Conversations with Charles X.
"M. Barrande is a man of attainments, but he takes too much upon himself; he was chosen to teach the Duc de Bordeaux the exact sciences, but he teaches everything: history, geography, Latin. I have sent for the Abbé MacCarthy[565], to share M. Barrande's labours; he will be here soon."
These words made me shudder, for the new tutor could evidently be only a Jesuit replacing a Jesuit. The fact that, in the present state of society in France, the mere idea of attaching a disciple of Loyola to the person of Henry V. had entered into the head of Charles X. was enough to make one despair of the House. When I had recovered from my astonishment, I asked:
"Is not the King afraid of the effect upon public opinion of a tutor taken from the ranks of a famous, but calumniated society?"
The King exclaimed:
"Pooh! Are they still at the Jesuits?"
I spoke to the King of the elections and the desire of the Royalists to know his wishes. The King replied:
"I cannot say to a man, 'Take an oath against your conscience.' Those who think that they ought to take it are doubtless acting with good intentions. I have no prejudice, my dear friend, against men; their past lives matter little, when they are sincerely anxious to serve France and the Legitimacy. The Republicans wrote to me in Edinburgh: I accepted, as concerns them personally, all that they asked of me; but they wanted to impose conditions of government upon me: I rejected them. I will never yield on matters of principle; I want to leave my grandson a more solid throne than mine was. Are the French happier and freer to-day than they were with me? Do they pay less taxes? What a milch-cow France is! If I had allowed myself to do a quarter of the things that M. le Duc d'Orléans has done, what outcries, what curses! They plotted against me, they have owned it: I wanted to defend myself...."
The King stopped, as though embarrassed by the number of his thoughts and by the fear of saying something that might hurt me.
All this was well and good; but what did Charles X. understand by "principles?" Had he accounted for the cause of the real or imaginary conspiracies hatched against his government? After a moment of silence, he resumed: