"Joseph, I did like those Bourbons, but this crowd of beggars has
disgusted me with them already. They are the kind of people who spoil
everything, for they declare everything perfect, beautiful, and
magnificent; they see no defect in anything, they raise their hands to
heaven in admiration if the king but coughs. They want their part of
the cake. And then, seeing their delight, kings and emperors end by
believing themselves gods, and when revolutions come, these rascals
abandon them, and begin to play the same role under some one else. In
this way they are always at the top, while honest people are always in
trouble."
This was about the beginning of May, and it had been announced that the
King had just made his solemn entry into Paris, attended by the
marshals of the Empire, that nearly all the population had come out to
meet him, and that old men and women and little children had climbed
upon the balconies to catch a glimpse of him, and that he had at first
entered the church of Notre Dame to give thanks to God, and immediately
after retired to the Tuileries.
It was announced also that the Senate had pronounced a high-sounding
address, assuring him there need be no alarm on account of all the
disturbances, urging him to take courage and promising the support of
the senators in case of any difficulties.
Everybody approved this address. But we were soon to have a new sight,
we were to witness the return of the _emigres_ from the heart of
Germany and from Russia. Some returned by the government vessels, and
some in simple "salad baskets," a kind of wicker carriage, on two and
four wheels. The ladies wore dresses with immense flower patterns, and
the men wore the old French coats and short breeches, and waistcoats
hanging down to the thighs, as they are represented in the fashions of
the time of the Republic.
All these people were apparently proud and happy to see their country
once more. In spite of the miserable beasts which dragged their
wretched wagons filled with straw, and the peasants who served as
postilions--in spite of all this, I was moved with compassion as I
recalled the joy I felt five months before on seeing France again, and
I said to myself:
"Poor people! they will weep on beholding Paris again, they are going
to be happy!"
They all stopped at the "Red Ox," the hotel of the old ambassadors and
marshals and princes and dukes and rich people, who no longer
patronized it, and we could see them in the rooms brushing their own
hair, dressing and shaving themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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