XLVII. 1848. went on regardless of the danger, as he had been of the CHAP. balls of the Moors in Africa. General Lamoricière followed in his footsteps; his horse was killed, and he himself wounded, as he was haranguing the advanced posts, and he was carried into a neighbouring house to have his wound dressed. It was all in vain. The troops, sullen and dejected, remained motionless. The insurgents, inflamed by the prospect of victory, were deaf to any other counsels but those of passion. Rapidly closing in after the retiring columns, they already almost touched the Tuileries, where the King, now nearly deserted by all except his own family, was still left. The Queen retained her courageous demeanour; the princesses were in tears. The discrowned monarch was strongly urged to declare the Duchess of Orléans regent, but he positively refused. "Others" said he, " may do so if they deem it necessary, but I will not. It would be contrary to law; and since, thank God, I have never yet been guilty of violating it, I will not begin to do so at this moment." "What then!" 1 Cassagnac, said the Duchess of Orléans; " will you leave me here, Rapport without relations, without friends, without counsel? would you wish me to do?" My dear Helen," the King," the dynasty and the crown of your son stake; remain, then, to save the crown for him." With Review. those words the King, with the Queen and princesses, set founded on out to leave the palace, and the Duchess of Orléans retired formation. into her own apartments.1 66 i. 232, 233; de General What Trézel; Lamartine, i. replied 127, 129; are at Mr Croker, in Quarterly April 1848, King's in the Royal But for the precautions taken by the Duke de Nemours 68. to secure the means of escape to the royal family, it Escape of would have been no easy matter for them to have got Family. away, for the Tuileries was surrounded on all sides by frantic multitudes thirsting for pillage, and little disposed to spare those whom they had been taught to consider as their titled oppressors. The royal family traversed on foot, happily without being known, the broad central avenue of the Tuileries, passed the wicket of the Pont Tournant, and reached the foot of the Obelisk in the XLVII. 1848. CHAP. Place de la Concorde at one o'clock in the afternoon. Here, however, a disappointment all but fatal awaited them. The royal carriages, which had been directed to meet them there, were not to be seen; they had been seized and burnt or knocked to pieces by the populace. Fortunately two humble cabriolets were disengaged on the quay, which was still free, and into them the august fugitives were hastily thrust, after having been rudely jostled by the mob. The carriages set off at a quick trot by the Quai de Billy, under the escort of a squadron of cuirassiers and a detachment of cavalry of the 1 Ann. Hist. National Guard, and soon got out of Paris, taking the 1848, 88; road to the Château d'Eu, where they hoped to arrive i. 233; La two days after, from whence the passage was easy to 129; Moni- England. And thus, amidst defeat and disgrace, departed the Citizen King from Paris, and abandoned the throne of France.1 Cassagnac, martine, i. teur, Feb. 25, 1848. 69. duct of the Orléans. There remained to prop up the falling dynasty the Heroic con- infant Count of Paris, in whose favour the King had Duchess of resigned, the Duke de Nemours his legal, and the Princess Helen, his mother and natural guardian. The former, though a prudent and sensible man, had none of the qualities fitted to struggle with the terrible crisis in which his family had become involved; but the latter, of heroic character, was well fitted for the task, and might, had she been supported with the same courage which she evinced herself, have, even at the eleventh hour, saved the throne for her son. Calm, retiring, and unobtrusive, she had, since the death of her husband, been entirely devoted to her maternal duties; but under this placid demeanour was concealed the soul of a heroine, which now prompted to noble deeds. She was soon called into action. As the troops, after the departure of the King, were retiring through the Tuileries from the Place of the Carrousel, and three cannon-shot, the last discharged on that day, fired at the mob rushing from the quay into the square, were shaking the windows of her apartment, M. Dupiu, the CHAP. 1848. President of the Chamber of Deputies, entered the room. "What are you about to tell me, sir?" exclaimed the princess. "I have come to tell you," replied Dupin, with a look of hope on his countenance, "that perhaps the rôle of Maria-Theresa is reserved for you." "Lead the way," said the princess; "my life belongs to France and to my children." "Then there is not a moment to lose; let us go instantly to the Chamber of Deputies." They set out accordingly, the princess leading her eldest son by the Ann. Hist. hand; the second, who was not able to walk, being 89; Lamarcarried by an aide-de-camp. The Duke de Nemours 152; Caswalked beside them; a faithful valet named Herbert was 235, 236. their sole escort.1 1 xxxi. 88, tine, i. 149, sagnac, i. 70. the Cham No sooner had they left the Tuileries for the hall of the legislative body, than an impetuous mob, now wholly Opinion in unresisted by the soldiers and officers on guard, broke into ber of Dethe palace, tore down from the walls the ensigns of