Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/75

 be sent as a special commissioner to consult the responsible officials upon the subject. Lafayette gave Dumas the required mandate, and on August 10th he set out.

Except that by his intercession a poor wretch of a coiner was saved from the galleys, Dumas did nothing notable during his six weeks in La Vendée; and when on his return Louis Philippe sent for him, the envoy declared very frankly that it was useless to attempt to organise the national guard in La Vendée; but that if the West were opened up, by means of high-roads, so that communication between all parts of it might be rapid and easy, this would decrease the chances of a second outbreak of guerilla-warfare. The "poet" prophesied—so he tells us—another, though a less serious, La Vendée, if occasion offered. Indeed, only two years later, the Duchesse de Berri aroused the "Chouans" once more and created a little Vendéan rising on behalf of her son.

But the King did not like the prophecy.

"You are a poet: write poetry, and leave politics to kings and ministers," he said with a frown.

"Sire," answered Dumas, "the ancients called their poets 'seers.

The young author was dismissed from the Royal presence, and sent in his resignation forthwith.

The dramatist in Dumas was still subservient