At dinner there was no talk on political questions. Some minutes after leaving the dining-room the Comte de Chambord went to escort his wife to the station; at the moment of starting, he notified that he would first converse with MM. Lucien Brun, de Carayon-Latour and de Cazenove de Pradine ; then, and apart from them, with M. Chesnelong.

This conference having been a short one, the Comte de Chambord summoned M. Chesnelong. This time he received the mandatory of the Committee of Nine standing. The latter understood that the business before him was no longer to argue, but to come to a conclusion.

What, then, are these declarations which you I wish to obtain from me?" asked the Prince.

"There are three, your Highness, which seem to me indispensable," replied M. Chesnelong; and he imparted the first.

"I entreat your Highness to authorise me to make a first declaration in your name, which runs as follows:

'(1) His Highness the Comte de Chambord, does not demand that any change be made in the flag before he has taken possession of power.'

"So be it. I accept that," answered the Prince. M. Chesnelong passed to the second declaration, which he formulated as follows:

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(2) The Comte de Chambord reserves for himself to present to the country, at the time which he shall judge to be suitable, and feels certain of obtaining from it, through its representatives, a solution compatible with his honour, and which he considers of a nature to satisfy the Assembly and the nation.'" The Prince having again acquiesced, M. Chesnelong imparted the third declaration :

"(3) The Comte de Chambord agrees that the question of the flag, after having been put forward by the King, shall be decided by agreement between the King and the Assembly."

"I certainly intend to present the solution to the Assembly," said the Prince," and I hope that we shall agree."

This was an evasive answer. In his anxiety to arrive at an understanding, M. Chesnelong took it for an acceptance. "I cannot," he says, express the emotion which mastered me. . . . No misunderstanding seemed to me possible. The formulas accepted completed one another and gave no room for any ambiguity. . . . Such as they were, I firmly hoped that they would be sufficient to allow the monarchical campaign to be opened, and to enable the proposal for the re-establishment of the monarchy to obtain a majority in the Assembly.

. . I became, so to say, overwhelmed by patriotic satisfaction. . . . My joy overflowed, and I gave vent to it by saying to the Prince, that on the ground which he had just accepted, and although I had desired another, the monarchy could and should be declared, and that I and my friends would spare no efforts to bring it about; that, in my opinion, the Government and the majority would consent to pledge themselves, and that God and the country would stand by us."

Carried away by his enthusiasm, M. Chesnelong added: "In a month's time we shall have the happiness to see your Highness ascend the throne of France, and an era of renovation and safety open for France herself."

The feelings of the ambassador infected the Prince. "His heart seemed to open to hope.

He seemed very happy in what he had just done; very confident of success. I saw him thrilled by the thought of being able henceforth to give all his life to France. . . . These impressions were displayed in words, broken, but full of noble emotion which I seem still to hear," says M. Chesnelong.

"Beloved France," said the Prince. "How happy I shall be to serve her! I hope that she will love me; I have always lived close to her in my heart, and it will be pleasant to me to show her my love by living henceforth for her alone! She must be redeemed, made greater and happier! With the help of honest men of all parties, I shall succeed in this. I will bring her three things which will be my strength: a principle which will be for her a guarantee of stability, respect for her liberties of which this principle will be the surest safeguard, and an energetic desire to do her good.

"I do not bid you good-bye," he added, pressing the hand of M. Chesnelong. "I shall see you again at midnight, at the station, at the moment of my departure, for we shall start nearly at the same time, I for Frohsdorf, you for Paris, where, I hope, you will only precede me."

M. Chesnelong rejoined MM. de Blacas and de Monti. He was "radiant as after an unexpected success," overflowing with confidence.

The Comte de Chambord recalled him once again to thank him afresh, and to assure him that he would not be "King of a party, but the King of all." He did not neglect personal questions; he begged M. Chesnelong to" say straight out" that he would demand a

great sacrifice of self-denial" from the Legitimist party; that he would not take the persons of his

Government exclusively from that party; that he would ask the able men of other shades of opinion "for their useful and indispensable assistance." Lastly he spoke in the highest terms of the Duc de Broglie and M. Buffet.

"We gave ourselves up to hope," says M. Chesnelong, "with a security which refused to admit any anxiety. But anxiety was knocking at the door, and we were not long in feeling it."

M. de Blacas having gone to take the Comte de Chambord's orders for the departure had spoken to him of the satisfaction and hopes of M. Chesnelong, and alluded to the three declarations relative to the question of the flag.

"I have in fact accepted the two first declarations," said the Prince, "and I hold to my acceptance. As for the third, M. Chesnelong spoke to me, it is true, of the agreement of the King and the Assembly as being alone able to settle the question, and I did not contradict it. But I should not like that to be declared beforehand and in my name. I should be placing myself, so to say, at the discretion of the Assembly. Tell M. Chesnelong my impressions on the subject of the third declaration : I wish him to confine himself to the two first."

M. Chesnelong was "thunderstruck" by this communication. He begged the Comte de Chambord to receive him " a fourth time, in order to arrive at complete clearness, without ambiguity." The Prince was exhausted with fatigue and had gone to bed. He would have liked to drop the subject. However, on the persistence of M. Chesnelong, he fixed a last interview for half-an-hour before his departure. MM. de Blacas, de Monti, Lucien Brun, de Carayon, de Cazenove, and Chesnelong spent "two long

hours, very sad and very worried," during which they gave way to "sorrowful discouragement." M. de Cazenove de Pradine had a fit of sobbing which drew tears from all.

M. Chesnelong thoroughly understood that the Prince's decision was irrevocable. He had an idea: "I am going," he said, "to ask the Comte de Chambord not to forbid the royalists of the Extreme Right to vote for the clause on the flag which will be proposed by the Committee of Nine, and to allow them the liberty of their resolutions: I am convinced that he will consent." "In that case, do you authorise me, you three, my dear colleagues," added M. M. Chesnelong, addressing MM. Lucien Brun, de de Carayon, and de Cazenove, "to declare in your name, that, speaking for yourselves, and answering for your friends of the Extreme Right, you pledge yourselves to vote for the formula of the Committee of Nine, while reserving to yourselves to vote later for the solution which will be presented by the King?

All three consented.

At half-past eleven at night M. Chesnelong was again introduced to the presence of the Comte de Chambord. "His face bore traces of his fatigue and of deep internal emotion. It also revealed some sadness, though it was still open and smiling." The truth is that the Comte de Chambord had had enough.

M. Chesnelong repeated the three declarations which he would make in the name of the Comte de Chambord, if the latter was so good as to confirm his approval.

"I accept fully the two first declarations such as you have just repeated them to me. The third