France in the Nineteenth Century | Page 8

by the king to form a more liberal ministry. Everything was in confusion in the palace. The weary troops, who had marched to the defence of Saint-Cloud when the struggle in Paris became hopeless, were scattered about the park unfed and uncared-for.
The king, having at last made up his mind to yield, sent the envoys who had been despatched to him, back to Paris, saying: "Go, gentlemen, go; tell the Parisians that the king revokes the ordonnances. But I declare to you that I believe this step will be fatal to the interests of France and of the monarchy."
The envoys on reaching Paris were met by the words: "Too late! The throne of Charles X. has already passed from him in blood."
The king, however, confident that after such concessions the revolt was at an end, played whist during the evening, while the Duc d'Angoul��me sat looking over a book of geography. At midnight, however, both were awakened to hear the news from Paris, and then Charles X.'s confidence gave way. He summoned his new prime minister and sent him on a mission to the capital. The Duc d'Angoul��me, however, who was opposed to any compromise with rebels, would not suffer the minister to pass his outposts. The Duc de Montemart, anxious to execute his mission, walked all night round the outskirts of Paris, and entered it at last on the side opposite to Saint-Cloud. The city lay in the profound silence of the hour before day.[1]
[Footnote 1: Louis Blanc, Dix Ans. Histoire de trente heures, 1830.]
The question of who should succeed Charles X. had already been debated in Laffitte's chamber. Laffitte declared himself for Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans. Some were for the son of Napoleon. Many were for the Duc de Bordeaux, with Louis Philippe during his minority as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. "That might have been yesterday," said M. Laffitte, "if the Duchesse de Berri, separating her son's cause from that of his grandfather, had presented herself in Paris, holding Henri V. in one hand, and in the other the tricolor." "The tricolor!" exclaimed the others; "why, they look upon the tricolor as the symbol of all crimes!" "Then what can be done for them?" replied Laffitte.
At this crisis the poet B��ranger threw all his influence into the party of the Duke of Orleans, and almost at the same moment appeared a placard on all the walls of Paris:--
"Charles X. is deposed. A Republic would embroil us with all Europe. The Duke of Orleans is devoted to the cause of the Revolution. The Duke of Orleans never made war on France. The Duke of Orleans fought at Jemappes. The Duke of Orleans will be a Citizen-King. The Duke of Orleans has worn the tricolor under fire: he will wear the tricolor as king."
Meantime, early on the evening of the 29th, Neuilly had been menaced by the troops under the Duc d'Angoul��me, and Madame Ad��la?de had persuaded her brother to quit the place. When M. Thiers and the artist, Ary Scheffer, arrived at Neuilly, bearing a request that the Duke of Orleans would appear in Paris, Marie Am��lie received them. Aunt to the Duchesse de Berri and attached to the reigning family, she was shocked by the idea that her husband and her children might rise upon their fall; but Madame Ad��la?de exclaimed: "Let the Parisians make my brother what they please,--President, Garde National, or Lieutenant-General,--so long as they do not make him an exile."
Louis Philippe, who was at Raincy (or supposed to be there, for the envoys always believed he was behind a curtain during their interview with his wife and sister), having received a message from Madame Ad��la?de, set out soon after for Paris. The resolution of the leaders of the Revolution had been taken, but in the Municipal Commune at the H?tel-de-Ville there was still much excitement. There a party desired a republic, and offered to place Lafayette at its head.
At Saint-Cloud the Duchesse de Berri and her son had been sent off to the Trianon; but the king remained behind. He referred everything to the dauphin (the Duc d'Angoul��me); the dauphin referred everything to the king.
The dauphin's temper was imperious, and at this crisis it involved him in a personal collision with Marshal Marmont. In attempting to tear the marshal's sword from his side, he cut his fingers. At sight of the royal blood the marshal was arrested, and led away as a traitor. The king, however, at once released him, with apologies.
When the leaders in Paris had decided to offer the lieutenant-generalship of France to Louis Philippe during the minority of the Duc de Bordeaux, he could not be found. He was not at Raincy, he was not at Neuilly. About midnight, July 29, he entered Paris on foot and in plain clothes,