On our return, we breakfasted all together in the garden, and the Emperor was more than usually cheerful. In the evening he dined in his own apartment.
POLITICS.—THE STATE OF EUROPE.—IRRESISTIBLE ASCENDANCY OF LIBERAL OPINIONS.
9th-10th. On the 9th a ship arrived from England, bringing papers to the 21st of January. The Emperor continued his morning rides on horseback, and passed the rest of the day in examining the newspapers in his own chamber. The contents of these late papers were not less interesting than those which we had already examined. The agitation in France continued to increase; the King of Prussia had issued proclamations respecting secret societies; a misunderstanding had arisen between Austria and Bavaria; in England the persecution of the French Protestants, and the violence of the party which was gaining the ascendancy, agitated the public mind, and gave arms to the Opposition. Europe never presented a more violent fermentation.
On perusing the account of the deluge of evils and sanguinary events which overwhelmed all the French departments, the Emperor rose from his couch, and, stamping his foot violently on the ground, he exclaimed! “How unfortunate was I in not proceeding to America! From the other hemisphere I might have protected France against re-action! The dread of my re-appearance would have been a check on their violence and folly. My name would have sufficed to bridle their excesses, and to fill them with terror.”
Then, continuing the same subject, he said with a degree of warmth, bordering on inspiration, "the counter-revolution, even had it been suffered to proceed, must inevitably have been lost in the grand revolution. The atmosphere of modern ideas is sufficient to stifle the old feudalists; for henceforth nothing can destroy or efface the grand principles of our revolution. Those great and excellent truths can never cease to exist, so completely are they blended with our fame, our monuments, and our prodigies. We have washed away their first stains in the flood of glory, and they will henceforth be immortal. Created in the French tribune, cemented with the blood of battles, adorned with the laurels of victory, saluted with the acclamations of the people, sanctioned by the treaties and alliances of Sovereigns, and having become familiar to the ears as well as in the mouths of Kings, these principles can never again retrograde!