his age (he was, however, 23 years old), [ Jules de Polignac. To get rid of him the Jules begged of his judges to hang him in- king offered him the legation of Munich, stead of his brother who had a family. which he refused, but he was prevailed upThis niaiserie which, in any other country, on to accept that of Ambassador at Rome, would be received with the contempt which where the Pope, for his temporal and spirit deserves, even on the stage, was related itual merits, raised him to the rank of with great solemnity to the French peers Prince of the Holy Roman Church-an orby the counsel of Jules Polignac, as a proof der which may be safely said to number of his magnanimity! His brother was con- amongst its members a larger proportion of demned to death, but imprisoned instead of fools, knaves, and beggars, than any other being executed Jules himself was sen- order in Christendom. tenced to two years' imprisonment; yet by one of those iniquitous acts of despotism, for which Napoleon will ever be execrated, his imprisonment was prolonged to 1814, when, thanks, to the political events, he was restored to liberty.* Not long after, Prince Polignac was called to the House of Peers, but he himself, as well as some of his colleagues, all of them among the most intimate friends of the Count d'Artois, put difficulties in the way to their promotion. They refused to The Count d'Artois (afterwards Charles take the oath of fidelity to the constitution, X.), brother of Louis XVIII., had, from because it proclaimed an unlimited tolerahis earliest days, contracted a strong affec- tion of all religions! They considered tion for M. Jules de Polignac; the latter themselves entitled to make certain reservaprofessed for that prince a most unbounded tions to their oath, as they deemed it eviaffection. Different from his brother in dent that the fundamental laws of the State many respects, the Count d'Artois put him- were to harmonize with the dominant reself, during that brother's reign, at the head ligion, and that it was against their conof an opposition, composed of all the bigots sciences as Catholics that they were asked who re-entered France in 1814, after hav- to swear fidelity to a constitution which ing emigrated from 20 to 25 years before, was an outrage to their creed. Louis and who expected to find the country just XVIII., was forced to say, in the speech as they had left it when they ran away. from the throne, that the charter assured To remedy the evils of the French Revolu- to the Catholic religion the pre-eminence tion, it was only necessary, in their opin- which was its due; and after they had ion, to reinstate what had produced that brought their Sovereign to say this to please event. An aristocracy without talents, them, these loyal noblemen took their oaths virtues, or riches; a clergy without morals, toleration, or Christian charity; a profligate court and an unrestrained king,-the one to devour what the other plundered from the people, were required, according to the Count d'Artois and his friends, to make France happy and contented. This party, having the heir-presumptive at their head, caused great uneasiness and troubles to the government of Louis XVIII. One of the most influential among these frondeurs was * So said M. Martignac in his defence:-"Les évènemens de 1814, lui rendirent la liberté. The Count d'Artois was at the head of the and their seats. A few years afterwards, Prince Polignac was sent ambassador to London, where he continued till he was, in an evil moment for his country, his king, and himself, appointed Prime Minister of France. Of this we shall speak hereafter. Now that we know the writer, we may pass over his history of the Revolutionary period to 1814, and be certain that we cannot lose much that is impartial and worth knowing. With respect to the subsequent times, our author begins by objecting, and we must say with great justice, to the territorial arrangements of 1814. Never was cabal against Richelieu in 1821. Richelieu knew there a more reckless disregard to the hapthe power of the prince and his party, and he piness of all the nations of Europe-never would not accept office till after having received, a more barefaced abuse of brutal strength, from the Count d'Artois, his assurance, on the than that which was displayed in the treaword of a gentleman, that he would support the administration. On discovering the treacherous ties which those who had the power conconduct of the prince, Richelieu had an interview cluded. Look at Belgium, at Poland, at with him, when he addressed him as follows:- Saxony, at Italy, at Norway! Were the "I did not know that the prince was not bound by wishes, the feelings, the wants, of the unthe word of the gentleman." Lacretelle, who relates this anecdote (Histoire de la France depuis la Restauration, chap. 38) adds :-"I have the most undoubted certainty of the truth of this fact." happy millions of human beings who were shared among the plunderers, ever taken for a moment into consideration? What other power except that of the bayonet | (P. 178). How could the throne be saved forced them into submission? What other when Villèle not only did not take any of regard was had in the partition and the ar- the above steps in favor of the clergy, but rangements but to the ambition, the greedi- actually allowed his administration to exness, the selfishness of the strongest? So pire without breaking those territorial infar we agree with Prince Polignac; but dividualities called départments, and re-eswe go farther, and ask-What right had tablishing the old names of the French we to force the Bourbons on France, and Provinces ? When he did nothing-acto set loose the most ferocious chief of the tually nothing, can it be believed?