Cardinal Fesch

‘…nothing is more certain, than that a general prejudice was, during the Revolution, successfully excited against the clergy, and that, among the lower Parisians in particular, it still exists with all its violence.  Even on the day when the rabble of the Fauxbergs hailed the triumphal return of Buonaparte to his throne, their respect for the hero of the hour did not prevent them from uttering the most marked expressions of dislike and contempt when Cardinal Fesch appeared in the procession.  The cry was general, A bas la collette! And the uncle of the restored emperor was obliged to dismount from his palfrey, and hide himself in a carriage…’

Joseph Fesch was unpopular with the public, but important to the Buonapartes.  The text above is found in Scott’s “Paul’s Letters to his Kinfolk”.  Cardinal Fesch died on May 13^th, 1839.