Here is a little piece of politics taken from one of yesterday's letters. "The position of the French Ministers will be decided in a week. They intend to seize the first opportunity (which will not be long in coming) to speak frankly of all they have done and all that has happened, so as to make their position tolerable, or else to go out. They have had their fill of degradation and do not wish to remain in power any longer on the present conditions. They must see what the Chamber means to do and what its attitude will be. There was some talk of a speech from the Throne but they decided that this would not do, and I think they were right."
Valençay, December 2, 1834.—I am on the eve of a new trouble—the probable death of the Duke of Gloucester, which will be a real sorrow. How should I not mourn one whose esteem, confidence and friendship were so sincere and so thoroughly tried?
I hear from Paris that the new Ambassador in London will not be appointed till Sir Robert Peel has constituted his Government. Sir Robert, it is thought, was to pass through Paris yesterday. Another reason for not making the appointment for a week or ten days is that no one would dream of accepting it till there is some light on the fate of the French Ministry which is most uncertain. The slackness of Deputies in attending the Chamber is attracting attention as a symptom of their disinclination to interest themselves in the quarrels of the Ministers. These quarrels are subterranean but very real. There is always the same revolt against the arrogant pedantry of some and the tangled intrigues of others; it is only their fear of the Chamber which keeps them together at all.
They say the King is much depressed, and perhaps his Cabinet owe their remaining in office to the fact that he is as much afraid of the Chamber as they are. I hear that there is much ridicule of a letter from M. Bresson in reply to a remark of the Quotidienne. "M. Bresson," writes a friend, "has been giving us his genealogy and has been telling us that he has been an important person from the day when he handed the despatches to 'the unfortunate and too much misunderstood Bolivar,' to that on which he nearly became Minister of Foreign Affairs! We are very fortunate to be represented at Berlin by so considerable a personage! Can you understand this mania for writing to the newspapers? And can you wonder that the importance of the press is so great?"
M. de Talleyrand is quite furious because diplomatic communications are being bandied about at the Bourse and the Opera. This as well as many other things makes it impossible to serve some people.
Paris, December 7, 1834.—Here we are back in Paris, whose exhausting and unquiet life is so bad both for M. de Talleyrand and for me. Yesterday we were already overwhelmed with visits and social duties.
At twelve I received M. Royer-Collard who, on his way to the Chamber, called to ask for me. He only came in and went out again, and the real object of his visit was, I think, to discharge a commission for M. Molé. The latter asked him to tell me that he wished to come to our house again, but on the first occasion to come to see only me and to see me alone. This meeting is fixed for tomorrow, Monday, between four and five.
M. Royer-Collard gone, M. le Duc d'Orléans arrived, and hardly had he sat down when he began to discuss a piece of Madame de Flahaut's gossip. It all passed off with great good temper and good manners, but I don't think I surrendered any of my advantages. I was quiet and restrained, without the slightest trace of animosity. This was my chief position: "Madame de Flahaut's remarks about me do not affect me. I pay no attention to them. It is impossible that two people whose circles, habits and positions are so different as ours, could ever come to quarrelling, or that I could be offended by her. What offends me is the harm she is doing you, Monseigneur."—"But my principal reason for liking her is that nobody else does."—"Oh, if you reckon it proportionately on that principle your Royal Highness must simply adore her!" We burst out laughing and the matter rested there.
He spoke of another subject, namely, how wrong it was of him not to write to us for so long after his visit to Valençay. I replied, "Monseigneur, in view of the great age of M. de Talleyrand it was not very good manners on your part, but you have a frank and graceful way of doing things which makes one charmed to forgive you."
He then came to general questions. He is much embarrassed and troubled by his present situation, annoyed with his dear friend Dupin for the curious way in which he treated the Monarchy last night, and astonished at Lord Brougham, of whom he tells the following story. On the day of Lord Brougham's arrival in Paris, M. le Duc d'Orléans met him at Lord Granville's. Unsuitable as the place was, in my opinion, for such a topic, the conversation turned on the Amnesty of which the ex-Chancellor declared himself a violent partisan. The Duc d'Orléans disputed this view but without apparently convincing him. The following day at the Tuileries Lord Brougham drew a paper from his pocket and, showing a corner of it to the Prince Royal, said, "Here are my reflections on the Amnesty which I am going to show to the King." This of course was another piece of ill-breeding on the part of a foreigner, but he did in fact hand the paper to His Majesty. It was found to be a violent argument against the Amnesty! When mobility reaches a certain point it is, I think, an evident symptom of insanity!