix d^Estange — Count 
 
 DE NiETJWERKERKE MaDAME PiSCATORY ThE MaR- 
 
 CHIONESS DE CaRAMAN PrINCE MeTCHERSKT AND 
 
 Tannegut Duchatel — Princess Mathilde's opinion 
 OP Prince de Canino — The Parliamentary Com- 
 mission AND the Saint Cloud stud — Viscountess 
 Saint-Mars, her husbands and lovers — Flamarens 
 AND THE Marchioness de la Chataigneraie — 
 Monsieur and Madame Berger — French Diplo- 
 matists — Baron de Lagrenee, his mission to 
 ChinAj and the stort of the " Crystal Button " 
 — Baron de Bourgoing in Spain ; his singular 
 
 NOTIONS OP diplomacy ; THE ANECDOTE OF THE MaS- 
 
 TODON — The Administration and its Diplomatic 
 Agents — Guizot and the Bourbon Coalition — The 
 Author's opinion of Louis Napoleon — The Mar- 
 chioness DE Guadalcazar — Count Louis de Viel 
 Castel, Viscount Flavigny, and their political 
 Coterie — The Prince President and his salary 
 — Lamartine and French mobs — Ferdinand de 
 Lasteyrie — Bonaparte Worship ... ... ... 1 
 
ii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1851 {continued). page 
 
 Baeon Humboldt and the Marquis de Custine — The 
 Bet of Teipoli and English jealousy — The 
 Maequis de Eocca Giovine — EussiA AND Constan- 
 tinople MONSIEUE AND MaDAME GuDIN — ThE 
 
 Anniveesaey of Febeuaey 24th ; the authoe's 
 
 ACCOUNT of the FIGHT ON THE BoULEVAED DES 
 
 Capucines — Peincess Mathilde and Petnce Demi- 
 doff — The Czae Nicholas's opinion of Demidoff 
 — Tanneguy Duchatel, love and lotteey — 
 Susanne — The Caenival — • French vulgaeity — 
 Gallantry and society — The Duchess of Suthek- 
 
 LAND AT the LoUVEE LavALETTE AND HIS DIPLO- 
 MATIC CAKEEE SCHOELCHEE, ChARLES BlANC, AND 
 
 Ledeu Eollin — DocTOE Belhomme's madhouse ... 20 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 1851 {continued). 
 
 Scandalous stoey of Countess de Nessklrode, Madame 
 Zeba and Peincess Kaleedjy — Obscene weitees — 
 Theie baneful influence— Maeshal Narvaez — 
 The Portuguese insureection — Insight into the 
 President's intentions — The Queen of Spain's 
 love affairs — Eudeness of the Duke d'Aumale's 
 agents to Princess Mathildr — Prince Canino 
 publicly insulted by Count Eossi's son — Nieu- 
 weekeeke challenged by pleeee bonaparte 
 
 EePUTATION OF THE BoNAPARTE FA JULY POLITICAL 
 
 INTRIGUERS — MaZZINI AND MONSIEUR DE LeSSEPS 
 
 Monsieur de Veron — The President's tools — 
 Narrow escape of the Baron de Chamerolle — 
 The author's opinion of the democracy — Victor 
 Hugo — Prince Napoleon ... ... ... ... 42 
 
CONTENTS. iii 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1851 (continued). page 
 
 Veron and his guests — Visit to the Count de 
 Chambord — The King of Prussia and Eaoul 
 Eochette — Public disaffection — The Coup d'Etat 
 POSTPONED — Proposed renewal of the law of 
 universal suffrage — Fall of the Ministry — 
 Monsieur de la Gueronniere, of the " Pays " 
 Newspaper, rallies to the President's views 
 — General Changarnier — The Army and the 
 National Assembly; proposition of the Questors 
 — Prince Louis Napoleon's address to the Paris 
 Garrison — The Coup d'Etat — Universal suffrage 
 proclaimed — Arrest op the Eepresentatives — 
 The High Court of Justice dissolved by force 
 — Disturbances in the streets — Severe measures 
 OF repression — Congratulations of Lord Pal- 
 merston — Vivid account by Colonel l'Espinasse 
 
 OF THE PART HE PLAYED IN THE CoUP d'EtAT 
 
 Louis Napoleon elected President 62 
 
 chaptee v. 
 
 1852. 
 
 Thanksgiving Service at Notre Dame — Favouritism 
 begins — morny and moktguvton — promotions in 
 
 THE ARMY — ThE AUTHOR ON ENGLISH TrADES UnIONS 
 
 — English credulity — Members of the Demo- 
 cratic PARTY expelled FROM FrANCE JOURNALISTS 
 
 — Eecollections of the Eeign op Terror — The 
 
 eoyalists of versailles monsieur de viel 
 
 Castel, senior, and the Empress Josephine — 
 Influence of Persigny— His character — Confis- 
 cation op the Orleanist property — The wits of 
 THE Faubourg St. Germain — The " Dame aux 
 
iv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Camelias" — Oeleanist plots — Count d^Obsat — 
 Feminine amenities, letter from Countess de 
 SoLMS TO Countess de Schulimburg and cor- 
 respondence BETWEEN Rachel and Nathalie — 
 Rachel's domestic interior — Preparations for 
 THE Empire — The truth about General Marmont 88 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1852 (continued). 
 
 Death op Marshal Exelmans — Prince de la 
 MosKOWA — Death of Count d'Orsay — Grants to 
 THE Bonaparte family — Two curious letters of 
 Napoleon I. — Anecdote of the President and 
 Prince Jerome — Singular inquiry by a young 
 lady — The Arab Chief Abd-el-Kader — De 
 Morny's revelations — The Empire imminent — 
 Performance of "Cinna" at the Theatre Franqais 
 — Singular story op Louis Philippe and Charles 
 X. — Prince Jerome resigns the Presidency op 
 the Senate — The Government and the Press — 
 Princess Mathilde's reception — Mademoiselle 
 DE MoNTiJO— Louis Napoleon proclaimed Emperor 
 — The story of the Duchess de Berry's betrayal 111 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 1853. 
 
 The Emperor's household — Ball at Princess Ma- 
 thilde's — Mdlle. de Montijo — The Credit 
 Foncier — Matrimonial scandals — Princess Ma- 
 
 THILDE THE CHAMPION OP JUSTICE — ThE DuCHESS 
 
 OF Valentinois and the Italian refugee — 
 Mingling the remains of Robespierre and Louis 
 XVI. — Rumours of the Empeuor's approaching 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 MABEIAGE — He SILENCES DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT 
 
 OF Mdlle. de Montijo — Opinions on the subject 
 — Official declaration — Mdlle. de Montijo's 
 diplomacy — Dupin's opinion — The makkiage 
 celebeated — The Empeeor eepeoaches Saint- 
 Aenaud — Legitimist plots — The Empress and 
 Maeie Antoinette — Suicide op Count Camerata 
 
 — List op new Senators — Character op the 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD ThE EmPEROR PRO- 
 MISES THE AUTHOR THE LeGION OP HoNOUE ThE 
 
 English alliance — Clouds in the East,.. ... 130 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1853 [continued). 
 
 Rachel, the actress, and the Impeeial livery — Ball 
 AT Princess Mathilde's — The Oeleans family 
 
 AND the OeDEE op THE HoLY SpiEIT — TabLE- 
 TUENING AND SPIEIT-EAPPING — StOEY OF THE PaEIS 
 
 cabman — The Empeess and the piguee of inno- 
 cence — The French admiral — Couet amusements 
 
 — Plot against the Empeeoe's life — Russian 
 designs in the East — Versailles — Exteavagance 
 OF the Empeess Josephine — Fould and Peince 
 MuEAT — The Legion of Honour — Mes. Beecher- 
 Stowe ... ..- ... ... ... ... ... 152 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1854. 
 
 Wae — Views op the Ministey — Recall op the 
 Russian Ambassadoes peom Paeis and London — 
 Reported illness op the Czar — Passage of 
 English teoops theough Paris — Mdlle. Denain 
 — The Empeess consults the spieits — Conversa- 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 TION WITH THE EmPRESS — ThE AUTHOR AND CoUNT 
 
 DE Laborde — Secret attempt to get possession 
 OF Madagascar — Condition of the fleet— Fresh 
 
 PLOT TO ASSASSINATE THE EmPEROR PrINCE NaPO- 
 
 leon — Eevolution in Spain : Espartero, Chris- 
 tina, Isabella — Baroche asks to be made a 
 Senator — Germans in Paris — Death of Marshal 
 Saint-Arnaud — An infernal machine — General 
 Canrobert and Lord Eaglan — Algeria a bad 
 SCHOOL FOR French soldiers — Barbarous conduct 
 of THE EussiANS —Cowardice of Prince JSTapoleon 170 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 1855. 
 
 The Empress's Present to the author — Reconcilia- 
 tion OF Prince Jerome with his daughter — 
 Eeview of troops — Emotion of the Empress — 
 Proposed departure of the Emperor for the 
 Crimea— Fancy dress ball — Mazzini — An anony- 
 mous pamphlet — Death of the Czar Nicholas — 
 Visit of the Emperor and Empress to England — 
 Attempt on the Emperor's life in the Champs 
 Elysees — Popular excitement — The King and 
 Queen op Spain — Ignoble conduct towards the 
 Queen of Spain — Opening op the Exhibition — 
 Marshal Pelissier takes command of the army 
 IN THE East — English patriots — t^lexandre 
 Dumas the elder at Princess Mathilde's — 
 Georges Sand — Indiscretion of Marshal Magnate 192 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1855 [continued] . 
 Eestoktng pictures at the Louvre — Marshal Castel- 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 PAGE 
 LANE^S STRANGE BLUNDER — MaRRIAGE OF COLONEL 
 
 Fleury — The Marchioness de Contades — An 
 Ultramontane Bishop — The department op the 
 
 DORDOGNE A village PRIEST PeEFETS AND 
 
 CLERICAL INFLUENCE ThE QuEEN OF ENGLAND 
 
 IN Paris — Enthusiastic reception — Prince Napo- 
 leon AND THE Order of the Bath — King Jerome 
 
 — Prince Napoleon and Arago — Socialists — 
 Alphonse de Rothschild — Capture of Sebas- 
 TOPOL — Prince Murat and the Neapolitans — 
 The King of Piedmont — The Marquis de Cas- 
 telbajac — Another plot to assassinate the 
 Emperor 209 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1856. 
 
 Dissatisfaction with the Empress — The layette of 
 THE Prince Imperial — The Jerome Bonapartes — 
 De Moeny on the Coup d'Etat — The penury of 
 THE Prince President — Russia accepts the pro- 
 position OF the Western Powers — The Empress's 
 Dance — Opening op the Congress — An armistice 
 agreed upon — Count Orloff — Alexandre Dumas 
 the elder at Princess Mathilde's ; his arrogance 
 — Alexandre Dumas the younger's reply to 
 Abbe Duguerry — Accouchement of the Empress 
 
 — Anger of Prince Napoleon — Manifesto of 
 THE Count de Paris — Canrobert and Bosquet 
 
 MADE MARSHALS ThE EmPEROR's DINNER PARTY — ■ 
 
 Signature of the Treaty of Peace — The author's 
 
 OPINION OF HIS COUNTRYMEN — PeUILLET DE CoNCHES 
 
 — Dismissal of Madame Despres and her 
 
 DAUGHTER — ThE EmPEROr's OPINION OF HIS COUSIN 
 
 Prince Napoleon — General Trochu's account 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 OF THE ATTACK ON THE ReDAN — AmBITIOUS DESIGNS 
 
 OF THE PlEDMONTESE — ViSIT OF THE KiNG OF 
 
 WUETEMBERG TO THE LOUVKE ... ... ... 225 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 1866 (continued). 
 
 The Emperor and the Speculators — England and 
 THE Italian question — The Archduke Maximilian 
 — Frenchmen of note — Paul Delaroche and the 
 picture of the Girondists — The Emperor visits 
 
 THE SCENE OF THE INUNDATIONS MaRRIAGE OF 
 
 Mdlle. Lehon and Prince Poniatowski — The 
 Duke de Brabant — Discovery of a substitute 
 
 FOR QUININE ThE EmPRESs's ULTRAMONTANE VIEWS 
 
 — Princess Mathilde's relations with Nieuwek- 
 KERKE — Monsieur de la Gueronniere — Anecdote 
 OF Fould — Marshal MacMahon— Countess Cas- 
 TiGLioNE — Ill-health of the Kmpress — Minis- 
 terial intrigues — The Emperor^s advisers — 
 Jobbery ... ... ... ... 246 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1856 (continued). 
 
 England and Italy. — Italian and French students — 
 Elopement of Madame de Silveyea — Monsieur 
 Bonaparte-Patterson — The Customs tariffs — 
 Selfishness of political parties — Ckemieux — 
 The Burmese Embassy — General d'Orgoni — 
 Russian protest against English and French 
 policy in Naples and Greece — Walewski specu- 
 lates ON the Bourse — Marshal Narvaez returns 
 to power — Three extraordinary marriages — 
 Breaking off of diplomatic relations with Naples 
 — The Duchess of Genoa's mesalliance — Charac- 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE 
 TER OF THE GUESTS AT CoMPIEGNE — FrANCE AND THE 
 
 English Press — Selfish policy op England — 
 French diplomacy defeated — Estrangement be- 
 tween France and England — England and India 
 — Louis Philippe and the King of Naples — 
 England must be bullied — The Crown Prince of 
 Prussia — Italian affairs ... ... ... ... 273 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 1851. 
 
 Princess Mathilde at home — Chaix d^Estangb — Count 
 DE Nieuwerkerke — Madame Piscatory — The Mar- 
 chioness DE Caraman — Prince Metcherskt and 
 Tannegut Duchatel — Princess Mathilde's opinion of 
 Prince de Canino — The Parliamentary Commission 
 AND THE Saint Cloud stud — Viscountess Saint-Mars, 
 her husbands and lovers — Flamarens and the Mar- 
 chioness DE LA ChATAIGNERATE MoNSIEUR AND MaDAME 
 
 Berger — French Diplomatists — Baron de Lagrenee, 
 
 HIS MISSION TO ChINAj AND THE STORY OF THE 
 
 " Crystal Button "• — Baron de Bourgoing in Spain ; his 
 singular notions of diplomacy; the anecdote of the 
 Mastodon — The Administration and its Diplomatic 
 Agents — Guizot and the Bourbon Coalition — The 
 Author's opinion of Louis Napoleon — TheMarchioness 
 DE Guadalcazar — Count Louis de Viel Castel, Vis- 
 count Flavigny, and their political Coterie — The 
 Prince President and his salary — Lamartine and 
 French mobs — Ferdinand de Lasteyrie — Bonaparte 
 Worship. 
 
 January 29th. — I dined to-da^; witli Princess Mathilde 
 (Demidoff), the daughter of Jerome Bonaparte. Tlie 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 other guests were Madame BressoD, wife of our old 
 ambassador; Mods, de Guitaud, her brother, second 
 Secretary at Madrid ; the Marchioness de Contades, 
 daughter of General de Castellane, commandant at 
 Lyons ; Mons. Chaix d'Bstange, of the bar, and Count 
 de Nieuwerkerke, Director-General of Museums. 
 The conversation, which was extrerael}'- animated and 
 witty, turned chiefly upon Madame Piscatory, General 
 Foy's daughter, a blue-stocking of very pronounced 
 type, who handles Egyptian history with remarkable 
 audacity, and even pretends to an intimate acquaint- 
 ance with the Assyrians themselves. This learned 
 person, it seems, is fully conversant with the ancient 
 mythology of the Nile and the internal economy of the 
 Pharaohs ; in fact, she is mad on antiquity. On her 
 hand, which is incessantly displayed above her head, 
 may be seen the royal signet of I know not which 
 Egyptian monarch, whose mummified remains were 
 discovered in one of the pyramids, while another of her 
 peculiarities is to insist upon her fanatical followers 
 admiring the beauty of her daughter's Egyptian 
 muscles. 
 
 After this lady the Marchioness of Caraman — 
 Cesarine de Beam — had the honour to appear before 
 our Areopagus. She is another blue-stocking of the 
 first water, who is devoted to modern languages and the 
 guitar. 1 knew her when she was an affected coquette, 
 and have seen her smoking cigarettes at Princess 
 Metchersky's. Poor Elim Metchersky was very fasci- 
 nated with her, and she was nothing loth to receive his 
 attentions ; but his mode of courtship was not suffi- 
 
PRINCESS MATHTLDE AND PRINCE DE C A NINO. 3 
 
 ciently spirited for her taste, and they quarrelled ; she 
 would not forgive his want of enterprise. About this 
 time — that is to say in 1834 — she used to accept 
 bouquets of camellias from Elim and boxes of the same 
 flowers from Tanneguy Dachatel, who was afterwards 
 Minister of the Interior. Chaix d'Estange complained 
 to us a good deal about the pressure that was being 
 put upon him by Prince de Canino, formerly President 
 of the Roman Republic, to induce him to undertake 
 his case asfainst Viscount d'Arlincourt. We all en- 
 deavoured to dissuade him from lending his services 
 to that coarse, vulgar Republican, except Princess 
 Mathilde, and she could not help admitting three 
 things with regard to Canino, namely, that he had 
 been a bad son, and was now a bad father and a bad 
 husband. 
 
 January ^Ist. — Went to an evening party at the 
 Louvre. The music good ; Seligman, violoncello ; 
 Dancla, violin; Ponchard and Geraldy, vocalists. I 
 talked a good deal with General Perrot, who com- 
 mands the National Guard in the Seine district. He 
 was very civil and friendly in his manner, and I like 
 him extremely ; a brave and resolute soldier, who is 
 delighted to be rid of Changarnier. 
 
 The President is the object of a fresh outburst of 
 popular indignation. The National Assembly having 
 nominated a Commission to examine and report upon 
 the St. Cloud Stud, the Commissioners were proceed- 
 ing across the park belonging to the palace, which is 
 now being occupied by the President, when they were 
 stopped by a keeper, who objected to this fragment of 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 the National Sovereignty going to the stables through 
 one of the private walks. The Commissioners resented 
 the interference, and in pompous and stentorian tones 
 exclaimed — " We are the representatives of the 
 people." To which startling assertion of authority 
 the keeper replied, with perfect equanimity, " All the 
 more reason." Indio^nation of these aug-ust indi- 
 viduals, of course, and an appeal to the authorities. 
 How the affair will end I cannot say, but we live in an 
 age when trifling causes lead to great results. Poor 
 France ! 
 
 Fehruaiij ^st. — Dined at Princess Mathilde's, Pue 
 de Courcelles. Met at dinner a Sicilian Princess, 
 whose name I forget, and Yiscount de Saint-Mars, 
 Colonel of the Dragoon Pegimeut now in Paris. He 
 is the husband of the Viscountess de Saint-Mars who 
 writes novels and newspaper stories under the name 
 of Countess Dash ; the mistress by turns of Roger de 
 Beauvoir, Elim Metchersky, and Alexandre Dumas. 
 This lady left France six years ago to marry the 
 Hospodar of Wallachia's son, and returned two years 
 afterwards in melancholy case, abandoned by husbands 
 and lovers alike. On coming back she used every 
 imaginable device to regain her old position as journ- 
 alist. A regular Bohemian, Countess Dash writes 
 to live, and to have the means of frequenting public 
 dances, spending on extravagant costumes more money 
 than it would take to keep a dozen honest women. 
 Pleasures of the dissolute order have a special attrac- 
 tion for her, nor is she very fastidious about whom she 
 sups with after the masque at the Opera is over. She 
 
THE MASCHIONESS DE LA CHATAIGNERAIE. 5 
 
 is a clever enough woman, but no longer young, being 
 close on forty-six, a fact which she regrets chiefly 
 because she is no longer able, as formerly, to pick and 
 choose her admirers. Count de Rochefort, who has 
 just been made Colonel of Cuirassiers, was one of her 
 early adorers. 
 
 After dinner several people came in, amongst others 
 Count de Flamarens, an aristocratic dandy of thirty 
 years' standing, who still pursues the tender passion, 
 and dresses with all the resources of art, but a kind- 
 hearted man withal. For more than fifteen years he 
 was avowedly on the most intimate terms with the 
 Marchioness de la Chataigneraie, whose husband has 
 just been made Prince de Pons. The Marchioness 
 was as silly as an owl, but just the kind of little gossip 
 to retain her sway. After the Count came General 
 Exelmans, an amiable man, but very old and deaf; 
 still devoted, however, to the Princesses of the Imperial 
 house of Bonaparte; then his son, an officer in the 
 Navy, and aide-de-camp to the Minister of Marine ; 
 also Mons. and Madame Berger, male and female 
 prefets of the City of Paris. The male one entered 
 the room like a knight of the middle-ages, only in 
 place of a hawk he bore his wife on his wrist. This 
 Berger has all the moral and physical characteristics 
 of a vulgar bourgeois — spiteful, foppish, and self- 
 sufficient, resorting to all sorts of antics to bring him- 
 self into notice. 
 
 Princess Mathilde, Guitaud, and I stayed until the 
 last, and had half-an-hour's cosy chat about every- 
 thing and everybody. Nieuwerkerke, having other 
 
6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 visits to pay, had left early. In tlie course of conver- 
 sation we talked a good deal about French diploma- 
 tists — a topic, perhaps, of no great importance, con- 
 sidering that one-third of them are fops, another third 
 blockheads, and the remainder have only just passable 
 qualities enough to make them useful. Two anecdotes, 
 however, with regard to them are worth recording. 
 
 Baron de Lagrenee, who had been brought up at 
 St. Acheul and was backed by the influence of that 
 clerical establishment, was attached to the French 
 Embassy at St. Petersburg in 1830. At that time a 
 Bible was always prominently displayed on his table, 
 a rosary hung on his chimney-piece, and a scapular 
 decorated his breast ; in 1831, however, he became a 
 Free Thinker, and at the present date he is a repre- 
 sentative of the people and a pompous Orleauist. It 
 was in Princess Mathilde's drawing-room, about the 
 time of the Ivan conspiracy, that he told Mons. 
 Baroche, in the hearing of everybody, that the would- 
 be assassin was in the pay of Louis Napoleon's 
 financial agfent. Never shall I foro^et the Princess's 
 indignation, her heightened colour, the tears in her 
 eyes, and the tone of scorn and anger in which she 
 addressed the insolent rascal; she looked magnificent, 
 and every inch a princess. But, to continue, this 
 Lagrenee was sent on a special mission to China, and 
 started at the head of an expedition for the purpose 
 of concluding a commercial treaty with the Celestial 
 Empire. His diplomatic efforts I need not dwell 
 upon ; we all know how fruitless they were. He had, 
 however — and small blame to him, for nowadays 
 
STORY OF THE CRYSTAL BUTTON. 7 
 
 everybody has the epidemic — a great weakness for 
 decorations. His mission having come to an end, it 
 only remained for him to set sail home, but he became 
 possessed of the idea that it would be a splendid thing 
 for his country if he returned a bigger buffoon than 
 he left. He accordingly went in search of the Imperial 
 Commissary, Lin, and begged he would procure for 
 him the order of the " Crystal Button," which he 
 would be delighted, he said, to wear as a souvenir 
 of his Chinese friends. Lin, being a man of sense, 
 told him that the thing would be impossible; first 
 of all, because it would offend the susceptibilities of 
 the Chinese, who had no institutions at all corres- 
 ponding to our European, orders, and, furthermore, 
 that the " Crystal Button" was a distinctive mark of 
 mandarin rank, and could only be obtained by passing 
 an examination in Chinese literature, which, of course, 
 our ambassador was unable to do. Lagrenee insisted, 
 and declared that he would not leave without the 
 *' button," even if he had to wear it like a 
 Chinaman, on his navel. In fact he prolonged 
 his stay for six mouths, which piece of obsti- 
 nacy cost the estimates another million and a 
 half of francs. Lin, like a prudent Chinaman, now 
 looked about for the means of ridding his country of 
 so importunate a guest, and this is how he did it. 
 Among the yellow race justices of the peace wear as 
 their badge of office a collar of glass beads, and this 
 collar was offered to and accepted by Lagrenee, who, 
 satisfied with the gift, agreed to leave Canton forth- 
 with. He did so, and a few months afterwards was 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 demonstrating to the wonder-stricken Parisians how 
 proud France ought to be to possess a Chinese J.P. 
 among her Ministers for the small cost of 1,500,000 
 francs. 
 
 The second anecdote relates to Baron de Bourgoing, 
 our plenipotentiary in Spain, one of the most astound- 
 ing ninnies I can offer as a specimen of the species. 
 With the manners and address of a fashionable abbe 
 he combines a pretentious good nature and affectation 
 of sincerity which stamp him at once as a knave. 
 " Sir," said he one day to Guitaud, at the ambassa- 
 dor's palace in Madrid, "it would be an excellent 
 thing if Spain could be induced to give some proof of 
 the friendship she entertains for the French Eepublic, 
 and so cement between the two nations an alliance 
 which Nature herself seems to have projected. Go 
 and ask the director of the museum for authority to 
 take a cast of the mastodon in his collection, and tell 
 him that in return he shall have the Legion of Honour." 
 He added : " If I am not mistaken it is by such 
 amenities that the policy of Louis XIY. should be per- 
 petuated." Guitaud, who knew no more about masto- 
 dons than about natural history generally, delivered 
 his message. But the director, in no very cordial 
 manner, replied : " We have not got a mastodon, sir, 
 but we have an anoplotherium, at least a skeleton of 
 one." And he led him to the fossil remains of an 
 enormous decayed-looking beast which was held 
 together by wires. "And," continued he, "you may 
 tell the French ambassador that anoplotherium skele- 
 tons do not lend themselves to moulding ; that it 
 
GUIZOT AND THE BOURBON COALITION. 
 
 would be a barbarous act to attempt it, and one to 
 which His Majesty Charles Y. would never consent." 
 Guitaud retired in confusion, and thus ended the pro- 
 position by which Bourgoing boped to re-establish the 
 policy of Louis XIV"., from which it may be inferred 
 that French diplomacy at the present day is of a very 
 brilliant order indeed. After 1848 we sent a fiddler 
 to Naples, a melodramatic writer to Lisbon, a profes- 
 sor of languages to Frankfort, and to Berlin the son of 
 an astronomer, a barrister of questionable repute, who 
 passed his time in running after actresses and playing 
 dominoes. Bisum teneatis. 
 
 February 2nd. — I heard no news this evening at 
 Mons. Baroche's. There were a number of fore- 
 sighted people there who had apparently come to 
 keep themselves informed of any insurrectionary 
 movements. Persigny and Flavigny were also present 
 in most affable mood. 
 
 At Baron Gustave de Roman's (the editor of a 
 semi-Legitimist newspaper published at Montpellier) it 
 was reported that Mons. Guizot had had an interview 
 wdth the Orleans Princes the previous week at Clair- 
 mont, and that he had been entrusted with the task of 
 negotiating with the Count de Chambord a fusion of 
 the different Bourbon interests — any further delay in 
 which, Mons. Guizot might have told them all, would 
 certainly hand France over to the empire. These 
 fusions, alliances, and political intrigues are little 
 better than drawing-room cabals. Fatality marks the 
 advent of the second empire, and the wisest course in 
 the midst of a people without faith, energy, or recti- 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 tude is to anticipate nothing. Personal interests are 
 alone dominant. The Republic is like a poor creature 
 on the point of child-birth, and everybody wishes to 
 propitiate the fates by acting sponsor to the baby. 
 "We shall all have to pay for the sugar-plums at the 
 christenino^ ! 
 
 February 4th. — "What will be the result of the pro- 
 posed increase to the President's salary, notice of 
 which was given yesterday ? If the people were 
 consulted it would be voted by acclamation. A 
 genuine Republican, Huguenin the sculptor, tells me 
 that such is his interpretation of the popular feeling ; 
 indeed, he added that, although he voted for Cavaignac 
 oa December 10th, he, and many who think with him, 
 would now vote for Louis Napoleon. 
 
 Up to now I have been unable to form any accurate 
 opinion of that prince's character, and I cannot de- 
 termine whether he is a calm and resolute opportunist 
 or a man who is swayed by doubt. He refused the 
 throne when it was offered him by General Chan- 
 garnier, and now wants a prorogation, which is after 
 all only the stepping-stone to it. I recognize one 
 great quality in him — he has courage ; one great 
 political virtue, reticence. Not one of his friends at 
 the Elysee is in his confidence, for he opens his mind 
 to no one ; at the same time he is informed of every 
 step his enemies take against him. He has proof 
 of his cousin Jerome's intrigues, of Changarnier's 
 duplicity, and of the orders issued by that general 
 to the Paris garrison to fire upon him whenever he 
 attempts to leave the Elysee for the Tuileries. This 
 
PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON. 11 
 
 order was communicated to bim bj the Count de 
 Saint-Mars, who had himself received it. 
 
 Dejected and almost dull before the official world, 
 he becomes animated and unconstrained in private 
 life. I saw him last summer at St. Cloud, and aii'ain 
 during the winter at his cousin Princess Mathilde's; 
 he was no longer the President, but a charming and 
 well-bred companion. He is not without finesse and 
 cunning; as regards his disinterestedness, I do not 
 believe he sets so little store upon the permanence of 
 his power as he pretends in his Presidential messages. 
 He is ambitious and a firm believer in his destiny, 
 which from childhood he has asserted will one day 
 make him ruler of France. Unfortunately for him, 
 although he is acquainted with the principal actors in 
 the political drama, he knows nothing of those who 
 play the minor parts. The Government, and especially 
 the diplomatic section, is in the hands of men who are 
 ready to turn their coats at the first reversal of fortune. 
 The Army is sounder. The diplomatists are either 
 Orleanist in sentiment or, what amounts to the same 
 thing, under the influence of those who, even if 
 Bonapartist in name, are mere pawns in the hands 
 of the Orleanist faction. The President has to use 
 too many tools which have been fashioned by other 
 hands and for other purposes. At the present time 
 new situations require new men. What is the use of 
 all these diplomatic flunkeys belonging to the de- 
 throned regime of 1848 as Ministers and active agents 
 of the present Administration ? These men are ever- 
 lastingly pestering the Governments to which they are 
 
1 2 MEM OIES OF CO UNT HOE A CE BE VI EL CAS TEL . 
 
 accredited to obtain for them some bigli order, and 
 when they have got it they apply for removal, in 
 order that they may solicit fresh distinctions else- 
 where. Such diplomatists remind me very forcibly 
 of the temporary altars of rough canvas erected at 
 religious fetes in country districts, on which are dis- 
 played all the old-fashioned knick-knacks and tawdry 
 collections of the villao^e. 
 
 I dined at the Marchioness of Guadalcazar's. She 
 is a grandee of Spain of the first-class and an old 
 coquette of sixty, who endeavours to act the part 
 of a young girl, fancies herself what she never was, 
 very beautiful, and dances the minuet, cachucha, 
 and bolero — a sensible enoug^h woman if she would 
 orily admit to being more than twenty, and not try 
 to obtain [the character of being a trifle disre- 
 putable. It was she who was sent by Ferdinand VIII. 
 to Louis XYIII. to solicit the intervention of the 
 French Army in 1823. The other guests were my 
 brother Louis, director of the political branch of the 
 Foreign Office; Mons. de Bois-le-Comte, at one time 
 ambassador in Switzerland; and Mons. de Bretonne, 
 trustee of the St. Genevieve Library. The latter, a 
 learned dreamer, half Voltairian, half Dolt, talked fairly 
 about subjects he did not understand. He is the 
 author of an historical work, and translated " Don 
 Quixote " to please her Excellency the Marchioness, 
 with whom he is still on tender terms in this doubtful 
 year of grace 185 L 
 
 During the course of a very agreeable dinner 
 politics were largely discussed, and the two diploma- 
 
VISCOUNT DE FLAVIGNY'S PARTIES. 13 
 
 tists, who are not very well disposed towards the 
 present Government, expressed themselves in high 
 terms of the pamphlet by Thuriot de la Roziere (an 
 ex-diplomatist of their own kidney, and now a member 
 of the Assembly), in which he contrasts the policy of 
 the Assembly with that of the President, very much 
 to the latter's disadvantas^e. 
 
 I am vastly afraid my brother will compromise his 
 position. He avows his Orleanist proclivities too 
 openly, and every Sunday breakfasts and talks politics 
 with Yiscount de Flavigny, the brother of Countess 
 d'Agoult (Daniel Stern). The Viscount has been 
 Legitimist and Orleanist by turns ; what he is now I 
 do not know. The members of this diminutive senate 
 and breakfast party are, besides my brother and 
 Flavigny, Gabriac, an old diplomatist with clerical 
 tendencies, Bois-le-Comte, and a few occasionals of the 
 same persuasion. They conduct themselves like thieves 
 at a fair, taking care always to have one of their 
 number in the crowd, in order to get the office and 
 means of escape in case of need. These gentlemen of 
 Flavigny's breakfast table hold the world in their 
 grasp like little Charlemagnes ; but what I admire in 
 them most is the skill with which they have allotted 
 to each other their several tasks. My brother occupies 
 the diplomatic post, and is answerable for foreiofQ 
 affairs ; Flavigny, as a member of the Assembly, the 
 Home Office ; Bois-le-Comte is a sort of insurance 
 policy, in case the Legitimist party should ever come 
 into power; and Gabriac, the leader of the saints, 
 brings the support of the Church. These four almost 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 unknown personages, therefore, form a sort of Council 
 after the manner of the Ten at Venice. Being very 
 much in request in society, they forage about every- 
 where, and, like bees, make their honey on Sunday 
 with the ingatherings of the week. 
 
 February btk. — The President's salary is to be 
 refused, at least so the Coalition have determined. 
 Mons. Mole was in favour of postponing the discussion 
 until a responsible Ministry was definitely formed, but 
 the other leaders, being more impatient of delay, pre- 
 ferred to settle the matter without adjournment, and 
 there and then vetoed the grant, although aware 
 that opinion out of doors was against such a course. 
 Thiers, Odilon Barrot, Emile de Girardin, Victor 
 Hugo, Larochejaquelein and Co. are like so many 
 frogs croaking at the approach of bad weather. 
 
 The newspapers have just arrived, and my worst 
 fears are confirmed ; the grant has been refused. 
 What a charming opportunity to jump on the Govern- 
 ment ! Coalitions will not be wanting, and both 
 Orleanists and Legitimists, how they will crow ! 
 
 The more I consider the matter the more prepos- 
 terous does what is called parliamentary government 
 seem to be ; it might just as well be called govern- 
 ment by dissolution or demoralization. 
 
 Having an abominable influenza, I am going to 
 devote this evening to re-reading the history of the 
 decline and fall of Rome. 
 
 During the three hours that I have been readinsf I 
 might have been perusing the history of my own time. 
 We liave, alas, all the vices of Rome, and will not take 
 
FRENCH REVOLUTIONISTS. 15 
 
 warning by the example of her fall. We have the two 
 pretenders, and we have the barbarians ; not on our 
 confines it is true, but here in the very midst of us, 
 and, as in Eome, each party appeals to them for aid 
 against his adversary. 
 
 What sort of men are our leaders ! Wretches who 
 merely play with revolution for purposes of their own, 
 havino;- neither conviction nor faith in anything but 
 themselves. Chateaubriand and his royalists brought 
 about the events of 1830; Thiers and the middle class 
 those of 1848. Saddest of all sights is to see these 
 Members of Parliament travelling merrily ton^ards 
 destruction. The barbarians are here only waiting 
 for their opportunity, and then will be sadder havoc 
 than when the Huns and the Vandals ravaged the 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 Lamartine, to flatter the populace, condescended to 
 write that " a French crowd was remarkable for its 
 respect for public monuments and works of art." 
 Formerly kings only had their flatterers, but now the 
 xevj mud of the streets must have its laureate. 
 Eespect for works of art, indeed ! Why, when I first 
 went to the Louvre I saw pictures from the galleries 
 at Neuilly and the Palais-Royal cut, hacked, and dis- 
 figured ; statues mutilated and broken ; lovely porce- 
 lain vases, onyx and crystal cups, and books, draw- 
 ings, and manuscripts treated in the same way. Mon- 
 sieur de Lamartine, you lied knowingly; the people 
 are robbers, and every successful revolt, since glorified 
 in your writings, was achieved by persons who looked 
 to disorder for means of larceny. It can never be 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF COUNT IIORA CE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 repeated too often that public writers were insincere 
 in praising the rebels of 1848 and 1830. In the latter 
 year these honest citizens stole a million and a half 
 francs worth of jewels and other valuable property 
 from the Louvre, without counting the sack of the 
 Tuileries. In 1848 the Tuileries was again plundered, 
 as well as the Palais-Eoyal, which was also set on fire. 
 Neuilly and Mous. de Eothschild's house were rifled, 
 and contributions were levied at different private 
 houses. At Lord Henry Seymour's, for example, 
 where I happened to be at the time, valuable arms 
 and 1,000 francs in money were forcibly demanded. 
 At the Tuileries diamonds and precious stones were 
 fought for at the point of the knife, and prostitutes 
 inhabiting the lowest slums were expected on occa- 
 sions to dress themselves in silk. 
 
 Surely, the Huns and the Yandals were not equal 
 to this rabble. 
 
 February 6th. — There is a good deal of excitement 
 this morning about a dinner given by the great 
 Lamorici^re to Messieurs Mole, Thiers, Baze, and 
 other members of the Coalition belonging to the left- 
 centre. The revision of the Constitution was the 
 principal subject discussed, and there was a general 
 agreement as to the desirability of doing away with 
 the Presidency of the Republic, and substituting for 
 it a Directory composed of five members. We shall 
 be drifting, in that case, towards a Convention. Can 
 nothing instruct men, nothing in the past or present 
 serve to enlighten them ? Is this progress ? A 
 Directory, forsooth ! Just a repetition of what was 
 
FERDINAND DE LASTEYRIE. 17 
 
 most shameless and revolting in the Revolution of 
 1789. Five niggardly and insignificant Barrases 
 quarrelling and disputing among themselves. Rome, 
 Rome, art thou returned to us ? Are the soldiery 
 again to put up to public auction the chief offices of 
 State? They tell me that General Changarnier was 
 at the dinner. 
 
 February lili. — The President's soiree yesterday 
 was the most successful of the season ; everyone 
 made a point of protesting, by his presence, against 
 the hostile vote of the Chamber. For the first time 
 since the present regime came into power the Oppo- 
 sition has become unpopular. On all sides one hears 
 of subscriptions being offered to make up the grant 
 refused by the Assembly. Lyons, it is stated, offers 
 300,000 francs, Limoges 120,000, the Eure district 
 180,000, and the different trades bodies in Paris are 
 putting their names down for considerable sums. 
 
 The President ought tactfully to refuse these dona- 
 tions, and so enhance his popularity. 
 
 February Wtli. — The President has sent a com- 
 munication to the Moniteur, thanking those who have 
 contributed to the public subscription being raised 
 for him, but declining to accept it. The letter is 
 brief, but dignified, and will have an excellent effect. 
 The list of those who voted against the grant is pub- 
 lished this morning ; it includes Orleanists, Legiti- 
 mists, and Democrats, the strangest and dirtiest coali- 
 tion on record. Jules and Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, 
 my two cousins, are in the list. Jules, the grandson 
 of Lafayette on his mother's side, was an ardent 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
18 MEMOIRS OF COUNT TWRACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 Democrat until his marriage with Mdlle. de Jarnac, 
 of Piohan Chabot, the sister of Jarnac, our ambas- 
 sador in London previous to 1848 ; since then he has 
 espoused the Orleanist cause, and his "wife, they say, 
 is dowered by the younger Bourbon branch. Ferdi- 
 nand is a capital and intelligent fellow, but wrong- 
 headed ; the kind of man who acts foolishly without 
 intention. His mother and mine were sisters. His 
 father, one of the most violent Jacobins of modern 
 times, had been a priest, and left the Church in order 
 to marry ; he had no religious belief whatever, and 
 died eighteen months ago, over eighty years of age, in 
 the principles of some low form of Voltairian faith. He 
 was another example of a charming simple-minded man. 
 Ferdinand has two natures, one aristocratic, which he 
 carefully hides from the Chamber and his constituency, 
 but gives full vent to in the security of his own room, 
 where he studies his genealogy, touches up his coat of 
 arms, and cherishes the memory of his ancestors ; the 
 other is that of the citizen Lasteyrie, and is meant for 
 the public. His speeches in the Assembly, though 
 wanting in depth, are fairly smart, and are greatly 
 admired by the female relations who congregate at his 
 house to hear them rehearsed. 
 
 Ferdinand arrived from America two days ago, full 
 of disgust for American Republicans, who he declares 
 are the rudest and most arrogant noodles in the world. 
 His wife is a pretty little American, badly brought 
 up and spoiled, but very kind-hearted. 
 
 My cousin has two sorts of visiting cards ; on those 
 for Liberals and his constituents he simply puts Ferdi- 
 
BONAPARTE WORSHIP. 19 
 
 nand Lasteyrie ; for the aristocratic world — Count F. 
 de Lasteyrie. 
 
 This evening there was a concert at' Princess 
 Mathilde's, where I heard Sehgman, Mdlle. Masson, 
 and Dupont. As usual a good many people were 
 present, and the diplomatic corps crowded the rooms. 
 Kisseleff, the Russian ambassador, and I chatted 
 together for some time, and amused ourselves by 
 quizzing the ladies. The dress and appearance of the 
 Turkish ambassadress were very striking. When most 
 of the guests were gone, and the circle was narrowed 
 to a few intimates, we discussed the speech which 
 Montalembert had delivered on the grant question, 
 and all expressed our approval of it except the 
 Princess. I felt very much pained, I admit, at her 
 injustice, for the more attached I become to her the 
 more I desire that she may show fairness, impartiality, 
 and broad and noble views. 
 
 The Bonapartes have but one faith and recognize 
 but one power, namely, that which was bequeathed by 
 the first Napoleon. In their eyes there never lived 
 but one great man. Napoleon. Charlemagne and Louis 
 XIV. were as nothing in comparison. You may question 
 religious ideas, religion, or even the Almighty Himself, 
 but you may not question the god of their idolatry. 
 They do not pretend, it is true, that he was born 
 without sin, but in their eyes he certainly lived sinless. 
 No spot can be found on that particular sun. Sach 
 Napoleon worship is wrong, and can only lead to mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 1851 {continued). 
 
 Baron Humboldt and the Maequis de Custine — The 
 Bet op Teipoli and English jealousy — The Maequis 
 OP EoccA GioviNE — Russia and Constantinople — 
 Monsieur and Madame Gudin — The Anniversary op 
 February 24th ; the author's account of the fight 
 on the Boulevard des Capucines — Princess Mathilde 
 AND Prince Demidofp — The Czar Nicholas's opinion 
 OF Demidofp — Tanneguy Duchatel, love and lottery 
 — SusANNE — The Carnival — • French vulgarity — 
 Gallantry and society — The Duchess of Suther- 
 land AT the Louvre — Lavalette and his diplomatic 
 career — Schoelcher, Charles Blanc, and Ledru- 
 RoLLiN — Doctor Belhomme's madhouse. 
 
 MoNS. DE NiEuwEEKERKE, Senior, has been to tbe 
 Louvre to see his son, who is just now suffering from 
 fever. I had a long talk with him upon a variety of 
 topics, and he told me the following anecdote about 
 the Marquis de Custine, the author of " Travels in 
 Russia," a roue who is still tolerated in society because 
 of his wealth. Before his marriage with Mdlle. 
 
HUMBOLDT AND THE MARQUIS DE CUSTINE. 21 
 
 de Courtomer (who died quite young, with great forti- 
 tude, but of a broken heart) the Marquis de Castine 
 paid his addresses to Mdlle. de Duras, whose mother 
 was the authoress of " Ourika" and other works. The 
 young lady listened to his suit, and the engagement 
 was about to be announced when one morning there 
 happened to assemble in the Duchess de Duras' draw- 
 ing-room, besides the young lovers themselves, Count 
 de Nieuwerkerke, Baron Humboldt, and one or two 
 intimate friends of the family. Baron Humboldt pre- 
 tended that he could read character from handwriting, 
 and this gift, which had been proved by frequent ex- 
 periments, chanced to form the subject of conversation. 
 " Come, now," said the Duchess, suddenly taking a 
 letter from her waist-band, " let us see. Baron, if you 
 can read by the handwriting in this letter the character 
 of the writer." Humboldt, like a learned German, 
 collected himself, examined the epistle, and began to 
 expatiate upon the formation, general appearance, and 
 peculiarities of the letters. He then proceeded to 
 demonstrate that the person who had written them 
 was an extraordinary being, of whimsical tastes, 
 corrupt imagination, and devoid of all moral sense. 
 He in fact drew a most abominable picture in spite of 
 the Duchess de Duras' endeavour to stop him, for the 
 writer of the letter was no other than the Marquis 
 de Custine himself. The ensfaofement was in conse- 
 quence broken off. Custine, who subsequently married 
 Mdlle. de Courtomer, turned out an indescribable 
 scoundrel, and Baron Humboldt's divination proved 
 correct. 
 
22 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CASTE L. 
 
 February 19th. — Viscount de I'Epine has been to 
 see me. He tells me that previous to 1848, when 
 Marshal Soult was in office, a friend of his who had 
 spent many years in Africa, in the neighbourhood 
 of Tripoli, established very friendly relations with 
 some desert tribes, who agreed for a small periodical 
 tribute to guarantee the safety of caravans going 
 between Timbuctoo and Oonstautine. This would have 
 been of enormous advantage to France, as it would 
 have enabled her to open up a direct communication 
 with the central part of Africa. 
 
 Marshal Soult espoused the idea very warmly, and 
 had even gone so far as to send presents to the chiefs 
 of the tribes, and to the Bej of Tripoli, when Guizot 
 put an end to the matter by asserting that England 
 would take umbrage at it. The British Government 
 got wind of the negotiations, and set to work to 
 frustrate the understanding between the Bey of 
 Tripoli and the French. A rival was found in Con- 
 stantinople, who, furnished with a firman of investiture 
 from the Sultan, lauded in Africa and made war upon 
 the Bey. The latter defended himself with such 
 vigour and bravery that in despair of overcoming him 
 he was invited to a conference. Thither he repaired 
 in good faith, and was assassinated. That is the 
 way French policy was conducted and English agents 
 worked. 
 
 It is our everlasting timidity winch fosters the 
 pride and arrogance of the English Cabinet. Shades 
 of Louis XVI. and ISTapoleon, what are you about ? 
 
 I dined this evening with Tarrall, an English doctor 
 
RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE. 23 
 
 who has married a rich Itahan lady and retired from 
 practice, and devotes himself to pictures and art 
 criticism. We were a large party, consisting of some 
 English people who were unknown to me. Prince 
 Canino, his son-in-law, the Marquis Rocca Giovine, 
 a sallow-faced little Roman, with good features and the 
 voice of an eunuch, whose pretty wife seems likely 
 to lead her husband as she pleases, and unless I am 
 mistaken has already been scratched by Cupid's 
 darts ; Ricardo, brother of the English banker, a 
 charming fellow, whom I like extremely ; Rizza Bey, 
 secretary of the Ottoman embassy; Nieuwerkerke, a 
 Russian gentleman, and a limited number of lesser 
 stars. 
 
 After dinner, which was good and well served, some 
 of the men stayed to smoke in an adjoining room. I 
 was among the number, and extraordinary to relate, 
 we were five smokers of five different nationalities : 
 an Italian, a Turk, a Russian, a Frenchman, and an 
 Englishman. Rizza Bey talked to me a good deal 
 about Turkey, and very much surprised me by the 
 confiding manner in which he remarked, pointing to 
 the Russian, " Why do we not understand each other 
 better with such an enemy at our gates ? " These poor 
 Turks wish to persuade us that Russia is an enemy to 
 be feared, and that Constantinople in its power would 
 mean a constant menace to Europe. I verily believe 
 that the English alone dread such a contingency. Our 
 policy should be to prevent England from laying hands 
 on Egypt, and to exclude her from any possessions on 
 the Mediterranean littoral. 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 Fehruary 20th. — The Marquis of Hertford and 
 Kichard Wallace came to the Louvre, and I accom- 
 panied them through the modern Sculpture Galleries. 
 The Marquis is anxious to obtain the cast of a small 
 Promethean group of figures. I am very fond of 
 Wallace, and was pleased to see him again. He is a 
 delightful companion, possessing an intelligent know- 
 ledge of art, and many is the time that we have made 
 excursions together to sales of curios. 
 
 In the evening I dined with Grudin, the marine 
 painter, at his pretty Beaujon house. The dinner was 
 in every respect excellent, but he and his wife have a 
 stiff and formal way of receiving you, which does not 
 put you at your ease. They are the sort of people 
 who, without any desire to do so, would be constantly 
 offending your susceptibilities if you allowed them to 
 do so. Madame Gudin, a brawny Scotchwoman, without 
 much intelligence, is a niece of the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, of which fact her husband is not a little proud. 
 Both husband and wife live in most extravagant style. 
 
 February 24th. — To-day's anniversary has been 
 dull and spiritless in spite of the magnificent weather, 
 which has usually a cheering effect upon the Parisian 
 temperament. A Te Deum was performed at Notre 
 Dame, and there has also been some singing of the 
 " Marseillaise," and sporting of immortelles in the 
 button-holes of a few loungers. Lagrange, the hero 
 of the fight on the Boulevard des Capucines, ad- 
 dressed an unenthusiastic crowd in front of Notre 
 Dame, but the celebration of the Republic's third 
 birthday was, generally speaking, a fiasco. On the 
 
FIGHT ON THE BOULEVARD DES CAPUCINES. 25 
 
 evening of the engagement on the Boulevard I hap- 
 pened to be at the Cafe de Paris, and seeing a de- 
 monstration led by Lagrange go by I was foolish 
 enough to follow to see what would happen. The 
 insurrectionary mob was principally composed of a 
 few hundred agitators, carrying torches and a red flag, 
 but among them were thirty or forty men, evidently 
 armed, and one or two in the officers' uniform of the 
 National Guard. At the top of the garden belonging 
 to the Foreign Office their progress was stopped by 
 a battalion of infantry. Someone in the insurgent 
 ranks fired a shot, and the soldiers replied with a 
 volley. For a minute I felt paralyzed, and when I 
 recovered myself the Boulevard, which a moment 
 before had been all noise and excitement, was as still 
 as a desert; the military stood quietly under arms, 
 the torches were extinguished, and the wounded were 
 drao-o'inCT themselves into the side streets to die. 
 Others were lying lifeless on the paths, and the 
 leaders had gone to fetch carts on which to convey 
 the victims' bodies through the streets of Paris. 
 
 The next day the people assembled in the streets. 
 I was at the Tuileries with my battalion of National 
 Guards, which had been furnished with cartridges, 
 and seemed well disposed, and there was plenty of 
 artillery besides. The King reviewed us, and then 
 went off ; the troops were dismissed, and in the midst 
 of general stupefaction the Republic was proclaimed. 
 
 March 3rcL — Baroness de Reding's funeral took 
 place to-day. That lady had had the care of Princess 
 Mathilde from childhood, and had since acted as her 
 
26 3IEM01RS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 lady companion. The Princess is in great distress, for 
 the loss is an irreparable one. It was from the 
 Baroness that I learned the story of the Princess's 
 marriage with Demidoff, and his cruel and heartless 
 treatment of her, and how at Florence he made love 
 to the Duchess de Dino before her face. She also told 
 me how the Princess had beo^o^ed her husband on her 
 knees not to allow the Emperor Nicholas, when he 
 came to Florence, to be a witness of the vile conduct 
 that polluted their married life. The first words the 
 Emperor said to her when he arrived were : " You do 
 not know what a scoundrel you have married," but 
 although already conscious of the fact for nine months 
 past she answered : " It is not generous of your 
 Majesty to speak in such terms of a man who is my 
 husband." The Emperor then added more gently, 
 *' Poor child, you will know it one day, and then you 
 will come to me for shelter. Remember that you may 
 always count upon my sincerest friendship." The 
 Emperor knew the man as I did ; nothing viler or 
 more truly base could be imagined — insolent with 
 valets, and grovelling when opposed ; false, cowardly, 
 and vicious, without a single good quality. Believing 
 him to be capable of any secret treachery, the Emperor 
 had him watched, and but for want of absolute proof 
 would have sent him to cool his heels in Siberia for a 
 libel of which he was the inspiring author. He was 
 furthermore a pretending scholar, and got himself 
 elected a corresponding member of the French 
 Institute, in virtue of an important and learned work 
 for which he supplied the funds only. I knew Demi- 
 
LOVE AND LOTTERY. 27 
 
 doff' s father, who possessed the same bad qualities, 
 and was as undesirable a person as his son. He 
 rented a country house belonging to the Countess 
 Duchatel at Sceaux-Penthievre, in, I think, 1819. He 
 had in his house a young Circassian or Tartar woman 
 named Nedirdgka Latacheff, a sort of favourite female 
 slave, for whom Tanneguy Duchatel conceived a violent 
 boyish affection, 
 
 Tanneguy and I were great friends, and when I 
 was at school in Paris in or about 1818 always came 
 to see me during the week. On Sundays we met 
 again at his mother's house at Sceaux, where my eldest 
 brother, Theodore, was sous-prefet. 
 
 One Thursday, when the rain kept us indoors and 
 we were hard pressed for amusement, we passed away 
 the time in discussing all the pretty women we knew. 
 We were only sixteen at the time, and ended by con- 
 fiding to each other by which of the fair ones we 
 wished to be loved, but as it was necessary, in order to 
 arrive at so desirable a consummation, first to declare 
 our affection, and had never yet told any woman we 
 loved her, the difficulty seemed very great. 
 
 Suddenly a sublime idea seized our young imagina- 
 tions, and we proceeded to put it in execution. 
 To make a declaration by word of mouth was impos- 
 sible ; we were too inexperienced and timid for such a 
 course. To do so in writing looked much easier, so 
 we wrote each in turn a line of an imposing epistle, 
 and when it was finished drew lots as to which should 
 sign it. It fell to me to assume the part of gay 
 deceiver. I signed — not without secret misgiving, 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAST EL. 
 
 however — and then we proceeded to consider to whom 
 the letter should be sent. We agreed to place in a hat,, 
 on separate pieces of paper, the names of twenty- 
 young women of our acquaintance, and to leave the 
 rest to chance. We did so. Duchatel plunged his 
 hand into the hat and took out a paper, which I 
 opened and read. It contained the name of Susanne 
 de C — , a young person three or four years older than 
 myself, who lived at Sceaux with her father, and was 
 much admired on account of her beauty. Her mother 
 was dead, and her father, the descendant of a very 
 ancient and noble family, who had been in the Church 
 previous to the Revolution of 1789, saw only a few 
 intimate acquaintances, and rarely went to Paris, 
 When the name of Susanne was read out Tanneguy 
 laughed in derision, and cried out : " Don't you wish 
 you may get her ! " 
 
 I would have wished, I honestly believe, not to send 
 the letter, but Tanneguy seized it and put it in the 
 post. Then commenced a life of anguish of which I 
 can give no idea. I neither slept nor ate, was in 
 constant dread of meeting Susanne, and did all I 
 could to avoid her. At last I was obliged to meet 
 her, and one day, being left alone in her company, 
 I endeavoured to express my regret for having 
 dared to avow my feelings. Both apology and love 
 were accepted notwithstanding, and our intimacy 
 lasted for five years. All the world got to know of 
 it, and as Susanne was liked and sought after, I, too, 
 was liked and sought after. If she was asked out to 
 dinner I received an invitation also. We met several 
 
THE FRENCH CARNIVAL. 29 
 
 times a week, passed the whole of Sunday together, 
 and wrote to each other every day — such letters ! 
 Love's romances, which never seemed long enough for 
 the expression of our heart's feelings. . . . Since our 
 rupture I have never once seen Susanne, but she still 
 lives in my memory as in the first bloom of early 
 love. 
 
 March 4th. — Everywhere carriages full of masquer- 
 aders, and crowds of idlers looking on. At night 
 costume balls, veritable resorts of debauchery, where 
 people speak in strange tongues and act as by right 
 with unseemly vulgarity. Such is, in fact, the French 
 carnival. 
 
 I dined at a cafe, spent the evening out, and 
 returned home to the Louvre at one o'clock in the 
 morning. Noisy and half-drunken maskers were still 
 about, some going to revels at the taverns, others to 
 the casinos. 
 
 The vilest costumes are those which are most 
 popular at public dancing places. The masker who 
 makes himself most unsightly and hideous, who com- 
 mits a dozen indecent acts at each step, and scarcely 
 utters a word without some disgusting allusion, is the 
 king, the hero of the youthful merrymakers, and the 
 women select him for the object of their most pointed 
 coquetries. And what poetical names he invents 
 for apostrophizing the women — fowl ! camel ! The 
 men are "snouts," a face is a "mug" — in fact, all 
 the slang of pickpockets and cut-throats is little by 
 little brought into common use. The women of the 
 better class are proficient in the cancan, the dance of 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF CO UN T HO RA CE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 the lowest class of girls and tramps. They know all 
 the kept women by name, and even endeavour to rob 
 them of their lovers. The mud tide is rising ; where 
 will it stop ? 
 
