ards, and often in company with each other,
persons, some of whom had resumed the white cockade, while others still
retained the national colours, and harmony was not in the least disturbed
by these different badges.

Having returned to private life solely on account of Fouche's presence in
the Ministry, I yielded to that consolation which is always left to the
discontented. I watched the extravagance and inconsistency that were
passing around me, and the new follies which were every day committed;
and it must be confessed that a rich and varied picture presented itself
to my observation. The King did not bring back M. de Blacas. His
Majesty had yielded to prudent advice, and on arriving at Mons sent the
unlucky Minister as his ambassador to Naples. Vengeance was talked of,
and there were some persons inconsiderate enough to wish that advantage
should be taken of the presence of the foreigners in order to make what
they termed "an end of the Revolution," as if there were any other means
of effecting that object than frankly adopting whatever good the
Revolution had produced. The foreigners observed with satisfaction the
disposition of these shallow persons, which they thought might be turned
to their own advantage. The truth is, that on the second Restoration our
pretended allies proved themselves our enemies.

But for them, but for their bad conduct, their insatiable exactions, but
for the humiliation that was felt at seeing foreign cannon planted in the
streets of Paris, and beneath the very windows of the Palace, the days
which followed the 8th of July might have been considered by the Royal
Family as the season of a festival. Every day people thronged to the
garden of the Tuileries, and expressed their joy by singing and dancing
under the King's windows.

This ebullition of feeling might perhaps be thought absurd, but it at
least bore evidence of the pleasure caused by the return of the Bourbons.

This manifestation of joy by numbers of persons of both sexes, most of
them belonging to the better classes of society, displeased Fouche, and
he determined to put a stop to it. Wretches were hired to mingle with
the crowd and sprinkle corrosive liquids on the dresses of the females
some of them were even instructed to commit acts of indecency, so that
all respectable persons were driven from the gardens through the fear of
being injured or insulted: As it was wished to create disturbance under
the very eyes of the King