The Life of Marie Amelie
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The Life of Marie Amelie
Last Queen of the French
1782-1866
ith some Account of the Principal Personages at the Courts of Naples and France in her time, and of the Careers of her Sons and Daughters
By
C. C. Dyson
Author of "Madame de Maintenon ; Her Life and Tin
tVith Photogravure Portrait, and Twenty-fou r Portraits
and Illustrations
523658
NEW YORK APPLETON AND COMPANY
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M "33 4 2.4- IfiVigJ af France
The Life of Marie Amelie
Last Queen of the French
1782-1866
With some Account of the Principal Personages at the
Courts of Naples and France in her time, and
of the Careers of her Sons and Daughters
By
C. C. Dyson
Author of " Madame de Maintenon ; Her Life and Times "
With Photogravure Portrait, and Twenty-four other Portraits
and Illustrations
523658
15. L. S\
NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1910
LIST OF AUTHOEITIES ON WHICH THIS "LIFE OF MAKIE AMELIE" IS FOUNDED
" Historian's History of the World." 24 vols. 1908. " Times." " Vie de Marie Amelie." Par M. Trognon. Paris, 1871. " Les Femmes du Tuileries." Par Imbert St. Amand.
" Marie Amelie a la Cour de Tuileries." Par Imbert St. Amand. 1893.
" Marie Ame"lie et la Duchesse d'Orleans." Par Imbert St. Amand. 1892.
" La Duchesse de Berry a la Cour de Charles X." Par Imbert St. Amand.
" La Duchesse de Berry dans la Vendee." Par Imbert St. Amand. 1892.
** Memoirs of Louis XVIII." By himself. Edited by Lamotte Houdancourt. 1832.
" Correspondance Privee de Louis XVIII." 1836.
" Mon Journal." Par Louis Philippe Due d'Orleans. 1815.
" Philippe £galite et M. Chiappini." Par M. Vitrae. 1907.
"Louis Philippe d'Orleans ou Chiappini." Par M. Dumont. 1890.
" The Mystery of Stella Lady Newborough." By Sir Kalph Payne Gallwey. 1907.
v ^change Criminelle. Memoires de Maria Stella." 1848.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES
" Les Princes d'Orleans." By M. Yriarte. 1872.
" Life of Nelson." By Pettigrew. 1849.
" The Queen of Naples and Lord Nelson." By Jeaffreson. 1889.
" The Queen of Naples and Lady Hamilton." By Jeaffreson. 1890.
" History of Kingdom of Naples." By General P. Colletta. Trans- lated by E. Horner. 1858.
" Vie de Marie Caroline, Reine des Deux Sieiles." Par M. Gagniere. 1886.
"Journal of Miss Cornelia Knight." 1802.
"Memoirs of the Courts of Europe at Close of Eighteenth Century." By A. Swinburne. 2 vols.
u Les Memoires de Mme. Vigee le Brun."
" Memoires de Mme. de Genlis." 1808.
"L'Idylle d'un Gouverneur." 1904. Par M. Maugras.
« La Fille de Louis XVI." Par G. le Notre. 1908.
"L'Histoiredel'Emigration." 2 vols. E. Daudet. 1889.
" La Revolution de 1848." Par A. de Lamartine. 2 vols. 1870.
" Le Due de Nemours." Par Re*nee Bazin, de PAcade*mie Frangais. Paris. 1907.
"En Marge de notre Histoire." Par Baron de Maricourt. 1906. " Les Enfants du Due de Berry." D'apres des documents inedits. Par Vicomte de Reiset. 1905.
"Adelaide d'Orleans, 1'Egerie de Louis Philippe." D'apres docu- ments inedits. Par Raoul Armaud. 1908.
" The Letters of Queen Victoria." 1907.
"The Romance of Savoy." By Marchesa Vitteleschi. 1908.
"Les Reines de l'Emigration." Par Vicomte de Reiset. Paris. 1907.
6
LIST OF AUTHOKITIES
" Memoires de la Comtesse de Boigne." 1907.
" Vieux Souvenirs." Du Prince de Joinville. 1905.
u Journal de Cuvillier Fleury. " 1889.
" Dix ans a la Cour de Louis Philippe." Par M. Appert. 1886.
" Les Secrets des Bourbons." 1882.
" Les derniers Bourbons." Par M. Nauny. 1883.
"Prince Talleyrand et la Maison d'Orleans." Par la Comtesse de Mirabeau. 1890.
" Les Favorites de Louis XVIII." Par M. Turquan. 1900.
* Portrait de Louis Philippe." Par M. Dumesnil. 1848.
<f Life and Times of Louis Philippe." By A. E. Douglas. 1870.
"Memoires de M. Claude, Chef de Police sous Louis Philippe." Paris. 1881.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Notes on the History of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies — The Reign of Ferdinando IV. and Maria Carolina, parents of Marie Amelie, Queen of the French 15
CHAPTER II.
Marie Amelie's Home at Naples — Her Childhood — Betrothal to Marie Antoinette's Son the Dauphin — His Death — Her Girlhood — Her Brothers and Sisters — Lord Nelson at the Court of Naples — Arrival of French Army — Flight of Royal Family from Naples 29
CHAPTER III.
Flight of the King and Queen to Sicily — Their Life there with their Family — Visit of the Queen and her Daughters to Austria — Return to Naples — Second Flight to Sicily — Arrival in the Island of Louis Philippe, Due d'Orleans, Future Husband of Marie Amelie - - - - 50
CHAPTER IV.
Notes on the Life of Louis Philippe, Due d'Orleans, and his Family — His Political Opinions — His Home, Education, Adventures — His Father's Fate— The French Revolution - 73
CONTENTS
CHAPTER V.
PAGE
Life of Louis Philippe after the execution of his Father — Exile in America and England— Visits Sicily— Prejudice against him — Becomes engaged to the Princess Marie Amelie, daughter of the King and Queen of the Two Sicilies — Marriage and life in Sicily— Fall of Napoleon and Restora- tion of Louis XVIII. — The Due d'Orleans returns to France 100
CHAPTER VI.
Restoration of Louis XVIII. — His Character — Comte d'Artois — " Monsieur " — Madame Royale — The Due d'Orleans pre- sents his Wife and Family at Court — The Manner of their Reception — King's Opinion of Marie Ame"lie - 116
CHAPTER VII.
Life at the Palais Royal — The Hundred Days — The Life of the d'Orleans Family in England — Louis XVIII.'s Opinion of the Due d'Orleans — His Return to France with his Family 136
CHAPTER VIII.
Life at the Palais Royal — General Admiration felt for Marie Ame'lie — The Education of her Sons — The Marriage of the Due de Berry to Marie Amelie's Niece — The Assassination of the Due de Berry — The Birth of the Due de Bordeaux - 153
CHAPTER IX.
Death of Louis XVIII. — Accession of Charles X. — Favour shown by new King to the Due d'Orleans — The Happiest Years of Marie Amelie's Life — Wealth of the d'Orleans Family — Marie Amelie's Journey to Savoy to Visit her Sister the Queen of Sardinia — Visit of Neapolitan Royal Family to Paris — Splendid FHe at the Palais Royal - 168
10
CONTENTS
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
Character of Adelaide d' Orleans, Sister of Louis Philippe — The Important Part she played in the Revolution of 1830, and the July Monarchy — Abdication of Charles X. — Charac- ter of Louis Philippe — Opinion of Europe — He is declared King of the French 181
CHAPTER XL
Disturbances and Insurrections — Life of Marie Amelie and Louis Philippe as King and Queen of the French — King's Motives for accepting Crown — Public Opinion on Marie Amelie — Her Reluctance to accept Crown — The Duchesse de Berry's Attempt to raise an Insurrection in favour of her Son — Her Imprisonment at Blaye 201
CHAPTER XII.
Louis Philippe as Statesman — The Admiration of his Ministers — The Great Benefits he Conferred on France — The Charities of Marie Amelie — Marie Amelie's Distinguished Sons — Her Letters to them — The Marriages of the Due d'Orleans and Due de Nemours — Bravery of the whole d'Orleans Family — Attempts on Life of Louis Philippe 226
CHAPTER XIII.
Notes on Marie Amelie's Sons — Their Characters and Careers (Continued) — Marriages of her Daughters — Sudden Death of Due d'Orleans, Heir to the Throne — Opinion of Europe — Effect on Dynasty — Sorrow of Marie Amelie — Subsequent Life at Tuileries (Routine of) — Marie Amelie's Daughters- in-law 246
CHAPTER XIV.
Visit of Queen Victoria to France — Visit of Louis Philippe to England — Death of Madame Adelaide — Disturbed State of France — Revolution of 1848 — Abdication and Flight of King and Queen 260
11
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV.
PAGE
Arrival of the King and Queen in England^ followed by that of other Members of the Family — Their Adventures en route — Kindness of Queen Victoria, who gives them a Residence at Claremont — Life at Claremont — Opinion of Europe as to Abdication — Death of Louis Philippe — Marie Amelie's Visits to the Continent — Her Meeting with the Comte de Chambord — Death of the Duchesse de Nemours — Celebra- tion of Marie Amelie's seventy-fifth Birthday - 284
CHAPTER XVI.
Death of Duchesse de Nemours and Duchesse d'Orleans — Marie Amelie's Interest in the Education of her Grandchildren — Her Grandsons enter the Spanish Army — Field Sports at Claremont — The Royal Choir — The Princes go to America and Take Part in the Civil War — Marriages in the Family — Last Illness and Death of the Queen — Notes on the Sub- sequent Fate of her Descendants 301
END
12
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Princesse Marie Amelie de Bourbon- Naples - - Frontispiece From portrait in Musee de Versailles by Mme. Vig6e le Brun.
FACING PAGE
King Ferdinando IV. of Naples at his Accession 20
From portrait by A. R. Mengs in National Museum, Naples.
Palazzo di Caserta 30
From photo by G. Brogi, Naples.
King Ferdinando IV. and Queen Maria Carolina with their
Family 34
From painting by Angelica Kaufmann in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
Fountains in Palace Grounds at Caserta 46
Photographed by E. Brogi, Naples.
Chapel in Royal Palace at Palermo 104
By E. Brogi, Naples.
Palazzo d'Orleans, Palermo - - - - - - - 108
By E. Brogi, Naples.
King Louis XVIII. 116
From print in British Museum.
Comtesse de Provence, Wife of Louis XVIII. - 118
From print in British Museum.
Marie Therese de Bourbon, Madame Royale - 128
From print in British Museum.
Marie Amelie, Duchesse d'Orleans, and the Due de Chartres 138 From portrait by M. David in Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
Duchesse d'Angouleme (Madame Royale) 154
From print in British Museum.
13
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Ferdinand, Due de Chartres 162
Francois, Prince de Joinville 164
Louis Charles, Due de Nemours 166
Henri, Due d'Aumale - - 168
Antoine, Due de Montpensier 174
The portraits of these five brothers are all reproduced from paint- ings by A. Dubois Drahonnet in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
Charles X. 170
From print in British Museum.
Princesse Clementine d'Orleans 176
From portrait by A. Dubois Drahonnet in Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
Madame Adelaide, Sister op King Louis Philippe - 182
From portrait in Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Duchesse de Berry 216
From print in British Museum.
King Louis Philippe 226
From print in British Museum.
Queen Marie Amelie 230
From portrait by Winterhalter in Windsor Castle.
Princesse Louise d'Orleans, Queen op the Belgians - - 250 From painting by A. Dubois Drahonnet in Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
Princesse Marie d'Orleans - - - . - - - - 252
From painting by A. Dubois Drahonnet in Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
14
CHAPTER I.
Notes on the History of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies — The Eeign of Ferdinando IV. and Maria Carolina, parents of Marie Amelie, Queen of the French.
It would be difficult to find in history a royal lady whose life is fuller of interest than that of Marie Amelie, last Queen of the French, on account of the varied scenes through which she passed, and her connection with so many personages who played an important part in the history of Europe in the eight- eenth and beginning of nineteenth century.
She was in fact a link between the old regime and the modern world. Yet while the name of her pre- decessor Marie Antoinette (the last to bear the title of Queen of France, as distinct from Queen of the French, assumed by the later occupant of the French throne) is a household word all over the world, few of the general public have a clear idea of who Marie Amelie was, or when she lived.
She was granddaughter of the great Empress of Austria, Maria Theresa ; niece of Marie Antoinette ; aunt of the Archduchess Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife ; and she lived, as wife of Louis Philippe d'Orleans, last King of the French, to enjoy the friendship of Queen Victoria, in whose kingdom the
15
THE LIFE OF MAEIE AMELIE
last eighteen years of her life were spent.1 Marie Amelie was the fourth daughter of Ferdinand, fourth king of the Two Sicilies, and his wife Maria Carolina Charlotte, thirteenth of the sixteen children born to Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Empress of Austria and her husband Francis of Lorraine, Duke of Tuscany. Maria Carolina was the seventh daughter ; she had one younger sister, the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, who became Queen of France.
The Kingdom of the two Sicilies consists of the island of Sicily, divided from the Italian Peninsula by the narrow Straits of Messina,2 and that part of Italy which extends from the extreme south of the penin- sula in 38° up to 41°. The continental part of the Sicilian kingdom contains the provinces of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata and Campania, where the capital, Naples, is situated.
Sicily had been part of the Byzantine empire till the latter part of the ninth century, when it was wrested from the Emperor Michael by the Saracens. It remained in their hands till the eleventh century, when the Normans under Roger Guiscard drove out the Saracens. Roger Guiscard was son of the cele- brated Norman Count, Tancred ; it took him many years of hard fighting to establish his sovereignty over
1 On Marie Amelie' s grandson, Prince Ferdinando of Bulgaria, the eyes of Europe have lately turned, since he has assured the in- dependence of his dominions and assumed the title of Tsar.
2 Messina had been the starting-point for the Crusades. In 1189 Richard I., Cour de Lion, and Philippe Augustus of France, wintered there, and he then and there wooed and wedded his wife, Berengaria of Navarre.
16
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
the richest island in the Mediterranean. He became the father of a line of kings, but the Saracens were maintained in the enjoyment of their religion and property and retained a preponderating influence during the reign of Roger's son and grandson, who adopted many of their customs, and the islanders long retained a tincture of orientalism in their habits.
