ous infatuation for which I am at a loss to decide whether
human nature should be praised or pitied.

All these passions and combinations would in all probability have
remained futile and unnoticed, had they not found exponents and chiefs
in the highest political circles and in the bosom of the great bodies of
the State. The popular masses are never sufficient for themselves; their
desires and designs must be represented by visible and important
leaders, who march at their head and accept the responsibility of the
means and end. The conspirators of from 1820 to 1823 knew this well; and
upon the most widely separated points, at Befort as at Saumur, and at
each fresh enterprise, they declared that they would not act unless
well-known political leaders and Deputies of reputation were associated
with them. Everybody knows, at the present day, that the co-operation
they required was not withheld.

In the Chamber of Deputies, the opposition to the Government of the
Right was comprised of three sections united against it, but differing
materially in their views and in their means of hostility. I shall only
name the principal members of this confederacy, and who have themselves
clearly defined their respective positions. M. de La Fayette and
M. Manuel acknowledged and directed the conspiracies. Without ignoring
them, General Foy, M. Benjamin Constant, and M. Casimir Perrier,
disapproved of their proceedings and declined association.
M. Royer-Collard and his friends were absolutely unacquainted with them,
and stood entirely aloof.

When my thoughts revert to M. de La Fayette, I am saddened by
affectionate regret. I never knew a character more uniformly sincere,
generous, and kind, or more ready to risk everything for his pledged
faith and cause; his benevolence, although rather indiscriminate in
particular cases, was not the less true and expanded towards humanity in
general. His courage and devotedness were natural and earnest, serious
under an exterior sometimes light, and as genuine as they were
spontaneous. Throughout his life he maintained consistency in sentiments
and ideas; and he had his days of vigorous resolution, which would have
reflected honour on the truest friend of order and resistance to
anarchy. In 1791, he opened fire, in the Champ de Mars, on the revolt
set up in the name of the people; in 1792, he came in person to demand,
on behalf of his army, the suppression of the Jacobins; and he held
himself apart a