The Idler in FranceBlessington, Marguerite, Countess of
History
The Idler in France
Blessington, Marguerite, Countess of
France -- Description and travel; France -- Social life and customs
_August 5th_.--There are rumours today that the son of the Emperor
Napoleon will be called to fill the vacant throne. This seems to me to
be very improbable, when I reflect that General Lafayette, whose
influence is omnipotent at present, appears wholly devoted to the Duc
d'Orléans. The minds of the people are as yet wholly unsettled; a dread
of how their late exploits may be looked on by the foreign powers
allied to the deposed sovereign, pervades the multitude, and the
republicans begin to discover that their Utopian schemes are little
likely to be advanced by the revolution effected.
I was forcibly struck this morning on reading, in an Italian writer,
the following passage, which is strongly applicable to the present
time:
"When a revolution is ripe, men are always found who are
ready to commence it, and make their bodies the steps to the
throne of him who is to profit by their labours, without
having shared their dangers."
I have a presentiment that the truth of this axiom will be verified in
France.
_August 6th_.--Reports are now afloat that the crown of France has been
offered to the Duke of Orléans, but that the offer was not unanimous,
and that consequently he has not accepted it. Other rumours state, that
if he should be induced to do so, it will only be to hold it as a
sacred deposit to be restored to the rightful owner when, with safety
to both parties, it can be transferred. Should this be the case, then
will the Duke of Orleans deserve well of the elder branch of his family
who have behaved so kindly towards him, but I confess I am not one of
those who believe in the likelihood of such an abnegation of self, as
this voluntary abdication would display.
Rich possessions are seldom if ever willingly resigned, and a crown is
one said to have such irresistible charms to the person who has once
worn it, that history furnishes but few examples like that of Charles
the Fifth, or Christina of Sweden. Time will prove whether
Louis-Philippe d'Orléans will offer a _pendant_!
I walked with Comte d'O---- this evening into the Champs-Elysees, and
great was the change effected there within the last few days. It looks
ruined and desolate, the ground cut up by the pieces of cannon, and
troops as well as the mobs that have made it a thoroughfare, and many
of the trees greatly injured, if not destroyed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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