THE STRUGGLES OF DIPLOMACY.
1830
Birth of the Duke of Bordeaux, now called Count de Chambord.--Henry
V. and the Regency.--Strength of the Republicans.--Arguments of the
Orleanists.--Embarrassment of Louis Philippe.--Indecision.--The
pressure of events.--Interview between the baron and the banker.--Plan
of the Legitimists.--Anxiety of Lafayette.--Danger of
anarchy.--Orleanist proclamation.--Activity of the
Legitimists.--Attempts at compromise.--Fears of the
Orleanists.--Singular interview.--Agitation of the ducal
family.--Strange crisis of affairs.--Appalling rumor.--The ultra
Democrats.--The demand for a plebiscite.--Tumultuous
scenes.--Resolutions passed by the Republicans.--Arrogance of the
Polytechnic pupils.--Increasing anxiety and peril.--The panic.--Two
imperialists.--Testimony of Louis Blanc.--The Empire.--The mob at
Neuilly.--The duke visits Paris.--Scene in the Palais Royal.--Advice
of Talleyrand.--Proclamation of Louis Philippe.
Upon the sudden overthrow of the throne of Charles X. by a revolution
in the streets of Paris, four parties appeared, struggling for the
crown. Charles, as he fled with his court in terror from France,
threw back a decree of abdication in favor of his grandson, the Count
de Chambord, then entitled the Duke de Bordeaux. This child, who
still lives, was then about ten years old. The birth of this child,
whom the Legitimists call Henry V., and whom they regard as the
legitimate heir to the ancient throne of the Bourbons, was hailed
with rejoicing throughout France.
It is recorded that quite a dramatic scene occurred at his birth. His
grandfather, Charles X., hastened to the chamber, and, seizing the
new-born babe in his arms, exclaimed, with delight, "Here is a fine
Duke de Bordeaux! He is born for us all!" He then gave the child a
few drops of the wine of Pau, with which tradition says that the
aged father of Jeanne d'Albret anointed the lips of her child, Henry
IV., before the babe was allowed to place his mouth to his mother's
breast.
The heroic mother of the young duke, the Duchess de Berri, whose
subsequent fate was so deplorable, said to the king, the father of
her departed husband, "Sire, I wish I knew the song of Jeanne
d'Albret, that every thing might be done here as at the birth of
Henry IV."
The advocates of the ancient _regime_, the Legitimist party, many of
them illustrious in rank and intellect, rallied around the banner of
young Henry, the Duke of Bordeaux. They probably had the sympathies
of those European dynasties which, by force of arms, had replaced the
Bourbons upon that throne of France from which the Revolution of 1789
had expelled them. In accordance with the decree of abdication which
Charles X. had issued, the Legitimists wished the young Duke of
Bordeaux to be recognized as sovereign, with the title of Henry V,;
and the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe, to be accepted as regent,
during the minority of the child.
Next came the Republican party, formidable in physical strength, in
Paris and in other cities. The Republicans had roused the masses,
filling the streets with a hundred thousand armed workmen; they had
inspired the conflict, demolished the throne, achieved the
revolution; but they had no leader capable of organizing and
controlling the tumultuous populace. The moneyed men, remembering the
Reign of Terror, were afraid of them. All through the rural
districts, the peasantry, influenced by the priests, could not endure
the idea of a republic.
The bankers in Paris, the moneyed class, men of large resources and
influence, were the leaders of the third, or Orleans party, so
called. These men were opposed to the aristocracy of rank, but were
in favor of the aristocracy of wealth. They had ample means and very
able leaders. They wished for a constitutional monarchy, modelled
after the aristocratic institutions of England. They would place upon
the throne the Duke of Orleans, a Bourbon, one of the richest nobles
in Europe. He would be the legitimate heir to the throne should the
young Duke of Bordeaux die. The Duke of Orleans, with his vast
wealth, would be the fitting representative of the moneyed class.
The Orleanists could very effectually appeal to the moderate men of
the Legitimist and Republican parties in favor of a compromise in the
interest of the Duke of Orleans. To the first they said:
"Unless you accept the Duke of Orleans, there is danger that the
Republicans will gain the ascendency, and then our time-honored
monarchy will be overthrown." To the Republicans they said: "Unless
you consent to this compromise, which gives us a constitutional
monarchy, under a _citizen king_, there is danger that another
coalition of the powers of Europe will inundate France, and, after
years of blood and woe, the old _regime_ of the Bourbons will be
again forced upon us."
