In the morning I took Pauline to ask offerings from the Archbishop. My sister wished to accompany us, so that I was unable to speak with M. de Quélen.
The Flahaut party have lost all touch with the Pavillon Marsan, except the good graces of the Prince Royal, which they seem to be monopolising. At the Pavillon de Flore there is a general satisfaction at their departure, notwithstanding many fine phrases. The Flahauts do not understand the truth, and throw the blame upon a Doctrinaire intrigue, to which the Duc de Coigny is said to have lent his help. They are soon starting for England, where I think they will make a pretty long stay.
Paris, March 10, 1838.—The Abbé Dupanloup came to see me yesterday. He then asked to see M. de Talleyrand, to thank him for the copy of his speech which he had sent him. Pauline took him there. He stayed alone for twenty minutes with M. de Talleyrand, who did not open the subject directly, but let some kind words fall, and when the Abbé came back to my room he seemed to feel some hope. In any case, he has shown great discretion and perfect tact, and I think he is entirely right. He was the first to suggest that he should take his leave, and was told that he would gladly be seen again. This is all excellent, provided we are given time. It is not so much a case of illness as of general depression and an obvious alteration in his features; but with such a mind one cannot be hasty. What a task it is, and how terrified I should be of it if I did not tell myself that the most unworthy instrument which God is pleased to choose can become more powerful than the greatest saint, if God's providence is not pleased to make use of him!
Paris, March 11, 1838.—The English Ministry has triumphantly survived the crisis which was thought likely to become its overthrow. Will ours pass equally well through next week's crisis, the question of the secret service funds? Many batteries have been laid in position against it, and a silent agitation is proceeding on all sides. It is said that either extremity of the Chamber will direct a converging fire upon the Ministerial benches, I suppose with the object of afterwards shooting one another down upon the field of battle. It is all very distressing.
Paris, March 14, 1838.—I spent two hours yesterday with the Archbishop. I was better pleased with his sentiments than with his decisions. However, everything has been left for his meditation. He asked me to write and tell him what I thought, and I hope, with the grace of God, Who will cast light here and there, to reach some satisfactory conclusion, both for those who are to leave us and for those destined to continue their pilgrimage.
On leaving the Archbishop I went to the Vicomtesse de Laval, who is weak and shaken in health, but alert in heart and mind.
On my return I found M. de Talleyrand depressed and uneasy; he recovered his spirits after a talk with me. The last few days he has eaten a little better. In the evening he was not so weak, and I have just heard that he had a quiet night. I am swayed incessantly between hope and despair, but supported by the sense that I am useful, and perhaps even necessary. If my strength is to fail me, I trust that it may last to the end of my task, after which the sacrifice will have been made, as I made it during my illness at Rochecotte.
Paris, March 15, 1838.—Yesterday I accompanied my sister, who wished to go once more before her departure to the Chamber of Deputies. I felt greatly bored. M. Molé spoke very well; M. Barthe was unbearably superficial; M. Guizot gave us the most wearisome of all his sermons; M. Passy was coarse without being clever; M. Odilon Barrot was very clever and witty, and left neither Thiers nor Berryer anything to say, but his delivery is so oratorical and so badly sustained that it is hard work to listen to him. On the whole the honours of the session remained with M. Molé; or, to speak more accurately, if the Ministry gained nothing its adversary lost a great deal, which amounts to the same thing at the present moment.
Paris, March 16, 1838.—I took Pauline yesterday to mass, to the sermon, and to the salutation, after which she made her collection. Two funerals interrupted the collection, preventing any one from coming out, and they were also delayed by a driving rain, so that we remained standing at the church door for an interminable time. However, the sermon of the Abbé de Ravignan,[ [87] concerning indifference in religion and its various causes, pleased me greatly, and if it is not one of the best sermons I have read, it is at any rate one of the best that I have ever heard.
M. Molé, who was dining here, said that this morning in the Chamber, during the formation of the official bodies, the alliance between men who were enemies a few months ago was notorious.