Louis Philippe Part 17

But a terrible secret was soon whispered abroad, which overwhelmed the princess with shame, and which filled the court of Louis Philippe with joy, as it silenced all voices which would speak in her favor.

It became evident that the d.u.c.h.ess was again to become a mother. For a princess, the child, sister, and mother of a king, secretly to marry some unknown man, was deemed as great a degradation as such a person could be guilty of. The shame was as great as it would be in New York for the daughter of a millionaire secretly to marry a negro coachman. It consigned the princess to irremediable disgrace. But the situation in which she found herself compelled her to acknowledge her marriage. The universal a.s.sumption was that she had not been married.

Secrecy divests marriage of its sanct.i.ty.

The sufferings through which the princess pa.s.sed were awful. No pen can describe them. Could she but be released from prison, her shame might be concealed. Her tears and entreaties were all unavailing.

Louis Philippe, unmindful that the princess was the niece of his wife, deemed that the interests of his dynasty required that she should be held with a firm grasp until the birth of her child should consign her to ignominy from which there could be no redemption.

On the 22d of February, 1833, the d.u.c.h.ess placed in the hands of General Bugeaud, governor of the citadel of Blaye, the following declaration:

"Urged by circ.u.mstances, and by the measures ordered by the Government, though I had the strongest reason to keep my marriage secret, I think it a duty to myself and my children to declare that I was secretly married during my residence in Italy."

To a friend, M. de Mesnard, she wrote: "I feel as if it would kill me to tell you what follows, but it must be done. Vexatious annoyances, the order to leave me alone with spies, the certainty that I can not get out till September, could alone have determined me to declare my secret marriage."

The humiliations to which the unhappy d.u.c.h.ess was compelled to submit were dreadful. The detail would be only painful to our readers. On the morning of the 10th of May a daughter was born, whom G.o.d kindly, ere long, removed to another world. The fact, minutely authenticated, was proclaimed to all Europe. Thus far Marie Caroline had kept secret the name of her husband. But it was now necessary that his name should be given, to secure the legitimacy of her child. It was then announced, by the officiating physician to the group of officials which the Government had placed around her bed, that the father of the child was Count Hector Sucheri Palli, gentleman of the chamber to the King of the Two Sicilies.

In commenting upon these events, Louis Blanc writes: "The partisans of the new dynasty exulted with indecent zeal at the event of which the ministers had so well prepared the scandal. The Republicans only manifested the contempt they felt for this ign.o.ble triumph. As for the Legitimists, they were overwhelmed with consternation. Some of them, however, still persisted in their daring incredulity; and they did not hesitate to denounce the doc.u.ment, upon which their enemies relied as the denouement of an intrigue which had begun with violence and ended with a lie. Separated from her friends, deprived of their counsels, dead to the world, to the laws, to society, was it possible for Marie Caroline to make any valid deposition against herself, and that, too, surrounded by her accusers, by her keepers, by the men who had vowed her destruction?"

Thus, while one party affirmed that there was no truth in the alleged birth or marriage, the Orleanists declared that the d.u.c.h.ess of Berri had not only given birth to a child of no legitimate parentage, but that the Duke of Bordeaux, who was born seven months after the a.s.sa.s.sination of the Duke of Berri, was also the child of dishonored birth, and had, therefore, no t.i.tle whatever to the crown. Such is the venom of political partisanship.

On the 8th of June, Marie Caroline, who could no longer claim the t.i.tle of Regent of France, but who had sunk to the lowly condition of the wife of an Italian count, was liberated from prison. She had fallen into utter disgrace, and was no longer to be feared. With her child and her nurse, abandoned by those friends who had gathered around the regent, she sailed for Palermo. Her brother, the king, received her kindly, and she was joined by Count Lucheri Palli. Few troubled themselves to inquire whether she were ever _married_ to the count or not. We hear of her no more.

These events broke up the Legitimists into three parties. The one a.s.sumed that, under the circ.u.mstances, the abdication of Charles X.

was not to be regarded as binding; that he was still king, and to him alone they owed their allegiance. The second took the position that, in consequence of the suspicions cast upon the birth of the Duke of Bordeaux, the abdication in favor of the duke was null, and that the dauphin, the Duke de Angouleme, was the legitimate heir to the crown.

