These accounts of those who had suffered for their lawful king,
although they may have convinced his credulous dupes, did not render it
particularly safe for the claimant to put himself near the minions of
the French police; he therefore found it prudent to keep himself
concealed, and change his _noms de guerre_ at intervals. The
revolution of 1830 afforded him, however, a fair opportunity for the
display of his talents. No sooner was a provisional government
established than the claimant, now concealing his royalty under the
title of the Baron de Richemont, addressed a demand to it that his
rights should be observed, whilst he protested against the proclamation
of the new "king of the French," as Louis Philippe was designated. The
pretender also published the following letter, which was, he averred, a
copy of one he had addressed to the Duchess d'Angoulême:--
"The time has now arrived, Madame, when, abjuring sentiments which
nature and humanity alike disavow, you should give to my case the
explanation necessary for putting an end to the ills that have
oppressed me for so many years. I will not reproach you; your position
imposes a religious silence upon me; but mine--have you considered it?
"If your heart is still able to understand the plaintive cry of
outraged nature; if more than thirty-six years of suffering and exile
would appear to you sufficient punishment for the enormous crime of
being your nearest relation; if your hate is extinguished, break this
culpable silence; since fortune once more puts you at the mercy of
foreigners, would it not be better to throw yourself into the arms of
your unfortunate brother?
"LOUIS CHARLES."
Notwithstanding this appeal, the princess did not seek out the
persevering claimant, although the police did, and on the 29th August,
1833, succeeded in arresting him. He refused to give his name, but the
act of accusation styled him Ethelbert Louis Hector Alfred, calling
himself "Baron de Richemont." His real name, however, was supposed to
be Hébert, as in all affairs of importance he had borne that, although
he had used a variety of others. Among the witnesses called was
Andryane, who had been a fellow-prisoner with the accused in Italy;
Lasne, now seventy-four, who had been a personal attendant on the
dauphin in the Temple, and who testified that he was well acquainted
with the person of the little prince, who had died in his arms,
although two strangers had been to his house to vainly try and persuade
him that the child had been changed; the Duke de Choiseul, who, when
interrogated by the prisoner, acknowledged that certain words ascribed
to Marie Antoinette had been overheard by him; the Duke de Caraman
remembered that an intriguing individual named Ojardias had brought to
Thiers a sickly child, that for the moment passed for the dauphin;
whilst Monsieur Remusat, a medical man, deposed that Simon's widow, who
died in a hospital in 1815, had told him that the dauphin was not dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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