In speaking to the Republicans, they emphasized the declaration that
Louis Philippe would be a _citizen king_. When speaking to the
Legitimists, they laid stress upon the fact that the Duke of Orleans
would be the _legitimate_ sovereign, should the frail child die who
alone stood between him and the throne.
There was a fourth party--the Imperial or Napoleonist. It existed
then in rather a latent state, though in a condition to be roused, as
subsequent events proved, to marvellous life by an electric touch.
The renown of the great emperor filled the land. The memorials of his
reign were everywhere. He was enthroned in the hearts of the French
people, as monarch was never enthroned before. But the Bourbons had
taken especial care to banish from France every one who bore his
name, and to obliterate, as far as possible, every memorial of his
wonderful reign. The revolution had burst upon Paris with almost the
suddenness of the lightning's flash. There was no one there who could
speak in behalf of the descendants of him who had so lately filled
the world with his renown, and who was still enshrined, with almost
idolatrous worship, in so many hearts.
From the above it will be perceived that the chances were greatly in
favor of the Orleans party. Louis Philippe was placed in perhaps as
embarrassing and painful a position as man ever occupied. He was far
advanced in life, with property amounting, it is said, to about one
hundred millions of dollars. Revolutionary storms had, at one time,
driven him into the extreme of poverty. He had experienced the
severest sufferings of persecution and exile. Now, in his declining
years, happy amidst the splendors of the Palais Royal, and in his
magnificent retreat at Neuilly, he was anxious for repose.
Should he allow himself to be placed at the head of the obnoxious,
utterly-defeated Legitimist party, as regent during the minority of
the Duke of Bordeaux? It was scarcely possible that he could maintain
his position. Republicans, Orleanists, and Imperialists, all would
combine against him. The army could not be relied upon to sustain
him. Ruin seemed inevitable--not only the confiscation of his
property, but probably also the loss of his head.
Should he allow himself to be made king by the bankers in Paris? He
would be an usurper; false to his own principles of legitimacy, to
those principles which had brought him into sympathy with the allied
dynasties of Europe in those long and bloody wars by which they had
forced rejected legitimacy back upon France.
The little Duke of Bordeaux and his grandfather, Charles X., were his
near blood relatives. He had received from the royal family great
favors--the restoration of his vast domains. He would be morally
guilty of the greatest ingratitude in assuming the attitude of their
antagonist, interposing himself between the lawful heir and the
crown. Should he stand aloof from these agitations, and take no part
in the movement of affairs, then anarchy or a Republic seemed the
inevitable result. In either case, he, as a rich Bourbon, with an
amount of wealth which endangered the state, would be driven from
France and his property confiscated.
But affairs pressed. Scarcely a moment could be allowed for
deliberation. The crisis demanded prompt and decisive action. The
embarrassment of the duke is painfully conspicuous in the interviews
which ensued. Anxiously he paced the floor of his library at Neuilly,
bewildered and vacillating.
There was a rich banker at Paris by the name of Lafitte. He called a
meeting at his house, of Guizot, Thiers, and other leading
journalists. There they decided to unite upon the Duke of Orleans,
and to combine immediately, without a moment's delay, all possible
influences in Paris, to place the sceptre of power in his hands,
before the dreaded Republicans should have the opportunity to grasp
it. It was the 30th of July, the last of the three days' conflict.
The thunders of the battle had scarcely ceased to echo through the
streets of the metropolis.
Baron Glandeves, governor of the Tuileries, and of course a warm
partisan of Charles X., who had probably heard a rumor of this
meeting, called upon M. Lafitte, and the following conversation is
reported as having taken place between them:
"Sir," said the baron to the banker, "you have now been master of
Paris for twenty-four hours. Do you wish to save the monarchy?"
"Which monarchy?" inquired Lafitte, "the monarchy of 1789, or the
constitutional monarchy of 1814?"
"The constitutional monarchy," the baron replied.
"To save it," rejoined Lafitte, "only one course remains; and that is
to crown the Duke of Orleans."
"The Duke of Orleans!" exclaimed the baron, "what are his titles to
the crown? That boy, the son of Napoleon, whom Vienna has educated,
can at least invoke the memory of his father's glory. It must be
admitted that Napoleon has written his annals in characters of fire
upon the minds of men. But the Duke of Orleans--what prestige
surrounds him? What has he done? How many of the people know his
history, or have even heard his name?"
"In the fact of his want of renown," replied the banker, "I see a
recommendation. Having no influence over the imagination, he will be
the less able to break away from the restraints of a constitutional
monarch. His private life is irreproachable. He has respected himself
in his wife, and has caused himself to be revered and loved by his
children."
