propose closer acquaintanceship, with an openness in which perhaps the
somewhat restricted character of his mind was as much displayed as the
firmness of his temperament; he passed at once from compliments to
confidence, and, after congratulating me on my opposition, opened to me
the full bearing of his own. He neither believed in the Restoration nor
the Charter, held the House of Bourbon to be incompatible with the
France of the Revolution, and looked upon a change of dynasty as a
necessary consequence of the total alteration in the social system. He
introduced, in the course of our interview, the recent death of the
Emperor Napoleon, the security which thence resulted to the peace of
Europe, and the name of Napoleon II. as a possible and perhaps the best
solution of the problems involved in our future. All this was expressed
in guarded but sufficiently definite terms, equally without passion or
circumlocution, and with a marked intention of ascertaining to what
extent I should admit or reject the prospects on which he enlarged. I
was unprepared, both for the visit and the conversation; but I stood on
no reserve, not expecting to convert M. Manuel to my own views, and with
no desire to conceal mine from him. "Far from thinking," I said in
reply, "that a change of dynasty is necessary for France, I should look
upon it as a great misfortune and a formidable peril. I consider the
Revolution of 1789 to be satisfied as well as finished. In the Charter
it possesses all the guarantees that its interests and legitimate
objects require. I have no fear of a counter-revolution. We hold against
it the power of right as well as of fact; and if people were ever mad
enough to attempt it, we should always find sufficient strength to
arrest their progress. What France requires at present is to expel the
revolutionary spirit which still torments her, and to exercise the free
system of which she is in full possession. The House of Bourbon is
extremely well suited to this double exigence of the country. Its
government is anti-revolutionary by nature, and liberal through
necessity. I should much dread a power which, while maintaining order,
would either in fact or appearance be sufficiently revolutionary to
dispense with being liberal. I should be apprehensive that the country
would too easily lend itself to such a rule. We require to be a little
uneasy as regards our interests, that we may learn how to maintain our
rights. The Restoration