Valençay, September 11, 1837.—What is to be said of the mandate of the Archbishop of Paris, and of the article in the Journal des Débats which follows it? The desecration of Sainte-Geneviève is obvious, and the scandal of the pediment has been felt by all right-thinking people.[ [78] In the face of such an enormity it was difficult for the plaintive voice of the chief pastor not to utter a cry of pain, and the absence of any protest would have been blameworthy, in my opinion. But his cry has been uttered with violence and bitterness, and with none of the apostolic respect for the feelings of others which it is always wise to keep in view. In M. de Quélen we shall always have an excellent priest with the courage and devotion of his convictions, but he will never learn tact, and will constantly injure his position by his words and his actions. I am sorry for him, as I am interested in him, and also for the cause of religion, which is even more wounded by these unhappy events and Governmental scandals. The want of thought which permitted this pediment, the obvious hesitation of the Ministry to know whether it would be disclosed or not, the weakness which showed it to the eyes of the public, and the tone of indifference with which newspapers speak of it, are so many disavowals of the system of order and energy which they have claimed as theirs. Next to the pillage of the archbishopric, the destruction of the crosses, and the rejection of the fleur-de-lys, nothing seems to me more hopelessly revolutionary than this hideous pediment. It frightens right-thinking people far more than usurpation.
Valençay, September 12, 1837.—The Carlist party are very wrong to accuse the Duc de Noailles of inclination to support the present Government; he is very far from anything of the kind. I have seen that he was somewhat tempted to that course for two or three months during the journey of the two Princes in Germany and when the marriage of the Archduchess Theresa was discussed. Since Alibaud's pistol-shot and the refusal of Austria he has given up the idea, and I think he is more determined than ever to follow his present line of conduct, although his impartiality in thought and language will always prevent him from joining the hot-headed members of his party.
Madame de Lieven writes as follows: "I have a letter from my husband proposing the right bank of the Rhine and asserting that he cannot possibly cross it. We shall see. I hope and believe that he will change his mind. M. Molé and M. Guizot meet at my house, and are beginning to talk. The consent of the King of Würtemberg to his cousin's marriage has come to hand. M. Guizot has returned from Compiègne delighted with the wit and intelligence of the Duchesse d'Orléans. Madame de Flahaut is kept very much aloof from the Princess, and is vexed in consequence. She had her four days at the Château, like the other guests, and then returned to her rooms in the town of Compiègne. Lady Jersey writes that she will come and spend the winter at Paris to see the Prince de Talleyrand. My husband has seen their Hanoverian Majesties at Carlsbad."
Valençay, September 18, 1837.—Yesterday I had a very kind letter from M. Molé. He tells me that he has been obliged to postpone the diplomatic affair. He wishes to create some peers, but is somewhat hampered by the stupid social classification. He speaks bitterly of the great attention paid by M. Guizot to Madame de Lieven, and readily accepted by the latter.
Alava, who has been here since yesterday, told me that the hunchbacked daughter of the Duc de Frias has married the Prince of Anglona. Mlle. Auguste de Rigny is certainly the only heiress of the Baron Louis, who leaves seventy thousand francs income. She has already an income of eighteen thousand of her own. The will is quite simple, and so definite that it cannot be attacked.[ [79]
Valençay, September 19, 1837.—M. de Salvandy, whom M. de Talleyrand had invited here, appeared yesterday at dinner-time. He is going back this evening, having sandwiched this excursion between two meetings of the Council. I have exhausted myself in graciousness of manner and in making conversation, which is not an easy matter with a man who is undoubtedly intellectual, but emphatically so, and constantly anxious to produce an effect. In any case, he has been very attentive to me. He told me that the Duke Alexander of Würtemberg had an income of only fifty thousand francs, and that the King of Würtemberg showed much politeness and readiness throughout the affair, though the alliance is a poor one for our young Princess; we gain nothing more than a husband for her. It is not true that she will stay in France; in the summer she will live in her husband's castle, fifteen leagues from Coburg, and in the winter in a little palace at Gotha. When they visit Paris they will be put up at the Elysée. They are going to Germany immediately after the marriage, which will take place in the first fortnight of October.
The French elections will take place on November 15, and the Chamber will meet on December 5.
M. de Salvandy also talked much of the Duchess d'Orleans, whom he believes, and I think rightly, to be an eminently clever person, and, as she has to govern some day thirty-two million souls, is working daily to win their hearts one by one.
Valençay, September 20, 1837.—M. de Salvandy left us yesterday after dinner. During our morning talk he quoted an instance showing the growing influence of the Duchesse d'Orléans over her husband. Before his marriage he troubled so little about mass that last May, a few weeks before his wedding, he went to the races at Chantilly on the Day of Pentecost, and never even thought of attending mass. Recently at Saint-Quentin he went there in fiocchi, telling the National Guard that they might follow him or not as they pleased. The Guard went in a body. Saint-Quentin, however, like all manufacturing towns, is by no means religious.
The Pope is deeply vexed about the business of Sainte-Geneviève, and is going to offer a severe remonstrance through Mgr. Garibaldi. The King, who has been much distressed by the scandal, is embarrassed in his relations with Rome because he yielded to M. de Montalivet, who is unfortunately surrounded by the wretched troop of hostile newspapers, to which he pays homage and deference. M. Molé, who is opposed to the pediment, has also yielded. M. de Salvandy is also fulminating, and I imagine when he has uttered one sonorous phrase he will think his duty done.