The King, in the month of April 1827, proposed to review the National Guard on the Champ de Mars[302]. Two days before this fatal review, prompted by my zeal, and asking no better than to lay down my arms, I addressed a letter to Charles X., which was handed to him by M. de Blacas, who acknowledged its receipt by this note: "I did not lose a single moment, monsieur le vicomte, in handing the King the letter which you did me the honour to send me for His Majesty and, if he deigns to entrust me with a reply, I shall show no less alacrity in forwarding it to you. "Receive, monsieur le vicomte, my most sincere compliments. "BLACAS D'AULPS. "27 _April_, 1 P.M." [Sidenote: My letter to the King.] TO THE KING "SIRE, "Permit a loyal subject, whom moments of agitation will always find at the foot of the throne, to confide to Your Majesty a few reflections which he thinks useful both to the glory of the Crown and the happiness and safety of the King. "Sire, it is but too true, there is danger within the State, but it is also certain that this danger is nothing if the very principles of government be not thwarted. "A great secret has been revealed to me, Sire: your ministers have had the misfortune to teach France that the people, which was said no longer to _exist_, is still quite alive. Paris, during twice twenty-four hours, has evaded authority. The same scenes are being repeated throughout France: the factions will not forget this attempt. "But popular assemblages, so dangerous under absolute monarchies, because they take place in presence of the Sovereign himself, mean little under the representative monarchy, because they come into contact only with ministers or laws. Between the monarch and the subjects is fixed a barrier that stops everything: the two Chambers and the public institutions. Outside these movements, the King always finds his authority and his sacred Person sheltered. "But, Sire, there is one condition indispensable to the general safety, and that is to act in the spirit of the institutions: a resistance on the part of your Council to that spirit would make popular movements as dangerous under the representatative monarchy as they are under the absolute monarchy. "I pass from theory to application: "Your Majesty is about to appear at the review: you will be received as you should; but it is possible that, amid the cries of 'God Save the King!' you will hear other cries which will express the public opinion of the ministers.