as well as that of the Duke Armand de Polignac. Napoleon, who
admired men of force, caused to be offered to M. de Riviere his
complete pardon, and a regiment or a diplomatic post, at choice.
The inflexible royalist preferred to be sent to the fort of Joux,
where Toussaint Louverture had died, and remained a prisoner up to
the time of the marriage of the Empress Marie Louise.

Under the Restoration, M. de Riviere, who was Marquis and was made
Duke only in 1825, became lieutenant-general, Peer of France,
ambassador at Constantinople, captain of the body-guards of
Monsieur. At the time of his accession, Charles X. did for his
faithful servitor what had never before been done; he created for
him a fifth company of the King's body-guards. "My dear Riviere,"
he said, "I have done my best for you, but we shall both lose by
it; you used to guard me all the time, now you can guard me but
three months in the year." The 30th of May, 1825, the morrow of
the coronation and the day of the reception of the Knights of the
Holy Spirit, Charles X. conferred the title of duke on his devoted
friend. "By the way, Riviere, I have made you a duke." It recalled
the words of Henry IV. to Sully in like circumstances.

When he chose the Duke de Riviere as governor of the Duke of
Bordeaux, the King said to Madame de Gontaut: "In naming Riviere,
I have followed, I confess, the inclinations of my heart; I am
under obligations to him; he has incessantly exposed himself for
our cause; he has borne captivity, poverty; I love him, and I am
used to him."

The new governor, who was very modest, was frightened at the task
confided to him.

"You congratulate me," he wrote to a friend; "console me, rather,
pity me. An employment so grave must be a heavy burden. I am easy
about the instruction my royal pupil will receive; the wise
prelate named by the King as his preceptor will be a powerful
auxiliary for me. But my share is still too great. It requires
something more than fidelity for such a place,--firmness without
roughness, unlimited patience, address, intelligence. I am
frightened at the mission I have to fill. I begged the King to
release me. He insisted. I asked him to make it a command; he
replied: 'I will not command you, but you will give me great
pleasure.' I did not conceal from the King that I should have
preferred to remain captain of his guards; he answered: 'Well, you
made that place for yourself; make this for me.' How could one
resist such language from the lips of such a prince? There was but
one choice to make,--to do all that he wished."

Charles X. named as sub-governors two distinguished military men,
the Colonel Marquis de Barbamcois and the Lieutenant-Colonel Count
de Maupas. He named as preceptor Mgr. Tharin, Bishop of
Strasbourg, and as sub-preceptor the Abbe Martin de Noirlieu and
M. de Barande. The Bishop of Strasbourg was a pious and learned
priest, of great benevolence and extreme affability. But his
appointment exasperated the Opposition, because he had formerly
taken up the defence of the Order of the Jesuits against the
attacks of M. de Montlosier. All the liberal sheets cried aloud.
Le Journal des Debates, furious that its candidate to the
succession of the Duke de Montmorency, M. de Chateaubriand, had
not been named, wrote, regarding the appointment of Mgr. Tharin:--

" Such imprudence amazes, such blindness is pitiable. It awakens
profound grief to see this chariot rush toward the abyss with no
power to restrain it."

The Duke de Riviere gave himself up entirely to the task confided
to him. He never quitted the young prince. He slept in his room
and watched over him night and day. In the month of February,
1828, he fell ill. The princes and princesses visited him
frequently. The sovereign himself, putting aside for this faithful
friend the etiquette which forbade him to visit any one out of his
own family, went constantly to see him and remained long with him.
The Duke had no greater consolation, after that of his religion,
than the visit of his King. He said to his family as the hour of
the expected visit approached, "Do not let me sleep," and if he
felt himself getting drowsy, "For pity's sake," he said, "awaken
me if the King comes; it is the best remedy for my pains." Charles
X. could hardly restrain his tears; on leaving the room he gave
way to his grief. The little Duke of Bordeaux, also, was much
saddened.

One day, when he was told that the sick man had passed a bad
night, he said to his sister: "Let's play plays that don't amuse
us to-day."

Another day, when it was reported that his governor was a little
better: "In that case," he cried, "general illumination," and he
went in broad day, and lighted all the candles in the salon. The
Duke de Riviere died the 21st of April, 1828; by order of the
King, his son lived from that time with the Duke of Bordeaux, and
received lessons from the preceptors of the young Prince.