The third party still adhered to the Duke of Bordeaux, recognizing him as king, under the t.i.tle of Henry V. Thus terminated in utter failure the Legitimist endeavor to overthrow the throne of Louis Philippe.

While these scenes were transpiring, the Duke of Reichstadt, the only son of Napoleon I., and, by the votes of the French people, the legitimate heir to the throne of the Empire, died in Vienna, on the 22d of July, 1832. Commenting upon this event, Louis Blanc writes:

"In a calm, lovely day, there was seen advancing through a perfectly silent crowd, along the streets of that capital of Austria which once looked down abashed and terror-struck beneath the proud eagles of Napoleon, a hea.r.s.e, preceded by a coach and a few hors.e.m.e.n. Some attendants walked on either side, bearing torches. When they arrived at the church, the court commissioner, in pursuance of a remarkable custom of the country, proceeded to enumerate the names and t.i.tles of the deceased. Then, knocking at the door, he solicited for the corpse admission to the temple. The princes and princesses of the house of Austria were there awaiting the body, and attended it to the vault, into which the fortune of the Empire then descended forever. The death of the son of Napoleon occasioned no surprise among the nations. It was known that he was of a very sickly const.i.tution, and besides poison had been spoken of. Those who think every thing possible to the fear or ambition of princes had said, _He bears too great a name to live._"

The attempts subsequently made by Louis Napoleon for the restoration of the Empire, which failed at Strasbourg and Bologne, but which finally gave the Empire to France through twenty years of unparalleled prosperity, we have not s.p.a.ce here to record. They will be found minutely detailed in Abbott's History of Napoleon III.

In reference to these unsuccessful attempts, Louis Blanc writes: "Of the two sons of the ex-king of Holland, Napoleon's brother, the elder, we have seen, had perished in the Italian troubles, by a death as mysterious as premature. The younger had retired to Switzerland, where he applied himself unceasingly to the preparation of projects that flattered his pride and responded to the most earnest aspirations of his soul.

"Nephew to him whom France called the Emperor, the emperor _par excellence_ (imperator), and condemned to the vexations of an obscure youth; having to avenge his proscribed kindred, while himself exiled by an unjust law, from a country he loved, and of which it might be said, without exaggeration, that Napoleon still covered it with his shadow--Louis Bonaparte believed himself destined at once to uphold the honor of his name, to punish the persecutors of his family, and to open to his disgraced country some way to glory.

"His design was to make trial of the prestige of his name to overthrow the Orleans dynasty, after which he would convoke the people, consult and obey it. Nothing is more certain than that this respect for the principle of the sovereignty of the people was perfectly sincere and honest on the part of the young prince. But the hopes with which he flattered his ambition were not the less grand on that account. Heir to the imperial tradition, might he not be the choice of the people?

"He was generous, enterprising, prompt in military exercises, and the uniform sat upon him with a manly grace. There was no braver officer--no more gallant cavalier. Though the expression of his countenance was gentle, rather than energetic and imperious--though there was an habitual languor in his looks, often dashed with thought, no doubt the soldiers would love him for his frank bearing, his honest and hearty speech, his small figure, resembling his uncle's, and the imperial lightning which the pa.s.sion of the moment kindled in his blue eye. What a name, too, was his!"[AN]

[Footnote AN: "The History of Ten Years," by Louis Blanc, vol ii., p.

453.]

Charles X. was overwhelmed by his misfortunes. His health rapidly failed. He was often heard to say, "The day is not far distant that shall witness the funeral of the poor old man." On the morning of November 4, 1836, he was seized with a chill, while temporarily residing at Goritz, in Styria. It proved an attack of cholera. His sufferings were severe, but he was calm and resigned, and conversed freely upon the eternity opening before him. The Duke of Bordeaux and his sister were brought into the room to receive his blessing. He placed his trembling hands upon their heads and said, "G.o.d protect you, my children. Walk in the ways of righteousness; do not forget me; pray for me sometimes." A deep lethargy came upon him; and, after a few hours of apparent insensibility, he breathed his last, at the age of 79 years.

