Private Correspondence.
The Times, 1824-06-29T00:00:00

I was going to take up :y pen to draw you a sketch ofthe effects' which tile measures of Gdveme'rit-tprudute0n thepnbhlininditere, when thereaccidentally fell into rylhands.aletter, iu w.*t'thihese effects appear to me to be sketched with great accuracy. -I -thereio,e will save you the trouble of perusing any o6'servatit'I1 of tpy-oswn, and transmit s copy of the letter in question, wlhich' have no. doubt you will think worth the attention of your rcuder-- ItUJs;dUwtAfio -, a city not far distant from the cupital. "ly dear llarquis,-I yesterday dined at the 'Btahr 's ataong with Baron de B-, Receiver-General; Count Ile B-, tirC. tor of Contributions; Viscount de D-, Coinnmnder of the Gend3rmerie; Chevalier N-, Councillor of the Prefectir,thbePre.r hidetnt ot' te Tribunal, the Itoyal Procureur, the Gsind Vicar, two Carons of our cathedral, and the son of the Aarquis:Gf L-- -wha only a few days ago arrived from Paris. As we expected important news, we had given orders to.the post-master to send us outr letters and papers as soon as they should arrivew We accoedfngly received themn along with the dessert, and it would be difficEai fior e to de- scribe the effect which tthey produced on the party-*itl7eri excpt.- ing even the ladies; for I forgot to mention, that besides the May1 . chioness, vve had at table the hsdy of Baron B-, the eives of tih Viswount and of the President. " The first news which we learnt from our corres;pondetitg was the rejection of thc p-oject o1' law on the iedaction of the renter. This intelligence affected nearly all of us, but par. ticularly our Receivr-(General antd our Director of Contriba-. tions, who have buth ol'tlitem a strong attachment to the Minister of Finance. The Lady of' the Receiver expressed he- -opinion vwith Iiitle reserve reApecting the Chliamzber of Peers. Sie tiought it inot a little strange that people whio are nothing but by tiie will of tileit King should take it upon them to dissent froni his Alajest7, ncd to rejecL bilis by whicil his Majesty was undeavouritng to reduce the burdeins which weigh upOII hiis people. ' it Lis . frightful thing,, added the Lady of our Receiver, thai the Feersof tte realm should show so little bowels of cotnmas4io?i for the poor pavers or taxes.' I thoughlt I perce&ved titat the afflictionl itith w* hich we wvere penetrated ivas :arfrom being shared by tie Bishop anid theGrandVicar. Both of thleti seetnied to take a malicious pleasure in the defeat of llf. de Villele. The latter estoeciallv could not help remarkinig, that if A. de V;llele had consohed a lil te mrore the interests of the cbgrch, and a little Icss those of the stock-jobbers, his project would not have been rejeectd. ' It is a scandal,' added he, I that the .Ninis. te- ot' the Mlost C'hristian King should apply to Jews for a loan to assist his finances-those saine Jews whom, in th;e best dlavs of the churchl, wc chould have burnt alive. itl. de Cihateaubriand. more pe"ctrated with wlhat is due to relWion and its Milnisters, has at least observel a profomad silence daring thisi discus_ sion, and must doubtless have been rewvarded by an increas- ed influence in the King's Councils.' I Oh God !' exclaimed the President, who was reading the Afouileur, while the Grand Vicar was inakine his reflectioins; ' ()ii God! M. de Cha. teaubriand is turned out of the Cabinet.' This exclamation was a thunder4olt to the Bishop, his Grand V icar, and his two Canons, ' The thing is impossible-*ve cannot believe it,' added they all at once, and it was necessary to show them the Royal ordinance to convince then) of the fact. I ,t was not witliout ground,' resunmed the Vicar-General. ' that 31. de Villele is accused of ihaving little re- spect for religion, and of t'doig nothing tbr the clergy, except against his will. Thlus it was not eroubh for hint to associate with Jews, but he must dismiss from the King's councils one of the itnin pillars of the chmrch.' Duting the address, I observed that the Receiver.ge.. neral and Director of Contributions were regarding each ether with a smile of satisfaction, and that they triumph:-.,ns miLhb its the disap- pointment of the Bishop and his friends as in the confirmred influ- ence of the Alinister of Finance. ' Certainly,' said the Receiver, his Most Christian Majesty has given us proofsof h;- wisdom, but he has never shown it mole than now in the choice which he has made of a AMinister full of ability, over a Hian who may have some talents as a writer, but who understands very little of the business of office.' The King, said the son of the Marquis of L. ,' ' is a man full of talent and discernment. He has been addicted to literature from his vouth and his taste must have improved with age. lie likes solid wvorls, and has no affection for tinsel. In his opinion, the most clever, the best written. the most profound, the most religious, and above all the most monarchical work is-a good budget. 