Page:Coubertin - France since 1814, 1900.djvu/94

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
78
FRANCE SINCE 1814

Ministry, which it represented as an inevitable Coup d'État, a direct attempt on public liberty.

The Ministry was formed in August 1829, and everybody looked out for the prophesied Coup d'État. None came ; and for the best of reasons. The change of Government had been made in a remarkable manner; there never was such an incoherent jumble of proper names. Cheek by jowl with Polignac sat La Bourdonnaye, the typical émigré, conspicuous by his violence, and General de Bourmont, who had been accused of having abandoned his division on the very morning of Waterloo to join Louis XVIII. at Gand. But, on the other hand, Baron de Haussez, a Moderate, had been chosen for the Navy on the refusal of Admiral de Rigny, an advanced Liberal ; portfolios had been given with magnificent impartiality to Chabrol and Courvoisier, who belonged, respectively, to the Right and Left Centres. Finally, when La Bourdonnaye retired, Guernon-Ranville, who was known to be equally attached to the King and to the Charter, entered the Ministry. It was only a year later that Chabrol and Courvoisier were replaced by two exaltés.