midst the waving of hats and
handkerchiefs, while white sheets or white rags were made to do the
duty of a Bourbon banner. The king was dressed in a blue coat with a
red collar, and wore also a white waistcoat and a cocked hat with a
white cockade in it. His portly and good-natured appearance seemed to
be appreciated by the crowd, whom he saluted with a benevolent smile.
I should here mention that two great devotees of the Church sat
opposite to the King on this memorable occasion. The cortege proceeded
slowly down the Rue de la Paix until the Tuileries was reached, where a
company of the Guards, together with a certain number of the Garde
Nationale of Paris, were stationed.

It fell to my lot to be on duty the day after, when the Duke of
Wellington and Lord Castlereagh arrived to pay their respects to the
restored monarch. I happened to be in the Salle des Marechaux when
these illustrious personages passed through that magnificent apartment.
The respect paid to the Duke of Wellington on this occasion may be
easily imagined, from the fact that a number of ladies of the highest
rank, and of course partisans of the legitimate dynasty, formed an
avenue through which the hero of Waterloo passed, exchanging with them
courteous recognitions. The King was waiting in the grand reception
apartment to receive the great British captain. The interview, I have
every reason to believe, was not confined to the courtesies of the
palace.

The position of the Duke was a difficult one. In the first place, he
had to curb the vindictive vandalism of Blucher and his army, who would
have levelled the city of Paris to the ground, if they could have done
so; on the other hand, he had to practise a considerable amount of
diplomacy towards the newly-restored King. At the same time the Duke's
powers from his own Government were necessarily limited. A spirit of
vindictiveness pervaded the restored Court against Napoleon and his
adherents, which the Duke constantly endeavoured to modify. I must not
forget to give an illustration of this state of feeling. It was
actually proposed by Talleyrand, Fouche, and some important
ecclesiastics of the ultra-royalist party, to arrest and shoot the
Emperor Napoleon, who was then at Rochfort: so anxious were they to
commit this criminal, inhuman, and cowardly act, on an illustrious
fallen enemy, who had made the arms of France glorious throughout
Europe, that they suggested to the Duke, who had the comm