divided his interest between politics and speculation. He employed his
leisure moments in writing very indifferent plays, which, although
published under a nom de guerre (St. Remy), he depended upon the
servility of the Parisian press to carry through. He was not a deep
thinker, nor was his intellectual horizon a broad one; but his views
were liberal, his shallow mind was brilliant and versatile, and to the
graceful frivolity of a man of the world he united a taste for the
serious financial and political problems of his time. He belonged to
that set of bright young politicians who, toward the end of the reign of
Louis-Philippe, passed, as was cleverly said, "from a jockey club to the
Chamber of Deputies," declaring that France was a victim of old-fogyism,
and flattering themselves with the thought that they would infuse the
vigor of youth into politics. These would-be founders of a new era
called themselves "progressive conservatives" (conservateurs
progressistes).*

* Under this title he wrote an article published in the "Revue des Deux
Mondes," January, 1, 1848.

Just before the revolution of July, which established the republic, he
was spoken of for a place in the cabinet as minister of commerce. Gifted
with great tact and worldly wisdom, satisfied to wield power without
taking too large a place on the political stage, the Duc de Morny's
popularity and peculiar position enabled him to be the go-between in the
compromise that followed. As early as 1849 he was reported to have said
to a friend: "Quand je coup se fera je vous en previens, c'est moi qui
le ferai."* Another of his mots has often been quoted** and is most
characteristic of the man: "S'il y a un coup de balai, je tacherai
d'etre du cote du manche."