This last expression is literal, and was twice uttered in the course of the evening.  He then went on to add, that seeing the impossibility of doing as he could wish, he had been compelled to acquiesce in the proposal that came nearest to his own views.  The friends of the Duke of Orleans were active, particularly M. Lafitte, who enjoyed a great deal of his own confidence, and the Duke himself was free in the expression of the most liberal sentiments.  Under these circumstances, he thought it possible to establish a government that should be monarchical in form, and republican in fact.  Such, or nearly such, is the case in England, and he did not see why such might not be the case in France.  It is true the English republic is aristocratical, but this is a feature that depends entirely on the breadth and independence of the constituency.  There was no sufficient reason why France should imitate England in that essential point, and by erecting a different constituency, she would virtually create another polity in fact, adhering always to the same general form.

As respects the expression so often cited, he said his words were “voici la meilleure des republics pour nous;” distinctly alluding to the difficulties and embarrassments under which he acted.  All this time he made no pretension to not having been deceived in the King, who had led him to think he entertained very different principles from those which events have shown to be his real sentiments.

Something was then said of the etat de siege, and of the intentions of the government.  “I shall go to La Grange in a few days,” observed the General, smiling, “unless they arrest me; there to remain until the 4th of July, when we shall have our usual dinner, I hope.”  I told him that the long fever under which A——­ had suffered rendered a change of air necessary, and that I was making my preparations to quit France temporarily, on another tour.  He pressed me to remain until the 4th, and when I told him that we might all be shot for sedition under the present state of things, if we drunk liberal toasts, he laughed and answered, that “their bark was worse than their bite.”

It was near tea when I took my leave, and returned to the Rue St. Dominique.  The streets were gloomy and deserted, and I scarcely met a single individual, in walking the mile between the two hotels.

There was a wild pleasure in viewing a town in such an extraordinary state, and I could not help comparing its present moody silence, to the scenes we had witnessed when the government was still so young and dependent as to feel the necessity of courting the people.  I have already mentioned to you many of the events of that period, but some of them have been omitted, and some, too, which quite naturally suggest themselves, at this moment, when the King has established military tribunals in his very capital.