_Paris, September 18th, 1816._
My Lord Count,
I called at your residence this morning to express my surprise. At twelve this day, I found at the house of M. Le Normant, my bookseller, some men who said they were sent by you to seize my new work, ent.i.tled "Of Monarchy according to the Charter."
Not seeing any written order, I declared that I would not allow the removal of my property unless gendarmes seized it by force. Some gendarmes arrived, and I then ordered my bookseller to allow the work to be carried away.
This act of deference to authority has not allowed me to forget what I owe to my rank as a Peer. If I had only considered my personal interests, I should not have interfered; but the privileges of the Peerage having been compromised, I have thought it right to enter a protest, a copy of which I have now the honour of forwarding to you. I demand, in the name of justice, the rest.i.tution of my work; and I candidly add, that if I do not receive it back, I shall employ every possible means that the political and civil laws place within my reach.
I have the honour to be, etc. etc.,
(Signed) COUNT DE CHaTEAUBRIAND.
3. THE COUNT DECAZES TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHaTEAUBRIAND.
_Paris, September 18th, 1816._
My Lord Viscount,
The Commissary of Police and the peace-officers, against whom you have thought proper to excite the rebellion of M. Le Normant"s workmen, were the bearers of an order signed by one of the King"s ministers, and in accordance with a law. That order was shown to the printer named, who read it several times, and felt that he had no right to oppose its execution, demanded in the King"s name. Undoubtedly it never occurred to him that your rank as a Peer could place you above the operation of the laws, release you from the respect due by all citizens to public functionaries in the execution of their duty, and, above all, justify a revolt of his work-people against a Commissary of Police, and officers appointed by the King, invested with the distinctive symbols of their office, and acting under legal instructions.
I have seen with regret that you have thought otherwise, and that you have preferred, as you now require of me, to yield to force rather than to obey the law. That law, which M. Le Normant had infringed, is extremely distinct; it requires that no work whatever shall be published clandestinely, and that no publication or sale shall take place before the necessary deposit has been made at the office for the regulation of printing. None of these conditions have been fulfilled by M. Le Normant.
If he has given notice, it was informal; for he has himself signed the Report drawn up by the Commissary of Police, to the effect that he proposed to strike off 1500 copies, and that he had already printed 2000.
From another quarter I have been informed that, although no deposit has been made at the office for the regulation of printing, several hundred copies have been despatched this morning before nine o"clock, from the residence of M. Le Normant, and sent to you, and to various booksellers; that other copies have been sold by M. Le Normant at his own house, for the price of four francs; and two of these last copies were in my hands this morning by half-past eight o"clock.
I have considered it my duty not to allow this infraction of the law, and to interdict the sale of a work thus clandestinely and illegally published; I have therefore ordered its seizure, in conformity with Articles 14 and 15 of the Law of the 21st of October, 1814.
No one in France, my Lord Viscount, is above the law; the Peers would be offended, on just grounds, if I thought they could set up such a pretension. Still less would they a.s.sume that the works which they feel disposed to publish and sell as private individuals and men of letters, when they wish to honour the literary profession with their labours, should enjoy exclusive privileges; and if these works are submitted to public criticism in common with those of other writers, they are not in any respect liberated from the control of justice, or the supervision of the Police, whose duty it is to take care that the laws, which are equally binding upon all cla.s.ses of society, should be executed with equal impartiality.
I must also observe, in addition, that it was at the residence and printing-office of M. Le Normant, who is not a Peer of France, that the order const.i.tutionally issued for the seizure of a work published by him in contravention to the law, was carried into effect; that the execution of the order had been completed when you presented yourself; and upon your declaration that you would not suffer your work to be taken away, the workmen broke the seals that had been affixed on some articles, and placed themselves in open rebellion against the King"s authority. It can scarcely have escaped you, that by invoking that august name they have been guilty of a crime of which, no doubt, they did not perceive the extent; and to which they could not have been led, had they been more impressed with the respect due to the act of the King and his representatives, and if it could so happen that they did not read what they print.
I have felt these explanations due to your character; they will, I trust, convince you that if the dignity of the Peerage has been compromised in this matter, it has not been through me.
I have the honour to be, My Lord Viscount, Your very humble and very obedient Servant, (Signed) THE COUNT DECAZES.
4. THE VISCOUNT DE CHaTEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
_Paris, September 19th, 1816._
My Lord Count,
I have received the letter which you have done me the honour to address to me on the 18th of this month. It contains no answer to mine of the same day.
