Dino Dorothée - Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840

I was awakened just now to receive a note from M. Molé, telling me that M. Thiers, shaken and almost converted by yesterday's session, is anxious to overthrow the Ministry and so force M. Guizot to come forward with his friends, with the object of overthrowing him in turn; he adds that M. Dupin reminded M. Thiers of his obligations, telling him that such action would be dishonourable. M. Thiers seemed to waver once more, and announced that he would summon his friends again. M. Molé sends me this news, asking me to discuss it with M. Thiers from Dupin's point of view. He has applied to the wrong person, for the burnt child fears the fire, and I have too keen a recollection of last year's scene to put my hand into a wasp's nest of that kind. I prefer not to meddle with what does not concern me, but in any case to-day's work will decide the case of the Ministry.

Paris, May 7, 1837. – I did not go out yesterday morning, and left my door open, so certain visitors came in: M. Jules d'Entraigues, the Duc de Noailles, and the little Princess Schönberg. All were full of the session of the previous evening and of M. Guizot's magnificent speech. He really performed admirably, and aroused the deepest parliamentary emotion in the Chamber.

About five o'clock M. de Tocqueville arrived. He came from the session and had just heard Thiers, who had replied to Guizot. It seems that no one ever showed greater power; it is he who saved the Ministry and secured the passing of the law. 62 62 The reference is to a law concerning the estimates for the secret police fund. He added that Thiers spoke quietly and coldly, seeming to avoid any oratorical effects, and not attempting to outdo his rival in dramatic display, but anxious only to deliver a blow, and he is said to have succeeded.

At dinner our guests were the Duchesse d'Albuféra, M. and Madame de La Redorte, MM. Thiers and Mignet. M. Thiers was well pleased with his day's work, and gave a warm tribute to Guizot, roundly asserting that he would never have been so foolish as to try and eclipse him, seeing that that was impossible; he had attempted only to make his position impossible, and that he had done. He then gave us his speech, which seemed to me to be strikingly clear, sensible, and practical. He told me that M. Royer-Collard had almost fallen upon his neck, saying, "You have killed them!"

In the evening I went to Madame Molé's, to a dinner given in return for that which I recently gave when the Electress was present. The only subject of conversation was the session in the Chamber. The Ministry were as pleased as if they had been successful, though there is no possibility that they will triumph. As I came back I called upon Madame de Lieven. She had heard Guizot on the previous evening, but not Thiers in the morning. Thus she had remained entirely under Guizot's influence, which was the more appropriate as he came in himself delighted with the concert of praise by which he has been received; but in reality he felt the blow had been struck. I, who know him well, thought his feelings quite obvious.

As I write I am quite deafened by the noise of the drum which is continually beaten for the great review of the National Guard which the King is to hold to-day. Heaven grant that all goes off well. I am most anxious.

I know that Herr von Werther and Apponyi are but moderately satisfied with the political doctrines expressed by M. Guizot in his speech of the day before yesterday; they were expecting a less limited and less middle-class system. There they were wrong, for M. Guizot's social ideas are alone appropriate to the age and to the country as it is now constituted.

Paris, May 8, 1837. – I should be delighted if the last piece of news I have heard were true, that the Grand Duchess Stephanie is to marry her daughter to the Duke of Leuchtenberg; there would then be no possibility of her marrying one of our princes, and I should be equally pleased because I am not anxious to see among them a nephew of the Prefect of Blois. 63 63 The Comte de Lezay-Marnesia.

The day before yesterday, in the evening, I met the Marquis of Conyngham at the house of Madame de Lieven. He related that the Duchess of Kent, who is always doing tactless things, recently invited Lord Grey to dinner together with Lady Jersey. Their respective rank required that Lord Grey should take Lady Jersey into dinner; Sir John Conroy requested Lord Grey to do so, but he absolutely refused, and Lady Jersey was taken in by some one of lower rank. Both were keenly irritated in consequence.

It seems certain that the Duchesse de Saint-Leu is dying. The physician Lisfranc, who has returned from Arenenberg, says so. The poor woman has mismanaged her life and her position, and she is expiating her fault most cruelly. It is dreadful to survive her eldest son and to die far away from her second son, entirely cut off from her family; this misfortune disarms the severe criticism which one might be tempted to utter concerning her.

Yesterday was held the great review, and all my rooms were filled from eleven o'clock in the morning. From our windows we had a perfect view of the march past, which followed the Rue de Rivoli, and then passed in front of the Obelisk, where were the King, the Queen, the Princes, and a very numerous following. Sixty thousand National Guards and twenty thousand line troops marched past. Previously the King had gone round the ranks within the Cour du Carrousel and on the Esplanade des Invalides. The National Guard shouted "Vive le Roi!" most vigorously, and the line troops still more so. The wind was cold and sharp, but the sun was bright. The King returned to the Château across the garden of the Tuileries. Thus the King's state of siege has come to an end, and a good thing too. We must hope upon the one hand that it will not often be thought necessary to renew this form of proceeding, and that on the other hand some relaxation may be possible of those excessive precautions which spoilt the effect of the show, and which were carried to such an extent yesterday that I have never seen anything sadder or more painful; the embankments, the Rue de Rivoli, the square, and the Tuileries were forbidden to every one except men in uniform, and men, women, children, little dogs, and every living being were driven away; it was a complete desert, and every one was blockaded in his house. My son Valençay, to get from his house in the Rue de Université to mine, was obliged to go by the Pont d'Auteuil! This state of things was maintained until the King returned to his rooms. All the police were on duty, and the posts of the National Guard were doubled upon every side by a row of police and municipal guards surrounding the royal group. The town looked as though deserted or plague-stricken, with a conquering army marching through without finding a stopping-place or inhabitants.

After our dinner I went to inquire for the Queen and to say farewell to Madame Adélaïde, who is starting for Brussels this morning. There had been a great military dinner of two hundred and sixty people in the Hall of the Marshals; all were in full dress, pleased and animated.

I concluded the evening with Madame de Castellane, where I found M. Molé, who was very pleased with the result of the review.

In my wanderings I discovered that the last speech of M. Thiers was gaining an increasing hold on men's minds. It is thought that, without abandoning his general theories, he was pointing to a practical solution which would satisfy all positive spirits; people are much obliged by the fact that in this speech he had twice separated from the Left without hurting their feelings; in short, his clever words have dissipated some of the fears which he inspired and removed some of the obstacles which stood between himself and the power. This impression I have received from many different sides, and except the Doctrinaires and the extremists on the Left every one is feeling it.