 March 9th. — Dined at Princess Mathilde's ; a small 
 party consisting of E-otomsky and his wife, Nieuwer- 
 kerke, Madame Depres and her daughter, the doctor, 
 and the Princess. The conversation was almost ex- 
 clusively restricted to stories and observations concern- 
 ing society. Poor society ! you are expected to be moral 
 and are so constituted that it is impossible for you to 
 be so. What is the world itself but a wide arena for 
 the display of coquetry and intrigue, where men and 
 women each play their parts. Man is esteemed for his 
 conquests or his knowledge of the world. The crown of 
 gallantry, or the crown of ambition, is worn with equal 
 zest, and is as ardently and cunningly contended for. 
 
 The gift of fascination is an immense power in 
 wom'en's hands, for from the Secretary of State to the 
 meanest rung in the official ladder all are under the 
 dominion of the captivator. Fould, the late Minister 
 of Finance, for example, is very amenable to female 
 charms, and does not hide his weakness. 
 
 Every man can count in his private life, if he lives at 
 all in society, five or six seductions, or in other words 
 five or six mistresses ; but the day he marries all his 
 amorous past is forgotten with the love letters 
 he consigns to the flames, and the faded bouquets 
 he casts to the winds, persuading himself in honest 
 faith that his wife will be his private property. But 
 no, society is on the look out, it entices and entraps 
 
THE DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND. 31 
 
 Ler; marriage has torn from her the robe of inno- 
 cence, the flower of youth. She is initiated now, and 
 no longer the ignorant maiden, and little by little she 
 learns to understand in the words of love whispered 
 in her ear the outpourings of sensual passion. Saying 
 to a woman " I love you" ninety times in a hundred 
 simply means, in plain language, " You please me, you 
 appeal to my senses ; share my life, or let me share 
 yours, until my whim is over." Poor women ! poor 
 men ! poor society ! poor everybody ! 
 
 March lOtli. — From four to six o'clock, I was en- 
 gaged in showing the Duchess of Sutherland and her 
 daughter over the Louvre. These two ladies called at 
 my office and begged me, in the absence of Nieuwer- 
 kerke, to act as their guide. The Duchess is extremely 
 gracious and affable, and evidently wishes to appear 
 so ; her daughter, who is still unmarried, is pretty and 
 distinguished-looking, an excellent specimen indeed 
 of the English aristocracy. 
 
 Our Louvre is always an object of admiration to 
 strangers, and the magnificent restoration it is now 
 undergoing is to them a source of wonder and astonish- 
 ment. The gallery of Apollo strikes them as being, 
 what in point of fact it is, the most beautiful royal 
 apartment in the world. The room with the seven 
 chimney pieces, and the large square drawing-room, 
 decorated by Duban, will greatly increase his reputa- 
 tion. The carvings in the former room are by Duret, 
 those in the latter by Simart. 
 
 The Duchess of Sutherland was loud in her admira- 
 tion of the sculpture in the Renaissance galleries, the 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORA CE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Michael Angelos and others, and speaks like a woman 
 who loves and understands the arts. Her daughter, 
 with whom I conversed for a few moments during;- oar 
 somewhat extended ramble, told me this was her first 
 visit to France; she examined the pictures by Raphael 
 very attentively, but was positively repelled by the 
 Egyptian sculpture. She resents, as does her mother, 
 the immobility and stiffness of all those figures of the 
 time of Pharaoh. In the matter of art these two ladies 
 are by no means archaeological, they like that which is 
 perfected, which entrances by its mode of execution. 
 They made an exception, however, in one particular 
 instance. Two tombs of the latter part of the 15th 
 century impressed them extremely by the simplicity as 
 well as the marked subtilty of their execution. The 
 Duchess remarked that in her opinion the Middle Ages 
 had best understood and appreciated tumulary art — > 
 those grand reclining bodies, motionless, but so amply 
 clothed in the majesty of death, smiling and at the 
 same time full of piety. 
 
 I pointed out to her the happy admixture of life and 
 death in the recumbent figures, each one sleeping in 
 eternal slumber, the mortal body for ever stretched on 
 the marble tomb, but the spirit living and in prayer. 
 The soul springs as it were far from the human form, 
 and the two hands, lifelike and real, are clasped in the 
 attitude of devotion, as if to describe the spirit's im- 
 mortality. Serenity and quietude are impressed on all 
 these figures. " What," said the Duchess, " ' quietude ! ' " 
 and she repeated the word, seemingly astonished to 
 find it in the French language, and then she added : "I 
 
LAVALETTE. 33 
 
 like that word, but thought it was exclusively Italian." 
 Her pronunciation alone is like some sweet music which 
 expresses and diffuses that which she wishes to say. 
 
 March lAth. — Lavalette has been appointed to the 
 diplomatic post at Constantinople in the same way 
 that he was appointed consul at Alexandria, namely, 
 through the influence of the Dehats newspaper and 
 V^ron's agency. Lavalette has two hundred thousand 
 francs in shares in the Debats. He wanted his money 
 out, and applied for the Constantinople post at the 
 same time. Some meddlesome people interposed, with 
 the result that his money was left in the paper; it 
 adopted his line of policy in opposition to the Presi- 
 dent, and the Constantinople mission was given him. 
 The arrano^ement was ratified at a bior dinner which 
 Veron gave. 
 
 Ever the same disgraceful jobbery, immoral collu- 
 sion and trafficking in places, dignities, and so-called 
 honours. You may labour and wear yourself out, 
 follow the straight path, walk loyally in the prescribed, 
 route, and act your part in life honestly, but you will 
 find yourself one fine day outdone by someone who 
 plays with marked cards and cheats you out of your 
 career. Figaro said truly, "Worldly knowledge is a 
 more valuable commodity than intelligence." The 
 two hundred thousand francs which Lavalette has in 
 the Dehais he won at piquet. 
 
 March 16th. — I dined at Princess Mathilde's, and 
 after dinner we went to the Opera Comique and had 
 the President's box. The party included the Princess, 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 Prince de Canino, Marquis and Marchioness Rocca 
 Giovine, Countess Ledochonska (Mdlle. de Menneval 
 that was), General Exelmans' son, Nieuwerkerke, and 
 myself; also Katomsky, whom I had forgotten. The 
 programme consisted of " Fra Diovolo," " Bonsoir, 
 Monsieur Pantalon," and the " Dame Voilee," which 
 were well played and sung. 
 
 Exelmans is making violent love to the Marchioness 
 Eocca Giovine, which is very amusing. Her husband 
 is like a schoolboy, who is afraid to say bo to a goose, 
 but the Marchioness flirts like ten little devils in one, 
 and heaven only knows the havoc she makes with her 
 eyes ! 
 
 March 17th. — A very extreme Republican, named 
 Schoelcher, came to my office to-day. I have known 
 this tribune of the people for twenty years. He has 
 the great advantage over his compeers of being an 
 honest man, but he allows himself to be robbed, and is 
 simple enough to share his purse with his party. 
 During our interview I succeeded in cajoling Schoelcher 
 into giving the Louvre eight or ten thousand francs' 
 worth of costumes and Mexican or American 
 statuettes and antiquities. He asked me, with a 
 chagrined air, if it was true that Charles Blanc and 
 Jeanron, while the one was Director of Fine Arts and 
 the other Director of the Museum, had allocated to 
 themselves valuable works, consisting of ninety-nine 
 volumes containing plates and drawings, belonging 
 to the Louvre. When I replied in the affirmative 
 Schoelcher looked pained, his sense of honesty revolted 
 at having: to allow that two of his own faith had com- 
 
SCHOELCHER—LEDRU-ROLLIN. 35 
 
 mitted so indelicate an act, and he expressed himself in 
 no very measured terras with regard to them. 
 
 Alas for poor Schoelcher ! He must often have 
 had occasion to blush since 1848. His friends have 
 been mixed up in many dirty businesses. Look at the 
 luxury in which citizens Marrast and Ledru-RoUin 
 live. It is all very well for credulous people to be told 
 that these two great men married English heiresses, 
 but I know a good many things, and, amongst others, 
 that Madame Marrast, who is now dead, was an English 
 governess before her marriage, and had even under- 
 taken the education of young men. As for Madame 
 Ledru-Rolliu, who was the natural daughter of an 
 Irishman, she brought with her a dowry of 48,000 
 francs, but at the present time the accumulations of 
 her husband's capital, lent on house property in Paris, 
 amount to 700,000 francs — not bad ! 
 
 Madame de Lamartine is also of English birth. She 
 wishes to pass for a fine lady, but her father was a 
 pastry cook in the Strand. 
 
 March 2orcl. — I have spent my day in visiting the 
 establishment of Doctor Belhomme, where idiots, 
 whose friends can afford to pay largely for special 
 treatment, are taken care of. The house is very fine, 
 and is situated in the Faubourg St. Antoine; the 
 gardens and buildings occupy more than six acres of 
 land, and both the domestic service and care given to 
 the inmates seem excellent and well ordered. 
 
 I saw all kinds of cases, from mere monomaniacs to 
 actual lunatics, all frightfully sad to contemplate — 
 intellects destroyed or gone astray. Thinking beings 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 degraded to the level of beasts and machines, with 
 souls in suspense, are a painful sight. 
 
 Ambition is a frequent cause of insanity. In one 
 room I saw an Italian marquis, who says he is the 
 President's cousin, and calls himself Bourbon Bona- 
 parte. He is greatly incensed against the President 
 for not answering his numberless letters. Pride and 
 vanity are apparent in every word he utters, and he 
 does not pardon the least want of respect ; his manners 
 are refined, and his language, which is a mixture of 
 French and Italian, most choice. He has an animated 
 phisiognomy, but that part of the head which isoccupied 
 by the brain is very constricted. He is the victim of 
 inordinate attacks of vanity. 
 
 Another imbecile detained me for some time ex- 
 plaining a discovery he pretends to have made for 
 squaring the circle, and by inquiries concerning 
 Madame Casier, an imaginary being for whom he enter- 
 tains a strong affection, and whose mission he assured 
 me was to release him from his place of detention. 
 With regard to his pretended discovery he said to me, 
 " I keep the secret, sir, from no one, and I will explain 
 it to you in two words — the square of the circle is as 
 40 is to 49." 
 
 This imbecile, about fifty years of age, has the ap- 
 pearance of a respectable shopkeeper of the kind one 
 sees going to the Champs Elysees to play bowls. He 
 thinks he is in prison, but always hopes that Madame 
 Casier will liberate him. 
 
 Another case was that of a gloomy, sad, and melan- 
 choly person inclined to mysticism, who ^ spoke to me 
 
DOCTOR BELHOMME'S MADBOUSE. 37 
 
 incoherently and in so low a voice that at first I could 
 scarcely hear what he said. Then he suddenly turned 
 and asked me to corae to his assistance against the 
 tyranny of his father-in-law, the Marquis de Bonneval, 
 who by means of a cornet a yiston oppressed him and 
 kept him in private confinement. This poor idiot, 
 dressed in a long cloak, became more and more irritable 
 as he spoke; he squeezed my arm very tightly, 
 making fearful grimaces all the time. The keeper 
 warned me to get away quickly as he was about to 
 have one of his paroxysms of rage. I released myself 
 with some difficulty ; he followed me to the gate which 
 divides the o^arden where he was walking^ from that 
 belonging to the other part of the establishment, and 
 there I separated from him. 
 
 In the part reserved for the graver cases the patients 
 are not men, and, unhappily for themselves, not even 
 animals. Some cannot speak, others can scarcely 
 walk ; again, there are those who speak in mono- 
 syllables only. One is enabled, in fact, to trace in 
 sta2:es the destruction of the mental and human condi- 
 tion. These are oro-anizations which have become 
 wrecked through debauchery, or paralysis of the brain, 
 caused by some sudden emotion, or shock, which their 
 feeble natures have been unable to withstand. All, 
 however, die speedily, and from the same cause — brain 
 paralysis. 
 
 One of these unhappy beings walked incessantly 
 round a tree laughing to himself ; he was scarcely 
 twenty, and had come to his present idiotic and 
 degraded condition through incontinence practised 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 from early childhood. Another, through the window 
 of his room, replied to our inquiries about his health 
 with the foulest imprecations. 
 
 Those who do not talk stand motionless and stare at 
 you with a fixed and inane look, but they obey their 
 keepers as pigs do a swineherd. This portion of the 
 establishment is the most heartrending to visit, for even 
 in the open air one is conscious of the odour of savage 
 beasts, which adds to the feeling of disgust. More- 
 over, among these cases there is not the least vestige 
 of intelligence or even of animal instinct. 'Tis man in 
 a state of decomposition. 
 
 The patients on the female side were just as 
 numerous, and in much the same condition. 
 
 In one room I saw, seated with her keeper and em- 
 ployed at some needlework, a young, fair creature 
 with a defiant, and at the same time sad, sweet ex- 
 pression ; she scarcely replied to our questions. This 
 young woman's madness first showed itself in an 
 attempt to murder her husband. The peculiarity of 
 her mental condition is that in the evening she is 
 perfectly sane, and can be taken into town, sometimes 
 even to the theatre, but in the morning she is de- 
 pressed and under the influence of her mania. So 
 marked is this that one would almost suppose her to be 
 influenced by the sun's appearance above the horizon. 
 
 One aged lady, the Countess de Quelen (sister-in- 
 law of the old Archbishop of Paris), who occupies a 
 separate apartment, is completely idiotic. She has 
 lately lost an imbecile son who shared her room, and 
 is not even conscious of his absence. 
 
DOCTOR BELHOMME'S MADHOUSE. 39 
 
 This old countess, wlio is very proud and full of 
 vanity, was knitting with apparent ease a quilt of 
 complicated design. She received me as if I had 
 come to hire her room, and said, " I don't think it 
 will suit you. I am leaving it because I find it very 
 inconvenient, and when my furniture is removed it 
 "will not be very attractive." She showed me her 
 furniture and the family portraits that adorned her 
 walls. Amonof them were orrandfathers and gfrand- 
 mothers in powdered wigs, and the picture of her 
 deceased husband in the uniform of a colonel of the 
 National Guard. This visit was taken up in the 
 interchange of extreme courtesies. I also went to 
 see an idiot of good birth, a girl of twenty, who 
 cannot speak, and passes the whole of the day, under 
 the supervision of a nurse, in bending and folding up 
 packs of cards. 
 
 These visits over, I went back to the drawing-room, 
 "where one of the patients joined us with his music, 
 and for an hour played the piano and sang in the most 
 marvellous w^ay. He talked about music in rational 
 language and like a real connoisseur; but when I 
 asked him who was the doctor's wife, he replied, 
 *' The lady who has just heard me sing, Madame 
 Pradher." After an hour's music he retired, saying 
 that he would be always at our disposal if his playing 
 and singing gave us the least pleasure. 
 
 My inspection terminated with the perusal of some 
 letters written by the unfortunate inmates. In some 
 instances the letters were a tissue of extravaorances or 
 aberrations logically and consistently followed out ; 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 others, again, perfectly well written and sensibly 
 expressed, were the productions of patients who 
 had received from the lady principal — who possesses 
 a certain power of imparting knowledge — the faculty 
 of writing sensibly to their friends. 
 
 On leaving this unfortunate establishment I know 
 not what induced me to go to dine at the Marchioness 
 du Yallon's table d'hote. Wishing to ascertain what 
 effect this gangrenous household had had upon the 
 virgin minds of her two daughters, 1 asked the 
 younger, a good musician, and a clever, interest- 
 ing:, and agfreeable p'irl, with the sweetest diction and 
 accent possible, what she had been doing since I last 
 saw her. She replied in her musical voice, and timid, 
 girlish manner, " Learning to flirt." 
 
 I was horrified; the corruption is growing apace 
 amid surroundings more or less vitiated. She is 
 drinking in the poison, and will soon be intoxicated 
 with it. Poor, dear child ! she might have been so 
 good ; but her fine, delicate, impressionable nature 
 has been sacrificed to the hahitues of a table d'hote, 
 just as in eai^lier times Christians were delivered up 
 to wild beasts in the Eoman circus. 
 
 After dinner, in order to finish my day properly in 
 the spirit in which I had begun it, I went to the wild 
 beast tamer's on the Boulevard Beaumarchais. The 
 man is courageous, and a splendid sight to look at as 
 he plays with the tigers, lions, and hyenas, rolling on 
 the ground with them, and taking part in their 
 gambols, wrestling with them for pieces of raw meat, 
 which he finally distributes. But in spite of all their 
 
DEBASEMENT EVERYWHERE. 41 
 
 strength and beauty the animals are a painful sight to 
 witness in their degradation before the man, who, 
 with his whip, keeps them in subjection like wretched 
 curs. Mj experiences of the day were perfect — 
 debasement everywhere. Poor idiots ! poor girl ! 
 poor beasts ! 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 1851 (continued). 
 
 Scandalous stoet op Countess de Nesseleode, Madame 
 Zeba and Peincess Kaleedjy — Obscene writees — 
 Their baneful influence — Marshal Narvaez — The 
 Portuguese insurrection — Insight into the Presi- 
 dent's intentions — The Queen of Spain^s love 
 
 AFPAIES EUDENESS OF THE DuKE d'AuMALe's AGENTS 
 
 TO Peincess Mathilde — Peince Canino publicly in- 
 sulted BY Count Rossi's son — Nieuwerkerke chal- 
 lenged BY Pierre Bonaparte — Reputation of the 
 Bonaparte family — Political inteiguers — Mazzini 
 and Monsieur de Lesseps — Monsieur de Veeon — 
 The Peesident's tools — Narrow escape of the 
 Baeon de Chameeolle — The authoe^s opinion op 
 the democeacy — Victor Hugo — Prince Napoleon. 
 
 March 29t7i. — I was to-day made acquainted with a 
 terrible piece of scandal, reminding one of the worst 
 days of the Regency, and the stories of Parabere, 
 without their elegance and delicate aroma. 
 
 The Countess de Nesselrode arrived in Paris from 
 Russia about the beginning of the winter, and was 
 joined by a young Russian, with whom she is said to 
 
STORY OF MADAME DE NESSELRODE. 43 
 
 have been on terras of intimacy before her marriage 
 with the Count de Nesselrode, to whom she brought a 
 fortune of three or four Jiundred thousand francs a 
 year. The young couple were enjoying themselves to 
 their heart's content, when a friendship sprang up 
 between the noble dame and two other Russian ladies 
 of aristocratic birth, Madame Zeba and Princess 
 Kalerdjy. These three merry ones, happily con- 
 stituted and not overburdened with scruples, but 
 most desirous of enjoying their last days of youth, 
 conceived the idea of forming in common a concord of 
 debauchery. They divided each week into two parts, 
 one dedicated to the exigencies of society, the other 
 to performances for their own benefit, and for the 
 purposes of such representations selected as assistants 
 a troop of young fellows from the ranks of the most 
 licentious writers of the day. The Countess de Nes- 
 selrode put herself under the tutelage of one, the 
 Princess Kalerdjy of another, and Madame Zeba 
 seemed to languish for the assistance of the whole 
 assortment. Between these three ladies and their 
 advisers, lubricity acquired consummate proportions, 
 the aim of the scoundrels being to see which could 
 render his pupil most accomplished in wantonness. 
 They searched books and studied different systems of 
 vice until at last the degraded Marquis de S — must 
 have thrilled with joy at the scandal caused by his 
 inspired authorship. The lesson bore its fruit, and 
 the Countess de Nesselrode, imitating the example of 
 Messalina, the corrupt wife of the Emperor Claudius, 
 appeared on the Boulevards as a common street- 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 walker. Heckereo, the deputy, met lier twice under 
 that guise, reproved her for her shamelessness, and 
 endeavoured to reclaim her, but without avail. The 
 end of it all was that an order from the Capital recalled 
 the Countess to Russia, and at the present moment 
 the husband is en route to St. Petersburg, the wife to 
 Moscow. 
 
 One can scarcely gauge the evil done nowadays 
 by obscene works. I do not refer only to the more 
 ignoble writers themselves, but to the influence their 
 writings have had upon the literature of the nineteenth 
 century. Hugo in " Notre Dame de Paris," Jules 
 Janin in *' I'Aue Mort," Theophile Gautier in 
 "Mdlle. de Maupin," Madame Sand, Eugene Sue, 
 de Musset, &c., and Dumas in his theatrical pieces, all 
 throw into their productions the leaven of impurity. 
 
 They do not invoke that graceful, youthful, attrac- 
 tive love which strikes the senses like the voluptuous 
 breath of spring, but the love which is drunken, 
 debauched, and hlase, seeking, like Tiberius in his 
 Capiian retreat, fresh vigour in disordered orgies. 
 These writers violate the modesty of their heroines by 
 the very effect excited in the minds of their readers, 
 whose senses are intoxicated and inflamed by coarse 
 materialism until they are ready to imitate all the 
 transgressions and rites of the ancient bacchanalian 
 revels, anxious, in fact, to wallow in the profanation of 
 love. 
 
 April IStJi. — I saw Marshal Narvaez this evening 
 at Princess Mathilde's. We discussed the insurrec- 
 tionary movement which has just broken out in 
 
MARSHAL NARVAEZ. 45 
 
 Portugal, under the leadership of Saldauha. Narvaez 
 believes the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs is in 
 the plot. When the latter represented Spain at the 
 Portuguese Court, Narvaez, who was then Prime 
 Minister at Madrid, wrote to urge him to support 
 Thomas, the Portuguese Minister, and leader of the 
 insurrection then on foot. The ambassador replied 
 that it was impossible, as he was already engaged on 
 the other side. He was recalled and exiled, but at the 
 present moment he holds the portfolio of foreign 
 affairs in the Ministry which replaced Narvaez's. 
 
 " The Queen of Portugal," said Marshal Narvaez, 
 " is a woman of energy and intelligence, who at least 
 supports the Minister who possesses her confidence ; 
 and she it was who made her husband, the King, put 
 himself at the head of his troops." 
 
 The way in which Narvaez emphasized at least 
 conveyed a world of reproaches to the Queen of 
 Spain, and justly so. The intrigues of the Queen 
 with one or the other of her lovers brought about the 
 fall of Narvaez, who is admitted to have kept a tight 
 hand on Spain and her dissolute Court. What will 
 happen in his absence ? Already there is an insur- 
 rection in Portugal, out of which the English will 
 doubtless make profit and regain their influence while 
 Spain and France bite their nails. 
 
 April 2Brd. — Dined at the Princess Mathilde's with 
 Marshal Exelmans. We went afterwards to the 
 opera, where we had the President's box, and heard 
 Yerdi's " Hernani." Persigny came and did the 
 affable, affecting the manners of a grand signer. To 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 my notion he is as mncli like a gentleman as cliicory is 
 like coffee. Marshal Jerome was in one of the centre 
 boxes with Madame de Plancv and Madame de 
 Monyon, a hideous and disreputable old wretch. 
 Marshal Jerome had a wicked reputation under the 
 Empire, and is still an old rake. All the Presi- 
 dent's family, with very few exceptions, are a black- 
 guardly set, and do him infinite harm. Gilbert 
 des Voisins was in a stage-box with a big, coarse- 
 looking woman, with whom he is doubtless living. 
 Des Yoisins has been successively the charge of Madame 
 de Nicolai, Madame Manuel, the wife of the stock- 
 broker who was killed in a duel by Beaumont, and 
 the Duchess de E-aguse. He then married Taglioni, 
 the dancer, whom he ruined and ultimately obliged to 
 separate from him. Despised, degraded, and penniless, 
 he had recourse to Yeron, who found him worthy of 
 his protection. He is now rehabilitated, is a Govern- 
 ment oflScial at the Italian Opera, has his own box, 
 and lives in a very pretty flat in the Rue Caumartin. 
 Virtue has always its reward in this world ! 
 
 April 28th. — For several days I have been so 
 occupied with official work that I have had no time 
 to think of my book, although I have had many 
 things to enter up. I must, therefore, put them 
 down as they occur to me. 
 
 Gndin, the marine painter, who married the Duke 
 of Wellington's niece, is the most conceited and 
 egotistical coxcomb in the world. He is larded all 
 over with crosses, like everybody who wears orders 
 nowadays, spends in luxury and entertainment every 
 
THE PRESIDENTS INTENTIONS. 47 
 
 penny be makes, plays the noble lord, and is " at 
 home " to the two most aristocratic quarters of Paris. 
 He is a niggard, however, when he dares to be so, 
 and stories of his meannesses still survive among his 
 pupils. Under the reign of Louis-Philippe he managed 
 to ingratiate himself in Court favour, became petted, 
 admired, and coddled, and finally was made painter 
 to the French Navy, with a uniform, orders to the 
 value of two hundred thousand francs, and a studio 
 in the Louvre. After the revolution of February this 
 gentleman, who aspired to the level of Vandyke and 
 Rubens, believed he would have little trouble in pro- 
 curing the appointment of ambassador to London ; 
 he was laughed at, however, and the attack passed off. 
 
 He is now, however, a great painter, and something 
 of a great man besides. The son of a Monsieur 
 Berand and a little milliner, who were never married, 
 Gudin is simply the victim of the bar sinister. His 
 mother, an excellent, but commonplace person, is still 
 living, and entertains herself by assisting his cook. 
 These, forsooth, are the domestic trials that cause the 
 great lord painter's hair to whiten. 
 
 Madame Koreff, a former mistress, arranged Grudin's 
 marriage without the knowledge of the Hay family, 
 and he repaid her with his usual illiberality. 
 
 The President still shows the same coolness and im- 
 perturbability. He told the princess, who is changing 
 her residence, that she was quite right to take a larger 
 house, " For," said he, " in 1852 your present one will 
 be too small for you, and after the prorogation you 
 will require a suitable establishment." This man is 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HOE A CE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 convinced of his good fortune, wliich is in itself a 
 guarantee of success. Only last year lie said to the 
 princess, " Rest assured, my dear cousin, I shall not 
 leave France alive." 
 
 May l&th. — I dined on Tuesday last at Princess 
 Mathilde's with Marshal Exelmans, Count de Flahaut, 
 Morny, Gruitaud, Madame Bresson, Nieuwerkerke, &c. 
 I wanted to learn from Gruitaud some details concern- 
 ing the Queen of Spain's love affairs, and he related 
 many anecdotes with reference to Miraflores, an ofiBcer 
 of the palace, and young General Serrano, which 
 proved that Isabel has turned her opportunities to 
 excellent account. In order to gratify her fancy for 
 Serrano she had recourse to her father-in-law, Don 
 Francis, who for a money bribe promised to second 
 her infidelities to his son. Isabel gave him sixty 
 thousand francs, the King was exiled, and Serrano 
 was introduced into the palace. France, becoming 
 uneasy, however, at the way in which matters were 
 going on in Spain, employed Serrano's services to 
 procure General Narvaez's recall, and the latter had 
 no sooner come back again than he exiled Serrano and 
 brought the King back to Madrid. Since then the 
 Queen has given free rein to her caprices, but the 
 Phillipine islands can testify to the disenchantment of 
 some of her tender victims who at Narvaez's orders 
 have been sent there to reflect on the evanescence of 
 royal favours. 
 
 Narvaez is now in France again, with an income of 
 300,000 francs, to pay which the Queen, having no 
 money in her own purse, gave him a draft on Spanish 
 
AT THE CHANT ILLY RACES. 4& 
 
 credit. This successive Ministries always refused to 
 honour, but Narvaez found a means of getting it 
 cashed, and is now very well off. The King of Spain 
 has also his indulgencies, in spite of what report says, 
 and the Marchioness of Campo Alanque at least has 
 not failed to attract his royal notice. 
 
 May 17tJi. — Doctor Koreff is just dead. He was a 
 witty, talkative, and rather inquisitive man, without 
 religion or law, and dissolute to the last degree, giving 
 himself readily to malpractices in his profession when 
 required to do so. He was always short of money, 
 and his conduct to Lady Lincoln, when he was attend- 
 ing her with Doctor Wolonsky, was most infamous. 
 Her treatment by these two rascals was foul in the 
 extreme. He is dead, however, at last, and may God 
 have mercy on him. 
 
 For a time he was member of a club which met for 
 conversational purposes and dined at some Paris 
 restaurant once a month. The set was composed of 
 Merimee, Alfred de Musset, Eugene Lacroix, Koreff, 
 Stendhall, Marest, and Viel Castel (myself). We were 
 a pleasant party, talked well and much, and did not 
 get drunk. 
 
 May 20th. — Princess Mathilde tells me that she was 
 at the Chantilly races last Sunday, with her cousin 
 Lady Douglas, the daughter of the Grand Duchess of 
 Baden. The President had placed at their disposal 
 the box he was to have occupied, and which belonged 
 to the Duke d'Aumale, After they had been seated 
 for a quarter of an hour the Duke's agents appeared 
 and told the two ladies they must pack off, as his 
 
 VOL. J. E 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VI EL CASTE L. 
 
 Grace had offered his box to the official head of the 
 state and not to Prince Louis Bonaparte. Could any- 
 thing have been in worse taste ? 
 
 June lili. — Yesterday, while Prince de Canino was 
 dining with the Vice-President at the Cafe d'Orsay, a 
 young man, who declined to give his card, asked to 
 see him. The Prince, however, sent word that he did 
 not care to disturb himself for a person without a 
 name. When dinner was over and the Prince was 
 leaving with Boulay de la Meurthe, the same in- 
 dividual came up to them, and, accosting Canino, asked 
 him if he was the Prince of that name. On receivinof 
 a reply in the affirmative, the young man said, spitting 
 in his face, " Then you are a scoundrel and an assassin. 
 I am Count Rossi's son." This morning they are to 
 fight. Nieuwerkerke and young Exelmans are, I 
 believe, to be the Prince's seconds. I am sorry for the 
 former. Canino was president of the Roman assembly 
 when Rossi was assassinated ; he is a cowardly knave, 
 but Nieuwerkerke can scarcely refuse the service he 
 asks. 
 
 The President has just sent Lepic, his orderly 
 officer, to beg Nieuwerkerke to act as Canine's second, 
 but he has already left for Versailles with Exelmans, 
 doubtless on account of the duel. 
 
 I am dining this evening with. Princess Mathilde 
 and shall learn more about it. 
 
 June \2tli. — Nieuwerkerke fought Pierre Bonaparte 
 on Monday last, and was slightly wounded in the 
 thigh. Pierre challenged him because he refused to 
 act as Canino's second in the Rossi duel. These sons 
 
CHARACTER OF THE BONAPARTES. 51 
 
 of Liicien Bonaparte are all veritable ruffians, whose 
 bad reputation is fully deserved. Pierre and Antoine 
 were obliged to fly from Italy for killing a keeper who 
 sued them for trespassing in pursuit of game. Their 
 mother, the worst woman of her day, told them on 
 one occasion when they wanted money " that they 
 were resolute and strong, and should find it for them- 
 selves on the high road." 
 
 With the exception of the President and Princess 
 Mathilde, all the family are good for nothing. Pr-ince 
 de Oanino, who has been received in France owing to 
 the President's kindness, is always conspiring against 
 his cousin, and even talks about putting himself at the 
 head of those who are opposed to him. He is in fact 
 the most manifest blackguard it is possible to meet. 
 One of these days, however, he will find himself in the 
 wrong box. His son-in-law and daughter, the Marquis 
 and Marchioness Rocca Giovine, have been obliged to 
 leave the house they occupied with him in consequence 
 of this duelling business, and his endeavour to set 
 them at variance with all honest folk. Although 
 actively engaged in conspiring against his cousin 
 Louis, he still goes to the Elysee, but he has ceased 
 to bow to Princess Mathilde. 
 
 On Monday evening he begged the Duchess de 
 Ores to give him a seat in her carriage, and as they 
 were driving along he set to work to vilify the 
 President's government, and expressed himself so 
 unreservedly that he alluded to certain demonstra- 
 tions that were to be made against the prorogation, 
 and ended by saying that he should lead the agitators 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 in the streets. The Duchess thereupon stopped her 
 carriage, told him that she could not listen to such 
 language, and would rather deprive herself of the 
 honour of his society than be made the confidante of 
 such projects. Canino got out, said good-bye to the 
 Duchess in a terrible rage, and in loud and angry 
 tones had the vulgarity to inform her that he had 
 spoken to her for the last time. 
 
 The Duchess sought an interview with the President, 
 and acquainted him with the schemes cherished by this 
 beautiful ex-member of the Roman assembly. 
 
 Some time since, when Canino was discussinsf Italian 
 affairs in Princess Mathilde's drawing-room, and in- 
 veighing against the Pope and the French with his 
 usual urbanity and Mazzini-like language, General 
 Baraguy d'Hilliers, losing all patience, interrupted 
 him, saying: " If I had found you in Rome, Prince, I 
 would have shot you like a dog." 
 
 Everybody is persuaded that the prorogation will 
 take place in spite of party intrigues and machinations. 
 Each side plays for its own hand, the party of order 
 becomes that of disorder, and since the adjournment 
 will take place, whether or no, people think they may 
 as well have the satisfaction of a little agitation. Our 
 politicians sacrifice the tranquillity of France on the 
 altar of their own ambition. Thiers, Guizot, &c., &c., 
 believe themselves to be necessary to the country. 
 What luck if a good illness would carry them off ! 
 Then one could cry, " God defend France ! " These 
 gentlemen wish to begin over again the game they 
 played for twenty years, and which ended in losing 
 
ANXIETY IN FRANCE. 53 
 
 the monarcliy of July ; tliey are like blind beggars 
 who never cease whining to the passers by: " Place 
 France in our hands, just one little France to do with 
 as we like, good kind Christian friends ! " 
 
 The dominion of vulgar pedants, the reign of pro- 
 fessors, would be fatal to humanity. Let them return 
 to their school-rooms and birch their pupils. 
 
 June 23rc^. — Princess Mathilde has rented the 
 chateau belonging to the Marquis de Custine at St. 
 Gratien, near Enghien, and has kindly offered me a 
 room as I go there twice a week. The place is 
 charming and most agreeable to stay at, with its 
 pretty surroundings and proximity to the lake. This 
 season the pleasures of a country life are sought with 
 avidity ; everyone says, who knows where we shall 
 be next year ? From one end of France to the other 
 1852 is awaited with the same anxiety that char- 
 acterized the approach of the eleventh century, when 
 people thought that the year 1000 was to be the end 
 of the world. In those days people went to confession, 
 became reconciled with their enemies, showered their 
 wealth upon the poor and endowed religious houses, but 
 now they are reconciled with no one, and the fatal 
 moment is awaited without any effort being made to 
 avert the dreaded evils. One does not know in whom 
 to trust, and in the Government itself there are few 
 who inspire me with confidence. The office-holders 
 are so many Figaros, without faith or self-restraint, 
 who worship the rising sun, and sacrifice only to 
 success. They make one sick. Three days ago all 
 the Ministers dined with Veron. This noble don told 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL GASTEL. 
 
 his " dancers " (as his familiars are termed) that 
 it was obligatory to invite them, but that they were 
 awful bores. Yeron is typical of the present century ; 
 cynical, scrofulous, shameless, and puffed-up with im- 
 portance, he infects all who come near him. 
 
 I have just seen a letter written by Canine's mother 
 after Count Rossi's death. In it she says : " The last 
 indignity I could suffer was to have an assassin for a 
 son." This was really not wanting to the good lady 
 with such sons as Pierre and Antoine, but the avowal 
 is worth noting. 
 
 That Canino did not hold the knife is true, but he 
 was in the plot. The letter from his mother is 
 written from Italy, and is addressed to her friend 
 Madame de Drisen. 
 
 June 25th. — There is in Paris, in reliable hands, a 
 letter written by Mazzini to Monsieur de Lesseps, who 
 had the care of French interests in Rome during the 
 war. This is the tenor of it: "My dear Sir, — The 
 French have occupied such and such positions ; they 
 have, therefore, intercepted all our communications 
 and blockaded us. It is for you, therefore, to remedy 
 this state of things by staying the operations of the 
 general in command." 
 
 Lesseps, therefore, betrayed his country in Mazzini's 
 interests. 
 
 Yeron the great has a chateau at Auteuil, where he 
 keeps open house and acts the part of a big wig iu 
 the same way that children play at mass on religious 
 fete days. It is a piece of bombastic vanity which 
 makes one nearly vomit. The Ministers themselves 
 
MONSIEUR DE VERON. 55 
 
 think that they caDnot dispense witli the formality of 
 dining with the divine " Constitutional." Guisard, too, 
 dines at its table, the picture of a city merchant in the 
 character of politician. Veron has four gentlemen of 
 the chamber who are deputed to do the honours of the 
 house, as the great man himself does not condescend 
 to receive his guests or show them out. These four 
 gentlemen are : Romieu, the ex-prefet ; Malitourne, 
 the journalist ; Gilbert des Voisins, the husband of 
 Taglioni ; and Millot, of the Treasury. Yeron occa- 
 sionally vouchsafes to accompany his guests (two at a 
 time) in the pony carriage round the park. This is 
 a sign of royal favour of which they are commeu- 
 surately proud. 
 
 After dinner they play the game of " creps," and more 
 people arrive : Roqueplan, of the Italian Opera, with 
 his mistress, Mdlle. Marquet, of the Frangais, and 
 Yaldes, with the memory of his past successes, all 
 anxious to take part in this comedy of " Louis XIY. 
 Yeron," who reigns in virtue and by right of the 
 Constitutional newspaper. 
 
 Y^ron lords it over the Ministry, finds good places 
 for his myrmidons, and also holds his court. 
 
 July 16tk. — I still go every Wednesday and Satur- 
 day to the Princess Mathilde's at St. Gratien. I meet 
 all sorts and conditions of people there, and listen to 
 conversations often strauo^e enougf-h, were it not that 
 nothing is strange to one nowadays, only curious. 
 The Princess ignores the aristocracy, the influence of 
 birth, or of family traditions, except such as belong to 
 the Bonapartes themselves ; all is to be forgotten 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 save and except that great man" whose acts are bejT^ond 
 dispute, and in whose record it is rank treachery to 
 find a blot. It is a fetish worship of the most exclu- 
 sive kind. France is as nothing without the glory of 
 the Bonapartes ; the royalty of bygone days merits 
 scarcely a passing thought ; it is a crime almost to 
 compare Bonaparte with Charlemague. 
 
 But Napoleon himself knew better than his succes- 
 sors how to estimate greatness, and longed for com- 
 parison. He imitated the great personality of the eighth 
 century, and loved to be called the second Charle- 
 magne of our history. Clothed in that monarch's royal 
 insignia, and with his sword in hand, he wished to be 
 handed down to posterity. To-day, however, Charle- 
 magne scarcely reaches to Napoleon's knees, and in 
 twenty years' time our Saviour himself will be forgotten 
 in the absorbing memory of the conqueror of Austerlitz. 
 
 Since yesterday the "revision of the constitution " 
 has been under discussion. Monsieur de Mornay 
 appears for the Orleanists, General Cavaignac for 
 his friends of the National, to-morrow another deputy 
 will plead for Louis Napoleon, and the day after 
 Henry V. w411 have his turn. Of the real interests of 
 France no one takes the least heed. 
 
 The President came on Friday to St. Gratien ; he 
 was in excellent spirits and enjoyed himself hugely ; 
 he amused himself like a child, and seemed in no 
 sense preoccupied. What does he want ? Of what 
 is he dreaming ? No one knows exactly. The posi- 
 tion of affairs is more critical than it has been 
 since 1848. 
 
THE PRESIDENTS TOOLS. 57 
 
 The President affects neither his Ministry nor the 
 Cliamber; he would say as wilUngly as did Louis 
 XIV., " The state is myself." He does not 
 understand the country, and the men who are about 
 him are of no personal value. Persigny is an old 
 tomtit, who is not without intelligence, but has none 
 of the qualities which make a statesman. Mocquard, 
 a retired barrister and beau of 1822, is a man of 
 education but nothing more. Morny, the most in- 
 fluential of his friends and his half-brother, is an 
 excellent fellow but of no political significance. The 
 President is a species of Numa Pompilius, but his 
 guiding Egeria is his own star ; he has ever been a 
 fatalist. Che sara, sara. 
 
 That which the President ignores the most, and 
 that which he is allowed to ignore, is the character of 
 the men in his eoiploy. At least half of them are 
 hostile to him, and of the other moiety a great number 
 are content to let things take their course, seeking 
 only to secure their own interests whatever may 
 happen. Many kinds of men are entrusted with 
 duties who make a show of their devotion and are 
 believed in. 
 
 The great men of to-day, like those of former times, 
 prefer to be deceived and blinded. It is for this 
 reason that the crown is called a "royal bandage." 
 
 July 16th. — A great dinner party was given by 
 Baroche, Minister of Foreign Affairs, yesterday. 
 Baraguay d'Hilliers, Oudinot, Mouchy, Prince Holien- 
 zoUern, and Yeron were there. The latter is to be 
 caricatured no longer in the Charivari. He has 
 
58 MEMOIES OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 given this paper the management of a theatre and is 
 to be allowed to sleep in peace. 
 
 The journals may attack President, National 
 Assembly, Ministers, and Clergy, but the arch-saint 
 Veron, no ! that would be a sin. The State, moreover, 
 pays for his repose. 
 
 A person of my acquaintance. Baron de Chamerolle, 
 son-in-law of the Duchess d'Bsclignac, was recently 
 having a well dug on an estate of his near Montargis, 
 and during the work two men, who had not taken 
 proper precautions to secure the sides, were buried 
 beneath the falling- earth. After seekinof for them 
 some time one of the workmen was found dead and 
 the other severely hurt. At once Chamerolle had the 
 injured man carried to his house, where he was tended 
 with care, rooms being set apart for him and his 
 family. He also gave quarters to the family of the man 
 who was killed, and whose funeral it was his desire to 
 attend. But between the death and the burial a re- 
 volutionary sheet, which was printed in the village, 
 gave out that the aristocrat did to death unhappy 
 peasants at his pleasure, by forcing them to undertake 
 dangerous duties, and then, when a calamity occurred,, 
 refused all succour. The people of the village, as 
 savage and ferocious as all their class, set upon 
 Chamerolle before he reached the cemetery, and, 
 decidins: to drown him, drag^ged him with that inten- 
 tion towards the river. Happily at that moment a 
 gendarme arrived, and at his instance the brutes were 
 induced to postpone their sentence; the interment was 
 proceeded with, and Chamerolle escaped. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S OPINION OF DE3I0CRACY. 59 
 
 The nexfc morning, however, he was besieged in his 
 chateau on the pretence that he was doing nothing for 
 the families of the two men, and these had actually to 
 show themselves, and assure the mob that they were 
 being well cared for, lodged, and fed. 
 
 The danger has been stayed for the time, but how 
 long will the state of quiet last ? 
 
 Chamerolle went to the sous-prefet to get redress, 
 but this spiritless administrator, afraid of compromis- 
 ing himself, merely told him to be careful, as his 
 district was a dangerous one. He then came to Paris 
 and took out a summons against the village newspaper, 
 and Leon Duval is to conduct his case. 
 
 Having arranged this matter, Chamerolle left last 
 evening to return home, saying, as he went : " I have 
 not the least idea what my fate will be." 
 
 Such are the times in which we live, and such is 
 the mob we dignify with the term " the people." I 
 would as soon see the lions and tigers of the Zoolosfical 
 Gardens let loose as such a mob, moved either to joy 
 or fury. There is nothing to choose between them. 
 Our duty is to repair that which we have all en- 
 deavoured to destroy — respect for authority, but for 
 myself I am always prepared for the time when, like 
 the Arabs, w^e shall have to go and live in tents. The 
 dream of the our co-citizens, the Communists, is to 
 make a clean sweep of everything : history, monuments, 
 and arts. 
 
 What a lovely thing is philosophy, and what a debt 
 of gratitude do we not owe to the eighteenth century ! 
 If the Voltaires, Diderots, and Holbachs, the fathers 
 
^0 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 of these brutes, could but return to life, how proud 
 thej would be of their progeny ! 
 
 The "reds" are ruffians, the "whites," to whichever 
 side they belong, are idiots ; and the rest are supreme 
 nincompoops. With such materials make a great 
 nation if you can. 
 
 Julf/ 18th. — The Assembly is beginning to get ex- 
 cited over the revision business. Yesterday Victor 
 Hugo delivered himself of the most cowardly and 
 abominable speech it was possible to listen to, and he 
 met with frequent and angry interruptions. This man 
 is a wretched knave, with the pride of Satan, and the 
 heart of a rag-gatherer ; poltroon and passion- tossed 
 at the same time, his denunciations are principally 
 directed against the magistracy, which he told his 
 brother-in-law, Y. Foucher, he would one day crush 
 beneath his feet. 
 
 Victor Hugo long coveted a peerage, and obtained 
 it at last throuoii the orood offices of the Duchess of 
 Orleans, who was cleverly persuaded by him that she 
 was obeying the wishes of her husband in covering the 
 poet's shoulders with the ermine mantle. Hugo was in 
 those days not the detractor of princes, but their slave. 
 
 He was surprised in flagrante delicto with Madame 
 Biard, and it was owing to the solicitations of his wife, 
 and the influence of the Duchess of Orleans, that he 
 was not condemned. Madame Biard, however, was 
 sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment in expia- 
 tion of the poet's love, and on her liberation was 
 received into his own house. So much for the mora- 
 lity of the poet reformer. 
 
PRINCE NAPOLEON. 61 
 
 August 11th. — Prince Napoleon, tlie son of Marshal 
 Jerome, has just been expelled from the Hotel des 
 Invalides by order of the Minister of War. His 
 conduct has been scandalous, for, when not engaged in 
 entertaining a lot of common street-walkers, he has 
 opened the doors of the Hotel to a Democratic Club. 
 This Prince is a terrible scoundrel, who acts the same 
 part towards the President that Philippe- Egalite did 
 towards Louis XYI. He is a braggart and a coward, 
 ambitious, self-sufi&cient, quarrelsome, and dissolute, 
 the impersonation, in fact, of every bad quality. His 
 father was a mischievous rascal, but he is even worse. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 1851 (continued). 
 
 y^RON AND HIS GUESTS YlSIT TO THE CoUNT DE ChAMBORD 
 
 — The King of Prussia and Eaoul Rochette — Public 
 
 DISAFFECTION' — ThE CoUP d'EtAT POSTPONED PROPOSED 
 
 RENEWAL OF THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE — PaLL OP 
 
 THE Ministry — Monsieur de la Gueronniere, of the 
 " Pays " Newspaper, rallies to the President's views 
 — General Changarnier — The Army and the National 
 Assembly; proposition op the Questors — Prince Louis 
 Napoleon's address to the Paris Garrison — The Coup 
 d'Etat — Universal suffrage proclaimed — Arrest of 
 THE Representatives — The High Court of Justice 
 dissolved by force — Disturbances in the streets — 
 Severe measures of repression — Congratulations 
 of Lord Palmerston — Vivid account by Colonel 
 l'Espinasse of the part he played in the Coup 
 d'Etat — Louis Napoleon elected President. 
 
 August 18fh. — I dined with Veron at Auteuil the 
 day before yesterday. The guests consisted of the 
 two Didiers, my brother Victor, Gilbert des Voisins, 
 Saint Ange, Romieu, Millot, and one or two others. 
 The dinner was very cheerful, and the conversation 
 
THE COUNT DE CHAMBORD. 63 
 
 sparkling. Daring dessert we discussed literature, 
 both ancient and modern, but especially the poets of 
 the 16th and 17th centuries. Each of the guests 
 recited a verse or two of his favourite poet. Didier 
 took de Marot ; Romieu, Corneille; and someone 
 else Marthurin Regnier. Veron, near whom I was 
 seated, in the end agreed with me that of all our 
 actual poets the most poetical in ideas and mode of 
 expression, as well as in the faculty of imagination, is 
 Alfred de Musset. The party was a curious one ; 
 politics were not touched upon in general conversa- 
 tion, except on one occasion, and at the expense 
 of that very overweening person Fould (Finance 
 Minister), who had been terribly bantered when he 
 came to take leave of Yeron a few days previously. 
 It seems that Ministers do not disdain, when visiting: 
 Veron, also to pay their respects to Sophie, the major- 
 domo, cook, and valet of this Sultan of the Gonstitii' 
 tional, and for this purpose they are not above going 
 to her kitchen. Ycron still entertains a feeling of 
 irritation against the President, who has not treated 
 him with suflBcient regard and courtesy in their inter- 
 course; and he narrated to me his visit to the Count 
 de Chambord in 1849. He expressed himself in terms 
 of high praise of the pretender, who received him with 
 great distinction, and spoke of the political future 
 without reserve. " I have," the Prince said to him, 
 "several strong guarantees in my favour; for my 
 advent to the throne "would mean universal peace, the 
 re-establishment of good relations with the European 
 powers, and the re-acquisition by France of her com- 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF COUNT ITORAGE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 plefce liberty of action in matters of general and special 
 importance." Veron did not deny these advantages, 
 and said to the Prince — " Believe me, your Highness, 
 if you include in your programme an economical 
 government, the reduction of indirect taxes, if not 
 their total repeal, and fewer offices, you will not be 
 the less welcome to the nation." Veron tells me that 
 the Count de Chambord has a sympathetic and plea- 
 sant face and manner, and expresses himself well, 
 perhaps availing himself rather too often in conversa- 
 tion of set expressions. Grilbert des Yoisins and 
 Lautour Mezeray accompanied Yeron on this journey 
 as his aides-de-camp. Lautour, who was not then 
 Prefet of Algiers, thought it would be in good taste to 
 tickle Henry the Fifth with a few vulgar platitudes, 
 of Legitimist flavour, assuring the Prince of the regret 
 felt by France at his enforced absence. And the 
 descendant of Louis XIY. actually condescended 
 to humour these gentlemen in order to capture 
 their votes and interest. He coquetted with Yeron, 
 and was amiable to Gilbert and Lautour, supposing, 
 no doubt, that they represented French feeling. 
 
 On his return from this visit Yeron was gently 
 taken to task by the President for his inconsistency in 
 thus entering into relations with the pretender. " I 
 admit," said the President, "that my gratitude is 
 already due to you, and you will find that I am pre- 
 pared to give you proof of it." This was Yeron's 
 opportunity. He knew that Lautour was desirous of 
 figuring as Prefet of Algiers ; the place was vacant ; 
 he asked for it in his friend's name, and obtained it as 
 
KING OF PRUSSIA AND EAOUL ROCHETTE. 65 
 
 the recompense wliich Louis Napoleon offered for his 
 fidelity. And so it was that Lautour Mezeraj, on his 
 return from Ems, with Legitimist professions still 
 fresh on his lips, accepted the prefecture of Algiers 
 from a Bonaparte. 
 
 August 27th. — Leon de Laborde has been made a 
 Chevalier of the second class of the Prussian Order of 
 Civil Merit. People are asking why and wherefore ? 
 Is it for having written books without point, or for 
 his publications justifying his history of the Dukes of 
 Burgundy ? He is a successful intriguer and nothing 
 more. Another of his class who ought to be held up 
 to opprobrium is Raoul Rochette. When this gentle- 
 man had finished his book on Greek vase-painting he 
 took a copy to the King of Prussia, who received both 
 the academician and his work rather frigidly. As 
 Raoul Rochette in course of time heard nothing either 
 of diamond snuff-box or decoration of any kind he 
 went to Baron Humboldt and confided to him his dis- 
 appointment. The illustrious Prussian informed the 
 King the same evening of the visit he had received 
 from the French savant, and its motive. The monarch 
 reflected for a moment, and then said to the Baron : 
 " I will take four copies of his book ; one gives money 
 to a man like that, not orders." 
 
 October 9th. — I resume to-day the writing of my 
 diary, which has been interrupted owing to the 
 negligence of my bookbinder in not furnishing me 
 sooner with a fresh note-book. 
 
 We are now approaching what people call the crisis 
 of 1852, and never in my experience have conspiracies 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL, 
 
 been so rife. Every day the papers notify the dis- 
 covery of some fresh plot, and publish in their columns 
 revolutionary manifestoes which have been secretly 
 formulated. 
 
 The dregs of the population are endeavouring to 
 form themselves into another " Jacquerie," and those 
 who are menaced by the movement are restrained by 
 mutual jealousies from banding together to resist the 
 common foe. Everybody studies his own individual 
 interests, or endeavours to promote those political 
 ends which his own narrow and selfish eo^otism 
 suggest. I know few persons who are loyally and 
 sincerely devoted to their country. 
 
 In accomplishing the rude task I have set myself in 
 writing this book I fear that I shall have to pen many 
 a sad page. Men and things may be found equally 
 wanting at the supreme moment, and the lava and 
 cinders of our national volcano will, I fear, scarcely 
 preserve our remains for future ages, as did those of 
 Vesuvius, Pompeii, and Herculaneum. 
 
 The men who at present serve the State are waver- 
 ing and uncertain, and if they do not participate 
 themselves in the plots that are on foot they are at 
 least silently conscious of them. For example, in 
 June, 1850, Monsieur de Billandel, a Legitimist from 
 Dauphiny, went to Brussels to offer Serrurier, our first 
 Secretary of Legation, a division to contest at the 
 election in 1852. Serrurier refused for himself, but 
 introduced his brother, a dismissed prefet, to the 
 Legitimist committee. Monsieur de Billandel is the 
 head of a vast organization which embraces eighteen 
 
CHANGE OF MINISTRY. 67 
 
 departments in fhe South, and Messieurs Molle, 
 Berryer, and Cliangarnier recommended the brothers 
 Serrurier to him. The diplomatist is now first 
 Secretary to the London Embassy, and the second 
 brother is still a candidate for a prefecture and the 
 willing protege of Princess Mathilde and an old wire- 
 puller at the Elysee, Madame de Salvage. 
 
 Neither conspiracies nor coups dJetat have yet come 
 to anything, for one and the same reason, namely, that 
 when the moment arrives for belling the cat people are 
 too timid to act. 
 
 On the 21st of last September the coup d^etat was all 
 ready. On the 23rd it was uncertain, because at the 
 critical moment the Generals, and notably Carrelet, 
 could not be relied upon. It was, therefore, postponed. 
 We can only trust to unexpected contingencies. 
 
 Octoher 11th. — Yesterday an important meeting of 
 the Cabinet was held at the President's house to con- 
 sider the law of the 31st May. In my opinion this is 
 the question on which the Ministry will go out. The 
 friends of the President believe that it would be wise 
 to return to the old law of universal suffrage. God 
 grant that they may not be mistaken. At four o'clock 
 to-day it was announced that the Ministry, with the 
 exception of Fould, had resigned, and that the Presi- 
 dent had proposed the abrogation of the law of the 
 31st May. 
 
 Octoher I'^th. — The Ministerial crisis continues. 
 
 Octoher 14th. — It appears to be agreed that the whole 
 of the Cabinet will resign. For some days Emile de 
 Girardin has been making advances to the President in 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAST EL. 
 
 the hope of getting some minor office. To-day every- 
 thing will be decided. The morning papers remark 
 that this is the anniversary of the battle of Jena. 
 
 I dined last evening at the Eue de Courcelles with 
 Princess Mathilde. She seems to approve of a possible 
 understanding between the Republicans and the Elysee 
 on the question of the revision, and she favours the 
 return to universal suffrage. I ventured to remark to 
 old General Armandi that such respect is mere hypo- 
 crisy; the Prince can only continue to govern by 
 violating the Constitution. Let him do it, therefore, 
 boldly and defiantly ; the country will side with the 
 man who acts with courage, but it will oppose him 
 who forms alliances with the enemies of society and 
 civilization. 
 
 October 29th. — The Ministry has been formed since 
 yesterday, and the names are published in the Moniteur. 
 Rentes having gone up twelve centimes as the result, 
 the new Administration was immediately nicknamed by 
 the wags the Ministry of two sous and a half. Tur- 
 got's appointment to the Foreign Office causes general 
 astonishment. General Saint- Arnaud, the Minister of 
 War, is a spendthrift, who is overwhelmed with debt, 
 as is General Magnan, Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Paris Army, whose furniture and effects are always 
 being seized and sold. Lieutenant- Colonel Fleury, 
 orderly-officer at the Elysee, is also a prodigal, whose 
 debts are frequently paid by the President. He is the 
 lover of the Marchioness de Contades, who ruined my 
 friend Coislin, and has been the mistress of many others 
 besides. Of the Ministers themselves I expect no great 
 
MONSIEUR DE LA GU:ERONNIERE. 69 
 
 things ; tLey are merely intended to blind the public 
 to the real situation. We are approaching the 
 critical moment. The President wished to attempt a 
 coup cVetat^ but his adherents could not agree together, 
 and Carlier, the Prefect of Police, overacted his part. 
 His successor, who was appointed yesterday, is a 
 Monsieur de Maupas, Prefet of the Haute-Garonne. I 
 knew him as a drawing-room ballad singer. 
 