-for Spanish branch of that family on Spain? wresting her sceptre from a wicked daughWould the French, the Spaniards, the Ital- ter of the Revolution called Public Opinians, left to themselves, have ever recalled ion, which continued to rule the Chambers, the Pope to his temporal dominions? Part and sowed leisurely the seeds of discord? of this colossal building, founded on sand (P. 191.) and raised up with uncemented stones, has been already dashed to the ground-the rest is tottering. Look at Louis Philippe on the French throne,- at Don Carlos, his prisoner, at Don Miguel, an exile at Rome, at Belgium, separated from Holland, at the Kings of Prussia and of the French, insulted by Catholic bishops, their subjects-look at the massacres of the Poles -at the prostration of the Ottoman Empire at the encroachments of Russia-at the oppression of Italy, which requires Austria as a constable, and England as an informer, to keep it down-look at all this, and then refrain, if you can, from speaking with scorn and indignation of the sovereigns and ministers who signed the treaties by which Europe was to be pacified and made happy. We find recorded in the work, now under consideration, a fact, which we had hitherto considered an idle rumor, and which deserves the special attention of our readers. The Emperor Alexander, who had misunderstood the French Revolution, according to Prince Polignac, saw, at a later period, his mistake (that of having pressed on Louis XVIII. the granting of a constitution to France). He gave himself up to acts of devotion; towards the end of his life he was tormented by remorses and by fear of divine punishment : ed the assistance of heavenly light; the Al"He humbled himself before God, and askmighty granted it to him, and on his deathbed he becaine converted to the Roman Catholic religion. His august wife, a few months afterwards, overcome by grief, followed this pious example. Documents now in the archives of the foreign office (in France,) leave no doubt with respect to the truth of these two facts, especially with respect to the Emperor." P. 197. It must have required all the consolations of his new religion to lull the remorses of a son who stepped on the throne, treading over the corpse of his father, to whose dethronement he had at least consented;of a son who continued to number among his ministers and friends the murderers of his father. Prince Polignac objects likewise to the influence which, he says, the allies-chiefly the Emperor of Russia-had over Louis XVIII., who was persuaded by them to grant the charter from which, according to the noble author, all the misfortunes of France were derived. He has no praise for the allies but for their interference in Naples, Piedmont, and Spain. Whatever was done in France by their advice he considers wrong; what the Duke of Richelieu -the friend of Alexander-did when prime minister the first time (1815-1817,) extremely objectionable; the conduct of In addition to the political questions Villèle during his six years' administration which agitated France during the adminis (1822-1828,) scarcely that of a royalist. tration of M. de Villèle, religious discus"What the royalists wanted," says Polig- sions added to the bitterness of party spirit. "was to give an independent proper- A cry of improbation was raised against ty to the clergy-to restore to the clergy the Pères de la Foi, "a recent denominathe registers of births, deaths and marriages tion adopted some time before by the Jesu-to give to the clergy and religious con- its; the advisers of the crown endeavored gregations the direction of public instruction." (P.172.) But what could one hope, when M. Decazes, on becoming prime min-precious piece of Jesuitism of the Prince himself. ister-he, the favorite of the king-had the courage to grant the freedom of the press? VOL. V.-No. III. 26 nac, * We call the attention of our readers to this The Pères de la Foi took this name, as we have already observed on a former occasion, (North British Review, vol. ii., p. 594,) to pass them to submit the press to restrictions, but their ter an elderly lady leaving a bank, or to project of law had to be withdrawn-and cast a look at a money changer's shop, the even the academy-what a shame!-joined police is upon him, without waiting for a the opposition. At last Villèle fell. M. de pocket picked or for a pane of glass broken. Martignac succeeded him. "His ministry," What an injustice! Then M. de Polignac says M. de Polignac, was a ministry of very cleverly, as he thinks, mixes up toconcessions of the prerogative to the popu-gether the two sets of colleagues he had— lar party." The successor of Martignac those who were with him before he was was our author. In M. de Polignac's opin- president of the council or prime minister, ion, monarchy had been reduced to the last and those who were his colleagues afterextremity, by the various administrations wards. If unknown as ministers, (which which had preceded his own. He says, in was not the case with all the second set of his figurative way, that when he took the them,) they were all very well known as helm, the ship was not sea-worthy, that the public men, and as such, the nation had wind was blowing furiously: is it surprising ground enough for condemning them withthat it has been dashed against the rocks? out farther trial. Can we doubt the line "It was not I," says he, "that had deprived which Colonel Sibthorpe will take when he it of its riggings."