You speak to me of works _clandestinely_ published (in the face of the sun, with my name and t.i.tles). You speak of revolt and rebellion, when there has been neither revolt nor rebellion. You say that there were cries of "Long live the King!" That cry has not yet been included in the law of seditious exclamations, unless the Police are empowered to decree in opposition to the Chambers. For the rest, all will appear in due time and place. There will be no longer a pretence to confound the cause of the bookseller with mine; we shall soon know whether, under a free government, a police order, which I have not even seen, is binding on a Peer of France; we shall learn whether, in my case, all the rights secured to me by the charter, have not been violated, both as a Citizen and a Peer. We shall learn, through the laws themselves, which you have the extreme kindness to quote for me (a little incorrectly, it may be observed), whether I have not the right to publish my opinions; we shall learn, finally, whether France is henceforward to be governed by the Police or by the Const.i.tution.
On the subject of my respect and loyalty to the King, my Lord Count, I require no lessons, and I might supply an example. With respect to my rank as a Peer, I shall endeavour to make it respected, equally with my dignity as a man; and I perfectly well knew, before you took the trouble to inform me, that it will never be compromised either by you or any one else. I have demanded at your hands the rest.i.tution of my work: am I to hope that it will be restored? This is the immediate question.
I have the honour to be, My Lord Count, Your very humble and very obedient Servant, (Signed) THE VISCOUNT DE CHaTEAUBRIAND.
5. THE VISCOUNT DE CHaTEAUBRIAND TO THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY.
_Paris, September 18th, 1816._
My Lord Chancellor,
I have the honour to forward to you a copy of the protest I have entered, and the letter I have just written to the Minister of Police.
Is it not strange, my Lord Chancellor, that in open day, by force, and in defiance of my remonstrances, the work of a Peer of France, to which my name is attached, and printed publicly in Paris, should have been carried off by the Police, as if it were a seditious or clandestine publication, such as the "Yellow Dwarf," or the "Tri-coloured Dwarf"?
Beyond what was due to my prerogative as a Peer of France, I may venture to say that I deserved _personally_ a little more respect. If my work were objectionable, I might have been summoned before the competent tribunals: I should have answered the appeal.
I have protested for the honour of the Peerage, and I am determined to follow up this matter to the last extremity. I call for your support as President of the Chamber of Peers, and for your interference as the head of justice.
I am, with profound respect, etc. etc., (Signed) THE VISCOUNT CHaTEAUBRIAND.
6. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
_Paris, September, 19th, 1816._
I send you confidentially, my dear colleague, a letter which I received yesterday from M. de Chateaubriand, with the informal Protest of which he has made me the depository. I beg you will return these doc.u.ments, which ought not to be made public. I enclose also a copy of my answer, which I also request you to return after reading; for I have kept no other. I hope it will meet your approbation.
I repeat the expression of my friendly sentiments.
DAMBRAY.
7. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHaTEAUBRIAND.
_Paris, September 19th, 1816._
My Lord Viscount,
I have received with the letter you have addressed to me, the declaration relative to the seizure which took place at the residence of your bookseller; I find it difficult to understand the use you propose to make of this doc.u.ment, which cannot extenuate in any manner the infraction of law committed by M. Le Normant. The Law of the 21st of October, 1814, is precise on this point. No printer can publish or offer for sale any work, in any manner whatever, before having deposited the prescribed number of copies. There is ground for seizure, the Article adds, and for sequestrating a work, if the printer does not produce the receipts of the deposit ordered by the preceding Article.
All infractions of this law (Art. 20) will be proved by the reports of the inspectors of the book-trade, and the Commissaries of Police.
You were probably unacquainted with these enactments when you fancied that your quality as a Peer of France gave you the right of personally opposing an act of the Police, ordered and sanctioned by the law, which all Frenchmen, whatever may be their rank, are equally bound to respect.
I am too much attached to you, Viscount, not to feel deep regret at the part you have taken in the scandalous scene which seems to have occurred with reference to this matter, and I regret sincerely that you have added errors of form to the real mistake of a publication which you could not but feel must be unpleasant to his Majesty. I know nothing of your work beyond the dissatisfaction which the King has publicly expressed with it; but I am grieved to notice the impression it has made upon a monarch who, on every occasion, has condescended to evince as much esteem for your person as admiration for your talents.
Receive, Viscount, the a.s.surance of my high consideration, and of my inviolable attachment.
The Chancellor of France,
DAMBRAY.