France in the Nineteenth Century | Page 8

remained to be seen what would be done with the victory. The
evening before, Laffitte had sent a messenger to Louis Philippe, then
residing two miles from Paris, at his Château de Neuilly, warning him
to hold himself in readiness for anything that might occur. Lafayette
had been made governor of Paris, and thus held in his hand the
destinies of France. Under him served an improvised municipal
commune.
By this time Prince Polignac had been dismissed, and the Duc de
Montemart had been summoned 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'Angoulême
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'Angoulême, 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 Béranger 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'Angoulême, and Madame Adélaïde 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 Amélie 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 Adélaïde 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
Adélaïde, set out soon after for Paris. The resolution of the leaders of
the Revolution had been taken, but in the Municipal Commune at the
Hôtel-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'Angoulême); the dauphin referred everything to
the king.
The dauphin's temper was imperious, and at this crisis it involved him
in a personal