France, and which received her, triumphant and adored."

An elegant breakfast service in ivory, with her arms, was
presented to Mademoiselle by a group of very young people. She
next received a deputation of the fisherwomen of Du Polet, the
faubourg of Dieppe. They came in their picturesque costumes,--a
skirt falling a little below the knee, men's buckled shoes, a
striped apron of white and red, an enormous head-dress, with broad
tabs, and great ear-rings. They sang couplets expressing a lively
attachment to the family of the Bourbons. In their enthusiasm they
asked and obtained leave to kiss the little Princess.

On the 6th of September, there was a fete at the ruins of the
Castle of Arques. From seven in the morning the crowd gathered on
the hillside of Saint Etienne, at the edge of the coast between
Martin-Eglise and the village of Arques. It is a magnificent site,
which, towering above the valley, is surrounded on all sides by
grim hill-slopes, while in the distance is the sea, along the edge
of which extends the city of Dieppe, like a majestic dike. A mimic
battle took place in the presence of Madame and her daughter, on
the ground where Henry IV. had delivered the famous battle of
September 21, 1589. Numerous strokes on the flags of different
colors indicated the lines of the Bearnais, and circumscribed the
enceinte occupied by his troops. An obelisk had been placed at the
highest point of this sort of entrenched camp; in the centre was a
post tent, under which a rich breakfast had been prepared for the
two princesses. During the repast, both put their names to a
subscription to erect a monument commemorating the victory of
their ancestor.

The 14th of September, the city offered a ball to Madame and
Mademoiselle. The little Princess danced two quadrilles. The 15th,
she offered lunch to a great number of children of her own age,
and afterward went with them to the theatre. The 18th, at the
close of the play, some scenes were represented before Madame,
mingled with verses, expressing the regret of the city at the near
departure of Madame. The next day, the Princess and her daughter
left Dieppe, between double lines of troops and National Guards.

The journey of the Duchess of Berry in the West, in 1828,
prevented her from going that year to Dieppe. She came in 1829,
but it was for the last time. She arrived the 6th of August, with
her daughter. The next day she danced at a subscription ball given
by the city and by the visitors to the baths; the 8th she received
a visit from the Dauphiness, who passed three days with her.

For every fete there was a corresponding good work. The Princess
said: "I wish that while I am enjoying myself the poor may also
have their share." The 18th of August, she visited the bazaar
opened for the benefit of the indigent. Mademoiselle had conceived
the idea of writing her name on little objects of painted wood,
which were bid for at their weight in gold. The 24th, Madame gave
a concert, at which the Sontag sisters were heard and some stanzas
of the Viscount of Castel-bajac were recited. The 25th, the city
offered a ball to Mademoiselle, at which the grace of the little
Princess, her tact, and her precocious amiability, excited
surprise. The 9th of September, the inauguration of the monument
commemorative of the victory of Henry IV. took place in the
presence of Madame and her daughter. It was a column indicating
the point where the army of Mayenne debouched to surround the
King's troops, when, the fog rising, the artillery of the castle
could be brought into play, and threw into disorder the ranks of
the Leaguers. The inauguration interested the Duchess much. The
troops of the line and the National Guard had established bivouacs
where the princesses read with joy such inscriptions as these:
"The young Henry will find again the arquebusiers of Henry IV.--
The flag of the 12th will always rally to the white plume!--Two
Henrys--one love, one devotion."

A table of forty covers had been arranged under a pavilion draped
with flags. After the repast Madame and Mademoiselle danced
several quadrilles on the grass. The fete was charming. An
expression of joy was depicted on every face.

At the time of her various sojourns at Dieppe, the Duchess of
Berry went to visit the Orleans family at the Chateau d'Eu, She
manifested toward her aunt, Marie-Amelie, the liveliest affection,
and had no courtier more amiable and assiduous than the young Duke
of Chartres, whom, it is said, she wished to have as husband for
Mademoiselle. The 9th of September, she had been at the baptismal
font, with the Duke of Angouleme, the Duke of Montpensier, the
latest son of the Duke of Orleans. She was very fond of her god-
son, and nothing was more agreeable to her than a reunion at the
Chateau d'Eu, where Mademoiselle was always happy, playing with
her young cousins.

The Duchess of Berry and her daughter returned to Saint Cloud the
16th of September, 1829. On leaving, Mademoiselle said to the
Dieppois: "My friends, I will come back next year, and I will
bring you my brother." Neither she nor her mother was to return.





