It was a declaration of war in perfect form.
Charles X. trembled in every limb whilst he listened to the reading of the Address. Then, when the deputation had quitted the Tuileries, he said—
"I will not suffer my crown to be dipped in the gutter!" And he dissolved the Chamber.
These were some of the events which thrilled through every heart, even in that of the Journal des Débats. It attacked the Government with most unusual violence.
"Polignac, La Bourdonnaye and Bourmont," it exclaimed, "that is equivalent to saying Coblence, Waterloo, 1815! Those are the three principles, the three chief characters of the Ministry. Press them hard, twist them and they will disgorge nothing but humiliations and misfortunes and danger!"
Charles X. read this article.
"Ah!" he said, "these people who invoke the Charter are not aware that it contains Article 14, which we can hold at their heads."
And, as a matter of fact, the Polignac Ministry had only been created in order to put into force that famous article, which Louis XVIII. had concealed in the Charter, as a sword of dissension, but of which he would never make use.
All the hopes of the king and M. de Polignac were vested in that very Article 14.
Thus, when M. de Peyronnet had been summoned to form a Ministry, M. de Polignac said to him—