On the 15th, I continued my reports to M. de Montmorency:

"Messengers have been sent in every direction, to the watering-places, to the sea-side, to the country-houses, to fetch the absent ministers. At the time of the accident none of them were in London. They are expected to-day or to-morrow; they will hold a Council, but they cannot decide anything, for in the last result the King will appoint their new colleague, and the King is in Edinburgh. It is unlikely that His Britannic Majesty will hasten to make a choice in the midst of the celebrations. The death of the Marquess of Londonderry is a serious matter for England: he was not loved, but he was feared; the Radicals hated him, but they were afraid of him. Singularly courageous, he overawed the Opposition, which did not dare to insult him too much in Parliament or in the newspapers. His imperturbable coolness, his profound indifference for men and things, his instinct for despotism and his secret contempt for constitutional liberties made him a minister well-fitted to contend successfully with the tendencies of the century. His defects became good qualities at a time when exaggeration and democracy threaten the world.

"I have the honour to be, etc."

"London, 15 August 1822.

"Monsieur le vicomte,

"Further intelligence confirms what I had the honour to tell you touching the death of the Marquess of Londonderry, in my ordinary dispatch of the day before yesterday, No. 49. Only, the fatal instrument with which the unfortunate minister cut his jugular vein was a pen-knife, and not a razor as I told you. The coroner's report, which you will read in the newspapers, will inform you fully. This inquest held on the corpse of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, as though on the body of a murderer, adds something still more terrible to this event

"You are doubtless now aware, monsieur le vicomte, that Lord Londonderry had shown proofs of mental alienation some days before his suicide and that the King himself had noticed it. A slight circumstance to which I had paid no attention, but which returned to my memory after the catastrophe, deserves to be told. I had gone to see the Marquess of Londonderry, some twelve or fifteen days ago. Contrary to his custom and to the custom of the country, he received me familiarly in his dressing-room. He was about to shave himself and, laughing a sardonic laugh, he spoke to me in praise of the English razors. I complimented him on the approaching closing of the session:

"'Yes,' said he, 'either that must come to an end, or I must.'

"I have the honour to be, etc."

Details of the suicide.

All that the English Radicals and the French Liberals have told concerning the death of Lord Londonderry, namely, that he killed himself through political despair, feeling that the principles opposed to his own were going to triumph, is a pure fable invented by the imagination of some, the party spirit and silliness of others. Lord Londonderry was not the man to repent of having sinned against humanity, for which he cared very little, nor against the enlightenment of the age, for which he had a profound contempt: madness had come into the Castlereagh family through the women.

It was decided that the Duke of Wellington, accompanied by Lord Clanwilliam, should take Lord Londonderry's place at the Congress. The official instructions were reduced to this: to forget Italy entirely, not to mix at all in the affairs of Spain, to negociate, where those of the East were concerned, by maintaining peace without increasing the influence of Russia. The chances continued in favour of Mr. Canning, and the business of the Foreign Office was entrusted ad interim to Lord Bathurst, the Colonial Secretary.

I attended Lord Londonderry's funeral at Westminster on the 20th of August. The Duke of Wellington appeared moved; Lord Liverpool was obliged to cover his face with his hat to hide his tears. One heard a few cries of insult and joy outside, as the body entered the Abbey. Were Colbert[216] and Louis XIV.[217] more respected? The living can teach nothing to the dead; the dead, on the contrary, instruct the living.

The Vicomte de Montmorency to the Vicomte de Chateaubriand

"Paris, 17 August.

"Although there are no very important dispatches to entrust to your faithful Hyacinthe, I wish nevertheless to send him back, according to your own desire, noble viscount, and to that which he has expressed to me, on behalf of Madame de Chateaubriand, to see him return to you soon. I will make use of this to send you a few words of a more confidential character on the profound impression made upon us here, as in London, by the terrible death of the Marquess of Londonderry, and also, by the same occasion, on a matter to which you seem to attach a very exaggerated and very exclusive interest. The Council of the King has taken advantage of it and has fixed for these days, immediately after the closing, which took place this morning, the discussion of the principal directions to be settled, the instructions to be given, and also the persons to be selected: the first question is to know if these will be one or several. You have somewhere, I seem to think, expressed astonishment that we could think of———, not to put you before him, you know very well that he cannot be on the same line for us. If, after the most mature examination, we did not think it possible to avail ourselves of the good-will which you have very frankly shown us in this respect, it would doubtless require, in order to decide us, grave motives which I would communicate to you with the same frankness: the postponement is rather favourable to your desire, in this sense, that it would be most inconvenient, both for you and for us, that you should leave London within the next few weeks and before the ministerial decision which continues to occupy all the Cabinets. This strikes everybody so much that some friends said to me the other day:

"'If M. de Chateaubriand had come at once to Paris, it would have been rather annoying for him to be obliged to leave again for London.'

"We therefore expect to make this important nomination on the return from Edinburgh. The Chevalier Stuart[218] said yesterday that surely the Duke of Wellington would go to the Congress; it is important that we should know this at the earliest possible moment. M. Hyde de Neuville arrived yesterday in good health. I was delighted to see him. I renew to you, noble viscount, all my inviolable sentiments.

"Montmorency."

This new letter from M. de Montmorency, mingled with some ironical phrases, fully confirmed my impression that he did not want me at the Congress.