"Mere domestic virtues," rejoined M. Glandeves, "are not to be
recompensed by a crown. Are you ignorant that he is accused of
approving of the vote of his father for the death of Louis XVI.; that
in our dark days he associated himself with projects to exclude
forever from the throne the legitimate heirs; that during the Hundred
Days he preserved a mysterious inaction; that, since 1815, while
pretending to be the humble servant of the court, he has been the
secret fomenter of all intrigues? Louis XVIII. restored to him his
vast estates. Charles X., by a personal request to the Chambers,
secured them to him, by legal and irrefragable rights, and conferred
upon him the title of royal highness, which he so long coveted. How
can he now, thus burdened with kindnesses from the elder branch of
the Bourbons, seize upon their inheritance?"
"It is not for the personal interest of the duke," replied M.
Lafitte, "that we wish to place him upon the throne, but for the
salvation of the country. This alone can save us from anarchy, which
otherwise seems inevitable. I do not ask whether the situation of the
Duke of Orleans is painful to his feelings, but simply whether his
accession to the throne is desirable for France. What prince is more
liberal in his political sentiments, or more free from those
prejudices which have ruined Charles X.? And where can we find any
candidate for the throne who combines so many advantages? And what
course can you propose preferable to that of placing the crown on his
head?"
"If you believe Charles X. guilty," rejoined the baron, "at least you
will admit that the Duke de Bordeaux is innocent. Let us preserve the
crown for him. He will be trained up in good principles. Does
Lafayette very sincerely desire a Republic?"
"He would wish for it," Lafitte replied, "if he were not afraid of
too searching a convulsion."
"Well, then," said the baron, "let a council of regency be
established. You would take part in it with Lafayette."
M. Lafitte replied, "Yesterday that might have been possible; and,
had the Duchess de Berri--separating her cause from that of the old
king--presented herself, with her young son, holding a tri-color in
her hand--"
"A tri-color!" exclaimed the baron, in astonishment, interrupting
him--"A tri-color! Why, it is, in their eyes, the symbol of every
crime. Rather than adopt it, they would suffer themselves to be
brayed in a mortar."
"Under these circumstances," inquired Lafitte, "what is it you have
to propose to me?"
The prompt reply was, "Respect the divine right of the Duke of
Bordeaux--proclaim him sovereign, as Henry V.--intrust the regency,
during his minority, to the Duke of Orleans."
This was the plan of the Legitimists. Talleyrand also cherished the
same view. The Republicans were by no means inclined to enthrone
another Bourbon in the place of Charles X. When M. Thiers and M.
Mignet, with others from the office of the _Nationale_, appeared
among the crowd distributing printed slips of paper eulogizing the
Duke of Orleans, they were received with hisses. When it was
announced to the combatants of the Passage Dauphin that there was a
plot concocting to raise the Duke of Orleans to the throne, there was
one unanimous burst of rage, with the simultaneous exclamation, "If
that be the case, the battle is to be begun again, and we will go and
cast fresh balls. No more Bourbons: we will have none of them." M.
Leroux, who had witnessed this scene, hurried to the Hotel de Ville
to warn Lafayette of the danger. He assured Lafayette that the
Republican spirit which Lafayette had evoked now menaced Paris and
France with anarchy, and that the attempt to place another Bourbon on
the throne would be the signal of a new and terrible conflict.
Lafayette--who was seated in a large armchair--seemed, for a moment,
stunned and speechless. A messenger came in to inform him that the
Duke of Chartres--the eldest son of the Duke of Orleans--had been
taken captive, and that a riotous band was surging through the
streets shouting, "A prince is taken! Let us go and shoot him!"
Almost by miracle the young duke escaped death.
The peril of anarchy was hourly increasing. There was not a moment to
be lost in organizing, if possible, some stable government. The
millions in the rural districts would not accept a Republic organized
by the populace in Paris. The men of property, and the friends of
order generally, thought that their only chance of averting confusion
and ruin was to rally in support of the Orleans dynasty. Thus the
Orleans party rapidly increased among the more wealthy and reputable
portion of the citizens. The leading journals espoused their cause.
Nearly all the journals, trembling in view of the threatening
anarchy, earnestly rallied around that banner. Beranger, the most
popular poet in France--notwithstanding his profound admiration of
Napoleon, which was breathed forth in so many of his soul-stirring
songs--gave the Orleanists the aid of his all-powerful pen.
The following proclamation in favor of the Duke of Orleans was
issued:
"Charles X. can never return to Paris; he has shed the blood
of the people. A Republic would expose us to horrible
divisions; it would involve us in hostilities with Europe.