 October Slst. — The day before yesterday I dined with 
 La Gueronniere, editor-in-chief of the Pa?/s newspaper. 
 He sounded me as to his coming over to the Presi- 
 dent's views. I had the Prince informed of the cir- 
 cumstance, and advised his seeing La Gueronniere, who 
 is a man of parts and intelligence, and may be useful, 
 if only as a set-off against Veron, who would scarcely 
 appreciate another influential rival in the same field. 
 
 November 1st — Princess Mathilde told me yesterday 
 that Belmont's cross was solicited by Madame de Bel- 
 mont herself. The only reason I know that he should 
 have it is that he has had more contagious diseases 
 than any other man living, and that it is his lawful 
 wife who has asked for it for him. Why not give the 
 cross to his brother-in-law, Leopold d'lvey, because he 
 has killed more rabbits than any other man in France ? 
 
 Laurent Jan, the most witty of our Bohemians of the 
 press, thus hits off Lamartine and de Musset : " Lamar- 
 tine," he says, " is the Marseillaise hymn played in 
 church, and de Musset a peach growing on a thistle." 
 
 November 4th. — To-day our representatives are 
 setting to work again after their two months' vacation. 
 God grant that the spirit of wisdom may descend upon 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 them and enter into them, for never did France require 
 more the care of experienced physicians. She is in the 
 throes of agony, and there is but one way to cure her. 
 
 During the past day or two there has been a pretty 
 little intrigue on foot with the object of profiting by 
 the first cause of difference between the Chamber and 
 the President, and subjecting the latter to impeacli- 
 ment, in the event of which Changarnier was to have 
 been made dictator. Immediately the news of the 
 Ministerial changes was officially reported General 
 Changarnier, thinking that the moment had arrived for 
 bis dictatorship, left the country and hurried to Paris. 
 The quidnuncs assert that thereupon Carlier, the 
 Prefet of Police, rushed off to the Elysee, and told the 
 President that it was his duty to acquaint him with 
 the sudden arrival in Paris of General Changarnier. 
 Louis l^apoleon replied very calmly, " That ought not 
 to astonish you, Monsieur Carlier, as he comes in 
 answer to a letter you wrote him four days ago." 
 The Prdfet of Police was thunderstruck at the dis- 
 covery of the plot, and, not knowing what to say, 
 retired in confusion. He then wrote and asked for 
 another audience, but, seeing that it was impossible to 
 regain the Prince's confidence, sent ia his resignation. 
 In whom can one trust nowadays ? Although Didier 
 has been nominated to the prefecture of Ariege, Yeron 
 is still in the sulks. This Achilles is shut up in his 
 tent, and expends his fury in violent denunciations of 
 Persigny. Since the intervention of the bourgeois 
 element in State affairs things have come to such a 
 pass that France is led by a handful of ill-conditioned 
 
GENERAL CHANGARNIER. 71 
 
 journalists. The peerage of Louis XIY. is supplanted 
 by the peerage of the press, whose three grand dukes 
 at the present moment are : Bertin, of the DebatSj 
 Yeron, of the Gonstitutionnel, and Girardin, of the 
 Presse. 
 
 Juvenal, where art thou ? 
 
 November htli. — I explained yesterday how it hap- 
 pened that Carlier lost the prefecture of police ; to-day 
 I must explain how Maupas got it. It was he who 
 discovered the cabal with Changarnier, and informed 
 the Prince of it. " Your Highness is being deceived," 
 he said, " and I have the proof in my possession. 
 Here it is." He thereupon produced and showed the 
 Prince a copy of the letter which had been sent to the 
 General, urging him to repair to the capital. 
 
 The President's message was read yesterday ; it is 
 very comprehensive, succinct, judicious, and dispas- 
 sionate. It was badly received by the Right, Berryer 
 at their head. The coming storm is already felt 
 within the precincts of the Legislature. We are on 
 the eve of 1852. 
 
 November 6t/i. — La Gueronniere came yesterday to 
 tell me of his interview with the President. He is 
 enchanted with him, and very grateful to me for 
 bringing about the meeting. Lamartine will lose his 
 influence in the Pays and the 50,000 francs which he 
 draws from it annually ; but what he will feel most is 
 the loss of an organ in the press at the very time 
 when his party are preparing for so important a 
 matter as the opposition which is to be offered to 
 Louis Napoleon's re-election to the Presidency. 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Lamartine is an old idiot. La Gueronniere can, and 
 •will, render immense service to the cause of law and 
 order ; it was of the first importance to extricate him 
 from the clutches of his patrons, Girardin and Lamar- 
 tine, whom he estimates at their proper value. He 
 said to me ^^esterday, " Lamartine is a man who is 
 blinded by his conceit, who believes in no one but 
 himself. Girardin is quite impossible to follow in his 
 sudden changes of policy ; he has neither conscience 
 nor political worth, and his paper, as a fighting 
 weapon, is used up. As to ourselves, the staff of the 
 Pays,'' added La Gueronniere, " we have no wish to 
 play the part of Girondists — indeed, we do not 
 possess their talent — but neither do we expect to 
 have recourse to the scaffold in order to recover our 
 courage. We will support the Government in its 
 new methods, and you may rely upon my maintaining 
 our line of policy in spite of Lamartine." 
 
 November 7th. — Events are moving at a rapid pace, 
 and the situation is becoming more defined ; the 
 National Assembly has declared openly against the 
 President. The Questors have lodged a proposition 
 to reinvest their President, Dupin, with the power of 
 summoning as many soldiers as he judges necessary 
 to protect the representatives, and of nominating a 
 general to command them, and urgency is demanded. 
 If this proposition is accepted we shall be drawn into 
 open civil war, for Prince Napoleon will find himself 
 face to face with extreme measures ; it would mean 
 war to the death between himself and the Assembly. 
 This body, with an army at its orders and a general 
 
PROPOSITION OF THE QJJESTOBS. 73 
 
 to command it, would simply mean a repetition of the 
 Convention — and what a Convention ! 
 
 Every plot comes to my knowledge little by little. 
 Cbangarnier is the leader of the Coalition, and the 
 Count de Chambord has written to tell Berryer to 
 support him with the Legitimist votes. The Princes 
 of the House of Orleans have written to Admiral 
 Baudin to the same effect. Thiers inspires the whole 
 conspiracy, by which Cbangarnier is to be Military 
 Dictator, himself President, a Civil Directory pro- 
 claimed, and Louis Napoleon incarcerated at Yin- 
 cennes, after being deprived of his prerogatives one 
 by one. Such are the objects these gentry have in view. 
 
 When the President was informed of the proposi- 
 tion of the Questors, he simply said : " So much the 
 better; these gentlemen are unmasking themselves." 
 
 Lamoriciere is to speak against it as being subver- 
 sive of all military discipline. 
 
 The President wishes me to communicate to him my 
 project for getting up a demonstration of the com- 
 mercial interests in his favour, by means of which I 
 hope to bring the middle classes over to his side. 
 
 November 8th. — I met Clary at dinner at Princess 
 Mathilde's yesterday. He told me that the Assembly 
 recoiled before the bellicose frolic of its Questors, and 
 that Dupin sent for him and begged him to tell the 
 President that nothing would induce him to accept the 
 power with which it was proposed to invest him. 
 Baze will have to pay pretty dearly for his valour. I 
 wonder what the Coalition will invent next. 
 
 November 9th. — I dined with La Gueronniere yester- 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 day as he wished to have a talk with me. He first of 
 all told me how interesting he thought my letter to 
 him of the day before yesterday, and that he had had 
 it inserted in the Pays in the form of an article. He 
 then revealed another act of treason which has been 
 committed by a prominent official. Monsieur Leroy, 
 ex-Prefet and principal Secretary to the Ministry of 
 the Interior, the creature of Thiers, has had interviews 
 with that personage, and shown him the work of his 
 department. He has been seen very early in the 
 morning with a portfolio of papers leaving the hotel in 
 the Rue St. Georo-es. I have had the President in- 
 formed of the circumstance ; he will know what 
 measures to take. 
 
 Immediately after the division, if the abrogation of 
 the law of the 31st May is agreed to by the Asseml)ly, 
 the Minister of War will ascend the tribune and in- 
 form the members that they are all prisoners. The 
 threshing will then begin, and the good separated from 
 the bad grain, which will be placed where it can do no 
 harm. To support the declaration of the Minister of 
 War, five regiments will invest the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 This bold project is not to be regarded as a fanciful 
 invention of my own ; it comes to me secretly from a 
 " reliable source," and if I inscribe it in my book it is 
 because I firmly believe in its reality. The Minister of 
 War is quite prepared to play his part, and the Array 
 well disposed and ready for action. Since the mon- 
 strous proposition of the Qiiestors, military protests 
 have been received in showers at the Elysee. 
 
ADDRESS TO THE TROOPS. 75 
 
 Important events are close at hand, but any crisis 
 will be preferable to this state of inaction, which is 
 eating into one's very vitals. 
 
 November 10th. — I give the text of the speech which 
 was made yesterday by the President of the Republic 
 to the officers of the regiments which have been 
 recently brought to Paris, on their presentation to 
 him by Monsieur Maguan, Commandant of the City 
 troops : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, — In receiving the officers of the 
 different regiments which have succeeded to garrison 
 duty in Paris, I am glad to observe that they are 
 animated by that soldierly spirit which has made our 
 fame in the past and guarantees our security in the 
 present. It is not necessary that I should speak to you 
 of your duty or discipline. Your duty has always 
 been performed with honour on African equally as 
 on French soil, and your discipline has ever been 
 maintained intact, although sometimes subjected to 
 the severest trials. I trust that these trials may never 
 recur ; but if the gravity of events should obUge me 
 to have recourse to your devotion, it will not fail me 
 I feel sure, because, as you know full well, I shall 
 only ask of you what is in accordance with my Consti- 
 tutional rights, with military honour, and with the 
 interests of the country ; because I have placed at 
 your head men who possess my entire confidence, and 
 who merit yours ; because if ever the day comes when 
 we are menaced by danger I will not act as my pre- 
 decessors have done, who said to you : Lead on, I will 
 follow ; but I will say to you : Follow me, I go first." 
 
76 MEMOTRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 The proposal to repeal the law of May the 31st 
 has been defeated in the Assembly by a majority of six. 
 Clary is ashamed of having voted against the President. 
 Lamartiue, being ill, could not take part in the division. 
 Altogether the Chamber have won their victory by a 
 close shave. Baze, his adherents, and General Chan- 
 garnier were seized with fear after the voting, and 
 passed the night at the Questor's office in great agita- 
 tion and with their pistols ready to hand. Thiers also 
 passed an uneasy night at his house in the Place, or 
 Hue, St. George. All these gentlemen and a good many 
 besides believe they will be arrested. 
 
 There were certain grounds for this fear, for at the 
 next meetino- of the Chamber, and in the face of a hos- 
 tile majority, Carlier proposed that the leaders and 
 most turbulent members should be arrested, sent by 
 special convoy to Havre, and there immediately em- 
 barked for South America. He demanded that Paris 
 should be instantly placed in a state of siege, and said 
 he would make himself answerable for whatever might 
 happen. The whole affair could have been carried out 
 in one night, without the assistance of the troops, and 
 on the following day, when Paris awoke to the coup 
 d'etat, the prisoners would have been already under 
 way. 
 
 The President declined the proposal, either from 
 want of confidence in his Ministry, or because he did 
 not think the time was yet ripe. Magnan, the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Paris army, is not very resolute, 
 but they say that Saint- Arnaud, the Minister of War, 
 is, on the contrary, very much so. 
 
THE COUP D'ETAT. 77 
 
 November IQth. — The proposition of the Questors 
 has been rejected bj 408 votes to 300. This vote post- 
 pones the solution. The President was firmly resolved 
 not to be beaten, and had everything in readiness. 
 The army would have marched at his word of com- 
 mand. 
 
 Yesterday evening, at the reception at the Elysee, 
 the military oflBcers congregated in large numbers, and 
 did not disguise their antipathy to the Assembly. The 
 Minister of the Interior has appointed me Chief Secre- 
 tary of Public Museums. 
 
 December 2nd. — The coiqj cTetat has taken place ! 
 The Assembly and the Council of State are dissolved, 
 and a larsfe number of arrests have been made durino- 
 the night. 
 
 Lamoriciere, Changarnier, Bedau, and many others 
 have been taken. Several members of the Assembly 
 met together at the Palais Legislatif to offer a protest, 
 but were forced to retire. Some of the deputies and 
 leaders of the people are said to have been wounded 
 in endeavouring to force their way through the lines. 
 
 12.30 p.m. — I am preparing the last archway in the 
 large gallery at the Louvre for the reception of troops. 
 Rumours of the most contradictory kind are in circu- 
 lation; according to some the Republicans are pre- 
 paring to make an energetic resistance. According to 
 others everything is quiet. We must wait till to-night. 
 
 The troops shouted " Long live the Emperor ! " 
 
 Universal suffrage is proclaimed, and the elections 
 are to take place on the 14th. Louis Napoleon asks 
 for a decennial term of office. Morny is Minister of 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 the Interior and General Lavoestine commands the 
 National Guard. 
 
 The affair has been conducted with the greatest 
 secrecy, and none of the persons arrested had the least 
 suspicion of their sentence. 
 
 2.0 p.m. — Cavaignac, it is said, has been arrested. 
 
 On the boulevards at the top of the Rue Taitbout 
 there is a crowd, and a few orators are declaiming, but 
 there is no organization and the streets are under 
 military guard. The Faubourg St. Denis is quiet and 
 so is the Faubourg Poissonniere. 
 
 3.0 p.m. — La Patrie, which has just been issued, 
 contains the names of some of the arrested members. 
 
 Last night the Prefet of Police called his men together 
 and gave them the orders for arrest, saying : " If you 
 hesitate I have others who are ready to do the work." 
 Two hundred members of the Assembly endeavoured 
 to meet at the Mayoralty House of the tenth ward. 
 They drew up and signed the President's deposition ; 
 some were arrested. 
 
 December Srd. — The nis^ht has been undisturbed and 
 all the troops have been brought into barracks. 
 
 Fleury, the President's orderly officer, has been 
 wounded in the head by a gunshot, but the wound 
 does not prevent him from performing his duties. 
 
 It is said, but the news is false, that Thiers is con- 
 fined at Ham, in the same room formerly occupied by 
 the Prince. 
 
 Piscatory, who was conducted after his arrest to the 
 barracks where General Forey is in command, was very 
 abusive in his language, so much so that the General 
 
FIGHTING IN THE STREETS. 79 
 
 at last lost patience and said to liim : " If you utter 
 another word I will run my sword through your 
 stomach." 
 
 December 4th. — Yesterday Mons. Baudin and Mons. 
 Madier de Monjau"^ were killed behind the barricades, 
 and Mons. Schoelcher was severely wounded. 
 
 The High Court of Justice endeavoured to hold a 
 meeting, but was dissolved by an armed force. 
 
 La Gueronni^re, who overrates his own individual 
 importance, like the rest of the staff of the Pays, 
 announces his retirement as a writer in this morning's 
 edition ; he also announces his brother's resignation of 
 the office of sous-Prcfet. 
 
 Midnight. — I have just gone through the Louvre 
 and inspected all the posts. I have also walked along 
 the roof with the keepers and assistants. The town 
 is gloomy, and from time to time isolated musketry 
 firing is heard. Nieuwerkerke came to give us news 
 at half -past ten. There has been rough work during 
 the day, especially for the 72nd regiment, the Colonel 
 of which has been wounded, and Lieut.-Colonel killed. 
 A Captain has also had his leg broken. Altogether, 
 the troops have had about twelve killed and forty 
 wounded. The barricades were carried in splendid 
 style and the gendarmerie showed great zeal. 
 
 Money has been scattered in profusion, but men 
 are asking large sums this evening — eighteen francs 
 each — to defend the barricades. The Orleanists are 
 at the bottom of it all. Nadaillac was, for a time, 
 
 *Tbe latter was only wounded and taken prisoner. Schoelcher, 
 who was slightly wounded, was subsequently able to leave France. 
 
80 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 arrested. He was shouting that the President should 
 perish by his band alone, and that the National Guard 
 ought to be called out. He was subsequently released. 
 Eighteen well-dressed individuals, among a group who 
 were firing on the troops at the corner of the Rue de 
 E-ichelieu, were arrested and taken to the Tuileries. 
 Nieuwerkerke has gone to find out their names. 
 
 Generals Ca vaiguac, Changarnier, and Lamoriciere will 
 be brought before a court-martial if evidence of con- 
 spiracy can be proved against them. Falloux has been 
 set at liberty and has been to leave his card on the 
 President, Berryer is on parole at his country house. 
 
 Severe measures will be taken to-morrow, cannon 
 will be used, and the most stringent orders have been 
 issued. All who are found with arms in their hand 
 will be shot. Soldiers will search all the houses in 
 the insurgent quarters, and everyone who cannot prove 
 that he inhabits the house where he is found will be 
 shot. Persons will also be put to death who bear 
 about their persons the marks of gunpowder. The 
 provinces are quiet, and General Castellane, in a 
 despatch dated from Lyons at midday, says he will 
 answer for his division. 
 
 Amiens wished the army to unite with the National 
 Guard in support of the Prince's pronunciamento. The 
 Prefet and Mayor, who protested, are deposed, and 
 Bernard, an ex-Deputy, who is very energetic and 
 devoted to the President, has been sent there as extra- 
 ordinary commissioner. 
 
 The middle classes in Paris look sour at the idea of 
 having to vote openly ; their cowardice is better accom- 
 
LORD PALMERSTON'S CONGRATULATIONS. 81 
 
 modated by a secret ballot. They do not wish to com- 
 promise themselves, and are always the same stupid, 
 craven-hearted, vain race, hiding themselves in times 
 of danger, and in times of peace longing for the 
 influence they are incapable of retaining. 
 
 December lili. — The foreign powers are very satisfied 
 with the President's action, and Lord Palmerston has 
 written him a congratulatory letter. Some of the Eng- 
 lish papers, and the Independance Beige and Gourrier 
 de Gand, are prohibited from entering France in con- 
 sequence of the revolutionary tone of their articles. 
 
 The great English newspaper, the Times, is also 
 hostile, which is not to be wondered at, being very 
 Phillipist in its tendencies and largely influenced by 
 the Orleanist faction. 
 
 There were at Montmartre cemetery yesterday the 
 corpses of twenty-eight respectably-dressed men, whose 
 hands or faces bore traces of gunpowder. Two stock- 
 brokers' associates were shot, after being captured in 
 the act of firing on the troops. 
 
 I received the following account of the coup d^efat 
 from Colonel I'Espinasse's own lips : — • 
 
 " On the 30th of November last the War Minister 
 sent for me and said, ' The political situation, Colonel, 
 at the present moment is most grave ; the Assembly 
 shows itself more and more openly hostile to the 
 President, and before very long the conspiracy which 
 is on foot, and of which the proposition of the 
 Questors was only a first move, will burst forth. 
 The intentions of the conspirators are no longer a 
 secret from anyone. To imprison the President in 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
I 
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Yincennes and get possession of tlie government is 
 their aim. We are consequently menaced by civil 
 war, the demoralization of the army, which will be 
 dragged this way and that by persons who, on the 
 morrow of their victory, will quarrel among them- 
 selves, and we shall be subjected in the end to a state 
 of socialism worse than the Reign of Terror, in 1793, 
 the ruin and shame of our country. 
 
 " ' The President is anxious to prevent a recurrence 
 of such disasters, and in order to do so has determined 
 to dissolve the Assembly, arrest the principal agita- 
 tors, and then appeal to the nation to support his 
 action. I have counted upon you and your well-known 
 energy to carry out the measures which this salutary 
 coup d'etat necessitates. Am I mistaken ? ' 
 
 " I replied that the President could rely upon me. 
 I was then given a pass which procured me access to 
 every corner of the National Assembly House. With- 
 out losing time I used my right of entry, and examined 
 the position I was to carry ; then, having spied out 
 the weak points and made my dispositions, I returned 
 to the Minister's house and guaranteed the successful 
 accomplishment of the enterprise whenever he gave 
 me the order to act. 
 
 This order was not long in coming. On the night 
 of the first of December I was aroused by three 
 commissaries of police, each bearing a letter, which, 
 on opening, proved to be the mandates for the 
 Questors' arrest ; other instructions empowered me to 
 take possession and command of the Palais Legislatif, 
 i and, lastly, I was told to hand to President Dupin a 
 
COLONEL L'ESPINASSE'S ACCOUNT. 83 
 
 letter from tlie Prince. The three commissaries 
 appeared rather startled at first at the gravity of 
 their duty, but a few firm words from me gave them 
 coufidence, which was further confirmed by my 
 perfectly determined expression of countenance. 
 From that moment I knew that I could rely 
 upon them. 
 
 " About half-past two my regiment left the Military 
 School. Two hundred men surrounded the Palais 
 Legislatif, with the order to let no one escape, and I 
 presented myself with a strong force at the little door 
 leading to the President's private entrance, asking to 
 see first of all the officer of the guard, and then the 
 commandant of the battalion in charge of the Palace. 
 Without more ado the two officers, who were greatly 
 astonished to see me there at such an hour, were 
 forcibly arrested and placed in a room under a mili- 
 tary guard. Thus being master of the Palace, T could 
 proceed without molestation to secure the persons of 
 the three Questors — Messieurs Baze and de Panat, and 
 General Leflo. Monsieur Baze tried, without success, 
 the effect of his eloquence on my men, who o nly 
 laughed at him. Greneral Leflo, in full uniform, 
 wished to harangue the troops, and protest against 
 the violation of the privileges of members, but I 
 declined to allow him to speak, and, with all possible 
 respect, informed him that I had a military duty to 
 perform, and could not allow him, in defiance of my 
 orders, to address the soldiers under my charge. On 
 a sign from me he was then removed under guard. 
 
 " Having settled the Questors I presented myself 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CASTE L. 
 
 before Mods. Diipin, and gave him the Prince's letter, 
 which assured him of the necessity of the course that 
 was being taken and guaranteed him his liberty, but at 
 the same time advised his remaining for the moment 
 quietly within the precincts of the Palace. President 
 Dupin assented, and said he should prefer to do so. 
 Everything went smoothly, and day began to break. I 
 then assembled, along with the troops under my com- 
 mand, who until then were entirely ignorant of the 
 purpose of their mission, those who had been in charge 
 of the Palace, and addressing them all, said : ' Soldiers, 
 a conspiracy has been formed by several members of 
 the Assembly with the object of usurping the power 
 and imprisoning in Yincennes the nephew of the Em- 
 peror Napoleon. It was on the point of breaking out, 
 but we have nipped it in the bud. I put it to you, will 
 you be commanded by a lot of blackguards or by the 
 Emperor's nephew ? ' My appeal was answered by the 
 unanimous cry of ' Long live Louis Napoleon ! ' 
 
 " Everything went well, but as an insurrection 
 might nevertheless take place in Paris, and the Palace 
 be attacked, I neglected no precaution. In the out- 
 buildings of the Palace a large number of attendants 
 and their families were lodged, and my orders were to 
 allow the nurses and servants liberty to go to and fro. 
 Profiting by this facility about sixty Deputies got into 
 the Chamber, and were proceeding to discuss the depo- 
 sition of the President when I got wind of what was 
 going on. I at once commanded the oflS.cer in charge 
 of the gendarme battalion to clear the room. He was 
 received with hooting and angry cries, and I thought 
 
COLONEL rESPINASSWS ACCOUNT. 85 
 
 atone time he would be killed; at last be was obli,^ed 
 to beat a retreat. I then entered the room at the head of 
 my grenadiers, and was received with loud execrations, 
 the Deputies even proceeding to blows with the soldiers. 
 Wishing, however, to avoid all scandal, I endeavoured 
 to obtain silence, and said : — ' Gentlemen, let me appeal 
 to your own dignity, do not dispute orders which I am 
 bound to execute, and oblige me to have recourse to 
 force.' Cries, vociferations, and insults drowned my 
 words ; some of the more desperate ones seized my 
 soldiers by their coats. I could not allow such a scene 
 to proceed, and, in tones that dominated the noise and 
 tumult, ordered the gendarmes to carry them out. 
 The order was executed, but not without difficulty, for 
 some of the Deputies had literally to be transported 
 like so many bales. The more violent amoug them 
 stuckto their seats and would not move, and one, more 
 uncontrollable than the others, demanded to be struck, 
 and with so much insistance that a gendarme, at last 
 losing all patience, said, 'Is that your last word?' and 
 receiving a reply in the affirmative gave him a cuff 
 that knocked him down, and he was carried off crowned 
 in the full attainment of his prayers. 
 
 " The Palace being cleared, I proceeded to give my 
 military orders, thinking that I should now be free to 
 do so, when I received information that the Deputies, 
 on their expulsion from the Chamber, had roused the 
 populace and forced the guard in front of the door 
 leading to the Rue de Bourgogne. I hastened there 
 at once with one company, and succeeded in dividing 
 in two the invading crowd. After driving back into 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CASTEL. 
 
 the street that portion that menaced the guard I 
 addressed the Deputies, whom I had made prisoners at 
 their head, in these terms : — ' In my eyes you are no 
 longer Deputies, but merely insurgents who are stirring 
 up the people to revolt and force the guard. On any 
 repetition of violence on your part I will have you 
 instantly shot.' My determined attitude cowed them, 
 and they did not utter another word, and were put in 
 a room in the Palace under view of a guard. After a 
 time they adopted a gentler attitude and asked for 
 their liberty, whichi at once accorded." 
 
 I said to him : — " Colonel I'Espinasse, do you really 
 mean to say you would have carried into effect your 
 threat to shoot them if they had persisted in disregard- 
 ing your order ? " "Most certainly," he replied. "My 
 head was at stake, and I was not going to lose ib 
 through weak play." 
 
 The number of killed on the side of the insurgents, 
 including those afterwa.rds captured and shot, is over 
 two thousand. The suppression of the insurrection 
 has been terribly severe. Grod grant that it may not 
 have to be repeated, although I hardly dare to express 
 such a hope. Paris is like some wanton woman who 
 requires to be gratified with the lust of blood every 
 two or three years. Such a spectacle is to her what a 
 bull-fight is to the Spaniards. 
 
 Lord Palmers ton has fallen from the pedestal of 
 power, and his Machiavelian arts are defeated amidst 
 the plaudits of all Europe. Lord Granville is entrusted 
 with the seals of office. Decidedly demagogism is 
 being vanquished on all sides. Now the political 
 
LOUIS NAPOLEON ELECTED PRESIDENT. 87 
 
 refugees will be watched, even if they are not expelled, 
 and Italy will breathe again. Lord Palmerston has 
 done incalculable injury to Europe, if not, indeed, to 
 his own country. He was an evil genius who would 
 willingly have set fire to the world in order to warm 
 his feet with the flames. 
 
 The President is elected by 7,400,000 votes. His 
 strength is enormous. We will see what use he makes 
 of it." 
 
 He was at the opera yesterday, and received an 
 enthusiastic welcome, at which he was deeply moved. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 1852. 
 Thanksgiving Service at Notre Dame — Favouritism begins 
 
 ^MORNY AND MoNTGUVON — PROMOTIONS IN THE ARMY 
 
 The AUTHOR on English Trades Unions — English cre- 
 dulity — Members op the Democratic party expelled 
 PROM France — Journalists — Recollections of the 
 Reign of Terror — The Royalists op Versailles — 
 Monsieur de Viel Castel, senior, and the Empress 
 Josephine — Influence op Persigny — His character — 
 Confiscation of the Orleanist property — The wits op 
 the Faubourg St. Germain — The "■ Dame aux Came- 
 lias" — Orleanist plots — Count d^Orsay — Feminine 
 amenities, letter prom Countess de Solms to Countess 
 de Schulimburg and correspondence between Rachael 
 and Nathalie — Rachael's domestic interior — Pre- 
 parations FOR THE Empire — The truth about General 
 Marmont. 
 
 January \st. — The President, Ministers, functionaries, 
 army, and National Guard have just returned from 
 the celebration of the " Te Deum " at Notre Dame, 
 
FAVOURITISM BEGINS. 89 
 
 where tlie crowd tliat had gathered received the Prince 
 most enthusiastically. 
 
 At this moment the sfalleries of the Louvre are 
 filled with officers of the army who are about to 
 defile before the Chief of the State. A company of 
 old soldiers of the Empire have also donned their 
 uniforms in honour of the occasion. The weather is 
 foggy, cold, and frosty, just such a day the " veterans " 
 say as when the Emperor Napoleon was crowned. 
 Marshal Jerome Bonaparte was present at the function 
 in full uniform, the colour of which it was impossible 
 to distinguish for the lace. He was the only Marshal 
 thus dressed. 
 
 The influence of favouritism is bes^innino' to assert 
 itself as under former regime's. Morny, who, by the 
 wish of the President, retains his office as Minister of 
 the Interior, is looking out for a place for his friend 
 Montguyon. A year ago the latter was on the point 
 of being made Director of Fine Arts. Xow they are 
 endeavourinsf to find something^ that will suit him in 
 one of the Ministries. What has Montguyon done ? 
 An old opera beau, costumier of the green-room, and 
 libertine on the unattached list, he has passed his life 
 with this or that dancer, disputing with his comrades 
 the affections of some creature or other, and spending 
 his money in similar pursuits. Now, forsooth, he must 
 have some indemnity, and the State is charged to find 
 it for him. Before another two years are over he will 
 probably be made an officer of the Legion of Honour, 
 and we shall be told that merit is the sure road to 
 fortune. 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 What oblations of devotion are offered up to-daj ! 
 What a crowd of true behevers ! The same which 
 collected under the balcony of Louis XVIII., crying 
 out: "Lono" live the Kino^ and the Bourbons for 
 ever," which called Charles X. " The Cavalier 
 King ; " Louis-Philippe " The Citizen King," and which 
 in 1848 shouted for the Republic. Go, my noble 
 friends of the new order, and ask for a bone to pick. 
 There have been a number of promotions in the army. 
 Captains of the Staff and the President's Orderly 
 Officers are made Commanders of squadrons, but my 
 friend Captain Saint-Martin, who has held the same 
 grade for fourteen years, seven of which have been 
 spent amid a thousand dangers in preparing a map of 
 Tunis, has not been promoted. 
 
 January 4th. — England is beginning to feel the in- 
 conveniences resulting from the inconceivable latitude 
 she has given to the fomenters of anarchy, and the 
 freedom vouchsafed them for circulating their insensate 
 doctrines. An association of working men, called the 
 " Trades Union," are raising the flag of Sociahsm, and 
 presuming even to dictate terms to the manufacturers 
 themselves. The association has its own paper. The 
 Co-operative. It asks for equality in wages, and, as a 
 means of gaining its end, supports the different strikes 
 out of a common fund consisting of 625,000 francs. 
 
 Social war has been proclaimed in England. Where 
 will it stop ? That country is now gathering the fruit 
 of Lord Palmerston's policy. A State cannot with 
 impunity shelter the enemies of society and civihza- 
 tion in the hope of injuring its neighbours. The 
 
ENGLISH CREDULITY. 91 
 
 Kossuths, Mazzinis, Louis Blancs, and Ledru Rollins, 
 feted and sheltered by the English nation, have pro- 
 fited by the folly of their hosts by corrupting the 
 residuum of their population. The Anglican, and 
 especially the Scottish, clergy — subscribers to the 
 Mazzini fund, which has been started with the object 
 of upsetting the Papacy — have furnished the Socialists 
 with the means of propagating their doctrines in the 
 United Kino-dom itself, TLie evil is o-aininof o^round, 
 and is preparing its code of rules and system of organi- 
 zation ; it has its leaders, army, and newspaper organs, 
 already adopts a dictatorial tone, and is ripe for mis- 
 chief. 
 
 When I was in London in 1848 I witnessed the 
 beginning of this business. English vanity affected to 
 despise Continental agitators, who were permitted to 
 enter Great Britain at will, and plumed itself on the 
 excellence and invulnerability of the British constitu- 
 tion. The Socialist Clubs of Wardour and Princes 
 Streets only provoked a smile, as much as to say to us 
 foreigners : Your wild beasts directly they are landed 
 on our shores become domesticated animals, who are 
 rather entertainins^ than otherwise. 
 
 Between 1848 and 1852, however, the wild beasts 
 have gone ahead, for England is, of all places in the 
 world, the spot where eccentricity and vanity of 
 opinion find the largest number of recruits and parti- 
 sans. Magnetism, phrenology, quack medicines, and 
 the most extravagant religious sects there find number- 
 less disciples and the most credulous followers. At 
 Brighton during the winter of 1848-9, I heard it 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 seriously stated that, in order to avoid all the maladies 
 to which flesh is heir, it was only necessary to extract 
 as children the three upper front teeth, and I actually 
 saw the wife of a colonel, a friend of mine, take her 
 eldest son, twelve years of age, to a dentist*s for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Jcmiiary llth. — Yesterday a decree was issued from 
 the Tuileries, signed "Louis Napoleon," expelling from 
 French territory sixty-six representatives of the Demo- 
 cratic party, with the threat of transportation if they 
 returned to it. Amonsr these the most notable in the list 
 are : Victor Hugo, Charles Lagrange, and Colonel 
 Charras. A second decree is directed against 
 dangerous Parliamentarians; about eighteen of them 
 are temporarily expelled — Duvergier de Hauranne, 
 Creton, General Lamoriciere, General Changarnier, 
 Baze, General Leflo, General Bedeau, Thiers, Cham- 
 bolle, De E^musat, Jules de Lasteyrie, Emile de 
 Girardin, General Laidet, Pascal Duprat, Edgard 
 Quinet, Antony Thouret, Victor Chauffour, and Ver- 
 signy. The Moniteur also announces the transportation 
 to Guiana of Messieurs Marc Dufraisse, Greppo, Miofc, 
 Mathe, and Eichardet. Cavaignac's name is not 
 mentioned in any list. The Government, it is said, 
 have received his promise that he will not interfere in 
 any fresh political movement. 
 
 The journalists are terribly dejected ; the profession 
 is not quite so good as it was. Soon only the prin- 
 cipal ones will be left, and the scribblers, who excite 
 the public mind morning and night with their pens, 
 will disappear. That cloud of grasshoppers, the 
 
THE REIGN OF TERROR. 93 
 
 scourge of modern times, will go back to tlie holes 
 they came from, and which they ought never to have 
 left. 
 
 We are to be permitted to be governed in peace, and 
 to live in peace at last. As far as my memory carries 
 me back, I can recollect nothing but troubles, revolu- 
 tions, and calamities, which have left an indelible im- 
 pression upon my mind. At Versailles, where my 
 father lived, my young days were spent in the midst 
 of those who had escaped from the cut-throats of '93 > 
 and who fostered to the day of their death the remem- 
 brance of the monstrous scenes of which they had been 
 witness. 
 
 I have still before my eyes the picture of that com- 
 munity so jealously and punctiliously retaining the 
 traditions of the ,18th century ; full of sad regrets, 
 religiously Royalist, and weeping in their hearts for 
 relations, friends, and institutions dead or destroyed. 
 Those unhappy gentlefolk furnished their apartments 
 with the insignia of the last royal race, and their walls 
 were hung with portraits in profile of the mem- 
 bers of Louis XYI.'s family, with the outlines of a 
 weeping-willow allogorically guarding a tomb. All 
 wore the costume of the 18tli century and retained 
 the language, predilections, and antipathies of that 
 time. 
 
 My father lodged at Number 7 in the Rue de 
 rOrangerie, a few steps from the Orangerie railings, 
 and it was in front of this house that the Orleans 
 prisoners were massacred. A gentleman living in the 
 same house, the Marquis de Valfons, had witnessed 
 
94 MEMOIRS 01 COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAST EL. 
 
 the tragedy from his window, and was never tired of re- 
 counting its horrors, the sight of which had frightened 
 poor Madame de Yalfons into her grave. 
 
 Mons. de Yalfons was a very kind-hearted man, who 
 came, I think, from the neighbourhood of Nimes. My 
 brothers and I visited him nearly every day, and he 
 always received us with inexhaustible good-nature, in 
 spite of our turbulent youth. He was subject to 
 moments of great depression when his mind reverted 
 to those he had loved and lost ; then he would draw 
 us to him, and, taking us to the window, would de- 
 scribe tlie massacre of the Orleans prisoners, amongst 
 whom were numbered many of his own friends. 
 
 Mons. de Yalfons was, therefore, the mentor of my 
 youth, and from him I learned by heart the names of 
 the murdered and the murderers. 
 
 In his moments of quiet mirth he would go into 
 his kitchen and stamp upon some piece of pastry 
 about to be consigned to the oven the impression 
 of a jieur-de-lys. Delighted with this mute protest 
 against the Empire, he would come back to his 
 room and tell us long stories of Louis XYI., of the 
 Queen, for whom he cherished the tenderest affec- 
 tion, and of the tortures inflicted upon the young 
 DaujDhin at the instance of that infamous Simon. T 
 also knew at that time — about 1807 or 1808 — an old 
 Madame d'Angevilliers, who lived at Yersailles in the 
 Rue de la Surintendance. She had her salon^ or rather 
 literary levee, for she always received in bed after the 
 manner of her day. She wore a dress of pannier 
 fashion, which extended in ample flounces over her 
 
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 95 
 
 bed, and her hair, which was crimped and powdered, 
 towered above her head iu the style of 1780. 
 
 Amongst those of distinguished birth or attainments 
 who assembled at Madame d'Angevilliers' were Mons. 
 de Feletz, of the Dehats, and two abbes. Messieurs 
 d'Andrezel and Saint Gerac, who, in those days, had 
 very little of the abbe about them, but were, on the 
 contrary, both excellent men of the world. 
 
 Who else shall I mention of all this Yersailles world 
 which had effected its escape from the Palace into the 
 town after the destruction of Royalty and the pillage 
 of the residence of kings ? Madame des Escotais, 
 the Duchess of Yilleroy, an aristocratic and highly 
 respected old lady, and the demoiselles de Chateau- 
 girou, who lived in the Rue Satory, at the pavilion 
 Le Tellier, where private theatricals often took 
 place, for old tears, old regrets, and old people's 
 griefs do not prevent young people from amusing 
 themselves. 
 
 I became acquainted with the great Revolution 
 throus^h the sorrows of those whose relations had 
 been its victims ; of the Empire I learned through 
 the agency of another sorrow, deep and poignant, 
 although skilfully disguised. My father was cham- 
 berlain to the Empress Josephine; he had been her 
 lover before she married Napoleon, and their inti- 
 macy was resumed after her divorce. The Empress 
 always retained a sincere affection for the Emperor, 
 and his fall was a mortal blow to her. After the 
 Russian campaign, child as I was, my mind became 
 saddened at the sioht of the sorrow which over- 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 whelmed the Court at Malmaison, where I spent most 
 of my time. 
 
 The Empire had fallen. I saw it revive and fall 
 aofain amid the blood and carnao^e of Waterloo. 
 
 January 2\st. — The Ministry is unsettled, and begins 
 to feel the effect of Persigny's baleful influence. Moray 
 wishes to retire into private life ; he is averse to the 
 sequestration of the Orleans property, which Persigny 
 is determined to brinsf about. The latter is the Pre- 
 sident's evil genius. He has great influence over him, 
 although he is a mere vulgar intriguer, tortuous in his 
 methods, and without the courage to oppose either 
 men or measures frankly and in open day. A sort of 
 insignificant cadet, of mushroom growth, the mere 
 sight of him is sufiicient to destroy any confidence one 
 might have been disposed to place in him. An abject 
 object in appearance, there is neither truth in his look 
 nor conviction in his words ; he is as pompous as a 
 laquais and as spiteful as a beadle. Without seeming 
 to notice an affront he will never forgive it. He is, 
 above all, the counsellor of violent measures and 
 crooked means. Such is Persigny. 
 
 January 23rc?. — The property which Louis-Philippe 
 abstracted from the State on ascending the throne, by 
 a decree dated August 7th, 1830, has been confiscated, 
 and is to be applied to the public service. The Orleans 
 Princes are also required to sell their property within 
 twelve months. 
 
 The President surrenders all title to the possessions 
 taken from his family in 1814 and 1815. 
 
 Morny leaves the Ministry, and is succeeded by 
 Persigny. Fould is replaced by Bineau, &c., &c. 
 
CONFISCATION OF THE ORLEANIST PROPERTY. 97 
 
 January 24th. — Princess Matbilde is furious at the 
 Presicleut's decrees, she lias written to liim begging 
 him not to sign them, and even went so far as to say to 
 me : " If Louis-Philippe had ever been jealous of Louis 
 Napoleon he would to-day, had he been alive, have felt 
 fully avenged." 
 
 Morny has had a quarrel with the President. His 
 mistress, Madame Lehon, is the cause of it. She is an 
 Orleanist, and has been trying to influence Morny to 
 support measures favourable to that party. He had 
 beofffed the President to write to the Kino- of the Bel- 
 gfians, askina; that Monsieur Lehon mis^ht be sent as 
 ambassador to Paris. 
 
 We live in an age when adultery is publicly rewarded. 
 Young Lehon, although still a minor and a Belgian 
 subject, after acting for six weeks as principal secre- 
 tary in Morny 's department, has been promoted to the 
 auditorship, and has received the cross of the Legion of 
 Honour. 
 
 Walewski, an old roue without ability, but the ille- 
 gitimate son of the Emperor Napoleon, is ambassador 
 in London. 
 
 Cotterau, Queen Hortense's paramour in her latter 
 days, is Inspector-General of Fine Arts, and Morny 
 himself, the son of this same Queen by Count de 
 Flahaut, w^as for a time Minister of the Interior. 
 
 The Orleans Princes excite a great deal of sympathy, 
 and there is excellent reason too why certain people 
 should commiserate with them. It is all very well to 
 tell these persons " that the property of kings is the 
 appanage of the State." They will not listen to you. 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
<)8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CASTEL. 
 
 These poor people will ouly have a hundred millions 
 to divide amongst each other, and tender hearts weep 
 at the spectacle presented by that dear old king and 
 his family who hadn't the courage to defend throne 
 and country against a hideous insurrection which has 
 since cost us all so dear. 
 
 They fled in all directions, each one anxious to save 
 his own skin, abandoning women and children, honour 
 and future fame. God punishes the assassin of Louis 
 XVI. through his sons and grandchildren. He 
 punishes, equally, the King without conscience, the bad 
 parent and usurper. Justice does exist ! 
 
 The aristocratic quarter of St. Germain is exercising 
 its turn for humour in the same frivolous spirit that it 
 showed under Louis-Philippe's reign. Here is a sample 
 of it, intended for private circulation — ■" Anarchy is 
 happily delivered of despotism ; both mother and 
 child are doing well." 
 
 January 20th. — Yeron's brother has been appointed 
 controller of the Government tobacco factories, which 
 post is worth 9,000 francs a year. 
 
 Patronage is in strange hands, and appointments 
 and promotions of the most startling kind are being 
 made. Prince Murat is made a senator, because he is 
 the legitimate son of his father ; Walewski and Morny 
 are placed in high offices because they are not the 
 legitimate sons of theirs. Clavel is appointed near to 
 the person of Persigny, because he was the dependent 
 lover of the late Queen of Naples, Madame Murat. 
 
 We are not apparently reforming our era ; on the 
 contrary, we are acting the part of a bad Louis XI Y. 
 
THE ''DAME AUX CAME LI AS r 99 
 
 and a detestable Louis XV. In the lower ranks of 
 society we still hear voices exclaiming — " Sir, I am 
 the bastard son of jour apothecary." 
 
 February 11th. — I went to the Vaudeville Theatre 
 yesterday to see one of Alexandre Dumas the younger's 
 pieces. The theatres, be it remarked in parenthesis, 
 are subject to a censor, appointed for the purpose of 
 protecting public morality and public decency. The 
 " Dame aux Camelias " of Mons. Damas is simply an 
 insult to the interests the censor is supposed to protect ; 
 a shame to the age in which we live, to the Grovern- 
 ment which permits it to be played, and to the public 
 who go nightly to applaud it. The Vaudeville is 
 crowded every evening, the Place de la Bourse is 
 blocked with carriages, and women of good family are 
 not ashamed to show themselves at the theatre. The 
 whole thing is a gross public scandal. 
 
 During five whole acts the " Dame aux Camelias," 
 or, in other words, the kept mistress, displays to a 
 civilized public the hateful details of a life of shame. 
 Nothing is wanting in the picture — neither the pro- 
 curess, the gambler, the cynical expression, nor the 
 scene borrowed from the lowest dens of vice. The 
 whole play reeks with lewdness and debauchery, and 
 the very actors chosen by the author to give it popu- 
 larity are themselves ignoble in their parts. The 
 "Dame aux Camelias" is supposed to represent true 
 love ; true love, indeed ! . . . alternating between the 
 caresses first of one lover and then of another, taking 
 money from the rich man, who is not loved, to be 
 spent in the entertainment of one who is. Then the 
 
100 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 scene with the father, who comes to reclaim his son, 
 and tries to cure him of his affection by arranging" 
 with his mistress to resume her old and nameless 
 occupation. Then the girl of pleasure, dying rehabi- 
 litated in the arms of her paramour, surrounded by 
 his friends, and voluntarily pronouncing a eulogy on 
 religion ; finally the funeral oration spoken over her 
 remains : " Much will be pardoned her inasmuch as 
 she has truly loved." 
 
 It is impossible to analyse such transcendent vile- 
 ness ; it is coarse beyond expression, but the spectacle 
 presented by the house itself is even worse. 
 
 February 22nd. — The Orleanists are on the war 
 path. They wish to persuade the country that it 
 regrets their absence, and that they only fell in 1848 
 through accidentally slipping on the political ice. The 
 country is being inundated with pamphlets and pro- 
 tests, distributed with the object of provoking a revo- 
 lution, in order that, when the storm has passed over, 
 their restoration may appear on the political horizon 
 like a rainbow. 
 
 But the country wants repose, and takes no heed of 
 their machinations ; the middle classes alone — the lice 
 of the body corporate — are disposed to favour them. 
 These bewail the lot of the poor Orleanists, whose 
 goods the State has had the infamy to confiscate. 
 The Orleanists are an accursed race, who have caused 
 every insurrection that has taken place during the last 
 sixty years. They are punished at last, and richly 
 deserve it. 
 
 Bocher, their factor, an ex-Prefet and Deputy, has 
 
COUNT D'ORSAY. 101 
 
 been arrested on the charge of distributing their 
 pamphlets, a large depot of which was discovered at 
 Madame d'Haussonville's. This lady's domicile was 
 searched by the police, and large packets were found 
 in her apartments, even secreted in her carriage. 
 Mens. d'Haussonville, her son, who married Mdlle. de 
 Broglie, has been expelled from Belgium for publishing 
 a paper full of lies concerning French affairs. It was 
 called Les Bulletins Frangais. 
 
 March 4th. — The journals say that Count d'Orsay 
 has received the commission for a marble statue of 
 Prince Jerome to be placed at Versailles. So much 
 the worse for Versailles. 
 
 The Count is an old " lion," whom nobody now 
 knows or receives. He has lived with his mother-in- 
 law. Lady Blessington, and everyone but his wife, 
 Lady Henrietta d'Orsay, who was the mistress of the 
 Duke d' Orleans, of Autonin de Noailles, and a host 
 of lesser stars. 
 
 Count d'Orsay for twenty years lived on the aris- 
 tocracy and the tradespeople of London. Steeped in 
 debt, he has now turned artist, backed by a following 
 of nonentities, who laud him as if he were a second 
 Michael Angelo, and supported by journalists of Lord 
 Wigmore's stamp, who perfume him with their literary 
 incense. Every year he disfigures some contempo- 
 raneous celebrity either in marble or plaster; last 
 time it was Lamartine. 
 
 D'Orsay has still great pretensions to elegance, and 
 dresses like no one else, with a display of embroidered 
 linen, satin, gold chains, and hair all disordered. 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORA CE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 March Will, — Here are three letters which will give 
 an excellent idea of feminine relations, and the 
 fortuitous jumble of society at the present time. 
 
 The first is from a Countess de Solms, nee "Wyse, 
 whose mother was the daughter of the late Prince de 
 Canino. She is young and pretty, and captured 
 Pommereux from the Countess de Schulimburo- an 
 old idiot who has never been even passably good- 
 looking, but who has made herself extremely notorious 
 and sliown a ferocious jealousy with regard to this 
 said Pommereux. 
 
 The letter is addressed : " To the Countess de 
 Schulimburg, who has thought proper, during a fit of 
 mental aberration and a fearful rainstorm, to wait five 
 hours outside my door for the advent of I know not 
 whom or what, sending every five minutes to make 
 inquiry, and finally honouring me herself with an un- 
 expected visit. 
 
 " Monday Evening.- — You have thought proper to 
 take a step to-day, madame, which it is impossible for 
 me to pass over in silence. Such conduct is so utterly 
 opposed to the usages and customs of good society, so 
 foreign even to the practices of women of no preten- 
 sions to breeding whatever, that I am obliged to make 
 a vigorous protest against my house and person being 
 made the object of your ridiculous and extravagant 
 behaviour. I have to beg, therefore, madame, that 
 you will spare me a repetition of the open-air comedy 
 you have been pleased to give to the great amusement 
 of the Parisian public. In spite of a conscientious and 
 most willing desire to do so, I am totally unable to 
 
COUNTESS DE SOLMS' LETTER. 103 
 
 discover any reasonable solution for the strange pre- 
 occupation I have caused you for some time past, or 
 for the whimsical manner in which you have endea- 
 voured to arrest my attention; for, unless my memory 
 is greatly at fault, my acquaintance with you has been 
 limited to the honour of receiving you once or twice 
 on occasions when my rooms were thrown open to all 
 comers. Nor can I fail to acknowledge that I 
 have specially intended to cut short an intimacy 
 which the very difference in our ages rendered unde- 
 sirable, and which was the more out of place, seeing 
 that my position as a widow of more modest pre- 
 tensions obliged me in a measure to restrict my circle 
 to a few chosen friends and family dependents. It is 
 singular and superfluous, to say the least, that your 
 interest should have been excited in a woman who 
 knows so little of you, and who would ere now have 
 entirely forgotten your existence but for the trouble 
 you have taken to remind her of it. I cannot conceive, 
 madame, what my good friend the Count de Pom- 
 mereux's relations with you may be, but whatever 
 they are I am not in the least concerned, and so 
 would wish entirely to ignore them ; but as you 
 think proper to bring them to my notice, I can 
 only echo, without dwelling on the matter, what 
 everybody says, namely, that his family and those 
 who have regard for him have often deplored the 
 injury and ridicule to which he has subjected himself 
 for the past twenty years by so absurd a connection. 
 But everyone is free to do as he likes in this world; 
 and if he has been pleased, either from weakness, 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 kind heart, or habit, to act for a time the more or less 
 interesting part of one of Mons. de Balzac's heroes, 
 his friends can only pity, not blame him. According 
 as they are played, some comic scenes excite tears, 
 some trasredies laus^hter. 
 
 " Enough, however, madame. I write this letter for 
 no other reason than to tell you that you do not interest 
 me in the least, and that I shall be infinitely obliged by 
 your not sending your messengers to my house. I 
 should be constrained to have them ejected, and, to 
 speak frankly, my servants have no wish to disturb 
 the even tenour of their ways by interfering in the ex- 
 travagant caprices or nervous excitements of a fan- 
 tastical invalid woman. You will allow, madame, that if 
 all my friends' mistresses in the past, present, or future 
 treated me so my house would become a perfect hell, 
 and I should have to enofagfe the fish market for their 
 accommodation. All these childlike ways, madame, 
 which you will readily understand are delightful at 
 eighteen, when a woman wears the diadem of youth 
 and freshness, become ridiculous, you will equally 
 allow, when her brow is crowned with half a century 
 — in ruins. 
 
 " There is a time in her life when she must learn to 
 surrender with grace muslin dresses, attacks of nervous- 
 ness, scenes of jealousy and plaintive romances, other- 
 wise she makes a man, who is feeble or silly enough to 
 tolerate such conduct, cut a sorry figure; his best friends 
 are bored, and the woman herself is neither younger, 
 more graceful, nor more amusing in consequence. 
 
 To become fat is to grow old, said our witty friend 
 
 (C 
 
COUNTESS DE S0L3IS' LETTER. 105 
 
 Becquet. Is it not equally true that to grow old to 
 some people is the same as to die ? Good taste in 
 that case prescribes that the moribund body should be 
 made as attractive as possible by the assumption of all 
 those qualities and graces which are the outcome of 
 common sense and a benevolent mind. Let me offer 
 this ' friendly ' advice, madame. Among the subjects 
 to which I have given my serious attention is that 
 of the science of medicine, and I know that there 
 is a critical period in the life of women when they 
 are the victims of a kind of fever which Lafon- 
 taine has so delightfully described in his charming 
 fable. This critical period renders some women un- 
 controllable, and they only find relief in the last 
 extremity. Others, again, more reasonably consti- 
 tuted, or of better judgment, become resigned, cir- 
 cumspect, even sometimes pious, forgetting the smell 
 of the rose, and learning to renounce the world before 
 it in turn renounces them. I am wrong, I know, and 
 give way to too much good feeling in pointing out what 
 your conduct should be ; but in any case it is already 
 rather late. The fever is at its height, and your pre- 
 cautions should have been taken earlier ; but really I 
 pity you, and have sufficient friendship for Mons. D — ■, 
 and compassion for Mons. de P — , to try — having 
 already coerced myself into writing to you at all — to 
 prevent your going to Charenton. The place is un- 
 comfortable, and, I assure you, most unhealthy, for 
 the dresses that are worn there are of very villainous 
 style — black and tight fitting — and one's wrinkles and 
 €row's-feet are shown up by a frightful white fall ; in 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAST EL. 
 
 addition to whicli the cooking is bad, it is a long way 
 off, the roads are wretched, and I should have some 
 difficulty in obtaining news of you through some 
 kind friend — Mons. de Poramereux, for example — for, 
 believe me, madame, I am extremely anxious about 
 your health. I wish, upon my honour, that for your 
 sake I could find some of that famous elixir of youth, 
 the loss of which you experience so keenly ; but here a 
 matter of grave doubt occurs to me, and I beg of your 
 good nature to put an end to it. That wonderful 
 fountain was supposed to restore beauty to those who 
 had lost it. Were you ever pretty in your life, madame ? 
 But this prattle must cease. I have endeavoured to 
 disguise, under a jesting form, a lesson you have richly 
 merited, and which you will do well to take to heart. 
 
 " In which hope receive the assurance of my dis- 
 tinguished sentiments. 
 
 " Countess de Solms, 
 
 "7266 BoNAPARTE-WySB." 
 
 The two other letters formed a little correspondence 
 which passed between two actrices of the Comedie 
 Fran^aise, Mdlle. Rachel and Mdlle. Nathalie. The 
 latter had sent a picture by Diaz of somewhat sug- 
 gestive meaning to Mdlle. Rachel after carrying off 
 her lover, Emile Augier : — 
 
 " Mt dear Comrade, — 
 
 " Your Diaz is scarcely veiled enougli to 
 ornament my little house. Although I sometimes like 
 the reserve unclothed of a charming mind, I cannot 
 stand that kind of nudity which Moliere's Arsinoe was 
 
EACHEL AND NATHALIE. 107 
 
 SO fond of. Do not think me too prudish, but why 
 deprive yourself of a picture which I myself should be 
 obliged to hide away ? A thousand thanks all the 
 same, and believe me ever your devoted comrade, 
 
 " Rachel." 
 
 " Dear and great Comrade, — 
 
 " I must have been mad, almost impious, to 
 have thought that my little picture was worthy to be 
 placed upon your altar, but my foolish error has, at 
 least, procured for me the most valuable information 
 as to the limits of your innocence. Permit me, how- 
 ever, to differ in my reading of the comedy which you 
 invoke, as it appears to me in an entirely wrong sense, 
 for it was precisely in pictures that Arsinoe did not 
 care for nudity. 
 
 In pictures she hides the bare form \vith a screen, 
 'Tis in life that she loves to have nudity seen. 
 
 " I take back, therefore, my little Diaz, who is a 
 little confused with his rash excursion. His blushes 
 shall be hidden in my alcove, where only Mons. Augier 
 can see them. 
 
 " Your devoted servant, 
 
 "Nathalie." 
 
 These three letters speak volumes for the age in 
 which we live. 
 