-(p. 219.) If M. de Po- becomes Premier? We shall not inflict on our readers the lignac really saw the State in this condition, why did he undertake to govern it? If biography of all M. de Polignac's colVillèle and Martignac were leading it to leagues; but to show the character of his ruin, why did he lend them the dead- administration, the life of some of them is weight of his name and influence, by con- far from unimportant. His first administinuing to serve as ambassador at the court tration consisted of himself, and Messrs. of St. James' during their administra- Labourdonnaye, Bourmont, Chabrol, Courtions? Why did he not act as M. de voisier, Montbel and Rigny. The last of Chateaubriand, then French ambassador them, appointed in his absence, refused, at Rome, acted, on Prince Polignac him- and was succeeded by De Haussez, who is self being appointed prime minister-re- not unknown in Great Britain, and of whom sign his situation? little more can be said. M. de Montbel was a follower of Villlèle and one of the stanchest friends of the missionaries—that is to say the Jesuits,—but a moderate man, far from approving of the violent measures which were adopted in July 1830, to which he agreed more from a sort of chivalrous weakness for the king than from conviction. It is well known that when MM. de Chabrol and Courvoisier resigned their places, thinking that if the elections were unfavorable, the administration ought to retire, he would have resigned if he had dared. Chabrol and Courvoisier themselves proved, by retiring, that they were honest Royalists, not prepared to forswear themselves for the support of a stupid minister of a still more The real strength and M. de Polignac then became minister, and was installed on the 8th of August, 1829; on the 8th of August, 1830, Louis Philippe was proclaimed King of the French! Pretty quick work. But, says M. de Polignac, this was owing to the unfair conduct of the opposition; the men who undertook the government were all unknown as ministers-they had a right to be judged from their acts; the President of the Council (that is, M. de Polignac himself,) was pointed out as an enemy to the character; an enemy; no! a disapprover! yes." (p. 244.) But then his acts! judge of him by them! It is exactly thus that all suspicious characters declaim against the unfairness of the police. Any stupid monarch. one unknown may pass unmolested along spirit of the Administration were represena thoroughfare crowded with people, and ted by Polignac, Bourmont, and Laboureven stop to look at a jeweller's or gold-donnaye. smith's window; but the moment a poor innocent being, who has nothing against him but his character, happens to walk af Bourmont was an old emigrant, who in Scotland, had become a favorite of the Count d'Artois, then an exile, and who had It is but justice to Prince Polignac to state, selves off as not Jesuits, and to enter France under a false name, and under false pretences. Po-that M. de Rigny sent him a letter before leavlignac states that the Jesuits took this alias (anding Paris, of which M. de Genoude, the editor of many more too,) which is not considered very the Gazette de France, was the bearer, expressing respectable, but he does not say why they did so. his willingness to join an Administration formed by the Prince. -P. 198. carried on the war of a banditti against the [The latter, however, deserves to be well French Republicans, with whom afterwards known. he made his peace. He then became a On his father falling a victim to the Revworshipper of Napoleon; but, suspected of olution, M. de Peyronnet emigrated; but insincerity, he was arrested after two he soon re-entered France, and became a years' imprisonment, he escaped to Portu- barrister-more famous, like our Irish Atgal. Later still he became one of Napole-torney-General, for his pugnacious propenon's generals, but in 1814, was one of the sities, than for his law or eloquence. first to pay homage to Louis XVIII. He Mme. du Cayla* having lost a suit in the was with Ney when that unfortunate Mar- first instance, but won it on appeal, owing shal determined on joining Napoleon. not to the professional assistance, but to Bourmont commanded a corps at the com- some other power of M. Peyronnet, was bats which ended in the battle of Waterloo, instrumental in making a minister of him but he deserted to the enemy the day before on the second fall of Richelieu in 1821. this decisive defeat of Napoleon. It was He continued minister with Villèle till 1828. chiefly owing to his evidence, which the He distinguished himself particularly on accused firmly declared false, that Marshal three occasions-1st, as representative of Ney was condemned to death. Bourmont the Jesuits, then very powerful, he pressed had afterwards a command in the army on the Legislature (in April 1825) the which invaded Spain in 1823, and was last- adoption of the law on sacrilege, by which ly chosen for his minister-at-war by Polig-" whoever was convicted of profanation of nac. Labourdonnaye had. ever since the the Host was to have his right hand cut off, restoration of the Bourbons, been the con- and then suffer death;" for as the supportstant leader of that fraction of the Cham-ers of this barbarous law said, a person ber of Deputies, for which Fouché had in- guilty of such an act was guilty of deicide!! vented the name of ultras. He had served There is no instance of such an atheistical in the Royalist armies against the Repub- word ever being used before, we believe. lic, had afterwards made his peace with It was on that occasion that one of the most Napoleon, and served him too; but, since violent and most intolerant of the support1815, he had opposed with unparalleled ers of the Jesuits-M. de Bonald-said, pertinacity and virulence, all the adminis- that "to put to death a man guilty of this