"Gentlemen," he said to the assembled company, "I heard that you were all at M. de Chateaubriand's and I decided to come here to pay you a visit... I am so happy to find myself surrounded by Frenchmen! I love France, because France is the land of my birth, and, if I have ever turned my thoughts towards the throne of my ancestors, it has been only in the hope that it might be possible for me to serve my country in the principles and sentiments which have been so gloriously proclaimed by M. de Chateaubriand and which are honoured, in addition, by so many and such noble defenders in your native land."
This scene moved Chateaubriand deeply. On the same day, he wrote to Madame Récamier:
"I have just received the reward of my whole life: the Prince has deigned to speak of me, in the midst of a crowd of Frenchmen, with an effusiveness worthy of his youth. If I were able to tell anything, I would tell you about this; but here I am crying like a fool.
"Protect me with all your prayers."
The Comte de Chambord had had an apartment reserved for him in his own house in Belgrave Square. Every morning, Chateaubriand would see the descendant of Louis XIV. come into his room, sit down familiarly on his bed and talk with him at length of the interest, liberties and future of France. During the day, the Prince came to take him for a drive in his carriage, so as to lose hardly an hour of his stay.
When Chateaubriand was on the eve of departure, Henry of France wrote him the following letter:
"London, 4 December 1843.
"Monsieur le Vicomte de Chateaubriand,
"At the moment when I am about to have the grief of parting from you, I wish once more to express to you all my gratitude for the visit which you have come to pay me on foreign soil and to tell you all the pleasure which I have felt at seeing you again and talking with you of the great interests of the future. Finding myself as I do in perfect community of opinion and feeling with yourself, I am happy to see that the line of conduct which I have adopted in exile and the position which I have taken up are, in every respect, consonant with the advice which I wished to ask of your long experience and of your judgment. I shall, therefore, walk with still more confidence and firmness in the path which I have marked out for myself.
"More fortunate than I, you are going to see our dear country again; tell France of all the love that my heart contains for her. I am glad to take as my interpreter that voice so dear to France which has, at all times, so gloriously defended monarchical principles and the national liberties.
"I renew, monsieur le vicomte, the assurance of my sincere friendship.
"Henry."
Chateaubriand replied to the Comte de Chambord:
"London, 5 December 1843.
"Monseigneur,
"The marks of your esteem would console me for every disgrace; but, expressed as they are, I see in them more than kindness towards myself: they discover another world; another universe opens up before France.
"I greet with tears of joy the future which you proclaim. Shall you, innocent of all, to whom there is nothing to object save that you are descended from the House of St. Louis, be the only unhappy one among the youth that turns its eyes towards you?
"You tell me that, more fortunate than you, I am going to see France again: 'more fortunate than you!' That is the only reproach which you found to address to your country. No, Prince, I can never be happy so long as you lack happiness. I have not long to live, and that is my consolation. I dare to ask you, after I am gone, to keep the memory of your old servant. keep the memory of your old servant.
"I am, with the most profound respect,
"Monseigneur,
"Your Royal Highness' most humble and most obedient servant,"Chateaubriand."