5 Wood being the basic fuel and construction material of the time, woodlands (bois) were the most valuable real estate. The clergy had been the largest proprietors of woodlands under the ancien régime, and under the Restoration the Church sought compensation, if not actual restitution, for these assets.
Chapter Twenty–Three: The Clergy, Their Woodlands, And Freedom
Jesuits. Making war means freeing those prideful monsters, the French, from the threat of foreign intervention." The cardinal's remarks were positively received. "Monsieur de Nerval," he declared, "must resign from the government. His name is senselessly provoking." At these words, they all rose and began speaking at the same time. "They're going to send me away again." Julien thought. But even the wise chairman had forgotten Julien was there, or that he even existed. Everyone was looking toward a man Julien recognized. This was Monsieur de Nerval, the prime minister; Julien had seen him at Duke de Retz's ball. Confusion was at its height, as the newspapers say, reporting on Parliament. After a long quarter of an hour, silence was partially restored. Then Monsieur de Nerval rose, speaking apostolically: "I will not tell you," he said, his voice quite odd, "that I don't enjoy being prime minister. "It has been indicated, gentlemen, that my name significantly intensifies Jacobinism, by making many moderates oppose us. Accordingly, I would gladly retire from my post, but our Lord's ways can only be seen by a very few. Still," he added, staring directly at the cardinal, "I have a mission.6 Heaven has said to me: 'Either you will bring your head to the scaffold or else you will reestablish monarchy in France, and reduce Parliament to what it was under Louis XV'—and, gentlemen, I will do exactly that." He fell silent, he sat down once more, and there was not a sound to be heard. "Now there's a fine actor," thought Julien. He deceived himself, as he usually did, in seeing more in other people than was really there. Excited by an evening of such lively debate, and above all by the sincerity of the discussion, at that moment Monsieur de Nerval believed in his mission. He was wonderfully courageous, but not endowed with much common sense. Midnight sounded, during the silence that followed those fine words: "I will do exactly that." It seemed to Julien that there was something imposing and funereal in the striking pendulum. He was moved. The discussion soon resumed, with heightened energy and, above all, incredible naïvité. "These gentlemen will have to have me poisoned," Julien thought, at some points. "How can they say such things in front of a working-class man?" Two o'clock sounded, and they were still talking. The master of the house had been asleep for a long time; Monsieur de La Mole had to summon a servant to bring in new candles. Monsieur de Nerval, the prime minister, had left at one forty-five, not without having paid considerable attention to Julien's face, employing a pocket mirror he had with him. Everyone relaxed, once he had gone. While candles were being replaced: "God only knows what that man will say to the king!" the triple-vested man said in a low voice, to the man next to him. "He's capable of making us seem utterly foolish and destroying our future." "But you have to concede that he's unusually conceited, and even impudent, coming here. He used to come, before he rose to be prime minister. But power changes everything, washes away whatever a man once cared about. He really ought to be aware of that."