 March 27tJi. — I dined a few days ago with Rachel 
 at her charming little mansion in the Rue Trudon. 
 Morny, Rouher, late Minister of Justice ; Fould, late 
 Minister of Finance ; Caumont, the Senator ; Manuel, 
 the stockbroker ; Roqueplan, manager of the opera ; 
 
108 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VI EL CASTEL. 
 
 Ars^ne, manager of the Theatre Franfais, and her two 
 sisters were among the guests. 
 
 The mansion is furnished luxuriously, but with good 
 taste, and the dinner was perfect. In the evening 
 more people came, and we had some music and a little 
 dance, followed by an excellent supper. It is im- 
 possible to meet with a more charming hostess or a 
 better bred woman than the mistress of this house. 
 Her lover, young Lehon, was at the dinner and the 
 dance, but no one could have guessed from his manner 
 the position he occupies in the establishment. The 
 house is gilded like a court dress of the 18th 
 century. It is filled with pictures, sculptures, and 
 bronzes ; the silver is magnificent, and the servants 
 are numerous and well trained. Rachel fully under- 
 stands the charms of good manners and choice con- 
 versation, but it is said that there are times when she 
 easily dispenses with either. 
 
 In spite of everything said or done to the contrary, 
 the Empire is in course of preparation. The Senate 
 and Corps Legislatif will propose it, and it will be 
 proclaimed by the army at a grand review. The 
 President, who is disposed to take nothing but receive 
 everything, will consult the nation. His family and 
 the persons surrounding him are more impatient for 
 the Empire than he is himself. The former aspire 
 to the title " Imperial Highness," and the latter, 
 as in the case of Edgard Ney, and Fleury, want 
 to be appointed Masters of Hounds or Principal 
 Equerries. The French nation is ever the same with 
 its Marquis's habit and Spanish tambourine. Whoever 
 
GENERAL MAE MONT. 109 
 
 wears the one and shakes the other proclaims to the 
 world at large that they are the happiest people on the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 March 28th. — I dined at Princess Mathilde's yester- 
 day, and was there informed of the almost total destruc- 
 tion of the Austrian Fleet during a storm. Twenty-five 
 ships and every soul on board of them lost. It is horrible 
 to think of; but the Emperor would put out to sea in 
 spite of his ofi&cers' advice. He himself owes his 
 safety entirely to the presence of mind of one of the 
 sailors, who took command of the ship and ran her 
 ashore. 
 
 April 11th. — While dining at the Princess's yester- 
 day with Marshal Exelmans and Greneral Rebillot, 
 the conversation turned for some time upon Marshal 
 Marmont, and I am pleased to relate that both of those 
 old officers did him full justice. In Exelmans' opinion 
 Marmont in no sense betrayed the Emperor; he is the 
 victim of a thoughtless remark on the part of the 
 Emperor in 1815, and of an historical lie. Although 
 wounded, Marmont fought to the last against superior 
 numbers, but his division had been corrupted in his 
 absence by General Souesme, who, along with the 
 Duke d'Albufera and the Duke de Reggio, was for 
 some time in treaty with the enemy. Marmont was put 
 in the pillory of history, and the two Marshals got off 
 almost scot free. Reggio even tried in 1815 to induce 
 General Exelmans to abandon all thoughts of defence, 
 and was sharply taken to task by Madame Exelmans 
 when he appealed to her for support. Justice has at 
 last been done to Marmont in the presence of the 
 
110 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 Emperor's niece by one whose opinion is not without 
 weight. The Princess, for the sake of keeping up the 
 argument, referred to the surrender of Paris in 1814. 
 I quoted the order of King Joseph, upon which she 
 said : " Mons. de Viel Oastel, you are aware that I do 
 not care to hear my relations accused." With all 
 possible respect I rejoined : " I am ; but it is not fair 
 to excuse their weakness at the expense of an innocent 
 general." Upon which she repeated twice : " I never 
 had any prejudice against the Marshal, nor have I 
 believed in his great culpability." 
 
 It appears that the news of the loss of the Austrian 
 Fleet was an entire fabrication. 
 
 In order to get rid of the President the Orleanists 
 rely upon an affection of the spinal marrow, from 
 which he is supposed to suffer, but one of their agents 
 did not scruple quite recently to remark : " If the 
 malady is not sufficiently expeditious we have some 
 devoted men who will not hesitate to give him the 
 pistol illuess." 
 
CHAPTER yi. 
 
 1852 {continued). 
 
 Death of Marshal Exelmans — The Pkince of Moskowa — 
 Death op Count d'Oesat — Grants to the Bonaparte 
 
 FAMILY Two CURIOUS LETTERS OP NaPOLEON I. AnEC- 
 
 dote of THE President and Prince Jerome — Singular 
 
 INQUIRY BY A YOUNG LADY ThE ArAB ChIEP AbD-EL- 
 
 Kader — De Morny's revelations — The Empire immi- 
 nent — Performance of " Cinna " at the Theatre Fran- 
 9AIS — Singular story of Louis Philippe and Charles 
 X. — Prince Jerome resigns the Presidency of the 
 Senate — The Government and the Press — Princess 
 Mathilde's reception — Mademoiselle de Montijo — 
 Louis Napoleon proclaimed Emperor — The story of 
 THE Duchess de Berry's betrayal. 
 
 July 22>rcl. — The President's journey to Strasburg 
 was a veritable triumph. He was received with 
 ovations everywhere. It is rumoured that he is to be 
 married to one of his nieces, a daughter of Princess 
 Wasa. Prince Wasa is a member of tlie Sweedish 
 royal family, which was ousted by Bernadotte. 
 
 The day before yesterday Marshal Exelmans was 
 proceeding to the Pavilion de Breteuil, St. Cloud, to 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTE L. 
 
 call on Princess Mathilcle. When at a place called 
 Point du Jour, in front of an inn kept by a man 
 named Malfilatre, his horse took fright and he was 
 thrown violently to the ground. His head came against 
 a stone, and he was killed on the spot, in the same 
 way as the Duke of Orleans. In spite of his 77 years 
 the Marshal had the vanity to wish to appear youug, 
 and generally went about on horseback. 
 
 The President loses a sincere and independent friend, 
 who was not for ever boring him with useful truths. 
 He had a true and loyal heart, and was of incorruptible 
 honesty. His death will be regretted by everybody, 
 except Marshal Jerome, who was terribly afraid of the 
 old soldier's jokes. 
 
 The Prince of Moskowa has been appointed to a 
 colonelcy in Africa. His daughter, Madame de Per- 
 signy, refused to call up his mistress, Madame Murat. 
 A quarrel between father and daughter thereupon 
 ensued ; the son-in-law interfered in his character of 
 minister, and the father-in-law has been exiled under 
 pretence of joining his regiment. 
 
 Count d'Orsay is dead, and all the papers are 
 mourning his loss. He leaves behind him, they say, 
 many chefs dJoeuvi'es, and on his death-bed requested 
 Clesinger to finish his bust of Prince Jerome. 
 
 D'Orsay had no talent ; his statuettes are detestable 
 and his busts very bad ; but a certain set cried him up 
 for their own purposes, and called him a great man. 
 One newspaper goes so far as to affirm that on hearing 
 of his death the President said : " I have lost my best 
 friend," a statement which I know to be perfectly 
 false. 
 
DEATH OF COUNT D' OR SAY. 113 
 
 D'Orsay's friends were the President's enemies — ■ 
 the Jerome Bonapartes, Emilede Girardin, Laraartine, 
 &c. He never pardoned the Prince for not appointing 
 him ambassador to the Court of St. James's, forg-ettinof, 
 or purposely ignoring, the fact that such a thing was 
 impossible. No Government would have received him. 
 His debts are fabulous. For a long time he was the 
 leader of fashion in London and Paris, and tailors, per- 
 fumers, carriage builders, &c., supplied him without 
 payment for the sake of his custom. The papers in- 
 form us that he has been buried at Chambourcy (on 
 the property of his sister, the Duchess de Grammont) 
 in the same grave as liis mother-in-law, Lady Bles- 
 sington. The incident is sublime ; to make it com- 
 plete, perhaps they will engrave on his tombstone : 
 *' That his inconsolable and heart-broken widow," 
 &c., &c., &c.. 
 
 He died ten years too late, for he became at last 
 merely a ridiculous old doll. The President does not 
 lose his best friend ; on the contrary, he is well rid of 
 a compromising schemer. If he could but lose twenty 
 more such friends Louis Napoleon might sing a Te 
 Deum. 
 
 August 12tli. — The Bonapartes are feathering their 
 nests. Jerome has received two millions, Murat one 
 million, and Madame Camerata one million. The latter 
 thinks proper to attack Princess Mathilde — who, by 
 the way, receives nothing — because she has had to pay 
 one of her father's debts. 
 
 August 18th. — Here are two curious unpublished 
 letters of the Emperor Napoleon. I insert them at 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 this point as being more interesting than an account of 
 the Paris fetes of the 15th instant, the balls at St. 
 Cloud and the Central Market, or the strained rela- 
 tions between the President and his mistress, Miss 
 Howard, on account of his approaching marriage. 
 
 " Paris, Thermidor 30fch. 
 
 " I congratulate you on having rejoined the army, 
 where, being of use, you will have the tender satisfac- 
 tion of knowing that you are promoting your country's 
 welfare. Fortune changes, and men's favour and 
 esteem are in perpetual oscillation, but the pardonable 
 pride of having been useful, and having merited the 
 recognition of the few who can appreciate genius and 
 art, is as unchangeable and ingrained in you as is 
 the harmony and delicacy of a sentiment so natural in 
 itself. Influence has been brought to bear to induce 
 me to serve in the Yendee army as a General in com- 
 mand. I have not accepted the post, as many officers 
 are better fitted than myself to lead a brigade, having 
 been more successful in the command of artillery. 
 ... I take a back place, conscious that the injustice 
 which has been done to one's services is not ignored 
 by those who are in a position to judge of their value. 
 
 " You are, my friend, in a delicate position ; if a 
 man of practical genius, of consummate experience, 
 were ... at the head of the army, and your tyrants, 
 who are served by incapable agents and environed by 
 quacks, were a versatile Government . . . instead 
 of perverted rascals, let us add, he could not make or 
 merit a reputation . . . but, my friend, in this best 
 
LETTERS OF NAPOLEON I. 115 
 
 of all possible worlds, to do the best one can, and feel 
 recompensed by the consciousness of it, that is the 
 great secret which saves one from ever being either 
 impostor or flatterer, sour, importunate, vindictive, or 
 criminal. 
 
 *' There is nothing new here. Hope is not yet 
 altogether lost to the man of sense, that is to say, in 
 the enfeebled condition in which this Empire happens 
 to be. 
 
 "Friendship, constancy, gaiety, and never dis- 
 couragement if you find men ungrateful and wicked. 
 Remember the great, if somewhat droll, maxim of 
 Flavins : ' Let us be thankful to them for the crimes 
 they have not committed.' 
 
 «B. 
 
 " To Citizen Sucy, Commissioner of Ordnance, 
 Army of Italy, Nice.' 
 
 >j 
 
 Second Letter. 
 
 " In circumstances of difficulty, the post of honour 
 for a good Corsican is to remain in his country, and in 
 that conviction my relatives insist upon my being 
 amongst them. Nevertheless, as I do not know how 
 to compound with my duty, I purposed sending in my 
 resignation. The principal officer in command of the 
 district, however, offered me a ' mezzo termine,' which 
 reconciled everything. He offers me the post of ad- 
 jutant-major in the volunteer battalion. 
 
 " This commission will postpone the renewal of our 
 acquaintance, but I shall look forward to it very soon 
 if things improve. 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 " You, sir, have entirely neglected me, for I have 
 not heard from you for an age. 
 
 " Things are going better here, and I hope that by 
 the time this reaches you political apprehensions tvill 
 have ceased, at least for this campaign. 
 
 " Our enemies would be very foolish to hasten on 
 hostilities ; they know very well that the defensive 
 state is as ruinous to us as actual war. If you can 
 spare the time to think of an old friend, you might 
 give me some information as to your position at the 
 present moment. If your nation loses courage she is 
 lost for ever. If you have kept up your relations with 
 St. Etienne, I would beg of you to have made for me 
 a pair of double-barrel pistols, seven or eight inches 
 long, and 22 or 24 bore, as nearly as possible. As to 
 the price, I will forward seven or eight louis in paper 
 money.* 
 
 " If you can undertake the commission, the pistols 
 can be sent through Marseilles, to the care of Mons. 
 Henri Gastard, merchant, E,ue de Paradis. 
 
 " I am, Sir, and dear Sucy, your servant, 
 
 " Bonaparte. 
 
 " Corte, February 27th." 
 
 The letter is addressed to Monsieur Sucy, Com- 
 missary, Valence, Department of the Drome. It is 
 sealed with red wax and stamped with the letters B 
 and P, interlaced. 
 
 These letters must have been written in the year 
 
 * Wortli then from 227 to 259 francs ; 74 francs in casli=100 
 francs paper money. 
 
THE PRESIDENT AND PRINCE J:ERdME. 117 
 
 1792, for in 1791 there was no question of Volunteers, 
 and in 1793 Bonaparte was already in command of 
 one of their battalions. 
 
 Avgust 20th. — I dined with Yeron at Auteuil yester- 
 day, and sat between Sainte Beuve and Musset. 
 
 In the middle of dinner Veron told us the following 
 anecdote : — 
 
 " On his return from visiting the French sea- 
 ports. Prince Jerome went to report to the President 
 the ovations he had received, and handed him the 
 statement of his expenses. This the President de- 
 clined to pay, telling his uncle that he had already 
 given him more than two million francs, with a pension 
 of three hundred thousand francs a vear besides, and 
 that it was impossible for him to do more. An 
 altercation ensued. Jerome lost all control over him- 
 self, and ended by saying, * You have nothing of the 
 Emperor about you.' ' You make a mistake,' replied 
 the President, with perfect composure, ' I have his 
 family about me.' " 
 
 August 21s^.^In the course of a walk which Princess 
 Mathilde and I took together at Versailles on Sunday 
 last, our conversation turned upon the more than free 
 and easy manner assumed by young ladies of good 
 family nowadays, and she told me a story on that 
 subject which I will repeat. 
 
 " Fleury, the Prince President's aide-de-camp, 
 about a year or so ago was very much smitten by a 
 certain Mdlle. de S — , who afterwards married a man 
 in very high position. The Princess was com- 
 missioned by Fleury to ask for the young lady's hand 
 
118 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CASTE L. 
 
 in marriage, and while negotiations were proceeding 
 with her family, in order to give the two interested 
 persons an opportunity of meeting, she arranged a 
 dinner for them at her house in the Rue de Courcelles, 
 and Fleury and Mdlle. de S^ — • were placed next each 
 other at table. During dessert the young lady turned 
 to the aide-de-camp and said to him in an under- 
 tone : ' If we were in a room alone together, what 
 would you do ? ' Fleury, taken aback, scarcely knew 
 how to reply, and when dinner was over went to the 
 Princess and informed her of the circumstance, beg- 
 ging she would no longer trouble herself about the 
 marriasfe." 
 
 On Sunday evening I dined at Breteuil with General 
 Daumas, who often saw and had frequent oppor- 
 tunities of conversing with Abd-el-Kader. He looks 
 upon this Arab Chief as an extraordinary man, and 
 one whose name will occupy an important place in 
 history. He says that political necessity may perhaps 
 require that he should be detained a prisoner, but 
 that plighted faith has been violated in consequence. 
 
 When Abd-el-Kader arrived in France Daumas was 
 sent to receive him at Fort Lamarque, and proposed 
 that if he would make complete submission to the 
 Government, and consent to live in France, a royal 
 residence should be placed at his disposal, together 
 with a mosque and a pension of three hundred 
 thousand francs. Abd-el-Kader listened to this pro- 
 position with a scornful smile, and replied : " I am a 
 prisoner, in spite of the plighted word of France. I 
 reject your offer, and will never abandon my people." 
 
DE 310 EN Y ON THE COUP D'ETAT. 119 
 
 He then took off his burnouse in the keen sea breeze, 
 and, rolling it up, continued : " Place ia this all the 
 riches of France and I would treat your offer thus," 
 and he threw his burnouse into the sea. 
 
 September 10th. — I met Mons. de CavouratMorny's 
 yesterday morning, and we stayed for two hours 
 talkino- over the events of December 2nd, or rather in 
 listening to Morny. He told us several things which 
 I think worth while noting. Daring the time of the 
 Constituent Assembly the question of a coup d'etat had 
 been already under consideration, and Morny, Thiers, 
 and Changarnier had had many interviews on the 
 subject. Thiers and Changarnier were equally of 
 opinion that the Assembly should be dissolved, but 
 the former, in making out the list of indispensable 
 arrests, would not include that of Cavaignac or 
 Lamoriciere, which, he said, would be a dangerous 
 step, on account of their popularity. Cliangarnier, on 
 the contrary, declared that it was necessary, and said : 
 " I don't care a rap. I feel that my position is 
 sufficiently assured to arrest both of them." 
 
 Every one desired the coup d'etat for his own 
 advautao-e, Chano^arnier no less than the rest. 
 
 Some hours before the coup d'etat was put into 
 execution Morny was at the Opera Comique, and sat 
 by the side of Cavaignac. During the play Madame 
 Liadieres signed to him to come to her box, where he 
 met several Orleanist Deputies, who said to him : 
 " Well, a few days more and we shall have you 
 imprisoned in Vincennes." 
 
 Maupas, the Prefet of Police, was very wanting in 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 firmness and strengfth of character during^ the troubles, 
 and, although his prefecture was guarded bj a battalion 
 of a thousand men, when it was attacked by a few hun- 
 dred insuro^ents he sent to ask for reinforcements. 
 Morny replied chaffingly, begging him to defend him- 
 self. Maupas also sent the most incredible reports, such 
 as : " The Duke of Bordeaux is approaching with the 
 6th Dragoons," &c. 
 
 All the correspondence of the revolutionists, arrested 
 at the lines, contained the same instructions to their 
 provincial allies : " Push on the movement decreed 
 for 1852, obtain as much influence as you can, and 
 seize all Bonapartists and lloyalists." No single 
 General was in the secret, and Morny was very uneasy 
 for a time at seeing Canrobert and Leflo talking in 
 low tones with the Questorfor more than an hour. In 
 spite of his connections, however, Canrobert went 
 straight. 
 
 When Morny reached the Ministry of the Interior 
 at five o'clock in the morning he would not allow his 
 men to disturb the Minister, who only awoke at eight 
 to learn that the covj) d'etat had taken place, and that 
 he had lost his office. 
 
 October 12th. — The President's journey through the 
 Southern Provinces of France, where he has been 
 everywhere received with the greatest enthusiasm, is 
 nearly at an end. People are anxiously expecting the 
 Empire; even those who until lately have shown the 
 greatest hostility cry out for Napoleon III. The 
 papers give but a faint idea of the general excitement; 
 at Marseilles, Toulon, and Bordeaux the same unani- 
 
THE EMPIRE IMMINENT. 121 
 
 mity, the same desire sliows itself. At Bordeaux the 
 Prince made an admirable speech, firm, clear, and to 
 the point, which is approved by all men of good feel- 
 ing or impartial minds. " AYhile France is at peace 
 Europe is tranquil." "The Empire means peace," 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Ou Saturday the Prince returns to Paris, where a 
 magnificent reception is being prepared for him. He 
 will go straight to the Tuileries, where the members of 
 his family will be waiting to receive him. The Council 
 of State are drawing up a senatus-consultum, de- 
 claring the Empire. This decree is to be adopted 
 by the Senate, and then presented to Louis Napoleon, 
 who will elect to resort to universal suffrage. The 
 Empire is an accomplished fact. The more extreme 
 sections of Orleauists and Legitimists are furious, and 
 evince their anger in the choicest invectives. 
 
 The Prince will have a great many things and a 
 great many men to reform, and he will do well to 
 begin with his own entourage. The officers of his 
 household form a sort of Regency ; they take women to 
 Fontainbleau when they go there to hunt, and their 
 orgies are the talk of the town. The Imperial hunts 
 have been organized, and thirty persons selected to 
 " receive the button," that is to say, who are authorized 
 to wear the Prince's hunting livery and colours. 
 
 October 16th. — The weather is magnificent, the 
 National Guard and troops are under arms, and the 
 Boulevards are crowded with people who have come to 
 see the Prince and his retinue pass. Workmen's 
 societies and associations, with their banners and 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF CO VNT HOE A CE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 mottoes, are interspersed with the troops, and trium- 
 phal arches have been erected. At two o'clock the 
 Prince is to arrive amid salv^oes of artillery and peals 
 of bells. Never will a sovereign have received a more 
 splendid reception. I heartily wish, however, that the 
 day was over. T have always a sort of dread of these 
 popular assemblages in Paris. 
 
 The arches are covered with the inscription " To 
 Louis Napoleon, Emperor," and last evening medals, 
 inscribed " Napoleon III., Emperor," were being sold 
 in the streets. The number of strangers at present in 
 Paris is enormous. 
 
 Three o^cloch. — I have just returned from the Pail- 
 way Station, where the Prince was received by the 
 Senators, Deputies, Councillors of State, members of 
 the diplomatic body, and representatives of the Courts 
 of Justice amid cries of " Long live the Emperor!" 
 He is now proceeding along the Boulevards to the 
 Tuileries, and cannon are being discharged every 
 minute. 
 
 October 2Srd. — Yesterday evening Prince Louis 
 Napoleon was present at a grand representation of 
 "Cinna" at the Theatre Pranqais. His arrival was 
 announced by shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" 
 from the crowds in the Rue St. Honore and Rue de 
 Richelieu, and on coming;' into the theatre similar 
 cheering took place, everyone uncovering and standing 
 up. The ladies were in full evening dress, and the 
 sight was magnificent. The Prince warmly applauded 
 the passages where Augustus displays his clemency. 
 Cinna's part was played by Beauvalet. Rachel's 
 
STATE PERFORMANCE AT THE OPERA. 123 
 
 Eniilie was a marvellous piece of acting. After the 
 tragedy was over, Rachel recited an ode which had 
 been specially written by Hoiissaye in honour of the 
 Prince. 
 
 October SOth. — There was a State performance at 
 the Opera the day before yesterday, at which the 
 President was as well received as at the Theatre Fran- 
 9ais. Abd-el-Kader was present, and the object of 
 general curiosity. Grudin, the marine painter, always 
 desirous of making^ an exhibition of himself, went to 
 the ex-Emir's box and embraced him publicly. Better 
 disposed persons were shocked to see the President's 
 mistress, Mrs. Howard, covered with diamonds, in 
 one of the principal boxes ; it had a very bad effect. 
 Prince Jerome also had his mistress with him. This 
 placarding of mistresses is a great deal too common 
 now; it is a fashion which belonged to an entirely 
 different age. 
 
 October ^Ist. — Everybody is discussing the reported 
 disaffection in the army, and the gossips say there was 
 a plot among the regiments garrisoned at Fontainbleaa 
 to carry off the President and proclaim the House of 
 Orleans. The real facts, I believe, are that a conspiracy 
 had been got up by some non-commissioned officers and 
 soldiers of the 4ord regiment to fire on the President 
 on his arrival in Paris. The affair got wind and was 
 nipped in the bud ; the plotters are probably at this 
 moment on their way to Cayenne. 
 
 November 6th. — The Senate met yesterday, and the 
 Prince's message was yery cordially received, but nine 
 out of the ten bureaux would not agree to the succes- 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 sion of the Jerome family in the Imperial line in case 
 of future eventualities. Public opinion supports the 
 action of the nine bureaux. Jerome and his son are 
 generally despised ; both have helped to ruin a magnifi- 
 cent position by their misconduct and secret intrigues. 
 
 I was talking yesterday with a statesman of Louis 
 Philippe's time, and he told me the following story : — 
 
 While Dupin was in the Cabinet, in the days of July, 
 1830, Louis-Philippe received a letter from Charles X., 
 in which that unhappy monarch requested him to accept 
 the Lieutenant-Generalship of the kingdom under the 
 Duke of Bordeaux. Louis-Philippe showed the letter 
 to Dupin, expressing his sympathy with the fugitive, 
 and the obligation he was under to him, and appeared 
 on the whole disposed to accept the proposal. Dupin, 
 whose official conscience, personal feelings, and middle 
 class prejudices revolted at the idea, exclaimed, 
 *' Prince, it is too late to accept the King's abdication 
 in the Duke of Bordeaux's favour; the country will not 
 tolerate the elder branch." "But," urged Louis- 
 Philippe, " I cannot betray the interest of my relative 
 and profit by his misfortunes." Dupin hereupon com- 
 menced an argument under three heads in support of 
 his view of the position, and all the prejudice and 
 vanity of his class disclosed themselves in his words. 
 Louis-Philippe gave in, but his heart was so full that 
 he begged Dupin to write the answer, for which 
 Charles the Tenth's aide-de-camp was waiting. When 
 it was finished Louis Philippe said, " I am a family 
 man, my dear Dupin, and have a habit of doing nothing 
 without my wife's advice. I will go and show her your 
 
LOUIS-PHILIPPE AND CHARLES X. 125 
 
 letter." He then took the letter away, and on his 
 return, twenty minutes later, put it in an envelope and 
 sealed it up. " My wife's feelings," he said, " were 
 for some time opposed to the sending of this letter, 
 but the reasons you had placed before me, dear friend, 
 overcame her scruples at last, and the refusal shall be 
 sent off." Tears were in the Duke of Orleans's eyes 
 when he handed the letter to the aide-de-camp, and for 
 some time afterwards he remained silent and depressed. 
 
 The next day, however, Charles X. announced the 
 appointment of the Duke of Orleans to the Lieutenant- 
 Generalship. 
 
 A year afterwards Berryer gave Dupin the key of 
 the enigma. Louis-Phihppe had acted a little comedy. 
 Dupin's letter had not been sent, but in its place a 
 respectful acceptance of the prof erred position. 
 
 November 19th. — Jerome has resigned the presidency 
 of the Senate, after attacking the President in a most 
 violent manner, and saying that he does not share his 
 nephew's political views. He is opposed to any recon- 
 ciliation with the upper classes, and predicts Louis 
 Napoleon's fall from a position he is not qualified to 
 fill. In face of the Senate's hostility to him he pre- 
 tended that he would resign all his oflfices, and carry 
 his griefs to the Emperor's tomb. 
 
 The Gonstiiutionnel and Pays newspapers have been 
 bought by a syndicate, of which Mires is the head. It 
 was impossible for Veron to stand against the deter- 
 mined resolution of the Ministry to carry their point. 
 The Government are desirous of getting the press into 
 their hands, but I cannot understand why they rely 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 upon Mires for that purpose. He is a sclieraer with a 
 doubtful reputation, who has made six milUon francs 
 since last year by speculations on the Bourse. 
 
 Gueronniere takes the management of the Gonstiiu- 
 tionnel, and Granier de Cassagnac that of the Pays. 
 
 November 2ht]i. — The majority of votes for the 
 Empire is already enormous. The Empire is, there- 
 fore, a settled thing, and the campaign for places at 
 Court has beg^un. 
 
 On Tuesday last Princess Mathilde gave a grand 
 reception to celebrate the opening of her new house 
 (formerly the Queen of Spain's) in the Rue de Cour- 
 celles. Prince Louis ISTapoleon was there. He was in 
 excellent spirits, and extremely gracious to every- 
 body. During the evening he thanked me for my 
 design for his new menu cards. After dinner he set 
 the example, and we all smoked in a large marble 
 court, which had been arranged like a winter garden. 
 Mdlle. de Montijo, a young Spanish lady, of fair com- 
 plexion and aristocratic birth, has been the object of 
 the Prince's attention ever since his journey to Eon- 
 tainbleau. I wonder what my brother Louis, who 
 has been for years on the most intimate terms with 
 her mother, will say ? The young lady is very pre- 
 possessing in manner, and of ready and remarkably 
 agreeable wit, with too much strength of mind ever to 
 allow her heart or feelings to get the mastery of 
 her. 
 
 Billaut told Princess Mathilde in confidence that by 
 a decree of the Senate she was about to receive the 
 title of Her Imperial Highness Mathilde Bonaparte and 
 
LOUIS NAPOLEON PROCLAIMED EMPEROE. 127 
 
 a pension of 500,000 francs. It is also said that 
 Napoleon, Jerome's son, is to be made Heir Apparent. 
 
 December 2nd. — The guns are firing, and Louis 
 Napoleon re-enters Paris as Emperor, having been 
 elected bj 7,824,189 ayes to 253,145 noes. The 
 Tuileries Palace is to be prepared for his reception. 
 
 December 3rd. — Yesterday evening there was a grand 
 dinner and reception at the Palace. The Emperor said 
 to Princess Mathilde : " My dear Mathilde, until there 
 is an Empress you will always take the first position 
 here, and sit on my right hand." 
 
 Is there then to be an Empress ? 
 
 Miss Harriet Howard boasts that she can prevent 
 the Emperor marrying. 
 
 Jerome said to Baroness de Tallevrand, who is 
 strongly in favour of tlie Emperor's early marriage in 
 order to ensure the perpetuation of his dynasty : 
 "But, my dear Baroness, such a marriage would inter- 
 fere with my son's rights." I had this from Baroness 
 de Talleyrand herself, with whom I spent the evening 
 yesterday. 
 
 December 7tJi. — Being in a gossiping mood, I may as 
 well relate the following story : — 
 
 Romieu, speaking to me about Deutz, the betrayer 
 of the Duchess de Berry, told me that he was himself 
 informed by Mons. de Moutalivet that when that Jew 
 came to him the first time to open negotiations he said 
 to the Minister : " You are anxious, sir, to discover 
 the whereabouts of the Duchess de Berry, and I am 
 the only person who can deliver her into your hands. 
 I am, doubtless,' in your eyes a vile spy, and you look 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 — ■ — ^ — — — - -■-- — ■ _ - I . ■ ■ . . ■■ ■ ■ 'jw 
 
 upon me with contempt; but, nevertheless, I have 
 only decided upon taking this course out of love for 
 my country, in order to spare her the anguish of a 
 long civil war and the horrors that would follow. I 
 am well aware that my name will be execrated, that I 
 shall be placed in the category of the most shameless 
 criminals, and that when dead even my grave will be 
 defiled ; that from this day forth I am a pariah, a 
 leper in the eyes of all men. I shall only be able to 
 exist by the magical effect of money. If I ask for 
 * five hundred thousand francs,' therefore, it is not as 
 the price of treachery, but in order to fly from the 
 country I am saving." The price was agreed upon, 
 and after the Duchess's capture Deutz received from 
 Monsieur de Montalivet's own hand five hundred notes 
 of one thousand francs each. 
 
 Marshal Bugeaud confided to E-omieu that from her 
 manner and what escaped the Duchess de Berry he 
 was convinced that Deutz was the father of the child 
 she carried. Monsieur de Mesnard was also of the 
 same opinion. The Duchess, on learning by whom 
 she was betrayed, exclaimed, and kept repeating, 
 " What, him ! betrayed by him ! by Deutz ! " Marshal 
 Bueeaud had no manner of doubt that the tender 
 relations which had existed between them were the 
 cause of the Duchess's condition. 
 
 December 23nL — To-day's Moniteur publishes the 
 decree fixing the order of succession. Jerome and his 
 heirs male are designated heirs to the throne in case 
 the Emperor should die without issue or formal act of 
 adoption. 
 
MADEMOISELLE DE MONTIJO. 129 
 
 The Court is still at Compiegne — dancing, hunting, 
 and making merry. 
 
 The Emperor is over head and ears in love with 
 Mdlle. de Montijo, the lovely and elegant young 
 Spanish lady whose sister is married to the Duke 
 d'Alba. She is invited to every entertainment, and is 
 received with marked favour, but I doubt if she has 
 become subject to the law of the conqueror. Her 
 mother, who was formerly called Countess de Teba, 
 had a very flighty reputation, and was on extremely 
 intimate terms with my brother about 1825. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 1853. 
 
 The Emperor's household— Ball at Peincess Mathilde's 
 — Mdlle. de Montijo — The Credit Poncier — Matri- 
 monial SCANDALS — Princess Mathilde the champion 
 OP JUSTICE — The Duchess of Valentinots and the 
 Italian refugee — Mingling the remains of Eobes- 
 
 PIERRE AND LoUIS XVI. RUMOURS OF THE EmPEBOR's 
 
 approaching MARRIAGR — He silences discussion on THE 
 
 SUBJECT OF Mdlle. de Montijo — Opinions on the subject 
 — Official declaration — Mdlle. de Montijo's diplo- 
 macy — Dupin's opinion — The marriage celebrated — • 
 The Emperor reproaches Saint-Arnaud — Legitimist 
 plots — The Empress and Marie Antoinette — Suicide 
 OF Count Camerata — List of new Senators — Char- 
 acter OF THE officers OF THE HOUSEHOLD ThE EmPEROR 
 
 promises the author the Legion of Honour — The 
 English alliance — Clouds in the East. 
 
 January Zrd. — The principal offices at Court have 
 been filled up, and Marshals Magnan, Vaillant, Saint- 
 Arnaud, and the Dukes of Cambac^res and Bassano 
 have been appointed to them. 
 
 On the 1st January I was at the evening reception 
 
THE EMPEROR'S HOUSEHOLD. 131 
 
 at the Tuileries, and yesterday I dined with Her Im- 
 perial Highness Princess Mathilde, who had sent me 
 in the morning a very pretty tea-service in Sevres 
 porcelain for a New Year's gift. 
 
 The Emperor's household is being formed, and every- 
 body wants some position in it. What the Court most 
 requires at present are men of probity, for the 
 Emperor is being robbed in a disgraceful manner by 
 the people in his confidence, who make him pay for 
 everything a third more than the proper price and put 
 their hands upon whatever they can pillage. Of this 
 I have proof. The furnishers, for fear of losing the 
 Emperor's custom, are obliged to give receipts for a 
 third more than the value of the goods supplied, and 
 the difference goes into the pockets of the officers of 
 the household. Eight days ago the purchase of a pair 
 of phaeton horses fell through because the seller would 
 not consent to give a receipt in excess of the money 
 paid him. When these transactions do come to the 
 Emperor's knowledge a good many people will be 
 included in the clearance. Standish tells me that 
 during the last trip to Compiegne Persigny took his 
 father-in-law, the Duke de Mouchy, aside, and said to 
 him, pointing to Bacciochi and the ordinary suite : 
 " You have frequent opportunities of talking with the 
 Emperor. Just advise him to turn all those black- 
 guards out of doors." 
 
 It is again reported that Jerome's son has been 
 made a General of Division, and that he is to have the 
 command in Algeria. This appointment is extremely 
 distasteful to me. Prince Napoleon is ambitious, 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 cunniDg, and unscrupulous, but time will prove if I am 
 wrong or not in my estimate of him. 
 
 January 6th. — Walsh, brother of the late director of 
 the Mode, always called the Stammerer because 
 of his queer way of speaking, has been appointed 
 Chamberlain. Four months ago he said to Nicolai, 
 who himself told me the circumstance, " Who will have 
 the kindness to rid us of that gentleman by putting a 
 bullet through him ? " That gentleman is at the present 
 moment the Emperor, and the Stammerer is his 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 January 1th. — I was dining with la Gueronniere last 
 night. He told me to read the article in to-day's 
 Vays, which has been written under dictation from 
 high quarters. He had seen the Emperor in the 
 morning, as he frequently does, on matters connected 
 with his paper. The article in question is a sort of 
 cunningly devised sop for the Parliamentarians. 
 
 The recognition of the Empire by the principal 
 Northern powers has been received, and the silly 
 stories invented by the Legitimists and Democrats 
 will fall to the ground ; these gentlemen will have to 
 cudgel their brains for some new mare's nests. The 
 aristocrats of the St. Germain quarter are again 
 exercising their wit — and in their habitually useful 
 manner — by christening Fould the Duke of Vilegew. 
 
 January 10th. — There was a ball at Princess 
 Mathilde's yesterday. About three o'clock in the 
 morning thirty of us, who had stayed late, made up 
 a merry supper party. Morny was at the ball, as well 
 as the Countess de Teba and her daughter, Mdlle. de 
 
THE CREDIT FONCIER. 133 
 
 Montijo. The Emperor is still very much eugrossecl 
 with this handsome young person, and she is certainly 
 most elegant, amiable, and intelligent. For more thau 
 an hour they were engaged in private conversation, 
 which no one had the temerity to interrupt. The 
 Emperor seemed to enjoy himself very much, and 
 did not leave until two o'clock in the morning. 
 Mdlle. de Montijo wears her favours with gentle- 
 ness and good grace ; she and her mother are hoping 
 that a marriage may take place, and all their diplo- 
 macy is being exerted in that direction. Mdlle. de 
 Montijo is much sought after and courted, and her 
 influence with the Emperor is already invoked. The 
 Ministers pet her, and she is at every fete ; it is the 
 old story of the rising sun over again. 
 
 Fould, the foxy Jew, has been making himself very 
 important, and trying to walk over everybody's head. 
 In order to obtain (in his brother's name) the charter 
 for the Credit Foncier Bank he has never ceased 
 saying to the Emperor : " Your Majesty must abso- 
 lutely enfranchise yourself from the tutelage of the 
 Rothschilds, who are governing France in spite of 
 you." 
 
 The Emperor did not like the word tutelage, and 
 was only too anxious to find the means of escaping 
 from it. Fould allowed him to seek, and one day 
 proposed the establishment of the Credit Foncier, this 
 was agreed to, and he secured ten millions as his share 
 of the transaction. 
 
 January Wth. — I dined at the Princess Mathilde's 
 yesterday with Cliaix d'Estange and His de Bute aval, 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 who has just been appointed to Brussels as charge 
 daj^aires in place of Bassano, who becomes Grand- 
 Chamberlain. The dinner was very informal and 
 pleasant, and we discussed a thousand different scan- 
 dals. Chaix d'Estange told us about the Chaponays' 
 case, in which he is engaged on Friday next. A year 
 ago the Marquis de Chaponays married a Mademoiselle 
 de Courval, grand-niece on her father's side of the 
 famous Cardinal Dubois, and granddaughter on her 
 mother's of General Moreau. Mademoiselle de Cour- 
 val, besides being very pretty and agreeable, is well 
 educated and clever ; but she was brought up by a 
 mother whose mode of life excited a good deal of com- 
 ment. After a year's marriage, and as the result of a 
 very dangerous confinement, the young couple ceased 
 to cohabit, but as many stories got into circulation, to 
 the discredit of Mons. de Chaponays, concerning the 
 reason of the separation, he applied to the Court for 
 redress and restitution. Madame de Chaponays de- 
 fends herself on the ground of her husband's brutal 
 exactions, and the case comes on on Friday, when 
 lovers of scandal will doubtless crowd the Court to 
 listen to a disgraceful violation of the secrets of married 
 life. 
 
 Another case, that of Madame de Montesquieu, 
 daughter of the Countess de Charette, is of a graver 
 nature. In this instance the husband is chargfed with 
 cruelty of the grossest description, the effects of which 
 are observable in his unfortunate wife's ruined health. 
 By an order of the Court the care of the daughter born 
 of the union has been confided to the mother; but 
 
PRINCESS MATHILDKS INDIGNATION. 135 
 
 j\Ions. de Montesquieu is a relative of General Groyon, 
 the Emperor's aide-de-camp, who has written to De 
 Maupas and exerted his influence to arrest the course 
 of justice, to such purpose indeed that the poor lady 
 cannot find a magisterial officer, gendarme, or police 
 agent ready or willing to execute the judgment of the 
 Court. 
 
 Princess Mathilde, when she heard Chaix d'Est- 
 ange's narration, was overcome with indignation, and 
 said: "It is not possible that the Etnperor can be 
 aware of such an atrocious interference with justice.'' 
 "Certainly not. Princess," replied Chaix d'Estange; 
 " but the Emperor is surrounded by people who 
 abuse their position and influence ; others are afraid 
 to gainsay them, and the result is that he is 
 •visited with their iniquities ; the truth is hidden from 
 him, and there is no one to open his eyes." Upon 
 which the Princess, whose generous anger is always 
 roused at the bare mention of a mean action, exclaimed : 
 " Give me Madame de Montesquieu's petition ; I will 
 take it myself to the Emperor and tell him what use is 
 made of his name. You shall see, Mons. Chaix, if an 
 order of the Court shall be obeyed or not, and if Mons. 
 de Goyon has the power to suppress truth and justice." 
 
 After dinner, in a corner of the drawing-room, the 
 Princess told me the following anecdote : — The young 
 Duchess de Yalentinois went to her some months agfo 
 to beg she would procure her the post of lady-of- 
 honour, near the person of the Empress, in the event 
 of the Emperor marrying. The request seemed 
 natural and proper, and the Princess promised she 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 would speak to the Emperor and use all her influence 
 with him in the matter. A few days afterwards, how- 
 ever, Duke Proto, a Neapolitan refugee, who is rather 
 a chatterbox, came to her and said : " Your Hio-hness 
 is good enough to receive some singular noble dames." 
 " What do you mean, and to whom do you refer ? " said 
 the Princess. Proto replied : " Yesterday I happened 
 to be at the Cafe Cardinal, at the corner of the Rue de 
 Richelieu, in the company of some refugees, like my-^ 
 self, when one of them, who is known to be a man of 
 bad character, said that he had met the Duchess de 
 Yalentinois at Baden, and had made her his mistress, 
 and that she now often came to see him at his rooms. 
 I would not believe a word of the story," said Proto, 
 " but my countryman told me that if I went to the 
 house where he lived on the following day I could see 
 her arrive. I did so," he continued, " and saw the 
 Duchess go to his apartment." 
 
 The story created some stir, and came to the ears 
 of the Duchess de Yalentinois herself, who wrote to 
 Proto to go and see her. He went, and she asked him 
 what opinion he had of the Neapolitan refugee. He 
 replied : " This man, Duchess, is a swindler of the 
 j very worst description; you had better be careful of 
 him, for he is equal to any rascality." The Duchess 
 listened attentively to what Proto said, and then 
 beg-Pfed him to be the bearer of a letter to the Minister 
 of Police, requesting the man's removal from Paris on 
 the ground of his being a dangerous character. After 
 taking the letter, Proto returned to the Duchess's to 
 inform her of the result of his mission, when, on going 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF BARRAS. 137 
 
 into her room, to his great surprise he beheld the 
 rascal himself seated there. An explanation, it ap- 
 peared, had already taken place, and a second letter 
 had been sent to the Minister beo-mno; him to consider 
 the first as not having* been written. I asked the 
 Princess if she believed the story, and she said : " Yes, 
 every word of it. 1 made particular inquiry, as I 
 was bound to do at the time, and it is true in every 
 detail." 
 
 Surely Brantome and Tallemant des Reaux have 
 calumniated no one, and invented and exaggerated 
 nothing. Their world was depraved as is our own, 
 because of the influence of the upper circles, because 
 family life was unknown, and because everybody lived 
 for gallantry and amusement. Our children, profiting 
 by the example of their parents, will carry corruption 
 to yet greater limits. 
 
 January 17th. — Herbette, the ex-Deputy, has just 
 left my office. He and I have been discussing a 
 multitude of topics, and last but not least that of the 
 Great Revolution. He tells me that he has seen in 
 Mons. de Saint-Albin's possession the original 
 Memoirs of Barras. ^a.iut- Alhin is an old sans-culottet 
 whose real name is Bousselin, but who found it 
 desirable when the restoration took place to destroy 
 the identity of the companion of Robespierre, Marat, 
 &c. With this object, and for a certain money con- 
 sideration, he prevailed upon an old Marquis de 
 Saint- Albiu, who was without a sou or a rag^ to his 
 back, to adopt him as his son. He took his adoptiv^e 
 father's- name, dropped his own, and then, the better 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 to hide all traces of Bousselin, published an obituary 
 pamphlet containing an account of that worthy's last 
 moments. 
 
 So much for Saint- Albin ; let us return to the 
 ]\Jemoirs of Barras. The old director herein 
 mentions that he assisted after Robespierre's death 
 in opening the ditch where Louis XVI. was buried, 
 and that he had a lot of quicklime thrown upon the 
 bones of the unhappy king, and then, in expiatory 
 spirit (singular mode of expiation ! ) , he disentombed 
 from the gaping foss the body of Robespierre, in 
 order, he says, to place the executioner beneath the 
 victim, 
 
 Barras made this incredible statement at the time 
 tliat what were believed to be Louis XVL's remains 
 were being removed to the memorial tomb in the Rue 
 d'Anjou, and he mentioned, in proof of his assertion, 
 that they ought to come across silver shoe buckles and. 
 gold breeches buckles, as Robespierre always wore on 
 his nether garments and shoes buckles of different 
 metal. This turned out to be true, but he was begged 
 not to mention the matter any further, and Robes- 
 pierre reposes to this day beneath the marble monu- 
 ment of Louis XVI. Towards the end of his 
 memoirs Barras (fallen greatness) bitterly bewails 
 the baseness of the great ones, dead and living, who 
 formerly, while he took his bath, waited in his ante- 
 chamber patiently for whole hours at a stretch until 
 he was at leisure to receive them, and pressed forward 
 to kiss Josephine's (the Empress's) hand as she passed 
 from his room. 
 
RUMOURS OF THE EMPEROR'S MARRIAGE. 139 
 
 These memoirs furthermore contain many details 
 concerning Bonaparte and letters of the future 
 Emperor, full of complaints of Josephine's infidelities. 
 
 The chances of Mdlle. de Montijo becoming Empress 
 of the French are at the present moment the topic of 
 conversation. Why not ? We are living in an ex- 
 traordinary century, and nothing would surprise me. 
 The most important thing for France is to see the 
 succession to the throne well assured. Complete, sire, 
 your history as fairy stories end ! " They lived happily 
 ever after, and had a large family." Such is my 
 prayer. 
 
 January 18th. — I have this moment been told by 
 Crozatier, the metal-founder, who has charge of the 
 Tuileries bronzes, that he has received an order to 
 have the "Empress's" apartments in readiness by the 
 6th of February. The matter is so pressing, that, to 
 save time, only indispensable arrangements are to be 
 made. We are to have an Empress, then, by February 
 6th. Is it to be Mdlle. de Montijo ? . . . 
 
 January I'^th. — It is apparently decided that Mdlle. 
 de Montijo is to be Empress. There were a number of 
 people at Princess Mathilde's last night, and the news 
 was being whispered about. I played whist with the 
 Minister of Marine, but he and the rest of the 
 Ministers were impenetrable on the subject. As to 
 the simple mortals outside the Ministry, some blame, 
 others approve, the Emperor's choice ; but a great 
 many ladies were in anything but good humour at the 
 prospect of having to call Mdlle. de Montijo for the 
 future "Your Majesty." The far-sighted ones predict 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 dijfficulties as to the manner in wliicli the marriage 
 will be received, both by the nation and by foreign 
 Courts, and scandalizers rake up stories about the 
 fiancee's maternal ancestry, saying that her mother, 
 Madame de Montijo, is the daughter of an English 
 merchant, named Fitzpatrick, who was British Consul 
 in Spain, and died a bankrupt. 
 
 It is also stated that when the Emperor acquainted 
 his Ministers with the approaching marriage he would 
 listen to no objections on their part, and said : " There 
 can be no observations or discussion on the subject, 
 gentlemen. I am resolved upon it, and the marriage 
 has been fixed." 
 
 The Emperor brings to bear in everything he does 
 or says an iron will ; he takes no one's advice, and 
 carries out his purpose regardless of obstacles. His 
 amour"]3ro'])re was piqued by the difficulties placed in 
 the way of his marriage. Mdlle. de Montijo pleased 
 him, and he would not consent to be dictated to by 
 Europe. 
 
 The Emperor, it must be admitted, is perfectly right 
 in sajing, " The State is myself," for, good or bad, 
 everything proceeds from him ; he knows mankind, 
 and generally despises them. A good hand at dis- 
 sembling, he acquaints no one with his projects, think- 
 ing that the great art in politics, as in war, is to hide 
 your intentions from the enemy. When once his 
 mind is made up nothing stops him, obstacles are 
 brushed aside and emotions do not count. His quiet 
 and meaning smile, vague, veiled look, and slowness 
 of speech and action, point to the man who consults 
 
OPINIONS ON THE PROJECTED ALLIANCE. 141 
 
 witli himself more than those about him, and who 
 listens to the promptings of his own thoughts rather 
 than to the voice of would-be counsellors. 
 
 He owes his future to no one, and no one has the 
 right to dictate how he shall use it. In his case 
 there was a double reason why he should marry, and 
 marry quickly : 
 
 Firstly : To destroy the hope of the Jeromes, and 
 reassure the country as to the possibility of their ever 
 reigning. 
 
 Secondly : To deprive the princely houses of Europe 
 of the pleasure of putting him under matrimonial 
 quarantine. 
 
 Europe having declined to give him a consort of 
 royal blood, he takes a young girl by the hand, places 
 the purple mantle on her shoulders, and makes her his 
 Empress. Call out against it as much as you like, 
 you Russians of quality, but tell us, in the first place, 
 where your great Catherine sprang from?* Swedes, 
 whence came your Bernadotte ? As to the country, 
 to France herself, what does it matter to her where 
 her Empress comes from, so long as she has one who 
 shall bear as many children as the Queen of England? 
 
 Many of the more ambitious ladies are distracted 
 between a desire to have some place at Court and the 
 disgust they experience at having to call their com- 
 panion of yesterday " Your Majesty." The Legiti- 
 mists, like the intelligent and humorous party they 
 
 * Mons. de Viel Castel here confounds the wife of Peter I., an 
 innkeeper's servant, with Catherine (the Great) the wife of Peter 
 III., a princess of the house of Anhalt-Zerbst. 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 are, will devote themselves to endless pleasantries on 
 the subject. For my part, I am in considerable doubt 
 as to what the Emperor will do with his Court — nearly 
 all the principal oflBcers of which lead such equivocal 
 lives — when he places an Empress at its head. Mdlle. 
 de Montijo will, perhaps, be one day allegorically 
 represented as a Hercules cleansing the Augean 
 stable. God grant that it may be so. 
 
 January 20th. — The marriage is making the devil's 
 own noise, and the funds dropped two francs yester- 
 day. The old Royalists are waking up, and crying 
 out scandal, the national honour is compromised, &c., 
 and starting all sorts of calumnious rumours about 
 Mdlle. de Montijo. The St. Germain quarter in this 
 leads the way, but the Emperor quietly pursues his 
 object without a word. Thiers remarks to anybody 
 who will listen to him, " That there is nothing to be 
 feared from people who are slightly intoxicated, but 
 you must beware of them when they are quite drunk." 
 
 January 2\st. — The marriage of the Emperor is to 
 take place on Monday week, and the new Empress's 
 household is already formed. The Duchess de Yicence 
 is mistress of the robes, and the Duchess de Lesparre 
 and Countess de Montebello are ladies in waiting. The 
 religious ceremony is to take place at Notre Dame 
 with great pomp. 
 
 Madlle. de Montijo, with whom the Emperor has 
 been deeply in love for two years past, has guided her 
 bark with the greatest address and skill. She induced 
 the Emperor to mention the marriage first, and then 
 said to him : " You must yourself write to my mother, 
 
DU PIN'S OPINION. 143 
 
 who, out of affection for both of us, and fully appreciat- 
 ing the distance which divides us, may be inclined to 
 refuse her consent." 
 
 The Emperor wrote, and the letter will remain 
 among the Monti jo family archives to prove that the 
 first advances were made by the Emperor, and that he 
 had been obliged to overcome the mother's scruples. 
 Well played, indeed ! 
 
 On hearing of the marriage Dupin said : " People 
 take little notice of what I say or think, and maybe 
 they are right, but the Emperor does better in espous- 
 ing a lady who pleases him than in allowing himself 
 to be bargained for by some scrofulous Grerman 
 Princess with feet as big as my own. When the 
 Emperor kisses his wife it will, at least, be for 
 pleasure and not from duty." 
 
 Pending the marriage the new Empress is to reside 
 at the Elysee. 
 
 January 22nd. — Smart things are being said on all 
 sides. Here is one attributed to Thiers : " The Emperor 
 has always seemed to me to be a man of wit, but now 
 he shows himself to be a man of forethought, for he 
 makes certain for the future of a Spanish grandee- 
 ship." Poor French nation ! She lives on smart say- 
 ings and revolutions. 
 
 January 2Srd. — The ball at the Tuileries yesterday 
 was very brilliant, and the Emperor was in great 
 spirits. That old fool of a Duke of Brunswick was 
 there in a hussar's uniform, pomaded, painted, and 
 decked out like a marionette. He made me admire 
 his diamonds and decorations. 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 January 2>lst. — The marriage /e^es are over, and the 
 Court is at St. Cloud. I will not refer to the cere- 
 mony, which was very beautiful, as all the newspapers 
 describe it in detail. The Imperial procession was 
 favoured with magnificent weather; the whole popula- 
 tion was on foot, and the Emperor and Empress were 
 received with enthusiastic loyalty. The Court will 
 remain at St. Cloud for some time. 
 
 February 6th. — Many rumours regarding Ministerial 
 changes are afloat, but that which is most probably true 
 is Saint- Arnaud's retirement. After a recent Cabinet 
 Council the Emperor detained him, and said : " Saint- 
 Arnaud, I am very much annoyed with you. I do not 
 like my Ministers to gamble on the Bourse and make 
 large losses. I hear that you have been gambling and 
 lost heavily." Saint- Arnaud tried to excuse himself? 
 and said that his losses had been greatly exaggerated, 
 and then asked : *' Who has mentioned the matter to 
 your Majesty?" The Emperor replied that it was 
 Fould, the Minister of State. " Fould ! " cried Saint- 
 Arnaud, " why, sire, he has been speculating for a fall 
 and I for a rise. The only difference between us is 
 that 1 believed your Majesty's Government would 
 inspire a feeling of confidence, and I lose, your 
 Minister of State has calculated on a panic, and he 
 wins." 
 
 This is how the Emperor is served. 
 
 February 9th. — Some of the Legitimist party have 
 been arrested on account of their dissemination of 
 pamphlets and correspondence inimical to the Empire. 
 My cousin, Viscount Edward de Mirabeau, was ap- 
 
LEGITIMIST PLOTS. 145 
 
 prebended by mistake on Sunday morning instead of 
 tis brother, the Marquis de Mirabeau, but I procured 
 liis release later on, and lie was able to come to 
 Princess Mathilde's ball. I met the Minister of Police, 
 Mons. de Maupas, at the ball, and complimented him 
 upon the perspicacity of his agents in arresting a 
 Mirabeau friendly to the Government instead of a Mira- 
 beau hostile. The Minister seemed rather embarrassed. 
 
 These arrests have been brought about in con- 
 sequence of some feeling of rivalry between the 
 ]\Iinisters of the Interior and Police. They detest 
 and wish to do each other all the harm they can, and 
 this accounts for the clumsy zeal in their respective 
 departments. 
 
 News of a serious nature is current this morning. 
 Lombardy, it seems, is again in insurrection against 
 Austria. This is the work of secret societies, and it 
 may possibly stir up the embers of revolution in 
 Prance. Details are wanting, and the extent and im- 
 portance of the insurrection are not yet known. 
 
 As long as revolutionists find assistance in any 
 country whatever, Europe will never know repose. 
 Prance, Switzerland, Piedmont, and England above 
 all, merit grave reproach on this score. Not only are 
 revolutionists received in these countries when they 
 have been hunted from their own, but they are placed 
 in possession of funds, either by an allowance from 
 the State or by means of public subscription. In 
 England these matters have a deeper significance; 
 there revolutionists are permitted to hold meetings 
 and invite subscriptions, which are intended to excite 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF CO VNT HOE A GE BE VI EL CASTEL. 
 
 all Europe against royalty. England would be only 
 too pleased to see the whole of Europe ablaze for its 
 own profit. That nation represents to my mind a big 
 pirate vessel, hidden within some archipelago, sallying 
 out and plundering all ships that come within lier reach. 
 The war being waged by Turkey against the Monte- 
 negrins . engages public attention on account of the 
 complications which Russian and Austrian diplomacy 
 may bring about. Directly the great Powers begin to 
 feel easier on the score of internal troubles they 
 revert to the narrow jealousies and blunders of their 
 old policy. 
 
 February lltli. — The Emperor and Empress visited 
 the Sovereigns' Gallery at the Louvre yesterday and 
 complimented Nieuwerkerke and myself on its arrange- 
 ment. The Empress wished to have read to her 
 Marie Antoinette's beautiful testamentary letter to 
 Madame Elizabeth. AVhile it was being read the 
 Emperor was in deep thought, and seemed profoundly 
 moved. Souvenirs of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette 
 always have a great effect upon hini. There was 
 something sad and soul-thrilling in listening to this 
 letter in the presence of a young and beautiful 
 Empress at the beginning of her reign, and in the 
 first intoxication of an almost undreamt-of happiness. 
 The Queen's farewell message seemed to borrow addi- 
 tional solemnity from its distinguished listeners ; it 
 was like a communication of misfortune, a sob from 
 the past, impossible to describe in a simple narration. 
 
