THE DUKE DE MORTEMART'& ADMINISTRATION. 493 



counsels of such men as Mortemart, Gerard and Casimir Perier. The 

 habitues of the court were more clear sighted than the king. It was 

 early on Wednesday the 28th of July, that M. Mazas, who had been 

 absent on leave, returned from Paris to St. Cloud, in consequence 

 of the momentous events which had taken place in the capital. He 

 offered to his superior, the Baron de Damas, to remain with him, a pro- 

 posal which was the more readily acceded to, as every one was already 

 disappearing as if by enchantment, and even the menial attendants were 

 not to be found. Something very like anarchy was beginning to prevail. 

 Madame de Damas, for instance, was preparing to set out with her 

 children for La Touraine, but her coachman refused tout net, to put the 

 horses to the carriage. About four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, a 

 rumour was circulated in the palace that envoys had arrived from Paris 

 with overtures of accommodation. The panic which had become gene- 

 ral was now calmed for a moment, and was replaced by torrents of abuse 

 against Prince Polignac and his colleagues. " To me," says M. Mazas, 

 t( who knew nothing of the prince, it was petrifying. He who saw 

 St. Cloud during these three days, may well be disgusted with courts 

 and courtiers for life." 



, In spite of the urgency of the case and the extreme value of every 

 instant to the cause of royalty, M. de Mortemart was detained the 

 whole evening at St. Cloud waiting the return of a messenger who had 

 been sent to Paris to ascertain the progress of a previous negotiation. 

 M. Mazas is at great pains to exculpate Charles X. from the charge of 

 indulging in his usual party at whist while the cannon of Marmont was 

 thundering in the streets of Paris. He says, it was remarked by himself 

 and others in the anti-chamber, and in the court below in the course of 

 the evening, that it was easy to see that the king had not the heart to 

 play. He was seen repeatedly at the window and on the balcony of the 

 salon where the card tables were laid out, looking anxiously in the 

 direction of the Tuileries, and M. Mazas tells us, that he had occasion in 

 the course of the evening to seat M. de Mortemart, and advanced for 

 this purpose to the threshold of the salon, from which he says he could 

 see the whole of the interior. 



et In the right corner of the apartment, the Dauphin was engaged 

 in conversation with a general officer who was examining a map. The 

 king was seated at a table with the Duchess de Berri and M. de Duras. 

 The fourth person, a lady I could not recognize,, as her back was 

 towards the door. On the subject of this whist party, the Procureur 

 general, during the process against the ministers, reproached Charles X. 

 in terms so solemn and severe, that the historian who writes the 

 monarch's history will be obliged to notice the incident, but if he reflect 

 with some attention, he will speedily be convinced that the reporter 

 attached a degree of importance to the incident which it did not 

 deserve. 



" The manners of a court present a grievous uniformity which is so 

 much the more difficult to change, because so many private interests are 

 involved in it. Charles X. did not say ; " come now I wish to play, let 

 the card tables be set out." He found every thing prepared, and the 

 first gentleman of the chamber came to him and said : "sire, it is the hour 

 of play, your party is arranged." On Wednesday as on other evenings, 

 the same thing took place, and the king seated himself mechanically at 