'Tis a work always endued witbt the attractions of novelty, thoughl always reproduced in the same form. WVhat production of M. de Chateaubriand can stand a comparison with the most indif. ferent budget of 31. de Villele?' This sarcasm, my dear Afarquis, surprised us, in coming from a young man whose family are dis- tinguished for their Dure principles, and proved to be a fact which I have often observed before wvith profound regret, namelv, thst our cbildren whom we send to Paris for edu'catior. aTe often corrupted bv the reading of bad books and revolutionary journals. I was going to reprimand this young man for rthe impropriety of his re- flections, when the Bishop stept in, and saved me the trouble. 'I,earn, young man,' said he, 'to respect the Roval Alajesty, and the works of ' writer as celebrated for his piety as his great talents. The church has suffered an immnense loss by the removal of ll. de Chateaubriand, and it cannot be doubted that bis Majesty will hasten to repair the error as soon as he is made sensible of it.'- The loss is not so great for the church as you imagine,' ceplied the inmpertinent young man. ' These miristers who at a distance ap- pear to you so devout, would only seem free-thinkers on a nearer in- spection, and would themselves be very sorry to be talken for what they appear. Tell me, for instance, whoe is Nf. de Chateaubriand's Confessor, and what church is frequented by M. de Corbiere?' These unexptcted questions astonished the Bishop: and I had to rescue him from his straits by changing the subject of conversation. " In perusing the journals we found, that the proect of law for abolishing annual elections, and conferring on the Cthamber of De- puties a duration of seven years, had been adopted by the Chamber, and sanctioned by the King. This fact inspired us all with a lively jov. Not till the day in which that great measure passed could we reckon on the duration of our tunc- tions, or the public be guaranteed against the apprehension of see- ing their administrators taken from them. Thus we may rest as- sured that they will receive the news with inifinite satisfaction. I have o.dered my Councillor of Prefecture, .M. D-, to prove to the inhabitants of our district, in the jourual of the deparanent, how advantgeous this law must be to them, and I have no doubt that he will demonstrate this great truth in the most incontestable manner. '-Nowthat Goverttmentoffices are about to attain greaterstabilirtv, anti that we labeur under no apprehension of beinm removed for want of success in conducting elections. I see my son and my two nephews enter tin the career of public functions with muci greater securitv. They all three are about the start for Paris, with letters of introduction to you, to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance. Mly son, who has acted two years as my secretary. and whIt is a youRg man of great promise, has just solidted the Sub- IP-,t.-t,- of '_ which is filled by a man of nothing, on whomn the Government cannot rectoD, and wlom it is necessary to remove. ?y nep)hew, B-, a young iuan who has just finished his courseof law studies, is soliciting the appointment of King's Precureur at the tribunal of S-. This situation is at present filled bv theson of a little advocate. whose sentiments (to say the lesst of it) area little suspected. You may mention to the Keeper of the Seals that the temoval of this functionary will be seen with the grea:est plea- surebythepublic. As for my nephew G-, he proceeds to Par-s to ask the place of private receiver in the arrondiNsement of T_. Thts place is not vacant, but the person who hold it is so destitute both ef merit and of interest, that it would be easy to remove him. Besides, his wife is more expensive than becomes his fortune, and she may cause some encroachment on the public money. Must I now, my dear Marquis, speak to you of myself? I haveonly a prelecture of the second order;- my two daughters ace marriageable, and I want to give tl;em portions- You know whether I have not been of service to the Governmuent in the elections. The Government candidates were certainly men ofimerit, butyou many beassured that had it not beet for me, nor one of them would htave been returned. The services of Count de C- were not so important as mine, for he had not the power to prevent the election of a Revolutionist in his department. Nevertheless, he has got a Prefecture of the first dass. I need not expl in mvself farther, but I rely on vour frieod- ship. For yourself, dear Mlarquis you are a happy man; you are now a Deputv for seven years; the head of a great office, and you lhave the distribution of all places in your own departmeiit, and sorne others beside and wvho knows what may vet happen e Another law project rejected, a Alinister turned oat, and you in possession of the portfolio! " But I have digressed from the subject, on whiech I intended ex. clusively to have addressed you. I mean our niectieg ai thetBisiopns. But I return to it. When the Receiver-General, the Director of the Contributions, and the Commander of the Gendarmerie learnt that the septennial law project had been adopted, and that Govern- ment esnplopments were about to acquire stability, teey determined to solicit places for