"I have often seen Charles X. on horseback reviewing troops or
following the chase; I have heard him, seated on his throne, and
surrounded with all the pomp of an official cortege, pronounce the
opening discourse of the session; I have many times been near him at
the little select fetes that the Duchess of Berry used to give, of a
morning, in the Pavilion de Marsan, to amuse the Children of France, as
they were then called, and to extend their acquaintance with the young
people of their own age. One day when I was visiting with my parents
some exposition of objects of art or flowers in one of the lower halls
of the Louvre, I saw him approach my mother--whom he had known in
England--with a familiarity at once respectful and charming. He plainly
wished to please those whom he addressed, and he had the gift of doing
so. In that kind of success he was rarely wanting, especially with
women. His physiognomy as well as his manner helped. It was open and
benevolent, always animated by an easy, perhaps a slightly commonplace
smile, that of a man conscious that he was irresistible, and that he
could, with a few amiable words, overcome all obstacles."
The fiercest adversaries of Charles X. never denied the attraction
emanating from his whole personality, the chief secret of which was
kindliness. In his constant desire to charm every one that approached
him, he had a certain something like feminine coquetry. The Count of
Puymaigre, who, being the Prefect of the Oise, saw him often at the
Chateau of Compiegne, says:--
"If the imposing tone of Louis XVIII. intimidated, it was not so with
Charles X.; there was rather danger of forgetting, pacing the room with
him, that one was talking with a king."
Yet, whatever may be asserted, the new monarch never dreamed of
restoring the old regime. We do not believe that for a single instant
he had the insensate idea of putting things back to where they were
before 1789. His favorite minister, M. de Villele, was not one of the
great nobles, and the men who were to take the chief parts in the
consecration were of plebeian origin. The impartial historian of the
Restoration, M. de Viel-Castel, remarked it:--
"Charles X. by this fact alone, that for three years he had actively
shared in affairs and saw the difficulty of them better, by the fact
that he was no longer exasperated by the heat of the struggle and by
impatience at the political nullity to which events had so long
condemned him, had laid aside a part of his former exaggeration. In the
lively satisfaction he felt in entering at last, at the age of
sixty-seven, upon the enjoyment of the supreme power by the perspective
of which his imagination had been so long haunted, he was disposed to
neglect nothing to capture public favor, and thus gain the chance to
realize the dreams of his life. His kindliness and natural courtesy
would have inspired these tactics, even if policy had not suggested
them."
The dignity of the private life of the King added to the respect
inspired by his personality. His morals were absolutely irreproachable.
His wife, Marie Therese of Savoy, died the 2d of June, 1805; he never
remarried, and his conduct had been wholly edifying. The sacrifice he
made to God, in renouncing the love of women, after he lost his
well-beloved Countess of Polastron by death in 1803, was the more
meritorious, because, apart from the prestige of his birth and rank, he
remained attractive longer than men of his age. No such scandals as had
dishonored the court of nearly all his predecessors occurred in his,
and the most malevolent could not charge him with having a favorite. In
his home he was a man as respectable as he was attractive, a tender
father, a grandfather even more tender, an affectionate uncle, a
gentle, indulgent master for his servants. None of the divisions that
existed in the family of Louis XVIII. appeared in that of his
successor; perfect harmony reigned in the court of the Tuileries.
Of a mind more superficial than profound, Charles X. did not lack
either in tact or in intelligence. He sincerely desired to do right,
and his errors were made in good faith, in obedience to the mandates of
his conscience. Lamartine, who had occasion to see him near at hand,
thus sums up his character:--
"A man of heart, and impulsive, all his qualities were gifts of nature;
hardly any were the fruit acquired by labor and meditation. He had the
spirit of the French race, superficial, rapid, spontaneous, and happy
in the hazard of repartee, the smile kindly and communicative, the
glance open, the hand outstretched, the attitude cordial, an ardent
thirst for popularity, great confidence in his relations with others, a
constancy in friendship rare upon the throne, true modesty, a restless
seeking for good advice, a conscience severe for himself and indulgent
for others, a piety without pettiness, a noble repentance for the sole
weaknesses of his life, his youthful amours, a rational and sincere
love for his people, an honest and religious desire to make France
happy and to render his reign fruitful in the moral improvement and the
national grandeur of the country confided to him by Providence. All
these loyal dispositions were written on his physiognomy. A lively
frankness, majesty, kindness, honesty, candor, all revealed therein a
man born to love and to be loved. Depth and solidity alone were wanting
in this visage; looking at it, you were drawn to the man, you felt
doubts of the King."
This remark, just enough at the end of Charles X.'s reign, was hardly
so at the outset. In 1824 people had no doubts of the man or of the
King. The French were content with Charles X., and Charles X. was
content with himself.
The new King said to himself that his policy was the right one,
because, from the moment of his accession, all hatreds were appeased.
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."