CHAPTER I.. France Before the Restoration.

FRANCE BEFORE THE RESTORATION.

1807-1814.

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My Reasons for publishing these Memoirs during my Life.--My Introduction into Society.--My First Acquaintance with M. de Châteaubriand, M. de Suard, Madame de Staël, M. de Fontanes, M. Royer-Collard.--Proposal to appoint me Auditor in the Imperial State Council.--Why the Appointment did not take place.--I enter the University and begin my Course of Lectures on Modern History.--Liberal and Royalist Parties.--Characters of the different Oppositions towards the Close of the Empire.--Attempted resistance of the Legislative Body.--MM. Lainé, Gallois, Maine-Biran, Raynouard, and Flaugergues.--I leave Paris for Nismes.--State of Paris and France in March, 1814.--The Restoration takes place.--I return to Paris, and am appointed Secretary-General to the Ministry of the Interior. 1