In 1198 Frederick II., Emperor of Germany, drove out the Normans, and his descendants ruled in Sicily till they in turn were driven out by Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. of France, who was crowned king in 1266.
In 1275 Pedro of Aragon, who had married the daughter of Manfred, one of the Austrian line of Sicilian kings, laid claim to the kingdom, and in- stigated by him the terrible massacre of the French, known as the Sicilian Vespers, took place at Palermo in 1282. It was excited by a French soldier insulting a young Sicilian bride, who, accompanied by her relatives, was on her way to church for the wedding ceremony. The indignation of the spectators soon spread through the city. At the time the bells of the churches were ringing for vespers, the people answered by the cry : " To arms ! Death to the French ! " The French wherever found were mas- sacred ; in a few hours more than 4,000 met their death. Every town in Sicily followed the example of Palermo and the French tyranny was overthrown. The Kingdom of Sicily was separated from that of Naples ; Pedro of Aragon obtained the crown of the former, and Charles of Anjou the dominions on the
17 2
THE LIFE OF MAEIE AMELIE
mainland, then called the Kingdom of Naples. From this time onwards, up till 1503, there were incessant wars between the House of Aragon in Sicily and the House of Anjou in Naples. In that year the Span- ish armies completely routed the French, peace was made between France and Spain, and the two King- doms of Sicily were united under the Spanish king, Ferdinando III.
The continental portion of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was thereafter not called the Kingdom of Naples — it was known as " Sicily on this side of the Pharos " (referring to the lighthouse at Messina) and the island portion was called : " Sicily beyond the Pharos".
In 1516 King Ferdinando died and was succeeded by his grandson, Charles V., Emperor of Germany, and Sicily became part of the Holy Roman Empire. When his son Philip married the English Princess Mary Tudor, Charles gave him the title of King of Naples. When Philip succeeded his father, Sicily became merely a Spanish Province, and remained so till the year 1700, when Philip, Due d' Anjou, grand- son of Louis XIV. of France, succeeded to the throne of Spain. The Two Sicilies acknowledged him, but his ascent of the Spanish throne was the signal for the thirteen years of European warfare known as the War of the Spanish Succession, during which Austria, in alliance with other powers, disputed his claim.
This war was ended by the Peace of Utrecht, 1713, when the Archduke Charles of Austria received the dominions of Sicily "this side the Pharos," of
18
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
which Naples was the capital, and to the Duke of Savoy was given the island of Sicily.
In 1733 Philip V. of Spain entered into a league with France and Sardinia to drive the Austrians from Italy, on condition that the Kingdom of the Two Sici- lies should be given to his younger son Charles, Duke of Parma. This war was ended by the Treaty of Vienna, 1735, by which Charles gave up the Duchy of Parma and received the crown of the Two Sicilies.
This was the commencement of the Bourbon Dynasty in Sicily, though it might be called a return to the old Angevin Dynasty, for the House of Anjou had reigned in Sicily till 1503, and now after a lapse of 250 years a son of a Due d' Anjou (who had become Philip of Spain) was again King of Sicily.
By the Treaty of Vienna it was settled that the Crowns of Spain and Sicily should never be worn by one head ; so when, by the death of his elder brother Ferdinando VI. without children, Charles succeeded to the Crown of Spain, he was obliged to give up Sicily to his third son Ferdinando, for the eldest son was imbecile, and the second now became heir-pre- sumptive of Spain.
The Sicilians had become strongly attached to Charles who had been Charles VII. of Sicily, and now became Charles III. of Spain. He was the son of Elizabeth Farnese, second wife of Philip V. of Spain, and had inherited much of her intellectual power together with the asceticism of his father.
The Spanish Bourbons, unlike their French re- latives, were remarkable for their austere lives and
19
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
elevated characters. Charles III. was entirely devoted to his beautiful wife Elizabeth of Saxony, and during a long widowhood remained absolutely faithful to her memory. Under his rule the people of Spain enjoyed a period of prosperity to which they had long been strangers ; they named him Charles the Good.
The historian Hume calls him the only really great and patriotic king that Providence vouchsafed to Spain in modern times. Much is told also of his lovableness in private life. On his death-bed, asked if he forgave his enemies, he said : " Why should I wait till now ! They were forgiven the moment after the offence." It is to be regretted that his son Ferdin- ando IV., King of the Two Sicilies, inherited neither his intellectual powers nor his other fine qualities. When his father was called to the Spanish throne Ferdinando was only nine years old, and a Council of Regency was appointed to govern in his name, of whom the Minister Tanucci was the leading spirit though Charles continued to exercise a decisive in- fluence over the Sicilian Government during his son's minority. Insanity was hereditary in the family of the Spanish Bourbons, and Charles III. (whose father and eldest son had inherited the curse) was anxious to do all he could to prevent its appearance in his other children, and when appointing the Prince of San Nicandro as governor to the young King he gave orders that Ferdinando's brain should not be taxed by too much study. San Nicandro was an unfortunate choice, he was destitute of ability or knowledge and his young charge grew up in colossal ignorance of
20
King Ferdinando IV at his Accession
To face p. 20
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
everything but outdoor sports, and caring only for low company and contemptible amusements. In early life he was good-natured and easy-going, but in after life the hereditary curse of his family showed itself in acts of ferocity and tyranny, which have rendered his name odious to posterity.
Tanucci, the Prime Minister, being anxious to keep the power as long as possible in his own hands, was not displeased to see the young King such as he was. When he was sixteen years old it became necessary to think of marrying him. In those days immense importance was attached to matrimonial alliances, and the great Empress Maria The'resa had long ago decided, and entered into an agreement with the King of Spain, that one of her daughters should be betrothed to the young King of Sicily. The fifth daughter, the Archduchess Josepha, was chosen, a costly trousseau was prepared, and everything was ready for the departure of the young Archduchess to her future husband's kingdom, where the marriage was to be celebrated. Before starting she had to visit the tomb of her father, the late Emperor Francis, in the vaults of the Capuchin Church at Vienna — this was a ceremony insisted on by the Empress. The bier of Josepha's sister-in-law, the young Empress, who had died four months before of virulent small-pox, was also in the vault. Soon after she returned to the palace the young Archduchess complained of feeling ill ; next day small-pox declared itself, and of this fell disease she died on 15th October, 1767, the very day on which she was to have started for Sicily.
21
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
The King of Spain was very anxious for the Aus- trian alliance, and as soon as he heard of Josepha's death he wrote to the Empress proposing that another of her daughters should become Queen of Sicily.
The seventh daughter, Maria Carolina Charlotte, was now selected by the Empress as a wife for Fer- dinando. She was of a suitable age, being at this time fifteen years old, a year and some months younger than Ferdinando. About this time her mother wrote her the following letter of advice : " You are now fif- teen years old and I do not intend to treat you any longer as a child ; if you make a good use of the talents with which God has so richly endowed you, you will earn the approbation of your family and the world in general. But I am sorry to hear that you say your prayers carelessly and without reverence. Do not be surprised if after such a beginning of the day nothing goes well. You must treat your house- hold with gentleness, else you will never be esteemed, much less loved. You must work hard at your music, drawing, history, geography, Latin and other studies. If you will take my advice, which comes from a heart filled with love for my children and desiring their happiness, you will realise that the only path to follow is that of virtue. With God's help one can do much, but in order to obtain it one must lead an innocent life."
And yet the Empress did not shrink from sending this young maiden unprotected to rule over a corrupt southern Court and to become the wife of a vicious un- educated boy of low tastes, and uncontrolled passions,
22
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
whose conversation, ideas and habits must have been equally surprising and shocking to her.
Maria Carolina had heard enough about Ferdi- nando to have no wish to become his wife ; she re- monstrated, cried, entreated, but it was all of no avail.
To Naples she had to go, after having first been married by proxy in Vienna on 17th April, 1768.
The Empress had said of Maria Carolina : " Of all my daughters she is the one who resembles me most ". She felt that if all was to go well at Naples Maria Carolina must rule both her husband and the king- dom, and she perceived in her the capacity to do both. She impressed on the young girl that if she could not love her husband she must on no account let him per- ceive it, but act as if she were devoted to him and in this way establish her influence. A few weeks after her marriage, which took place at Caserta on 13th May, 1768, the young bride in writing to her old governess describes the early days of her married life as " a martyrdom, all the worse because one has to ap- pear pleased. If religion had not said to me ' think of God/ I would have killed myself. I was in de- spair." Yet she learned to tolerate her husband and even to feel affection for him, and she certainly ob- tained unbounded influence over him. He fell deeply in love with his young wife, who was tall, slight and very handsome. Her brother, the Emperor Leopold, went to visit her after she had been married two years and reported to their mother as follows : " She has good inclinations, remarkable truthfulness, much
23
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
cleverness and penetration. She is not the least bit of a flirt, and is always simply dressed. She is unaffectedly religious, saying her prayers, attending mass and reading books of devotion daily. Her rooms are well arranged and neatly kept."
The young Queen's salon was soon frequented, not only by nobles and courtiers but by all the most learned and intellectual people, old and young, in Naples, and into their discussions she entered with enthusiasm. She also interested herself with schemes for reduction of taxes, reclaiming waste lands, plant- ing colonies on uninhabited islands, establishing schools, botanical gardens and museums, libraries, and improving universities. Maria Carolina was the only one of the great Empress's daughters who in- herited her governing instinct and strength of charac- ter. The young King amused himself, and left all business to his Minister Tanucci ; but after a few years Maria Carolina gained the ascendency and ruled with absolute authority.
So many different races, Greeks, Frenchmen, Ger- mans, Spaniards, Saracens, had disputed the posses- sion of Sicily and left their traces among its inhabitants, that Sicilians could not be called a nation, though the various conquerors formed the two Sicilies into a kingdom. In the end the Latin element triumphed over the others, Norman, French and Arabic died out and the speech of Lombardy became the dialect of the Sicilians. But a population descended from such a mixture of races and composed of such heterogeneous elements could not fail to be difficult to govern.
24
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
Tanucci had governed as if Sicily were a province of Spain, but the Queen overthrew the Spanish influence. It had been one of the clauses in her marriage con- tract that after the Queen of the Two Sicilies had borne an heir to the throne she should have the right to sit in Councils of State and vote. Tanucci opposed this, and Maria Carolina never rested till she had brought about his dismissal.
The military forces of the kingdom had dwindled away through neglect, and the Queen turned her atten- tion to improving them and also took steps to create a navy to protect the coasts from the Corsairs of Barbary and from European enemies, especially the French. She obtained from her brother the services of Acton, an Englishman who had organised the Tuscan marine, a most able man under whose supervision the Sicilian army and navy were increased and made efficient.
Maria Carolina had been brought up to believe in the Divine Right of Kings over their people, and in the responsibility of the Rulers to God for the welfare of the people committed to their charge, and many of her most trusted friends were imbued with the new ideas of the Rights of Man and inspired her with an ardent desire to improve the moral and material con- dition of her subjects, though she did not dream of giving them a voice in the conduct of affairs.
In no part of Italy were the laws worse or more oppressive, and the privileges of the nobles more a menace to Crown and people, the taxes more heavy than in Sicily. To redress all grievances would have been a task beyond the powers of the wisest and most
25
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
experienced statesmen, and certainly a young inex- perienced woman could not compass it ; but Maria Carolina did what she could. Ferdinando, her hus- band, had an unbounded admiration for her abilities, and soon got into the habit of saying, when applied to for his opinion on affairs of State : " Ask my wife, she knows everything ! "
A strong revolutionary party existed in Naples, and when the Queen saw what views such as theirs had led to in France and that the high-minded pioneers of the movement were swamped by their followers, to the mass of whom Liberty, Equality and Fraternity meant getting possession of other people's property and an unrestrained course of violence, lust and murder, she set her face against it and organised a secret police to keep her acquainted with the plans of the Revolutionary Party. She carried on preparations for war which seemed inevitable when Sicily refused to accept an ambassador from the French Convention. In 1792 a French squadron appeared in the Bay of Naples, and the Queen arranged a coup detat by which all those who were engaged in conspiracy, or carrying on treasonable negotiations with France, were seized in one night and carried to the underground fortress at St. Elmo to await trial.
Were the Queen and Government to blame for protecting themselves and the loyal portion of their subjects from those who were preparing to attack and destroy them?
For this action Maria Carolina has been loaded with abuse by some writers. Indeed, no queen of
26
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
modern times has been more vilified, or has had more aspersions cast upon her character, her public action, and private life than has Maria Carolina. A careful examination of the accusations made against her lead to the conclusion that for the most part they are not proven, and that her reputation as a faithful wife and virtuous woman is intact.
She was one of Napoleon's most active enemies, and in order to destroy her influence at Naples, where he supplanted her on the throne first by his brother Joseph and then by his sister Carolina Murat, he encouraged the circulation of calumnies about her, in the same way and for the same purpose as he had done in the case of the saintly Queen Louisa of Prus- sia. Many of the accusations of immoral conduct published concerning her were at a time when she was a white-haired woman, bowed down with sorrow, broken in health, partially paralysed, and in circum- stances which made such conduct physically and morally impossible. Maria Carolina was high-spirited and ambitious and made political mistakes, but she was not an immoral woman. In her youth she was very beautiful, and had a keen appetite for the enjoy- ments suited to her high position. Her husband was an illiterate boor, and notoriously unfaithful to his marriage vows, always occupied with some low amour ; and doubtless Maria Carolina took pleasure in the society of clever, intellectual men, and the admiration they could not have failed to show for her ; but a woman who worked so hard as she did at the planning and execution of schemes for the welfare of her people and
27
THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
their higher interests, who was so much occupied with the care of, and education of her numerous children, who was so steadily kind and considerate to the poor and ignorant, so strict in religious observances, so royally generous to friends and servants, so beloved and respected by her sons and daughters, could not have been other than a high-minded, conscientious woman.1
In spite of his gross life and neglect of all duties, many writers speak well of Ferdinando, and although the Queen was absent in Austria or the island of Sicily when Ferdinando took vengeance on his dis- loyal subjects by the perpetration of cruelties that can only be described as horrible, yet these horrors have generally, though most unjustly, been attributed to Maria Carolina. In general, Ferdinando was good- natured and easy-going, but when his passions were aroused he displayed a violent, cruel and remorseless nature, and after the Queen's death he developed ferocious instincts and became a cruel, tyrannical ruler.