The Duke of Orleans is a prince devoted to the cause of the
Revolution. The Duke of Orleans has never fought against us.
The Duke of Orleans was at Jemappes. The Duke of Orleans is a
citizen king. The Duke of Orleans has carried the tri-color
flag under the enemy's fire. The Duke of Orleans can alone
carry it again. We will have no other flag. The Duke of
Orleans does not declare himself. He waits for the expression
of our wishes. Let us proclaim those wishes and he will
accept the charter, as we have always understood and desired
it. It is from the French people he will hold the crown."
"This proclamation," says Louis Blanc, "was drawn up with great art.
It repeated the name of the Duke of Orleans again and again, in order
that this name, little known to the people, might nevertheless be
deeply imprinted on its memory. By talking of the tri-color flag and
Jemappes to a multitude who troubled themselves little about
political forms, it engaged, on behalf of the elect of the
bourgeoisie, that national feeling that had been exalted to so high a
pitch by the victories of the Republic and the Empire, Lastly, it
invoked the sovereignty of the people, the better to destroy it--an
old trick of courage-lacking ambition."
The above proclamation was placarded throughout Paris, and was
simultaneously published in the three leading journals, the
_Nationale_, the _Courier Francais_, and the _Commerce_, which were
severally edited by the distinguished journalists, Thiers, Mignet,
and Larequy. Another renowned editor, M. Carrel, was dispatched to
Rouen, to gain that important city to the Orleans cause.
In the mean time, the Legitimists, headed by Chateaubriand and
Talleyrand, were not idle. These men were not merely ambitious
partisans. It can not be doubted that they believed that the
interests of France would be best promoted by respecting the rights
of the Duke of Bordeaux, under the lieutenant-generalship of the Duke
of Orleans.
The successful insurrectionists, composed mainly of the Republican
and Democratic parties in Paris, had their head-quarters at the Hotel
de Ville. Here they hastily organized what they called a Provisional
Government. General Lafayette presided over their deliberations. The
embarrassment of affairs was such, that the illustrious marquis was
in a state of cruel anxiety. In principle he was a Republican. And
yet he could see no possibility of evolving a stable Republic from
the chaos into which the political world was then plunged. After much
deliberation, the Republican leaders at the Hotel de Ville sent
General Dubourg, as a commissioner, to the Orleanists assembled at M.
Lafitte's, to confer respecting a compromise and union of parties.
But already the Orleanists felt so strong that they refused even to
admit him to their presence.
The Orleanists were very anxious, from fear that the Duke of Orleans
might accede to the proposition of the Legitimists, and proclaim the
Duke of Bordeaux king, and himself, in accordance with the decree of
Charles X., lieutenant-general of France, and regent during the
minority of the duke. This would be in accordance with the forms of
law, and the only legal course. Such a step would give the
Legitimists immense vantage-ground, from which they could only be
driven by another bloody conflict.
To guard against this peril, it was decided to send a delegation,
consisting of M. Thiers, M. Scheffer, and M. Sebastiani, to the rural
chateau of Louis Philippe, at Neuilly, which was but a short distance
from Paris, to offer to him the crown. Should he refuse it, they
were directed to arrest him and convey him to a place of safety, and
hold him in close custody. Louis Blanc, in his "_Dix Ans de Louis
Philippe_," has given a minute account of this interview. It would
seem that Louis Philippe, in an agony of suspense, though informed of
the approach of the delegation, was not prepared to meet them. To
avoid the interview, he fled to Rancy, leaving his wife and sister
behind him.
The Duchess of Orleans received the gentlemen. Pale and trembling,
she listened to the offer of a crown to her husband. Then with
extreme emotion she replied to M. Scheffer, the speaker of the party:
"How could you undertake such a mission? That M. Thiers should have
charged himself with it, I can understand. He little knew us. But
that you, who have been admitted to our intimacy--who knew us so
well--ah! we can never forgive it."
Just then Louis Philippe's sister, Madame Adelaide, followed by
Madame de Montjoie, entered the room. Fully comprehending the object
of the mission, and the dangers which surrounded them, Madame
Adelaide said,
"Let them make my brother a president, a commander of the National
Guard, any thing, so that they do not make him a proscribed."
"Madame," responded M. Thiers, "it is a throne which we come to offer
him."
"But what," rejoined the princess, "will Europe think? Shall he seat
himself on the throne from which Louis XVI. descended to mount the
scaffold? What a panic will it strike in all royal houses! The peace
of the world will be endangered."
