XLV.

as Dupin had done. But as Thiers was more positive CHAP. in his offer, and more urgent in his argument, the Duchess of Orleans was more passionate in her refusal, and Madame Adelaide, on the contrary, more firm in her declaration that the offer of the Chamber was not to be refused by the Duke.* "Would she come to Paris, and accept in his name, if the Duke still remained absent?" To this Madame Adelaide consented; and this semiacceptance M. Thiers brought to the Deputies assembled in their hall.

The Duc de Mortemart had, in the mean time, taken no step save sending word of his counter-Ordonnances to the Hôtel de Ville. He remained at the Luxembourg, the Palace of the Peers. The Upper Chamber, when there assembled, seemed little inclined to support the envoy of Charles the Tenth. Châteaubriand himself made

no motion, and proposed no resolution. He merely stammered out "Save the liberty of the press." There was something else to be saved and thought of at the moment. "What is to become of Legitimacy?" asked some one of the Viscount. "Oh! give me freedom of the press for two months, and I will soon raise up the fallen throne with my pen," said Châteaubriand. His goosequill was of as little avail as his counsel.

The Deputies who assembled in the Palais Bourbon at the same time were more determined. They felt the necessity of a government, and some were for endowing the Municipal Commission with it, in the absence of any message or envoy from either Charles the Tenth or the Duke of Orleans. At last M. Thiers came with a kind of assurance from the sister of the latter. M. de Mortemart sent the counter-Ordonnances about the same time. But the Duke's appointment seemed likely to prevail, when the Royalist Hyde de Neuville, in order to defeat it, proposed a conference with the Peers, and the

Madame Adelaide had been en- from Prince Talleyrand.-Sir H. couraged to act thus by a message Bulwer's Talleyrand.

XLV.

nomination of a commission to that effect.
This was
instantly adopted. And the members had scarcely gone
upon the errand when Odilon Barrot came from
Lafayette with a protest against any precipitation in
naming a new government or sovereign without pre-
liminary guarantees of the chief public liberties. This
menacing dictation from the Hôtel de Ville precipi-
tated the movement within the Chamber in favour
of the Duke of Orleans; and a message was sent to
recall the commission from the Chamber of Peers. There
the question of the moment had also been seriously
discussed; and whilst the friends of Charles the Tenth
urged that the Duc de Mortemart was there with the
recall of the Ordonnances, and a new ministry appointed,
assurances were brought that the Royal troops showed
signs of hostility at St. Cloud, and that the ex-ministers
were still there around Charles. This completely upset
all Mortemart's hopes, and he himself rallied to the idea
which the commission from the Deputies, proposed of
naming the Duke of Orleans Lieutenant-General. They
returned accordingly to the Lower Chamber with the
consent of the Peers. The consequence was an almost
unanimous vote of the Deputies that the post of
Lieutenant-General should be conferred upon the Duke
of Orleans.

A messenger from Neuilly, with an account of M. Thiers' mission and offer, had been despatched to the Duke at Raincy. Laffitte, at a late hour, sent another with the vote of the Chamber. The Duke came in. stantly to Neuilly, and informed Laffitte that he had arrived, and would be at the Palais Royal in the morning. Laffitte's answer was to come thither immediately, as events were pressing. The Duke accordingly hastened on foot to the Palais Royal, which he reached at 11 o'clock at night. The first person he sent for was the Duke de Mortemart, to whom he stated the un

* M. Villemain and two others were the only dissentients.

certainty of his position, and how circumstances more than his own will forced him to it. Mortemart advised him to accept the Lieutenant-Generalship temporarily. The Duke still thought this possible, and he wrote a letter, no doubt to this effect, to Charles the Tenth, confiding it to M. de Mortemart. The events of the following day rendered the letter idle: instead of being delivered to the King, it was returned to the Duke; so that its contents, however reproduced and conjectured, remain really unknown.*

At 6 o'clock on the following morning the Duke of Orleans sent for M. Dupin, and declared his readiness to accept the Lieutenant-Generalship, and thus preserve the kingdom from anarchy. Dupin drew up a proclamation of the Duke to the Parisians, stating his acceptance, as also that he had adopted the glorious tricolor, and that the Chamber would devise the proper means for ensuring the reign of the laws and the rights of the people. "The Charter shall henceforth be a truth." To the Deputation of the Chamber, which came at 8 o'clock, the Duke showed some decorous reluctance. A repetition to the Duke, through Sebastiani, of Talleyrand's previous advice to Madame Adelaide had great influence on the final decision. This the Duke of Orleans signified by acceptance.

