" [Footnote: "Memoires d'un Homme d'Etat," vol.
xii., p. 208.]
"Well," cried the emperor, impetuously, "what do you think of that?
Does it not sound like the first note of the tocsin by which the
people are to be called upon to rise in rebellion?"
"Sire, it is the language of treason!" replied Savary. "The conduct
of the members of this committee would justify your majesty to have
them shot as traitors." [Footnote: Ibid., p. 294.]
The emperor made no reply, but bowed his head on his breast, and,
with his hands folded behind him, paced the room for a few moments.
"Savary," he then said, "it is sufficient for us to be at war with
our foreign enemies; let us not get into difficulty with our
domestic adversaries. This is not the time for doing so. If we
conquer our foreign enemies, the domestic ones will of themselves be
silent; but if we succumb, every thing will be different. Those
gentlemen have acted both foolishly and ungenerously (at a moment
when it is all-important that France should act and think as one
man), to stir up political partisan feeling; and it is ungrateful to
oppose me at a time when, overwhelmed with care and work, I need my
whole energy to maintain my position. Let us leave it to fate to
punish the traitors. They will not have long to wait!"
"And those haughty members of the Chamber of Deputies do not even
feel that they are deserving of punishment," exclaimed the duke,
indignantly.
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