"These apprehensions, madame," M. Thiers replied, "are natural, but
they are not well-founded. England, full of the recollection of the
banished Stuarts, will applaud an event of which her history
furnishes an example and a model. As to the absolute monarchies, far
from reproaching the Duke of Orleans for fixing on his head a crown
floating on the storm, they will approve a step which will render his
elevation a barrier against the unchained passions of the multitude.
There is something great and worth saving in France. And if it be too
late for legitimacy, it is not for a constitutional throne. After
all, there remains to the Duke of Orleans only a choice of danger. In
the present posture of affairs, to fly from the possible dangers of
royalty is to face a Republic and its inevitable tempests."
These forcible words of the sagacious statesman produced a deep
impression upon the strong and well-balanced mind of Madame Adelaide.
She was fully capable of appreciating all their import. She gave
virtual assent to them by saying, "I am a child of Paris: I am
willing to intrust myself to the Parisians." It was decided to send
immediately for the duke. A messenger soon reached him, and he set
out on horseback, accompanied by M. Montesquiou, for Paris. Still his
irresolution, timidity, and bewilderment were so great that, before
reaching the city, his heart misgave him, and, turning his horse, he
galloped with the utmost speed back to Rancy. Alison, in depicting
these scenes, says, with a severity which our readers will probably
think that the recorded facts scarcely warrant,
"He had neither courage enough to seize the crown which was
offered to him, nor virtue enough to refuse it. He would
gladly have declined the crown if he had been sure of
retaining his estates. The most powerful argument for
accepting it was, that by so doing he could save his
property."
The strange crisis of affairs was such that, while the population of
France was over thirty millions, a few bankers in Paris, without
consulting the voice of the people, were about to impose upon them a
government and a king; and it must be admitted that the peril of the
nation was such that many of the purest and noblest men approved of
these measures. The majority of the members of the Chamber of
Deputies were gained over to this cause; and even the members of the
House of Peers were so overawed by the menacing aspect of the excited
populace, that they were disposed to fall in with the movement.
The deputies were assembled at the Hotel Bourbon, waiting to receive
the report of the delegation which had been sent to offer the crown
to Louis Philippe. It is said that there was but one man, M. Hyde de
Neuville, who occupied the benches reserved for the advocates of the
old royalty. There were probably, however, others in favor of the
Duke of Bordeaux, who absented themselves. While thus in session, the
rumor came that a body of royalist troops from Rouen were marching
upon Paris, and that their cannon were already planted upon the
heights of Montmartre, which commanded the city. In the midst of the
consternation which this communication created, the deputies returned
from Neuilly, with a report of their favorable reception by the
family of Louis Philippe.
Immediately, though with some dissenting voices, the following
resolution was adopted, and transmitted to the Duke of Orleans:
"The deputies in Paris deem it essential to implore his royal
highness the Duke of Orleans to repair immediately to Paris,
to exercise the functions of lieutenant-general of the
kingdom, and also to resume, in accordance with the universal
wish, the tri-color flag."
Meanwhile the peers had met in their hall, in the palace of the
Luxembourg. Chateaubriand was then in the plenitude of his renown as
a writer, an orator, a statesman. Crowds of young men, in admiration
of his genius, were ready enthusiastically to follow his leading.
This distinguished man fully realized the true state of affairs--the
difficulties involved in whatever course they should attempt to
pursue. For some time he sat apart, silent and melancholy, apparently
in gloomy thought. Suddenly he rose, and, in deliberate, solemn
tones, said:
"Let us protest in favor of the ancient monarchy. If needs be, let us
leave Paris. But wherever we may be driven, let us save the king, and
surrender ourselves to the trust of a courageous fidelity. If the
question come to the salvation of legitimacy, give me a pen and two
months, and I will restore the throne."
Scarcely had he concluded these bold, proud words, when a delegation
presented itself from the Chamber of Deputies, soliciting the
co-operation of the peers in placing the crown upon the brow of the
Duke of Orleans. It was soon manifest that but few of the peers were
prepared to surrender themselves to martyrdom by following the
courageous but desperate councils of Chateaubriand.
The ultra democratic party, dissatisfied with the moderate tone
assumed by Lafayette and his associates at the Hotel de Ville, formed
a new organization at a hall in the Rue St. Honore. They were bold,
determined men, ready to adopt the most audacious resolutions, and to
shed their blood like water, in street fights, to maintain them. They
were numerous, and with nervous gripe held the arms they had seized;
but they had no commander. There was not a man in their ranks who
could secure the support of a respectable party throughout France.
