_Valençay, September 11, 1837._--What is to be said of the mandate of the Archbishop of Paris, and of the article in the _Journal des Débats_ which follows it? The desecration of Sainte-Geneviève is obvious, and the scandal of the pediment has been felt by all right-thinking people.[78] In the face of such an enormity it was difficult for the plaintive voice of the chief pastor not to utter a cry of pain, and the absence of any protest would have been blameworthy, in my opinion. But his cry has been uttered with violence and bitterness, and with none of the apostolic respect for the feelings of others which it is always wise to keep in view. In M. de Quélen we shall always have an excellent priest with the courage and devotion of his convictions, but he will never learn tact, and will constantly injure his position by his words and his actions. I am sorry for him, as I am interested in him, and also for the cause of religion, which is even more wounded by these unhappy events and Governmental scandals. The want of thought which permitted this pediment, the obvious hesitation of the Ministry to know whether it would be disclosed or not, the weakness which showed it to the eyes of the public, and the tone of indifference with which newspapers speak of it, are so many disavowals of the system of order and energy which they have claimed as theirs. Next to the pillage of the archbishopric, the destruction of the crosses, and the rejection of the fleur-de-lys, nothing seems to me more hopelessly revolutionary than this hideous pediment. It frightens right-thinking people far more than usurpation.
[78] It was proposed to erect upon the Pantheon a colossal statue of Renown to replace the cross removed in 1831 from what was at that time the Church of Sainte-Geneviève. Cortot was commissioned with this work, and set up a model in carton-pierre. Criticism unanimously condemned it, and the statue was taken down after some time.
_Valençay, September 12, 1837._--The Carlist party are very wrong to accuse the Duc de Noailles of inclination to support the present Government; he is very far from anything of the kind. I have seen that he was somewhat tempted to that course for two or three months during the journey of the two Princes in Germany and when the marriage of the Archduchess Theresa was discussed. Since Alibaud's pistol-shot and the refusal of Austria he has given up the idea, and I think he is more determined than ever to follow his present line of conduct, although his impartiality in thought and language will always prevent him from joining the hot-headed members of his party.