Chapter I (4)

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

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

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

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

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

TO MY GRANDSON,

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

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

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

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

M. the Prince de Joinville was at Jerusalem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[52] Afterwards Napoleon III.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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