1A most interesting and comprehensive account of Maria Carolina has been written by Mrs. Bearne under the title of A Sister to Marie Antoinette (Fisher Unwin).
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CHAPTER II.
Marie Amelie's Home at Naples — Her Childhood — Betrothed to Marie Antoinette's Son the Dauphin — His Death — Her Girl- hood— Her Brothers and Sisters — Lord Nelson at the Court of Naples — Arrival of French Army — Flight of Royal Family from Naples.
A famous educationist said : " Give me the first seven years of a child's life, that is enough to colour the whole ". Without giving some account of her father and mother and her native land it would have been impossible to realise the upbringing that made Marie Amelie what she afterwards became, which must be my apology to those readers who may have thought the preceding chapter tedious or superfluous.
Her father and mother had eighteen children.
Marie Amelie Th^rese de Bourbon was the fourth daughter (the first child born to the Queen of Sicily after the death of her mother the Empress Marie Theresa).1 She was born at Caserta in 1782 when her parents were at the height of prosperity.
Caserta was an enchanting place, acknowledged to be the most beautiful royal residence in Europe. No
1 Marie Amelie's sisters who lived to grow up became, one Em- press of Austria, another Grand-duchess of Tuscany, another Queen of Sardinia, and the youngest married the Prince of the Asturias, and had she lived would have become Queen of Spain.
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other palace could equal its vast extent, its spacious lofty halls and corridors, its marble-floored salons, cool and delightful in the burning midsummer heat. It was surrounded by green woods ; the gardens were beautifully laid out and ornamented with statues and embellished with cascades and fountains. In one part of the grounds Queen Maria Carolina had made what she called an English garden.
The Palace of Caserta was built by Ferdinando's father, who also erected the Palace of Portici, the hospital, and made the roads to Bo vino and Evoli, the aqueduct, and began the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The scenery around Caserta is ex- quisite, the view from St. Elmo matchless. The Neapolitan proverb, " see Naples and die," has been bettered by an English traveller, who says : " After living at Naples it is impossible not to wish to live that one may return to it ".
In these lovely and splendid surroundings Marie Amelie passed her early years. At her birth she was so delicate that she had to be wrapped in cotton wool, but she gradually outgrew this delicacy of health, and she very early gave proofs of remarkable intelligence, when, at two years and a half old, she began to read. This precocity was a source of great interest to her grandfather, King Charles of Spain. The old priest who taught her the catechism was equally pleased and delighted with the ease with which she learned her lessons and comprehended his instructions in religion. He used to call her " Fata Mia ". She never saw her grandmother, the great Empress of Austria, for Maria
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THE LIFE OF MARIE AMELIE
Theresa had died before this grandchild's birth, her death being the signal for an outburst of praise and veneration throughout Europe. Frederick the Great said : " She was an honour to her sex and to the throne. I made war on her, but was never her enemy. I mourn her death with sincerity. "
The Queen of Naples endeavoured to carry out the tradition she had inherited from her celebrated mother and bestowed much time and thought on the education of her childen.
Marie Amelie, immediately after her birth, was confided to the care of an excellent governess, as was customary with all royal children at that time ; and on the governess rested the chief responsibility for the care of the child in infancy, her subsequent education, and the formation of her manners and character.
The choice made for Marie Amelie was a most fortunate one. Donna Vicenza Rizzi was the widow of Don Bernardo Ambrozio, a distinguished Nea- politan lawyer. Signora Ambrozio was a refined, high-minded woman, whose good example and wise counsels were most beneficial to the young princess, who respected and loved her all her life.
Although it was necessary to put them in charge of governesses yet Maria Carolina desired to obtain a lasting influence over her daughters and their entire confidence, and in the midst of all the cares of State never allowed a day to pass without their spending an hour with her, when she made stringent inquiries as to their progress in their studies and administered very salutary advice.
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Her eldest daughter was the Queen's prime fa- vourite, and when she married her cousin, the Emperor of Austria, and went to live at Vienna, the third daughter, Christina (afterwards Queen of Sardinia), became her mother's favourite. She was sweet and gentle, but completely outshone in her studies by her younger sister, Marie Amelie.
At that period of her life Marie Amelie seems to have been treated with some severity by her mother, who said it was necessary to counteract Marie Am&ie's tendency to be overbearing.
The King, however, made a special favourite of his fourth daughter, and when she was old enough used to take her with him on the hunting excursions in which he passed most of his time. In this way Marie Amelie became a splendid horsewoman, and in spite of his failings she was extremely fond of her father all through life.
Some of Ferdinando's diversions were far from kingly. He sometimes went to the market and sold fish. On these occasions he wore a white cap and apron, and used to hold up the fish to auction, in- dulging coarse jests in the dialect of the Lazzaroni, who acclaimed him with delight.
Every year on the night of Shrove Tuesday the Lazzaroni had the right of free admittance to the pit of the splendid theatre, the San Carlo, at Naples. The King used to take his place in a box on the upper tier attended by servants carrying huge dishes of hot mac- aroni dressed with cheese and oil, of which he took handfuls and threw it among the crowds below who
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scrambled and fought to get it. This amused Ferdi- nando, who delighted in all kinds of buffoonery. He and the Queen honoured their subjects by attending parties at their houses, and the presence of the sove- reigns was not considered a restraint, and instead of causing formality added to the enjoyment of all.
We hear of a ball given by the Maggiordomo at Portici, to which many English visitors were invited. Among these were a Mr. Spence and a Miss Snow, who was so fat that she was known as " Double Stout " ; this couple, by their furious dancing, enter- tained the King prodigiously ; he roared with laughter, bravoed, clapped his hands and encouraged them to jump about. Each of them was conscious how much the other was laughed at, and took care to tell it to all the company, without suspecting that their own figure or performance could be the subject of merri- ment. Mr. Spence's dancing made quite a conquest of the King, who had him to play tennis very fre- quently and became on most intimate terms with him.
Though Ferdinando was profligate and idle and despotic when aroused, he was adored by the popu- lace.
His ignorance was profound ; his one civilised taste was for music. He played and sang fairly well, and would spend hours most contentedly singing duets with the Queen and her ladies.
In order to obtain influence over him the Queen in the early days of their married life used to take part in all his diversions, though many of them must have been most uncongenial to her.
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THE LIFE OF MAKIE AMELIE
For many years, and until the Queen's political mistakes had ended disastrously, Ferdinando's ad- miration for and deference to the Queen was un- bounded.
Their mutual love for their children had drawn them together ; the Queen grew indifferent to his incessant amours, for the objects of his passing affec- tions were not women of a class likely to obtain influence over him or interfere with the Queen's plans. From all the letters extant that passed between her and her relations one gathers the impression that the Neapolitan royal family was an affectionate family ; members were on the best of terms with each other. They were surrounded by every luxury ; the expendi- ture in the King's household alone was 600,000 ducats yearly. The Queen's allowance was not large, and she had such royally generous instincts in her treat- ment of all around her that the 100,000 ducats which it was the custom for the King to present to the Queen on the birth of a son were a welcome addition to her privy purse.
Her eldest son, the Prince Koyal, was her third child ; he died of small-pox at an early age, and the second son, Francesco, born in 1777, became heir to the throne ; his two younger brothers, Gennaro and Carlo, died of small-pox ; another brother, Leopold, born at a later date, lived to grow up. He received the title of Prince of Salerno, and was the chief support and comfort of his mother in later life.
While King Ferdinand affected the society of the Lazzaroni, Maria Carolina cultivated the good graces
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of the upper classes, with whom she was very popular ; not only the nobility and courtiers but the most learned and intellectual men in Naples paid court to her.
The Queen of Sicily was the favourite sister of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, and when the latter became Queen of France the two sisters de- cided on the betrothal of Marie Antoinette's eldest son, the Dauphin, to his little cousin of Naples, Marie Amelie, who was suitable in age, being two years younger than the Dauphin. So from a very early age Marie Amelie was taught to think of herself as the future Queen of France. How this destiny was ful- filled this book will show.
Her proposed bridegroom died when she was barely eight years old. The letters and memoirs of the time give most touching accounts of the short and melancholy life of this little prince, whose birth had for so many years been eagerly desired by his father and mother and the French nation. He was sadly deformed, and died of a wasting disease, gradually fading away. Like many children destined to an early death, he was sensible beyond his years, precocious in intelligence, grave and serious in demeanour, and of a charming nature. Many stories are told of his noble, touching sayings. His spirit seemed to live at the expense of his body. When so weak that he could not stand he was an insatiable de- vourer of all the books he could obtain. The Countess Lage de Volude, who went to see him at Meudon in company with Princess de Lamballe on 8th April, 1789, wrote : " We went after dinner to visit the little
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Dauphin. It was heartbreaking. His sufferings, his patience, his intelligence were most touching. When we arrived an attendant was reading to him. He had had a fancy to lie on the billiard table, so his mattress had been placed there. It struck us that he looked as if already on the bed-of-state on which princes lie after their death. Mdme. de Lamballe asked what was being read. He replied : ' A very interesting period of our history, madame ; there are many heroes in it.'
" I allowed myself to ask if he read straight on or only picked out striking passages. 1 1 read straight on, I do not know enough to choose, and all interest me,' he replied.
" He said to the Due d'Harcourt in a low voice : 'I think this is the lady who likes my map of the world/ and a servant was ordered to turn it. I had been enchanted with the perfection of this immense machine when I saw it on New Year's Day, but now I could think of nothing but this dear and unhappy child who was dying before our eyes."
One of the attendants recounted that before the Dauphin had been so dangerously ill a playfellow had broken a piece of china which the Queen valued. Afraid of being scolded, he ran away. The Dauphin was accused and did not defend himself, so he was punished by being deprived for three days of the pleasure of going to Trianon. But on hearing this the real culprit returned and confessed. His gover- nor expressed astonishment that the Prince had said nothing. He replied : " Should I be the one to accuse anybody ? "
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On the 4th of May, lying on a piled-up heap of cushions on a balcony of the palace, the heir to the throne of France witnessed the procession of the States-General, the assembling of which was the be- ginning of the disasters that gradually overwhelmed the royal family of France. He had only a month to live. Mme. de Lage wrote : " The poor child is so ill ! What he says is almost incredible. It breaks the Queen's heart to hear him. He shows the greatest love for her. The other day he begged her to dine in his room. Alas ! she swallowed more tears than any- thing else ! "
In spite of the unpopularity of the royal family and the political excitement which absorbed the city of Paris, general sympathy was felt for the sad state of the royal child. Even the Revolutionary Party seemed softened, at least temporarily. Inquiries from all quarters were incessant, anecdotes of his pathetic sayings and the courage with which the boy bore his sufferings were repeated everywhere. The great bell of Notre Dame summoned the faithful to forty hours' prayer 1 on his behalf, but on the 4th of June, 1789, the royal child had ceased to suffer, and, as we know, was delivered from the evil to come, and escaped the even worse fate that befell his younger brother, the Child of the Temple.
Louis XVI., on hearing that the Dauphin had breathed his last, shut himself up in his room, wish- ing to be alone with his grief ; but if the people felt
1 To appoint forty hours' prayer was the custom of the Arch- bishop of Paris at all critical times.
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sympathy, their representatives showed little tact in expressing it. Bailly, at the head of a deputation from the States-General, demanded in imperious terms that the King should himself receive from their hands an address of condolence. Louis felt this violation of the privacy of his days of mourning very deeply, and said : " Are there no fathers in the Assembly ? " In Naples little Marie Am£lie took the death of her cousin, whom she had been taught to think of as her future husband, greatly to heart. In old age she remembered it and said : " I wept bitterly for my little cousin, but it was my destiny to become Queen of France at last."
Marie Antoinette had another son, born 1785, and the Queen of Sicily had been chosen his god- mother, and was represented at the baptismal cere- mony by Mme. Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI., but he was younger than Marie Amelie, and the tragic events soon to take place in France put any idea of arranging marriages out of the heads of both queens.
They were on the eve of the French Revolution. Queen Maria Carolina followed with horror and con- sternation the course of events in France, and occupied herself incessantly with plans for rescuing her sister from the hands of the fiendish Terrorists. She en- deavoured to stir up her vacillating brother, the Emperor Leopold, to form a coalition of the other European nations against France ; but the unfortunate and ill-judged Louis XVI. signed the French Con- stitution, secured a semblance of liberty, and sent
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circulars to the Powers to stop the movements of the armies collected to deliver him.
When the fearful news of the execution of Marie Antoinette reached Naples, the Queen was over- whelmed with grief and horror. She made the news known to. her children in an impressive manner, sum- moning them all to the palace chapel, where the solemn prayers for the dead were recited, and they were awestruck as they saw their mother kneeling with bowed head before the altar making inter- cessions for her sister's soul. These solemn scenes left a profound impression on the mind of Princess Marie Amelie. About this time she made her first communion, and that important event in the life of a young and fervid Catholic seems to have altered her tastes and disposition ; she cared less for amusements, more for study and above all for religion, showing the germs of that saintly and noble character so fully developed in after years.
The King and Queen of Sicily refused to accept an ambassador from the French Convention and war with France seemed inevitable. Every possible pre- paration was made in Sicily, but the exposed position of Naples, with its palaces and public buildings and government offices right on the sea-shore, made it appear an easy task for a French fleet to bombard it. In December, 1792, a French squadron appeared in the Bay of Naples — powerless to resist, the Sicilian Government agreed to disavow any intention of offer- ing insult to France in the person of her ambassador, for the French Republic had emissaries at Naples,
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who were spreading revolutionary doctrines, and they had a large following.
