680 The Character of Perier. [JUNE, 



wants, the doctrinaires have granted Five Millions for this honorable 

 object. 



Casimir Perier, " with good intentions," has bought two journals; and 

 with the public money has made a continual war against the public, and 

 in defence of his administration. 



Casimir Perier, " with good intentions," has given situations and im- 

 portant commissions to all his relations, to the fifth generation. His sons 

 and neveux have left the counting-house of the Rue du Luxembourg, 

 and are all of a sudden become diplomates, prefets, and secretaries of 

 legations. 



Has Casimir Perier been a good President of the Council ? No ; he has 

 been a despot, but not a man of utility. He has always promised pros- 

 perity, and has produced distress ; he has spoken of the honour of France 

 when the French nation was disgraced. He has disregarded the demands 

 of the Poles and the Italians, and has favoured the interests of the 

 despots. The monument of Casimir Perier was long since erected at 

 Warsaw and at Modena; a mausoleum may also be dedicated to his 

 memory at Lyons, at Nimes, at Grenoble, at Marseilles, and but the 

 catalogue is to long too be proceeded in. 



Has Casimir Perier ever been a sincere liberal ? Until 1827 he was so 

 esteemed; but when Martignac governed France, Casimir Perier lost the 

 lustre of his reputation. It was reported and Benjamin Constant was no 

 stranger to the report that Perier had entered into some conditions 

 with the ministers, and that his financial affairs, which were at that 

 period in a very precarious state, had been arranged. The fact is, 

 that, during the administration of Martignac, Perier became dumb in 

 the house, was one of the most assiduous attendants at the parties of 

 Charles X., and became an intimate friend of that monarch, and of the 

 Dauphin his son. Besides, when the late revolution took place, Casimir 

 Perier was the last to join the national party ; he would not subscribe his 

 name under the protest of deputies against the ordonnances; and, what is 

 still more worthy of remark, the last act which Charles X. signed before 

 his abdication, was the nomination of Casimir Perier to the same post 

 which he has fulfilled under Louis Philippe, with what honour to him- 

 self, and with what advantage to the noble French nation, we have 

 already seen. 



As soon as Casimir Perier was appointed to the post of President of the 

 Council, General Lafayette and Dupont de 1'Eura, manifested the greatest 

 disappointment, and on being questioned why they were so disheartened, 

 they answered, " Because we are convinced that Casimir Perier connected 

 himself with the opposition, during the restoration, in order to be made a 

 peer and minister ; and if he did not succeed it was not his fault, but that 

 of his friends, and of the periodical press." The last words which Ben- 

 jamin Constant pronounced on political affairs before his death, were, 

 " May God save France, and may Perier never become a minister of 

 Louis Philippe ! " These words were addressed to the venerable Abbe' 

 de Pompierre. 