They had no pecuniary resources--they consisted merely of a
tumultuous band of successful insurrectionists, with no one of
sufficient character and prominence upon whom even they could unite
to recognize as their leader. The eloquent and universally popular
Beranger, advocating in all his glowing verse the rights of the
people, with other agents of the Orleans cause, repaired to this
democratic gathering, to win them over, if possible, to their side.
Angrily the Democrats rejected all such propositions. A ferocious
debate ensued, which was terminated by a pistol-shot from an enraged
opponent, which wounded an Orleanist orator severely in the cheek. It
was no longer safe, in that presence, to urge the claims of Louis
Philippe. His advocates, as speedily as possible, left the hall.
The Democrats, as this wing of the Republican party may be called,
who had broken from their more moderate brethren, who were assembled,
under the presidency of Lafayette, at the Hotel de Ville, thus left
to themselves, sent a deputation to that body, with the following
well-expressed remonstrance against organizing a government without
consulting the voice of the French people:
"The people yesterday reconquered their rights at the expense
of their blood. The most precious of their rights is that of
choosing their form of government. Till this is done, no
proclamation should be issued announcing any form of
government as adopted. A provisional representation of the
nation exists: let it continue till the wishes of the
majority of Frenchmen are known."
The spacious Place de Greve, in front of the Hotel de Ville, was
crowded with an excited, surging, tumultuous mass, anxiously awaiting
the issues of each passing hour. The democratic delegation elbowed
their way through the crowd, and were courteously received by
Lafayette, in behalf of the Provisional Government. As Lafayette was
addressing them, a gentleman entered, M. Sussy, a commissioner from
the fugitive king, Charles X., with a proclamation which Charles had
issued, hoping to conciliate the enraged people by revoking the
ordinances which had roused them to insurrection, dismissing the
obnoxious ministers who had recommended those ordinances, and
appointing a new cabinet of more popular men.
It was too late for compromise. The same proclamation had been sent
to the deputies, but they refused to receive it. Upon the
announcement of the mission of M. Sussy, the indignant cry arose from
the Republicans, "No! no! away with him: we will have nothing more to
do with the Bourbons." So great was the fury excited that it was with
difficulty that a brawny Republican, M. Bastide, was prevented from
throwing M. Sussy out of the window. By the interposition of
Lafayette, he was withdrawn, in the midst of a frightful tumult, to
another room. Under the influence of the hostile feelings thus
aroused, a series of resolutions were passed, declaring that France
would have no more of royalty--that the representatives of the people
alone should make the laws, to be executed only by a temporary
president.
It will be seen that these resolutions were in direct opposition to
the views of those who wished to re-erect the monarchy and to place
Louis Philippe upon the throne. But these resolutions were
passionately adopted, by the most radical portion of the party, in
the midst of a scene of the wildest tumult. They were by no means
unanimously accepted. The more moderate of the Republicans, with
Lafayette at their head, in view of the agitation hourly augmenting
in the streets, in view of the insuperable difficulties, obvious to
every well-informed man, of establishing a stable Republic in a realm
where a large majority of the population were opposed to a Republic,
and trembling in view of the anarchy with which all France was
menaced, and conscious that a Republic would excite the hostility of
every surrounding throne--were already strongly inclined to effect a
union with the Orleans party, under a constitutional monarchy.
In various parts of the city there were excited gatherings, adopting
all sorts of revolutionary resolutions, and sending delegations to
the Hotel de Ville with instructions, petitions, and threats. The
students of the Polytechnic School--who had distinguished themselves
in the bloodiest scenes of the street-fight with the troops of
Charles X.--sent a committee to the Hotel de Ville with a military
_order_, to which they _demanded_ an official signature. The
appropriate officer, M. Lobau, refused to sign it. "You recoil, do
you?" said the determined young man who presented the ordinance.
"Nothing is so dangerous, in revolutions, as to recoil: I will order
you to be shot!"
"To be shot!" was the indignant reply. "Shoot a member of the
Provisional Government!"
The young man drew him to the window, pointed to a well-armed band of
a hundred men, who had fought desperately the day before: "There,"
said he, "are men who would shoot God Almighty, were I to order them
to do so." The order was signed in silence.