The Sicilian Government was only temporising. As soon as possible an alliance was entered into with England in order to obtain command of the Medi- terranean and the protection of Naples against pirates as well as against the French fleet. Lord Nelson was sent to Naples, where he was received as a hero and tremendously feted by Court and people. When- ever the English sailors passed through the streets they were acclaimed by the people who crowded to see them. Lord Nelson was received at Court almost as if he had been a royal visitor, and sat on the King's right hand. He had after a while to go to Egypt, where he burned, sank or otherwise destroyed Napo- leon's fleet at Aboukir. He then returned to Naples and was in Sicilian waters on and off for five years. Whenever he was at Naples he was a constant visitor at the palace, and was a familiar figure throughout Marie Am&ie's early life.
The celebrated Emma Hamilton was on intimate terms with the King and Queen of Naples. While she was occupying an equivocal position in the house- hold of the English ambassador, Sir William Hamil- ton, the Queen did not receive her, but as soon as their marriage was announced she did so, and Lady Hamilton's tact and discretion soon made her a great favourite at Court. At Naples Lady Hamilton's house was the resort of the best people of all nation- alities and of many English visitors of high rank and irreproachable reputation ; Lord Nelson's attentions
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to her as wife of the English Ambassador seemed natural and did not excite comment. The Queen used Emma Hamilton's influence for her own ends and liked her personally. The King of Naples also liked her and used to sing duets with her for hours at a time. Of his singing Emma said : " It was but bad, he sings like a king ".
She might have been laughing and talking in the Queen's apartments all the afternoon, but at a public reception in the evening Emma- would keep her dis- tance, and treated the Queen with punctilious respect as if she had never seen her in private. This pleased Maria Carolina mightily, and she would make a point of distinguishing Lady Hamilton.
After the battle of Aboukir, the Queen wrote to her : " Hip ! hip ! my dear lady. I am wild with joy. What a pleasure it will be to greet our hero ! "
The King was at dinner with the Queen and the Princes and Princesses when the news of the victory was brought to him. He started up and embraced his wife and daughters, exclaiming : " Oh, my chil- dren, you are now safe ! "
Naples went wild with joy when, three weeks later, Nelson and the victorious English squadron arrived in the bay. The royal barge with the King, accompanied by a brilliant retinue and his musicians, went first ; then came the British Minister and Lady Hamilton rowed by liveried boatmen, followed by a long train of boats and barges going forth to meet the victorious admiral, whom the King styled " De- liverer" and "Preserver".
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At the banquet on board the Vanguard much notice was taken of a small bird that hopped about on the table between the plates. It had come on board the evening before the battle of Aboukir and was looked upon as bringing good luck. The King gave Nelson the estate of Bronte, near Mount Etna ; it is a dukedom, and the income was valued at £2,000 annually. He also gave him a sword set with dia- monds which had belonged to his father, saying Naples had been conquered with it and it ought to belong to Lord Nelson, who had saved the king- dom. Nelson was looked upon as a kind of patron saint by the royal children. Marie Amelie's eldest brother, the Prince Royal, used to stand before his portrait and say : " Great Nelson, make me like
you ".
In 1780, when the Prince Royal was thirteen years old, the King and Queen, accompanied by all their children, went to Vienna for his betrothal to his cousin, the Archduchess Clementina, and for the marriage of Marie Amelie's two eldest sisters, one to the heir to the Austrian Crown, afterwards the Emperor Francis II., and the other to his brother, the Grand-duke of Tuscany. After these ceremonies the Neapolitan royal family returned to Naples.
To give an account of all the plots and counter- plots, and the political and military events which made the history of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the reign of Marie Amelie's parents abound in tragic scenes, is not necessary, for she herself took no active part in them.
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But figuratively and actually it was life on the edge of a volcano. In 1783 a fearful earthquake devastated Sicily and Calabria. An English visitor writing to a friend said : " In the course of one month we might have been either bombarded by the French, smothered by a mountain, or swallowed up by an earthquake".
In spite of rumours of the approach of the French army and the fact of dangerous conspiracies in its midst, the Court of Naples still continued the splendid fetes and varied amusements which made foreign travellers say that life on those en- chanting shores seemed a never-ending round of pleasure.
Though too young to be emancipated from her studies, some share in these exciting scenes must have fallen to the lot of the young Princess Marie Amelie. She and her sisters would at all events be present at reviews of the troops that the Queen was straining every nerve to raise to repel Napoleon's army, at carnival processions, and would accompany her mother on the visits to the convents which were so much a part of the routine in the life of royal ladies at that time. All Neapolitan convents were under the supervision of the Queen, who visited them in turn yearly, and took a numerous suite to partake of the splendid entertainments given by the nuns. On one occasion the royal party was surprised to find a table covered with meats, hams, fowls, fish and other substantial dishes, although it was in the after- noon. However, they seated themselves, and the
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nuns stood behind to serve them. The Queen chose a piece of cold turkey, which on being cut up proved to be a delicious lemon ice in the shape of a turkey ; all the other dishes were ices disguised as fish, flesh or fowl.
Many of the convents were very rich. Ladies of rank would rather their daughters married, for it cost more to make them nuns. The ceremonies that took place when a young lady made her pro- fession were very costly — £1,000 hardly covered the expense — and besides there had to be a pension for the nun, and a sum in reserve in case she should arrive at holding office in the convent.
The populace of Naples were always very turbulent, and it was necessary to keep a strong garrison there, and to take care that the inhabitants were supplied with food at a moderate rate, to keep them in good humour. Government spent large sums in purchas- ing grain and selling it under cost price to the poor.
The remission of sentences on prisoners on the occasion of happy events at the palace, such as the birth of a royal child, helped to demoralise the people, for crimes were followed by severe and even barbarous punishments ; if the sentences were remitted, worse crimes generally followed. An endeavour was made to improve morals by marriage laws which were in- tended to "put an end to female artifice (!) elope- ments and unequal alliances ".
In spite of all efforts to suppress them Republican opinions were spreading, though for reading the works
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of Voltaire a reader was liable to be sent for three years to the galleys.
On the surface, however, life at Naples seemed a splendid pageant. The King counted a hundred per- sons with the title of Prince, and a still greater number with that of Duke, among his subjects. They all possessed magnificent equipages drawn by six or eight horses, with richly liveried servants running in front and behind. Their palaces were immense and splen- did, the entertainments given in them were most luxurious ; the tables would be loaded with a variety of dishes, the fruit and wines of all countries, and there would be a servant in the host's livery standing behind the chair of each guest to serve him.
An English visitor wrote : —
"All ranks seem to live only for show and in idleness. Expense and prodigality are at their height. The rich are oppressed with debt and the lower orders spend their wages before receiving them. Every day there are fireworks, music, religious processions. At the parade of the Ottaboni the Court with King and Queen and Ministers were present in the Calle Toledo. The street was lined with a double row of guards behind ropes, the coaches paraded in the middle. Every window was full of spectators leaning upon silk or tapestry hangings. The foot people crowded so thick that the postilions by cracking their whips could with difficulty make room for the five cars of the Madelona, and the sledges of the hunters with horsemen and hounds attending them ; the parade was closed by a Bucentaur. The last that came was an
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English steam-boat manned by royal cadets. After these carriages had passed twice before their majesties, the street was cleared by the dragoons and then on the firing of a few petards, a dozen horses with fellows riding bareback came galloping down the street. The prize was a piece of tissue. This was but poor work ; but the next race of five barbs without riders was very amusing. Waiting till dark, the carriages re- turned in the same order very well illuminated. The Madelona's stopped opposite the King and played off* fireworks out of the front of each car. The illumina- tions of the Bucentaur were beautiful beyond expres- sion. I never saw a finer sight. From thence we went to a ball at Court, where an excellent hot supper was served, but each person had to eat on his knees and in the best manner he could. We were served with pies, hams, wines and fruit in the greatest profusion. In the ball-room the chairs were set so as to form a square in the middle of the room, and the company sat facing each other in a double row. The King played at Macao, and soon after midnight both he and the Queen retired, and shortly afterwards the assembly broke up, walking to their coaches by the light of charming illuminations, through gardens where foun- tains cooled the air."
Naples was crowded with French refugees, driven out by the horrors of the Revolution. To all of them the Queen of Naples showed the utmost generosity, straining her resources to the utmost. To those who had personally known and enjoyed the favour of her beloved sister Marie Antoinette, she extended a very
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warm welcome, and they formed part of her intimate society. The young Princesses liked to practise talk- ing French with them, and were never tired of hearing all that could be told of their French relatives. Among the refugees who had known Queen Marie Antoinette was the celebrated Mme. Vig6e le Brun, who, while at Naples, painted an excellent portrait of the Queen as well as some other members of the Neapolitan royal family. The Queen paid her mag- nificently and presented her with a beautiful lacquer box set with diamonds. She also wished Mme. le Brun to remain permanently at Naples and offered her a charming residence on the sea-shore.
However, the charming painter had been sum- moned to the Court of Russia and could not make up her mind to stay at Naples. She says in her Memoirs : " Though the scenery is enchanting and the air balmy and delicious, I should not like to spend my life there. In my opinion Naples ought to be seen like a magic-lantern. Before one could feel comfortable there, one would have to get accustomed to the terrors inspired by the volcano, and to living in constant expectation of an earthquake. If these drawbacks did not exist, who would not wish to live in such a delicious country? The Queen is a very highly cultivated woman and takes the greatest pains with the education of her daughters, but most Nea- politan ladies are surprisingly ignorant. They take no exercise and their only occupation is intrigue ; they are superstitious to the last degree. At noon all the world is asleep; in the evening till eleven
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o'clock the populace crowd to the Largo Castello to saunter about, and then retire, leaving the scene clear for the people of quality, who take possession of it till one o'clock."
The Corso on the sea-shore was the great scene of Neapolitan splendour and display. When there was no opera the elite of society passed their evenings on the shores of the bay, and on Sundays the fashion- able drive was along the Chiaja to Posilipo. On the fite day of the Madonna dei pie di Grotta the Chiaja was crowded by daybreak with a gay populace in bright holiday dress. The garrison troops lined the route. The nobility appeared in gala coaches. Grand dinners were given at all the houses on the line. At five o'clock the King passed in his state coach, with a retinue following him in twenty-two carriages. A picturesque scene that could not be matched in any other European capital.
In 1797 life at Naples was full of excitement. Conversation by day and dreams at night had for their sole subject the meeting of the hostile fleets of France and England.
Sicily was collecting arms and stores. Reviews of the troops were frequently held, and Maria Caro- lina with her Court stayed for some weeks at San Gennaro where the army was encamped. She used to ride through the lines in a blue habit with gold fleur de lys at the neck, and a general's hat with a white plume.
Napoleon had invaded Italy, and though Nelson had destroyed the French fleet sent to bombard
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Naples, yet the French army under Champoinet soon appeared there. The Neapolitan troops were de- feated on all sides, and the Revolutionary Party were waiting to deliver the city to the French. The popu- lace, maddened with terror and hatred of the foreign invasion, rose tumultuously, destroyed the houses of the revolutionaries and committed terrible atrocities. The populace were loyal to their King but savage and ungovernable, and in the tumults then taking place none knew who might be the next victim or what turn their fury might take. Besides this the Queen of Sicily had a great dread of falling into the hands of the French armies, the murderers of her sister and Louis XVI. Warned by their terrible fate she deter- mined to escape with her family before it was too late. She claimed the assistance of Nelson to trans- port them to Palermo, capital of the island of Sicily. The Sicilians were loyal and ready to fight to the death against the French.
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CHAPTER III.
Flight of the King and Queen to Sicily — Their Life there with their Family — Visit of Queen and her Daughters to Austria — Eeturn to Naples — Second Flight to Sicily — Arrival in the Island of Louis Philippe, Due d'Orleans, Future Husband of Mario Amelie.
When the departure of the royal family had been decided on the Queen made use of Lady Hamilton, wife of the English ambassador, for the purpose of getting her boxes conveyed on board the ships, and wrote : " There will be many of them, for 'tis for ever we go ".
It was necessary to carry this out secretly, for if it had been generally known that they were about to leave, the Lazzaroni would have endeavoured to prevent it, and they were a powerful body, num- bering 40,000, and could enforce their wishes.
So the boxes containing clothing and necessaries, the cases containing furniture or treasure, were all sent to Lady Hamilton's house and from thence taken to the ships that were to transport them to Sicily.
There was an underground passage leading from the palace to the shore, and when all the arrange- ments were completed, and everything ready for their departure, the royal family traversed this passage and were met by Lord Nelson at the shore end af nine o'clock in the evening.
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It was on the 21st December, 1798, that the King and Queen and their family went on board Nelson's ship, the Vanguard, which was to be accompanied by two Neapolitan warships. Twenty vessels, merchant- men and transports, were loaded with treasure, and crowded with members of the Court and adherents of the King and Queen, and the long procession of ships set sail for Sicily. They encountered a terrible storm ; every one was dreadfully sea-sick, and Marie Amelie's little brother, a child of seven, died of exhaustion. A violent blast struck the Vanguard, tearing her sails to pieces ; many of the ships of the convoy were scat- tered, but the Vanguard and its royal burden arrived at Palermo at five o'clock on a dark winter's morning. The royal party were ill, miserable and exhausted, but thankful to have arrived in safety. They went on shore, escorted by Nelson, and took up their abode at the royal palace. The Sicilians received them with every manifestation of joy and loyalty, and after re- covering from grief at the death of the little Prince, whose funeral was the first public ceremony that took place, the royal family settled down into their usual mode of life. They had only exchanged one beautiful capital for another. They were not in financial diffi- culties, having brought away means to carry on the government, provide for their followers, and make preparations for the defence of their new capital, besides treasures of the State and gold from the mint and banks, and as much of the valuable contents of their palaces as could be bestowed on board the ships. Though Maria Carolina has been much blamed for it,
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we think her conduct in this respect very wise, and contrasting favourably with that of most of the French royal and other refugees, who put off their departure till the last minute and then fled suddenly without resources, arriving in foreign countries in a destitute condition, and were obliged to weary the Courts of Europe by their begging incessantly for money and assistance.
The bay and city of Palermo are by many people considered more beautiful than those of Naples. The regal elegance of its marble palaces, its fanciful buildings of Saracenic architecture, are like a fairy scene.
