'I do not think,' he replied, 'that you will be able to do so. Paris has become so dull that no one will voluntarily spend a month here. The change which five years have produced is marvellous.
'We have lost our interest not only in public affairs, but in all serious matters.'
'You will return then to the social habits of Louis Quinze,' I said. 'You were as despotically governed then as you are now; and yet the salons of Madame Geoffrin were amusing.'
'We may do so in time,' he answered, 'but that time is to come. At present we talk of nothing but the Bourse. The conversation of our salons resembles more that of the time of Law, than that of the time of Marmontel.'
I spent the evening at Lamartine's. There were few people there, and the conversation was certainly dull enough to justify Tocqueville's fears.
April 10.—Tocqueville drank tea with us.
We talked of the Empress, and of the possibility of her being Regent of
France.
'That supposes,' I said, 'first, that Celui-ci holds his power until his death; and, secondly, that his son will succeed him.'
'I expect both events,' answered Tocqueville. 'It is impossible to deny that Louis Napoleon has shown great dexterity and tact. His system of government is detestable if we suppose the welfare of France to be his object; but skilful if its aim be merely the preservation of his own power.
'Such being his purpose, he has committed no great faults. Wonderful, almost incredible, as his elevation is, it has not intoxicated him.'