 The Empress listened in silence, and with tears in 
 her eyes, to the last words of the Queen about to be 
 
MARIE ANTOINETTE'S LETTER. 147 
 
 led to the scaffold, of the mother who, even in that 
 supreme moment, was not allowed to embrace the 
 children she left in her executioners' hands. 
 
 The effect produced upon the Empress by this 
 Jletter will be repeated ; all mothers who come to the 
 museum will respond from the bottom of their hearts 
 to Marie Antoinette's appeal, when before her judges, 
 and beneath the weight of the most monstrous accusa- 
 tions, she arose proud and dignified and bequeathed 
 to posterity those simple words : " I appeal to all 
 mothers." 
 
 February 26th. — Father Lacordaire has been exiled 
 from France in consequence of a sermon in which he 
 grossly insulted Napoleon L and the present Emperor. 
 This Lacordaire is an ambitious man, who began life 
 with Lamenais and Montalembert, and has always 
 been consumed with a, desire for popularity. Madame 
 de Solms, daughter of Madame Wyse, and one of the 
 Lucien Bonapartes, is also expelled. 
 
 It appears from what I hear this morning that the 
 Emperor of Austria's assassin came from London. 
 He went first of all to Milan, where he received the 
 instructions of which we know the result. London is 
 the asylum for all these scoundrels. The English 
 Government aids and abets in the concoction of con- 
 spiracies directed against the rest of the world, and 
 then when the plots are ripe those who are com- 
 missioned to execute them receive English passports 
 under borrowed names. The policy of England is 
 something infamous. 
 
 February 28th. — Things are going badly in Con- 
 
148 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HOB ACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 stantinople. Russia and Austria are in arms, and tlie 
 three Nortlaern Powers are much incensed asrainst 
 England. What will be the upshot of it all ? 
 
 March hth. — Count Oamerata, the son of Princess 
 Bacciochi, blew his brains out yesterday morning. 
 The papers which announce the fatality attribute it to 
 brain fever. The real reason is that the Count has 
 lost 200,000 francs on the Bourse, and neither his 
 mother nor King Jerome, to whom he applied for 
 assistance, would help him. Seeing nothing before 
 him, therefore, but bankruptcy he resolved to commit 
 suicide. He explains the whole matter in a letter he 
 has left behind him, in which he mentions Jerome's 
 refusal, and the fact that Jerome owed him 400,000 
 francs. This last brother of the first Emperor is an 
 infamous rascal, and the Camerata affair was not 
 wanted to prove it. At the same time he enjoys an 
 income of a million francs, and the Palais Poyal is 
 being furnished for him. 
 
 March 1th. — The Moniteur contains a new list of 
 Senators. The wonder is where the Government finds 
 all these conscript fathers. Amongst others the name 
 of the Marquis de Boissy is mentioned. He is the 
 husband of Guicioli, Lord Byron's mistress, and was 
 the most irritating, disagreeable, and troublesome 
 member of Louis-Philippe's peerage. When our 
 legion repaired to the Tuileries on February 24th, 
 1843, he accompanied the rear of my battalion, and 
 kept inciting the National Guards to cry out, " Let us 
 have reforms." 
 
 General Magnan, General Saint-Arnaud, and Colonel 
 
NEW SENATORS. 149 
 
 rieurj are also in tlie list. These gentlemen are 
 improviog their reputations and becoming very moral 
 now. This ought not to be a difficult matter. 
 Magnan receives as General-in-Chief of 
 
 the army of Paris ... ... ... 80,000 fraucs 
 
 As Marshal of France 40,000 ,, 
 
 As Master of the Horse 40,000 ,, 
 
 As Senator ... ... ... ... 30,000 ,, 
 
 As Grand Cross of the Legion of 
 
 Honour ... ... ... ... 6,000 ,, 
 
 Making a total of 196,000 francs. And the rest are 
 equally well treated. The inferior officers of the 
 Imperial household are also, many of them, nothing 
 but low fortune-hunters, and it is with sacli materials 
 that the moral tone of the young Empress's court is to 
 be maintained. Moreover the officers of the house- 
 hold are to be looked upon with respect, and the 
 members of the Senate are to be taken seriously. 
 What rubbish ! 
 
 March \htli. — The Emperor and Empress visited the 
 Louvre yesterday, and the former said he would give 
 me the Cross of the Legion of Honour on the ISth 
 August next. The Empress added : " I will not let 
 him forget his promise, for the Yiel Castels are friends 
 of my own." She then asked for news of my brothers, 
 and was extremely affable and gracious. 
 
 March 19th. — A piece of news whicb was received 
 yesterday has put the Bourse in a tremor. The 
 English fleet, it is said, has left Malta and forced the 
 Dardanelles. The evening journals give a qualified 
 denial to the rumour. The facts are these : On the 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 arrival in Constantinople of the Russian envoy, and in 
 view of the Russian demands, Turkey, believing her 
 independence to be menaced, had recourse to England. 
 Colonel Rose thereupon, it is said, sent off a despatch 
 boat to Malta, with an order to the English fleet to 
 repair to him immediately. The fleet at once left for 
 Constantinople, but it is not yet known if it will force 
 the Straits, which it can hardly yet have done. 
 
 The event is full of gravity. Russia cannot recede, 
 and in that state of things a general conflagration may 
 be brouQfht about. The relations between Ens^land 
 and the Northern Powers were already very strained, 
 and the Eastern question may involve us all in conse- 
 quences the end of which it is impossible to forsee. 
 
 As to France, the more prudent ones say neutrality 
 is forced ujDon her, but a neutrality on the watch. If 
 the Ottoman Empire disappears from the European 
 map, and France allows Russia to take Constantinople, 
 she ought to take Egypt, and for that reason Russia 
 and Eng'land should not be allowed to settle the divi- 
 sion, for whoever holds Egypt will be mistress of the 
 commerce of the world, and hold the key to the 
 Indies. Egypt would complete our Mediterranean 
 possessions and influence. Already we possess the 
 important ports of Toulon and Marseilles, the island 
 of Corsica, and the 250 leagues of Algerian seaboard. 
 Egypt in addition would make us all-powerful. Our 
 alliances are in the south. Spain, Portugal, Italy, and 
 Sardinia ought to be attached to us by indissoluble 
 ties. The frontier of the Rhine would not be of the 
 least utility, whereas possessions in the Mediterranean 
 
CLOUDS IN THE EAST. 151 
 
 would double our power, and guarantee the security of 
 our fleet and our commerce. 
 
 Puritan England will ally herself with the Turks 
 against the Russians, and let loose the Riinges, 
 Mazzinis, and Kossuths against Germany, Italy, and 
 Hungary, to upset them and make a diversion. 
 There would be employment for these refugees. It 
 would be good policy for us to ally ourselves with 
 England against Russia. 
 
 March 20^A.— The French fleet has left Toulon for 
 the Grecian Archipelago, and three maritime powers 
 will find themselves face to face — England, France, 
 and Russia. People are uneasy as to the complication 
 that may arise in consequence. Russia has shown 
 herself too impatient in her desire to suppress the 
 Turkish Empire, and her ambassador's manner to the 
 Ottoman Ministry has been most insolent. 
 
CHAPTER yill. 
 
 1853 {continued). 
 
 Eachel, the acteess, and the Imperial livery — Ball at 
 Princess Mathilde's — The Orleans family and the 
 Order op the Holy Spirit —Table-turning and spirit- 
 rapping — Story op the Paris cabman — The Empress 
 
 AND the figure OP INNOCENCE ThE FeENCH ADMIRAL — 
 
 Court amusements — Plot against the Emperor's life 
 — Russian designs in the East — Versailles — Extrava- 
 gance of the Empress Josephine — Fould and Prince 
 MuRAT — The Legion of Honour — Mrs. Beecher- 
 Stowe. 
 
 March 30^A. — An Imperial decree, issued by Mons. 
 Fould in the Emperor's name, distinctly settles that 
 only the Grand-Marshal of the Palace shall be allowed 
 to use^the Imperial livery. This was inserted in the 
 Monifeur of Marcli 17th, and is called by the public 
 the "Rachel decree." The reason is as follows: 
 Prince de Canino having thought it in good taste to 
 send a carriage and four horses with the Imperial 
 livery to drive the great actress to Longchamp, the 
 public, mistaking the occupant of the carriage, have 
 
THE ORDER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 153 
 
 saluted her for the Empress, and the same error has 
 permitted Rachel to use the Empress's private passage 
 through the Arc-de-Triomphe. 
 
 As he is not to be trusted, Prince de Canino has 
 been deprived of the right of using the Imperial livery. 
 Rachel remarked that " it was extremely disagreeable 
 to be mistaken for the Empress." 
 
 April 2nd. — The day before yesterday there was a 
 grand ball at the Princess Mathilde's. The Emperor 
 and Empress were there, and stayed until one o'clock. 
 During the evening the Emperor came and spoke to 
 me very kindly for a few minutes, and the Empress a 
 little later on also did me the honour to converse with 
 me for some- time. She spoke to me about my brother 
 Louis, whose estrangement she regretted, and begged 
 I would remember her to him very cordially. 
 
 Pastoret was at the ball, and gave me the following 
 account of the admission of the Duke de Chartres 
 (eldest son of Louis-Philippe) to the Order of the Holy 
 Spirit : — 
 
 The ceremony took place at St. Cloud, in Charles 
 X.'s private room, in the presence of the officers of 
 the Order, of Louis-Philippe, Marie Amelie, Madame 
 Adelaide, and the Messieurs de Pastoret. The 
 Duke de Chartres knelt in front of Charles X., who, 
 before investino- the new knig^ht with the collar of 
 the Order, said : " My dear nephew, this Order was 
 instituted in a time of great trouble and perturbation 
 for the purpose of uniting the nobility, royalty, and 
 princes together. Those unhappy times may return ; 
 have ever before your mind, therefore, the fresh obli- 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CASTEL. 
 
 gations wliicTi your position as a Knight of the Order 
 impose upon you, and never forget the double title 
 which attaches you to royalty as a Prince and a Knight 
 of the Order." Louis Philippe, who could not restrain 
 his tears, then knelt behind his son, and putting his 
 hands, together with the Duke de Chartres', into 
 the old King's, said, in a voice full of tenderness and 
 emotion : " Permit me, sire, to renew my vow as a 
 Knight of the Holy Spirit, and to identify myself more 
 closely with the meaning of this royal ceremony. I 
 am nothing except by your goodness; I owe you 
 all. You have accepted my repentance with generosity, 
 and have extended to me your entire forgiveness. May 
 it please your Majesty to receive the assurance of a 
 devotion which I offer you here in the presence of my 
 wife, my sister, and the officers of the highest Order 
 attached to the Crown of France. Yes, sire, father 
 and son are entirely devoted to you and your royal 
 dynasty." 
 
 Charles X., surprised at this act of homage, thanked 
 the Duke of Orleans with effusion. This ceremony 
 took place in 1828 or 1829. In 1830 Louis-Philippe 
 was King of France, and the Order of the Holy Spirit 
 was abolished. 
 
 June 16th. — Table-turning has been completely out- 
 done, for we have now tables that talk. Yesterday 
 at Princess Mathilde's, in the presence of Saulcy, a 
 member of the Institute, Abbe Coquerau, Almoner ol 
 the Fleet; the Princess, Nieuwerkerke, and others, a 
 table was put to the test. Pietri, the Prefet of Police, 
 came in, and was highly amused at the expense of the 
 
THE PARIS CABMAN: 155 
 
 spirit-rappers. He was invited to ask a question, and 
 he inquired bis age. Forty-seven knocks came from 
 the table, which Pi^tri had to acknowledge was 
 correct. Then, in order to put the spirits to more 
 severe proof, he asked : " How many men were im- 
 plicated in the secret society which I arrested yester- 
 day ? " Eighteen knocks came from the table. " How 
 many among them," he then asked, " had resolved to 
 assassinate the Emperor?" Three knocks came. 
 Pietri was obliged to admit the correctness of the 
 answers. I only state a fact, explain it who can ! 
 
 On leaving the Rue de Courcelles in the evening 
 Pietri told Nieuwerkerke that people ought to beware 
 of their cab-drivers when engaged on any delicate 
 mission. A lady of note had taken a cab to call 
 on a gentleman at Passy. The driver, suspecting 
 the motive of the visit, found means to enter the 
 room where the gentleman was closeted with his 
 visitor, and convinced himself of their tender relations. 
 Two hours afterwards the lady returned to Paris in the 
 same cab, the driver of which declined to accept twenty 
 francs as his fare, saying that he wanted ten thousand 
 francs, not as fare, but as hush-money. The lady 
 re-entered the cab, and told the man to drive her to 
 the Prefecture of Police. On being shown into the 
 Prefet's room she said to him : " I believe you to be a 
 man of honour, sir, and the repository of many 
 secrets. I am Madam X — , and have been to visit a 
 gentleman at Passy. The cabman who took me there 
 has discovered my secret, and demands ten thousand 
 francs as the price of his silence. He is in your court- 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORA CE DE VIEL CA S TEL. 
 
 yard." The Prefet rang his bell, ordered the man to 
 prison for five days, and told him that if he allowed 
 his toDgue to wag he should be turned out of Paris. 
 
 June 17th. — When visiting the exhibition yesterday 
 the Empress was shown the statue of a young girl 
 representing innocence. She criticized the extreme 
 narrowness of the shoulders and body generally, but 
 Nieuwerkerke pointed out to her that a young girl's 
 figure should show less development than that of a 
 woman of riper years, and that the slenderness of 
 the figure accorded in fact with the idea of chastity. 
 The Empress replied, without thinking of the exact 
 meaning of her words, and with that vivacity of speech 
 which is so natural to her : " One may be very chaste 
 without being so narrow. I don't see the necessity for 
 it." 'No one laughed, although many of us had a 
 mind to. 
 
 July 2nd. — 'We are nearer to war than ever, for 
 E/Ussia seems resolved upon resorting to the ordeal of 
 battle. England and France are arming their fleets 
 and preparing for any emergency. The Emperor 
 Nicholas is carried away by the enthusiasm and senti- 
 ment of old Russia, which he has himself evoked. 
 
 Yice-Admiral La Susse, chief of our Dardanelles 
 squadron, has been recalled and placed on the reserve 
 list. The cause of his dismissal is recent, although 
 it had been decided for some time to remove him at 
 the end of his two years' service. La Susse is rather 
 a drawing-room sailor than a real salt-water one, and 
 is, moreover, very unpopular with his men and officers, 
 who resent his arrogance and harsh manners. He is 
 
THT} FRENCH ADMIRAL. 157 
 
 also accused of immoral conduct. His squadron was 
 at Salamis wlien lie received the order to leave at 
 once for Besika Bay at the entrance of the Dardanelles, 
 where he ought to have arrived three days before the 
 English, who were at anchor in the Malta roads. 
 Mons. la Susse kept the order in his pocket for 
 four days, and when he arrived found the English had 
 been there two days before him. 
 
 The Emperor was furious, and without further 
 delay deprived the Vice-Admiral of his command. 
 
 There was a grand dinner-party at St. Cloud yester- 
 day ; the evening was a pleasant one, and all the guests 
 enjoyed themselves immensely. The Emperor opened 
 a box of presents sent him by the Iroquois Indians, 
 which contained, amongst other things, bonbons made 
 of maple sugar. 
 
 The news that the cholera is at Copenhagen reached 
 us yesterday. To be visited by that scourge would 
 complete the disasters of the season, which will pro- 
 bably include a famine after the rain and frosts. 
 
 This year is one of the worst we have had. After 
 revolutions come epidemics and ruin, 
 
 July 4ih. — I went to spend Sunday with Princess 
 Mathilde at the Pavilion de Breteuil, where the room 
 I had last year is still kept for me. At four o'clock I 
 accompanied the Princess and Madame de Serlay on a 
 visit to Prince Murat at his new chateau near St. 
 Germain. 
 
 Murat was at dinner when we arrived. He left the 
 table and came to receive us, and took us to the dining- 
 room, where we found about twenty guests. Oanino 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 was among them, but neither the Princess nor I took 
 any notice of the loathsome wretch. I was made to 
 drink two glasses of chambertin, two of claret, and 
 two of champagne. 
 
 Marshal Saint- Arnaud and his wife came to see us 
 in the morning at Breteuil. The Marshal complains 
 bitterly of the vulgarity and rudeness of his colleague. 
 Marshal Magnan, towards the officers of the camp at 
 Satory. He has been nicknamed the " peasant." 
 
 About one o'clock the Princess went to St. Cloud to 
 pay the Empress a visit. Nothing can be more mono- 
 tonous than Her Majesty's life. She rarely goes out, 
 never occupies herself with any needlework, and reads 
 very little. Her Court is a strange medley. The 
 jester is no other than the first Chamberlain himself, 
 Count de Tascher. In the middle of a conversation 
 between the Empress and the Princess the Chamber- 
 lain was heard acting the buffoon in the waiting-room 
 adjoining, and he was requested to come and amuse 
 the Princess. 
 
 When he came the Empress said to him : " Imitate 
 a turkey," and he at once proceeded to do so, clucking 
 and strutting and looking more like a turkey than the 
 real bird. 
 
 " Imitate the sun," said the Empress, and the Cham- 
 berlain, with all sorts of stupid grimaces, did the sun. 
 
 " Imitate the moon." He assumed an idiotic air, 
 and giving his already ugly features a still uglier look, 
 said, " That is the moon." 
 
 Then he imitated a storm, and committed every 
 farce, in fact, that his position required. 
 
PLOT AGAINST THE EMPEROR'S LIFE. 159 
 
 It was ignoble to the last degree to see a man of 
 forty-eight giving himself up to such antics in order to 
 make himself laughed at. 
 
 July 7th. — The Emperor and Empress went to the 
 re-opening of the Opera Comique yesterday. I was 
 dining at the Cafe de Paris, and saw the Imperial 
 carriages driving through the throng of people that 
 lined the boulevard, and heard many cries of " Long 
 live the Emperor ! " About ten o'clock I was going 
 towards the Opera Comique, through the Rue de 
 Richeliea, at the very moment the police were arresting 
 in the theatre itself several members of a secret society 
 who were taken with arms in their hands. These men 
 defended themselves with energy, and one of them 
 wishing to get rid of his pistol tried to throw it through 
 a window. The window, however, happened to be 
 protected with wire- work, and the pistol falling back 
 among the police was seized, and on examination was 
 found to be charged with ball. It appears that the 
 plan of the conspirators was to surround the Emperor's 
 carriage as he got into it to return, and to fire together 
 from all sides. The police got wind of the plot and 
 were enabled to frustrate it in time. 
 
 I know some foolish Legitimists who rejoice at all 
 this ; they are only concerned about the future of their 
 Pretender, and treat aught else with contempt. 
 
 Russia, on entering the Principalities, has published 
 a Manifesto, and sent Mons. d'Ozeroff to resume 
 negotiations at Constantinople, but she does not 
 appear to have modified her demands. It is clear that 
 slie only wishes to gain time, concentrate her troops, 
 
160 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 and exhaust her adversary's resources. The present 
 inactivity of France and England she takes for weak- 
 ness; their fleets are at the entrance to the Dardanelles, 
 but she does not believe they will dare to take them 
 into the Bosphorus. The old Russian party are urging 
 the Emperor to undertake a crusade against the Turks, 
 possess bimself of St. Sophia, and take the whole of 
 the Greek Empire with Constantinople as the capital. 
 They dream of universal dominion and the resurrection 
 of the old Roman Empire; in order to ruin England 
 they prey upon her commerce in the East, and under- 
 mine her relations with Persia and Turkey. As 
 reeards us Frenchmen, the Czar has more friends here 
 than he is aware of. The bourgeois class assert with 
 an air of profound knowledge : " Let him take Con- 
 stantinople, England may have Egypt, and we will 
 take the Ehine frontier." 
 
 These stupid middle class politicians are still bent 
 on the Rhine frontier; it is impossible to make them 
 understand that we have no interests in the North, 
 and that the day Russia and England divide the 
 Mediterranean among themselves France ceases to be 
 a great power. An accession of territory, simply, 
 would not increase our power an inch ; what we do 
 require is a position on the Mediterranean which would 
 mean the prow of our vessels turned towards the East 
 and the development of our maritime resources. 
 
 My 11th. — Yesterday, Sunday, Nieuwerkerke, 
 Saint Marsaut, Prefect of Versailles, and his wife, 
 Baroness de Serlay, a few other people, and I went to 
 dine at the Little Trianon, in the house belonging to 
 
VERSAILLES. 161 
 
 the Lord of tlie Manor, which is situated in the middle 
 of the park, on the borders of the lake, and towards 
 evening, favoured with delicious weather, we went 
 over the chateaux and parks. 
 
 It is always a melancholy visit ; the memory of Marie 
 Antoinette, of her Court and the fetes she organized 
 are everywhere present. Now all is silent, sad, and 
 abandoned, the royal dwellings are unpeopled, and the 
 parks bereft of their guests ; the spectacle fills you 
 with emotion, and impresses you with an inexplicable 
 feeling of sadness. The deserted palaces bear witness 
 to the passage of the Revolution, gaiety is out of the 
 question. 
 
 In the evening I slept at the Pavilion de Breteuil. 
 
 There is still no news, either from Constantinople or 
 Russia. The Emperor Nicholas does not draw back, 
 and is bent on trying the fortune of war. 
 
 France and England are only injuring their position 
 by hoping that anything will come of diplomacy ; 
 weakness or indecision at this juncture would be fatal. 
 Austria is anything but frank in this matter, nor does 
 Russia express herself very clearly. Russia is not a 
 power to threaten merely ; she will only give way to 
 active measures. Our delay may cost us dear. 
 
 July 18th. — I have just come from Breteuil, where I 
 spent the day yesterday. I found the Princess in 
 trouble over this Russo-Turkish question. " The 
 Russian Emperor," she said, " has no political ambition 
 in this matter, and the intentions of Russia are not 
 aggressive. That power cannot reach Constantinople, 
 and does not desire to take it in any sort of way.'' I 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
1 62 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HOE A CE DE VIEL CA STEL. 
 
 replied, with some warmth, that I regretted the 
 prejudices which prevented her from seeing the ques- 
 tion in its right Hght; that Russian pohcy never varied 
 or shifted its course, and in that consisted its strength. 
 From the time of Peter the Great Russia has worked 
 her way towards Constantinople, and religious matters 
 are pushed to the front merely to hide her real object. 
 In truth, it ill becomes the persecutor of Catholics in 
 Poland and Mussulmans in Northern Russia, to assume 
 the position of avenger, which should only belong by 
 right to a power united hy ties of common faith to the 
 people oppressed. 
 
 At a time when Holland is persecuting its own 
 Catholic subjects, it is strange to hear Europe pro- 
 testing against the intolerance of the Turks. 
 
 All these diplomatic delays, despatches, ultimatums, 
 &C.5 make me uneasy. Russia wishes to gain time, 
 ruin the Porte, cause friction between France and 
 England, and fortify her position in the Principalities. 
 
 Princess Mathilde thinks it is perfectly natural for 
 Russia to champion the great cause of the Greek 
 Church by possessing itself of the Holy Places, but 
 she blames France for pretending to the same 
 privilege. "Why mix herself up in such matters?" 
 she says. 
 
 The Princess is very little interested in religious 
 subjects, and has no sympathy with the clergy. I 
 have frequently been distressed to hear her speak as 
 she does before her servants of the Pope, the College 
 of Cardinals, and priests generally. 
 
 July 19th. — Marco de Saint-Hilaire, whose mother 
 
JOSEPHINE'S EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 163 
 
 was tire- woman to the Empress JosepTiine, showed me 
 yesterday the following account for the year 1806 
 from L. H. Leroy, Court draper to Her Majesty. I 
 have copied it in order to show how profuse Her 
 Majesty's expenses were in matters of dress and odds 
 and ends. 
 
 Particulars of account due from Her Majesty the 
 Empress and Queen for dresses and fashions, supplied 
 
 by L. H. Leroy, as under :- 
 
 Month of January 12,264 
 „ „ February 12,347 
 March 11,206 
 
 >> 
 
 Account previously rendered 
 
 J.I1L61 6S U ,.a ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 
 
 These three months hav- 
 ing been paid are only 
 mentioned to show 
 the account 
 February, for Mdlle. Tascher 
 
 „ for H.M. the Queen of Bavaria ... 
 
 ^^ L/i.i.X««* ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 
 
 lyi. o/j ••• ••• «•• •*• ■•• ••■ 
 
 fJilLXa »»» ••• ••• ••■ ••• ••• 
 
 July ... ... ... ... ... 13,881*75 
 
 In addition for black heron's plumes 10,000 
 
 x\.\I2['11SL/ ••• ••• ••• ... c« 
 
 September 
 October 
 
 ] 
 
 48,000 francs 
 15,000 „ 
 
 1,425 
 575 
 34,590 
 10,209-50 
 16,843 
 
 23,881-75 
 
 7,370-75 
 
 9,665-50 „ 
 
 10,275-10, „ 
 
 11 
 
 Received October 14th, 
 
 Balance due on October 30th, 3 806 ... 
 
 177,837-60 francs 
 2,000 
 
 175,837-60 francs 
 
 August 10th. — When I was dining with Prince 
 Murat at Businval a short time since we talked about 
 Fould, the principal Minister of State, for whom he 
 
164 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 entertaiDS a royal dislike. He told me that on the 
 occasion of the Emperor's marriage Fould walked 
 into the room where the Imperial family, high, 
 dignitaries, and Ministers were awaiting the arrival of 
 the Emperor and Empress with the airs of a little 
 sovereign. He went about shaking hands with the 
 members of the Imperial family with an assumption of 
 extreme importance. When he got to Prince Murat 
 he held out his hand in his patronizing way, but the 
 Prince shrugged his shoulders, and told him to pass 
 on, adding : " I decline to give my hand to such a 
 man as you." Fould, taken aback, tried to insist, 
 and asked the reason. The Prince replied : " Deuce 
 take it, sir ; pass on, and at once, or must I repeat my 
 words?" Fould went off but he complained to the 
 Emperor, who wrote to Prince Murat " that he could 
 not permit one of his Ministers to be abused in that 
 fashion at the Tuileries." To which the Prince re- 
 plied that he fully allowed that the Emperor was 
 master in his own house, and, as he could not obey 
 him, he should abstain from coming to the palace. 
 The Emperor specially invited him, and showed him 
 marked attention, but was not able to reconcile him 
 with Fould; indeed, Murat said to him : " I will never 
 shake hands with a man I despise." 
 
 The result of Prince Murat's conduct was that a 
 crowd of marshals and general ofl&cers wrote their 
 names in his visitors' book. Fould is very properly 
 despised and condemned by everybody. He and Per- 
 signy are on excellent terms. Prince Murat says that 
 it is because they have learned to know and to respect 
 
THE LEGION OF HONOUR. 165 
 
 each other's little infamies. " If I told all T knew about 
 Persigny," said the Prince, "it would be sufficient to 
 send him to the galleys." 
 
 What unfortunate men for the Emperor to have 
 about him ! At this very moment Princess Mathilde 
 is taken in with Fould's cajoleries, just as she is by de 
 Laborde's and the pleasant manners of her reader, 
 Madame Despres, who is merely placed as a spy about 
 her. This lady even had the audacity to say on Sunday 
 last : " All the Princess says is repeated at St. Cloud." 
 The Courts of Louis XVITI. and Charles X. never 
 had a more miserable and despicable set about them 
 than has Louis Napoleon's. 
 
 The old nobility do not go to the Tuileries Court, 
 and are not therefore responsible for the fulsome 
 conduct of those who do. 
 
 August 14ith. — Three days ago the Empress said to 
 the Emperor after breakfast : " Louis, you promised 
 Mens, de Yiel Castel the cross ; try not to forget it." 
 " We shall see," replied the Emperor. But the 
 Empress, not satisfied with the answer, rejoined, " No, 
 it is not we shall see, but we must. You made the 
 promise and ought to keep it." 
 
 Li ray turn I say : " To-morrow we shall see." In 
 the Moniteur of this morning there are four nomina- 
 tions of officers and knights of the Order. The officers 
 are: Mocquard, the Emperor's secretary; and Con- 
 neau, principal physician. The knights : Ch. Thelin, 
 treasurer of the purse ; and Acar, principal chemist 
 and druggist. Conneau is a devoted friend, and 
 Thelin, I believe, a foster brother, against whom no 
 
166 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 objections can be raised ; but as to Acar, the druggist, 
 and Mocquard, the Emperor's white eunuch about the 
 person of Madame Howard — poor Legion of Honour ! 
 
 All that has transpired with regard to the note 
 which Russia has accepted leads me to fear that, in 
 spite of a good deal of noise and movement of the 
 fleets, we shall in the end submit to the Czar's 
 dictation. It presages a snub to the powers and an 
 increase to the prestige of Eussia, to whom will be 
 conceded the protectorate, and Austrian mediation 
 will be accepted, because Nicholas will not recognize 
 the right of France and England to intervene in 
 Turkish affairs. Russia pushes her condescension to 
 the extent of not requiring Turkey to pay the expenses 
 of the war, in recognition of which proceeding the 
 collective note says nothing about the evacuation of 
 the provinces, the good faith of the Emperor 
 Nicholas being considered a sufficient guarantee. 
 The pleasantry is excellent, but I don't think it is 
 altogether to John Bull's taste. Russia wished to see 
 how far she could go, and she now knows. She is the 
 only great power left, England and France not know- 
 ing how to support her feeble allies. 
 
 The diplomacy of France and England has been so 
 admirably conducted that Turkey comes out of the 
 conflict completely crushed. She is nothing more than 
 a Russian subject, and is fully aware now to what 
 extent she can for the future rely upon her great friends, 
 France and England. Russia reigns alone ; it is sad 
 to reflect upon, but so it is ; we have lost our second 
 battle of Waterloo. 
 
ENGLISH POLICY. 167 
 
 Mons. Drouin de Lhnys has received the grand 
 cordon of the Legion of Honour ; it is really prodigious. 
 If I were the Russian Emperor I would make him a 
 Prince. Under Louis XV. Poland was allowed to 
 fall; in 1853 Turkey is placed under the vassalage of 
 Russia. 
 
 C Napoleon I. said that before fifty years were over 
 Europe would be either Republican or Cossack. 
 
 August l&tJi. — I am fifty-one to-day. Yesterdaj^ 
 the Emperor was to have given me the cross, as he 
 had himself promised, but he has not kept his word. 
 Fould opposed it. The Emperor told ISTieuwerkerke 
 yesterday : " I could not nominate Mons. de Castel, as 
 Pould's list was full; but it is only deferred." 
 
 August nth. — Reiset, our second Secretary of 
 Legation at St. Petersburg, has arrived. I dined with 
 him on Sunday at my brother's at Eughien. He 
 thinks that the Emperor Nicholas will resume his 
 pretensions as regards Turkey in a few years, and 
 considers the indecision of E norland in not consentino- 
 to force the Dardanelles when Russia entered the 
 Principalities as a grave error. The Emperor Nicholas 
 has felt his way, and now knows positively what he 
 always suspected, that England is satisfied with a 
 little diplomatic palaver. He does not like the 
 Emperor Napoleon, but he respects him, and re- 
 marked sententiously : " He is my friend, for friends 
 can choose each other, whereas brothers are forced 
 upon each other by nature." 
 
 August 19th. — Count de Tascher, the Grrand Cham- 
 berlain, has just left me. He tells me that yesterday, 
 
168 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORA CE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 at St. Cloud, the Empress did not go to bed until past 
 midnight, as he and she had an animated discussion 
 on the subject of the Duke de Reichstadt's death. She 
 maintained that he was poisoned by the Austrians, and 
 Tascher defended the good faith of the Austrians 
 ao;aiost such a charoe. 
 
 The Emperor in private life amuses himself like a 
 child ; he has organized the game of football, and 
 devotes himself to the exercise with perfect enthusiasm. 
 The Empress passes her time in breaking in ponies 
 and hanging new pictures about her rooms. 
 
 August 23rc?. — I have just had an interview with 
 Mrs. Beecher-Stowe, the authoress of " Uncle Tom's 
 Cabin." Hers is another phase of modern charla- 
 tanism. She came to the Louvre with Belloc and his 
 wife to see Gabie's Diana; the rest of the museum of 
 antiquities did not seem worthy of her attention. She 
 was shown a cast of the Venus of Milo, but did not 
 care to see it in marble, and she turned away from the 
 Achilles statue for reasons of modesty. 
 
 Mrs. Stowe is a short, thin woman, rather elegant, but 
 with no actual pretensions to beauty. I should judge 
 her to be about thirty. She cannot speak a word of 
 French. Her reputation, which she is just now stalk- 
 ing round Europe, has turned her head somewhat, but 
 I don't think she is very much flattered by her cool 
 reception in Paris. No little ovation, no attention, no 
 public reception ; and she walks through the streets 
 without exciting the least notice. Society does not 
 throw itself at her feet, there is no Duchess of Suther- 
 land to do lady of honour, nor aristocracy to act the 
 
MRS. BEECHEB-STOWE. 1G9 
 
 sycophant to this apostle of negro democracy. "What 
 a misfortune that Schoelcher is in exile ! She is not 
 applauded on entering the theatre, there is no wreath, 
 in fact, for this muse, this Republican blue-stocking. 
 We shall be well reviewed, I expect, in the book she 
 will doubtless publish on her European travels. Belloc 
 introduced her to Beranger, and the old revolutionary 
 poet paid the most outrageous compliments to the friend 
 of the blacks. 
 
 " Uncle Tom" is the book of Protestant hypocrisy, 
 the Bible of philanthropic societies. You may thrash, 
 if you like, in the interest of discipline, soldiers and 
 sailors ; torture by solitary confinement white pri- 
 soners, but to touch a negro, or attack his dignity, is 
 revolting to the sense of Protestant humanity. 
 
 Leave us, Mrs. Stowe, and rejoin the children who 
 are awaiting you in Plnladelphia. While you are 
 making the tour of Europe cease to drag your poor 
 supernumerary husband behind your chariot, and get 
 someone to translate for you the epitaph of the Roman 
 matron : " Domum Mansit, Lanam fecit^ 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 1854. 
 
 "VVak — Views of the Ministry — Recall op the EussiAisr 
 Ambassadors from Paris and London — Eepoeted 
 
 ILLNESS OP the CzAR PASSAGE OP ENGLISH TROOPS 
 
 THROUGH Paris — Mdlle. Denain — The Empress con- 
 sults THE spirits — Conversation with the Empress — 
 The author and Count de Laborde — Secret attempt 
 to get possession op Madagascar — Condition of the 
 
 FLEET ErESH PLOT TO ASSASSINATE THE EmPEROE 
 
 Prince Napoleon — Revolution in Spain : Espartero, 
 Christina, Isabella — Baroche asks to be made a 
 Senator — Germans in Paris — Death op Marshal 
 Saint-Arnaud — An infernal machine — General Can- 
 
 ROBERT and LoRD RaGLAN ALGERIA A BAD SCHOOL 
 
 FOR French soldiers — Barbarous conduct op the 
 Russians — Cowardice of Prince Napoleon. 
 
 January 4iJi. — "War is decided upon ; a manifesto will 
 appear in the Monifeur to-morrow or the day after. 
 Thirty thousand French and twenty thousand English 
 troops are to embark for Constantinople. 
 
 January 8th. — Preparations for war continue, the 
 funds are falling, and men's minds are full of the crisis. 
 
 I dined with Princess Mathilde yesterday, and dine- 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. Ill 
 
 with her again to-day. Everybody talked about the 
 Eusso-Turkish question, and seemed to have lost his 
 head, La Eochejaquelein especially. He wanted to be 
 sent as ambassador to St. Petersburg, and, although he 
 did not precisely say so, led one to understand that 
 he believed he could have arranged matters more 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 Mons. de Las Cases and I talked for some time 
 about Napoleon. He told me that at St. Helena 
 Napoleon sometimes spoke about his weakness in 
 matters of the heart. He did not look upon Count 
 Leon as his son, but thought that Murat was the 
 father. 
 
 January 12>th. — The war is still the only topic of 
 conversation. The fleets have received orders to enter 
 the Black Sea, and new vessels are in commission. 
 Turkey accepts the note of the four Powers, but 
 Eussia does not. 
 
 January 23rd. — People are beginning to doubt the 
 neutrality of Austria, and the Oriental question is be- 
 coming more and more serious. General Bosquet had 
 an interview with the Emperor a day or two ago, and 
 begged to be permitted to serve with the expeditionary 
 forces. The Emperor replied that he could only 
 authorize him to serve with the Turkish contingent, 
 which the General declined. The Emperor then ex- 
 pressed his doubts as to the neutrality of Austria, upon 
 which General Bosquet said, " You have an ex- 
 peditionary corps in Eome, sire. Anticipate Austria 
 by reinforcing it, and then take possession of Trieste 
 and Yenice." 
 
] 72 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 January 2hth. — Notliing definite has yet been 
 decided with regard to the Eastern dispute, and some 
 people still cherish the hope of peace. 
 
 In the Cabinet there are three different views. 
 Persigny is of opinion that Prussia and Austria ought 
 to be coerced into joining France and England, or else 
 treated as enemies of the public weal. Drouin de 
 Lhuys hopes that the presence of our fleets in the Black 
 Sea may act as an example to Prussia and Austria, 
 and that these two Powers may be induced to over- 
 come Russian obstinacy with their armies, as they will 
 be the principal sufferers from Muscovite ascendency. 
 This means lettino- thino^s take their course. 
 
 The third opinion is the only right one, namely, to 
 succour Turkey by sending her 50,000 French and 
 20,000 English troops, in view of which contingency 
 the Russians are already hastening to cross the Danube. 
 Russian diplomacy is to keep negotiations going on 
 while her troops are being pushed forward. Turkey, 
 having spent six hundred million francs since the 
 commencement of the war, is exhausted, and without 
 help will have to surrender at the Caudine Forks. 
 If such a thing were allowed to happen France and 
 England would cut a very sorry figure, and the two 
 Cabinets would find it difl&cult to defend themselves 
 before public opinion. 
 
 The Czar's reply to the collective note is said to be 
 evasive as usual. Are we going to allow ourselves to 
 be deceived once more ? 
 
 February 4th. — The Russian ambassador left Paris 
 this morning, and Brunow has also left London. 
 
ILLNESS OF THE CZAF. 173 
 
 February 12th. — Count Orloff, who was sent to 
 Vienna bj the Czar, has not succeeded in his mission. 
 Austria informed him that the passage of the Danube, 
 or a prolonged occupation of the Principahties, would 
 be regarded as a declaration of war. Our fleet is at 
 Brest, en 7'oufe for Toulon, where troops are to be 
 embarked. 
 
 A letter from Count de Reiset announces that the 
 Czar has — an unusual circumstance — kept his room 
 for two days. The doctors say that he is suffering 
 from a first attack of gout, but he will not listen to 
 them. Some rumours were current that the doctors 
 have recognized the premonitory symptoms of the 
 same illness that Alexander died from. 
 
 Fehruary 15th. — Yesterday the Momteiw published 
 an admirable letter which the Emperor has addressed 
 to the Czar. It is dated the 29th ultimo, and is in the 
 form of an ultimatum. The reply to it is known in 
 anticipation to be a refusal. 
 
 Eno-land is embarkino: her soldiers, and we are 
 about to do the same. 
 
 Princess Mathilde has just told me that Pietri, the 
 Prefet of Police, has been to beg her not to dine with 
 Haussman, the Prefet of the Seine ; he says he is a 
 thief, and that proofs of his robberies have been placed 
 in the hands of a Paris solicitor of his acquaintance. 
 They are at last becoming aware of the Prefet's 
 villainies even in the Municipal Council itself. 
 
 February 19th. — The Moniteur of this morning 
 announces the Czar's refusal of the Emperor's pro- 
 positions. I always thought that this refusal would be 
 
174 ME3I0IRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 made known after the Court Costume Ball, wMcli took 
 place yesterday. We are launched into war, therefore. 
 
 At yesterday's ball the Emperor wore the dress of 
 his new body guard, a regiment of heavy cavalry whose 
 uniform is of white and gold, 
 
 February 24th. — Yesterday some English troops, 
 bound for the seat of war, passed through the Rue 
 Neuve de Rivoli. 
 
 Marshal Saint- Arnaud will command the Army of the 
 East, and among the generals under him are Bosquet, 
 Pelissier, Espinasse, Canrobert, Bonat, and, some say,' 
 Prince Napoleon. 
 
 February 2^th. — Fould has thought proper to deprive 
 Mdlle. Denain of her part in the " Verre d'Eau," and 
 to give it instead to Mdlle. Brohan. Mdlle. Denain, 
 in consequence, asked for an audience of the Minister, 
 and protested against her removal. Fould, in answer- 
 ing her, said : " I am the interpreter of public opinion, 
 which has adjudged your acting of the part not only 
 indifferent, but bad." 
 
 Mdlle. Denain : " I must confess, your Excellency, 
 that I was not prepared for such a compliment ; 
 moreover, the course you have taken is contrary to 
 custom, and an infringement of my privileges." 
 
 The Minister : " Your privileges — custom. Really, 
 mademoiselle, you must learn to know that my will is 
 law. The members of the Theatre Francais are paid 
 public servants who must obey instructions." 
 
 Mdlle. Denain : " Then, sir, you will force me to 
 defend my rights before the Tribunals." 
 
 The Minister (laughing) : " Bring your case before 
 
THE EMPRESS AND THE SPIRITS. 175 
 
 the Courts and win it. My wishes will be carried out 
 nevertheless ! ! ! " 
 
 What a proud thing to be French when one's 
 Minister of Fine Arts is a bankrupt Jew ! 
 
 March ^rd. — Simon, the doctor attached to the 
 Museum, has been to see me. He tells me a funny 
 story about table-turning. He is attending the Marquis 
 de Galvo, brother of the Duke d'Alba, who recently 
 broke his arm at the Tuileries, and he sees the 
 Emperor and Empress very often in the sick man's 
 room. A little while ago the Empress was interro- 
 gating a table in G-alvo's room on the subject of the 
 East, and she asked if the Czar would be long before 
 he replied to the Emperor's letter. The table indicated 
 by taps that the reply would arrive within twenty-four 
 hours. In point of fact, it arrived on the following 
 day. She then asked if many Russian vessels would be 
 burned, at which moment the Emperor entered the 
 room. " Come here, Louis," she said ; " I am talking 
 politics with my table." The table then proceeded to 
 answer, in its ordinary way, that no Russian vessels 
 would be burned, that there would be no battle, and that 
 the war would only be a pen and ink one. " That's very 
 satisfactory," saicl the Emperor, smiling. " If rivers 
 of ink are used, there will be no rivers of blood spilt." 
 The table went on to assign a duration of seven months 
 to the war. " That is better than a seven years' war," 
 said the Emperor. Then he took the Empress aside 
 and said something to her in an undertone, and the 
 Empress made some inquiry of the table, the answer 
 to which Simon did not hear. The Emperor then 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 turned to Simon, and said to him : " What do you 
 think of table-turning, doctor? " Simon replied : " I 
 do not know what to think, your Majesty ; but it all 
 seems to me very strange." " It is, indeed, very 
 strange," said the Emperor ; " and not to know what 
 to think is the most rational view to take." 
 
 On the following day the Empress brought with her 
 the Bishop of Nancy, whoj after some resistance, was 
 induced to ask this question of the table : " What 
 becomes of the soul after death ? " But the table 
 was silent, and no answer could be got from it in the 
 Bishop's presence. Why do we laugh at the sorcerers 
 of the middle ages or the credulity of our forefathers ? 
 
 March lUh. — The policy of Prussia and Austria is 
 still dark. Our army is being embarked, and Marshal 
 Saint- Arnaud takes command. Marshal Vaillant re- 
 places him as War Minister. 
 
 May 6th. — Odessa has been bombarded, the batteries 
 destroyed, powder magazines blown-up, thirteen war 
 vessels burned, and about the same number of trans- 
 ports with munitions of war taken. The French ships 
 detained in port have also been freed. 
 
 May 19th. — The Emperor sent his principal chamber- 
 lain to me two days ago to invite me to dinner to-day. 
 The Emperor and Empress received me most graciously. 
 The latter sent to ask me to come and talk with her. 
 After twenty minutes' conversation, seeing the 
 Brazilian Minister approach, I moved away ; but she 
 despatched Count Tascher de la Pagerie, her chamber- 
 lain, after me to beg me to return and renew our 
 conversation, which lasted this time for nearly an 
 hour. 
 
CONVERSATION WITH THE EMPRESS. 177 
 
 The Empress thanked me for the ring I gave her 
 which had belonged to Louis XVI., and I took the 
 opportunity of adding the pocket-knife which had 
 been seized by the keepers at the Temple with the 
 King's effects. The Empress attaches the greatest 
 interest to all that belonged to that unhappy monarch, 
 and especially to any souvenir of his Queen. I 
 promised her I would search for the least relic of 
 Marie Antoinette. " What I should like to find," 
 she said, " is the portrait that was done of her at 
 the Conciergerie." 
 
 I sent the Empress, through Tascher, the invitation 
 card designed by Gruervelot for the ball given at 
 Versailles on the occasion of the marriage of Louis 
 XVI. and Marie Antoinette. 
 
 After my two conversations with the Empress I was 
 a man of mark, and people came and spoke to me who 
 had hardly noticed me before. Rothschild came up to 
 me twice and did the amiable, but the servum ])ecus 
 was as servum as possible, and will always remain so. 
 
 The Empress told me that she relied a good deal 
 upon her mother to bring about a reconciliation with 
 my brother. 
 
 May 26th. — I have always forgotten to copy into my 
 book the only correspondence which ever took place 
 between Count de Laborde and myself, and which is 
 the cause, they say, of the hatred he bears me. 
 
 The Count was in London as French Commissioner in 
 connection with the Universal Exhibition, and he 
 wrote to thank me for a very handsome fancy dress I 
 had lent him for the ball given by Queen Victoria. 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Instead of s'lvino; me some interesting^ account of 
 the Exhibition, this gentleman thought proper to 
 write me a letter full of twaddle and frivolity, as if 
 he were addressing some boulevard coxcomb. The 
 following is his letter, which is stamped at the head 
 with the English Arms : — 
 
 " Great Exhibition of WorTis of Industry of all Nations ^ 
 
 1851. 
 
 " President : 
 
 "His Royal Highness Prince Albert, Etc. 
 " Office of the Executive Committee : 
 
 " Exhibition Road, Kensington Road, London. 
 " 14th July, 19, Bury Street. 
 
 " I trust, my dear Castel, you are not wanting 
 the costume you were so good as to lend me, but if 
 you are I will return it at once. I shall be back in 
 Paris again early in August, when I will deliver it 
 personally with renewed expressions of gratitude for 
 your kindness. London life, which you know well, is 
 not more jovial than it used to be. Always the same 
 flood of invitations to lunches, dinners, and at-homes ; 
 always the same weary round of pleasure and 
 colossal expenditure which rank and fortune impose. 
 Of amusement very little, gallantry none, and morality 
 enough to make you sick. Are you not of the same 
 opinion as the Englishman who said that the morality 
 of the women in London corresponded with the archi- 
 tecture ? You can see from the street into the rooms 
 on the ground floor, and if you pull the blinds down 
 the whole neighbourhood is scandalized. On the first 
 
I 
 
 COUNT DE LABORDE AND THE AUTHOR. 179 
 
 floors the doors open out upon you, and the very carpets 
 are in league with the husbands. In no country, not 
 even Germany, have I ever met women so easy to 
 win as here ; they have absolutely no defence. It is 
 not so much their temperament as a proneness to swoon, 
 which takes complete possession of them." 
 
 The rest of the letter, comprised in a few lines, con- 
 tained expressions of regret at having abandoned his 
 work at the Louvre. 
 
 This was my reply : — 
 
 " My dear Faublas,' — I disengage myself with 
 difficulty from the arms of the little President to send 
 a few words of reply to your charming and amiable 
 letter. Do not thank me for the sacrifice, for I beg-in 
 to have quite enough of Robin's wife. Her husband 
 does not conspire with the noiseless carpets, but on the 
 contrary leaves his tender half full and entire liberty. 
 Let me chide you a little, my dear Faublas, or, at 
 least, let me express my astonishment at finding you 
 so changed, so different from what I once knew you. 
 What you, the hero of twenty encounters, you, the 
 organizer of charades, the conqueror of Madame 
 B — , you dread the silent carpet or consider the 
 husband ! But where would be the pleasure in van- 
 quishing the wife if husbands were blind or carpets 
 muffled their footsteps? Be yourself; shake off the 
 English fog that cools your ardour — in a word, be 
 Faublas. I can imagine all your successes ; the veniy 
 vidi, vici astonishes me not in your mouth. 
 
 " That you tire of the English women as you tired 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTE L. 
 
 of the Germans nothing could be better ! . . You think 
 that the women of perfidious Albion depend solely on 
 architectural accident. I acknowledge the archseo- 
 logical simile, as our Academy professors say. But, 
 my dear Faublas, you walk in the public gardens and 
 follow the beaten track . . . out upon you ! that 
 smacks of the pleb with a vengeance. Leave such 
 ladies and their tarred petticoats and attack bravely 
 and resolutely one of those good little Quakeresses, one 
 of those fair, soft creatures in floods of brown and 
 cambric, with features hidden beneath a penthouse, 
 which they call a bonnet. Faublas, my dear Faublas, 
 succeed in compromising a Quakeress and I abdicate 
 in your favour. That would be really grand, pro- 
 digious, inconceivable." 
 
 May 24<th. — The following prophecy was found in 
 a book, entitled " Quarenii Euclid terrjB Santge, 
 Antuerp," 1639. T. I., f. 265 :— " Hoc regnum {Tiir- 
 cicuwi) et secta penitus destructa et abolita erunt anno 
 Domini, 1854 vel 1856." 
 
 June 4th. — The Emperor a few days ago received 
 the Chancellor of the French Academy (Salvandy), 
 who introduced the two most recently elected im- 
 mortals, the Bishop of Orleans and Mons. de Sacy. 
 The Emperor received them admirably, and with cere- 
 monious dignity. He expressed to Salvandy the plea- 
 sure he felt in seeing him at the Tuileries, and Salvandy 
 replied that political differences did not interfere with 
 literary duties. The Emperor also congratulated the 
 Academy upon having chosen a man from the ranks of 
 the clergy, who merited the distinction on account of 
 
SECRET ATTEMPT AGAINST MADAGASCAR. 181 
 
 his talents and enlightenment, and he was equally 
 complimentary to Mons. de Sacy, whose polemics in 
 the columns of the Debats have always been char- 
 acterized by their attic tone. He likewise laid stress 
 upon the marked position he occupied in the Academy 
 as a writer of classical French. 
 
 "I read you assiduously," he said; "and am 
 charmed to find you maintaining the reputation of our 
 best prose writers." 
 
 Towards all three academicians the Emperor showed 
 the greatest courtesy. 
 
 About the beginning of August the Emperor is 
 going to take command of the camp of 100,000 men 
 which is being formed in the north. 
 
 June 6th. — There is in course of preparation — very 
 secretly, but with the full approval of the Government 
 — an expedition, the object of which is to dethrone the 
 Queen of Madagascar, and set up her son, Tamatave, 
 in her place. Sarda Grarriga, the old Governor of 
 Bourbon, is at the head of the enterprise, the details 
 of which have in a great measure been planned 
 by Mons. Rantonei, a very rich banker, who has 
 larcre interests in Bourbon and Madao^ascar. A few 
 retired officers, amongst others Messieurs de Mont- 
 ferrier and du Planty, and a dozen non-commissioned 
 officers of the Spabis, compose the personnel of the 
 expedition. Prince Tamatave has a great part of the 
 population on his side, and his men are armed with 
 rifles, but they have no cannon. Some guns, therefore, 
 and a quantity of powder are being taken out to him. 
 Sarda Garriga leaves on Saturday to complete his 
 
1 82 MEM 01 RS OF CO UNT HORA CE DE VIEL GAS TEL. 
 
 arrangements with Tamatave and sign the necessary 
 stipulations. The Imam of Mascat will supply pro- 
 visions. Sarda takes to Tamatave the portrait of a 
 young lady of good family whom it is proposed the 
 young Prince should marry. The project, which was 
 conceived and is to be carried out by a hardy band of 
 adventurers, was communicated to me this morning. 
 
 The idea is to make Madagascar a sort of French 
 colony, administered by French agents, nominally 
 under Tamatave, who will be the shadow of a king, 
 a mere gilded puppet in our hands. It is a magnificent 
 dream. Will it be realized ? 
 
 Jime ISth. — To-day is the 39th anniversary of the 
 battle of Waterloo, and we are again at war, but this 
 time on the side of the English and against Russia. 
 
 I saw a Frenchman, who has just arrived from St. 
 Petersburg, yesterday, and he tells me that the Emperor 
 has in a few months aged by several years. The Rus- 
 sians are discontented, overwhelmed with taxes, and 
 expecting to be beaten. In Russia trade is dead, aud 
 the money of the country is being poured like water 
 through the Danaides' sieve, the effects of war are on 
 every side visible, and the resources of the nation are 
 filtering away. 
 
 July 16th. — Admiral Napier has written to the 
 Admiralty to say that it is impossible to take Croustadt 
 in the present condition of our fleet. On reading his 
 dispatch the Minister of Marine said : "In the next 
 campaign I will send the Admiral such a fleet of gun- 
 boats that nothing shall be impregnable." 
 
 The cholera has broken out amongst our sailors. 
 
PRINCE NAPOLEON. 183 
 
 One vessel has lost eleven from it in five hours, and 
 another forty from small-pox. 
 
 A plot against the Emperor's life has just been dis- 
 covered. Forty persons have been arrested, and their 
 papers and correspondence seized. 
 
 A very singular circumstance, which I ought to 
 mention, occurred a day or two ago. Prince Jerome 
 received a letter from his son. Prince Napoleon, just 
 as hostilities on a large scale were about to com- 
 mence in the East, in which that future hero begged 
 that his father would have a steamer placed at his 
 disposal. " If the Emperor were assassinated," he said, 
 *' it would be of the utmost importance that I should 
 return with all speed." 
 
 The Emperor remarked when he heard this : "If 
 he returns to Paris without my leave I will abandon 
 him and never see him again." 
 
 The Prince is on the worst possible terms with 
 Marshal Saint-Arnaud, who complains bitterly of his 
 conduct. He is a bad man, cunning, cowardly, and 
 without gratitude or generosity. He has intelligence, 
 but of alow order, he is in relations with extreme men, 
 and his principal counsellor is Girardin. His dissolute 
 life makes him look years older than he is. 
 
 If ever he should come to the throne, which God 
 forbid, France will have a bad time of it. In appear- 
 ance he is like Napoleon L, without his expression ; 
 all that was grand in the uncle's nature is mere 
 astuteness and vulgar instinct in the nephew's. . The 
 bitter enemy of Napoleon III., no acts of kindness 
 can reconcile him, any favour conferred on him he 
 
184 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 attributes to the fear lie inspires. If he were brave 
 one would pray that a bullet might carry him off, but 
 there is no such hope. The Empress ought to bring 
 into the world a son thirty years of age ! 
 
 July 2\st. — The Emperor and Empress have gone to 
 Biarritz. The last words the latter said to Nieu- 
 werkerke, before getting into the train, were : " Give 
 my best thanks to Yiel Castel ; he has given me an 
 immeuse pleasure." I sent her eight days ago the 
 portrait of Marie Antoinette, done from nature in 
 1791, by Dumon, her miniature painter. The Queen 
 is represented seated at the foot of the little temple in 
 the Trianon garden, holding a vase on which is a 
 medallion of Louis XVI. 
 
 Spain is in open revolt, and has declared against the 
 Queen mother and her Ministers. Espartero is at the 
 head of the whole movement, which has been brouo['ht 
 about by Christina's rapacity and Isabella's im- 
 morality. \ 
 
 August 9th. — The news from Spain is still very bad. 
 The Generals are making themselves Marshals and pro- 
 scribing their adversaries; already, too, they are quarrel- 
 ling amongst themselves, and the men of the barricades 
 are gaining power. These latter gentlemen are com- 
 posed of some seven or eight thousand demagogues of 
 French, Polish, and Italian nationality. 
 
 It is said that the people will not let Queen Christina 
 leave her palace without paying a heavy ransom. 
 
 Queen Christina, on reading her daughter's pro- 
 clamatiou to the Spaniards, boxed her ears before the 
 Council, exclaiming : " You are degrading royalty." 
 
