Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/376

 334 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1S53 chap. Ill Europe at that time there were many men. !_ and several millions of women, who truly believed that the landmarks which divided good from evil were in charge of priests, and that what Eeli- i.eTe gion blessed must needs be right. Now on the thirtieth day computed from the night of the 2d uf December, the rays of twelve thousand lamps pierced the thick wintry fog that clogged the morning air, and shed their difficult light through the nave of the historic pile which stands mark- ing the lapse of ages and the strange checkered destiny of France. There waiting, there were the bishops, priests, and deacons of the Roman branch of the Church of Jesus Christ. These bishops, priests, and deacons stood thus expecting, because they claimed to be able to conduct the relations between man and his Creator ; and the swearer of the oath of the 20th of December had deigned to apprise them that again, with their good leave, he was coming into ' the presence of God.' And he came. Where the kings of Trance had knelt, there was now the persistent manager of the company that had played at Strasburg and Bou- logne, and with him it may well be believed, there were Morny rejoicing in his gains, and Magnan soaring high above sums of four thou- sand pounds, and Maupas no longer in danger, and St Arnaud formerly Le Roy, and Fialin, more often called ' Persigny,' and Floury the propellei of all, more eager, perhaps, to go and be swift to spend his winnings, than to sit in a cathedral and think how the fire of his temperament had given