The ex-king, Charles X., who, having abdicated, had no power to nominate to the regency, still issued a decree, dated Edinburgh, March 8th, 1831, by which he authorized "a proclamation in favor of Henry V., in which it shall be announced that Madame, Duchess de Berri, is to be regent of the kingdom during the minority of her son."[AI] [Footnote AI: By the laws of France the dauphin attained his majority at the age of thirteen.] The duchess, assuming the title of Countess of Segana, crossed over to Holland, and, ascending the Rhine and traversing the Tyrol, safely reached Genoa. The King of Sardinia, Charles Albert, received her kindly, and loaned her a million francs. But the French consul discovered her through her disguise, and by order of the French Court the Sardinian king felt constrained to request her to withdraw from his domains. The Duke of Modena received her hospitably, and assigned to her use the palace of Massa, about three miles from the sea. Here, with confidential advisers, she matured her plans. Secret agents were sent to all the principal cities in France, to organize royalist committees and to prepare for a general uprising. The plan was for the insurrection to break out first in the west of France, to be immediately followed by all the southern provinces. While affairs were in this posture, a very curious measure was adopted by the Government, which merits brief notice. The Chamber of Deputies, composed of the _bourgeoisie_, voted the abolition of the hereditary peerage. This was a constitutional amendment, which needed to be ratified by the Chamber of Peers. But the Peers were not disposed thus to commit suicide. Louis Philippe had been placed upon the throne by the bourgeoisie. The nobles were Bourbonists. He felt constrained to support the measures of his friends. He therefore created, by royal ordinance, thirty-six new peers to vote the abolition of the peerage, and thus the vote was carried.[AJ] A vote was also passed banishing forever from the soil of France every member of the elder branch of the house of Bourbon. These measures, of course, exasperated the friends of the ancient regime, and rendered them more willing to enter into a conspiracy for the dethronement of the Citizen King. [Footnote AJ: In the British House of Lords the Crown will often carry a measure by a similar action. By the Constitution of the Empire in France, under Napoleon III., this was rendered impossible.] At Massa the duchess had assembled several prominent men to aid her with their advice and co-operation. But, as was to have been expected, these men soon quarrelled among themselves. The brother of the Duchess de Berri was now King of Naples. But he did not dare to afford his sister an asylum, as the French Government threatened, in that case, immediately to send a fleet and an army from Toulon and bombard the city of Naples.