“Liberty is fatal to the house of Bourbon; and as regards myself, I am resolved to avoid, at any price, the fate of Louis XVI.  My people obey force, and bend their necks; but woe to me if they should ever raise them under the impulse of those dreams which sound so fine in the sermons of philosophers, and which it is impossible to put in practice.  With God’s blessing, I will give prosperity to my people, and a government as honest as they have a right to expect; but I will be a king,—­and that always!”

Charles X. was on the throne six years.  He was a fine-looking man and a splendid horseman,—­which at first pleased the Parisians, who had been disgusted with the unwieldiness and lack of royal presence in Louis XVIII.  His first act was a concession they little expected, and one calculated to render him popular.  He abridged the powers of the censors of the Press.  His minister at this time was M. de Villele, a man of whom it has been said that he had a genius for trifles; but M. de Villele having been defeated on some measures that he brought before the Chamber of Deputies, Charles X. was glad to remove him, and to appoint as his prime minister his favorite, the Prince de Polignac.  Charles Greville, who was in Paris at the time of this appointment, writes:  “Nothing can exceed the violence of feeling that prevails.  The king does nothing but cry; Polignac is said to have the fatal obstinacy of a martyr, the worst courage of the ruat coelum sort.”

[Illustration:  CHARLES X.]

Six months later Greville writes:  “Nobody has an idea how things will turn out, or what are Polignac’s intentions or his resources.”  He appeared calm and well satisfied, saying to those who claimed the right to question him, that all would be well, though all France and a clear majority in the Chambers were against him.  “I am told,” says Charles Greville, “that there is no revolutionary spirit abroad, but a strong determination to provide for the stability of existing institutions, and disgust at the obstinacy and the pretensions of the king.  It seems also that a desire to substitute the Orleans for the reigning branch is becoming very general.  It is said that Polignac is wholly ignorant of France, and will not listen to the opinions of those who could enlighten him.  It is supposed that Charles X. is determined to push matters to extremity; to try the Chambers, and if his ministers are beaten, to dissolve the House and to govern par ordonnances du roi.”  This prophecy, written in March, 1830, foreshadowed exactly what happened in July of the same year, when, as an outspoken English Tory told Henry Crabb Robinson, in a reading-room at Florence:  “The king of France has sent the deputies about their business, has abolished the d——­d Constitution and the liberty of the Press, and proclaimed his own power as absolute king.”

“And what will the end be?” cried Robinson.

“It will end,” said a Frenchman who was present, “in driving the Bourbons out of France!”