He
hated writing, let his reports and other state papers be drawn up by
others, and merely retouched them. But in the archives of the _Affaires
etrangeres_ there is a large quarto volume containing his correspondence
with Louis XVIII during the Congress of Vienna. Nothing can be more
charming. The great European questions which were then in debate, the
diplomatic and social gossip of Vienna, the contemporary literature--in
short, all that one clever _homme du monde_ could find to interest and
amuse another, are treated with wit, brilliancy, and gaiety, supported by
profound good sense. When that volume is published his bust will be
placed here by acclamation.'
_Monday, April_ 19.--I dined with Lanjuinais, and met Tocqueville, Rivet,
Dufaure, Corcelle, Freslon, and one or two others.
They attacked me about the change of sentiment in England with respect to
Louis Napoleon.
'While he was useful to you,' they said, 'you steadily refused to admit
that he was a tyrant, or even an usurper. You chose to disbelieve in the
3,000 men, women, and children massacred on the Boulevards of Paris--in
the 20,000 poisoned by jungle fever in Cayenne--in the 25,000 who have
died of malaria, exposure, and bad food, working in gangs on the roads
and in the marshes of the Metidja and Lambressa.
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