The Duchess of Berry and the Court of Charles X | Page 8

their King. They know that at this moment your march is arrested by
charity. We shall tell them that the King is concerned for their ills, and
it will be a solace to them. Sire, we offer you our homage, our vows,
and the assurance that we shall always fulfil with zeal our duties to the
sick." Charles X. replied: "I know with what zeal you and these
gentlemen serve the poor. Continue, Mesdames, and you can count on
my benevolence and on my constant protection."
The King was received at the Metropolitan Church by the Archbishop
of Paris at the head of his clergy. The Domine salvum, fac regem, was
intoned and repeated by the deputations of all the authorities and by the
crowd filling the nave, the side-aisles, and the tribunes of the vast
basilica. Then a numerous body of singers sang the Te Deum. On
leaving the church, the King remounted his horse and returned to the
Tuileries, along the quais, to the sound of salvos of artillery and the
acclamations of the crowd. The Duchess of Berry, who had followed
the King through all the ceremonies, entered the Chateau with him, and
immediately addressed to the Governess of the Children of France this

note: "From Saint Cloud to Notre-Dame, from Notre-Dame to the
Tuileries, the King has been accompanied by acclamations, signs of
approval and of love."
Charles X., on Thursday, the 30th September, had to attend a review on
the Champ-de-Mars. The morning of this day, the readers of all the
journals found in them a decree abolishing the censorship and restoring
liberty of the press. The enthusiasm was immense. The Journal de Paris
wrote: "Today all is joy, confidence, hope. The enthusiasm excited by
the new reign would be far too ill at ease under a censorship. None can
be exercised over the public gratitude. It must be allowed full
expansion. Happy is the Council of His Majesty to greet the new King
with an act so worthy of him. It is the banquet of this joyous accession;
for to give liberty to the press is to give free course to the benedictions
merited by Charles X."
The review was superb. After having heard Mass in the chapel of the
Chateau of the Tuileries, the King mounted his horse at half- past
eleven, and, accompanied by the Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans, and the
Duke of Bourbon, proceeded to the Champ-de-Mars. Two caleches
followed; the one was occupied by the Dauphiness, the Duchess of
Berry, and the Duke of Bordeaux in the uniform of a colonel of
cuirassiers,--a four-year old colonel,--the other by the Duchess of
Orleans and Mademoiselle of Orleans, her sister-in- law. The weather
was mild and clear. The twelve legions of the National Guard on foot,
the mounted National Guard, the military household of the King, and
all the regiments of the royal guard, which the sovereign was about to
review, made a magnificent appearance. An immense multitude
covered the slopes about the Champ-de-Mars. Charles X. harvested the
effect of the liberal measure that he had first adopted. A thunder of
plaudits and cheers greeted his arrival on the ground. At one moment,
when he found himself, so to speak, tangled in the midst of the crowd,
several lancers of his guard sought to break the circle formed about him
by pushing back the curious with the handles of their lances. "My
friends, no halberds!" the King called to them. This happy phrase,
repeated from group to group, carried the general satisfaction to a
climax. A witness of this military ceremony, the Count of Puymaigre,
at that time Prefect of the Oise, says in his curious Souvenirs:--
"Charles X. appeared to have dissipated all the dangers that for ten

years had menaced his august predecessor.
"On all sides there rose only acclamations of delight in favor of the new
King, who showed himself so popular, and whose gracious
countenance could express only benevolent intentions. I was present,
mingling with the crowd, at the first review by Charles X. on the
Champ-de-Mars, and the remarks were so frankly royalist, that any one
would have been roughly treated by the crowd had he shown other
sentiments."
The Duchess of Berry was full of joy. She quivered with pleasure. Very
popular in the army and among the people, as at court and in the city,
she was proud to show her fine child, who already wore the uniform, to
the officers and soldiers. She appeared to all eyes the symbol of
maternal love, and the mothers gazed upon her boy as if he had been
their own. As soon as the little Prince was seen, there was on every face
an expression of kindliness and sympathy. He was the Child of Paris,
the Child of France.