Two great streets intersect each other in the centre of the city, where they form a square called Ottangolo. From the centre of this square the whole of these fine streets and the four great gates of the city which ter- minate them are seen, and produce a fine effect of sym- metry and beauty. The handsomest of these gates, the Porto Felice, opens on the Marina, a magnificent promenade with a row of fine houses on one side and on the other fine trees and a terrace for pedestrians, along which statues of the Sicilian kings were placed at intervals ; in the midst a wide carriage road. The Marina led to beautiful public gardens, "The Flora Eeale," where a band played for the pleasure of pro- menaders. On account of the scorching heat in sum- mer it was necessary to turn night into day. The orchestral concert began when the clock struck mid- night, when the nobility left their carriages and walked up and down to enjoy the sea breezes. No lights were
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allowed, so unless there was a moon the promenaders could not recognise each other.
In his well-known book of travels Mr. Brydon says : "In Palermo the chief entertainments are conversaziones. Here people really converse, while in Italy they only meet to eat ices and play cards. Sicilians are better educated than Italians, and instead of the frivolities which afford topics of conversation in Italian society, the Sicilians talk of literature and his- tory as well as of politics, and I was surprised to find many young noblemen acquainted with Milton, Shake- speare, Bacon, and the best English authors. They were evidently better educated than their King, whose ignorance was remarkable. When some one men- tioned the execution of Charles I. Ferdinando said he refused to believe it had occurred, for he admired the English too much to believe that their nation could be guilty of such a crime. He was sure it was only a false report circulated by the French to justify the murder of Louis XVI.
Many of the Neapolitan nobles were very ignorant. One asked Lady Hamilton if she went to Capri by sea or land. Another in his death-bed confession admitted having fought a duel : " I said Tasso was superior to Ariosto, and we fought three times ; but though I disputed so vehemently I have never read a word of either of those authors ".
If Sicilian gentlemen were well educated it seems that Sicilian ladies were unfortunately deficient in good looks. Several travellers mention this. One says : "I went to a soiree at the Prince of P 's
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house, where the principal belles of Palermo were assembled, a collection of frightful women. I never beheld such an ugly race as the Palermite ladies, they are perfect monsters ".
The Sicilians were a remarkably loyal race. When the King instituted an Order to reward loyalty — the Order of St. Ferdinando — it was remarked that all the recipients were Neapolitans. A Sicilian noble- man said the King had done well to give it to the few Neapolitan noblemen who had been faithful. He would have had to give it to every Sicilian.
Court functions went on as usual at Palermo, but the Queen was troubled about affairs of State and the difficulty of defending the island from the French, for all the Neapolitan warships as well as an immense quantity of gunpowder had been burned and destroyed to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. After arriving at Palermo the Queen wrote to Lady Hamilton : " My dear Lady, — It appears ages since I saw you. It will be a great treat to see you again, to thank you for all the help you gave us, and to assure you of my eternal gratitude. Night or day Lord Nelson or his officers can see me or the King. I wish to talk over our affairs with our brave deliverer. So many troubles have shaken me and I am much depressed." The Queen was most generous in her acknowledgment of Lady Hamilton's services and presented her with magnificent jewellery as well as large sums of money.
The King had laid the blame of the necessity of their flight from Naples on the Queen's policy, and
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during the rough voyage to Palermo had said it was her fault that they were not sleeping comfortably in their beds ; but after arriving in the island Ferdinando did not trouble himself about anything, and was per- fectly happy so long as he could get good hunting, shooting and fishing, and this he found to perfection in Sicily. Francesco, the Prince Royal, likewise was of no comfort or assistance to the Queen. He was like his father, stupid and without cultivated tastes, and in spite of all the pains his mother had taken with his education, he cared for nothing but sport. His marriage with his cousin, the Archduchess Clem- entine of Austria took place when he was nineteen and his bride fifteen, in 1797 ; she was a charming girl and much beloved by Princess Marie Amelie, who was just of the same age. The Princess Royal held her Court, but Princess Marie Amelie, being un- married, had still to pursue her studies and was under the control of her governess, who encouraged her to take part in works of charity, to visit the poor and sick, and to make garments for them. There were also the visits to convents. Probably she and her sisters would have been taken to see some of the in- teresting historical sites in which Sicily abounds. There was Monte Pellegrino where Hannibars father remained during five years of the Punic Wars ; the temples of Agrigentum amidst the orange and olive woods ; the Temple of Concord and that of Jupiter Olympus, the largest in the world. Near by the Convent of Recollects is situated, and from its ter- races a magnificent panorama meets the eye. Then
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near Syracuse, where Dionysius used to keep 400 ships of war in the bay and on land 100,000 soldiers, are the curious Latomise or subterranean prisons, and a large quarry called "the Ear of Dionysius," wrought in a circular form and used as a dungeon. The Ear is artificially cut and has many rings in the wall for fastening chains to. At the top it is narrowed and twisted in the shape of an S till it terminates in a groove which is conveyed to a small closet high up over the entrance, where the listener sat. Owing to breaches in the walls the hearing is now imperfect. The echo in the quarry is wonderful ; the tearing of a sheet of paper sounds like the cracking of a whip. Farther down are the Catacombs, thought more wonderful than those of Rome. In many of the mouths of the skeletons medals were found. The Fountain of Cyane, near which Egyptian papyrus grew. Then there was Etna, the wonderful size of which quite dwarfed the memory of Vesuvius. It is best approached from Catalagina, from whence a plain of thirty miles extends to Etna. Snow covers a quarter of this stupendous cone, then comes a dark brown region, lower down a number of white villages, then Catania, the finest city in Sicily, built on black lava vomited from two hills at the foot of Etna : out- side, the immense tree-trunk, called the Cente Ca villi, in which travellers are seated at a table to dine ; and other immense chestnut trees, some measuring seventy- eight feet round.
Sicily is not, as some people think, a barren rocky country. There are cornfields and greensward, rich
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tracts of cultivation, olive woods and great forests of chestnut and oak trees of prodigious size and bulk.
Writing to her favourite daughter, the Empress of Austria, in 1799, Maria Carolina says: "As Queen- mother, woman I am unlucky. My children hide their grief in order not to sadden me, they merit a better fate. Mimi (Maria Christina) prays and does penance, hoping that God will take pity and change our circumstances. Amelie is the prettiest and has infinite tact and an excellent heart. Your father is well ; whether from religious principle or resignation he is content. I admire him. Naples is like the Hott- entots to him. He does not see it and therefore does not think of it."
Her daughter replied : " Come to me, dearest mother; you and my beloved brothers and sisters will be received with open arms. You can be your own mistress and live as you please. I cannot rest so long as you are in Sicily exposed to dangers. Think of me only as your devoted Theresa, who would give her life to make you happy. You can live at Vienna or in any other part of my husband's dominions that you prefer."
At that time Maria Carolina would not accept her daughter's invitation. She said : " I would rather die than be dependent on others."
She and her daughters embroidered banners for the Sicilian troops who took up arms against the French, and she still had hopes of returning one day to Naples. The old French princesses, daughters of
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Louis XV., had taken refuge at Naples and were lodged at Caserta for three years. They, too, had taken flight, and the Queen wrote to her daughter : " We only lent them two old carriages and six bad horses, but they were grateful. If they get safe to Vienna treat them as their rank deserves."
The young princesses spent their time pleasantly and happily enough during their two years' stay in Sicily, but the Queen was melancholy and depressed ; there was desperate fighting going on in the mainland, and the French had established a Republican Govern- ment at Naples, now called the Parthenopian Re- public. News was disquieting; the Queen in June, 1800, resolved to go to Vienna to confer with her son-in-law, the Emperor, on political matters and to see her daughter Ludovica, Duchess of Tuscany, who was in great sorrow over the death of her son, and longed for her mother's presence. Maria Carolina was accompanied to Vienna by her four younger children, the Princesses Christine, Marie Amelie and Antoinette, and Prince Leopold. Lord Nelson in his ship the Foudroyant took them to Livorno. They were accompanied by the English ambassador, Sir William and Lady Hamilton ; also by Miss Cornelia Knight, who has left a detailed account of all that occurred on this eventful journey. On landing at Livorno the first news they heard was of Napoleon's great victory over the Austrians at Marengo, and they had to pass a month at the Court of Tuscany before it was safe to continue the journey to Vienna. Tuscany was overrun by the French troops, and terrifying rumours
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were always in circulation. When finally they set outr the journey by land and sea was full of anxieties and dangers owing to the nearness of the French armies. Miss Knight speaks of the great attention paid to her, and the kindness of the princesses when she was ill during their travels.
Lord Nelson escorted them to Ancona, where an Austrian frigate fitted up with silk hangings and carpets and eighty beds for the accommodation of the party had been sent to meet them, but there had been a mutiny on board, and they finally set off with a Russian squadron of three frigates and a brig which conveyed them across the Adriatic.
The Queen and thirty-four of her suite had fever, but when after their tedious and perilous journey they finally arrived at Vienna, the Queen was received with all the honours due to her as daughter of the great Empress, Maria Theresa, and mother of the reigning Empress and aunt to the Emperor. The Austrian Prime Minister, Thugut, dreaded Maria Carolina's influence over her nephew and son-in-law, Francis I.,1 and saw with uneasiness the increasing intimacy and affection of the royal children of Naples and their Austrian cousins. Marie Ame'lie, in her journal, speaks of her happiness and delight during this long stay in Austria. Being fond of music she appreciated the opportunities of studying it and enjoying musical performances, for Haydn was then at Vienna in the height of his fame.
1His father, Francis of Lorraine, though called Emperor did not reign, he was only the consort of the Empress.
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The simple family life, and outdoor amusements of the Imperial family, were varied by attendance at great ceremonies, such as the reception of the Arch- duke Charles as Knight of the Teutonic Order, ac- companied by all the pomp and religious solemnity of the days of chivalry. Also the opening of the Diet at Presburg, a magnificent spectacle to which the picturesque figures of the Hungarian nobles, their strange customs, and the extraordinary splendour of their dress lent an almost Oriental character. They also made a pilgrimage to Maria Zell in Styria where their grandfather the Emperor Francis had died. To get there they had to travel two days through grand scenery to this lonely spot among the mountains. The loveliness of the place and the imposing church so impressed Marie Amelie that she wished she could come every year.
Marie Amelie was not pretty. She was tall and thin, with fair hair, small blue eyes and irregular teeth. But her head was well set on her shoulders and she had an air of distinction and a very pleasant expres- sion. One of the cousins, the Archduke Anton, fell in love with her and paid her devoted attention in public and private. He was destined for the priest- hood and to become Prince Bishop of Bamburg, one of the greatest ecclesiastical positions in Europe, but Maria Carolina told her daughter that if she recipro- cated his affection, the vows could be annulled by the Emperor's influence. Marie Amelie, however, did not wish for the marriage. Still more distasteful was the next husband proposed for her, the eldest son of the
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King of Spain. The reports as to the personality of the Prince of the Asturias were unpleasant, and the weak, foolish King Charles V. was entirely governed by his wife, a woman of extremely vicious character, swayed by her disreputable favourite Manuel Godoy. The Spanish Court could not have been a desirable home for a well-brought-up princess ; but the alliance was too important to be rejected by the Queen of the Two Sicilies. Marie Amelie escaped, as it was de- cided that her younger sister Antoinette was more suitable in age for the Prince of the Asturias. Marie Amelie was heart-broken at parting with this favourite sister who had been her intimate companion, and was full of forebodings as to her fate, which in a few years were justified by her untimely end. The French ambassador, Junot, spoke with great admiration of the young Princess of the Asturias, saying : " She was charming, the perfection of a princess, a most accomplished person ". She obtained unbounded in- fluence over her husband; this excited the jealousy of the Queen-mother and her all-powerful favourite, Godoy, by whose orders she was poisoned.
While the young princesses and their mother had been enjoying a peaceful time at Vienna, terrible events had convulsed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Republican Government at Naples was by no means secure, though they did their best to spread Republican sentiments, and used to employ popular orators for this purpose. One of them, known as Michaelo el Pazzo, had been made a colonel bv the Republic and set to harangue the mob. When asked
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what a citizen was he replied : " I do not know, but it must be a good name, as the heads of the State have adopted it for themselves. By calling every one Citizen, the great lords are no longer Excellencies and we are no longer Lazzaroni ; that name makes all men equal." When asked, " What does equality mean ? " he replied : " That I may be either a Lazzaro or a Colonel. The great lords were Colonels before they were born, I am one by Equality. Men were once born great, now they become so."
M. David, the Consul at Naples, wrote to the French Government : " The populace are fanatically devoted to Ferdinando and detest the French. If they saw a chance they would not leave a Frenchman alive. If the English come and bombard Naples and join forces with the Lazzaroni we shall be in the greatest danger."
The Royalist party were not idle ; the inhabitants of the Abruzzi took up arms under the brigand who became celebrated under the name of Fra Diavolo, for neither party was particular as to the tools they used to effect their purpose. Knowing the power of religious sentiment on his people, the King invested Cardinal Ruffo, a most remarkable man, with command of the troops raised in Calabria, and the title of Vicar- General of the Kingdom. He gave absolution to the troops for all crimes committed, and knew how to turn brigands into intrepid soldiers. Every morning he performed Mass in camp and then rode at the head of the troops dressed in purple, sword in hand. The French troops had to retire before him, he entered Naples victorious, and thus ended the Parthenopian Republic.
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After the occupation of Naples by Cardinal Ruffo, Ferdinando, escorted by Nelson and the English fleet, returned thither and resumed his sovereignty in June, 1709. During the war and afterwards, be- fore his authority was re-established, terrible atrocities were committed, and in taking vengeance on disloyal people scenes so horrible were enacted that they were a disgrace to humanity.
All this did not come to the knowledge of Marie Amelie till many years later.
It was not till 1802 that Queen Maria Carolina and her daughters, with their brother Leopold, Prince of Salerno, left Vienna and rejoined King Ferdinando at Naples.
They re-entered in triumph and were received by Lord Nelson and Sir William and Lady Hamilton. The Queen threw herself into Lady Hamilton's arms and embraced her and encircled her neck with a string of diamonds, from which was suspended a miniature of herself, around which were the words "eternal gratitude ".