puties. royalty, and with loud shouts proclaimed a republic. Meanwhile the princess, with her scanty attendants, but soon followed by a noisy crowd, pursued her way to the Chamber. All was there uncertainty and trepidation; the departure of the King was known, but nothing more; the leaders were not to be seen; M. Thiers was absent, M. Lamartine had not yet arrived; and every one, in anxiety and terror, was waiting for some person to take the lead. M. Dupin, ascending the tribune, declared that the King had abdicated and transmitted his rights to his grandson, and to the Duchess as regent. This was not the case, as the Duke de Nemours was regent; but M. Dupin rightly judged, that when the throne itself was in jeopardy, the most popular regent was the one most likely to render success probable. Loud applause from all sides followed M. Ann. Hist. Dupin's announcement; and on his motion, the Chamber xxxi. 91; declared, by acclamation and with enthusiasm, that in i. 160, 164; Cassagnac, respect of the resignation of the King, they declared the i. 237. Count of Paris king, and his mother the Duchess regent.2 2 Lamartine, CHAP. Loud acclamations followed this announcement, and the throne seemed saved. XLVII. 1848. 71. of M. de By a little courage and loyalty on the part of the Treachery popular leaders, it probably might have been so at that Lamartine, time. But M. de Lamartine, who had just before come up to take his seat in the assembly, was at the critical moment interrupted at the entrance of the building by a group of Republicans, fresh from the office of the National and the Réforme, who strongly appealed to the vanity which, unfortunately, not less than enthusiasm and generosity, formed a leading feature in his character, and persuaded him that the days of royalty were past, that a republic was inevitable, and that the people all looked to him to be the founder of the new order of things. Unhappily for France and for his own reputation, he yielded to their seductions and the whisperings of his own ambition, and agreed to support a republic. "There is but one way," said he to those who addressed him, "to save the people from the danger which a revolution in our present social state threatens instantly to introduce, and that is to trust ourselves to the force of the people themselves, to their reason, their interests, their arms. It is a REPUBLIC which we require! Yes," (with increased energy), "it is a republic which can alone save us from anarchy, civil war, foreign war, spoliation, the scaffold, destruction of property, the overthrow of society, the ini. 160, 168; vasion of the stranger. The remedy is heroic. I know xxxi. 90, it; but there are occasions, such as those in which we live, gnac, i. 236. when the only safe policy is that which is grand and audacious as the crisis itself."1 'Lamartine, Ann. Hist. 91; Cassa 72. the Duchess Shortly after, M. Thiers entered with consternation Entrance of painted on his visage, and in the utmost agitation. "The of Orléans tide is ascending," said he, raising his hat above his head; into the and with these words, which, coming from the Prime Minister, increased the general alarm, he disappeared in the crowd. At this moment, when the ablest and first men in France were reeling under the stroke of fate, the Chambers. XLVII. 1848. folding-doors were thrown open, and the Duchess of Orléans CHAP. appeared, leading her eldest son, the Count of Paris, in her right, and with her second, the Duke of Chartres, in her left. Calm and serene, the heroic princess gazed on the scene around her: with no support but her infant children and her own courage, she faced a nation in arms. The scene and her appearance must be painted in the eloquent words of an eyewitness-himself, as the event proved, the worst enemy of the princess and her race. "A respectful silence immediately ensued; the deputies in deep anxiety crowded round the august princess, the strangers in the galleries leant over in hopes of catching a word which fell from her lips. She herself was dressed in mourning; her veil, half raised, partly disclosed a countenance, the emotion and melancholy of which enhanced the charms of youth and beauty. Her pale cheeks are marked by the tears of the widow, the anxieties of the mother. No man could look on her countenance without being moved. Every feeling of resentment against the monarchy faded away before the spectacle. The blue eyes of the princess wander over the hall, as if to implore aid, and were a moment dazzled. Her slight and fragile form inclined before the sound of the applause with which she was greeted. A slight blush, the mark of the revival of hope in her bosom, tinged her cheeks; the smile of gratitude was already on her lips. She felt she was surrounded by friends. In her right hand she held the young king, in her left the Duke de Chartres; children to whom their own catastrophe was a spectacle. They were both dressed in a short black vestment. A white little collar was turned down the neck of each on his dark dress-living portraits of Vandyck, as if they had stepped i. 175, 176.' out of the canvass of the children of Charles I."1 There was a time when such a spectacle as this-that of a young and heroic mother pleading the cause of her innocent children for the throne,—would have spoken to the heart of every man in France; when every sword 1Lamartine, |