BAUOCHE. 185 
 
 Too long, unliappily, both motlier and daughter 
 "have themselves and in their own persons brought 
 disgrace upon royalty ; the Neapolitan branch of the 
 Bourbons has done nothing but supply European 
 thrones with wantons. 
 
 It is said that Prince Napoleon is coming back from 
 the East. Whether he has been recalled or not I can- 
 not say, but what I do know is the universal dislike he 
 inspires. In the East he collected about his General's 
 quarters all the refugees and bad characters he could 
 get together, so much so that the Duke of Cambridge 
 refused to see him. 
 
 Ministers and dignitaries of State are preparing for 
 any future emergency, and try to keep on suflScientlj 
 good terms with Prince Napoleon. That is the reason 
 too that they tolerate LaPresse and its hostile articles. 
 
 Drouin de Lhuys caresses the editors of the Siecle, 
 and would betray the Emperor the first time he could 
 make a franc by doing so. Billaut, Minister of the 
 Interior, would return to his eloquent demagogism of 
 happy '48. Fortoul would sell himself to the highest 
 bidder ; luxury is necessary to him, and there is 
 nothing he dreads so much as relinquishing his present 
 high position. Before he became Minister he was a 
 sort of Government spy in the Chamber. 
 
 Baroche is a scoundrel. His Excellency has a salary 
 of 120,000 francs as President of the Council, and an 
 income of 80,000 francs besides, but the ambitious 
 bourgeois is not satisfied. 
 
 Having discovered, after profound reflection on the 
 uncertainty of human fortunes and the insecurity of 
 
186 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Empires, especially in France, that the most solid 
 position for the last fifty years has been that of senator 
 or peer, whose incomes have invariably been paid, he 
 had the audacity of a porter asking for a Christmas-box 
 to go to the Emperor and say to him : " Your Majesty, 
 I have an overpowering desire to become a member of 
 the Senate." The Emperor replied : " It is not possible, 
 my dear Baroche, except you resign the presidency of 
 the Council of State." Baroche, pale with fright, 
 hastened to say that such a sacrifice was far from his 
 thoughts. " Then you cannot be a Senator," repeated 
 the Emperor; "the functions of Councillor of State 
 and Senator are incompatible. The one makes laws, 
 and the other criticizes and adopts them." Baroche 
 twisted his hat in his hands, having held it out with- 
 out shame, and, with the voice of a blind beggar and 
 the attitude of a person offering holy water, tremu- 
 lously said : " If I felt the desire to be a Senator, your 
 Majesty, it was not for the distinction it would confer 
 upon me ; did your Majesty know me better you 
 would admit how little given I am to the vanities of 
 the world, but I have children who are not good- 
 looking, and who are too conscious of their dignity to 
 be discriminatory, and a wife who is difficult to manage. 
 To maintain my family, rank, and name, therefore, is 
 a hard matter, and the 30,000 francs as Senator 
 would have been very useful. Pity me, therefore. 
 
 sire." 
 
 The Emperor looked at Baroche in his expression- 
 less way, and dropped the Senator's office into his- 
 hat. 
 
GERMANS IN PARIS. 187 
 
 Persignj lias been called to Biarritz. It is asserted 
 that this one is honest ; perhaps they will find out to- 
 morrow that he isn't. 
 
 Pietri, the Prefet of Police, is, I believe, in the 
 absence of proof to the contrary, a man on whom the 
 Emperor may rely, but he is not always fortunate in 
 his agents. There is, moreover, a matter to which he 
 does not pay the attention it merits, and that is the 
 invasion of certain parts of Paris by Germans from 
 the Rhine. The Marsh and the St. Antoine suburbs 
 are full of these savages, who are ready for any 
 mischief and stick at nothing. 
 
 They were German workmen known to Crozatier, 
 the metal founder, who, in 1830 and 1848, were the 
 first to enter the palaces and destroy the beautiful 
 furniture and vases in order to secure the bronzes. 
 For the last two months the Marsh and St. Antoine 
 quarters have been deluged with these objectionable 
 men — half Germans, half Jews — who monopolize the 
 more expensive kind of cabinet making. To these 
 may be added the working tailors and shoemakers, 
 nearly all Germans and of the worst description. It 
 is high time that this population received the attention 
 of the authorities. 
 
 August I6th. — To-morrow is my birthday, and my 
 fifty-second year will have revolved. Fould wrote to 
 me yesterday to say that by a decree of the 5th of this 
 month the Emperor has made me a Knight of the 
 Legion of Honour. 
 
 Princess Mathilde, in placing the ribbon in my 
 button-hole, said, " Give me a kiss, then." It appears 
 
188 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VI EL CAST EL. 
 
 that I did so in a very clumsy and embarrassed manner, 
 like a schoolboy. 
 
 Octohe?^ 11th. — Marshal Saint-Arnaiid has died from 
 the effects of an internal complaint from which he has 
 been suffering for some time past. To sufferings 
 which his strength of mind alone enabled him to battle 
 against, was added some short time since an attack of 
 cholera. At the battle of the Alma he was for twelve 
 hours on horseback, and, during constantly recurring 
 attacks of pain, had to be supported in his saddle by 
 two officers. 
 
 The Marshal's end was a manly one ; he died like a 
 Christian soldier, in a spirit of resignation, within sight 
 of Sebastopol, and at the head of a victorious army. 
 He was comparatively young, only fifty-three. He 
 had led a restless and rather adventurous life, but was 
 a man of action, good feeling, and intelligence. His 
 last years more than compensated for the wildness of 
 his youth, and he dies universally regretted. Greneral 
 Canrobert succeeds him in command. 
 
 I have learned several details with resfard to the 
 infernal machine that was placed in the Boulogne 
 tunnel with the object of wrecking the Emperor's 
 carriage on his return from the camp. The machine 
 was buried in a place hollowed out of the masonry 
 inside the tunnel, and was attached by a wire to an 
 electric battery placed some distance away. The 
 vibration as the Emperor's train passed was relied upon 
 to start the apparatus and cause it to explode. One 
 of the railway servants, during a tour of inspection, 
 
GENERAL CAN ROBERT AND LORD RAGLAN. 189 
 
 noticed a place newly cemented in the wall, and on 
 examining it discovered the machine. 
 
 It is said that twelve persons have been arrested, 
 but the affair is kept quite secret. 
 
 October 19th. — There is no news from the Crimea, but 
 the bombardment of Sebastopol has, we know, begun. 
 
 By an order, recently issued, women of light 
 fame are excluded from the principal places at the 
 Opera, where up to now they have been permitted to 
 flaunt themselves and their diamonds. Some people, 
 however, are opposed to the measure on the grounds 
 of free trade even in vice. 
 
 October 27th. — Princess Mathilde tells me that after 
 the battle of the Alma General Canrobert wished to 
 follow the retreating Russians at once into Sebastopol; 
 according to his opinion, the demoralization of the 
 Russian army at the time would have enabled us to 
 take the place with comparative ease. Lord Raglan, 
 however, was opposed to the French Greueral's view, 
 and to this opposition we owe the present siege and its 
 wearying delays. 
 
 The cholera has made frightful ravages in our army ; 
 an officer in the Crimea, whose letter I have seen, says 
 that he has lost fifteen friends who went out with him 
 in the same ship. 
 
 November 22nd. — The guns at the Hotel des Invalides 
 are firing in commemoration of the victory of the 
 allied armies at Inkerman on the 5th inst. It is also 
 reported that another battle took place on the 13th. 
 General de Lourmel, an officer of great distinction. 
 
1 
 
 190 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 has been killed, and the Duke of Cambridge and 
 General Caurobert are slightly wounded. 
 
 Prince Napoleon says he is not well and has gone 
 to Constantinople. A nephew of Princess Mathilde's 
 writes from the seat of war to say that the Prince's 
 L^etreat has had a most deplorable effect on the army ; 
 in France it is equally condemned. 
 
 The war is becoming very severe, and is assuming 
 colossal proportions; every day new reinforcements 
 leave for the Crimea. The loss of so many relatives 
 has had both in France and England a depressing effect 
 upon society, and mourning is general. It is very sad, 
 but I doubt if the grandeur of the campaign has not 
 elevated the moral tone in both countries. 
 
 The Zouaves are behaving like heroes. The whole 
 of our army, in fact, is magnificent on the battle-field. 
 The veterans (old leathern breeches) of the first Empire 
 are altogether in the wrong, and will have to withdraw 
 their favourite saying, that Algeria does not make 
 either good ofiScers or soldiers, and that in the 
 event of a great war all these African heroes would 
 make pitiable figures before Russian or German 
 troops. 
 
 The Empire will suffer in public (^pinion from the 
 fact that no Prince of the Bonaparte family is with the 
 army. Pierre Bonaparte very nearly got the reputa- 
 tion for cowardice in Africa, at the siege of Zatcha. 
 Prince Napoleon leaves the army at an important 
 moment. Young Murat, who is a soldier by profes- 
 sion, does not volunteer for the Crimea, and the other 
 Bonapartes are satisfied to draw their senatorial 
 
PRINCE NAPOLEON'S COWARDICE. 191 
 
 salaries in obscurity. Madame Patterson's grandson 
 bears the honour singly. 
 
 November 26th. — On Monday week the Emperor will 
 review his body guard at the Champs Elysees and at the 
 Tuileries. Lord Palmerston is to be present. This 
 statesman, they say, has come to Paris to confer with 
 the Emperor about a loan that is to be raised on joint 
 English and French security; also to arrange about 
 the subsidy that the English Government is to pay 
 the French for sending larger reinforcements to the 
 East. 
 
 The war will be conducted with bitterness on both 
 sides. The E-ussians are behaving like savages, and 
 their officers even order the wounded on the battle- 
 field to be killed. One Russian major, who is strongly 
 suspected of having given such orders, has been made 
 prisoner, and will be tried by court-martial. Generals 
 Caurobert and Raglan are about to demand from 
 Mentchikoff explanations on the subject of these 
 atrocities. 
 
 Novemher 28th. — It appears that Prince Napoleon, in 
 spite of the order he received, did not lead his division 
 to the assistance of the English at the battle of Inker- 
 man. He allowed the English troops to be decimated 
 without giving the aid they had a right to expect from 
 him. After this unjustifiable conduct General Cau- 
 robert said to him : " One thing only can excuse your 
 behaviour, Prince. You were unwell. Go and restore 
 your health at Constantinople." 
 
 This wretch may be a Prince, but he certainly isn't 
 a Frenchman. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 1855. 
 
 The Empeess's Present to the author — Reconciliation of 
 Prince Jerome with his daughter — Review oe troops 
 — Emotion op the Empress — Proposed departure of 
 THE Emperor for the Crimea — Fancy dress ball — 
 Mazzini — An anonymous pamphlet — Death of the 
 Czar Nicholas — Visit of the Emperor and Empress to 
 England — Attempt on the Emperor's life in the 
 Champs Elysees — Popular excitement — The King and 
 Queen of Spain — Ignoble conduct towards the Queen 
 OF Spain — Opening of the Exhibition — Marshal Pelis- 
 
 SIER TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY IN THE EaST ENG- 
 LISH patriots j^LEXANDRE DuMAS THE ELDER AT PRIN- 
 CESS Mathilde's — Georges Sand — Indiscretion op 
 Marshal Magnan. 
 
 January drd. — The Empress has sent me a very 
 beautiful watch as a New Year's gift. The case is of 
 polished red jasper, with my monogram and crown in 
 raised gold. To this is attached a chain with key in 
 gold and jasper, and a locket made from two cameos, 
 encircled with rubies and diamonds. 
 
 The Emperor has the gout, and could not preside at 
 
PRINCE J:ER0ME and his daughter. 193 
 
 the family dinner party on l^ew Year's Day. His 
 place was taken by Prince Jerome, wlio received the 
 Emperor's guests, and profited by the occasion to 
 become reconciled with his daughter, to whom, by the 
 way, lie made the first advances. On Tuesday he 
 paid Princess Mathilde a visit, and brought her some 
 very beautiful presents, saying as he offered them : 
 " You have made me pass a better night than I have 
 had for a very long time." 
 
 There is no very startling news from the Crimea. 
 The Duke of Cambridge's illness has been greatly 
 exaggerated. He never lost his reason, but here the 
 most extraordinary stories are in circulation. 
 
 Januarij 10th. — Yesterday the Emperor reviewed 
 the Guards, who are leaving for the Crimea. After 
 the review the Empress took the Emperor's arm, and 
 they passed through the ranks together amidst the 
 enthusiastic cheers of the soldiers. The Empress, 
 deeply moved at the sight of so many brave men 
 about to shed their blood for France, could not 
 restrain her tears, on perceiving which the enthusiasm 
 of officers and men knew no bounds. 
 
 February 17th. — I met Princess Mathilde at Madame 
 Lehon's last evening, and had a long talk with her 
 about the Emperor's proposed visit to the Crimea. 
 She told me that all the arguments ao^ainst his doino- 
 so were futile. She bad spoken to him on the subject 
 yesterday, and he had told her that the capture of 
 Sebastopol would bring about peace, and that Sebas- 
 topol must, therefore, be taken. The Empress urges 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
194 MEMOIRS 01 COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 the Emperor to join the army, and proposes to 
 accompany him part of the way. 
 
 Fehruary 18th. — It seems almost decided that the 
 Emperor will leave on Thursday. Admiral Hamelin 
 says he can take him to Sebastopol in eight days. 
 
 The Council of Regency, in his absence, will be 
 composed of Prince Jerome, as President, of Troplong, 
 and De Morny. Morny will be the principal man in 
 the Council ; he is furnished with sealed letters, 
 which, in case of emergency, will give him full 
 powers. 
 
 I begin to think that the Emperor's visit to the 
 Crimea is necessary; there is a kind of dissension 
 among our generals there owing to feelings of rivalry. 
 This morning I saw a letter addressed by Canrobert to 
 General Forey, asking him to withdraw the resigna- 
 tion which the latter had sent in in consequence of 
 having been put aside when promotions to commands 
 of large divisions had been made. Greneral Forey is 
 accused of being the cause of General Lourmel's check 
 and death, as he did not support the attack with his 
 division. Had it not been for his selfishness and jealousy 
 the fort would have been taken, and Lourmel would 
 still have been at the head of his troops. 
 
 The engineers and artillery are also disagreeing ; 
 everyone, in fact, is looking out for himself without 
 caring about public interests. Always the same 
 miserable jealousies, this one pleased because that one 
 has met with a reverse, which he would not help to 
 bring about, but which neither would he try to prevent. 
 Denunciations are becoming frequent, the most obscure 
 
FANCY DRESS BALL. 195 
 
 ensign ventures to write to tlie papers criticizing the 
 operations of some General-in-Chief ; then colonels in 
 the army, jealous of the Guards, communicate their 
 feelings to their subordinate officers, who in turn 
 influence the privates. 
 
 Our generals, again, are a little too inflated with 
 their own importance, thej all dream of the marshal's 
 baton, and what I fear is that they dream of it merely 
 as a stepping-stone to further power. If the greater 
 part of these " captains " were deprived of their 
 sword and epaulettes, what moral obliquity would be 
 disclosed ! 
 
 February 2\st. — I stayed until two o'clock at 
 Madame Lehon's fancy ball, which was very bright 
 and merry ; the costumes were charming, and there 
 were a few dominos. Madame Lehon's second son 
 and E. Delessert as clowns, with their faces covered 
 with flour, were marvellous. Giraud, the painter in 
 chalks, was taken for a real Turk, for Yely Pacha in 
 fact. The clowns predominated, as was only right 
 they should; they thought themselves in fancy dress, 
 the blades. INTot a bit of it, good sirs, you would be 
 equally at home in the real character ! 
 
 Madame E. Lehon, Mdlle. Lehon, Mdlle. de Reiset, 
 and Madame Manara carried off the palm for beauty. 
 
 The Marquis de La Yalette did not leave Princess 
 Mathilde's side. This diplomatist, who has been 
 shelved to the Senate, was once a well-known opera 
 green-room dandy ; he is now as fat as a little quail, 
 drags his jealous cannon-ball of a wife behind him, 
 and tries his last seductive powers upon the heart of 
 
1 96 MEM OIES OF CO UNT HORA CE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 an Imperial Princess, who amuses herself at his 
 expense. 
 
 In spite of the excitement of the ball it was evident 
 that a good many people were preoccupied with the 
 thought of the Emperor's departure. Many will not 
 yet believe it, and hence the conflicting rumours : He 
 is going ! . . . He is not going ! Statesmen envelop 
 themselves in imposing silence, but the officers of the 
 household are waiting for orders from day to day and 
 dare make no engagement for the morrow. 
 
 Princess Mathilde, who is very vexed at his de- 
 parture, does not mention the subject to outsiders, 
 but she had a long conversation about it with Persigny, 
 and later on with Colonel Fleury, who, in his double 
 capacity of first equerry and Colonel of the Guides, 
 ought to be well informed. All the big- wigs who are 
 connected with the Court have sold their stocks and 
 shares, as they rely upon a fall in prices the day the 
 Emperor leaves, and then they will buy back again. 
 
 Mazzini's party is very active, not only in Italy but 
 throughout Europe generally. Marquis Yisconti in- 
 formed me of a letter he received yesterday from an 
 Italian refus^ee in London tellino; him to warn the 
 French Government that emissaries charged by 
 Mazzini to assassinate the Emperor were leaving for 
 France and the Crimea. Mazzini only sees in the 
 Emperor an obstacle to his anarchical projects — 
 another old man of the mountain — and has decreed 
 his death in consequence. 
 
 February 2Srd. — Princess Mathilde has received a 
 charming letter from the Czar, in which he says : " In 
 
AN ANONYMOUS PAMPHLET. 197 
 
 truth I do not know why France is waging war 
 against me." The old Czar is the same as ever, and 
 thinks he is going to hoodwink the whole world with 
 his artifice. The Princess is delisrhted with the letter, 
 and is more Russian than ever. We are living 
 veritably in funny times when the Emperor's own 
 cousin corresponds with a monarch with whom we are 
 at war, and her brother, Napoleon, who has been nick- 
 named since the Crimean business " Craint-plomb," 
 instead of Plon-plon, as formerly, only associates with 
 democrats and conspires against the Constitution. 
 
 "Craint-plomb" is the author of an anti-French 
 pamphlet published in Brussels, which takes the form 
 of a report to the French Grovernment on the military 
 situation in the Crimea, and is signed, " A General 
 Officer." The French Goyernment are taking steps 
 in Brussels against the publisher and still " unknown " 
 author of the pamphlet, and Prince ISTapoleon has been 
 threatened with arrest, but he swears " on his honour " 
 that he has had nothing to do with the publication. 
 
 February 26th. — Yesterday evening at Princess 
 Mathilde's I had a long conversation with La 
 Gueronniere on the state of affairs. He is the author 
 of the article which appeared two or three days ago in 
 the Moniteur. The Emperor asked him to go and see 
 him at the Tuileries, and said, " "Write an article in 
 such and such a sense and you will do me a service." 
 Fould thought that the publication of such an article 
 would be impolitic, but the Emperor wished it to 
 appear. During the interview, as may be imagined, 
 the question of the Emperor's departure for the 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT BORA CE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Crimea was a good deal discussed. Tlie Emperor has 
 decided to go, the dissensions among the generals, 
 their jealousies, and the absence of any high authority 
 require him to be there ; the soldiers themselves waut 
 to be reminded by his presence that the army is his 
 one and constant thought. " I wish it to be known," 
 said the Emperor, "that I am going to Sebastopol in 
 the interests of peace, which can only be secured at 
 the scene of action. The incidents of the campaign 
 will bring this about more than any diplomatic con- 
 ferences, and, moreover, the Emperor Nicholas will 
 also probably come to the Crimea! ..." 
 
 La Gueronniere, in fact, thinks that the Emperor is 
 decided upon going, for he said to him, " If Sebas- 
 topol is to be taken I must assist at its capture.'' 
 
 Marquis Yisconti, who dined with the Emperor on 
 Saturday, and had a long conversation with him about 
 the doings of the Italian refugees, told me the same 
 thing, but with less detail. The offensive alliance 
 with Austria will only be an accomplished fact the day 
 Sebastopol is in our power. The Emperor places no 
 reliance on that power, and said to Visconti, " I shall 
 believe in the good faith of Austria when I hear her 
 guns fire." 
 
 Lamartine, in private conversation among his inti- 
 mate friends, approves of the resolution. He thinks 
 it grand and noble. He says, however, that the 
 Emperor must take Prince Napoleon with him, or put 
 him under a guard of honour in Yiucennes during his 
 absence. Berryer also praises it, and says that it is 
 an idea worthy of a French prince. 
 
DEATH OF THE CZAR. 199 
 
 March ^rd. — At seven o'clock yesterday the news 
 arrived that tlie Emperor Nicholas had died of paralysis 
 of the lungs. At once Senators, dignitaries, &c., 
 rushed off to the little Bourse in the passage de 
 rOpera to make capital out of the information, and 
 stocks went up two francs fifty centimes. 
 
 Apnl \st. — The Emperor and Empress will leave for 
 England on the 16th. They will only be absent a few 
 days. The Emperor did not give his family dinner on 
 Easter Sunday. Princess Mathilde dined with him 
 and the Empress alone, at which the Jeromes and the 
 other Bonapartes are very jealous. 
 
 April 17th. — The Emperor and Empress are at 
 Windsor. The Emperor has been received in London 
 as the protector of Old England. The people and 
 aristocracy lean upon him, and he is to be made a 
 Knight of the Garter. His reception, in fact, has 
 been unexampled. It is a beautiful revenge for his 
 uncle's death. England for fifteen years made war 
 upon Napoleon I. ; chained him until he died to a rock 
 in the middle of the ocean, and now it is Napoleon III. 
 who protects this same England with his arms and his 
 alliance. The reception given to the Empress is also 
 a remarkable circumstance. The English Court hesi- 
 tated for a long time, but the Emperor has grown so 
 powerful during the last twelve months that every- 
 thing yields to him. 
 
 AjJi'il 2Dth. — I was interrupted just as I was about 
 to mention an anecdote about the famous Count 
 d'Orsay. About 1846 Louis de Noailles, who was 
 then very Legitimist in his sentiments, was one evening 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 at Lady Blessington's, at Gore House. In the drawing- 
 room, besides himself and Lady Blessington, were 
 Count Alfred d'Orsay and Prince Louis Napoleon. 
 Louis de Noailles on the occasion allowed his tongue 
 to wag rather indiscreetly about Louis-Philippe and his 
 family. A few days afterwards he received from 
 Pinet, principal secretary at the Prefecture of Police 
 and a kind of connection of his, a friendly letter coun- 
 selling him to observe the greatest prudence in his 
 conduct. The whole of his conversation had been 
 transmitted to the French police. It cannot be sup- 
 posed that Louis Napoleon was the author of the 
 report. It therefore lay between that infamous couple, 
 Lady Blessington and Count d'Orsay. 
 
 Ajjril 27ih. — The Emperor is not going to the 
 Crimea; a counter order has been given. He stays in 
 France. Prince Jerome wanted full powers in the 
 Emperor's absence, and the Ministry threatened to 
 resign if he received them. Under the circumstances, 
 and to settle the matter, the Emperor has decided not 
 to leave. I think he is right. 
 
 The Universal Exhibition will open in a day or two, 
 and the English papers say that the Queen of England 
 will arrive here on the 4th May. 
 
 April 29 fh. — It seems that the Emperor's life was 
 attempted yesterday afternoon at five o'clock. The 
 particulars were given me by Flamarens, who had 
 them^himself direct from the Emperor. The Emperor, 
 accompanied by Edgard Ney and Yalabregue, was on 
 horseback in the Champs Elysees on his way to the 
 Bois de Boulogne. The Empress had preceded him in 
 
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE EMPEROR. 201 
 
 ier carriage about a quarter of an hour. Suddenly a 
 fairly well dressed man came into the roadway, and 
 placed himself in front of the Emperor, who thought 
 that he had some petition to present. Instead of a 
 petition the man presented a pistol, which he fired 
 almost point blank at the Emperor, but Providence 
 seemed to interpose, for the ball did not take effect. 
 Edgard Ney then threw himself between the Emperor 
 and the would-be assassin, but not before the latter 
 discharged the pistol a second time, happily again 
 •without result. The assassin is one of Mazzini's 
 Italians, just arrived from England. He had on 
 Enghsh-made clothes, and carried nothing but English 
 money in his pockets. 
 
 The Emperor continued his ride to the Bois, where 
 he joined the Empress, and they immediately returned 
 to Paris together. All the people on foot, both men 
 and women, to the number of several hundreds, acted 
 as his escort, and he was greeted with constant and 
 •enthusiastic cheers. The crowd understood that at 
 that moment the destinies of the world were in one 
 man's keeping, and they were grateful that he had been 
 spared. The Empress, pale and trembling, put her 
 handkerchief frequently to her eyes. At the Tuileries 
 the Princes, Princesses, Ministers, and a few other 
 people who had been informed of the attempted assassi- 
 nation, were waiting to receive their Majesties, and the 
 Emperor said, in answer to their cordial greetings : 
 " You see that it is not so easy." 
 
 At nine o'clock the same evening I saw the Imperial 
 carriages arrive at the Opera Comique, and if I had not 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 been present should certainly have taken the accounts 
 in the papers for adulation and courtly flattery. The 
 cheers and cries of " Long live the Emperor ! " were like 
 discharges of artillery, and were taken up and echoed 
 far and wide. The emotion was universal. I saw people 
 cry — not one person, but twenty, thirty. Old Colonel 
 Porcher, who commanded a regiment of Cuirassiers 
 before 1848, and has always remained an ardent 
 Orleanist, actually shed tears. He was by my side, and 
 not far from Victor Grouchy (gazetted the day before 
 yesterday to the command of the Strasbourg division) ; 
 overcome with emotion, and, turning to me with the 
 tears running down his cheeks, he said, wiping his 
 eyes, " I can't help it." At the theatre the Empress 
 was pale and anxious in spite of her attempt to appear 
 calm, and the Emperor himself was thoughtful. On 
 their return their Majesties were greeted with the 
 same ovations as on going, and the houses were 
 resplendent with illuminations. 
 
 April oOth. — The man who shot at the Emperor is 
 called Liberani, he is a Roman subject, and one of 
 Garibaldi's band. At Princess Mathilde's yesterday 
 evening it was stated that he refused for a long time 
 to answer Pietri's questions, but, after repeated and 
 energetic endeavours, and Pietri's pretending that he 
 would have him shot instantly in his prison, he revealed 
 everything. 
 
 The Emperor in his reply to the Senate's address 
 yesterday, said : " I have no fear of assassins so long 
 as my mission remains unaccomplished." 
 
 Maij 1st. — The assassin had assumed a false name 
 
THE KING AND QUEEN OF SPAIN. 203 
 
 in the Sardinian passport which he carried. His real 
 name is Giovanni Pianori, he was born at Faenza, and 
 is a boot maker by trade. His trial will take place at 
 the next Assizes. 
 
 May lih. — The French ambassador at Madrid has 
 just told me some curious details concerning the Court 
 of Spain. 
 
 The King, it seems, was the instigator of the 
 Queen's assassination, and he it was who placed the 
 knife in the assassin's hand. This attempt on her 
 life, which nearly succeeded, as the Queen it must be 
 remembered was wounded, is not the only one of which 
 the King has been guilty. One day, at Aranjuez, two 
 men rushed upon the. Queen, but they were killed on 
 the spot by the officers on guard, and buried in the 
 garden. The affair was then hushed up. 
 
 The relations between the King and Queen are 
 limited to official appearances, otherwise they do 
 not even see each other. Isabella knows her spouse, 
 and all he is capable of. She fears, therefore, to 
 become his victim, watches all night long, and only 
 goes to bed when morning comes. 
 
 The Debats describes the whole scene that took 
 place between the Queen, Espartero, and O'Donnel 
 when her signature was requested to the new law 
 passed by the Cortes, the object of which is the sale of 
 Ecclesiastical property. The Queen only gave in at 
 last on being threatened by the two generals that if 
 she did not sign they would proclaim a Republic, 
 expel her, and retain her daughter as hostage. 
 
 May 12th. — Letters from Spain give the most 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. ' 
 
 ignoble details of the violence practised upon the 
 Queen by O'Donnel and Espartero. O'Donnel seized 
 her by the head, and menaced and shook her roughly. 
 Narvaez will one day bring these gentlemen to book. 
 Isabella may have grave faults to reproach herself 
 "witli, but on the other hand how has she been brought 
 up ? What sort of husband was she married to ? 
 "With what kind of relations is she surrounded ? 
 Her mother had but one object in life, namely, to 
 pillage Spain for the advantage of the children by her 
 second husband. Her aunt, her husband's mother, and 
 her father, Don Francis de Paul, have been and are still 
 her bitter enemies. They are all a bad race, without 
 shame, conscience, or intelligence. 
 
 May 17th. — The Universal Exhibition was opened 
 yesterday. I was present in uniform with the rest of 
 the household, at the foot of the throne, as near as I 
 could get to His Majesty. I could hear nothing, how- 
 ever, either of the address read by Prince Napoleon, or 
 the Emperor's reply. There was a deafening noise 
 throughout the vast edifice, and ill-bred people kept 
 crying out to people to sit down. The ceremony was 
 imposing, but very short. 
 
 May 29th. — On Saturday last I went to an at-home 
 at Prince Napoleon's ; there were a number of people 
 present, but very mixed. La Gueronniere tells, me that 
 when he was dining with Prince Jerome, at Yilgenis, 
 a few days ago, he saw Prince Napoleon arrive about 
 the middle of dinner. During the evening the Prince 
 took him into an unoccupied room, apart from the 
 rest, and engaged him in a confidential conversation. 
 
MARSHAL PELISSIER. 205 
 
 La Gueronniere said to Prince Napoleon: "Since jour 
 Imperial Highness speaks to me as you do, I owe you 
 perfect candour in return. France looks unfavourably 
 upon the line of conduct you have adopted, and if the 
 chances of life should ever place you upon the throne 
 you will find many more enemies than partisans." 
 Prince Napoleon, who likes paradoxes, and rather culti- 
 vates them, said, in answer to La Giieronniere's remarks, 
 " The advantage of my position, Mons. de la Graeron- 
 ni^re, consists in my bad reputation; it would be 
 almost a misfortune for the heir to- a throne not to 
 have a bad reputation. In that case all kind of evil 
 things are expected of him, and the least act of virtue 
 is consequently appreciated at a hundred times its real 
 value. Do you suppose, moreover, that I should 
 establish a bad Government with a light heart and 
 reign in a manner to make myself detested? No; once 
 upon the throne, I should be the Emperor ! As to parti- 
 sans, the Moniteur would find me plenty the day of my 
 accession by the insertion of these very simple words : 
 * All public functionaries are retained in their offices.'" 
 Since the nomination of Pelissier to the post of Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Army of the East matters have 
 been vigorously pushed forward. We have carried a 
 very important position under the walls of Sebastopol, 
 and have occupied the line of Tchernaia, and at Kertch 
 and Yenikale, on the Sea of Azof, we have forced the 
 Eussiahs to retreat, after capturing thirty ships, loaded 
 with provisions and war material, and three fifty-gun 
 frio-ates. In their retreat the Russians burnt their 
 stores, the rest of their fleet, and blew up their 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 batteries. Pelissier's plan is being developed; lie is 
 isolating Sebastopol little by little, cutting off pro- 
 visions and reinforcements, and gradually getting 
 within range. 
 
 The War Minister, who pretended to direct the 
 military operations from the recesses of his closet, had 
 at one time recalled the expedition from Kertch and 
 enjoined upon Pelissier not to attempt taking it again, 
 saying that it would be better to keep his forces con- 
 centrated instead of dividing them in detached opera- 
 tions. Pelissier replied : " Your orders, marshal, are 
 impossible to carry out. I want space and forage, and 
 must go forward. The possession of Kertch is also 
 necessary in order to prevent reinforcements reaching 
 the Russian army, and I have therefore ordered the 
 expedition to proceed." 
 
 Jime 8th. — Our squadrons are mistresses of the Sea 
 of Azof and the Black Sea, and are now advancinof to- 
 wards the Circassian coasts ; the bombardment of 
 Sebastopol is resumed and Cronstadt is being recon- 
 noitred. Germany and Austria are distinctly neutral. 
 
 In the English Parliament during the last four days 
 political parties have been debating at length the ques- 
 tion of peace and war. These discussions show once 
 more how miserable the parliamentary system is when 
 matters of delicacy have to be dealt with. Orators 
 only speak from their own selfish point of view, and 
 treat the graver interests of their country with scant 
 regard. Then there are the "saints," who are indig- 
 nant at the help given to Turkey, and men of ambition 
 who would sacrifice England to Russia if they could 
 
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, THE ELDER. 207 
 
 but regain power, and wlio dangle before the people's 
 eyes the bribe of peace. 
 
 I met Alexandre Dumas, the elder, at dinner at 
 Princess Mathilde's on Sunday last. I have already 
 said how awkward I consider the presence of that man 
 in the Princess's house, and I persist in my opinion. 
 Dumas poses as a politician and an opponent of the 
 present Government, says very compromising things, 
 and puts himself on a par with the Emperor. "The 
 Government has robbed me," he says ; " the Govern- 
 ment is ungrateful, and has refused me the manage- 
 ment of the Odeon Theatre," &c., &c. He said to the 
 Princess : " Call me simply Dumas ; I have worked 
 for that for twenty-five years." Then he remarked to 
 us all : " In four years' time I shall go for an extended 
 voyage, and shall leave behind me, as a farewell to my 
 country, two unfinished novels with this inscription 
 upon them : ' Frenchmen ! you, who bear that splendid 
 name, are a nation of thirty-five millions ; there are 
 five thousand writers among you. Well, I defy any of 
 you to finish my two novels. ' " From seven to eleven 
 o'clock Dumas monopolized the conversation and spoke 
 of no one but himself. 
 
 The manner of writers of our time is to praise them- 
 selves without reserve or shame. Duraa^ is like 
 Georges Sand, who canonizes herself in the history of 
 her life. She tells us now that she will not acquaint 
 us with the inmost recesses of her heart, because she 
 has no right to reveal secrets which do not belong to 
 herself alone ! When her mother was in question she 
 was not restrained by any such scruples, and she 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 thought it necessary to degrade the author of her being 
 that she might the better raise herself. For example, 
 she was not ashamed to put in print — ^" When my father 
 resolved upon marrying my mother she was the mistress 
 of General X — ." In the last chapters published by 
 the Fresse, Georges Sand calls all those who have said 
 that she has been eccentric in her vices " Cowardly 
 liars." 
 
 I know that Madame d'Agout was deeply corrupted 
 through her intimacy with Georges Sand, in speaking^ 
 of whom, twenty-five years ago, Merimee said : " She 
 is debauched to the core, but more from curiosity than 
 from temperament." Her principal lovers were de Seze, 
 Jules Sandeau, Merimee, Musset, Listz, Chopin, &c. 
 I was dining eight days ago with Eugene Delacroix, 
 the painter, and said to. him, " Were you ever Madame 
 Sand's lover ? '' " Certainly," he replied, " as every- 
 body else was ! " 
 
 Ju7ie \2ih. — Yesterday, on arriving on the ground 
 where the manoeuvres were to take place, the Emperor 
 informed the cavalry officers, who were about to 
 execute some important movements, of the good news 
 which had reached him from the Crimea on Sunday 
 evening last. Marshal Magnan said to the Emperor : 
 " Would it be indiscreet to ask your Majesty at what 
 hour the news reached you?" "No," replied the 
 Emperor ; " Fould sent me the news at ten o'clock." 
 " That is very extraordinary," said Magnan; " Eould 
 had it sent to me before eight." The Emperor made 
 no observation, but twisted and stroked his moustache 
 as is his habit when put out. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 1855 {continued). 
 Eestoeing pictures at the Louvre — Marshal Castellane^s 
 
 STRANGE BLUNDER MaRRIAGE OF CoLONEL FlEURY ThE 
 
 Marchioness de Contades — An Ultramontane Bishop 
 — The department op the Dordogne — A village priest 
 — Prefets and clePvIcal influence — The Queen of 
 England in Paris — Enthusiastic reception — Prince 
 Napoleon and the Order of the Bath — King Jerome 
 — Prince Napoleon and Arago — Socialists — Alphonse 
 DE Rothschild — Capture op Sebastopol — Prince 
 
 MURAT AND THE NEAPOLITANS ThE KiNG OF PlEDMONT 
 
 — The Marquis de Castelbajac — Another plot to 
 assassinate the Emperor. 
 
 June 20th. — Since the last movement of the com- 
 bined fleets in the Sea of Azof there is no informatioQ 
 from the seat of war, but every clay news of some 
 decisive action having been fought is expected. 
 
 The artistic world and the public generally are very- 
 much exercised just now about the unfortunate restora- 
 tion of the Louvre pictures, under the direction of 
 Mons. Yillot. I wished to ascertain for myself ' the 
 
 VOL. I. p 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 merits of Godefroj, tbe Conservators favourite re- 
 storer, who in my hearing bad threatened the Rubens 
 collection and tbe Medici gallery with indiscriminate 
 restoration, after mutilating in tbe most deplorable 
 manner Claude Lorraine's "Village Fete." I had 
 myself transported, therefore, to the studio of this 
 respected picture restorer, whom I found armed with 
 a heavily charged palette before Vandyke's equestrian 
 portrait of Francois de Moncade, which Mons. Villot 
 says in his catalogue, " is reported to be Vandyke's 
 finest equestrian picture." 
 
 That being so, let us see how Grodefroy under- 
 stands the work of restoration. I will repeat his 
 conversation : " You have some difficulty, Count, in 
 recognizing this portrait ! It is very changed since T 
 have taken the varnish off. . . . Painters who had 
 begun to copy it will have to begin over again." 
 (Here Godefroj^ laughed immoderately.) " The head 
 of Moncade shows up vigorously on a light sky, 
 but its clearness is actually lost on a florid back- 
 ground ! There was the trunk of a tree in the first 
 plan, now there is only a stone ! . . . The horse's 
 quarters are lost, the contour has gone, but if Mons. 
 Villot will bring me an old engraving of the picture 
 I will put in the hind quarters." (Here Godefroy 
 threw his head up proudly.) " I find the general 
 tone of this picture really very cold," I remarked. 
 
 Godefroy took a bottle, in which was some stagnant 
 kind of black mud, and said : " Here is my remedy. 
 With a little of this sauce I will revive the Vandyke. 
 When I take the varnish off a picture I keep the 
 
MARSHAL CASTELLANE'S BLUNDER. 211 
 
 old varnish dust, add some spirits of wine to it, and 
 there is my sauce for reviving old masters." After 
 this exquisite harangue, Grodefroy took up his brushes 
 and began to repair the sky in some landscape, the 
 painter of which I have forgotten. Ab uno disce omnes. 
 
 June 25th. — A few days ago Marshal Oastellane, 
 who commands at Lyons, received a letter from Paris, 
 announcing the death of someone of his acquaintance. 
 Either from inattention to the name, or some odd 
 hallucination, the Marshal thought he had been 
 furnished with news of the Emperor's death, and at 
 once despatched one of his aides-de-camp to summon 
 the official printer. The man bad scarcely arrived 
 when the Marshal closed the door and said to him : 
 "The Emperor is dead; you must go at once and 
 print for me a proclamation, of which I will give you 
 the text, announcing to the population of Lyons the 
 accession of Henry V." It was in vain that the 
 printer, in a great fright, protested that he could not 
 mix himself up in such a grave matter, or incur so 
 heavy a responsibility, and that it was a serious thing 
 for the town of Lyons to take the initiative in a cir- 
 cumstance of so much importance. The Marshal 
 would not listen to him, and at last the printer was 
 obliged to write from the Marshal's dictation the 
 proclamation he was to print. 
 
 Immediately on the printer's departure the aide-de- 
 camp is called in and learns the news from the 
 Marshal's lips. The aide-de-camp at once expostulates 
 with the Marshal, and protests against the proposed 
 proclamation, asking how the fatal news has come to 
 
212 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 band. The Marshal shows him the Paris letter, the 
 aide-de-camp reads it through, but can see nothing 
 about the Emperor, only the announcement of the 
 death of some stranger. With difficulty, however, he 
 opens the Marshal's eyes and gets him at last to 
 withdraw the proclamation. 
 
 A few days afterwards the incident was com- 
 municated to the Emperor, who merely remarked 
 to his informant, stroking his moustache and 
 looking perfectly unconcerned all the while : "I 
 did not know that the Marshal was a man of initia- 
 tive." 
 
 rieury, the Colonel of the Guides, is to be married 
 to Madame Calais St. Pol, a lady who has amassed a 
 large fortune in business. The Emperor gives him 
 four hundred thousand francs, ao:aiust which nothins: 
 can be said. Fleury is a man who has been of great 
 use, and is very devoted to the Emperor ; for a long 
 time, however, he has been on tender terms with the 
 Marchioness de Contades, in fact, to speak plainly, 
 he has kept her establishment going. La Contades is 
 no longer beautiful, and has very little chance of find- 
 ing a suitable successor to Fleury. She has, more- 
 over, a son by the Marquis de Coislin, and, in addi- 
 tion, the inestimable privilege of possessing a brother, 
 a cavalry oflS.cer, who has just been received back 
 into the army from which he had been expelled, and 
 of a father, Marshal Castellane, of whom I have 
 just spoken. The Marchioness has prevailed upon the 
 Empress to undertake the education of her boy, 
 and the Emperor gives her a pension of twelve 
 
AN ULTRAMONTANE BISHOP. 218 
 
 thousand francs as an indemnity for the loss and ex- 
 propriation of Fleurj. 
 
 Thus rehabilitated the Marchioness has, it is said, 
 been taken back by her husband. 
 
 An attack against the Malakoff fort has failed 
 through the fault of the English, who having neglected 
 to furnish themselves with hurdles were unable to 
 cross the ditch and co-operate with the French. Our 
 losses are heavy. 
 
 July \4d,h. — I came back from Perigord yesterday 
 and at once resumed my duties. The journey enabled 
 me the better to appreciate the manner in which the 
 clergy, or at least the more ambitious among them, 
 profit by the protection they receive from the Imperial 
 Government. 
 
 I found the department of Dordogne in a state of 
 irritation and annoyance caused by the bishop's 
 conduct. This dignitary is the most downright 
 ultramontane I know. He launches his edicts against 
 dancing and theatres, and refuses absolution to the 
 members of his flock who indulge in the polka and 
 redowa and go to the play. Instead of instituting a 
 sisterhood to look after the poor, the want of which 
 is very much felt in his diocese, he fosters the 
 Capucine Order, and even goes so far as to apply 
 the Romish " Index expurgatorius " to the Dordogne. 
 
 The population, although naturally religious, are 
 exasperated by all these interferences, and to turn the 
 tables on the bishop have got together in Perigueux it- 
 self a little troop of Protestants who are just in suffi- 
 cient numbers to demand the buildins: of a church. 
 
2 1 4 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HOB A CE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 The good people of Perigord, believing that it is 
 easy to approach the Emperor, have asked me to lay 
 their grievances before him ! The clergy of the 
 Dordogne who do not enter into the views of their 
 bishop are inhibited in large numbers, so that the 
 rest are driven in zealous emulation to preach against 
 dances and plays. 
 
 I have brought back with me the peroration of a 
 sermon preached by the parish priest in the little 
 commune of Gonterie, which is not altogether without 
 originality, and ought to take an honourable place in 
 the humorous history of the Church. 
 
 This is the translation of the provincial patois : — 
 " What I have been telling you is not to prevent you 
 from dancing, for the Holy Virgin danced herself, but 
 she danced decently, and this is how the Holy Virgin 
 danced." And the good man danced in the pulpit, 
 holding up the two sides of his surplice like a v^'oman, 
 and chanting a pious refrain the while. 
 
 The clergy think the middle ages have come back, 
 and are trying to reimpose upon us their once sovereign 
 authority, a pretension which may lead to deplorable 
 consequences. In the greater part of the towns the 
 prefets have neither sufficient authority nor intelli- 
 gence to withstand the power of the bishops, in addi- 
 tion to which their position is not so settled, promotion, 
 of course, being their constant aim and object. 
 
 The prefets have no firm root in their departments, 
 being but the delegates of a central authority, which is 
 always more or less in antagonism with the people, 
 but the bishops have a real influence and hold upon 
 
THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND IN PARIS. 215 
 
 the hearts and minds of their flocks. The confessional 
 and the right of administering or refusing the sacra- 
 ment gives them an enormous power. Whatever 
 sovereign may govern the country, the bishops' recep- 
 tions are always well attended, while those of the 
 prefet are very often the reverse. The Government 
 will be forced one of these days to take the growing 
 pretensions of the clergy seriously in hand, to make 
 them feel that a state within a state is not to be 
 tolerated nor dictation allowed. The Emperor ought 
 to have, like Charlemagne, his missi dominici, which 
 gave him direct information. Official reports are 
 never very trustworthy. 
 
 The Bishop of Angouleme, a crafty, cunning priest, 
 slyer even than his brother of Perigord, has taken 
 upon himself to deprive the clergy in his diocese of the 
 pleasure of smoking. The whole Episcopate, in fact, 
 avails itself of its power for purposes of tyranny. A 
 single concession made to the clergy at once renders 
 them unreasonable, and they begin to clamour for the 
 position they occupied in the middle ages. With very 
 little excuse they would, if they had the opportunity, 
 put the whole country under an interdict and excom- 
 municate the sovereign. 
 
 August 19th. — -The Queen of England arrived yester- 
 day, and went through Paris when it was almost dark. 
 It was twenty minutes past seven when she reached 
 the Boulevard de la Madelaine. The J^J'ational Guard 
 and the regulars lined the entire route from the 
 Strasbourg Railway Station to St. Cloud, and the 
 streets were crowded with people. The windows of 
 
216 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORA CE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 tbe houses were arranged like boxes at the theatre, 
 and the very roofs were filled with spectators. The 
 trades guilds from the environs of Paris, with their 
 leaders and the different mayors, turned out and 
 mustered under their respective banners. Then there 
 were mottoes and flags on which the people had 
 inscribed in English their expressions of welcome to 
 the Queen. Triumphal arches were erected along the 
 Boulevards, the Strasbourg Railway Station was 
 covered with flowers, and the second battalion of the 
 National Gruard had erected a monument representing 
 France and England. The leading portion of the 
 procession was composed of six carriages, each drawn 
 by four horses. In the first, seated with their 
 faces to the horses, were the Qaeen and her daughter, 
 and opposite them were Prince Albert and the Emperor. 
 The Queen looked about her with interest, and the 
 Emperor seemed pleased to do the honours of his 
 capital. The Marquis de Lowoestine, General of Divi- 
 sion, commanding the National Guard, presented Her 
 Majesty with a beautiful bouquet in the name of his 
 corps. 
 
 My almanack says that yesterday, the day of the 
 Queen's arrival, was the festival of St. Helena. 
 St. Helena ! . . . What an occasion for the recon- 
 cihation of the two peoples ! The Queen, led 
 thither by the Emperor, ought to go and pray at 
 the tomb of Napoleon I. Well might we adopt 
 Racine's saying : " Never was an age more fertile in 
 miracles." The good sense of the two nations repu- 
 
THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND IN PARIS. 217 
 
 cliates their old hatreds, and the blood spilt is for- 
 gotten ; both behaved like foemen worthy of each 
 other's steel, and they can now shake hands with 
 mutual respect. This day will ever remain memor- 
 able in history. Our united armies are engaged in 
 destroying Sweaborg on the Baltic, while on the 
 borders of Tchernaya they are victoriously opposing 
 Liprandi and his sixty thousand Russians. These 
 engagements are like two bouquets sent by our brave 
 troops in honour of the Queen of England's arrival. 
 The whole week will be observed as a general holiday. 
 
 August 28th. — The Queen left yesterday. During 
 her stay the fetes have been magnificent. Those at 
 the Hotel de Yille and Versailles were beyond all 
 praise. The Queen, Prince Albert, the Prince of 
 Wales, and the Princess Royal, accompanied by the 
 Emperor and their attendants, visited the Louvre 
 yesterday. We received them in morning dress. The 
 Queen was most gracious, and had a kind word for 
 everybody. She was pleased to say that she had three 
 of my drawings in her album — which they were I for- 
 get. Her admiration for Paris and its monuments and 
 museums betrayed itself at every step. " I am jealous 
 of everything I see," she kept repeating; "I have 
 nothing to equal it in England." 
 
 Prince Albert was very much struck with a painting 
 at the Exhibition, by Meissonnier, called " A dispute." 
 The Emperor bought it for twenty-five thousand 
 francs, and made him a present of it. The Emperor 
 seemed delighted with tlie Queen's visit, and was in 
 
218 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 excellent spirits, and most affable ; the Empress, on 
 account of her condition, and the necessity for remain- 
 ing quiet, showed herself very little in public. 
 
 Nothing, no description, can give an idea of the 
 appearance of Paris during the past week ; the streets 
 and boulevards were literally waving with banners, 
 and everywhere were to be seen triumphal arches and 
 the escutcheons and monooframs of the Eng-lish and 
 French Sovereio-ns. During; the evening^ illuminations 
 everywhere, and hundreds of thousands of people 
 anxious for a sight of the Queen, whom they greeted 
 with enthusiastic acclamations. At the Opera, where 
 everybody was in evening dress, her reception was 
 most cordial. At the end of the Opera, the principal 
 artists, supported by the choruses, sang " God Save 
 the Queen," the whole of the audience, without dis- 
 tinction of sex, rising ; then, when the anthem was 
 finished, the audience, still standing, turned towards 
 the Queen and gave her the heartiest cheers, round 
 upon round. The Queen, deeply moved, made her 
 acknowledgments to the house, and as she prepared to 
 leave on the Emperor's arm the spectators again sang 
 the National Anthem and renewed their cheers. 
 
 The Queen, Prince Albert, and their children, in 
 strictest incognito, drove all over Paris, and made 
 purchases at several shops. The review of the troops 
 was a splendid affair. Prince Napoleon received the 
 Order of the Bath for his eminent military services ! 
 Censorious wits assert that this will not make him 
 clean, and that the Queen would have done better had 
 she simply sent him a good-sized cake of Windsor soap. 
 
KING J^EROME. 219 
 
 At Boulogne yesterday, before tlie embarkation of 
 the Eoyal party, there was a review of forty thousand 
 men. King Jerome came all the way from Havre on 
 Sunday last to pay his respects to the Queen of 
 England, an act of homage which people say must 
 have tried his Royal pride, and cost him a good deal 
 of heartburning. I believe, for my part, that the cost 
 must have fallen on the Emperor's purse, for the old 
 wretch does nothing without a money bribe. Like a 
 cabman he must be paid according to distance, and 
 always reckons his fare as beyond the radius. When 
 Rothschild wants him he sends for him, and King 
 Jerome never minds waiting in the ante-room. His 
 Majesty knows how to conduct himself before a little 
 Jew to whom he owes more than two millions of francs. 
 The Emperor's connections are a bad lot, who occupy 
 a low place in public opinion. Their ill-disguised 
 anger at the Empress's condition is curious to witness. 
 
 September Srd. — I dined with Princess Mathilde at 
 St. Gratien yesterday, and met Prince Napoleon and 
 Count Walewski. Arago, who was there, refused to 
 go on the water because the motion of a boat always 
 made him ill ; but the Prince, who treats him like a 
 buffoon, insisted on his doing so. in spite of his 
 entreaties, in order to have the pleasure of seeing him 
 sick. 
 
 Some Socialist workmen belonging to the State 
 quarries at Angers, five or six days ago, marched upon 
 the town, armed with rifles, pistols, hatchets, and 
 scythes, for the purpose of sacking it. Having been 
 hemmed in in the outskirts of the town of which they 
 
220 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 had taken possession durinp^ the night they were 
 nearly all captured. They had with them a cart con- 
 taining over four hundred pounds of powder and 
 inflammable material with which to set fire to the 
 town. In order to procure arms, the workmen had 
 robbed little isolated detachments of the gendarmerie, 
 and village firemen. A secret society, called the 
 " Marianne," instigated the movement. 
 
 September 4th. — Yesterday Sefels, who is attached 
 to the Turkish Embassy, gave us a dinner at the Trois 
 Freres Provenceaux. The guests were the Pascha of 
 Egypt's nephew and heir, Alphonse de Rothschild, 
 Abbe Coquerean, Sefels, and myself. The dinner was 
 superb. The Egyptian Prince speaks French like a 
 Frenchman. We discussed at some length, but with- 
 out heat, and from a historical point of view, the 
 differences between the Christian, Mahommedan, and 
 Jewish religions. Alphonse de Rothschild is a man 
 of intelligence and trained capacity. The dinner was 
 not over before ten o'clock. 
 
 Sejjtemhej^ 10th. — On Saturday a young man from 
 Rouen, twenty-two years of age, named Beltimore, 
 who had been condemned at sixteen for swindling, and 
 again in 1852 to two years' imprisonment in Belle 
 Isle for a political offence, and who, has only recently 
 received his discharge, fired at the Emperor on his 
 arrival at the Italian Theatre. The papers want to 
 make out that he is mad, but he is nothing of the sort. 
 He is under arrest. 
 
 September 17th. — Sebastopol has been taken at last. 
 The assault has cost us six thousand men, killed and 
 
PRINCE MURAT. 221 
 
 wounded, and five generals are among the slain. 
 Details are awaited with anxiety. The English papers 
 pretend that twelve hundred pieces of artillery have 
 been taken. Te Deums have been performed in all the 
 churches throughout France, and illuminations have 
 been general. 
 
 The King of Naples, who has disgusted everybody 
 by his tyrannical conduct, has at last quarrelled with 
 France and England. A small detachment of the 
 English fleet has been despatched to the Bay of Naples, 
 and we are to increase our contingent in Rome by two 
 regiments. 
 
 In their limited selection of capable men the 
 Neapolitans have addressed themselves to fat Prince 
 Murat. who, in a proclamation to the people of the 
 two Sicilies, and unknown to the French Government, 
 has declared his readiness to undertake the manage- 
 ment of the Neapolitan State. Casa Bianca is the 
 Prime Minister of this King in expectation, who does 
 not perceive that, in order to give him a chance of 
 restoration, a general war, the subordination of 
 Austria, and a sweeping alteration in the map of 
 Europe would be necessary. 
 
 October l^th. — The soirees at the Louvre begin again 
 to-day. For a month I have added nothing to this 
 book. I have been ill and staying at St. Germain for 
 a little change and fresh air. 
 
 Sebastopol having been taken our armies are trying 
 to turn the Russian flank, and before very long we 
 shall have some news of importance. 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Brabant came to visit the 
 
222 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 Louvre yesterday. They are not very enamoured of 
 the arts, and said to Nienwerkerke : " It is very kind 
 of you not to press us to see anything." 
 
 October lltli. — The French refugees in the island of 
 Jersey and the political refugees generally have at last 
 exasperated the English press and public. Their 
 paper Man lias been attacking not only foreign princes, 
 but the Queen and English people as well, and has 
 been advocating tlie principle of assassination. Victor 
 Hugo has been mixing himself up in the matter. It 
 is to be hoped that England will send this tribe of 
 bandits off to America. 
 
 The Legitimists, with the intelligence and patriotism 
 for whicb they are so distinguished, are more Russian 
 than the Cossacks themselves. The Marquis of Mira- 
 beau, who is as devoid of sense as he is of education, 
 is prominent among the more violent spirits of the 
 party. 
 
 December 6th. — The King of Piedmont, who passed 
 through Paris a day or two ago, has returned from his 
 official visit to the English Queen. He is to shoot 
 to-morrow and the day after at Compiegne with the 
 Emperor. 
 
 The King's tone and manners are those of a pri- 
 vate soldier. He prefers the society of the commoner 
 class of women, and is strongly disposed to treat the 
 whole sex cavalierly. His conversation is loose, and 
 his natural inclinations are not even disguised in the 
 form of decent language ; in fact, he affects coarse 
 expressions. He also talks without reserve of his 
 successes, and does not hesitate to mention by name, 
 
THE MARQUIS BE CASTELBAJAG. 223 
 
 and in the most casual manner, the Turin dames of 
 high position who have fallen victims to his allure- 
 ments. When a family belonging to the highest 
 aristocracy was mentioned in his presence, he smiled 
 and said aloud that he had been intimate with both 
 mother and daughters. 
 
 The Marquis de Castelbajac, who represented France 
 at the Court of St. Petersburg before the beg^innins: of 
 tlie war, is one of the heaviest Christians I know. 
 The rupture with Russia and the audacity of that 
 power in the East were probably owing to his want of 
 ability. The Marquis became the courtier of Nicholas, 
 and applauded him in everything. He praised every 
 action of the Czar, and stood transfixed and charmed 
 under the fascination of his royal favour. The 
 unhappy mortal at last even went so far as to con- 
 gratulate the Emperor Nicholas upon the result of the 
 atrocious butcheries at Sinope. It was useless for the 
 English envoy to protest, nothing would ever con- 
 vince the Emperor — -judging of France by her ambas- 
 sador — that an alliance between that country and 
 England was possible. He believed in the weakness 
 of our country, and we know the consequences. The 
 Marquis de Castelbajac submitted to the grossest 
 affronts, as, for example, when the Russian Govern- 
 ment refused him permission to order a mass in cele- 
 bration of the Emperor Napoleon III.'s birthday. 
 