During their stay in Vienna, Marie Am&ie had seen much of her niece, Marie Louise, then a child of eleven, who was destined to be Empress where Marie Amelie afterwards became Queen, i.e., in France, and both were to reign under the tricolour flag which they had been taught in youth to detest.
During the absence of his mother and sisters in Vienna the Prince Royal had lost not only his little son, the heir to the throne, but also his wife Clemen- tina, daughter of the Empress of Austria. She was
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survived by her little daughter, named Maria Carolina after her grandmother, who in after years, as Duchesse de Berry, was a familiar figure in the daily life of Marie Am&ie in France, where she played a conspicuous part. The heir to the throne having died, it was neces- sary for the Prince Eoyal to remarry. The Infanta Isabel of Spain was chosen to be his wife, and the Spanish warship that brought her to Naples took back the Princess Antoinette to Spain, she having been married to the Prince of the Asturias in Naples previously by proxy.
The Sicilian royal family were much disappointed with the bride sent to the Prince Royal ; she was short, stout, plain, had very little education, and was of a lethargic temperament. Even the King felt his new daughter-in-law was not up to the mark, and contrasted her deficiencies with the attainments and manners of his accomplished daughters. Princess Marie Am&ie was desired to endeavour to polish and improve her young sister-in-law, but found it quite a hopeless task, as, though the Infanta Isabel was only fourteen, she had a great idea of her own importance as a married woman, wife of the heir to the throne, and declined to take either advice or instruction from her unmarried sister-in-law. However, she suited her hus- band very well, and they were quite happy together, passing their time in riding, hunting and looking after the Prince Royal's farm.
Although many sad and terrible events were taking place in Naples, conspiracies, murders, trial and exe- cution of conspirators, many of whom were notable
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and distinguished persons, and the power of Napoleon was a perpetual menace, yet the Court life was out- wardly undisturbed, and the royal family occupied themselves with amusements of an intellectual order. The musicians, Cimaroso and Paisello, were in the height of their fame as composers ; the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum were a great interest, many beautiful works of art and antiquities were unearthed, and the Princesses Christine and Marie Amelie were often there listening to the explanations of learned men. Every week the Queen gave informal dances for young people which her sons and daughters greatly enjoyed.
One day in July the heat had been unusually op- pressive, the sky became overcast, a tremendous gale arose, and at night a terrible earthquake accompanied by a rumbling noise shook the city. Every one rushed out of their beds and houses into the open air. The princesses spent the night in a carriage outside the palace. At daybreak it was seen that Vesuvius was deprived of its summit, which had been swallowed up in the volcano. Darkness lasted for three days, and the air was thick with showers of ashes. The ground was convulsed for 600 miles around, fifty-nine towns were destroyed, thousands of people lost their lives. The destruction in Naples itself was not so great as in the surrounding country. It was not surprising that Marie Amelie retained all through life a great dread of earthquakes and thunderstorms. Not long before, her apartment at Portici had been struck by lightning and her embroidery frame destroyed.
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In 1806 Napoleon, wanting a kingdom for his brother Joseph, decided to annex Naples, and the Bourbons had again to fly to Sicily. This time they felt it would be never to return, and in her Journal Marie Amelie relates how they went for the last time to the palace chapel for the service of benediction. She says : " After the service mamma addressed the Court in touching words of farewell ; nothing but tears and sobs were heard. I felt my heart break- ing."
In a letter to her daughter, the Empress of Austria, Maria Carolina relates how exasperated she felt at the apathy of Isabel, the Princess Royal, who while the preparations for embarkation were going on and every one else was in the deepest grief, seemed to feel noth- ing. " She is just like a log, understanding and feel- ing nothing, as unconcerned as if nothing was the matter."
The emergency seemed to have aroused the Prince Royal; he and his brother Leopold, full of enthu- siasm, went off to join the Sicilian army in Calabria, when, after a heart-rending farewell, the Queen and her daughters set sail for Sicily, where the King had already gone.1
Their former arrival in Sicily had been of a different character ; they were escorted by a powerful ally, and well provided with money and with everything neces-
1 His last words on leaving the palace, where he had reigned for forty-seven years, were : " Do not forget to bring my supper on board and to keep it hot ". This in the presence of a crowd of courtiers who had assembled to take leave of him.
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sary to transform an old palace into a luxurious abode. On this occasion some of the ships bearing their fur- niture and stores were lost ; they were very short of money and were obliged to help their unfortunate retinue who had lost everything in the wrecked ships, and before long they were obliged to dismiss their servants because they had no money to pay them. So diminished was the royal household that, when the two children of the Prince Royal were taken out walking, the Princess Marie Amelie and her sister had to stay at home, or there would have been no one to look after the palace apartments. The Queen was broken in health and spirit by a succession of mis- fortunes ; she seldom went out. The princesses, who had never before known anything but splendour and luxury in their surroundings, were now to undergo the discipline of poverty and privation. They were scrupulous in attending all church services ; they visited convents and endeavoured to console their mother. England was resolved that Napoleon should not get Sicily, though they had recognised Joseph Bonaparte as King of Naples, and when he was trans- ferred to Spain he was succeeded by Murat, the hus- band of Caroline Bonaparte.1
The English Government allowed King Ferdinando and Queen Maria Carolina £300,000 per annum for the upkeep of their Court and Government ; but Maria Carolina was never one who could stay her hand, and
1 After the fall of Napoleon and her husband's death Caroline Murat came to Paris and Louis Philippe granted her a pension. She always professed great admiration for Marie Amelie.
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there were an immense number of loyalist refugees from Naples to be supported, so that the royal family were always in want of money. The English general said : " There is no order or method in distributing the finances. If Mount Etna were made of gold the royal family would still be poor."
The war in Calabria being over, the Prince Royal and his brother returned to Sicily. The former with his father established himself in a country house and occupied themselves with farming, selling butter and eggs to all comers.
Carlo Felice, Duke of Genoa, brother of the King of Sardinia, had long been attached to the Princess Christine, but in the days of prosperity the Queen of Sicily had not thought him a good enough match for her daughter. But when he now renewed his offer it was gladly accepted ; the marriage was cele- brated at Palermo, and after some stay in Sicily the Duke and Duchess of Genoa went in 1807 to live at the Sardinian Court. The Duke was heir-presump- tive to the Crown.
Princess Marie Amelie was now left alone with her mother, except for the companionship of her second brother, Leopold, Prince of Salerno, a high- minded, accomplished man, with whom she was on the best of terms.
Napoleon had proposed a marriage between Marie Amelie and his stepson, Eugene Beauharnais, Vice- roy of Italy, but this proposal was indignantly re- jected.
The Queen's eyesight had failed, and Marie Amelie
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spent much time in reading to and writing for her. The King only visited them occasionally. In her journal Princess Amelie says that the Queen showed her so much tenderness and affection that these months during which they were thrown on one another for companionship, and which they spent at the Queen's country house at Tamastra, were amongst her dearest recollections.
The year 1808 was rendered memorable to Marie Ame'lie by the arrival in the island of he who was destined to become her husband, Louis Philippe, Due d'Orteans. The Queen had the greatest horror of meeting him, being as he was the son of Egalit£, the bitter enemy of her sister Marie Antoinette, and whose vote for the death of his cousin and King Louis XVI. has made his memory for ever execrable. He had met his reward on the scaffold, and his son Louis Philippe — though he had when a boy kept the door of the Jacobin Club, and witnessed with his governess, the celebrated Mme de Genlis, the storm- ing of the Bastille, and had fought with distinguished gallantry in the Republican army under Dumouriez — had in long years of poverty and exile learned to see what the extreme principles instilled into his mind in youth led to, and to abjure them. He had always looked on his father's conduct with horror and wished to blot out the remembrance of it, and to cast off the reproach attached to his name by establishing re- lations with some of the royal families of Europe. None could serve his purpose better than the Sicilian Bourbons, the bitterest enemies of the Revolution, by
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descent and tradition the perfect embodiment of the monarchical principle in Europe, and closely related to the sovereigns of Spain and Austria.
He wrote an account of his first meeting with the Neapolitan royal family : " The Queen awaited me on the top of the steps at the entrance of her residence at Tamastro ; when I presented myself she took my hand and led me to her room ; there, standing in the recess of a window, she held my head between her hands and gazed at me for some time without speaking. At last she said : " I ought to detest you and yet I feel a liking for you ". She then sent for the princesses. Princess Marie Am&ie records this meeting, in her journal, as follows : " Mamma sent for Isabel and me and presented the Due d'Orteans to us. He is of middle height, inclined to be stout ; he is neither handsome nor ugly. He has the features of the House of Bourbon and is very polite and well edu- cated."
There is an entry in Marie Am&ie's journal on the last day of the year, 1808, in which she wrote : " This year I have made an acquaintance which will prob- ably influence my whole life, and has given rise to new sentiments and ideas in my mind and heart. Clearly seeing the hand of God in the unexpected arrival of the Due d'Orl^ans in this island, and in my parent's feelings towards him, I had thought we were destined to make the happiness of each other's lives. But I desire nothing that is against the will of God, or that will not be for His glory and the welfare of our souls."
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In after years, when King of the French, the Due d' Orleans told Victor Hugo that he had never been really in love but once in his life and that was with his " Governor," Madame de Genlis, though he said : " She educated us ferociously ". But he genu- inely admired and liked Marie Amelie, who had charming manners, an air of great distinction, and was a most accomplished young lady, and he soon found means to win her affections ; his want of for- tune prevented marriage for the present, but they looked upon themselves as engaged. Marie Amelie's brother was sent to Spain to act as regent on the death of the late king, and the Due d'Orleans was to accompany him. Marie Amelie went to see her brother off and the Due d'Orleans escorted her to the place of embarkation. She said how glad she was that he was going with her brother. The Due d'Or- leans replied : " I will take care of him for your sake. Ah ! if you only knew how dear you are to me I Do not forget me ! " " You may rely on me," replied Marie Amelie. " I never change. My affec- tion once given is given for ever." When she left the ship and got into the launch that was to take her to shore, having taken her seat, she cried ; " Adieu, mon cousin ". He replied : " Adieu, ma princesse ".
Marie Amelie at this time was twenty-six years old and the Due d'Orleans thirty-five. This was not the first connection between the House of Orleans and the Kingdom of Sicily. An ancestress of Louis
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Philippe, Anne d'Orteans, daughter of Louis XIV.'s brother Philippe Due d'Orteans and Henrietta Stuart, married Victor Amadeus of Savoy, first King of Sicily, and they were crowned in the cathedral at Palermo with great pomp and magnificence.
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CHAPTER IV.
Notes on the Life of Louis Philippe, Due d'Orleans and his Family — His Political Opinions — His Home, Education, Ad- ventures— His Father's Fate — The French Revolution.
Louis Philippe d'Orleans and Marie Amelie were related, both were descendants in the same degree of Louis XIII., King of France.
Louis XIII.
Louis XIV. Philippe Due d'Orleans
Dauphin The Regent d'Orleans
Philip V. of Spain Louis d'Orleans
Chas. III. of Spain and Naples Louis Philippe d'Orleans
Ferdinando Louis Philippe Joseph
l3galit6 Marie Amelie Louis Philippe, King of the
French
Marie Amelie's descent from Louis XIV. was in the male line, Louis Philippe's both male and female, for his ancestor the regent married Mile, de Blois, daughter of Louis XIV., and his own mother was granddaughter of the Comte de Toulouse, youngest son of Louis XIV.
Louis Philippe was born in Paris, 1773. He was the eldest son of that Duke of Orleans generally known as Philippe Egalite\ though he was reluctant to assume this surname, which was forced on him when he was no longer the leader of the popular
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party but the discredited tool of the Terrorists.1 Philippe Egalite's wife was the only child and heiress of the Due de Penthievre who had inherited the great wealth of his uncle the Due du Maine, as well as that of his father the Due de Toulouse, youngest son of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan. Mile, de Penthievre was good, charitable and pious, ardently attached to the old regime : she fell desper- ately in love with her future husband, then Due de Chartres, at their first meeting, and declared she would never marry any one else. Her father gave his con- sent reluctantly, for the Due de Chartres was noted for his vicious disposition and dissipated habits, and it would have been difficult to find, as far as tastes and dispositions went, a husband less likely to make a young, modest girl happy. She was the greatest heiress in France, so the Due de Chartres was glad to marry her. He had good abilities, was tall and had an air of great distinction, but the vicious excesses of his life at an early age left their mark on his appear- ance. He was bald, his complexion became copper colour, his face was marred with pimples. He had made frequent visits to England and was a friend of
1He had sent his daughter to England for safety. She re- mained there a long time. When he wished her to return to France he was obliged to go to the Hotel de Ville and solicit from Manuel, Procurator of the Syndic, permission for her to re-enter the country. Manuel refused to grant permission unless the Duke of Orleans would assume a new name, and relinquish his title. Pointing to statues of Liberty and Equality which adorned the hall, Manuel proposed to the Duke to take the latter as his new name. The Duke agreed, but with repugnance.
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the regent, afterwards George IV. and admired the English Constitution.
It is necessary to give somewhat lengthy details as to the birth of Louis Philippe, because his legiti- macy has been challenged by Maria Stella, Lady Newborough,1 who maintained that she was the child of the Due and Duchesse de Chartres and that Louis Philippe was the son of Lorenzo Chiappini, a village constable of Modigliana in Tuscany ; that in 1773 the Due and Duchesse de Chartres were travelling in Italy under the name of Comte and Comtesse de Joinville, that the Comtesse gave birth to a daughter at Modigliana in April, 1773, and that this daughter was exchanged for a son born the same day to the wife of Chiappini ; that the reason for this substitution was that the Duchesse de Chartres was very delicate and that if she pre-deceased her husband without leaving a son a large proportion of her immense wealth would revert to her family.
It is not likely that a high-minded woman like the Duchesse de Chartres would have agreed to such a substitution, and it will be shown 2 that she and her husband were not in Italy at the time of the birth of the girl brought up by Chiappini. It is, however, cer- tain that this girl was the daughter of travellers calling themselves Comte and Comtesse de Joinville and was exchanged by them for Chiappini's boy. It has since
1 See The Mystery of Maria Stella, Lady Newborough, by Sir Ealph Payne Gallwey. Published London, 1907.
2 See Les Enigmes de I'Histoire : Philippe figalite' et Chiappini, par M. Maurice Vitrac, de la Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris, 1907.
