OUR

ART. XI.-Souvenirs Historiques sur la Révolution de 1830. Par S. Bérard, Député de Seine et Oise. Paris, 1834. UR readers will recollect* that amongst certain nameless names' which the Three Days brought into notice, there was one Bérard. This man had been two or three years a deputy, but had never ventured into the tribune, and seemed, by his talents, character, and position, very little likely to play a prominent part in a great political movement. He, however, was the confidential friend of M. Lafitte, and, in the meetings of the deputies which took place during the contest, he distinguished himself by his seditious activity; and while the great majority were, either through timidity or constitutional scruples, willing to enter into terms with Charles X., Bérard-probably instigated by Lafitte-took the lead in urging the dismissal of the elder branch and the elevation of the Duke of Orleans to the throne. It was to Bérard's house that the Duke de Mortemart, the king's new minister and plenipotentiary, was-by the curious coincidence we before t observed upon-conducted; it was he who told the Duke il est trop tard;'-and it was mainly through his management that this negociation failed. It was he, too, who undertook the preparation of the new charter, to which he had the honour of giving his name for it was and is familiarly termed La Charte Bérard. On the establishment of the new government Bérard had his share of the spoils, though not quite so large a one as he expected; for he thought that, as he had made Louis Philippe king,' Louis Philippe ought, in return, to have named him, at least, a member of his cabinet. Instead, however, of this, he was only made a privy councillor and Directeur Général des Ponts et Chaussées, a place equivalent to our First Commissioner of Woods and Forests. Although M. Bérard afterwards considered this as une des premières fonctions de l'Administration,' yet he no doubt must have been somewhat mortified to see placed in the superior rank of cabinet ministers persons who, like Guizot, Broglie, and Sebastiani, had, during the crisis, exhibited-not merely timidity and vacillation, but a desire to accommodate matters with Charles X. Whatever was the reason, he certainly soon became somewhat of a frondeur, and began to hint that the king he had made did not do full justice to his other great work-the Charter.

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We think our readers will be amused, and, if they reflect a little, instructed, by the following account of the first day of the new royalty which, as well, indeed, as every page of the book, offers a most curious exhibition of the disgrace of what successful audacity has called glory,' of the meanness of its affected 'gran* See Quarterly Review, Vol. XLIX. p. 478.

† Ibid.

deur,'

deur,' the low selfishness of its ostentatious liberality,' the shabby intrigues of its popular independence,' the despotism of its professed freedom,' the narrowness of its boasted nationality,' and, above all, the strange mixture of falsehood and force, of courage and cringing, of the blood of the Bourbons with the boue de Paris which has marked the whole personal conduct of Louis Philippe.

At the inaugural assembly of the two Chambers, when the crown was, on the proposition of Bérard, publicly conferred on Louis Philippe,

'Casimir Perrier, the President of the Deputies, read with a loud and declamatory voice the declaration of the Chamber. When he came to these words, "The general and pressing interest of the French people calls to the throne His Royal Highness PHILIPPE OF ORLEANS,' the king elect interrupted him with "Louis PHILIPPE."-Perrier, correcting himself, repeated "Louis Philippe of Orleans," &c.p. 408.

After explaining and ridiculing the doubts of his fellow kingmakers whether they should call their creature Louis XIX. or Philippe VII., and the intermediate device of thus calling him Louis Philippe, because that combined name had no historical antecedents, he proceeds,

• When the ceremony was over, the king went out shaking hands at a prodigious rate with the peers, the deputies, and even the crowd through which he walked to his carriage. I blamed this shaking of hands in the Lieutenant-General on the 31st July, 1830; I approve it still less in the King on the 9th August. It is not from any regard to royal dignity that I censure this familiarity, but because it is the expression of a falsehood-because it fraudulently affects a kind of equality which is neither in the thoughts of him who gives nor him who receives this indecorous greeting.

