The  fall  of  the  Richeheu  Ministry,  the  open  attacks  that
led  up  to  it,  and  the  secret  intrigues  in  which  the  envoy  of
the  Tsar  took  part,  "  form,  in  the  opinion  of  a  contemporary
writer,  the  whole  history  of  the  year  1821."

The  policy  of  the  Royalists  had  apparently  undergone  no
change  since  their  return  to  power ;  it  consisted  of  retaliation
for  the  Revolution,  and  an  attempt  to  return  to  the  Ancien
Regime.  To  effect  this,  they  proposed  to  begin  by  restoring
the  privileges  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Ultramontane
Catholics.  In  fact  their  hopes  and  their  schemes,  their
ambitions  and  their  pohtical  intrigues,  took  the  shape  of
a  moral  propaganda  in  favour  of  a  close  alliance  between
Throne  and  Altar,  and  a  campaign  against  atheism  and
immorality.  It  was  at  this  time  that  they  put  the  direction
of  their  religious  and  dynastic  enterprises  into  the  hands  of
the  "Congregation"  of  the  Rue  de  Bac.  This  had  been
in  existence  since  1814  under  the  direction  of  Father  Ronsin,
a  Jesuit,  and  served  as  a  centre  for  Clergy  and  laity,  for  the
nobility  and  the  royalist  judiciary,  and  for  the  legitimist
youths  fresh  from  school.  B}'  this  means  the  parti  pretre,
as  it  came  to  be  called,  though  it  was  more  royalist  than


30  The  Restoration  of  the  Bourbons        [ch.