CHAPTER XI.

THE FINAL STRUGGLE.

1833-1848

Letter to Louis Napoleon.--Honors to the memory of Napoleon I.--The Arc de l'etoile.--The "Target King."--Death of the Duke of Orleans.--The Count de Paris.--Testimony of Louis Blanc.--Opposition of the king.--Liberals and Legitimists.--Letter from the Prince de Joinville.--The banquets.--Agitation in Paris.--The procession prohibited.--The procession abandoned.--Concentration of the royal troops.--Defection of the National Guard.--Consternation at the Tuileries.--A cabinet council summoned.--Resignation of the ministry.--Organization of the revolutionists.--Collision with the troops.--The conflict commenced.--Flight of the insurgents.--Unpopularity of the king.--The d.u.c.h.ess of Orleans.--Midnight tumult.--Consternation of the royal family.--Marshal Bugeaud.

The Liberal party in France, despairing of any effectual reform under the government of Louis Philippe, began to turn their thoughts to the re-establishment of the Empire under Louis Napoleon, a young prince, the nephew and heir of Napoleon I., then residing in studious seclusion at Arnemberg, in Switzerland. The prince had already obtained some celebrity by his writings in favor of popular rights.

One of the leading republicans wrote to him:

"The life of the king is daily threatened. If one of these attempts should succeed, we should be exposed to the most serious convulsions; for there is no longer in France any party which can lead the others, nor any man who can inspire general confidence. The great name which you bear, your opinions, your character, every thing, induces us to see in you a point of rallying for the popular cause. Hold yourself ready for action. When the time shall come, your friends will not fail you."[AO]

[Footnote AO: Vie de Louis Napoleon, t. i., p. 22.]

Every month there seemed to be rising enthusiasm in respect to the Napoleonic name. Louis Philippe had but just taken his seat upon the throne, when a pet.i.tion was presented to the Chamber of Deputies praying that the remains of the Emperor might be claimed of the British Government, and transferred from St. Helena to Paris. In a speech made by M. Mortigny, on the occasion, he said:

"Napoleon established order and tranquillity in our country: he led our armies to victory: his sublime genius put an end to anarchy: his military glory made the French name respected throughout the world, and his name will ever be p.r.o.nounced with emotion and veneration."

In the Place Vendome a column was reared in commemoration of the deeds of the French army. It had been surmounted by the statue of Napoleon. The Allies tore down the effigy. The people now demanded that the statue should be restored. The Government could not refuse.

On the 28th of July, 1833, the statue of the emperor again rose to that proud summit, in the midst of, apparently, the universal acclaim of Paris and France.

On the 1st of August, 1834, a statue of the emperor was placed in the court-yard of the Royal Hotel des Invalides, accompanied by as imposing civil and religious ceremonies as France had ever witnessed.

In the year 1806, Napoleon I. had laid the foundations of the Arc de l'etoile, at the entrance of the most superb avenue in the world. The people now demanded the completion of the monument. Preparations were made for a magnificent fete on the 29th of July, 1836, when the completed arc was to be unveiled. But Louis Philippe had become so excessively unpopular, he was so incessantly pursued by a.s.sa.s.sins, that it was not deemed safe for him to appear at the ceremony. The magnificent monument was unveiled without any ceremony--the _Moniteur_ proclaiming to Europe the humiliating declaration that the king could no longer with safety appear in the streets of Paris. "The soil," writes a French annalist, "was so sown with a.s.sa.s.sins that there was no safety for the monarch but within the walls of his palace."[AP]

[Footnote AP: Alison, vol. iii., p. 206.]

All over the kingdom insurrections were constantly bursting out, and there were b.l.o.o.d.y conflicts in Lyons, Ma.r.s.eilles, and other places.

And now the demand became irresistible for the transfer of the remains of Napoleon to Paris. Such a scene of national homage as this great occasion manifested the world never witnessed before. In 1840, the eyes of the world were fixed upon this grand funereal pageant.

The honored remains were transferred from the lonely grave at St.

Helena, placed beneath the dome of the Invalides, and over those remains a nation's grat.i.tude has reared a monument which attracts the admiration of the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. HELENA.]

