5 The Duke de Richelieu in question (1766–1822), descendant of the great cardinal, was Louis XVIII's prime minister from 1815 to 1818 and from 1820 to 1822. Had the Allied occupation that he "stupidly squandered" in 1817 lasted much longer, civil war was a real possibility. The reactionaries at Monsieur de La Mole's secret meeting regret that the Allies did not help to reestablish absolutism; this is merely one aspect of their detachment from reality.
Chapter 230