My Memoirs, Vol. III, 1826 to 1830Dumas, Alexandre
General
My Memoirs, Vol. III, 1826 to 1830
Dumas, Alexandre
Dumas, Alexandre, 1802-1870
The king and the dauphin left the Tuileries at half-past eleven on the
morning of 24 May, and set out for Compiègne. All went well as far
as Fismes; but an accident augured ill to the king, whose reign was
only to last six years, and to end in his exile. As they descended
at Fismes, the batteries of the Royal Guard, which were mounted in a
dingle to the left of the road, fired a salute to greet the king. The
detonation and its echo were terrible, and at the noise of the firing
the horses attached to the carriage containing the Ducs d'Aumont and
de Damas, and the Counts de Cossé and Curial, ran away; the carriage
was overturned and smashed to bits on the causeway. Two out of the four
occupants of the carriage were seriously injured--MM. the Duc de Damas
and Count Curial; the latter's case was worst, he had his collar-bone
broken. Had it not been for the coachman's strength and presence of
mind, the king himself would not have escaped a similar accident. His
horses bolted; but the coachman had the sense not to try to stop them,
and used all his efforts to keep them in the centre of the roadway; and
after ten minutes' unrestrained career they calmed down.
At the village of Tinqueux the king found the Duc d'Orléans and the Duc
de Bourbon awaiting him. The rain, which had never stopped pouring all
morning, ceased, and the sun, which had not hitherto shown itself, now
shone forth brilliantly. The king, M. le Dauphin, M. le Duc d'Orléans
and M. le Duc de Bourbon entered the coronation coach, and in the
language of the _Report of the Coronation_, "the whole of the way to
Reims was one _arc de triomphe_."
After the coronation service, Charles X. signed the amnesty granted to
men who had deserted from the navy and to political offenders. It was
this amnesty that brought Carrel back to France. Thirteen years later,
Charles X. died at Goritz.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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