 December 28fh. — The Imperial Guard, on their return 
 from the Crimea, will make their public entry into Paris 
 to-morrow. Preparations are being made for their 
 triumphal reception. Arches are being erected, the 
 
224 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 National Guard are ordered out, and the Bourse and 
 public offices will be closed. Unfortunately the secret 
 societies are alive and moving in their dens, and the 
 Government are not without alarm. Some workmen 
 have been asked to fire at the E mperor, and an attempt 
 upon his life is feared. Princess Mathilde, who paints 
 a good deal after Nature, is at the present moment 
 using as her model a young girl in poor circumstances, 
 to whom, as well as to her family, she has shown great 
 kindness ; in fact, the Princess has been a sort of Lady 
 Bountiful to them. The day before yesterday the 
 young model came to the Princess, and told her that 
 her brother, who is a member of a secret society, had 
 been asked by his old accomplices to shoot the Emperor, 
 but the crime was repugnant to him after the Princess's 
 goodness to them all, and he offered to reveal every- 
 thing. The Princess has accepted his offer, and Collet 
 Megret is to go to her house this morning to see the 
 young man, who is to be brought there by his sister. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1856. 
 
 Dissatisfaction with the Empress — The layette of the 
 Prince Impeeial^ — The Jerome Bonapartes — De Mornt 
 ON THE Coup d'Etat — The penury of the Prince Pre- 
 sident — Russia ACCEPTS THE proposition of the Western 
 Powers — The Empress's Dance — Opening op the Con- 
 gress — An armistice agreed upon — Count Orloff — 
 Alexandre Dumas the elder at Princess Mathilde's ; 
 HIS arrogance — Alexandre Dumas the younger's 
 reply to Abbe Duguerry — Accouchement op the 
 Empress — Anger of Prince Napoleon — Manifesto op 
 the Count de Parts — Canrobert and Bosquet made 
 marshals — The Emperor's dinner party — Signature 
 op the Treaty of Peace — The author's opinion op his 
 countrymen — Eeuillet de Conches — Dismissal op 
 Madame Despres and her daughter — The Emperor's 
 opinion of his cousin Prince Napoleon — General 
 Trochu's account of the attack on the Redan — Ambi- 
 tious designs of the Piedmontese — Visit op the Xing 
 of Wurtemberg to the Louvre. 
 
 January 2nd. — The official visits are over, and every- 
 body at Court is dissatisfied, as their long-drawn faces 
 show. The Emperor and Empress have given pre- 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTE L, 
 
 sents to no one, neither to their household nor to the 
 members of the Imperial family ; and the Paris shop- 
 keepers, where the Court have usually made their 
 purchases of New Year's gifts, are irritated at the 
 neglect. The Princes attribute this parsimony in the 
 way of presents to the Empress, who is not so sparing 
 with regard to her own family. The mansion in the 
 Champs Elysees (the Hotel Lauriston), which has been 
 bought for the Countess de Montijo, has already cost 
 three millions of francs, including the additional land 
 and alterations. 
 
 The Emperor has given the Empress a breakfast and 
 dinner service for her own room ; it is in silver gilt, 
 and has cost no less than sixty-five thousand francs. 
 The layette of the long and impatiently-expected child 
 has cost two hundred thousand francs. This year 
 Murat's children, the youngest of whom is the 
 Emperor's godchild, have not received invitations. 
 What completes the dissatisfaction felt by the family 
 is that the same economy is not practised with regard 
 to the Queen of England and her family, and Lord 
 and Lady Hamilton. 
 
 On the other hand. Prince Napoleon is doing Achilles 
 for a quarter of an hour in his tent ; the august chief- 
 tain is in the sulks. He is furious at not having been 
 placed at the head of the army on the day of the 
 Guards' entry into Paris. He would simply have been 
 hooted. This sulking on his part has led to the inser- 
 tion of the notice which has appeared in the Moni- 
 teur placing Canrobert, by command^ at the head of 
 the army. 
 
DE MORN 7 ON THE COUP D'ETAT. 227 
 
 January 8th. — People are talking about two promo- 
 tions to the Order of the Legion of Honour, which 
 have not, and for very excellent reasons, been gazetted 
 in the Moniteur. Grand crosses have been given 
 to the Duke d'Alba and the Duke of Hamilton. These 
 two strange promotions have been made merely to 
 annoy the Imperial Family, Prince Lucien and Prince 
 Murat, for instance, who are only officers of the 
 Order. The Duke of Hamilton is merely a blind to 
 mask the distinction conferred upon the other. 
 
 -The Empress will favour her family to such a point 
 that she will rouse public criticism. The unhappy 
 Queen, Marie Antoinette, owed all the calumnies of 
 which she was the victim to her imprudent partialities, 
 which, for every friend, made her a hundred thousand 
 enemies. 
 
 The Imperial Family do not care for the Empress, 
 who, for the matter of that,' does not give herself 
 very much trouble to propitiate them. The whole 
 family, which ought to be united and homogeneous, 
 disregarding the necessities of their position, do 
 nothing but work for their own individual interests, 
 and speak ill-naturedly of each other. Then there are 
 always the inevitable drawbacks to every Court — the 
 schemers, sycophants, and flatterers. 
 
 January 14:tk. — I lunched with Morny yesterday ; 
 there was only Count Lehon present besides myself. 
 We conversed principally about the coup d^etat of the 
 2nd December. " What made me believe," said Morny, 
 " that the Emperor would not be badly received by 
 the people was a conversation that took place in my 
 
228 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 hearing, after a shooting party in the neighbourhood 
 of Senlis. We had just left the dinner table, and 
 were a pretty numerous party, consisting of some 
 Parisians and people belonging to Senlis, amongst 
 whom was a druggist, an old leader of the local 
 Liberal party. This man exclaimed vigorously against 
 journalists. ' We are tired,' he said, ' of that indes- 
 cribably vulgar herd, who, without right or reason, 
 attack, growl, and find fault with everybody and even 
 presume to govern us. To be a soldier, professor, 
 barrister, doctor, aye, even a chemist and druggist, 
 one has to pass an examination, pay fees, and become 
 subject to authority, but journalists who address the 
 public every day of their lives, who advise and excite 
 them, and poison their minds, they can graduate in a 
 dung heap, or a convict settlement, and exercise their 
 dangerous industry without restraint. Surely it is 
 high time we altered all this.' " 
 
 In the evening I dined at Princess Mathilde's, 
 where we discussed the President's absolute want of 
 funds at the time of the coup d'etat. " I know it 
 better than anybody," the Princess said, " for when 
 Fleury had to be sent to Africa to bring home Saint- 
 Arnaud and the other ofl&cers whose devotion could be 
 relied upon, no one had money enough to pay the 
 expenses of his journey. Fould was asked to lend 
 seven thousand francs and refused point blank. It 
 was Ferdinand Barrot who lent the money." 
 
 January 19th. — The Emperor of Russia accepts the 
 four propositions of the Western Powers. Peace is 
 making progress, but, all the same, I cannot suppress 
 
THE EMPRESS'S DANCE. 229 
 
 a doubt wlaicli I have great difficulty in keeping to 
 myself. I am afraid that in the forthcoming con- 
 ference Russia will create difficulties and endeavour 
 once more to deceive France and England. On their 
 side the English press do not seem satisfied with the 
 termination of the conflict. Those who live will see. 
 
 On receiving the dispatch which contained the ac- 
 ceptance of the terms by Russia the Emperor could 
 not master his emotion. Doctor E-eyer happened to 
 be present, and saw the Emperor change colour. The 
 Emperor said to him : " I am obliged to sit down, 
 doctor ; read that and you will not be surprised." 
 
 In the evening the Emperor and Empress were at a 
 ball at Princess Mathilde's. The Emperor was 
 radiant. Zebach said to me : " Are you pleased to 
 see me again so soon ? " " Certainly," I replied, 
 "since you come like the dove from the ark." Tliis 
 cunning Saxon, who is a relation of Nesselrode's, 
 displayed great tact and judgment in the presence of a 
 hostile assembly. 
 
 Yesterday there was a little dance at the Empress's ; 
 dress coats and short breeches or pantaloons were to 
 be worn. In consequence of his obesity. Prince 
 Murat begged to be permitted to come in trousers, 
 but the Empress told him that if he could not con- 
 form to her rules he might stay at home. During the 
 evening, the Empress arrived on the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge's arm, the Duke himself wearing trousers. 
 
 February '^tli. — An armistice until the 31st 
 March has been agreed upon at the first sitting of 
 the Congress. At a concert given by Walewski on 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORACE I)E VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Monday I saw all the plenipotentiaries. Count Orloff 
 is a fine handsome old man, whose face is remarkable 
 for its expression of decision. It is impossible to 
 believe that he is seventy years of age. To-day, 
 Wednesday, the Congress sits for the second time. 
 
 On Sunday I saw Alexandre Dumas at Princess 
 Mathilde's. The Princess left quite early for the 
 Tuileries, and I remained with Madame Despr^s, the 
 Girauds, and Dumas. I was anxious to be present on 
 an occasion when the great man freely threw off all 
 restraint, and my wish was granted me. The sublime, 
 the magnificent Dumas, reached the extremest limits 
 of vanity. He spoke of the Emperor with a mixture 
 of hatred and superb disdain, and behaved as if he 
 himself were the friend and protector of the family. 
 " Hugo," said he, " has written some magnificent 
 things on Napoleon, but I reserve for him in my 
 memoirs something more bold and striking still." 
 When E. Giraud said something very violent about 
 the Emperor, Dumas muttered through his teeth the 
 word "Scoundrel!" Immediately afterwards he 
 continued : "The comedian had not the courage to 
 avail himself of his position, when during the Stras- 
 bourg affair he foolishly allowed himself to be arrested. 
 He ought to have done as I did, and arm himself with 
 a pistol. In 1830 I took the town of Soissons single 
 handed on threatening to blow the commandant's 
 brains out." 
 
 For two whole hours Dumas entertained us with an 
 account of how he had refused the membership of the 
 Academy and his son the cross ; how the Abbe 
 
ALEXANDRE DUMAS THE YOUNGER. 231 
 
 Duguerry had gone and asked his son to write a 
 reHgious drama, in return for which he should have 
 the Cross of the Legion of Honour, and at the end of 
 two years be admitted to the Academy. Dumas the 
 younger replied : " Religion has already been the 
 cause of three great tragedies, which are respectively 
 called ' The massacre of the Albigenses,' * The 
 massacre of Saint Bartholomew,' and ' The massacre 
 of the Cevennes.' I advise religion to stop there and 
 be content." The Abbe Duguerry is said to have 
 retired with drooping head, speechless, and covered 
 with confusion ! 
 
 Before the Princess left for the Tuileries Dumas 
 declaimed loudly against the indecorum of the 
 Emperor, who, after witnessing the representation of 
 Benvenuto Cellini, sent a snuff-box to Melingue as a 
 present. " We no longer live in the days of men- 
 dicant poets who received with gratitude the few 
 coins that were thrown to them. People ought to 
 learn respect for artists." I observed to Dumas that 
 snuff-boxes were given to ambassadors, great lords, 
 and persons of the highest eminence. "To an 
 ambassador or a Montmorency very likely," said 
 Dumas, with overweening pomposity; " but artists are 
 of very different calibre, their intelligence merits 
 greater respect." But if I repeated all the im- 
 pertinencies he gave vent to I should never finish. 
 
 March 3rd. — To-day the Emperor opens the Corps 
 Legislatif, but I doubt if he will announce the con- 
 clusion of peace. There are feelings of resentment 
 between Russia and Austria of a graver nature than 
 
232 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HOE A CE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 any existing between Russia and England, and this 
 rancour has been greatly increased by the attitude 
 adopted by Austria since the beginning of the war. 
 A few days ago Count Orloff and the Russian mission 
 were at an entertainment at the Foreign Office. The 
 Count and his suite were very courteous in their 
 manners to everyone present, but when they saw 
 Count Buol and the Austrians arrive they put on 
 their hats and assumed a defiant attitude. Count 
 Buol merely shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 March 16th. — This morning, at three o'clock, the 
 Empress was confined of a son, who, it is said, is to 
 be called " King of Algiers." At six o'clock the guns 
 fired a hundred and one salutes, and the big bell at 
 Wotre Dame added its deep notes to their reports. 
 This evening the city will be illuminated. During the 
 whole of yesterday and throughout the night a crowd 
 stood at the Tuileries gates. The Empress was 
 twenty-four hours in labour, and had finally to be 
 delivered with instruments. 
 
 I dine at Princess Mathilde's this evening, where, 
 probably, I shall hear little in the Empress's praise. 
 The Princess does not love her, and takes little trouble 
 to hide«her dislike. The jealousies and divisions which 
 separate the members of the family are a great misfor- 
 tune ; self-interest alone ought to make them united. 
 
 March 17th. — The Emperor is distributing presents 
 most liberally. Yesterday he went to see King Jerome, 
 who is ill, and on his way was much cheered. The 
 newly-born Prince will bear no other title than that 
 of " Prince Imperial." 
 
PRINCE NAPOLEON'S ANGER. 233 
 
 Princess Mathilde, contrary to my expectations, 
 expressed herself in very affectionate terms of the 
 Empress and the Prince; she rejoices at the birth 
 of the child as a guarantee for the future of the 
 dynasty, but Prince Napoleon could not hide his 
 bad temper. From the very moment that the sex 
 of the child was known he began to sulk, and has 
 spoken to no one since. He would not be present, 
 as was his duty, at the private christening yester- 
 day morning. The other Princes of the family were 
 not much more amiable, although they did not show 
 the same bad temper. The only one present at the 
 ceremony was Prince Lucien. 
 
 The foreign papers will shortly publish a manifesto 
 from the Count de Paris. This young man is about 
 to reveal himself by an act, jproprlo motu, which is a 
 fair example of his stupidity. For a good many years 
 these pretenders have tried to spoil everything. 
 
 Monsieur le Comte de Paris is the representative of a 
 pretended right to the throne which rests on no kind of 
 principle whatever, since the revolution which gave 
 Louis-Philippe the crown was in itself a negation of 
 legitimacy. The Proclamation of Royalty in 1830 was 
 brought about by some three hundred and odd votes, 
 but the test of universal suffrage was never appealed to. 
 The Count de Paris, therefore, who represents neither 
 legitimacy on the one hand nor popular opinion on 
 the other, protests against the fusion of Orleanists and 
 Legitimists ; he separates himself from his family and 
 wishes to reunite the shreds of his own party. Such 
 an act can only tend to perpetuate divisions ; but we 
 
234 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 pay little lieed to such comedies, being occupied with 
 more stirring events for the present. Peace is signed^ 
 people say ; the pure Orleanists, therefore, can distri- 
 bute the manifesto of their young Prince if they 
 please; it will have no effect. A fusion will be 
 laughed at which from the first has been described as 
 " Confusion.''^ 
 
 March l^th. — Canrobert and Bosquet have been 
 made marshals, and so has Randon. The G-rand Cross 
 of the Legion of Honour has been conferred on Fould 
 and Hamelin. Hamelin well and good, but Fould ! ! 
 I do not know why Princess Mathilde is furious at the 
 promotion of Bosquet, but she is certainly wrong to 
 express her displeasure so openly. 
 
 Bosquet and Canrobert were apprised of their pro- 
 motion in a delicate and charming manner, which aptly 
 illustrates the Emperor's good nature. They were in- 
 vited to dinner, and on their arrival found themselves 
 alone in the drawing-room. Shortly afterwards the 
 Emperor came in with two or three people, and said 
 to the generals : " I am almost alone to-day, and have 
 asked you to come and share my solitude." The dinner 
 passed off dully enough, they talked about acoustics, 
 but during dessert the Emperor filled his glass, and 
 said : " Gentlemen, let us drink to the health of 
 Marshals Canrobert and Bosquet." The two generals, 
 surprised and taken aback, were at first speechless. 
 Bosquet cried like a child, and when he had found 
 words to thank the Emperor he asked permission to 
 forward the good news to his mother, who lives at 
 Pau. The telegraph in the Tuileries Palace was 
 
THE NEW MARSHALS. 235 
 
 placed at his disposal, and this was the despatch he 
 sent off : " Marshal Bosquet to Widow Bosquet. — My 
 mother, pray to God for the Emperor ! " 
 
 I proposed to several influential members of the 
 Imperial Club to get up a subscription amongst our- 
 selves and send twelve thousand francs to the poor 
 of Paris in celebration of the Prince Imperial's birth. 
 Some of the prudent ones received my proposition 
 with : " Don't be enthusiastic ; yon will not be 
 thanked ; many men will not care to compromise 
 themselves," and so on. Count de Reiset and Baron 
 Heckeren were strongly of those views ; they preferred 
 to reserve to themselves their liberty of action, for 
 one is a Diplomatist and the other a Senator. 
 
 March 20th. — Princess Mathilde has just left the 
 Louvre, where she has been dining with Nieuwerkerke, 
 St. Marsault and his wife. Count Gr. de Nieuwerkerke, 
 the everlasting Madame Despres, and her owl of a 
 daughter. I was also of the party. After dinner the 
 Reisets came to spend the evening. 
 
 The Princess told us that her brother jSTapoleon is 
 still furious about the Prince Imperial's birth, for 
 when the Emperor went to see King Jerome, who is 
 ill, the Prince, in chorus with Madame de Plancy, the 
 intriguing assistant and Dubarry of the ex-King of 
 Westphalia, exclaimed : " What does the Emperor 
 want here ? Cannot he leave us in peace ? Let him 
 mind his own business, and attend to the government 
 of his Empire. It wants governing badly enough." 
 
 The Prince Imperial is strong and doing well. 
 
 March 24^/i. — I met the Girauds at dinner at Prin- 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 cess Matbilde's yesterday. They have just returned 
 froEQ Italy, and are very much impressed with all 
 they have heard there concerning the Emperor. They 
 found the Italians very enthusiastic about him and 
 the French nation. In Italy, the Girauds said they 
 were proud of being Frenchmen of the new Empire, 
 and are beginning to understand the greatness of the 
 man and his work. 
 
 I asked, as a matter of historical interest, at what 
 time the Prince Imperial was born. The Princess 
 replied : "I looked at the clock, and it was exactly 
 fourteen minutes past three." 
 
 Nieuwerkerke is thinking of resigning his post at 
 the Museum. He has not told me so, for he makes a 
 mystery of everything, but I know it. He wants to 
 wear the Senator's embroidered coat, and mingle 
 with that congregation of fools and traitors. I cannot 
 understand him, as he pretends to love the arts. 
 
 If I were ambitious I should be disgusted with 
 ambitious men. No lover suffers more from a capri- 
 cious mistress than an ambitious man does from the un- 
 certainty of fortune. He is never satisfied, never high 
 enough ; he is pushed here and there by his superiors, 
 and elbowed by his equals. When he has climbed 
 even to the top of the greasy-pole and gob the prize, 
 he still looks towards heaven to see if there is no 
 chance of dethroning the Almighty Himself. 
 
 March ^Otk. — Yesterday the Emperor assembled all 
 the great dignitaries of State, and acquainted them 
 with the signature of the treaty of peace. The 
 
A MAGNIFICENT REVIEW. 237 
 
 Monifeur is silent on the subject this morning, but the 
 guns have been firing at the Invalides in honour of it. 
 It is a big affair, happily accomplished, and Europe is 
 about to enter upon a new era. 
 
 April 2nd. — The review yesterday was a magnificent 
 affair, and was favoured by the most beautiful weather 
 imaginable. In the evening the houses were illumi- 
 nated even in the poorest quarters of the town. For 
 many years I have not witnessed such enthusiasm. 
 On returning to the Louvre about one in the morning 
 I met bands of workmen in the streets and on the 
 boulevards carrying torches and cheering the Emperor 
 and the "Peace." At one o'clock the Place du Car- 
 rousel was filled with an enthusiastic mob. 
 
 I dined at the Imperial Club with the officers of 
 Orloff's suite, among whom was Count Schouvaloff, 
 Madame de Chelainecourt's grandson. These gentle- 
 men expressed a strong admiration for our army, and 
 with as much good taste as justice, and fchey described 
 its heroic acts at the battle of the Alma, of which they 
 had themselves been witnesses. 
 
 The Emperor ought to be happy and proud of 
 yesterday's doings. France was in truth the "great 
 nation," the pivot on which all Europe turned. 
 
 Who would have recognized the France of 1848 in 
 the crowds of people who pressed upon the ranks of 
 the soldiers, in the workmen who applauded the con- 
 querors of Sebastopol, and respectfully saluted the 
 Emperor with their cheers ? Who would have thought 
 that France, which in 1848 was placed under the 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 ban of nations, would in so short a time have put her- 
 self at their head as their leader and the custodian of 
 European interests ? 
 
 Still it is the same country, and these are the same 
 men, but happily we are no longer delivered up to 
 wind-bags under pretence of freedom of speech ; 
 licence can no longer disguise itself under the cloak 
 of citizenship, nor have the mob the freedom to 
 rebel. France enjoys well-earned repose, and has 
 conquered for herself the respect of other nations. 
 God grant that we may remain for a long time under 
 Napoleon's guidance. 
 
 We are a vain and a talkative people, the prey of 
 the first charlatan who flatters our vanity. For 
 eighteen years we were hated, cursed, and battered 
 about for the amusement of Thiers or Guizot. France 
 was absorbed in the individuality of those two men 
 who, on the 24th February, were found to have de- 
 livered their country into the hands of the Socialists. 
 
 The divisions of parties must be allowed gradually 
 to die away. It will be a long business, that I know. 
 The middle class, the city merchant, and the trades- 
 man alike, still cry out for reform as they did in 1848. 
 Conceit has made fools of them, and fools they will 
 remain. 
 
 Aj)ril ^rd. — The Legitimist party is showing signs 
 of its existence. There was a grand fancy dress ball 
 at Countess Pozzo di Borgo's yesterday. The Fau- 
 bourg St. Germain was prodigal in expensive fancy 
 costumes, than which nothing could have been more 
 magnificent. 
 
FEUILLET DE CONCHES. 239 
 
 Feuillet de Conches, the collector of autographs, the 
 ambassadors' chamberlain and their principal pro- 
 tocolist, whose breast is covered with nearly every 
 order under the sun, announced in yesterday's papers 
 that he had stolen the pen with which the plenipoten- 
 tiaries had signed the treaty of peace, and which was 
 taken from the wing of the eagle in the Zoological 
 Gardens. There's courage for you ! Who will say 
 that we have no longer any heroes ? In the Motiiteur 
 of this morning the act of devotion is rewarded, and 
 Feuillet is promoted to the rank of Commander of the 
 Legion of Honour. 
 
 At the present moment the Duke of Broglie is being 
 received into the French Academy. Nisard is to reply 
 to his speech. For a month past the Duke has been 
 in the throes of doubt in a matter of grave importance. 
 In the event of his being presented to the Emperor he 
 cannot decide whether he shall have the effigy of 
 Napoleon placed on his star of the Legion of Honour 
 or leave there that of Henry V., surrounded with 
 tricoloured flags. The friends of the Duke are await- 
 ing his decision in great perplexity. 
 
 Ajyril 8th. — Princess Mathilde gave a charming ball 
 yesterday evening. The Emperor was there, and con- 
 versed for a long time with Mons. de Manteuffel. 
 
 An event has just happened which I had scarcely 
 dared hope for — the Princess has dismissed Madame 
 Despres and her daughter from her service. The 
 decision is irrevocable. This wicked creature, or rather 
 these wicked creatures, have acted their part so well, 
 have gossiped, calumniated, and retailed their scandal 
 
240 AlEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL, 
 
 to sucli purpose that the Princess and all the people 
 about her have at length found them out. The inso- 
 lence of these two women went beyond all bounds, and 
 it was they who reported at the Tuileries, in an 
 exaggerated and coloured form, all that was said and 
 done at the Rue de Courcelles. The Princess told the 
 Emperor and Empress of her intention to dismiss 
 them, whereupon the Empress said to her : " We have 
 hesitated for some time about speaking to you of the 
 injury you have done yourself by keeping these two 
 women in your house, and are very glad to hear 
 they are to be turned away. 
 
 Aiyril 2%rd. — I spent the evening yesterday at 
 Princess Mathilde's after dining at Countess Bolog- 
 nini's with Prince Porcia and Count and Countess 
 Litta. The last mentioned was afterwards presented 
 to the Princess. She is extremely beautiful, only 
 eighteen years of age, and by no means devoid of wit. 
 
 Madame Despres had been requested not to show 
 herself in the Princess's drawing-room again. She 
 leaves on Saturday for Poitiers, and will be closely 
 watched. 
 
 Prince Napoleon was at his sister's. When he 
 had gone and there was nobody left but General 
 Bougenel, Rotomski and his wife. Princess Mathilde 
 spoke unreservedly of her father and brother and 
 all the vile crew of the Palais Royal. The Emperor, 
 it appears, declined to send his cousin to St. Peters- 
 burg to represent France at the Czar's coronation. 
 " Let him do foolish things if he will in Paris," he 
 said, " but I do not intend that he should either do 
 
GENERAL TROCHU. 241 
 
 or say them in Sfc. Petersburg in order to discredit us 
 in the eyes of Russia." The Emperor has shown 
 the Princess the letters written by Prince Napoleon 
 from Sebastopol. It is impossible, she tells me, to 
 read anything more obsequious. In every letter he 
 avowed that he owed everything to the Emperor, 
 that he was nothing except by his favour, and that 
 without his generosity, &c., &c., <&c. 
 
 As to the Palais Royal, there reigning Sultana and old 
 Jerome's favourite is Madame de Plancy, the wife of 
 the principal equerry. She is thin, unattractive, and 
 by no means pretty, but full of effrontery. During 
 the ex-King's illness she always slept in his room. Her 
 husband remarked at Madame Lehon's three days ago : 
 " The Prince is better; my wife came home two days 
 ago. She does not sleep at the Palais Royal any 
 longer." 
 
 April 24fJi. — General Trochu has just been with me. 
 For two hours he kept me deeply interested with his 
 account of the Crimean campaign. He is still lame in 
 one leg, the calf of which was shot away by a cannon 
 ball. \Yhen he received this injury, which was 
 during the attack on the Grreat Redan, he fell, but he 
 scrambled up and managed to lean upon an Arab who 
 happened to be near him. On retiring, his progress, 
 as may be imagined, was slow, and the Russians 
 kept directing their fire upon the Greneral, who was 
 conspicuous in his full uniform. In spite of every- 
 thing, however, even of the wounded man's own en- 
 treaty, the Arab declined to abandon his General and 
 take advantage of his better legs. " No, General," 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 said he, " I will not leave you wounded and alone. If 
 we must be killed we will die together." 
 
 The General is never tired of praising the goodness, 
 courage, and abnegation of the private soldier. That 
 is the subject on which he will allow no contradiction. 
 On the eve of the attack on the Redan, which it was 
 known had no other object or hope than to create a 
 diversion, General Trochu massed his brigade together 
 and, placing himself in the centre, said : " Well, my 
 men, I have some important news for you; to-morrow 
 we shall make the assault. It is no use disguising the 
 fact that it will be rough work, and that of the men 
 who head the attack very few will live to see the end 
 of the business. Most of them will be left on the field 
 of battle, and, what is more, I can hardly promise that 
 all the survivors will be rewarded. However, I want 
 two hundred volunteers to head the column of attack. 
 I rely upon you, my men, and you know I shall be 
 amongst you." The soldiers replied : " All right ! 
 General," and five hundred offered themselves as 
 volunteers, from whom two hundred were chosen, and 
 out of that number forty only survived ! Out of 
 fifteen hundred men who attacked the Redan eight 
 hundred privates and seventy-four officers were left 
 dead on the field. 
 
 General Trochu told me that in the Crimea, on every 
 occasion when the troops went into action, they kept 
 on shouting " Yive I'Empereur ! " just as in ancient 
 and savage times the warriors yelled their war cries. 
 At the Alma, in reforming the lines which had been 
 mowed down by Russian bullets, the men rushed up 
 
DESIGNS OF THE PIEDMONTESE. 243 
 
 the steep hill sides to the cry of " Yive TEmpereur ! " 
 and so did the Algerian infantry. 
 
 General Trochuis young, only 41, brave, intelligent, 
 and every inch a soldier. He adores the army, and is 
 filled with admiration for our brave infantry who die 
 like heroes, but who are as gentle as children with 
 those who love and appreciate them as they deserve. 
 
 April 2Sth. — The Empress is recovering very slowly 
 from her confinement ; she suffers, it is said, from pains 
 in the region of the spine ; her health is not very 
 robust, and requires great care. 
 
 May 6tk. — The treaty of peace, the text of which 
 appeared in the Moniteur a few days ago, contains very 
 solid guarantees for Europe against the aggressive 
 policy of Eussia. This solution of the Eastern 
 Question is due in a great measure to the Emperor 
 Napoleon, and places France at the head of Europe. 
 She was never before probably held in such high 
 estimation. Sardinia is endeavouring to enlarge her 
 power by throwing lighted torches into the European 
 straw. To free Italy is her watchword, and she 
 means to attack Naples, Parma, and the States of the 
 Church and put an end to the French and Austrian 
 occupations which are obstacles to her design. Pied- 
 mont intends to become a great power by possessing 
 herself of the whole of Italy. 
 
 The Powers represented at the Congress of Paris 
 made a mistake in giving publicity to their deliberations, 
 in establishing a political platform, and allowing public 
 attacks more or less well founded to be launched 
 against the Powers not represented. Another mistake, 
 
244 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 according to my idea, was to lend a hand to the 
 ambitious designs of the House of Savoy. The King of 
 Piedmont knows as well as anyone the value of Italian 
 declamation and the patriotism of a people split up 
 into ten nationalities ; if he were made King of Italy 
 to-morrow, the day after the Italians would rise against 
 him. We should have a repetition of the spectacle 
 offered by the middle ages, town fighting against town, 
 and rivalries and petty provincial jealousies. 
 
 Can it for one moment be pretended that Rome, 
 Naples, Yenice, and Milan are inhabited by the same 
 people, by the same race ? At what period have those 
 towns been united under the same government ? All 
 the public discussions, especially those that are about to 
 take place in the Piedmontese Chamber on the subject 
 of the dispatches and the protests which have emanated 
 from the " Great Cavour," are ridiculous from one 
 point of view, odious from the other. In the midst of 
 peace Piedmont is about to challenge the lives of 
 the different Italian Governments, and to revolutionize 
 Italy, and we allow her to do it, we, who alone saved 
 her from the jaws of Austria. 
 
 The Italian lords who are seen here are mere brag- 
 gart Gascons, for the most part useless beings whom 
 Mazzini would willingly hang if we allowed him a free 
 hand. The lower classes are corrupted with Socialism, 
 and Piedmont, in spite of the fuss designedly made 
 with regard to Cavour and La Marmora, is incapable 
 of making a united Italy, for such a thing has never 
 existed. Moreover, if twenty-five millions of people 
 wanted to be united they would not require anyone to 
 secure their aspirations for them. 
 
THE KING OF WURTEMBERG. 245 
 
 That England should coalesce with Piedmontese 
 revolutionists to procure the separation of the States 
 of the Church from the city of E,ome seems to me to 
 go beyond the bounds of fair politics. England is 
 Protestant, and there are numbers of Puritans in that 
 country whose only dream is the destruction of the 
 Papal power. If we are to listen to all the Brofferios, 
 the Cavours, and those who think with them, the Pope 
 might as well resign his temporal sovereignty at once. 
 France and Austria should look closer into the matter, 
 for the day the Pope disappears as a temporal sovereign 
 his independence ceases, he becomes simply a machine ; 
 Papacy would be at an end and Catholicism in serious 
 jeopardy. It is for France and Austria to say if 
 Catholicism is to be abandoned to Protestantism and 
 the Socialists. 
 
 In the absence of Nieuwerkerke I received the King 
 of Wurtemberg at the Louvre yesterday. He appeared 
 to me to be clever and well-informed in matters of art. 
 He spent four hours at the Louvre and was extremely 
 pleasant. We spoke of Italy and the corruption of her 
 population, which the King deplored. " What is to be 
 done? " he said. In a tone of assumed seriousness I 
 replied : " I know but one method, one last resort, 
 your Majesty ; it is heroic, but it can alone give peace 
 to Italy, but not having been a member of the Congress 
 I have been unable to give practical effect to my 
 view." "What is it?" said the King. "Transport 
 the Italians into Lapland and the Laplanders into 
 Italy," I replied. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1856 {continued). 
 
 The Emperor and the Speculators — England and the 
 Italian question — The Archduke Maximilian — 
 Frenchmen of note — Paul Delaroche and the 
 PICTURE of the Girondists — The Emperor visits 
 
 THE SCENE OF THE INUNDATIONS MaRRIAGE OF MdLLE. 
 
 Lehon AND Prince Poniatowski — The Duke de 
 Brabant — Discovery of a substitute for quinine — 
 The Ebipress's ultramontane views — Princess 
 Mathilde's relations with Nieuwerkerke — Monsieur 
 
 DE LA GUERONNIERE AnECDOTE OF FOULD — MARSHAL 
 
 Mac Mahon— Countess Castiglione — Ill-health of the 
 Empress — Ministerial intrigues — The Emperor's 
 ADVISERS — Jobbery. 
 
 May 9th. — For some time the Emperor has had his eye 
 upon the speculators, and the Moniteur has launched its 
 diatribes against people who are trying to bamboozle 
 the public. An Emigration Society has recently pub- 
 lished its prospectus, and the names of its Executive 
 Committee, in the columns of the Bebats. A certain 
 Baron de Mortemart-Boisse, who is neither Mortemart 
 
THE EMPEROE AND THE SPECULATORS. 247 
 
 nor Boisse, but a busy schemer, has drawn up the 
 advertisement, in which it is stated that the Company 
 is supported by persons from the very foot of the throne ! 
 Amonof the members of the Committee are mentioned : 
 " Monsieur Blanchard, brother of the Colonel of Grena- 
 diers who was killed at the attack on Sebastopol; 
 Prince de Montlear ! ! and General Ricard, principal 
 aide-de-camp to King Jerome." 
 
 This advertisement having been shown to the 
 Emperor by someone in his household, he got very 
 angry, and wrote rather a warm letter to Prince 
 Jerome, the consequence of which is that the aide-de- 
 camp in question has been deprived of his functions. 
 
 This is all very well, but it is remarked that the 
 Emperor s severity is only shown now that it is no 
 longer possible to add to the perquisites of his own 
 familiar and intimate friends. The Mornys, Foulds, 
 Poniatowskis, and Heckerens having satisfied their 
 appetites, others have no right to be hungry. 
 
 May 16th. — The King of Wurtemberg has made me 
 a Knight of his Order of the Crown. 
 
 I dined yesterday at Princess Mathilde's. The 
 Duchess of Albufera came to pay her respects during 
 the evening. This gossip-monger informed the 
 Princess that an amatory intrigue had recently been 
 discovered between Princess Essling, principal lady-in- 
 waiting to the Empress, and Pagol, the son of General 
 Pagol. 
 
 On the 2nd June there is to be a sale of autographs, 
 the catalogue of which was sent to me yesterday. On 
 looking through it I found a letter from Prince 
 
248 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 Michael Gortcliakoff to Prince Jablanowski, which is 
 worth copying. 
 
 *' Your card-sharping reputation prevents me 
 from accepting your invitation to the rooking enter- 
 tainment you are preparing for this evening. . . . To- 
 morrow I will pay you a visit, but you must not make 
 me the victim of your skill. I count upon your 
 sharing with me the proceeds of your encounter with 
 the ninnies you are to play against." 
 
 The police are redoubling their vigilance against the 
 speculators, and those who are foolish enough to credit 
 their schemes are being warned. It appears that the 
 big promoters are complaining of the injury that is 
 being done them by the smaller ones. 
 
 The Empress is asking for more of the Louvre 
 pictures for the St. Cloud Palace. One Murillo has 
 already been taken there, and the public are scan- 
 dalized. 
 
 The Emperor of Austria's brother arrived yesterday. 
 He is staying at St. Cloud, where the Emperor and 
 Empress took up their summer quarters two days ago. 
 
 The Italian question is still to the front. Sardinia, 
 supported by England, wishes to lay strong hands on 
 Italy, and Count Cavour, by his speeches and public 
 writings, is doing all in his power to excite a revolu- 
 tion throughout that country. Sardinia presumes to 
 dictate reforms to all the Italian States, and to take 
 away the Pope's dominions under pretence of seculariz- 
 ing them. This is the first time that States assembled 
 in Congress have openly brought accusations against 
 friendly States. Sardinia, who opens her doors to all 
 
UNGLANB AND THE ITALIAN QUESTION. 249 
 
 the enemies of the Pope and Austria, complains of 
 the precautions that are beino- taken against her. 
 
 France would, be wrong if she countenanced the 
 ambitious designs of the Kiug of Piedmont; the 
 moment that sovereign succeeds in reuniting Italy 
 under his dominion, England can free herself from our 
 alliance, and form a league with the Italian peninsula, 
 which would be extremely inconvenient to us. Eng- [ 
 land in alliance with the King of Sardinia can very 
 easily hold France and Austria in check; she could 
 augment her influence in the Mediterranean, and place 
 herself at our very gates. In order to bring this 
 about the temporal power of the Pope must be 
 destroyed. Piedmont has put forward a thinly-veiled 
 project, the beginning of a scheme which proposes 
 that there shall be a separate Viceroyalty for the 
 States of the Church. Lord Palmerston has had the 
 audacity to state in the English Parliament that Rome 
 was never better governed than she was by the Revo- 
 lutionary party of 1848. This little plirase simply 
 infers the condemnation of French policy, which 
 England and her ally, the King of Piedmont, are 
 silently undermining. 
 
 All the incendiary proclamations distributed in 
 Sicily, Naples, Lombardy, and Rome for years past 
 have emanated from Malta with the coofnizance of 
 England, and are circulated throughout Italy by her 
 agents. The Marquis de Coislin, on this subject, re- 
 ceived the confidence of the captain of an English 
 vessel, who happened to be a zealous Tory, and who 
 deplored the orders he had to carry out. 
 
250 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL, 
 
 England, although entirely our friend as she appears 
 to be to-day, is taking her precautions against future 
 contingencies by caressing Piedmont with the view of 
 harassing our flank. English Protestantism plays its 
 part in this important business ; holds in reserve a 
 little collection of Revolutionists, which it can let go 
 when it pleases ; sheds tears of commiseration over 
 the fate of Italy under the Roman yoke, while she sub- 
 jects the Catholics of Ii*eland to harsher serfdom still ; 
 and, to sum up, deprives the English of any chance of 
 Sunday amusement. 
 
 May 17th. — Count Orloff, who has seen a copy of 
 the catalogue of autographs advertised to be sold on 
 June 2nd, says that the letter of General Gortchakoff 
 is a forgery. He knows both the General and his 
 correspondent to be honourable men, and much too 
 clever to commit such stupid things to writing. In 
 the same collection is a letter purporting to be from 
 Count Orloff himself; it is very insignificant in any 
 case, but the Count says it is a forgery in every par- 
 ticular. The sale will be stopped, and the letters seized. 
 
 May 18th. — The brother of the Emperor of Austria, 
 the Archduke Maximilian, came to visit the Louvre 
 yesterday at two o'clock. As Nieuwerkerke did not 
 come back before three, I received the Prince, who 
 struck me as being amiable, polished, and of cultivated 
 mind. He has an excellent knowledge of the fine arts, 
 but his appearance is far from attractive ; his exag- 
 gerated Austrian lip is a great disfigurement. He 
 intends to pay several visits to the Museum, and ta 
 study it in detail. 
 
FRENCHMEN OF NOTE. 251 
 
 May 24th. — It is a useful thing to note in the pages 
 of this book any matter that can throw the least light 
 upon the manners, customs, and men of our age. The 
 inner life of an artist, like that of a statesman, is 
 interesting really to know ; biographies are too apt to 
 make heroes and martyrs out of very indifferent 
 people. Seen from a distance, the life of an artist 
 receives the reflection of his talent, and is illuminated 
 with the glory which surrounds the personality of the 
 poet, the sculptor, or the painter. The man is sanc- 
 tified, his faults, his vileness, his crimes disappear, and 
 those who in his day may have condemned him are 
 judged to have been wrong by the tribunal of posterity. 
 In another century we shall be charged with crime for 
 not having adored that good man Beranger, who is 
 the biggest scoundrel in all Christendom ; for not 
 having assuaged the sufferings of Musset, who was 
 mad with pride and drink ; for not having set in dia- 
 monds Mons. Ingres, who builds and then shuts himself 
 up in his own pyramids, is always complaining, always 
 receiving help from every quarter, and whose proceed- 
 ings are restrained by no feelings of delicacy whatever. 
 Mons. Thiers is astounded that France does not call 
 herself Thiereide, and Guizot that she does not assume 
 the name of Guizotine. 
 
 I have rarely come across a great man who was 
 bearable; they ought all to be born dead. I hold 
 the opinion of the peasant, who proscribed Aristides 
 because he plagued the world with his surname 
 " Just." Aristides must have been a pretentious 
 purist. Chateaubriand was intolerable ; his political 
 
252 MEMOIBS OF COUNT HORACE BE VI EL CAS TEL. 
 
 career is well known, and his private life was one 
 eternal parade. Lamartine, now a beggar, has had 
 since 1848 eighteen hundred thousand francs from his 
 writings. At the present moment he is acting the part 
 of Belisarius, and holds out his hat. 
 
 A word as to Paul Delaroche, the great painter, the 
 great man of the Opposition, so dignified and serious, 
 so like Achilles in his virtuous indignation. "Well, Paul 
 Delaroche is a tradesman, and much cleverer as a 
 comedian than a painter. Monsieur Benoit Fould, 
 chaperoned by Scheffer, goes to see him in his studio, 
 praises him, tickles his vanity, looks at his sketches, 
 and agrees to purchase a picture of the Girondists, as 
 big as that of the Duke of Guise, for the small sum of 
 thirty thousand francs. The picture was well paid for, 
 very well paid for, but we will say no more about 
 that. 
 
 About a month after this contract, Jelabert, Dela- 
 roche's factotum, goes to Mons. Benoit Fould and 
 tells him that thirty thousand francs would really not 
 give the artist water to drink. All the Girondists for 
 thirty thousand francs is giving the picture away ; 
 the Girondists would be cheap at thirty-five thousand 
 francs. 
 
 The picture is then finished ; some friends have been 
 to the studio to see it, and Benoit Fould is anxious to 
 hang it in his drawing-room ; but wait a moment. The 
 great Jelabert again comes to him, and says that the 
 house of Delaroche cannot allow a picture to leave its 
 premises without payment in advance. Fould there- 
 upon shrugs his shoulders and pays. 
 
THE EMPEROR DISTRIBUTES CHARITY. 253 
 
 June 5th. — I received this morning, througli the 
 Austrian ambassador, a gold snuff-box as a present 
 from His Imperial Highness the Archduke MaximiUan. 
 
 The Emperor left on Sunday for the sceue of the 
 frightful inundations caused by the overflow of the 
 Rhone and the Loire, and returned to Paris this morn- 
 ing. He was received in Lyons, Aries, and Avignon 
 with enthusiasm. I have it from the lips of a witness 
 who was on the spot that " nothing can give an idea 
 of the effect his presence produced." At Lyons the 
 Emperor — alone and on horseback, in the middle of a 
 crowd of sixty thousand workmen, their wives and 
 children, all victims of the terrible inundations — was 
 moved to tears and pale with emotion, he distributed, 
 with unrestrained generosity, the gold which he carried 
 in two large bags attached to his saddle-bow. He was 
 the first to bring relief, and he did so with expressions 
 of sympathy and a kindness of manner that went to 
 everybody's heart. 
 
 The casualties caused by the inundations are num- 
 berless, and many persons have perished. 
 
 June 12th. — The marriage of Prince Poniatowski, 
 son of the ex-ambassador of Tuscany, who is now a 
 Senator, with Mdlle. Lehon took place yesterday. 
 The young man is not very intelligent-looking, and 
 has the appearance of unearned fatigue. He has not 
 much to say for himself, and takes very little notice of 
 anything — not even of his wife, who certainly merits 
 attention, as she is most agreeable and clever. There 
 will be some differences in that household, in my 
 opinion, before many years are over. 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAST EL. 
 
 Oq Saturday the baptism of the Prince Imperial 
 wil] take place. The arrangements for the ceremony- 
 have been clumsily made, and have given a good deal 
 of dissatisfaction. Prince Jerome will not go, because 
 he is placed in the same rank as Prince Oscar of 
 Sweden and the Dowager Grand Duchess of Baden, 
 who, with Prince Napoleon, were to occupy one of the 
 carriages. Princess Mathilde is put out at being 
 relegated to a second carriage, along with the Duchess 
 of Hamilton, who is not of Imperial rank, nor a 
 relative of the same degree as herself. She is cer- 
 tainly right, and the masters of the ceremony have 
 blundered. 
 
 June 24:th. — Dined at the Imperial Club with 
 Toulongeon, the Emperor's orderly officer, from 
 whom I learn that the Duke de Brabant during his 
 stay in Paris last year showed the greatest anxiety to 
 discover any souvenirs of his childhood. The Em- 
 peror and he had a friendly conversation, and the 
 former tried to recall to mind any circumstances 
 anterior to 1848. Toulongeon, who was placed near 
 the person of the Duke de Brabant, talked to him 
 without reserve about everything. The Duke wanted 
 to know his opinion about Changarnier and the other 
 generals, such as Bedau and Lamoriciere. Toulon- 
 geon described to him all Changarnier's artifices, how 
 he tried to ingratiate himself with all parties, and 
 had overwhelmed the Emperor with assurances of 
 devotion ; also how that General had himself frequently 
 suggested a coup d^etat. In fact, he informed him of 
 much that I have already stated in these memoirs, but 
 
SUBSTITUTE FOR QUININE. 255 
 
 there are some truths that the Legitimists and Orlean- 
 ists are far from wishing to believe. 
 
 The Paris correspondent of the '■'^official Gazette'' of 
 Milan announces the marriage of Mdlle. Lehon in these 
 terms : — " The marriage of Mdlle. Lehon, daughter of 
 Countess Lehon and Count de Morny, with the son of 
 Prince Poniatowski, was celebrated yesterday." 
 
 July Sth. — For the last twelve months Calvet B-ogniat 
 and I have been trying to overcome the opposition of 
 the Academy of Medicine to a discovery that has been 
 made by Mons. Boulomie, the chemist. It has reference 
 to a substitute for sulphate of quinine, which is grown in 
 many parts of Europe, and most abundantly in France. 
 This substitute, which is more eflBcacious than quinine 
 itself, as has been proved by four years' practical ex- 
 perience in twenty different hospitals, and by a hundred 
 doctors, does not affect the brain, the digestive organs, 
 or the bowels ; it is ten times cheaper than quinine, and 
 is not likely to be affected by maritime wars or the failure 
 of the cinchona tree. But it has enemies in the 
 chemists and druggists, and the doctors who traffic in 
 quinine, especially in the African military druggists, who 
 make a large profit by reselling at Marseilles two- 
 thirds of the sulphate of quinine sent to Africa by the 
 "War Minister for the use of fever patients. The 
 Academy of Medicine has taken the side of the 
 quinine, and opposes our discovery. 
 
 As the Ministers dare not endow France with this 
 new medicine, the virtues of which have been fully 
 recognized in the reports of a host of medical men, we 
 are forced to take it to foreign countries and get it 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 adopted by our neighbours. The discovery, which is 
 a precious boon to humanity, will probably in a few 
 years come back to us from Germany and Russia. 
 To-morrow Calvet Rogniat, Boulomie, and I have a 
 meeting to decide definitely what steps we shall take. 
 It is very probable that at the end of next month 
 Boulomie and I will go to Holland and offer our dis- 
 covery to the Government there, and that Calvet 
 Rogniat and Boulomie will subsequently proceed to 
 Russia to make the same offer to the Czar. 
 
 Who shall say now that learned bodies are useless, 
 and that the Academy of Medicine is not philan- 
 thropic ? 
 
 July 14t7i. — I have just come from St. Gratien, 
 where I spent yesterday with Princess Mathilde. I 
 found her in a state of great irritation against the 
 Emperor, and particularly against the Empress. The 
 family council have decided that the eldest son of 
 King Jerdme, born of a marriage which the Emperor 
 does not recognize, may bear the name of Bonaparte, 
 but shall not be allowed the civil rights of affiliation. 
 Two years ago the Princess was allowed to treat this 
 man as her own brother, and often received him and 
 his son at her table, and Nieuwerkerke himself gave 
 him the title of Prince in addressing him. 
 
 Now all is changed. He is no longer recognized, 
 and there is great irritation and annoyance in conse- 
 quence of the concessions that have already been made 
 to him. The Princess goes over to the opposition; 
 her amour propre is outraged, and she uses very hos- 
 tile language. 
 
PBINCESS MATHILDE AND NIEUWERKERKE. 257 
 
 The Marquis de la Yalette, who is also piqued by 
 the want of regard shown him by the Emperor, was 
 at the Princess's. He told us about the debate in the 
 Senate on the subject of the oath which it was desired the 
 Empress should take as Regent ; he had wished it to be 
 inserted in the Concordate, accompanied by a promise 
 to respect the separate functions of Church and State. 
 The Government did everything to make him with- 
 draw his amendment, but he declined to do so, and on 
 a division it was only lost by eight votes. Eighteen 
 months ago it was a question of making the religious 
 ceremony obhgatory in marriage, and giving it pre- 
 cedence o'v^r the civil ceremony. The Empress is 
 ultramontane in her views, and it was thought advis- 
 able to provide against her clerical tendencies. 
 
 July 16th. — I dined with Germiny and La Valette 
 yesterday at the Imperial Club, and we discussed the 
 relations between Princess Mathilde and Nieuwerkerke, 
 as to which I was able to gather the opinions of society, 
 in many different aspects, from their conversation. 
 
 Nieuwerkerke has very few friends, but the Princess 
 has, on the contrary, very many ; people sympathize 
 with her, and throw the responsibility of her false 
 position entirely upon Nieuwerkerke. He, by his 
 affectation, grand airs, and self-importance, makes him- 
 self disliked, and any disgrace that is in store for him 
 will, I feel assured, cause more satisfaction than pity. 
 I am afraid that his conduct furnishes but too often 
 ample grounds for his discomfiture. The Emperor, 
 and especially the Empress, are very displeased with 
 
 VOL. I. s 
 
258 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 him. A storm is brewing, and there is already a cool- 
 ness between the Tuileries and St. Gratien. 
 
 The Princess talks too much and with too little 
 reflection, as all her observations, coloured and 
 amplified, are reported; in moments of anger she 
 says whatever comes into her head first, and she 
 speaks before everybody, even her servants. To hear 
 her talk you would take her for the Emperor's 
 bitterest enemy, whereas no one really has a warmer 
 affection for him. The world blames Meuwerkerke 
 because the Princess does not take the position her 
 exalted rank imposes upon her. She might render 
 important services to the Emperor by bringing over to 
 his policy all the literary and artistic people she in- 
 fluences, and who hold her in the most affectionate 
 regard, but she does not do so. The world accuses 
 Nieuwerkerke of thinking only of himself, of his 
 coveted honours, and the crosses that decorate his 
 breast. This explains the very few friends he has, 
 and yet, incredible as it may seem, he is so blind that 
 he believes he is adored by everybody, even by the 
 Emperor himself. 
 
 The Emperor, who is very politic and reserved, has 
 not yet broken silence, but the position occupied by 
 Nieuwerkerke with respect to his cousin annoys and 
 irritates him. He is pained to let foreign princes see 
 the disorder of his Court and of his own family; he 
 divines their thoughts, and almost hears what they say 
 in view of the grave, the public scandal this doubly 
 adulterous connection has given rise to. He does not 
 thank Nieuwerkerke by defying and incessantly 
 
A SCENE AT REISETS. 259 
 
 braving public opinion. Every day he places to 
 Nieuwerkerke's credit some act which he considers an 
 insult to the dignity of the Imperial throne, and is 
 collecting materials for that individual's ultimate and 
 irrevocable disgrace. 
 
 Nieuwerkerke, in his superb disdain, despises all 
 warning, and has done more than would have been 
 elsewhere necessary to justify his dismissal. He stays 
 with the Princess at St. Gratien, where he takes 
 command, assumes the manners of a husband, scolds, 
 orders everybody and everything about, and makes • 
 his position as public as he well can. There he keeps , 
 his horses, carriages, and servants, and the workmen 
 in the village actually say to him : " We shall do this 
 or that job at your house to-morrow." 
 
 In Paris he dines, breakfasts, and dresses at the 
 Princess's, and has his things taken there by a porter 
 from the Louvre in the Emperor's livery. 
 
 The Emperor knows all this, and I am only 
 astonished at one thing, and that is that he has stood 
 it so long. 
 
 On Sunday, when we were dining at Reiset's, 
 Nieuwerkerke, without asking permission of anyone, 
 had a door opened because he was too hot. The 
 Princess, who felt the draught on her shoulders, 
 objected ; thereupon, before us all, La Valette and 
 Benedetti being of the party, he and the Princess had 
 a scene which was anything but agreeable. 
 
 Several times since I have taken this book in hand 
 I have wished to defend Nieuwerkerke, whom I like 
 against my better sense, but at the present moment I 
 
260 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 feel bound to range myself on the side of the Emperor 
 and to condemn him. I know that he believes and 
 says he is my patron, because he procured me the 
 place at the Museum. That I owe this to him is true, 
 but for six years past I have, in return, rendered him 
 important services in his position as Director-General. 
 Then, I may add, that in a matter in which I made a 
 hundred and ten thousand francs, as he asked if there 
 was nothing for him, I made him a present of half. 
 To free himself from any awkward feeling of obligation, 
 he remarked : " I accept without restraint, as I have 
 always stood your friend." 
 
 I am, consequently, not in his debt, and my candour 
 is not ingratitude. 
 
 Jnly 16fh. — Yesterday La Gueronniere, as to whom 
 it is still a question of appointing him Minister of 
 Public Instruction, came to the Louvre, accompanied 
 by Latour Dumoulin, to read me a letter he has 
 written to Fleury, but which in reality is intended for 
 the Emperor's eye. The letter, which is admirably 
 conceived and expressed, places La Gueronniere' s 
 position with regard to public opinion in a very fair 
 light. 
 
 " I do not offer myself as a candidate," he says, 
 " but I place myself at the Emperor's disposal. I 
 have given considerable attention to matters coming 
 witbin the purview of this particular department, and 
 I believe I can do useful work in the office committed 
 to my charge if the Emperor should be disposed to 
 accept my services." La Gueronniere asked me to 
 get Nieuwerkerke to write a letter for him to Fleury. 
 
MONSIEUR DE LA GU:ER0NNIERE. 261 
 
 I at once sent off an express to Nieuwerkerke and 
 received from him the following letter, which I am 
 about to forward to Fleury. 
 
 "Mt dear Fleury, 
 
 " Have you any candidate of your own for 
 the post of Minister of Public Instruction ? If not, 
 what do you think of La Gueronniere ? I believe that 
 he would be an excellent choice in every way, and 
 that we should never have occasion to regret support- 
 ing him, as has been the case with regard to someone 
 else. The important point will be for La Gueronniere 
 to obtain an interview with the Emperor before the 
 latter returns from Plombidres, which would be easy 
 for you to manage, ostensibly with reference to the last 
 matter the Emperor confided to La Gueronniere (a 
 criticism on the works of Napoleon III.), the first part 
 of which he has completed with remarkable brilliancy, 
 but without any nauseating flattery. You can lead up 
 to this subject, and induce the Emperor to express a 
 wish to see the author. That would help matters for- 
 ward, for, as you know. La Gueronniere has a capacity 
 for pleasing which has scores of times been usefully 
 employed. 
 
 " Anyhow, the names of people who do not belong 
 to ' ours,' and whom it may be as well to checkmate, 
 are being put forward. Old Vaillant, for example, 
 supports his friend Dumas. The Empress, they say, 
 favours Merimee, &c., &c. 
 
 " We require in this post, where there is scope for 
 the greatest utility, a man who is devoted, intelligent, 
 
262 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 and politic. La Gueronni^re is all these, and he is our 
 friend besides. Look alive, then, and act accordingly, 
 if your heart so prompts you. 
 
