, one of the
most honourable members of which, M. de Kergorlay, said, a few months
before, "The Chamber had not yet whispered when the former Ministry
already fell; let it speak, and the present Government will scarcely
last eight days."

The Ministry, however, had held its ground, and still continued to do
so; but it was evidently impossible that it could stand firm against the
Chamber, once more assembled with redoubled animosity. They well knew
that the Opposition was determined to renew the most violent attacks
upon the existing authorities. M. de Chateaubriand printed his 'Monarchy
according to the Charter;' and although this able pamphlet was not yet
published, everybody knew the superior skill with which the author could
so eloquently blend falsehood with truth, how brilliantly he could
compound sentiments and ideas, and with what power he could entangle the
blinded and unsettled public in this dazzling chaos. Neither the
Ministry nor the Opposition attempted to deceive themselves as to the
nature and consequences of the struggle about to commence. The question
of persons was merely the symbol and cloak of the great social and
political topics in dispute between the two parties. The point to be
decided was, whether power should pass over to the _Right-hand_ party,
such as it had exhibited itself during the session lately terminated;
that is, whether the theories of M. de Bonald and the passions of
M. de La Bourdonnaye, feebly qualified by the prudence and influence, as
yet unripened, of M. de Villele, should become the rule of the King's
policy.

I am not now, neither was I in 1815, amongst those who considered the
_Right-hand_ party unfit to govern France. On the contrary, I had
already, although less profoundly and clearly than at present, adopted
the opinion, that a concurrence of all the enlightened and independent
classes, whether old or new, was absolutely necessary to rescue our
country from the impending alternations of anarchy or despotism, and
that without their union we could never long preserve order and liberty
together. Perhaps too I might include this natural tendency amongst the
reasons, not absolutely defined, which led me to desire the Restoration.
Hereditary monarchy, become constitutional, presented itself to my mind
both as a principle of stability, and as a natural and worthy means of
reconciliation and conversion amongst the classes and parties who had
been so long and continually at war.