M. Berryer died on the 29th November, in his own
house at Angerville, at the age of 78. He was in his prime the greatest orator in France, and to his latest hours the one speaker who was never interrupted in the Legislative Chamber. He defended Louis Napoleon as advocate in 1840, but he was a determined Legitimist, and never would accept either favour or reward at the Emperor's hands. His belief in the Bourbons was consistent with great independence of mind, and was the result, apparently, of a logical theory that a nation must either accept some abstract idea of right derived from above, or leave its government open to every pre- tender. In late years much of his influence was due to the dignity of a character entirely free from malevolence or self-seeking, and he was, though the recognized exponent and advocate of the Legiti- mist Opposition in the Chamber, reverenced by men of all parties except the Ultramontanes, with whom he had as little sympathy as his master, the Count de Chambord.
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