EXPECTATIONS OF EUROPE. 401 CHAPTER XXX. EUROPE, FROM THE ACCESSION OF LOUIS PHILIPPE TO THE A. D. to THE accession of Louis Philippe to the throne of France Ch.30 was hailed throughout Europe by moderate men of all parties as an event full of promise. A member of the Royal House 1830 for the Duke belonged to the younger branch of the Bourbon family; schooled in adversity-for his father had perished by 1848. the guillotine in the revolution of 1793; invested with a certain amount of military reputation-for, as Duc de Chartres, he had served with distinction under Dumouriez in the year 1792; endowed with good talents, and enriched by the experiences of exile and poverty, the new king seemed to be the very man France needed. No one, living or dead, it Expechas been well said, ever passed through such an apprenticeship formed for the business of his later life as this Louis Philippe. A of the powerful party in the country speedily sprang up to support his pretensions, and the people generally recognized in the foundation of an Orleanist dynasty, the best guarantee that could be obtained for the enjoyment of peace and constitutional liberty. tations King. peace The result appeared for many years fully to justify the His wisdom of the course that had been adopted. The King ful tenavoided war, and was supposed to be rather flattered than dencies. otherwise by the title of "the Napoleon of Peace," a sobriquet which was not unfrequently attached to his name. The domestic habits of the Monarch were blameless; his sons were deservedly popular-the eldest of them, the Duke of Orleans, 2 D 2 Ch.30 was much beloved; and the King himself was justly regarded as devoted to the interests and improvement of France. A. D. 1830 But, notwithstanding these advantages, the crown never to rested upon the royal head securely. France was divided 1836. into parties; and Legitimists, Buonapartists, Republicans, and Socialists, by turns conspired in order to effect the overthrow of the Government. The mists. Only two years after his accession, the Duchess de Berri landed, and in person attempted to awaken the loyalty of the Legiti- people of La Vendée in favour of her son. The clergy, in spite of every attempt to propitiate them, still favoured the claims of the elder branch of the Bourbons, and many of the upper classes shared in their opinions. In the eyes of the French aristocracy the King was "a Citizen King," owing his elevation almost exclusively to the bourgeoisie, or trading classes; and this wounded their pride. The Buonapartists. The Buonapartists too, although not a numerous party, were by no means to be despised. The son of Napoleon did not himself live long enough to occasion anxiety, for in the year 1832 he was committed to the tomb, at Schönbrunn, in Austria; but other members of the family survived, and among them one who was then little suspected to possess the qualities he has since manifested. Prince Louis Napoleon, the nephew of the Emperor, and the son of Louis, who was for a time King of Holland, was at the period of the revolution about two-and-twenty years of age, then an unknown exile, chiefly wandering about Italy and Switzerland. To the astonishment of everybody, this man, in Louis the year 1836, suddenly presented himself, with a few folNapoleon at lowers, at Strasburg, and attempted to seduce the garrison Stras- from their allegiance. The apparent madness of the act burg. excited no other feeling than that of contempt. The Prince was, of course, immediately arrested, and soon after, from motives of compassion, was banished to the United States. Four years afterwards, the same folly was repeated at Boulogne, where (after having returned from America, and lived LOUIS NAPOLEON AT BOULOGNE. 403 for some time in England) he landed in 1840, once more in Ch.30 arms against the Government. Ridicule was the only recep- A. D. tion he met with, and confinement in the fortress of Ham his 1840 only punishment. From this place he escaped in 1846, and to again took refuge in England, despised by the ruling powers 1842. of France, and pitied as an enthusiast by the English people. Subsequent events proved, however, that he had more Imprisonadherents than was suspected. Wild as his projects appeared ment to be, they at least answered one end-that of keeping his and escape. name before the French people, and of associating it with the romantic march of his uncle from Elba to Paris, twenty-five years before An immense impulse was about this time given to his cause by an act of the French Government, now seen to be a very indiscreet one, but then thought to be politic. We refer to the removal of the body of Napoleon from St. Helena, and its deposition in the church of the Invalides. This great national act-for such indeed it was, was effected, with the consent of the English Government, in the very same Body of year that Louis had landed at Boulogne. The Prince de NapoJoinville, the youngest son of the King, was the bearer of the brought precious burden, which was received in France with deep and to sorrowful enthusiasm, and placed, in great pomp and amid the tears of