Such occurrences gave new impulse to the inclinations of Lafayette
and the more moderate of the Republican party towards the Orleanists,
who were deliberating in the salons of M. Lafitte. Charles X., who
had fled from St. Cloud with his family and with some of the most
devoted of his followers, while these scenes were transpiring, was
still in France, at but a few leagues from Paris, at the head of
twelve thousand veteran troops. Should the Duke of Orleans escape and
join him, and rally the rural portion of the people in defense of
Legitimacy, and in support of the Duke of Bordeaux, results might
ensue appalling to the boldest imagination. As hour after hour passed
away, and the duke did not appear in Paris, the anxiety in the
crowded salons of M. Lafitte was terrible. Orleanists and Republicans
were alike imperilled. The re-establishment of the old regime would
inevitably consign the leaders of both these parties, as traitors, to
the scaffold. Democratic cries were resounding, more and more loudly,
through the streets. Power was fast passing into the hands of the
mob. Should the Duke of Orleans fail his party, there was no one else
around whom they could rally, and their disastrous defeat was
inevitable.
The hours were fast darkening into despair. Messengers were anxiously
sent to the Palais Royal, the sumptuous city residence of the duke,
to ascertain if he had arrived. No tidings could be heard from him.
The domestics seemed to be packing up the valuables in preparation
for removal. The utter failure of Beranger and his associates to gain
the co-operation of the Democrats was reported. The decisive
resolution adopted at the Hotel de Ville was known. All seemed lost.
There was nothing before the eye but a frightful vision of anarchy
and bloodshed. A general panic seized all those assembled in the
apartments of Lafitte, and there was a sudden dispersion. It was near
midnight; but three persons were left--Lafitte, Adolphe Thibodeaux,
and Benjamin Constant. A few moments of anxious conversation ensued.
"What will become of us to-morrow?" sadly inquired Lafitte.
"We shall all be hanged," replied Benjamin Constant, in the calm
aspect of despair.
In this crisis of affairs, matters threatened to become still more
involved by two energetic young men, M. Ladvocat and M. Dumoulin, who
proposed to bring forward the claims of the Empire. The name of
Napoleon then pronounced in the streets, and the unfurling of the
eagle-crowned banner under any recognized representative of his
renown, would, perhaps, have called a party into being which would
instantly have overridden all others. This peril was adroitly averted
by the sagacity of M. Thiers and M. Mignet. By their powerful
persuasion they induced M. Ladvocat to desist from the attempt The
other young man, who was found inflexible in his resolve, they lured
into a room in the Hotel de Ville, where they caused him to be
arrested and imprisoned.
In the following terms Louis Blanc describes this singular event:
"While every one was seeking to realize his wishes, a few
voices only were heard uttering the name of the emperor in a
city that had so long echoed to that sound. Two men without
influence, military reputation, or celebrity of any kind, MM.
Ladvocat and Dumoulin, conceived, for a while, the idea of
proclaiming the Empire. M. Thiers easily persuaded one of
them that fortune gives herself to him who hastens to seize
her. The other appeared, dressed as an orderly-officer, in
the great hall of the Hotel de Ville. But, being politely
requested by M. Carbonel to pass into an adjoining room, he
was there locked up and kept prisoner.
"This is one of those curiosities of history the key of which
is found in the grovelling nature of most human ambition. The
son of Napoleon was far away. For those who were actuated by
vulgar hopes, to wait was to run the risk of losing those
first favors which are always easiest to obtain from a
government that has need to win forgiveness for its
accession. Nevertheless, Napoleon's memory lived in the
hearts of the people. But what was requisite to the crowning
of the immortal victim of Waterloo in the first-born of his
race?--That an old general should appear in the streets, draw
his sword, and shout, _Vive Napoleon II!_
"But no; General Gourgaud alone made some tentative efforts.
Napoleon, besides, had pigmied all minds round his own. The
imperial regime had kindled in the plebeians he had abruptly
ennobled a burning thirst for place and distinction. The
Orleanist party recruited itself among all those whose
promptitude to revive the Empire needed, perhaps, but one
flash of hardihood, a leader, and a cry. Of all the generals
whose fortunes were of imperial growth, Subervic alone gave
his voice for a Republic in M. Lafitte's saloons--at least he
was the only one that was remarked. Thus all was over as
regards Napoleon. And some little time after this, a young
colonel, in the service of Austria, died beyond the
Rhine--the frail representative of a dynasty whose last
breath passed away with him."[X]
[Footnote X: "The History of Ten Years," by Louis Blanc, vol. i, p.
187.]
When Louis Blanc penned these lines he little supposed that but a few
years would pass away ere the almost unanimous voice of the French
people would call Napoleon III. to the throne of France, and that
under his energetic sway France would enjoy for twenty years
prosperity at home and influence abroad which almost eclipsed the
splendors of the first Empire.