some of their relatives. They even %ksed me for letters of reconumerdation to vou, and I could. not refuse-them. But, between ourselves, the applicants are ambitious men, without any merit, and you rill do weD to put them oft. I After dinner I rernained last of the company at the Bishop's, because I perceived that the measures of the Government did not please him >, and I wished to have some conversation with him on the subject. }ire immediately-cntered into discussion, and the fol- lowing is the manner in which he cxplained himself :-B efore the elections, the Minister, in order to make his aet in thewayhe wvished, was very liberal in his proMises-promises which were even re- peated by the amididates whose return weweretoprocure. The3linis- ters were to consign education tO the careoftbeclerg -of theWt.te-reli_ gion * they were to propose a law project forpunishing sacrilege-and other oTflences against oitrreligious belief; finally,theyawerero secure the independence of the clergy by aUgmenting tefir mncomes. On the faith of the promises, 4we supported the Adlmimis tion with our influence, and -perhaps, M. le Prefet, we may beast of having done as much as you in the elections. " I However, the Government convokes the ChamberTs the Royal speech promises a siptennial duration, because that is for the ad_ vantage of the Mlinisters and their agents ; it promises indemnities to the emigravats. because-,be emigrants are-memnbems of the 'Cham- ber of Deputies; but not aword is said of the-church ;. nnd n order that we might be noticea atall, it became necessary for-the epueties to recollect the promises which had been nade -to us, 1Sd meitOiln was made of them Li the reply- to the speech. - It wastcSary-that they should say to the ifinister-dlucwtion wants support, religon protection, and its ministers the means of maintainingw Uneuteitlce worthv of their character. . " 'But what was the minister's,eply tothita pea?:An ordiaince, which obliges teachers and masaeri Asobf i316 to ap2ly for new brevets or licences,because it was thought - opert&introutie uasiil the system of education clandestinely, and thenministeTs seemedz?o be ashamed of tLheiralliance with us - a law pro3ec*--Whicb, inste'ad of opcnly punishing sacrilege and, impiety rnIV itwxe;g she existing penalties for robbing churches; andfinaitnUse3ta. tioa ofoar incomes. This is, however, rot l5WPlo4t.On?hC finances is rCeected, and 'that is radea prete bfri5tliU thJ e 3t. nister'dearest to the Church, and whotsvinceadtheb test 2eatlfor its welfare. Buttwhat is-still worscIhe,la 1LWsprl?iO vitiW us said to b6 intrd-ceafot preventtngit,' it DthdfWfl lote i. nisters think tbat tbey have no lonkefanymee uit tr& VU be ;; anore tle.ions for seven year!-t comte? Do they fancy thatthev do us bonbur by their speeches, while ibtir conduct proves that tshY no rnore brlieve in our doctrines than the free-thinkers 'I could not but acknowledge, deari'larquis, that sorne of those -n3mpls%rjt wee wel i founded. It would be extremely useful to our csrm Vvere the ? tinisters publicly to perform eome acts of reBgtt_- 0 -lere wO to read in the Journal des Debats that O t such - a day 'the Finance Ainister went to confess, afd, that on suih bnotir day the Keeper of the Seals had 3b 'Efet5ice- i pithi, spiritual director, such statements would make ,, X~plibfc lacegre4t confidence in the integrity and impartiality of tlhe Admninistr,,tion, and we sbould no longer be expoted to the mor- tification ofJ3earing some giddy youngsters ask the strange ques- -, 7 , `Who is such a Alinisier's confessor ' At the same time, Vrliie[aIloWed that part of the Bishop's reproaches were just, I et- demvou-ed to convirtce him that it was necessary for the Government tOAc-with caution, artd that it was impossible to satisfy all at onice be wrantr of the public functionaries, of the emigrants, anti of tlie ^ Voss-rayassurete t llinisters that I shall neglect nothing to maite their mneasures popular. For that purpote I exclusively em- pc0y thte Iflluence of the Prefecture and the journal of the Ilepart- tneh~. Unfornately, I am much embarrassed by the revolutionary ?4attaltt s t come f]In Patis, and 1by the ctumidlity of the niub- uc,ho do not <omnpsehend the clearest demonstrations. Pray, dto r~t bat thlink that we are now strong, enoughl to begin to E ?Of conmpnsationfl for the church ? 'onsullt !11. tie Cor- what lie thinits of it. Above all, point oiut tOlsnn that doing so is the most cerain wav of shutting tile mouill of the Viscount dc Chateaibriand. By granting to the emi- grmnta thc cqnupensitions which are tleir due, you will deprive him 10iNA the inuence lie tray have over them. Promise the church what it wrants, and tile <; lrcht wei11 abandsn him too. He will thet try sQ mnake a party among the rcr4 of she population, by speaking to thetn of liberty ; bat we will mcply to him by referring to the Spanish war, vhich he brought about, anm whicih Al. de Villelle so long te;irsted. He is tberefore a man whoni the Aliinisters have no rOaoa to festr, andA whons we c.an easily teach the pm.blic to despise." PA7IP'A2B D .._ - . - .?