But these reluctant yieldings to popular sentiment did not add to the popularity of Louis Philippe. He was shot at so frequently that he received the sobriquet of the _Target King_! A volume might be filled with the recital of the foul attempts to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. His days must have pa.s.sed in constant wretchedness. He was a.s.sailed in low blackguardism in the journals: he was a.s.sailed with envenomed eloquence, by such men as Lamartine, at the banquets; and his path was dogged, with dagger and pistol, by such brutal wretches as Fieschi, Boirier Meunier, Alibaud, and many others.

Louis Philippe, in the relations of private life, was one of the best of men. His character had been formed in the school of misfortune. He was not a man of generous affections; the fearful discipline through which he had pa.s.sed rendered this almost impossible. He was greedy of money, and exceedingly desirous of aggrandizing his family by such matrimonial alliances as would strengthen his dynasty.

On the 13th of July, 1842, the king experienced one of the heaviest calamities of his life--a calamity quite irreparable. His eldest son, who, upon the enthronement of his father, had taken the t.i.tle of the Duke of Orleans, was a very n.o.ble young man, quite popular with the people and in the army. He was believed to be far more liberal in his views than his father. He was driving in his carriage from Paris to Neuilly; the horses took fright, and the driver lost his control over them. The duke endeavored to leap from the carriage; his head struck the ground, and his brain was so injured that he breathed but a few hours, in insensibility, and died. Thus sadly the direct heir to the throne was cut off. The succession reverted to his son, the Count of Paris--an infant child, then in the arms of its nurse.

This young man--who subsequently married his cousin, a daughter of the Duke of Montpensier, and who has been residing much of the time at Twickenham, in England--is, at the present writing, the Orleans candidate for the throne of France. He is deemed a worthy man--has two children, but never has been placed in circ.u.mstances to develop any marked traits of character. As the Count of Chambord has no children, upon his death the Count of Paris becomes the _legitimate_ candidate for the throne.

The Count of Chambord had married the Archd.u.c.h.ess Maria Theresa-Beatrice, of Modena, eldest sister of the reigning duke of that princ.i.p.ality, and the only prince in Europe who had refused to recognize Louis Philippe. "It was a singular proof of the mutations of fortune that the direct descendant of Louis XIV. deemed himself fortunate upon being admitted into the family of a third-rate Italian potentate."[AQ]

[Footnote AQ: Alison, vol. viii., p. 193.]

Louis Philippe, during his reign of about eighteen years, encountered nothing but trouble. The advocates of legitimacy--of the divine right of kings--regarded him as an usurper. As the voice of the nation was not consulted in placing him upon the throne, the ma.s.ses of the people deemed themselves defrauded of their rights, and hated him, as the representative only of the moneyed aristocracy of Paris. The bitterness with which he was a.s.sailed by the Liberal party may be inferred from the following extract from the "Revolution of 1848," by Louis Blanc:

"Whatever may have been the baseness of Rome under the Caesars, it was equalled by the corruption in France in the reign of Louis Philippe. Nothing like it had ever been witnessed in history. The thirst for gold having obtained possession of minds agitated by impure desires, society terminated by sinking into a brutal materialism. The formula of selfishness, every one by himself and for himself, had been adopted by the sovereign as the maxim of state; and that maxim, alike hideous and fatal, had become the ruling principle of government. It was the device of Louis Philippe--a prince gifted with moderation, knowledge, tolerance, humanity, but skeptical, dest.i.tute of either n.o.bility of heart or elevation of mind--the most experienced corrupter of the human race that ever appeared on earth!"

There were thirty-four millions of people in France. Of these, but one hundred and fifty thousand of the richest proprietors enjoyed the right of suffrage. Consequently, the laws were framed to favor the rich. All the efforts of the people to secure a reform of the electoral law proved unavailing. The agitation of the subject increased every year, and the cry for parliamentary reform was ever growing louder and more menacing. Many of the ill.u.s.trious men in France joined this reform party. Among others, there were M. Lafitte, the wealthy banker, M. Odillon Barrot, the renowned advocate, and M.