ble to
make."

M. Bertrand expressed his warm approval of the wisdom of such a policy,
but thought it so important to know how far the queen coincided in her
husband's sentiments that he ventured to put the question to his majesty.
The king assured him that he had been speaking her sentiments as well as
his own, and that he should hear them from her own lips; and accordingly
the queen immediately granted the new minister an audience, in which,
after expressing, with her habitual grace and kindness, her feeling that,
by accepting office at such a time, he was laying both the king and
herself under a personal obligation, she added, "The king has explained to
you his intentions with respect to the Constitution; do not you think that
the only plan for him to follow is to be faithful to his oath?"
"Undoubtedly, madame." "Well, you may depend upon it that nothing will
make us change. Have courage, M. Bertrand; I hope that, with patience,
firmness, and consistency, all is not yet lost.[3]"

Nor was M. Bertrand the only one of the ministers who received proofs of
the resolution of the queen to adhere steadily to the Constitution. There
was also a new minister of war, the Count de Narbonne, as firmly attached
to the persons of the sovereigns as M. Bertrand himself, though in
political principle more inclined to the views of the Constitutionalists
than to those of the extreme Royalists. He was likewise a man of
considerable capacity, eloquent and fertile in resources; but he was
ambitious and somewhat vain; and he was so elated at the approval
expressed by the Assembly of a report on the military resources of the
kingdom which he laid before it soon after his appointment, that he
obtained an audience of the queen, the object of which was to convince her
that the only means of saving the State was to confer on a man of talent,
energy, sagacity, and activity, who enjoyed the confidence of the Assembly
and of the nation, the post of prime minister; and he admitted that he
intended to designate himself by this description. Marie Antoinette,
though fully aware of the desirableness of having a single man of ability
and firmness at the head of the administration, was for a moment surprised
out of her habitual courtesy. She could not forbear a smile, and in plain
terms asked him "if he were crazy.[4]" But she proceeded with her usual
kindness to explain to him the impracticability of the scheme which he had
suggested, and the foundation