With the absolute calm enjoyed by France he compared the
agitations, plots, violence, the troubles and the fury of which it
had been the theatre under the Decazes ministry. From the day the
Right had assumed power, and Louis XVIII. had allowed his brother
to engage in public affairs, the victory of royalty had been
complete and manifest. Charles X. thought then that the results
had sustained him; that foresight, virtue, political sense, were
on his side. Needless to say, every one about him supported him in
that idea, that he believed in all conscience that he was in the
right, obeying the voice of honor and acting like a king and a
Christian. Any other policy than his own would have seemed to him
foolish and cowardly. To hear his courtiers, one would have said
that the age of gold had returned in France; the felicitations
offered him took an idyllic tone. The Count of Chabrol, Prefect of
the Seine, said to him, January 1, 1825, at the grand reception at
the Tuileries:--
"At your accession, Sire, a prestige of grace and power calmed, in
the depths of all hearts, the last murmur of the storm, and the
peace that we enjoy to-day is embellished by a charm that is yours
alone."
The same day the Drapeau Blanc said:--
"Why is there an unusual crowd passing about the palace of the
cherished monarch and princes? It is watching with affection for a
glance or smile from Charles! These are the new-year gifts for the
people moved by love for the noble race of its kings.
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