⚫ I had received in the morning a note from one of the king's aidesde-camp to invite me to dine at the Palais Royal. I arrived rather late, [how lucky that the sentinel at the door did not tell M. Bérard, as he had told M. de Mortemart, il est trop tard !]—they were just going to dinner. I slided—without being, so to speak (pour ainsi dire), observed-into the crowd of guests. The chief actors of the revolution were present at this banquet, which was royal only in its magnificence. Every one seemed as much at ease as if he were dining in a friend's house; but it is right to add, no one trespassed beyond the bounds of a respectful familiarity. But alas! this real citizen-royalty did not last long. Those who were about the king did not like a crowd of familiar competitors, and they soon created a kind of court. The king began to find himself isolated in a certain degree from the simple citizens-[simple indeed!]-and by degrees he came to know nothing of their wants, to forget their interests, and, in a word, to become a king just like any other.'—p. 410.

Here

Here we see the germ of M. Bérard's discontent. HE, the founder of the monarchy, happened to come late to this inaugural feast-they had the ingratitude not to wait dinner for him-nay, he was, pour ainsi dire, unnoticed, and he soon discovered symptoms that the citizen-king' was to become a king just like any other.' The king, on this occasion, however, saw his mistake in time, and after dinner seized an opportunity of paying his court to M. Bérard.

'I had not spoken to the king or queen, and did not seek an opportunity of doing so, when, after dinner, strolling out on the terrace which divides the court and the garden of the Palais Royal, I was met by the king. He came up to me with the most affable air, and, after a few words of the kindest civility, he added, "M. Bérard, I shall never forget the tact and judgment with which you know how to seize an opportunity. In two most important circumstances you were the first to see what ought to be done, and the first to do it."" Sire,” I replied, "when one is inspired-[this reminds us of Joseph Surface's 'the man who]-by the love of one's country, one is seldom wrong, and always in a hurry to attain his object-that which we have accomplished to-day will receive the approbation of all France." His majesty then asked me if I was acquainted with the queen; and on my answering in the negative, he ran to a short distance, took her by the hand, and brought her to me. "I present you, my dear,* THE man who has done us such services, and to whom we owe such deep obligation." The queen having addressed me-[the queen addressed him!]-in obliging terms. "I am happy," I replied to her-[lui répliquai-je-every word is precious,]" that that which deserved my respect and affection happened to be in accordance with the interests of France-had they required another course, that other course I should have taken." This freedom, perhaps a little downright (brusque), was very well taken, and produced fresh compliments to me. I was complimented also by the Duke de Chartres and Madame Adelaide.

'I was then a considerable man to whom they-[on—the king and queen, the heir-apparent and the princess royal, dwindled into on-the Iliad in a nut-shell!]-to whom they openly avowed that they owed some gratitude, in whose praise they never could say enough! My favour, to use the language of the courtiers, was so great, that it seemed to excite their envy, and I was able, during that evening, to form some idea of the intoxication of courts.'-Ib.

Like other intoxications, this evaporated by next morning, and, as poor M. Bérard informs us, with a very natural expression of wonder and disappointment, he never again entered the Palais Royal as a favourite-no, not even as a guest; which was the more remarkable, because the king was in the habit of inviting everybody.

* We are obliged to insert the words 'my dear' to render the familiar effect of the tutoyement which Bérard puts into the King's mouth.

This disappointment was, however, considerably alleviated by his nomination to the office before mentioned; but it is clear that his language or his conduct must have given serious offence, for we find that on the very remarkable date of the 5th June, 1852, our king-maker was most unceremoniously and ungraciously destitué-dismissed from his office, and restored to the tranquil enjoyments of private life.'-(p. 35.)