The Chamber of Deputies met without loss of time, and ordered a Declaration, drawn up by M. Guizot, to be issued. The following guarantees, it said, would be required-Re-establishment of the National Guard, with the right to elect its officers; the participation of citizens in the municipal and departmental administration; the jury for the press; the responsibility of ministers; officers secured in their grades. It concluded as did the Duke's proclamation with the words "The Charter shall henceforth be a truth." After this the Deputies returned to the Palais Royal

* See Appendix to Nouvion.

CHAP.

XLV.

CHAP.
XLV.

in order to accompany the Lieutenant-General in his proposed visit to the Hôtel de Ville, where he was to raise the popular banner after the Parliamentary one. The Duke proceeded on horseback; Laffitte was carried in a chair, on account of a sprain. The other Deputies, on foot, formed a guard on each side of the Duke, keeping off, with some difficulty, the populace, who displayed "neither violence nor respect.' 11* A band of men and boys accompanied them singing the Marseillaise, and treating the procession to no very reverent remarks. There were many who awaited on the Place and the steps of the Hôtel de Ville with far more impatience, which their looks betrayed. The Duke with good countenance and good fortune passed these, and once within the municipal palace was received with acclamations by Lafayette and the crowd. He solemnly re-accepted the high offer made him, and the Prince and Lafayette then came forth on the balcony, where feelings of welcome and content overcame those of discontent and resentment, and the multitude hailed the new Sovereign with something like enthusiasm.

The act was no sooner consummated than his young and ardent friends surrounded Lafayette to reproach him with having awarded the popular crown without one popular guarantee. "Put your demands on paper," replied the General, "and I will bring them at once to the Palais Royal. I will answer for their acceptance." Lafayette went in the evening with his long list of republican demands in writing. He accosted the LieutenantGeneral personally with the expression-" You know that I am a republican." "Why, so am I," rejoined the Duke. "But do you think American institutions applicable here?" "No," said Lafayette; "all we want is a popular throne surrounded by republican institutions." "Such are precisely my wishes," said the Duke, “but these institutions must be the work of the Chamber, not of me."

66

Guizot's Memoirs.

XLV.

Whilst the Duke of Orleans was thus cautiously taking CHAP. possession of the steps of the throne, rashness and panic alternately prevailed in the family of Charles the Tenth. On the evening of Friday, the 30th, Marmont, in order to stop, if possible, the desertion of the troops, drew up a proclamation announcing to them that the Ordonnances were withdrawn, and that all required of them was to defend the Royal Family till an accommodation took place. He was not able to find the Duke d'Angoulême when he came to show it him, but deeming it urgent he had it read to the sergeants. Somewhat later the Duke took it into his head to lead an attack upon the Parisians, and drew up a spirited proclamation in consequence. General Talon, to whom it was communicated, then mentioned the previous proclamation of Marmont. Furious, and with the idea that he was betrayed by Marmont, the Prince flew into a passion with him, seized the Marshal's sword, and endeavouring to break it, cut his fingers. He then ordered the guard to arrest the Marshal. This scene of stupidity, passion, and error Charles the Tenth tried to atone for by every kind of obsequiousness to the Marshal. Marmont met the Duke d'Angoulême, and mutual apologies passed; but the old soldier refused the Prince's proffered hand.

The Duke of Angoulême persisted in his idea that resistance was still possible, and in the night his order was read to the regiments on and before the bridge of St. Cloud. He soon saw, however, from the countenances of the officers, that the order to renew the fight would not be obeyed. Instead of preparing for combat, the soldiers quartered in Boulogne eagerly gave up their arms. The Royal family in consequence found it prudent to retreat in the night of the 30th from St. Cloud to the Trianon, and, for the same reason, on the following day from the Trianon to Rambouillet. They were joined there by the Duchess d'Angoulême, who had not with out difficulty found her way back from Vichy.