XXVIII

THE PRINCE DE POLIGNAC


At the very moment that the Duchess of Berry, happy and smiling,
was tranquilly taking the sea-baths at Dieppe, an event occurred
at Paris that was the signal for catastrophes. The 9th of August,
1829, the Moniteur published the decree constituting the cabinet,
in which were included the Prince de Polignac as Minister of
Foreign Affairs; Count de La Bourdonnaye as Minister of the
Interior; and as Minister of War, the General Count de Bourmont.
The next day the Debats said:--

"So here is once more broken the bond of love and confidence that
was uniting the people to the Monarch. Here once again are the
court with its old rancors, the Emigration with its prejudices,
the priesthood with its hatred of liberty, coming to throw
themselves between France and her King. What she has conquered by
forty years of travail and misfortune is taken from her; what she
repels with all the force of her will, all the energy of her
deepest desires, is violently imposed upon her. Ill-fated France!
Ill-fated King!"

The 15th of August the Debats reached a paroxysm of fury:--

"If from all the battle-fields of Europe where our Grand Army has
left its members, if from Belgium, where it left the last
fragments of its body, and from the place where Marshal Ney fell
shot, there arise cries of anger that resound in our hearts, if
the column of the Grand Army seems to tremble through all its
bronze battalions, whose is the fault? No, no; nothing is lacking
in this ministry of the counter-Revolution. Waterloo is
represented. ... M. de Polignac represents in it the ideas of the
first Emigration, the ideas of Coblenz; M. de La Bourdonnaye the
faction of 1815 with its murderous friendships, its law of
proscription, and its clientele of southern massacres. Coblenz,
Waterloo, 1815, these are the three personages of the ministry.
Turn it how you will, every side dismays. Every side angers. It
has no aspect that is not sinister, no face that is not menacing.
Take our hatreds of thirty years ago, our sorrows and our fears of
fifteen years ago, all are there, all have joined to insult and
irritate France. Squeeze, wring this ministry, it drips only
humiliations, misfortunes, dangers."

The Abbe Vedrenne, historian of Charles X., wrote:--

"How is the language of the writers of the Debats, who called
themselves royalists, to be understood? Was not Charles X. at
Coblenz? Did not Chateaubriand emigrate with the King and the
princes? Did he not follow Louis XVIII. to Ghent? Was he not in
his council at the very hour of the battle of Waterloo? They might
as well have stigmatized the white flag and demanded the
proscription of the King's dynasty. But such was their blindness
that they feared nothing for it. 'The throne runs no risk,' said
Chateaubriand, 'let us tremble for liberty only.' Yet the
nomination of the Polignac ministry was an error. It appeared to
be a provocation, a sort of defiance. Charles X. doubtless only
wished to defend himself, but in choosing such ministers at such
an hour, he appeared to be willing to attack."

From the debut of the new cabinet, the Opposition, to use a recent
expression, showed itself irreconcilable. It raised a long cry of
anger, and declared war to the death on Prince Polignac.

"It is in vain," said the Debats, "that the ministers demand of
Time to efface with a sweep of his wing their days, their actions,
their thoughts, of yesterday; these live for them, as for us. The
shadow of their past goes before them and traces their route. They
cannot turn aside; they must march; they must advance.--But I wish
to turn back.--You cannot.--But I shall support liberty, the
Charter, the Opposition.--You cannot. March, then, march, under
the spur of necessity, to the abyss of Coups d'Etat! March! Your
life has judged and condemned you. Your destiny is accomplished."

The man who excited hatreds so violent was Jules de Polignac. He
was born at Versailles, May 14, 1780. As the German historian,
Gervinus, has said: "His past weighed upon him like a lash of
political interdict. He was the son of the Duchess of Polignac,
who had been the object of so many calumnies, and who had never
been pardoned for the intimate friendship with which she was
honored by the unfortunate queen, Marie Antoinette, a friendship
that had evoked against her, first all the jealousies of the
envious courtiers, and then all the aversion of the people. It was
believed that a like favoritism could be recognized in the
relations of the son of the Duchess with Charles X. To this
unpopularity, inherited from his mother, was joined another that
was directed against the person of the emigre."

After having been one of the courtiers of the little court at
Coblenz, he had taken service for some time in Russia, and then
passed into England, where he had been one of the most intimate
confidants, and one of the most active agents of the Count
d'Artois. Sent secretly into France, with his elder brother, the

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