Part 46 (1/2)

I told all this to Henry, but he goes. So do many others. There were thirty people applying for pa.s.sports when he went for his. On the other hand many English come away.

_August 2._

There is a great deal of information in the 'Times.' The result is, that the King's offer to change his Ministers and to recall the Ordonnances was not accepted, and the Duke of Orleans accepted the office of Lieutenant- General of the kingdom. His address is quite in the spirit of the Revolution.

The Guards are disorganised and desert.

The Swiss only are said to remain with the King, who it is thought is gone to Nantes.

Lord Stuart says if the Royalists do not resist, the French will invade Belgium in three months. The Deputies, at first in very small numbers, not more than thirty, nor at any time much above sixty, seem to have been irresolute. They were decided by others, and indeed the whole seems to have been done by the people. There is no appearance of previous concert. If there were leaders, they were the boys of the Ecole de Droit and the Ecole Polytechnique. Polignac seems to have been firm after the beginning of the fight, and when Lafitte and others went to Marmont at the Tuileries, in the middle of the tumult, he declared concession impossible.

The Guards at St. Cloud told the King they would protect him, but would not advance again to Paris. General [blank] seems to have had 6,000 men at Versailles, but the people would not admit him. At Rouen there was great ferment, and forty pieces of cannon were sent by the people to the a.s.sistance of Paris. The troops seem to have been ordered upon Paris from all quarters. The total loss of life is estimated at 5,000.

The people were becoming impatient, and cried _Vive la Republique! Vive Napoleon II._! This, it is said, determined the Duke of Orleans to accept: and the Deputies offered, because they feared the establishment of a Republic would be the signal of general war.

I do not hear of the pillage of private houses. The churches have been pillaged and the palaces ransacked. The priests thought fit to fire from the Archbishop's palace, which led to the death of many and to the pillage of the palace.

The Duke said they had done everything in the most offensive way, re- establis.h.i.+ng the tri-coloured flag, &c. They seem determined to force the Revolution down the throat of Europe. He spoke of the Duke of Orleans'

address. I said I supposed he was obliged for his own safety to throw himself at once into the Revolution. The more natural thing would have been for the French to have sent for young Napoleon. The Duke said he heard young Napoleon was getting hold of French pamphlets, &c.

The Duke of Orleans asked Lord Stuart's advice as to accepting the Crown.

Lord Stuart reminded him of his oath, and told him the Powers of Europe which restored the Bourbons could never recognise him.

On consideration I think we should endeavour to induce the Powers which signed the Treaty of Vienna to declare that they are determined to maintain the territorial arrangements made by that treaty; but that they will not interfere with the internal Government of France.

I think this declaration, made at once, would perhaps prevent any attempt on the part of the French to make war for the frontier of the Rhine.

The elections go well for us, except Canterbury, where Lord Fordwich has beat our man, Henry B. Baring, the husband of Lady Augusta.

_August 3._

The accounts from Paris state that the Due de Mortemar, who had been appointed Minister by Charles X. himself, saw it was too late, and that the only chance for the House of Bourbon was in the placing the Duke of Orleans in the office of Lieut.-General.

This he proposed himself to the Duke of Orleans, who wrote to the King, and in accepting the office said his conduct would show with what views he did it. Then he issued a tri-colour proclamation! Lord Stuart says this was done at the last possible moment. The proclamation was received with cries of _Vive la Republique! Vive Napoleon II._! However, these cries ceased, and it was hoped things would go on quietly. Sebastiani and B. Constant expressed hopes that in a few months men's minds would be tranquillised, and things placed on a regular footing It seems that the King is at Trianon, with about 4,000 guards. He talked of resigning to the Dauphin, if he had not already done so. It will probably be too late, and the Dauphin is supposed, I believe very justly, to be implicated in all that has pa.s.sed.

Lord Stuart states the loss of the troops at 3,000. That of the people at 6,000. Of course these calculations are very vague, and probably exaggerated. It would appear as if there had been more preparation on the part of the insurgents than was imagined. The decisive measure, that of the Bank refusing discounts, was of course suggested by Lafitte. The Royalists are much in want of money. They left forty-two millions in their caisses, and 150 millions at the Bank! Bourmont was to leave Algiers on the 25th.

Probably he was called home to be present at the crisis.

The King's troops still remaining in force at St. Cloud, the barricades are continued.

Everybody seems to think the military force was as ill-managed as everything else. Marmont acted _mollement_.

We have been beaten at Canterbury, and what is worse at Norwich, where a brother of Peel's has been driven out by Robert Grant, the most decided enemy of the Government. No one declares himself the opponent of Government, and as such asks support; but our candidates do not succeed at popular elections.

_August 4._