multitudes, in its final resting-place on the banks of that river, and in the midst of that people whom, in the words of his will, Napoleon declared "he had loved so well." leon I. France. The opposition of the Republicans to the new dynasty was, in the meantime, unceasing and unscrupulous. In Paris, as well as in the large towns, the party was both numerous and determined; and the frequent attempts that were made by fanatics of this class to assassinate the King, kept the royal family in a state of perpetual distress and alarm. The death of the Duke of Orleans, who was accidentally killed by a fall Death from his carriage, in the year 1842, added new sorrows to the household; and, by weakening the connection which, Orleans. through the Duke, had subsisted between the Crown and the of the Duke of Ch. 30 more advanced Liberals, removed one of the main bulwarks by which it was defended. A. D. 1842 to The King, now approaching seventy years of age-for he was fifty-seven when he ascended the throne-gradually fell 1847. more and more under the influence of the Conservative party. M. Guizot, an able and conscientious man, but obstinate and time-serving, was his chief adviser. The army was increased; Paris was fortified at an enormous expense; taxation was augmented; the national debt was greatly enlarged; corruption of the grossest kind was practised; the press was alienated; and public opinion, which had been for some years, Spanish both at home and in foreign countries, setting in against the Government, was at length outraged by a series of intrigues, ending in a marriage between the Duc de Montpensier and the presumptive heiress to the throne of Spain. From that time it became but too plain that the Orleans dynasty would not survive the reigning monarch. The mar riages. War with Algiers. Civil war in Spain. The war with Algiers, begun by Charles X., was carried on with vigour during the greater part of the reign of Louis Philippe; and towards its close, in consequence of the capture of the celebrated Arab chieftain, Abd-el-Kader, who surrendered, in December, 1847, to the Duc d'Aumale, the country was colonized, and French rule firmly established. In this school the modern generals of France were trained to war; and here such men as Cavaignac, Canrobert, St. Arnaud, Pelissier, and others, reaped their laurels and established their fame. A French colony was about the same time established on the Gold Coast; and, with a view to the interests of the Romish Church, Otaheite, an island in the Pacific, was very unscrupulously and arbitrarily taken under protection. The SPAIN remained under the bondage of Ferdinand until the year 1833, when the hated monarch died, and the country was plunged into a civil war relative to the succession. late king had, in 1829, married, as his second wife, Christina of Naples, and two daughters had been the fruit of the union. For the elder of these, then only three years old, Ferdinand Ch.30 was very desirous to secure the throne. The obstacle to be A. D. overcome was the Salic Law, which had been introduced by 1833 the Bourbons, and according to which female succession was to not permittted. This law, which was confirmed by the Cortes 1840. in 1812, had, indeed, been subsequently repealed by Ferdinand, in order to make way for his daughter; but it was still Causes regarded by the people generally as a part of the Spanish outconstitution. When, therefore, on the death of Ferdinand, break. the infant Isabella was declared Queen, and Christina, her mother, Regent during her minority, an insurrection broke out, headed by Don Carlos, the younger brother of Ferdinand, who regarded himself as, in point of fact, the rightful heir. of the tution Parties were immediately formed to support the respective The claims of the uncle and of the niece. The former had early Constisecured the support of the priests, and of the advocates of alists. despotic authority; the latter, therefore, naturally fell into the arms of the Constitutionalists. Accordingly, in 1834, the Cortes were again convened, and liberty once more found favour at court. The war soon commenced; battle after battle was fought; horrors of all kinds were perpetrated; and for seven long years the country was a prey to all the miseries which such a state of things is sure to engender. The sympathies of England were naturally with Isabella; and in 1836, with the connivance of the English Government, a Spanish The Legion, as it was termed, was formed, intended to act as an Spanish auxiliary to her cause. The command was bestowed on General De Lacy Evans, an able and enterprising officer, under whose guidance a favourable turn was soon given to the affairs of the Queen. Espartero also, about this time, began to manifest great talents as a general, and soon became distinguished as an eminent and incorruptible patriot. The Concluefforts of the Queen's party were at length crowned with sucand in September, 1840, the war came to an end. But the disorganization it had occasioned was not so easily repaired. The Constitutionalists, when in power, became cess, Legion. sion of the war. |