May watchful Europe, may the factions, if
such there be still, see in the accord of all Frenchmen, in the
union of the people and the army, the pledge of our strength and
of the peace of the world!" The author of the Genie du
Christianisme thus closed his prose dithyramb: "May God grant to
Louis XVIII. the crown immortal of Saint Louis! May God bless the
mortal crown of Saint Louis on the head of Charles X.!"
In this chant in honor of the King and of royalty, M. de
Chateaubriand did not forget the Duke and Duchess of Angouleme,
nor the Duchess of Berry and the Duke of Bordeaux. "Let us
salute," he said, "the Dauphin and Dauphiness, names that bind the
past to the future, calling up touching and noble memories,
indicating the own son and the successor of the monarch, names
under which we find the liberator of Spain and the daughter of
Louis XVI. The Child of Europe, the new Henry, thus makes one step
toward the throne of his ancestor, and his young mother guides him
to the throne that she might have ascended."
Happy in the ease with which the change in the reign had taken
place, and seeing the unanimous manifestations of devotion and
enthusiasm by which the throne was surrounded, the Duchess of
Berry regarded the future with entire confidence. Inclined by
nature to optimism, the young and amiable Princess believed
herself specially protected by Providence, and would have
considered as a sort of impiety anything else than absolute faith
in the duration of the monarchy and in respect for the rights of
her son.
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