4886. LOUIS XVIII., Restoration of.—
I have received some information from an eyewitness
of what passed on the occasion of the
second return of Louis XVIII. The Emperor
Alexander, it seems, was solidly opposed to
this. In the consultation of the allied sovereigns
and their representatives with the executive
council at Paris, he insisted that the
Bourbons were too incapable and unworthy of
being placed at the head of the nation; declared
he would support any other choice they
should freely make, and continued to urge
most strenuously that some other choice should
be made. The debates ran high and warm,
and broke off after midnight, every one retaining
his own opinion. He lodged * * *
at Talleyrand's. When they returned into
council the next day, his host had overcome his
firmness. Louis XVIII. was accepted, and
through the management of Talleyrand, accepted
without any capitulation, although the
sovereigns would have consented that he should
be first required to subscribe and swear to the
constitution prepared, before permission to enter
the kingdom. It would seem as if Talleyrand
had been afraid to admit the smallest interval
of time, lest a change of mind would
bring back Bonaparte on them. But I observe
that the friends of a limited monarchy there
consider the popular representation as much
improved by the late alteration, and confident it
will in the end produce a fixed government in
which an elective body, fairly representative
of the people, will be an efficient element.—
To John Adams. Washington ed. vii, 82.
(P.F.,,
18171817)gt;