In the mean time an agitated crowd poured out through the gates of
Paris, and, invading Neuilly, surrounded the chateau, intending to
seize the Duke of Orleans and carry him into the city. But he, as we
have mentioned, had retired to Rancy. The leaders of this multitude,
professing to be a deputation from the Chamber of Deputies, demanded
to see the duchess, and informed her that they should take her and
her children as hostages to the city, and there keep them until the
duke should appear in Paris. The duchess, terrified in view of the
peril to which she and her children would be exposed in the hands of
an ungovernable mob, wrote to her husband entreating him to return
immediately.
Thus influenced, the duke resolved to repair to Paris. The streets
were thronged with an excited mob, who would surely assassinate him
should he be recognized. The peril of his family overcame his
constitutional timidity. In disguise, accompanied by three persons
only, who were also disguised, this reluctant candidate for one of
the most brilliant of earthly crowns, a little before midnight, set
out on foot from his rural retreat; and, entering Paris, traversed
the thronged streets, with Republican cries resounding everywhere
about him. In several instances the mob, little aware whom they were
assailing, compelled him to respond to the cry. Upon reaching his
sumptuous palace, sometime after midnight, he threw himself, in utter
exhaustion, upon a couch, and sent the welcome announcement to his
friends of his arrival. M. de Montmart, one of the most prominent of
the Orleans party, immediately called. He found the duke in a state
of extreme agitation, bathed in sweat, undressed, and covered only
with a light spread.
The duke gave vehement utterance to his perplexities and alarm. He
declared his devotion to the principles of Legitimacy, and his
inalienable attachment to his friends and relatives of the elder
branch of the Bourbon family. He remonstrated against the cruelty of
placing him in the false position of their antagonist, saying, "I
would rather die than accept the crown." Seizing a pen, he wrote a
letter to Charles X., full of protestations of loyalty and homage. M.
de Montmart concealed this epistle in the folds of his cravat, and it
was conveyed to the fugitive king.
This epistle was probably intended only to be a forcible expression
of the extreme reluctance with which Louis Philippe yielded to those
influences which seemed morally to compel him to accept the crown.
Charles X. was cruelly deceived by the letter. He interpreted it to
signify that the Duke of Orleans would remain firm in his allegiance
to the dynasty which had been driven by successful insurrection from
Paris.
[Illustration: THE PALAIS ROYAL.]
At an early hour the next morning, a delegation from the Chamber of
Deputies, with General Sebastiani at its head, arrived at the Palais
Royal. The agitations of the hour were such that, without waiting for
an announcement, they broke into the presence of the duke with the
entreaty that he would accept from them the lieutenant-generalcy of
the kingdom, which was merely the stepping-stone to the throne. The
duke was still very undecided, or, to save appearances, feigned to be
so. The deputies assured him that the crisis was so imperious, that
not only the destinies of France, but also his own life, were
probably dependent upon his accepting the appointment. The duke
implored a few more moments for private reflection, and retired to
his cabinet with General Sebastiani, who was then hurriedly
dispatched to the hotel of M. Talleyrand in the Rue St. Florentin.
Talleyrand had been one of the firmest supporters of Legitimacy.
Louis Philippe sought his advice. The wily statesman, who had lived
through so many revolutions, had not yet left his bed-chamber, and
was dressing. He, however, promptly returned the sealed answer, "Let
him accept."
The duke hesitated no longer. Returning to the Deputies, he announced
his decision. The most vigorous action was now required. A
proclamation to the inhabitants of Paris was immediately drawn up in
the name of Louis Philippe, and which was unanimously agreed to by
the delegation, announcing that, in obedience to the wishes of the
Deputies, he had assumed the office of lieutenant-general of France.
At the same time, the illustrious writer, M. Guizot, was intrusted
with the duty of preparing a more full exposition of the principles
of the Orleanist party, which was to be signed by ninety-one of the
Deputies. The proclamation issued by Louis Philippe, and which was
simply expanded in the longer one drawn up by M. Guizot, was as
follows:
"INHABITANTS OF PARIS,--The Deputies, at this moment
assembled in Paris, have expressed their desire that I
should betake myself to this capital to exercise there the
functions of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. I have not
hesitated to come and partake of your dangers, to place
myself in the midst of this heroic population, and use all
my endeavors to preserve you from civil war and anarchy. On
entering the city of Paris, I wore with pride those glorious
colors you have resumed, and which I had myself long
carried.
"The Chambers are about to assemble. They will consult on
the means of securing the reign of the laws and the
maintenance of the rights of the nation. A charter shall be
henceforth a true thing.
"LOUIS PHILIPPE D'ORLEANS."