Paris, August 27, 1834.—I arrived here yesterday evening at ten o'clock to find M. de Talleyrand awaiting me. The general impression I got of him was that he was rather depressed and bored; yet he said he was very much pleased with the Tuileries where he seems to be much in fashion. He also says that he is so popular in Paris that the passers-by stop before his carriage and lift their hats to him; but in spite of all this he repeats that he knows no one here, that he is bored and that every one is aged and worn out.
Paris, August 28, 1834.—I was at Saint-Cloud yesterday. The King did me the honour to speak to me a great deal, perhaps too much, for I had to say something on my side, and at Court my one desire is to be silent. This conversation, however, was very interesting, for the King, who is witty on all subjects and intelligent about everything, talked about many things—the state of England at present, the break-up of which is so disquieting for her neighbours, Lord Grey's retirement which is greatly deplored here, Don Carlos's departure from England and the part great or small which the Duke of Wellington played in bringing it about. Here he is supposed to have arranged it all, a belief which I vigorously combated as I believed myself in duty bound to do. Then we talked of intervention in Spain, then of the Salic Law and in fact of everything that is occupying people just now. The King talked very well. He insisted much on the fact that he alone had opposed the immediate intervention demanded by his Ministers, and closing his large hand he showed me his fist and said, "Do you understand Madame? I had to hold back by the mane steeds which have neither mouth nor bridle!"
As regards the Salic law he said, "I am 'Salic law' to my finger tips; the Dukes of Orleans always have been, you will believe me when I say so. But when I struggled for the law they thought that I should have less chance if it were destroyed, so every one lent a hand in its destruction instead of helping me to maintain it. I was left alone to fight French ignorance and vanity and all the other difficulties of the situation, and now I am reproached with having abandoned my own cause in that of Don Carlos. I have no enmity against him, no love for Isabella, but people would have what has come to pass. The two years before I came to the Throne saw the preparation of the deplorable state of things which now prevails in the Peninsula. However, whether Anarchy triumphs under Isabella, or the Inquisition under Don Carlos, I may be troubled by them being my neighbours, but I cannot be shaken. We have made enormous internal progress, though I admit that much remains to be done, and with what instruments!"
The King then entered into many details relating to the troubles of his office and ended by saying, "Madame you must know that I have to be the Director in everything and the Master in nothing."
A propos of the state of England, and of the complications which will arise there owing to the age and sex of the heir to the throne, His Majesty said, "What a deplorable thing it is to see all these little girl Kings in a time like the present!" He went on to a dissertation full of real eloquence on the disadvantages of female rule, then suddenly stopped with a polite phrase and a sort of apology which was quite unnecessary. So I said that I thought that what M. de Talleyrand said of wits was true of women, "they were useful for anything but sufficient for nothing."
The King then talked for a long time about the restorations at Versailles and Fontainebleau. He has had Louis XIV.'s room at Versailles refurnished exactly as it was, that is with hangings embroidered by the Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr. One panel represents the Sacrifice of Abraham, a second that of Iphigenia, a third the loves of Armida. The King has had replaced in this room a portrait of Madame de Maintenon giving a lesson to Mlle. de Nantes. Versailles will be a true Museum of the history of France. I am grateful to the King for his respect for tradition; our historic monuments will owe him a great deal.
What a sad letter Alava writes from Milan! He paints a most melancholy picture of Spain, and can foresee only a series of circumstances, each of which will be more fatal than the other. He tells me that the ignorance and presumption there are beyond belief, and that the half-knowledge of things which comes from France and England is perhaps doing more harm than absolute ignorance. The state of bankruptcy there is flagrant; the cholera is more horrible than elsewhere, and is made worse by the stupidity of the people who at the funerals of cholera victims are seen eating tomatoes and cucumbers raw! At Segovia, on the other hand, the sanitary junta ordered that in each house visited by the epidemic all the effects of the deceased should be burned and all the survivors shut up in the hospital, including the priest present during the last moments of the departed!
Paris, August 29, 1834.—How excited and busy every one is at Paris! How their minds work! How completely tranquillity and calm are unknown here! Yet there is progress and amelioration everywhere, but without regularity or measure. There are so many small intrigues, small passions and small cabals to exhaust people that no one can enjoy what is good or rest his soul in the prospect of a quiet future. This feverish way of living consumes people, and I find the members of the French Cabinet appallingly aged. They are little old men with the saddest air in the world.
M. Thiers has passed through a series of disillusions and embarrassments which have made him wish for retirement; he feels humiliated and discouraged. The King has supported him, cheered him up and protected him, and has not been sorry to make this protection felt. He even said, "It is no bad thing that Messieurs les gens d'esprit should see from time to time that they have need of the King."
M. le Duc d'Orléans spent an hour with me. He is anxious to be married and is determined to be so. He is weary both of dissipation and of the youthful frivolities which are injuring and belittling him. He is also disgusted with the real inactivity of his public life. He desires a home, a house of his own. He wishes to take root, to form a circle, to settle down, in short, to get older. All these views are very proper.