[18] He was, in fact, extremely ill at the moment of this crisis.
[19] February 23rd, and April 20th, 1829.
CHAPTER VIII.
ADDRESS OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.
1830.
MENACING, AND AT THE SAME TIME INACTIVE ATTITUDE OF THE MINISTRY.—LAWFUL EXCITEMENT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.—ASSOCIATION FOR THE ULTIMATE REFUSAL OF THE NON-VOTED TAXES.—CHARACTER AND VIEWS OF M. DE POLIGNAC.—MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MINISTERIAL PARTY.—NEW ASPECT OF THE OPPOSITION.—OPENING OF THE SESSION.—SPEECH OF THE KING.—ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF PEERS.—PREPARATION OF THE ADDRESS OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.—PERPLEXITY OF THE MODERATE PARTY AND OF M. ROYER-COLLARD.—DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.—THE PART TAKEN IN IT BY M. BERRYER AND MYSELF.—PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS TO THE KING.—PROROGATION OF THE SESSION.—RETIREMENT OF MM. DE CHABROL AND COURVOISIER.—DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.—MY JOURNEY TO NISMES FOR THE ELECTIONS.—TRUE CHARACTER OF THE ELECTIONS.—INTENTIONS OF CHARLES X.
Whether, attention is arrested by the life of an individual or the history of a nation, there is no spectacle more imposing than that of a great contrast between the surface and the interior, the appearance and the reality of matters. To be excited under the semblance of immobility, to do nothing while we expect much, to look on the calm while we anticipate the tempest,—this, perhaps, of all human situations, is the most oppressive for the mind to endure, and the most difficult to sustain for any length of time.
At the commencement of the year 1830, such was the common position of all,—of the Government and the nation, of the ministers and citizens, of the supporters and opponents of power. No one acted directly, and all prepared themselves for unknown chances. We pursued our ordinary course of life, while we felt ourselves on the brink of a convulsion.