 " Good-bye, dear friend ; I hope that the little 
 general and his mother are well. Accept the assur- 
 ance of my sincere and cordial friendship. 
 
 " NiEUWERKERKE. 
 
 " July 15th, 1856." 
 
 Yeron has just published a pamphlet on the events 
 that liave happened since 1848, and this is what lie 
 says witb respect to Fould. He is writing about the 
 time of the Presidency, when Yeron, be it remembered^ 
 reigned in all his glory on the throne of the Con- 
 stitutionnel newspaper. Fould was wavering and 
 uncertain, not knowing where and on whose back he 
 should make his political fortune. He fawned upon 
 Y^ron, saw him daily, consulted him, and did not even 
 neglect Sophie, the famous Sophie, who in her kitchen 
 has received the homage of more than one Minister. 
 
 " Rally, then, cordially, sincerely, and without hesita- 
 tion to the side of our President," said Yeron ; " Louis 
 Napoleon is tlie man whom France wants ; he is the 
 man of the future. Kelinquish played out parties and 
 moribund ideas." Fould mentioned the repugnance 
 he felt in attaching himself to the fortunes of a man 
 with whom he had no sympathy. However, one day 
 he is brought into contact with the Prince, and on the 
 following morning, quite early, he repairs to Yeron 
 and acquaints him with his interview. " The Prince 
 was charming," he said, " most persuasive, and went 
 
ANECDOTE OF FOULD. 263 
 
 even so far as to tempt me with the offer of a portfolio." ^ 
 
 " Accept it," said Yeron. " Accept — accept — it is 
 very easily said," replied Fould, " but he would seize 
 the opportunity of borrowing twenty-five thousand 
 francs of me." 
 
 Fould at this moment is Minister of State, a 
 member of the Emperor's household, a Senator, has 
 the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, and a 
 good deal besides, and has never lent a sou to a soul. 
 
 F. Barrot, who speaks from personal knowledge, has 
 just told me the following anecdote. It is not known 
 and perhaps never will be : — When Prince Napoleon, 
 during his incarceration at Ham, learned that his 
 cousin Princess Mathilde liad married Anatole 
 Demidoff, all the affection, or, rather let us say, all the 
 love he bore for this fascinating and excellent Princess 
 was awakened in him ; he cried bitterly, and said to 
 Barrot : " That is the last and cruellest blow fortune 
 could have dealt me." 
 
 July 20th. — I am too unwell to go to St. Gratien to- 
 day. Latour-Doumonlin, who has just been to see me, 
 tells me that Dumas's name has been erased from the 
 list of candidates for the post of Minister of Public 
 Instruction and Worship on the ground of his being 
 a Protestant ; Baroche is doing all he can to procure 
 the appointment for de Parrieux, an Auvergnat, a man 
 who is only fitted to be a head clerk, but who holds 
 strong clerical views. 
 
 I am afraid of ultramontanism, which the Empress 
 so affects, and fear we are on the eve of committing a 
 grave error, which may God and the Emperor avert. 
 
264 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Doctor Werler cle Cestj, late principal medical 
 officer attached to the Ministry of War, who has gone 
 through twenty campaigns in Africa, was talking to 
 me an hour ago about the generals who have recently 
 been made senators or marshals, and he remarked 
 that they did not inspire him with any remarkable 
 feeling of confidence. MacMahon, with whom he was 
 very friendly in Africa, said to him one day in his tent, 
 speaking of the Emperor : " Never as long as that 
 man is in power will I put a foot either in Paris or the 
 Tuileries." Cesty happened to meet him a few days 
 ago and greeted him with " What, you in Paris, 
 General — you, who told me you wouldn't put your 
 foot in Paris during Napoleon's reign ? Why, I am 
 even told that you have been to the Tuileries. How 
 was the Emperor? " " It is no business of yours," the 
 General replied roughly. " I beg your pardon," said 
 Cestj, " I was not speaking to the General, but to 
 MacMahon." The General assumed a more amiable 
 manner, put his arm through Cesty's, and said, 
 shaking his head : " Don't mention the subject again, 
 doctor." 
 
 La Gueronni^re, who is full of his candidature for 
 the post of Minister of Public Instruction, has just 
 left me. I have advised him to go to St. Gratien 
 this evening, as this morning I had sent on a 
 letter from Fleury. At the present time there are 
 three influential candidates in the field : Parrieux, 
 La Gueronniere, and Royer, ex-Procureur-General. 
 On leaving me La Gueronniere said : "If I am ap- 
 pointed we will be Ministers of Public Instruction 
 
310NSIEUR DE LA GUJERONNI^RE. 265 
 
 together" — merely courtly politeness on his part, 
 of course. 
 
 When La Gueronniere was writing some articles 
 w^iich appeared in the Moniteur on the subject of the 
 Eastern campaign the Emperor held long conferences 
 with him and acquainted him with his views. Some 
 time after their publication Fould begged La Gueron- 
 niere to go and see him, and said : " The work 
 which you have done for the Emperor is quite ex- 
 ceptional and apart from your duties as Councillor of 
 State, and His Majesty does not wish that so impor- 
 tant an undertaking, the value of which he cordially 
 appreciates, should be allowed to go without special 
 remuneration. This I am quite prepared to arrange 
 with you on your own terms." La Gueronniere, sur- 
 prised and hurt, replied : " You are mistaken in your 
 judgment of me, sir. My particular position and 
 that which the Emperor kindly wished to confer upon 
 me in making me a Councillor of State does not 
 permit me to accept a pecuniary reward. Such a 
 recognition would be repugnant to my feelings, and 
 my antecedents afford no excuse for offering it. If 
 I have rendered some service to the Emperor I am 
 ambitious, I do not deny it, of a more delicate form of 
 recompense. For three years past I have managed the 
 Government newspapers, and their polemics. Had 
 I wished to make a fortune — and I have been often 
 pressingly urged to do so by unprincipled people about 
 me — it was within my reach, but the desire never oc- 
 curred to me. After three years' service I handed the 
 three papers back without having alienated them, and 
 
266 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL, 
 
 they still remain friendly to the State. ISTo, sir, I do 
 not accept the proposal you make me, nor do I wish 
 to believe that it emanates from the Emperor him- 
 self; such an idea would paralyze my pen if ever in 
 the future he had recourse to my services." 
 
 Fould, rather disconcerted, made a clumsy excuse, 
 and La Gueronniere took his departure. 
 
 Two days afterwards he received a letter in the 
 Emperor's own handwriting, couched in very gracious 
 and affable terms, and abounding in the most cordial 
 expressions of gratitude. It ended by saying " that the 
 services which La Gueronniere had rendered could only 
 be repaid by the sincerity of his gratitude." 
 
 I have this instant been informed by Villain, the 
 Vice-President of the Salvage Association, that a 
 scoundrel, of whom, I believe, I have already had 
 occasion to speak, has just been unmasked. Guerin 
 Laurence — who calls himself Count Guerin de Tencin, 
 who has on a former occasion been brought before the 
 police magistrate on the charge of peculation and 
 dishonest practices, amongst other things for usurp- 
 ing, without authority, the Order of the Legion of 
 Honour, which he subsequently succeeded in getting — 
 having been appointed President of the Salvage 
 Society, has been obliged to send in his resignation. 
 I got Villain to come here three months ago, and I 
 told him all about his president's antecedents. Assisted 
 by Count de Lyonne, a member of the society, he pro- 
 ceeded to make inquiries, and discovered a whole series 
 of dishonest acts, the result being that Guerin Laurence 
 has had to resign. 
 
COUNTESS CASTIGLIONE. 267 
 
 At the last party given at Villeneuve I'Etang, the 
 Countess de Castiglione and the Emperor managed to 
 lose themselves for some time on a little island in the 
 middle of the lake. When the Countess returned, 
 looking somewhat confused, the Empress showed by 
 her manner the indignation she felt. 
 
 I have inquired of several Piedmontese about the 
 means of this Castiglione couple. I find they have 
 only 18,000 francs a year left, and their mode of life 
 necessitates an expenditure of sixty or eighty thousand 
 at least. The Countess has been the King of Pied- 
 mont's mistress, and I strongly suspect her of intimacy 
 with Nieuwerkerke. 
 
 She wishes to rent for the coming winter 17, Ruede 
 Matignon, a house which at the present moment is 
 occupied by my friends Prince Porcia, Countess 
 Bolognini, and Count and Countess Litta. It has a 
 long narrow garden, the end of which abuts on the 
 Champs Elysees, with a small gate leading to a 
 pretty little arbour, which is very convenient for the 
 introduction of a visitor who does not wish to be seen. 
 
 July 31s^. — I breakfasted this morning with La 
 Gueronniere, who read me his portrait of de Morny. 
 It will be pubhshed in about three weeks' time. His 
 candidature is still going on, and the idea of dividing 
 the i;Ministry into two departments is relinquished. 
 Parrieux, who is backed by the Bishop of Amiens, is 
 his most redoutable opponent. 
 
 The Cabinet is much exercised just now about a 
 pamphlet published in Belgium, of which copies have 
 been sent to each of the principal functionaries and 
 
268 M EMOTES OF COUNT HORACE DE VI EL CASTEL. 
 
 the Emperor. It is directed against Collet Maigret, 
 and exposes a lot of dirty business and trafficking. It 
 is written by a person named Meyer, an old fellow- 
 pupil of Collet's, who has been two or three times 
 convicted of swindling, and is now completely broken. 
 In spite of repeated warnings Collet kept this man 
 about his person, but at last was obliged to get rid of 
 him. Meyer avenges himself by publishing all the 
 secrets he has discovered. I ought not to omit to 
 mention that the reason Collet Maigret himself enjoys 
 so much favour is that his wife is Billault's mistress. 
 
 I have seen a letter from de Morny to La Gueron- 
 niere, in which he expresses great satisfaction with 
 the article I saw this morning. He only wishes to 
 have added that before leaving Paris he relinquished 
 all the commercial undertakings in which he was en- 
 gaged, and that, although much interested in active 
 politics, he particularly dislikes any office entailing 
 endless ceremonials and formalities, and that people 
 are not to be surprised, moreover, if he gives up 
 politics as suddenly as he abandoned other pursuits. 
 
 Morny, in point of fact, does not wish to make him- 
 self too cheap, or to exhaust his influence. His pohcy 
 is to keep himself in reserve. 
 
 August 10th. — Back from St. Grratien, where I met 
 at dinner the Russian Envoy, the Minister of Public 
 Works, and Benedetti. In the morning Princess 
 Mathilde had been to see the Emperor at St. Cloud. 
 She found him looking very well, and delighted with 
 his trip to Plombieres. He complained, however, of 
 seeing the Empress look so changed and ill on his 
 
MINISTERIAL INTRIGUES. 269 
 
 return. This poor woman is in a sad state of health, 
 and requires constant medical attention. 
 
 The Emperor told Princess Mathilde that the Bona- 
 parte-Pattersons were about to leave France because 
 he would not allow them to call themselves Bonaparte 
 alone, without the Patterson. The son has resigned 
 his cavalry commission, and his resignation has been 
 accepted. 
 
 August 14:th. — The Mom'teur announces this morning 
 that Marshal Pelissier has been made Duke de Malakoff, 
 with a pension of one hundred thousand francs, and 
 that Roulland, the Advocate-General, is appointed to 
 the Ministry of Public Instruction. 
 
 August IQth. — I have seen La Gueronniere, who has 
 given me the key to the mystery of Roulland's appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 On Monday last Fould said to La Gueronniere : " You 
 are virtually our colleague, for you have been accepted 
 by the Emperor and the Council, and your nomination 
 is a mere question of formality." But Fould, who, 
 as Minister of State, could have simplified formalities 
 and presented the nomination for signature, did not 
 hurry himself, as he still hoped to detach from the 
 Ministry of Public Instruction the literary duties of 
 that department in order to incorporate them with his 
 own. Billault and Abbatucci, however, stayed behind 
 after a Council meeting at St. Cloud, got round the 
 Emperor, and, with a little pressure and almost by 
 stealth, procured Roulland's appointment. Some of 
 the Ministers, Mons. Magne amongst others, only 
 learned the news through the columns of the Moniteur, 
 
270 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 The Emperor has a false notion of the state of 
 parties. He repeats the fatal course adopted after the 
 restoration, when the experiment was tried of endea- 
 vouring to promote order with the elements of dis- 
 order ; to secure the interests of royalty, in fact, with 
 the assistance of the Republicans. The restoration 
 dreamed of conciliating parties by strengthening the 
 Kepublicans at the expense of the Royalists. Fifteen 
 years were consumed in ridiculing the fidelity of the 
 friends who were thought to be no longer of use, and 
 in strengthening the hands of enemies whom it was 
 hoped to conciliate. 
 
 At the present time the Emperor thinks to gain over 
 the Republicans, and to wheedle the Socialists by 
 retaining Mons. Billault in office, but I do not hesi- 
 tate to say that he deceives himself, for by so doing 
 he alienates all that is honest in the ministerial 
 party, and makes no friends into the bargain. The 
 extreme party can never be relied upon, and the media- 
 tion of Billault only gives them additional importance. 
 To place the Ministry of the Interior in Billault's 
 hands and public safety in Collet Maigret's are two 
 grave blunders. Like all sovereigns the Emperor 
 thinks that by travelling about he can judge of the 
 state and disposition of the population, that with 
 agents in the pay and under the authority of the 
 Ministry he can obtain reliable information, that with 
 Mocquard as secretary he will have honesty near his 
 person. The Emperor deceives himself, and is de- 
 ceived. Fleury is a loyal fellow, who speaks the truth 
 according to his lights, but although intelligent 
 
THE EMPEROB'S ADVISERS. 271 
 
 enougli he is not in a position to see and hear every- 
 thing. 
 
 It is a great misfortune that the Emperor's Court is 
 composed, as it is, half of fools, half of knaves. He 
 wishes to govern through his enemies, and still tem- 
 porizes with that foolish and immoral maxim which 
 has been borrowed from the language of revolution : 
 *' All for the people." 
 
 One knows what is meant by " the people." Wliat 
 ought to be said, and, above all, what ought to be 
 insisted upon, is : " All for the country." 
 
 It is with the aid of intelligence and honesty that one 
 ought to govern. A pick-pocket should not be taken 
 under a ruler's protection in order to pacify the 
 estimable class to which he belongs. Christ hunted 
 the dealers out of the temple, and only left the priests 
 and the communicants. He did not say : " I will be 
 conciliatory by allowing my father's house to become 
 a den of thieves." 
 
 Never allow an intelligent nation to mistrust your 
 intelligence and knowledge of mankind. Make fewer 
 restrictions with regard to stock-jobbers and specu- 
 lators, and clean out your own stables. When Fould 
 has been made Minister of State, Mocquard President 
 of the Council, and all the rest of the gang have lined 
 their pockets, is the country to be humbugged into the 
 belief that the government is an honest one ? 
 
 August 18th. — I have just returned from St. 
 Gratien, whither La Gueronniere and Abbe Coquereau 
 came to spend the evening yesterday. La Gueronniere 
 insists that Roulland's appointment is due to Abbatucci 
 
272 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 alone, and that Billault was disagreeably surprised 
 at it, as he foresees in the new Minister a future 
 rival for his own office, in proof of which view the 
 Emperor is said to have remarked to Princess Mathilde 
 that " Roulland was not yet in his proper place." In 
 any case, Billault's dismissal has become a matter of 
 hope in the public mind. 
 
 La Rochejaquelein has received a letter from 
 Billault pressing him to withdraw the resignation of his 
 membership of the Conseil-General,* and asking him to 
 go and see him on the subject at the Ministry of the 
 Interior. 
 
 With that superbly disdainful manner for which 
 he is celebrated, La Rochejaquelein declined to with- 
 draw his resignation, saying that he could not allow 
 his freedom of action to be questioned by anybody, 
 nor his dignity of Senator to be insulted, that he 
 refused the interview, having no confidence in the 
 Minister ; that having just returned from the South of 
 France he found it so justly incensed against him that 
 he declined to have any dealings with him, and that it 
 was furthermore his intention to send a copy of his 
 letter to the Emperor and the President of the Senate. 
 La Rochejaquelein has since asked the Emperor 
 for an audience, but it is very doubtful whether he 
 will obtain it, as His Majesty is in one of his fits of 
 seclusion, when he is very difficult to approach, and he 
 may not, after all, attach much importance to the 
 whole affair. 
 
 * A sort of County Board, or Assembly, chosen by the electors to 
 assist the Prefet in Lis government. 
 
JOBBERY. 273 
 
 I am unfortunately obliged to mention two fresh cases 
 of favouritism Tvhicli are exciting public comment. 
 Two young men who are hardly of age, in spite of 
 existing rights, rules of promotion, or any sense of 
 propriety, have just been appointed special receivers of 
 finance ; one of the young men is named Baroche, and 
 the other Mague. Mons. Baroche, the father of one, 
 having a property in the neighbourhood of Mantes, 
 wanted his son made financial administrator in his 
 district. They therefore removed the old receiver, who 
 desired nothing more than to be left where he was, 
 and sent him elsewhere, in order that a vacancy 
 might be made for the young and interesting Baroche, 
 who is a brother of the jackanapes of that name who 
 is a member of the Council of State. The same pro- 
 ceeding happened with regard to young Magne. 
 
 If you speak of the old dynasty to people they 
 lose themselves in their abuse of royal favours. 
 But in place of aristocrats, men of birth and posi- 
 tion, conspicuous for their tact and good manners, 
 we are now treated to a parcel of blackguards who 
 yesterday still wore the lawyer's gown ; an avaricious, 
 middle-class, shuffling race, without energy or courage, 
 eager for the loaves and fiishes, and untrue to their 
 trusts. 
 
 The Emperor in his former f ulminations always criti- 
 cized unsparingly Governments composed of lawyers, 
 and. yet no Administration was ever so full of them, so 
 monopolized by gentlemen of the long-robe, as his own. 
 It is true that under Louis-Philippe barristers occu- 
 pied too many of the important offices, but the principal 
 
 \0L. I. T 
 
274 MEMOIRS OF CO UNT HORA GE BE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 Ministers were always Broglies, Moles, Guizots, or 
 Thierses. To-day we have descended lower still. 
 Rouher is a barrister, Billault a barrister, Magne a 
 barrister, Abbatucci a barrister, and so on. A barrister 
 could not be found for the post of War Minister, but 
 the Minister of Foreign Affairs is a Polish Jew, a 
 bastard son of I^apoleon I., and the Minister of State 
 a bankrupt Jew, who, through the agency of his son, 
 manages to manipulate all important financial transac- 
 tions. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1856 {continued). 
 
 England and Italy — Italian and French students — Elope- 
 ment OF Madame de Silveyra — Monsieur Bonaparte- 
 Patterson — The Customs tariffs — Selfishness op 
 political parties — Cremieux — The Burmese Embassy 
 — General d'Orgoni — Russian protest against English 
 AND French policy in Naples and Greece — Walewski 
 
 SPECULATES ON THE BoURSE — MARSHAL NaRVAEZ RETURNS 
 
 TO POWER — Three extraordinary marriages — Breaking 
 
 OFF OP diplomatic RELATIONS WITH NaPLES TheDuCHESS 
 
 OP Genoa's mesalliance — Character of the guests at 
 Compiegne — France and the English Press — Selfish 
 POLICY OP England — French diplomacy defeated — 
 Estrangement between France and England — England 
 and India — Louis-Philippe and the King of Naples 
 — England must be bullied — The Crown Prince op 
 Prussia — Italian affairs. 
 
 August 20th. — The Emperor and Empress left yester- 
 day for Biarritz. England continues her Italian agita- 
 tion, and the Press is giving her powerful support. 
 The Piedmontese are rubbing their hands with glee, 
 and the King already pictures himself the Sovereign 
 
276 MEM 01 RS OF CO UNT HOE A CE DE VIE L CAS TEL. 
 
 of united Italy, with England as his ally, France in a 
 state of uneasiness, the Papacy abolished (to the joy 
 of all good Protestants), and Austria the laughing 
 stock of Europe. It will be an unhappy day for us all 
 when English intrigues succeed ; already Italy is full of 
 the elements of trouble. Mazzini will make profit out 
 of the game England and Piedmont are playing, and 
 France will be forced to intervene, unless, indeed, she 
 abandons for ever the great cause of Catholicism, the 
 work of her Emperor Charlemagne. 
 
 The King of Naples has replied to the despatches 
 and insults of England, saying that he does not admit 
 she has more right to interfere with the kingdom of 
 the two Sicilies than he would have to meddle with 
 the affairs of Ireland and India, and that the attempt 
 to coerce him is all the more incredible just at a time 
 when England and France have been engaged in a great 
 war, undertaken for the express purpose of prevent- 
 ing a feeble empire from being intimidated by a power- 
 ful one. 
 
 The Piedmontese students having expressed their 
 gratitude to the English papers which have advocated 
 and supported the cause of the Italian revolution, two 
 hundred self-styled French students, recruited at the 
 Chaumiere or some other pot-house, have imitated 
 their example, and thanked the four good French 
 pajyers, Le Steele, La Presse, VEstafette, and La Bevue 
 de Paris, for reproducing the Piedmontese students' 
 address. Here is an example of the style adopted by 
 these budding Mazzinians : 
 
 " We desire, therefore, to respond to our brothers of 
 
ITALIAN AND FRENCH STUDENTS. 277 
 
 Turin, wliose intention has not been merely to issue a 
 monarchical and Piedmontese circular, but rather to 
 give expression to patriotic aspirations for national 
 and Italian unity. We are desirous to extend the 
 hand of friendship across Mont-Cenis to a nation 
 with a long and glorious history, which lost its own 
 independence because it became too solicitous for 
 the welfare of the universe, and which now only seeks 
 to recover its freedom in order that in conjunction 
 with ourselves it may labour for the fraternal alliance 
 of all European peoples." 
 
 Such is the thinly-veiled language of these young 
 Socialists, who only yesterday left school and their 
 mothers' apron strings to study medicine and law, 
 and now set themselves up as the arbiters of the 
 universe. A respectable authority, indeed, to follow ! 
 
 The Universal Republicans of New York have just 
 resolved, under date of August 6th, that a meeting 
 shall be held on the 10th to take into consideration 
 the instant departure of those of its members who 
 desire to repair to whatever country first sounds the 
 tocsin of revolution. 
 
 All this is nectar to England, who begins to find 
 France too powerful by half. Italy must be set in 
 commotion in order to give the French something to 
 do and to think about, and to satisfy the cravings of 
 the Puritanical party in old England, who calmly 
 demand the expropriation of the Pope for the sake of 
 the public weal. 
 
 September Srd. — I have been ill, and my black book 
 has been closed in consequence, but lam now recovered, 
 
278 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 and must open it again, as I have a bit of scandal to 
 inscribe upon its pages. 
 
 Madame de Silveyra (Mdlle. de Menneval that was), 
 the wife of a member of the Portuguese Embassy, a 
 gambler without visible means of existence, who is 
 principally remarkable for having hitherto evaded social 
 ostracism, has just eloped with a certain young gentle- 
 man named de Louvencourt. Madame de Silveyra 
 is a leader of fashion, rather coquettish in her manner 
 and lax in her morals. She once remarked in my 
 hearing, with the only touch of simplicity I ever 
 observed in her : " I only care for gold." She is the 
 sister of Madame Murat, who for a long time has lived 
 publicly with Prince de la Moskowa, and her brother, 
 the little Baron de Menneval, is the Emperor's orderly 
 officer. 
 
 I am told that Moskowa, who has already had three 
 attacks of apoplexy, is given over by his doctors. 
 
 Mons. Bonaparte-Patterson took me aside when I 
 met him at the Imperial Club yesterday and assured me 
 that Princess Mathilde was incorrect in her statement 
 that he had resigned his commission in the French, 
 cavalry. Why have started such a story ? What is 
 the object of such misleading rumours ? I know not. 
 
 September lili. — The working classes throughout 
 the towns of Normandy and Picardy are violently 
 excited about the proposed reduction in the Customs 
 tariffs, and there will probably be some danger just 
 now in touching the protective dues. 
 
 September lltli. — Many people are living in a fool's 
 paradise. After every revolutionary crisis, there are 
 
SELFISHNESS OF PARTIES. 279 
 
 persons who, believing that all danger is over, and that 
 there is nothing more to fear, allow theraselves, in 
 defiance of all experience, to be lulled into a feeling of 
 false security. 
 
 The different political parties, which were for a 
 moment the victims of fright, are now regaining con- 
 fidence and resuming their old quarrels. Those who 
 call themselves the party of order say : " It is for the 
 Government to protect society," and, as soon as their 
 terror is allayed, theyi^evert to their internal divisions, 
 leavins^ the authorities to combat sino^le-handed with 
 the anarchists and others who do not allow their 
 objects to be frustrated, or their cause to be weakened 
 by foolish dissensions. 
 
 What a fright they were in, in what abject terror, in 
 1848 and again on December 2nd, were these fine gen- 
 tlemen, who have now resumed their old Legitimist 
 and Orleanist conspiracies, these ridiculous, vain, 
 middle-class politicians who always side with the Oppo- 
 sition and Irreconcilables when once their courage is 
 restored. 
 
 For some time an extensive conspiracy, under an 
 economic disguise, has been on foot against the Govern- 
 ment. The Orleanists are assisting the movement 
 through their organ the Dehais, and the rest of the 
 imbeciles are joining in chorus. It has reference to 
 the lowering of the duties, and France is divided into 
 two camps, consisting of Protectionists and Free- 
 traders. A lively agitation has resulted, and the ques- 
 tion is being threshed out by the Conseils Generaux. 
 If the protection of French industry is given up 
 
 -^ 
 
280 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE BE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 and free-trade is established a terrible crisis will 
 follow ; the minds of the working classes are so excited 
 on the subject that a revolution may take place at any 
 moment. 
 
 Letting alone the discontent of the manufacturers, 
 one of the effects of free-trade will be the lowering of 
 wages, and the working man, who is already scarcely 
 able to exist with the present price of labour, will be 
 reduced to penury. Wherever the railways penetrate 
 food and lodging become dearer, without any corres- 
 ponding increase in wages ; this has already given the 
 Conseils Generaux cause for uneasiness, and their 
 anxiety will be alarmingly augmented by the advent of 
 free- trade. 
 
 A Government which is consolidating its position 
 and requires peace should not introduce so radical a 
 measure into its economical system. It is not wise to 
 smoke over a barrel of gunpowder. 
 
 The gentlemen of the Debats are urging Messieurs 
 Chevalier and Koechlin to inaugurate free-trade, they 
 even go so far as to praise the Emperor and promise 
 him all their support in the hope that he will fall into 
 the snare ! How they would rub their hands if he 
 did so, for their only dream is of the Count de Paris, 
 and that good and zealous Protestant the Duchess 
 d'Orleans, for whose edification two or three excellent 
 Catholic prelates are every day roasted alive. 
 
 They cheer free-trade at the top of their voices, and 
 blow their political trumpets, but it simply means after 
 all : " Revolutions are our game, they will clear the 
 atmosphere, and enable us to settle down under the 
 
CR:EAIIEUX. 281 
 
 energiziDg influence of parliamentary government, with 
 the Count de Paris, bis august mother, and the illus- 
 trious Ministers, Thiers and Guizot, at the head of it. 
 
 Old jugglers of the parliamentary arena, how abso- 
 lutely you resemble the irreconeilables of 1815. You 
 have learned nothing and forgotten nothing ! 
 
 Another very disquieting sign in France is that there 
 is scarcely anyone left who takes the least heed of the 
 public interest ; things are allowed to drift. People 
 are becoming rather like the Gauls of the fifth century, 
 who made their offerings to the Muses, and then shut 
 themselves up in their " villas," not wishing to hear 
 the approach of the barbarians whose invasion became 
 daily more imminent. 
 
 The public functionaries are either timid, venal, or 
 incapable, and the Magistracy, under the direction of 
 Abbatucci, is distinctly hostile. 
 
 Quite recently the advocate Cremieux went to con- 
 duct a case at Limoges, where the Bench received him 
 with a kind of ovation. He dined with the President 
 of the Court and the Judo-es, and durino: dessert 
 greatly amused those worthies with some rather 
 doubtful anecdotes about the Emperor and Empress. 
 The party was most hilarious. 
 
 Cremieux said to one of the Judges who had failed 
 in an application he had made to Abbatucci : "Why 
 the devil did you allow yourself to be recommended by 
 the Right Honourable the Count de la Gueronniere ? a 
 man who calls himself Count and places the prefix 
 * de ' before his name. Abbatucci, my dear Judge, is 
 a true Ptepublican of the olden time ; he detests, as I 
 
282 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL, 
 
 do, all titles of nobility. We are the best friends in 
 the world, and I could have arranged the matter for 
 you without difficulty had you come to me." Such 
 language as this requires no comment. 
 
 September 26th. — We are about to receive an 
 embassy from the King of Burmah. The ambas- 
 sador-in-chief, General d'Orgoni, probably arrived in 
 Paris this morning. Before 1830 he was a non- 
 commissioned officer in the Mounted Chasseurs of 
 the Guard, and was then called Girandeau. In 1832 
 he took part, during the Brittany War, with the 
 Royalists, after which he served under Marshal Bour- 
 mont in Don Miguel's army, where he gained the rank 
 of Captain. After Don Miguel's defeat Girandeau 
 spent some time in Italy, and then went to the island 
 of Bourbon. There he started a riding-school, and 
 married an old Rear-Admiral's daughter, who died 
 and left him a widower after eighteen months 
 of married bliss. The year following he married 
 another of the Eear-Admiral's daughters, bub there 
 seemed to be a fatality connected with these 
 marriages, for in a very short time she died also. 
 Finally, in 1847, his resources having come to an end,, 
 and being hard pressed by his creditors, Girandeau 
 changed his name to Orgoni, which was a family 
 patronymic, set sail for India, and, after many changes 
 of fortune, became General-in-Chief of the Burmese 
 army. D'Orgoni detests the English, and is entirely 
 devoted to French interests. 
 
 September 29th. — The Cologne Gazette has given 
 publicity during the last few days to a circular issued 
 
RUSSIAN PROTEST. 28S 
 
 from the Russian Chancellor's Office. It has been 
 copied into all the papers, and is, in my opinion, an 
 important document. It has reference to the pressure 
 which the Powers, more especially France and Eng- 
 land, are bringing to bear upon the kingdoms of 
 Naples and Greece. 
 
 In principle, and according to strict equity, Russia 
 is perfectly right, when in dignified and moderate 
 language she says that she fails to understand how, 
 after proclaiming and sustaining by force of arms the 
 equality of sovereigns and the respect due to weak 
 Powers from strong ones, it can now be thought con- 
 sistent to put pressure upon an inferior nation 
 in regard to the administration and government of 
 its own internal affairs. Russia, furthermore, says 
 that she cannot ally herself with such a policy, and 
 instructs her agents to protest against any acts con- 
 sequent upon it. 
 
 As far as regards Naples, Russia is entirely in the 
 right ; but with respect to Greece her position is not 
 so logical. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the Grecian Kingdom 
 is the work of Europe, the joint achievement of 
 the Powers. She is, therefore, under their tutelage, 
 supported by their influence and purse, and still in 
 their debt. That being so, the Powers have aright to 
 intervene in her affairs, and to interest themselves in 
 a country in which they are in a sense conjoint 
 partners. 
 
 But in Naples there is no such right of intervention ; 
 the King owes nothing to the Powers, and he is not 
 
284 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 their debtor. Without their assistance he suppressed 
 the Revolution of 1848, which was, moreover, largely 
 due to interference on the part of England. 
 
 The despatch of the fleets is a hostile demonstration 
 against the Neapolitan King, and a further source of 
 delight to the revolutionary party, while the co- 
 operation of the Sardinian war- vessels, few as they 
 may be, is an act of monstrosity. 
 
 Sardinia is the centre of all Italian agitation, and 
 the place of refuge for revolutionists from every 
 part of the peninsula. Under the guidance of Monsieur 
 de Cavour, that kingdom aspires to the dominion of 
 the whole of Italy, and France allows her to come and 
 parade herself under the very shadow of her flag in the 
 Bay of Naples. 
 
 England pushes foru^ard Sardinia, whom she wishes 
 to see paramount in Italy, because in that case she 
 weakens Austria, and creates future embarrassment 
 for France, also because, as a Protestant Power, she 
 foresees that the success of her project will sooner or 
 later lead to the abolition of the Papal authority. 
 
 All this is an extremely grave matter, and exhibits 
 our diplomatists in a very poor light. Persigny, in 
 London, is a mockery ; and Bourquency, in Vienna, a 
 simple farce. 
 
 I veritably believe that the end of the world is ap- 
 proaching, for governments and nations alike are 
 becoming insane. 
 
 Whenever a revolution triumphs, never mind how 
 monstrous it may be, England cries out " No inter- 
 
WALEWSKI SPECULATES. 285 
 
 vention ! " but wlien royalty is in the ascendant, then, 
 forsooth, she proclaims a crusade. 
 
 October 12th. — A matter which is of serious import- 
 ance to Walewski, serious, indeed, from all points of 
 view, is now being publicly talked about. Although 
 actually Minister of Foreign Affairs, Walewski has 
 been speculating on the Bourse and lost his money. 
 Manuel, his stockbroker, has applied to him for consi- 
 derable sums due for differences. He has offered to pay 
 a part of his debt, but Manuel says : *' No, it is either 
 owed me, or it is not. I can consent to no compro- 
 mise ; you shall pay me the whole amount or petition 
 the Courts to adjudge it a debt of honour." In order 
 to avoid a scandal the Emperor has paid the money. 
 
 This happened at the time the Congress was sitting 
 in Paris. 
 
 It is to be noted, therefore, that a Minister can 
 speculate in tbe public funds, render himself amenable 
 to the law, and get off scot free with the Grand Cross 
 of the Legion of Honour as his reward ! 
 
 La Gueronniere told me yesterday that he was 
 talkinsr with Fould about the financial crisis that 
 has depleted so many fortunes, and of the evils in- 
 separable from the passion for speculation, and that 
 Fould had emphatically remarked : " Yes, all this 
 proves the more conclusively that work is the only and 
 the surest road to fortune ! " 
 
 Octoher l^tJi. — Have returned from St. Gratien, 
 which I found in a state of faction and gossip. 
 Princess Mathilde's little court is curiously composed, 
 no one seems to live on good terms there with his 
 
286 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 neighbour. The Princess is very capricious in her 
 friendships, and frequently changes her favourites 
 both male and female. But the Reisets and the two 
 Girauds still reign, and Nieuwerkerke still governs. 
 
 Madame de Serlay has grown jealous, and has 
 treated Madame Reiset with scant courtesy. Explana- 
 tions have been demanded, and the Princess and 
 General Bougenel have had to interfere ; everything, 
 in fact, is as fish-wife in tone as it can well be. 
 
 The Empress, Prince Jerome, and his son paid a 
 visit to St. Gratien on Saturday. 
 
 October 14^th. — Important news reached us from 
 Spain yesterday. Marshal O'Donnel and the Ministry 
 have resigned, and Marshal Narvaez has been charged 
 to form a Government. Ever since the last Spanish 
 revolution began I have constantly predicted that 
 directly Marshal Narvaez set his foot in Spain he 
 would make short work of such revolutionary leaders 
 as O'Donnel and Prim. I defended this opinion yes- 
 terday at the Imperial Club against the Marquis de 
 Benalua, an old Spanish diplomatist ; he is a keen- 
 scented politician, and, generally speaking, a very good 
 judge of events, but he attributes in this instance too 
 much importance to Prim and O'Donnel. 
 
 What will happen now ? Neither I nor anyone else 
 can foresee. For my part I do not wish to know what 
 Narvaez' s programme is to be. I care little for pro- 
 grammes. All I want to know is how he will act, and 
 what course he will adopt in order to rid Spain of her 
 Esparteros, O'Donnels and Prims. 
 
 There is nothing fresh from Naples. 
 
THREE EXTRAORDINARY MARRIAGES. 287 
 
 The big wigs of our Court are very mucli exercised 
 just now. The Emperor has commanded that during 
 the residence of the Court at Compiegne the wearers 
 of the " button " are to dine in hunting coats, white 
 breeches, silk stockings, and patent-leather shoes, a 
 decree which, strange to relate, has at present drawn 
 forth no protest from the European Powers ! 
 
 Three extraordinary marriages have recently taken 
 place. E. de Girardin espouses the reigning beauty of 
 Paris during the past winter, Mdlle. de Tiffembach, a 
 delightful blonde, very elegant, and a great coquette. 
 She is said to be the natural daughter of the Duke of 
 Nassau, but, whether that be so or not, it is well known 
 that her mother was the Duke's mistress. 
 
 The Duchess de Mouchy has married Mons. Pinel, 
 late Secretary General to the Prefecture of Police, who 
 is allied to the Noailles throuofh a left-handed mar- 
 
 riage. 
 
 Lastly, Louis de Noailles, the younger brother of the 
 late Duke de Mouchy, is married to the daughter of an 
 old soldier pensioner at the Hotel des Invalides. For 
 some time past he has been paying his addresses to the 
 young person, taking his glass with her father, and 
 playing piquet of an evening with her mother, who sells 
 salad at the Gros Caillou. The Noailles are an unfor- 
 tunate family. 
 
 October 21st. — A paragraph in the Moniteur of 
 yesterday announces the breaking off of diplomatic 
 relations between France and England and the 
 kingdom of Naples. The ambassadors have left the 
 country, but the fleets will not take possession of the 
 
r 
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTE L. 
 
 Bay of Naples. In the paragraph in question it is 
 stated that the King of Naples has not yielded to the 
 friendly representations of France and England as 
 Belgium and Grreece have done, and that the system of 
 coercion adopted by the King of Naples being a 
 constant menace to the peace of Europe, the allied 
 Great Powers have thought it their duty to break off 
 diplomatic relations without, at the same time, having 
 recourse to actively hostile measures. Europe at the 
 present moment is far from being in a normal or 
 tranquil state, for, besides the Neapolitan business and 
 the financial crisis, the affairs of the Danubian 
 Principalities, the navigation of the Danube, and the 
 misunderstanding between England and Persia, are all 
 matters of serious moment. 
 
 The Duchess of Genoa having formed an imprudent 
 intimacy with a captain in the Piedmontese army, she 
 confided her condition to her brother-in-law, the King 
 of Piedmont, who did everything in his power to keep 
 the matter a profound secret, but in this he reckoned 
 without the Duchess's confessor, the Bishop of Turin. 
 This prelate would not allow so admirable an op- 
 portunity of showing his spite to the King of 
 Piedmont to pass, ill-feeling being admittedlj?- as 
 strong in the Church as in politics. One morning, 
 therefore, without previous warning or formality of 
 any kind, the King learns that his sister-in-law has 
 just been married by the Bishop to the aforesaid 
 captain. 
 
 The Duchess of Genoa, who was a Saxon Princess, 
 is sent back to her country, the custody of her children 
 
THE GUESTS AT COMPIEGNE. 289 
 
 is taken from her, and her husband is deprived of his 
 commission for having married without the King's 
 consent. 
 
 October 22nd. — After the review of troops, which 
 took place at Yincennes a few days ago, and when the 
 Emperor was returning to Paris by the Faubourg St. 
 Antoine, some workmen placed themselves in his way 
 and cried, " Vive la Republiqne ! " They were im- 
 mediately arrested. 
 
 If I ever required proof that Paris is the most gos- 
 siping place in the world I have now got it. At the 
 present moment I am building on some land close to 
 the Bois de Boulogne, and in the avenue leading to the 
 Porte des Princes, a little house, half stone, half brick, 
 in the style of Louis XIII. The whole of the ground, 
 garden included, is about 750 yards square, and the 
 land and building will cost me 28,000 francs. To fill 
 the house I have a lot of old furniture, porcelain, and 
 odd follies that I have been collecting for some time, 
 curious in their way, but nothing more. Well, the 
 news has got about, how I know not, that I am 
 building and furnishing a sumptuous palace, and that 
 I have made an enormous fortune by speculations, &c., 
 &c. How I shall be lionized this winter ! 
 
 The gathering at Compiegne is a curious one; the 
 Court is really not very happy in its selection. 
 Literature is represented by Count Alfred de Yigny, 
 a sort of musical Dorat, who tries to wear his hair like 
 Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, plasters his face, aud 
 touches up his lips to make them pink ; in fact, he 
 resembles an old woman dressed in man's attire 
 VOL. I. w 
 
290 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HOB ACE DE VIEL CASTE L. 
 
 contrary to police regulations. De Yigny has been 
 clever in his fashion, but now has nothing left but affec- 
 tation ; he simpers, screws up his mouth to make some 
 remark which is generally inaudible, and affects little 
 roguish ways. He has the very greatest respect for 
 his own person, and considers himself so inimitable 
 that he even watches his own shadow with affectionate 
 interest. He has ceased to write any more, however, 
 for fear of making a hash of it. 
 
 October 2ord. — We will not pursue the biography of 
 the Compiegne guests any further ; it might tempt us 
 too far. Prince Beauvau, who is one of the party, is one 
 of the greatest bores I know. Prince de Bauffremont 
 is a nonentity wrapped up in the skin of an old beau. 
 Count de Caumont la Force is an old roue with ques- 
 tionable manners, whose wife was assassinated less than 
 a year ago. The Marquis de Caulaincourt is a plucky 
 fellow, who lost his sight in the army, but he is by no 
 means bright. Count Frederick de Lagrange adds to 
 a bad reputation an inordinate vanity. Baron Hallez 
 Claparede is as tiring as autumn rain. Baron de 
 Eothschild will, perhaps, amuse the assembly with 
 some financial calculations. Aubert and Meyerbeer 
 will talk music with Yerdi, and Horace Yernet and 
 Isabey will distribute their puns. The Marquis of 
 Hertford is very clever and amusing, but Ossuna, 
 Sclafani, and the Prince de Croye are outsiders. 
 
 Fill up the background of this picture with Minis- 
 ters, Generals, and officials, with Madames Magne, 
 Hamelin, EouUand, Troplong, Baroche, and Magnan, 
 and if you do not admit that the society is a very pretty 
 
FRANCE AND THE ENGLISH PRESS. 291 
 
 and select assortment you are really too difficult to 
 please. 
 
 October 24<tli. — The following paragraph, which 
 appears to-day in the unofficial part of the Moniteitr, 
 is not without significance : — 
 
 " Paris, October 23rd. 
 
 " For some time past certain English newspapers 
 have endeavoured to spread calumnious reports con- 
 cerninof the French Government, which are the more 
 safely indulged in since, being of anonymous origin, 
 they can only be replied to with contempt. We are 
 aware of the great respect accorded to the Press in 
 England and the freedom it enjoys, so much so that in 
 calling attention to its misdeeds we only wish to appeal 
 to the good sense and loyalty of the English people, 
 and to warn them against the dangers of a system 
 which, while diminishing the good feeling between the 
 two Governments, may also tend to destroy the friend- 
 ship of two nations whose continued alliance is the 
 surest guarantee of the peace of the world." 
 
 The Eno-lish alliance will soon be what I have 
 always thought it would become, an alliance the dura- 
 tion of which is assured so long as all the advantages 
 are on the side of England. 
 
 This nation urges us on in the Neapolitan affair, 
 and desires that we should be more energetic. The 
 fact is, she wants to possess herself of Sicily and the 
 sulphur mines of Naples. A great deal too compli- 
 mentary to France during the Crimean war, where her 
 own army made a very poor figure, and during the 
 expedition to the Baltic, which her fleet did not 
 
292 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 succeed in Anglicizing, she now resumes her arrogant 
 tone. Our expedition to the Crimea will have been 
 made simply for the purpose of facilitating her designs 
 against Persia, and in acknowledgment of our assist- 
 ance she proceeds to upset Italy, and place on our 
 flank, strengthened in influence and power, her ally the 
 King of Piedmont. 
 
 October ^Ist. — Some of the English papers approve 
 of the paragraph in the Moniteur, but others continue 
 their aggressive tone. In point of fact, we are not 
 in agreement with England either as regards the 
 Danubian Principalities or the Neapolitan question. 
 Matters are very strained. 
 
 On the other hand, the Orleanists and Sociahsts are 
 bent on agitation, in which they are seconded by the 
 dearness of food and lodging, the commercial and 
 financial depression, and the state of affairs on the 
 Bourse. 
 
 The Court is at Compi^gne, and will move from 
 there to Fontainbleau. It has just come from Biarritz, 
 after previously spending a month at Plombieres. 
 These holidays are thought to be a good deal too pro- 
 tracted. Considerable dissatisfaction is also felt with 
 the diplomatic 7^dZe we are playing in Europe. Nothing 
 can be more abject than two-thirds of our diplomatic 
 agents. It is time that the Emperor awoke to the 
 situation. 
 
 November 7th. — The position of affairs gives cause 
 for anxiety. It seems certain that England and 
 Austria have come to an understanding with regard 
 to Turkey. These two Powers have agreed to pro- 
 
ENGLISH POLICY. 293 
 
 long the occupation of the Black Sea and the 
 Danubian Principalities. It is also said that England 
 thinks of occupying with her troops some place in 
 Sicily as a set-off against the presence of the French 
 in Rome, and of the Austrians in the States of the 
 Church. But England forgets that France and 
 Austria were appealed to by the Roman Government 
 because it was unable to defend itself alone against the 
 revolution by which it was menaced. 
 
 For a month past the English Press has been un- 
 restrained in its violence against the French Govern- 
 ment ; the alliance, indeed, is at an end, and the Con- 
 gress, which was to have held further sittings in Paris, 
 will not meet again, because, as the Austrian papers 
 put it, in the present condition of distrust and irrita- 
 tion between the European Cabinets a meeting would 
 be fraught with more danger than utility. Besides, 
 adds the Austrian Press, England will know how to 
 defend the Treaty of Paris ! 
 
 The Turkish Ministry which demanded the evacua- 
 tion of the Principalities and the withdrawal of the 
 English fleet has been superseded. 
 
 Our diplomacy is defeated everywhere and at all 
 points, owing to the incapacity of our agents, during 
 which time the Court is amusing itself at Compiegne 
 at a cost of " thirty-five thousand francs a day." 
 
 The English ambassador and the Marquis of Hert- 
 ford are the only two persons of distinction who are 
 invited to stay the whole of the time the Court is 
 there. 
 
 November- 14th. — The Emperor's reply to the address 
 
294 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CASTEL. 
 
 presented to him by the Russian ambassador. Count 
 de Kisselef, is the subject of general conversation. It is 
 held to be very friendly to Russia, and people see in it 
 a confirmation of the understanding which gives so 
 much umbrage to England. 
 
 I do not believe, as all the enemies of the Grovern- 
 ment do, that we have altogether burnt the writings, 
 but we do not see thing^s in the same lio^ht. We are 
 particularly averse, after acting as the ally of England 
 in a matter of general European interest, to become 
 her tool in a cause in which her own interest alone is 
 involved. We do not wish to engage in war afresh 
 merely to add to her preponderance. 
 
 England separates from us and allies herself with 
 Austria in the affair of the Principalities and the 
 Black Sea, a different cause altogether from that with 
 which we went to the Crimea. Let her by all means, 
 if she wishes to, only let it be a lesson to us in the 
 future not to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked by 
 English friendship. 
 
 Our marriage with England was one of prudence. 
 The moment that common-sense ceases to confirm the 
 conditions of the alliance, let the Divorce Court inter- 
 vene. Russia and Prussia are drawing closer to us. 
 Austria coquettes with England, and her ambassador, 
 it is stated this morning, is the only foreign diplomatist 
 invited by the Emperor of Austria to accompany him 
 during his journey to Italy. 
 
 I dined alone with Marshal Canrobert yesterday. 
 He is a very agreeable man, a little conscious of his 
 own dignity, perhaps, but this is noticeable rather in 
 
ESTRANGEMENT WITH ENGLAND. 295 
 
 his manner and attitude than in his speech. He talks 
 well on the subject of the war, and without ostenta- 
 tion. 
 
 Walewski will probably leave the Ministry, and 
 Billault, they say, is to be replaced by Roulland. The 
 dismissal of the former will be no loss, that of the 
 latter will be much to the Emperor's credit. 
 
 November 17th. — The English alliance is still rather 
 shaky, and the Times remarks that if it is not con- 
 solidated before the meeting of Parliament there is 
 great risk of a rupture. England is exercising all her 
 influence, and wishes to frighten us into joining in her 
 aggressive policy. She pretends, too, that we are to 
 participate in the advantages accruing from all her 
 enterprises. To be agreeable to her, therefore, we 
 have declined to receive the embassy Persia proposed 
 to send to us, and have snubbed General d'Orgoni, who 
 came to arrange a very desirable commercial treaty 
 with the King of Burmah. Poor General d'Orgoni is 
 really too badly treated, he is barely listened to, can get 
 no answer to his proposals, and the Foreign Minister 
 scarcely condescends to receive him. 
 
 The sole object of the English alliance is to range 
 us among her satellites, and make us in a sort of 
 manner her police constable. The interests of Prance 
 should lead us in another direction. It is contrary to 
 all sane policy to support England's ambitious views 
 with regard to Sicily, and to facilitate her complete 
 absorption of India. She has raised the cry of " Stop 
 thief " against Russia in order to mask her own dis- 
 honest projects ; no one has even the right to look at 
 
296 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 India, and to facilitate the defence of that immense 
 colony, consisting of whole kingdoms under the sub- 
 jection and sway of a company of London merchants ; 
 she now wishes to get a footing in some Persian pro- 
 vince. Persia's point of attack, be it noted, is not so 
 much India as Herat, which is a sort of half-way- 
 house. 
 
 What England does in India she wishes to do in 
 Italy, and that ostentatious sympathy with the poor 
 Italians is only a piece of acting in which she is 
 seconded by the King of Piedmont. Manin, who is in 
 Paris, said a day or two ago : " France and England 
 want to best the Italians, and it is for that reason 
 that I will not allow myself to be taken in with all 
 this fuss about Naples. England wants to dominate 
 Italy with her onerous protection, while France wants 
 to force some Murat or other upon the throne of the 
 two Sicilies. We, who are real Italians, do not wish 
 for all this humbug ; we look forward to a united Italy, 
 either in the form of a Kingdom or a Republic, and as 
 for the new dynasty they wish to plant upon us, we after 
 all much prefer the race of Neapolitan Bourbons, who 
 have become naturalized, and whom we can respect." 
 
 The Fresse and the Independence have published 
 within the last few days a letter from Louis-Philippe 
 to the King of Naples, in which the monarch of the 
 Revolution counsels his nephew to make concessions, 
 and avail himself of the example afforded by France. 
 The King of Naples, in his reply, which is also pub- 
 lished, says that he does not wish to suffer either the 
 fate of Louis XVI. or of Charles X., that he intends to 
 remain King to the end of the chapter, and that it is 
 
ENGLAND MUST BE BULLIED. 297 
 
 his business to think and act for his people, to whom 
 he wishes to secure peace and a good and honest 
 administration, and that, moreover, he does not intend 
 to take his example from French politics, which have 
 been the horror and scandal of Europe. 
 
 Louis-Philippe, with his policy of concession, lost 
 his throne ; the King of Naples, with his policy of re- 
 sistance, still retains his; moreover it is not revolution 
 that will depose him, but probably the active assist- 
 ance France and England will give to his enemies. 
 England was not very concerned about the massacres 
 of the priests which took place in 1848, and was on 
 sufficiently good terms with the Ledru-Rollins and Louis 
 Blancs when they attempted to ruin France and 
 oppress the sanest portion of her population. She 
 covenants with all rebels, and naturally enough, there- 
 fore, sides against a King who takes his precautions 
 against the emissaries of revolution. 
 
 What the devil does France want to mix herself up 
 in this mess for ? Is it on account of Murat and his 
 connection Chassiron ? That would, indeed, be an ex- 
 cellent joke ! 
 
 Our Ministry forgets that to be on good terms with 
 England you must make yourself respected. She 
 must be bullied. She is like those women who 
 adore husbands who beat them. Look at America. 
 America insults England, scoffs at her, hunts her 
 Minister out of the country, and violates her treaties, 
 and yet England stands it all, no expression on her 
 physiognomy betrays the pain she suffers from the 
 kicks she receives behind. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
2 98 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 December 4th. — England has at length succeeded in 
 exciting a revolution in Sicily. It is not yet known 
 what the gravity of the crisis is, but the Neapolitan 
 army is very much distracted with revolutionary pro- 
 clamations. The English fleet in the Black Sea is 
 augmented by a number of vessels. England doubt- 
 less hopes by means of the Neapolitan and Neuchatel 
 business to blind Europe as to her designs in the East. 
 
 Our alliance with England is compromised because 
 we will not act the part of her very humble servants. 
 There is no abuse of us too gross for the English 
 newspapers, and I shall not be at all surprised if 
 before very long the refugees enjoying English pro- 
 tection do not excite some troubles in France. Wal- 
 weski and Morny are above all the objects of the 
 bitterest attacks of the English Press, but the 
 Emperor himself comes in for his share of abuse. 
 
 The Times tells him " that the restoration in France 
 collapsed a very few months after the coolness which 
 arose with England on account of the expedition to 
 Algiers, and that Louis-Philippe's fall dated from the 
 disagreement about the Spanish marriages." 
 
 This comes in the form of a little friendly advice, 
 but it is, at the same time, a documentary statement, 
 which is not without importance, as throwing light 
 upon the existing causes of our two last revolutions. 
 
 The Crown Prince of Prussia has just paid his 
 second visit to the Museum. He was here at nine 
 o'clock. Nieuwerkerke having gone shooting I had 
 the honour of escorting the Prince through the Gallery 
 of Antiquities. He is a young man with distinguished 
 presence and an agreeable face, courteous, intelligent, 
 
ITALIAN AFFAIRS. • 299 
 
 and extremely fond of art, of wliicli lie speaks with 
 the knowledge of a connoisseur. 
 
 The Moniteur of this morning contains a very im- 
 portant announcement with regard to the Neuchatel 
 affair. The Government therein says that all its con- 
 ciliatory endeavours have failed through the obstinacy 
 of the Swiss and the advice given to them by in- 
 cendiary leaders, and that the Swiss will now only 
 have themselves to thank if rigorous measures are 
 adopted. 
 
 England fans the beginning of every conflagration 
 in order to free her hand in Persia. 
 
 That selfish people, that country of egotism called 
 England, wishes to set up as law that no one has the 
 right to interfere with India or the kings she dethrones 
 there, the Empires she overthrows, the dynasties she 
 strangles, while she herself is everywhere else to have 
 a finger in the pie. She raises a hue and cry against 
 Russian designs in the East, and excites a tempest 
 against France on account of Algeria. England is the 
 old Rome of the Emperors, and all the rest of the 
 world is composed of tributary kingdoms ! 
 
 December 19th. — There was a little dance at the 
 Tuileries yesterday, at which some Egyptian Highness 
 was the most notable person present. 
 
 On Wednesday I dined at Princess Mathilde's with 
 Vimercati, aide-de-camp to the King of Sardinia, and 
 La Grueronniere. The affairs of Italy were the principal 
 topic of conversation. Benedetti came in after dinner. 
 The Princess, as usual, was very revolutionary in her 
 language about Italy, and spoke in a most deplorable 
 manner of the clergy. Vimercati also indulged in 
 
3'00 MEMOIRS OF COUNT HORACE DE VIEL CAS TEL. 
 
 Utopianism, according to the order of the day in 
 Turin : *' the papacy ousted from Rome," &c., &c., and 
 then always the same ill-disguised : '' Yes, we have 
 been masters of the world." 
 
 I answered him : " You are no more ancient Romans 
 than the Turks are Greeks of the Byzantine Empire. 
 You Lombards were a northern race of invaders. You 
 were intruders just as the Germans are intruders at 
 the present day. And, besides, what is the record of 
 your history from the time of the middle ages until 
 now ? A succession of internecine struggles, wars 
 waged to determine what foreign Prince should hold 
 the Duchy of Milan. If to-day the freedom of Italy 
 were proclaimed, to-morrow we should see this town 
 holding that one by the throat. Pope Pius IX. endea- 
 voured to govern by constitutional methods, and 
 how has he been rewarded? They assassinated his 
 Minister, a man of mark, on the steps of the Consti- 
 tuent Assembly, and when the members of the house 
 were informed of the horrible deed they agreed to 
 proceed with the previous question. The bust of 
 the murderer was crowned with flowers, and carried 
 from cafe to cafe, and the Pope's palace was attacked 
 by armed men. Again, during the reign of the Roman 
 convention priests were massacred at Saint Firmin. 
 
 *' Italy is menaced by mad passions, which England 
 and Sardinia are too prone to foment ; honest 
 Utopians like yourself, my dear Vimercati, will be 
 amons: the first victims of the coming revolution." 
 
 END OP VOL. I. 
 
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