de Polignac. Before striking the blow, had he consented to
it, M. de Bourmont would beyond doubt have massed at Paris the
entire royal guard; he would have provided money and supplies so
that the soldiers would have lacked for nothing."
We are inclined to think, however, that when he took the portfolio
of war General de Bourmont was not dreaming of a coup d'etat, and
that the Prince de Polignac had as yet no thought of it. This
minister, who was so decried, showed at the outset such an
inoffensive disposition that the Opposition was surprised and
disturbed by it.
"The minister," said the Debats, "boasts of his moderation,
because in the ten days of his existence, he has not put France to
fire and sword, because the prisons are not gorged, because we
still walk the streets in freedom. From all this, nevertheless,
flows a striking lesson. There are men who were going to make an
end of the spirit of the century. Well, they do nothing!"
The journals of the Right lamented this inaction.
"If the ministerial revolution," said the Quotidienne, "reduces
itself to this, we shall retire to some profound solitude where
the sound of the falling monarchy cannot reach us."
Then, more royalist than the King, M. de Lamennais wrote on the
subject of the new ministers: "It is stupidity to which fear
counsels silence." M. Guizot says in his Memoires pour servir a
l'histoire de mon temps:--
"This ministry, formed to overcome the Revolution and save the
monarchy, remained inert and sterile.
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