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been proved1 that these people were a Comte and Comtesse Battaglini, and that the Count was arrested on account of this substitution. Chiappini received a large sum of money with the girl and had her well educated. She went on the stage, Lord Newborough saw and admired her, and married her at Florence in February, 1786.
When on the point of death her supposed father, Chiappini, told her of the substitution, and she ad- vertised for the Comte de Joinville. Apparently the only reason for thinking that she was the child of the Due and Duchesse de Chartres 2 was that Joinville is an estate belonging to the Dues d'Orleans, and there are no other holders of such a title. It was also supposed that she bore a very strong resemblance to the d'Or- leans family, and her supporters contended that Louis Philippe bore no resemblance to the Bourbons, and that he was vulgar in appearance and uncouth in manners! Marie Am&ie, when she first saw him, was struck by the Bourbon features, and at a later date Cuvillier Fleury said : " Were King Louis Phil- ippe to put on the costume of that reign he would be the living image of his ancestor Louis XIV."
The sons of Louis Philippe were remarkably hand- some, distinguished-looking men, the Due de Nemours being always said to bear a striking resemblance to Henri IV. As to manners, Louis XVIII. who was no
1 See Les Enigmes de VHistoire : Philippe Egalite'et Chiappini, par M. Maurice Vitrac, de la Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris, 1907. 2 His father the old Due d'Orleans was still alive, so his title was then Chartres.
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mean judge, and who detested Louis Philippe, said after their first interview when the Revolution was over: "The Due d'Orle*ans both in manners and ap pearance is far superior to the princes of the elder branch of the House of Bourbon, my nephews the Dues d'Angouleme and Berry."
In 1824 Lady Newborough appealed to the Court of the Bishop of Faenza, in whose diocese her baptism took place, for an amending of her baptismal certifi- cate. The Court found as follows : " It is plainly proved that Comte Louis de Joinville exchanged his daughter for the son of Lorenzo Chiappini, and that Demoiselle de Joinville was baptised under the name of Maria Stella, with the false statement that she was the daughter of L. Chiappini and wife."
The copy of the paper authorising the alteration of the baptismal certificate was signed by the Vicar- General. Stella, Lady Newborough, made a request to the Tribunal of the Seine that this act of birth might be considered valid in France, which was re- fused, as it did not prove the descent or domicile of the so-called Comte and Comtesse de Joinville.
When Lady Newborough advertised for the Comte de Joinville, Louis Philippe sent his uncle the Abbe St. Fare to ask what she wanted, and on hearing her story he submitted the matter to the great lawyer Dupin, who ridiculed her claims, for it was known that the Due and Duchesse de Chartres were not in Italy in April, 1773, the date of the birth of Maria Stella.
Records of public events in newspapers of that period prove that figalite was in Paris at that time.
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And it is related that when about that time he asked permission to go to Toulon the King refused, saying the Due de Chartres ought to stay with his wife, who was in an interesting condition, and the law of France would not allow her, a princess of the blood, to leave the country while in that condition, so she could not have been at Modigliana in April, 1773. It would have been very difficult to substitute a changeling born in April for an infant born in October (which was the date of the birth of Louis Philippe) ; when many witnesses were in the room, as was customary at the birth of princes of the blood, and the new- born infant would be passed round for inspection by ministers, officials and members of the family. Would they all allow themselves to be duped, and shut their eyes and speak no word ?
Maria Stella published her Memoirs, which were, however, confiscated by the police. She was under surveillance, but never molested, though she used to place transparent sketches of herself and the d'Orleans family in the windows of her house in Paris and illu- minate them at night that passers-by might compare the likeness. The caricaturists got hold of the story and circulated many offensive pictures of King Chiap- pini. His opponents used the story as a stick to beat the d'Orl6anists with, though, had the story been true and had Louis Philippe been illegitimate, it would not have affected his position as King of the French, elected by the will of the people, although not became he was a Bourbon.
We now give a copy of the register of the birth of
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Louis Philippe, extracted from the National Archives, 1773 :— x
"In this year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, Wednesday, 6th October, the very high powerful and excellent Prince, son of Monseigneur le Due de Chartres, Prince of the Blood, and of the very high powerful and excellent Princess, Mme. la Duchesse de Chartres, Princess of the Blood, born this morning at a quarter to four o'clock, has been privately baptised at the Palais Royal (by express permission of the Archbishop of Paris, dated last 7th September), by M. Andr6 Gautier, Doctor of the Sor- bonne and Almoner to M. the Due de Chartres, in our presence (Cur6 de St. Eustache) and in the pres- ence of the very high and excellent Prince, Monseig- neur the Due de Penthievre, and of M. Louis Comte de Shouberg, Chamberlain of Monsiegneur the Due d'Orleans, and of M. le Comte de Hanolstein. " Signed — L. P. J. d'Orleans.
" L. J. M. de Bourbon.
" L. Comte de Shouberg.
" P. A. Comte de Hanolstein.
" Gautier de Pompart Cure*."
1 All the assertions connected with the proofs of the birth of Louis Philippe are founded on irreproachable testimony — on docu- ments in the National Archives from the series containing the papers of the d'Orleans, Bourbon and Penthievre families. Some are at the Bibliotheque Mazarin, others at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, others at the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal — where the papers of the police are preserved — and at the Bibliotheque Nationale. Volumes containing Archives of Bastille and the Gazette of France of that period have been consulted, and the results published under the direction of M. Vitrac, of the Bibliotheque Nationale.
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The above is taken from the Register of Royal Baptisms at Versailles, and the extract signed by the Curator of Archives. As to the witnesses of the birth, when the first signs of the coming accouchement of the Duchesse de Chartres were perceived, notice was sent to the family and M. le Prince de Conde and the Due de Bourbon soon joined the Dues de Penthievre and de Chartres and were present at the birth ; a few minutes after the birth the child's grandfather, the Due d'Orl&tns, arrived in haste from the country, the Duchesse de Bourbon from Chantilly, the Prince de Conti from l'lsle Adam ; and in their presence the infant was baptised.
In the afternoon the King and Princes sent their congratulations by special messengers.
Three notaries prepared the Act of Birth of this prince of the blood, and it was sent to the King, who signed it in the presence of the dukes and peers.
There were great rejoicings on the d'Orl&ins es- tates, and when the young heir, who was called the Due de Valois, was seen, carried by his nurse, in the gardens of the Palais Royal, he was surrounded by people who wished to have a look at him. The Due de Chartres, his father, gave orders that at certain hours any one after signing their name in the visitors' book might go and see the child in his nursery. Great numbers availed themselves of the permission, and this made the d'Orl^ans family feel that they were, as ever, the most popular of royal princes.
The Due de Penthievre presented his daughter
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with a gift of jewellery, royal in magnificence. When she was sufficiently recovered she, with her husband, her father and other relatives and all the Palais Royal circle of friends were present at a Te Deum in honour of the birth of her son, sung at the Church of St. Eustache.
The Duchesse de Chartres had not recovered her strength sufficiently to enable her to be present at the marriage festivities of the Comte d'Artois, which began on 14th November, and it was not till the 12th December, 1773, that she made her first appearance at Court after the birth of her son, and received the congratulations of the King and Queen.
Louis Philippe was not baptised till 1788, when Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were godparents, and all the royal family were present.
I think the above particulars dispose of the pre- tensions of Maria Stella, Lady Newborough, which, had they been substantiated, would have disqualified the sons and descendants of Louis Philippe from in- heriting the d'Orl^ans estates.
The Due and Duchesse de Chartres had three sons and twin daughters, of whom only one, Princess Adelaide, lived to grow up. No account of the career of Louis Philippe 1 could be adequate without some notice of the remarkable woman to whom his educa- tion and that of his sister and brothers was entrusted, and who exercised so marked an influence over the
1 Louis XVIII. always called Louis Philippe the chef d'o&uvre of Mme. de Genlis, and said : " He was very manly, but owed it to a woman ".
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characters of her pupils, and also, it may be said, over the fortunes of the d'Orl^ans family.
Felicity, daughter of the Marquis de St. Aubin, was born in 1746, of a poor though noble family of the Loire. The nobility of her birth has been sometimes disputed, but as the genealogical proofs of her noble descent had to be carefully examined before she could be admitted as canoness of the Noble Chapter of Alix near Lyons, and she became a member of that order when six years old, the question of her birth is satisfactorily settled. When they grew up the canonesses were free to take vows or not. If they did they obtained a good pension and one of the little houses, each with its garden, grouped around the great Church and Abbaye. If they did not take vows they only received the title of countess and the decoration of the order. This was the case with Felicity de St. Aubin, who received the title of Comtesse de Lancy. When the Comtesse de Lancy was twelve years old her parents moved to Paris. She displayed unusual abilities, and great pains was taken with her education ; her musical and dramatic talents made a sensation, her playing of the harp being specially admired. Though without fortune she was a remarkably fascinating young lady, and there were several suitors for her hand before she was sixteen. She finally made a runaway marriage with the Comte de Genlis, a naval officer, brother of the Marquis de Genlis. Though belonging to an ancient and wealthy family, the Comte de Genlis, being a younger son, could not afford to marry a
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penniless girl, and to escape the opposition of the families to the match the young people took the law into their own hands. After the marriage Felicit6 soon fascinated her husband's relations, and the head of the family, the wealthy Marquise de Puisieux, pre- sented her at Versailles, after the birth of her first child. The young Comtesse de Genlis was much admired and sought after, and finally through the influence of her aunt, Madame de Montesson, who had been privately married to the Due d'Orteans,1 she was appointed lady-in-waiting to the Duchesse de Chartres, wife of the eldest son of the Due d'Orleans, first prince of the blood.
Madame de Genlis was exceedingly attractive, pretty and accomplished, and so amusing that it was impossible to be dull in her company. She soon obtained unbounded influence over both the Due and Duchesse de Chartres, and in due course was appointed first governess to their twin daughters, and afterwards " governor " of their three sons. Probably there was no one in France at that day better able to educate children born to a high position than Mme. de Genlis. She was wide-minded and really fond of study and learning, and all her life had quite a mania for teaching, which showed itself when she was a child in her gathering together the village children round her, and rehearsing to them the instruction she herself had received from her governess. Through all the vicissitudes of her life, and even when she was
1 She was his second wife and the marriage was morganatic.
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quite an old woman, she always had some young girl living with her whom she was educating.
The Due de Chartres spent much time in talking with Mme. de Genlis, and used to discuss all family matters with her. One day he complained that his sons spoke with the accent of Parisian shop boys and had manners to match ; they could no longer be left to the care of servants, a tutor must be found. Mme. de Genlis proposed first one and then another, but none found favour in the eyes of the Duke. At last she said : " How should / do ? "
The Duke was delighted and Mme. de Genlis was gazetted as "Governor of the sons of the Due de Chartres". Mme. de Genlis gives an amusing account of her first relations with Louis Philippe. She says : * "At eight years old M. le Due de Valois was idle and inattentive to an unheard of degree. On the first occasion of his coming to me for instruc- tion I began to read aloud a tale from French history and I was extremely surprised to see him lie down on the sofa and put his feet on the table at which we were sitting. Nor did he listen to my reading, but yawned and stretched himself. In order that we might understand one another I at once put him in the corner. I had to cure him of silly habits and the use of vulgar expressions, but however much I scolded him he bore no ill-will. From the first I was struck by the good sense that seemed natural to him, and by his astonishing memory. He became passion- ately attached to me."
1 Me" moires de Mme. de Genlis. 84
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In after years Mme. de Genlis said of him : " He learned everything, remembered everything and formed his own opinions on it. There was hardly any department of knowledge or art in which he was not at home." This he owed to Mme. de Genlis, for he remained under her supervision till he attained the age of seventeen.
Taking her duties seriously, Mme. de Genlis re solved to leave the Court and devote herself entirely to the care and education of the children. At her request the Due de Chartres took a house for them at Bellechasse in the suburbs of Paris where she established herself with the twin princesses, one of whom died of small-pox when five years old. The young princes, Louis Philippe, then called Comte de Valois, and his brothers the Due de Montpensier and the Comte de Beaujolais, slept at the Palais Royal, the town residence of the House of Orleans, and were escorted to Bellechasse by their tutors every morning.
The nephew and niece of Mme. de Genlis, Caesar Ducrest and Henrietta de Searcey shared the edu- cation of the d'Orleans children.
The Pavilion at Bellechasse where they pursued their studies was fitted up with all necessary appli- ances, the walls were adorned with historical and my- thological paintings and maps.
Mme. de Genlis wished to make her pupils hardy — none but the plainest food was served ; Princess Adelaide had to sleep on a hard bed and get up at six every morning. After their regular hours of study were over, the young people had no respite, even
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their recreations were made to serve the purpose of education.1 After dinner they had no play, they had to take turns in reading aloud historical books or to listen while Mme. de Genlis read to them works she had composed for their benefit. They were expected to make comment, and if their remarks were point- less or badly expressed, their preceptress let them see her displeasure. Another amusement was to act scenes in history, and the boys fought again celebrated battles or sieges in the garden. Sometimes they were all taken to Paris to visit museums, picture-galler- ies, or manufactories, details as to which had been pre- viously communicated to them from the pages of En- cyclopaedias. Mademoiselle de Navailles 2 relates how she once accompanied the party on one of these expeditions. They visited a pin factory, and another establishment where vinegar and mustard were made. Some of the party paid no attention, but made jokes amongst themselves, which annoyed Mme. de Genlis. She spoke to them severely, reproached the princes for making no remarks on what they saw, and forbade the young ladies to talk.
Every Saturday Mme. de Genlis received a select society at Bellechasse, at first composed of literary and artistic people and scientific professors, but later on of all the Revolutionary leaders. At these gather- ings her pupils were always present. She wished to
1 The boys were taught carpentering, in which Louis Philippe became very proficient.
2 She became Mme. de Gontaut, and left Mdmoires. Governess of children of Due de Berry.
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accustom them to social intercourse and to form their manners.