If we are to believe his own assurances-and who can be a better judge?-nothing could be more agreeable to a man of his disposition than to be thus relieved from one of the first offices of the administration,' with a large salary and extensive patronage -his dismissal was really a jouissance. On his own account, therefore, he felt nothing like regret-Oh no; but he felt for his country-the total failure of the Revolution to accomplish its promises, and the illiberal and despotic measures of the ministry, have obliged him reluctantly to publish the present work, in which he gives an account of the various circumstances which placed the Citizen-king on the throne, and of various subsequent events which prove that the king was very soon tired of being a citizen. It was in vain, M. Bérard says, that the ministry offered him compensation for his loss of office-to place him on the list of salaried privy councillors to appoint him receiver-general of a lucrative district-nay, to elevate him to the peerage. It was in vain that some common friends represented the tort affreux-the frightful mischief he would do the government of his own creation, if he published this work-all in vain his honour, his conscience, and his patriotism, required that he should raise his voice in defence of the charter, which the king and his ministers equally violate—and the work is published! There were, however, we observe, some other circumstances, which seem to have concurred with his patriotism in inducing him to take this step. We put his own dismissal out of the question, because he assures us it had no effect on him: but he had, it seems, in his days of favour, procured for an old friend and follower-one Berthier-the very honourable and comfortable office of sub-prefect at Corbeil. The ministry, not content with sending M. Bérard 'to enjoy the leisure of private life,' conferred a similar favour on M. Berthier; and another of his friends, one M. Foye, seems to have been similarly treated: this gross injustice-this departure from the principle of the glorious revolution-resounded from one end of France to the other,' and excited general indignation. This was quite enough to rouse M. Bérard-but worse remained behind. M. Bérard, even in his happy retirement, had still the welfare of his country at heart, and saw the necessity of recalling himself and his principles to the recollection of the king-to whom, therefore,

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he

he addressed, on the 31st July, 1832, a letter of political advice. Will our readers believe it ?—the king, the citizen-king, the creature of M. Bérard, who shakes hands with everybody, and even asks the private sentinels at the gates of his palace to step in to dinner -the king took no notice of M. Bérard's letter! Most men would have understood so broad a hint, and have abandoned the ungrateful and unfortunate monarch to his own evil ways; but M. Bérard felt, as he, with singular modesty, tells the king,—

'Sire, when I took upon myself to propose the dismissal of Charles X. and the elevation of Louis Philippe, I, in some sort, identified my existence with that of your Majesty. Nothing disagreeable can happen to you, that must not be a thousand times more disagreeable to me. The event which should shake your throne would endanger my safety, perhaps my life. I ought, then, for my own sake, to have my eyes open to the smallest dangers to which you can be exposed.'-p. 35.

With these sentiments, he ventured on a second letter-dated 11th June, 1833-but that too-incredible as it may seem— remained equally unnoticed. What, then, could the poor man do but appeal, from the deaf ear of the king, to the candour of the public, which, he hopes, has not yet forgotten his immense services? Alas! there again we fear M. Bérard has met nothing but disappointment-his work has produced less sensation than he, and even than we, could have expected. The royalists, or at least one section of them-a small one, we hope-have absolutely allied themselves with Bérard, and therefore deal tenderly with him; but the republicans and the Orleanists are equally ashamed of the man and annoyed by his revelations, and have combined to say as little as possible about the book. Much, moreover, of what he had to tell had been anticipated by Sarrans and others; and, finally, he is such a fulsome coxcomb, so dull, so verbose, that he deprives what is new in his work of all the point and piquancy which it could derive from the pen: pointed and piquant it certainly is, but it is by the mere force of the facts; and, indeed, we might even say that the facts are sometimes made more striking by the egotistical pedantry of the unconscious narrator. What must be the people where a monkey is the god?' What must be a king and constitution made by such a fellow as Bérard? But mean as M. Bérard's motives may be, and small as is his literary merit, his book preserves some facts, explains some circumstances, and illustrates some characters, which are important to the true history of the July Revolution, and which verify, by new evidence, all that we have said of the detestable origin-the selfish and sordid management-the shameless inconsistency and signal failure in every point, except the aggrandisement of a few individuals, of that deplorable intrigue, the success of which is as disgraceful