trations alike as too liberal, and attacked crime, was sending him before his natural all the liberals as revolutionists and moved judge,". -a sanguinary maxim, as was obby the worst motives. The violence of served by the now Duke Pasquier, equivaLabourdonnaye, added to his limited tal-lent to the order of the inquisitor to the ents for administration, according to M. soldiers who were murdering the poor AlPolignac, rendered him a very troublesome bigenses, but who were not certain of putand not very useful colleague. On the ting to death those only who, even accordquestion, whether there should be a presi-ing to the inquisitor's maxims, deserved it: dent of the council, being carried in the "Kill away! kill! God will select those affirmative in the cabinet, Labourdonnaye, who belong to him." Then, 2d, M. de who had always objected to such an office, Peyronnet came forward as the champion resigned. It is not worth entering into of a law-the particular favorite of the details respecting all the persons who suc- same Bonald-for the re-introduction of ceeded him, Courvoisier, and Chabrol. primogeniture-of all other civil laws the These were Guernon-Rainville, Chantelauze, Baron Capelle,t and Peyronnet."baron," as others do in France who have the right to a title, and never was styled baron either It is said that Labourdonnaye had a very a the preliminary acts, or in the judgment propoor opinion of M. de Polignac's fitness for office,nounced against him by the Court of Peers. and that it was not to the office of president of Mme. du Cayla was the mistress of Louis the council, but to the person for whom he saw XVIII. She was separated from her husband, the place was intended, that he objected. Allud- and though no longer young (being born in 1784), ing to the desperate measures which he perceiv-she was still good-looking, extremely agreeable ed M. de Polignac was determined to attempt to carry, and to the great influence that the place of president would give him above his colleagues, he is reported to have said-" When I stake my head on the game, I want to hold the cards myself." This gentleman is not a baron, but his family name was Baron. Montgaillard, Hist. de France, for 1829, August 8th. He never signed and accomplished. She was a great supporter of the Jesuits, who looked upon her as a second Mme. de Maintenon. The Comte d'Artois reconciled his religious scruplees with the deference which he professed to a person who took advantage of her intimacy with the king his brother for advancing the pious interests of himself and party,by looking not to the means but to the end one unquestionably the most obnoxious to not having met as yet, it was not a House, We are not going to enter into the history of these transactions more than is requisite to judge of the work before us. It seems that all the ministers, at one time or other, doubted-some the justice, others the policy, others the expediency, others again the necessity of publishing the ordonThis was the man chosen as a colleague nances of July-every one of them, except by M. de Polignac, and entrusted with the Polignac, had some doubt of some sort. seals of the Home Department, when two He and the king never had any; the enorwell known but honest royalists felt it im- mous difficulties which every man of compossible to support the extreme measures mon sense foresaw, were above their poor that, in his crasse ignorance, the Prince comprehensions. Both bent on their own was dishonestly concocting. Bourmont destruction, could not bear to have their having sailed to command the forces directed against the Dey of Algiers, the place of minister-at-war was, ad interim, filled by Polignac himself, who found no one he could rely upon for the office. And now, when the life and miracles of his most influential colleagues are known, will any one hesitate in admitting that the French people had very good ground for refusing to trust to a ministry composed of such members? Accordingly, the chambers declared, that so long as such advisers were preferred by the Crown, the popular branch of the legislature could not support the executive. The people having elected a majority of members in opposition, the ministry, preferring themselves to the nation, on the 25th of July, 1830, dissolved the Commons before they had met-that is to say, annulled the elections, for the House eyes opened, and both most unscrupulously deceived, allies, ambassadors, public creditors-friends and foes equally-declaring that no coup d'état was intended.* That the other ministers should have yielded is no doubt surprising; but that M. Peyronnet should have given in, is what could not have been foreseen, and what is almost incredible even now. During his impris onment at Ham, after 1830, this ex-minister published a small collection of essays, entitled " Pensées d'un Prisonnier," with a motto from Matthew xxv. 35, (from the Vulgate, “in carcere eram :" but v. 36 in our version, "I was in prison.") Those pensées are not, however, those of a prisoner, inasmuch as they were written when the author was not only out of prison, but most active in sending thither as many as he could-some not to come out, but to mount the scaffold, not unfrequently for political offences. The title, therefore, as *The system of M Bonald re-acted most fiercely against the congregation (i. e., the Jesuits) and the nobility. No doubt the ministers as There was, however, one friend to whom yet adopted it but partially; but the king was for the whole scheme was unreservedly communiit all, as it was the plan of the Jesuits."-LACRE-cated-that was the Nuncio of the Pope -LACTELLE, Restauration, chap. 33. RETELLE, Restauration, chap. 40. |