The Liberals wished the successor of the Duke to be one of their
choice. They maintained that the son of France belonged to the
nation, and that it had too much interest in his education to
permit the parents alone to dispose of it, as in ordinary
families. The ministry wished to be consulted. Charles X. replied
that he took counsel with his ministers in all that concerned the
public administration, but that he should maintain his liberty as
father of a family in the choice of masters for his grandson.

The King named the Lieutenant-General Baron de Damas (born in
1785, died in 1858). He was a brave soldier and a good Christian.
M. de Lamartine said that he had "integrity, obstinate industry,
virtue incorruptible by the air of couits, patriotic purpose, cool
impartiality, but no presence and no brilliancy," and that "his
piety was as loyal and disinterested as his heart." He had been
Minister of War, and of Foreign Affairs, and distinguished himself
under the Duke of Angouleme, during the Spanish Expedition. But
under the Revolution and the Empire, he had served in the Russian
army, and this did not render him popular. The Abbe Vedrenne, in
his VIE DE Charles X., wrote:--

"To watch over the person of the son of France, not quitting him
night or day; to make sure that the rules of his education are
followed in the employment of his time, in the routine of his
lessons; to let no one save persons worthy of confidence come near
him; to ward off all dangers, and notify the King of the least
indisposition,--such is the duty of the governor. It requires more
prudence than learning, more probity than genius. M. de Damas was
a royalist too tried, too fervent a Christian, for his nomination
not to provoke many murmurs. His place, moreover, had been desired
by so many people, that there was no lack of those who were
displeased and jealous. There was a general outcry over his
incapacity and ignorance. One would have thought that he was to
perform the task of a Bossuet and a Fenelon, while in reality he
filled the place of a Montausier or a Beauvilliers. Had he not
their virtues, and especially their devotion?"

The Duchess of Gontaut thus relates the first interview of the
young Prince with his new governor: "Monseigneur was a little
intimidated, when the Baron, coming up near to him, made a
profound bow, and said: 'Monseigneur, I commend myself to you.' To
which Monseigneur, not knowing what to say, said nothing, and as
no one spake a word, the King dismissed us. When the Duke of
Bordeaux learned that M. de Damas had six or seven boys nearly his
age and only one girl, and that the girl would not be any trouble,
his gaiety returned." The little Prince got used to his new
governor, who had the most solid qualities, and who performed his
task with the same devotion and zeal as his predecessor.





XX

THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD


Charles X. was always much beloved by the court, but less so by
the city. In vain, in his promenades, he sought the salutations of
the crowd, and exerted himself by his affability to provoke
acclamations; the public remained cold, and the monarch returned
to the Tuileries, saddened by a change in his reception which he
charged to the tactics of the liberal party and the calumnies of
the journals. The anti-religious opposition went on increasing,
and tried to persuade the crowd that the King was aiming at
nothing less than placing his kingdom under the direction of the
Jesuits.

The person of the sovereign was still respected, but the men who
had his confidence were the object of the most violent criticisms.
A coalition of the Extremists and the Left fought savagely against
the Villele ministry, which was reproached particularly for its
long duration.

From 1827, Orleansism, which Charles X. did not even suspect,
existed in a latent state, and sagacious observers could perceive
the dangers of the near future. A review of the National Guard of
Paris was a forerunner of them.

Each year the 12th of April, the anniversary of the re-entrance of
Monsieur to Paris in 1814, the National Guard alone was on duty at
the Tuileries. This privilege was looked upon as the reward of the
devotion it had then shown to the Prince, whose sole armed force
it was for several weeks. In 1827, the 12th of April fell on Holy
Thursday, a day given over wholly by the sovereign to his
religious duties. In consequence, he decided that the day of
exceptional service reserved to the National Guard should be
postponed to Monday, the 16th. The morning of that day,
detachments from all the legions, including the cavalry, assembled
in the court of the Chateau, and were received by Charles X. He
received a warm welcome, such as he had not been used to for a
long time, and the crowd joined its shouts to the huzzas of the
Guard. Charles X., filled with delight, said to the officers who
joined him as the troops filed by: "I regret that the entire
National Guard is not assembled for the review." Then the officers
replied that their comrades would be only too happy if the King
would consent to review the whole Guard. Marshal Oudinot, Duke of
Reggio, who was the commandant-in-chief, warmly supported this

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