Mr. Swinburne, who was in Paris, 1766, says in his journal : " 14th January. Spent the evening at Bellechasse with Mme. de Sillery.1 The Due de Chartres (Louis Philippe) is very well educated and well mannered, but rather formal and dressy. Beau- jolais is a fine spirited boy. Mile. Adelaide petite, but pretty."
The Duchesse de Orleans was for many years very fond of Mme. de Genlis, and blind to the nature of the intimacy between the Due and the Gouvernante. Considering the character of the Due d'Orl^ans, it was not surprising that Mme. de Sillery-Genlis' reputation suffered, though she always protested her perfect innocence, and as it was well known that the Due had had many mistresses it is difficult to see why Mme. de Genlis should have been pitched upon as the alleged cause of the estrangement of the Due and Duchesse d'Orteans. It was more on account of the latter's disapproval of the tone of the education imparted by Mme. de Genlis,2 her horror of the new revolu- tionary ideas, and her dislike that her children should associate as they did with the leaders of that party, that the Duchesse demanded the dismissal of the Gouvernante, It is certain that Mme. de Genlis had
1 The Oomte de Genlis had inherited the estate and title of Sillery. Louis Bhilippe was now Duo de Chartres, his grandfather having died.
2 Mme. de Genlis gave balls at Bellechasse, where her pupils danced to the tune of " ga ira," and she wore a tricolour robe.
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estranged the children's affection. The three eldest certainly preferred her to their mother and were en- tirely under her influence.
The Duchesse left the Palais Royal and refused to return till Mme. de Genlis had been dismissed. The latter had to go, but Adelaide d'Orl^ans was so devoted to her governess that she fell dangerously ill from her distress at the separation, and Mme. de <*enlis was recalled.
Her literary reputation stood very high, and she is accused of spreading the influences which afterwards caused the French Revolution. Like many others she was impressed with the crying evils of the time and the poverty and misery of the French people, and welcomed the new ideas of freedom and equality as the beginning of a new era, when wrongs should be redressed and the happiness of humanity be secured. Little did they think they were unchaining forces that they would be unable to control, and preparing the way for horrors from which they shrank in abhor- rence. Most of them fell victims to the ruin and death which they had brought on others.
What is inexcusable, if true, is the part Mme. de Genlis played in the circulation of infamous pamphlets concerning the Queen and Court ; she is credited with being the author of some of them.
The Due d'Orl^ans had always been the leader of the popular party against the Court. He detested Marie Antoinette.1 He was supposed to aim at the
1 It is said because she interfered to prevent the marriage of his daughter, Princess Adelaide, with the Due d'Angouleme, son of
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throne. At one time he was the idol of the mob, who used to cry : " Vive le roi d' Orleans," and at the be- ginning of the Revolution the d'Orleans' liveries were the only ones not insulted by the mob. Eventually these colours, the red, white and blue, became the emblem of the Revolution, the tricolour flag.
Mme. de Genlis even took her pupils to the Cor- deliers' Club, where they saw " cobblers, porters and the lowest classes with their wives mounting the tribune and shouting against nobles, priests and the rich ".
Louis Philippe was made a member of the Jaco- bins' Club. However, the d'Orleanist party was soon swamped by the Extremists.
In the list, published 1792, of heads on which a price was set by order of the Assemblee des Feuillants the name of Philippe Egalite appeared ; against it was set the following description : " He was for many years a rogue, a gambler and a libertine, but in con- sideration of the services he rendered to the country in the hour of danger, though he was actuated by interested motives, he will only be deprived of his rights to the throne ".1
The state of affairs was so precarious in 1791 that the Due d'Orleans begged Mme. de Genlis to take his daughter, Princess Adelaide, to England to be out
Comte d'Artois, and, in the event of Dauphin's death, heir to crown.
1 He himself said he never aimed at the crown, his only ambi- tion being to live as an English squire, which position he thought most enviable.
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of the way. They remained there a year and were recalled to France by the Due d'Orleans in order to prevent the Princess Adelaide being placed on the list of emigres, which entailed loss of rights as a French citizen and confiscation of property.
On the return to France, Mme. de Genlis heard from her husband that Philippe Egalite was doomed ; he was no longer of use to the Terrorists and they meant to get rid of him.1
Mme. de Genlis had delayed obeying the sum- mons and arrived too late to prevent the Princess Adelaide being placed on the list of emigres. France was no safe place for her, and her father implored Mme. de Genlis, who wished to resign her post, to take his daughter across the frontier to Tournay.
In her Memoires Mme. de Genlis gives an account of the farewell at Raincy. " We started next morn- ing. M. le Due gave me his arm to the carriage ; he
1 Mme. de Genlis, though seeing very little of him, was always on perfectly good terms with her husband, who, though at first an admirer of revolutionary ideas, was a humane and honourable man, and viewed the excesses of the revolutionaries with horror. After recording his vote against the death of Louis XVI. he circulated copies of his opinion on that event, in which he said : "I did not vote for the King's death —
" 1st. Because he did not deserve it.
" 2nd. Because we have no right to judge him.
" 3rd. Because I consider it the greatest political mistake that could be made."
Sillery-Genlis knew that he was signing his own death-warrant in publishing this declaration, but almost mad with horror at the state of France, and disgusted with life, he was indifferent to hi$ fate. He was beheaded in 1796.
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was pale and trembling. I was much agitated ; Made- moiselle was in tears. When we were in the carriage the Due d'Orleans stood in silence by the door with his eyes fixed upon me ; his gloomy, sorrowful look seemed to implore pity ; he seemed to forbode the fate awaiting him. I held out my hand, which he pressed, then he signed to the postilion to start. Neither I nor his daughter ever saw him again."
The Due de Chartres, Louis Philippe, escorted his sister to Tournay. At this time the trial of Louis XVI. was taking place. Philippe Egalite when voting for his death said his soul and conscience required him to do so. But history relates that as he pro- nounced the vote even Terrorists shook their heads, and a groan and shudder ran through the assembly.
His name was execrated throughout Europe, and when he visited England and appeared in Vaux- hall Gardens he was shunned as if he had the pest.
His own days were numbered ; he had exhausted much of his wealth, which he had spent for Revolu- tionary purposes, and was no longer useful to his party, who had long got beyond the idea of a constitutional monarchy or indeed any kind of government with a king at its head.
"One king no sooner guillotined than another made in his stead ? No ! the French patriots will have the whole race of Bourbons cleared off* the soil of France with Egalite to bring up the rear. Poor Orleans Egalite, one ever begins to pity him.
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Rejected of all parties, to what corner of Nature can he drift for safety V'1 '
It was said that he was observed sitting in a cab in the Place de la Revolution to witness the execu- tion of Louis XVI. When he himself was brought to trial, his vote was one of the crimes alleged against him. He had been arrested in Paris while playing whist at the Palais Egalit6 (so the Palais Royal was then called), transported to Marseilles where he was imprisoned, and remained in durance six months and was then brought back to Paris.
" His indictment was soon drawn, his jury soon convinced. He finds himself made guilty of Royalism and conspiracy, nay it is a guilt in him that he voted the King's death, though he answers, ' I voted in my soul and conscience '. The doom he himself finds is death. 6th November, 1793, is the last day that Philippe is to see. On that morning he called for breakfast, oysters, two cutlets, best part of an ex- cellent bottle of claret, and consumed it with relish. An emissary from the Convention came saying that he might still render service to the State by telling the truth about a plot or two. Philippe answered that in the pass things had come to, the State had small claim on him, but in the interests of Liberty he was willing to give reasonable answers to reasonable questions, and leaning his elbow on the mantel-piece he conversed in an undertone with great composure till the summons came. At the door of the Conciergerie his attitude was erect and easy, almost commanding.
1 See Carlyle's French Revolution. The unapproachable work of genius which will always rank as one of the great books of the world.
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" Three poor blackguards were to die with him ; it is said they objected to ride in his company, and had to be flung "in neck and crop. The gallows vehicle gets under way. Philippe's dress is remarked for its elegance, green frock-coat, waistcoat of white pique, yellow buckskins, polished patent leather boots ; his air entirely composed, impassive, even easy. The tumbril passed slowly through the streets amid exe- crations. The cruel populace stopped him for some minutes at the home of his ancestors the Palais Royal> in front of which in huge tricolor letters was written : 'National Property'. For one instant Philippe's eyes flashed Hell-Fire, but the next instant he sat impassive. On the scaffold Samson was for drawing off his boots : ' Tush ' said Philippe, ' they will come off better after ; let us have done, depictions nous \ His last words. He was not then entirely without good qualities, such as courage. God forbid that any living man should be without virtue of some kind* But probably no mortal ever had worse things recorded against him."1
Louis Philippe was with his sister at Tournay when they heard of the execution of Louis XVI. They were horrified, and more especially at their father's share in the matter.
Louis Philippe wrote to his father in terms which it is said Philippe Egalite never forgave, and said he would never come back to France. Louis Philippe had fought bravely in the Republican army against
1 See Carlyle's French Bevolution. 93
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the allied forces that were invading France, and dis- tinguished himself by his conspicuous bravery at the Battles of Valmy and Jemappes.1
But the Convention suspected their General Dumouriez, of Royalist sympathies and a desire to enter into a treaty with Austria which had for its object the placing of Louis Philippe on the throne of France. Commissioners were sent to arrest both Dumouriez and Louis Philippe, who had at that time gone to pay a visit to his sister at Tournay. Dumou- riez had accompanied him, wishing to pay his respects to the Princess d'Orleans. She had been condemned to death " for contumacy," and it was felt she was no longer safe at Tournay. Mme. de Genlis intended going on into Switzerland and wished to leave Ade- laide d'Orleans in the charge of her brother and Du- mouriez, but they themselves were in danger of arrest and knew that their troops were in a state of insur- rection. Mme. de Genlis had made her own pre- parations for departure, but had not told Princess Adelaide of this, wishing to avoid a painful farewell scene.
" On a cold grey April morning, established in her hired vehicle on the streets of St. Amand, Mme. de Genlis was on the point of starting, postilions were cracking their whips, when Louis Philippe (who had previously used every effort to induce Mme. de Genlis to take his sister with her) appeared on the scene. He
1 Dumouriez spoke of him as the bravest among the brave, and said, " Far from desiring to ascend the throne, he would have fled to the end of the earth to avoid it ".
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had clutched the young Princess from her bed and bore her in his arms in her nightdress and dressing-gown ; he pushed her into the carriage among the bandboxes. A shrill scene, but a brief one, and off they go, through by-roads and hill-passes, and perils of conflicting armies safe into Switzerland, but almost moneyless. " 1
Louis Philippe up to the present time had been warmly attached to Mme. de Genlis and completely under her influence. He had an immense admiration for her, as a very young man admires a fascinating woman older than himself,2 but her egoism on this occasion opened his eyes and entirely changed his feelings towards her from that time forth.
After the Conference at Ath the Due de Chartres was himself obliged to fly from the French army ; he travelled through Germany in a dogcart and rejoined his sister at Schaffhausen. At Frankfort he read in a newspaper a report of a sitting of the Convention in which it had been said, " Let us put a price on the head of all fugitive Bourbons. I have already de- manded the death of the Due d'Orleans."
Adelaide d'Orleans with her brother and Mme. de Genlis moved from one place to another in Switzer- land. As soon as it was found out who they were the authorities refused to allow them to remain.
At last General Montesquiou Fezensac, a deputy
1 Garlyle's French Revolution.
2 In his journal, 1st Jan., 1791 (he was then eighteen) he wrote : " I was the first to have the pleasure of wishing my good friend Mme. de Genlis a happy New Year. I do not know what would become of me if I had to leave her."
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of the nobility of 1789, who had taken refuge in Switzerland and had rendered important services to the City of Geneva, found an asylum for Mile. d'Or- leans and Mme. de Genlis in a convent at Bremgarten. To Louis Philippe the General said : " The only thing for you to do is to wander about in the mountains, not making a stay anywhere.1
He never saw his sister again till fifteen years had passed. Accompanied only by his faithful servant Beaudoin he traversed Switzerland on foot, an ex- penditure of thirty sous a day being the utmost he could afford for food, lodging and all other needs. " When he had only thirty francs left in the world he made his way back to Montesquiou, who obtained for him the position of Professor of Mathematics at the College of Reichenau, in the Grisons, with a salary of £75 per annum. He assumed the name of Cha- baud Latour, an emigrant to whom the position had been offered but who failed to present himself. Neither the masters nor pupils knew who Louis Philippe was, but he was much liked and respected. M. de Salis, a gentleman of high birth, was so much pleased with his manners that he offered him the post of tutor in his family. He was described as having a melancholy air, but quiet and modest in manner."
While at Reichenau he heard of his fathers death, after being there a year. He was overwhelmed with grief and humiliation, but as he was now Due d'Orl&ins he felt it his duty to take steps for the safety of his
1 In some towns in Germany placards were seen announcing, " Neither Jews, vagabonds nor emigrants are allowed to stay here ".
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mother, sister and brothers, and knowing that his father had invested large sums in England he wished to make an effort to obtain these resources, and to go with his family to America, there to live in retire- ment and forget the sufferings of his youth and the disgrace his father had brought on the name of Orleans. His mother, the Duchesse d'Orleans, had been uni- versally loved and respected and was left unmolested longer than the other members of the family, but she had at last been imprisoned in the Conciergerie, and was only released on the death of Robespierre, which opened so many prison doors and , saved the lives of many who were there awaiting death. The two younger Orleans princes were still in prison at Mar- seilles. Louis Philippe left Reichenau, and getting a passport under the name of Corby (through the influence of a friend, Captain Yost St. Georges) he went to visit his sister at Bremgarten where he met an old friend, Mme. de Flahaut, who used her influence with the late American ambassador in Paris, Governor Morris,1 to obtain for him a sum of money sufficient to transport him to England and America. He went to Hamburg to await this necessary succour. There he met many of those who had belonged to the Constitutional party in France whose hopes had revived after the death of Robespierre.
The Comte de Provence, after the death of the Dauphin to the Temple, had proclaimed his right to the throne under the title of Louis XVIII. , but his
1 Morris had received much hospitality from the Duchesse d' Orleans when he was American ambassador in Paris.
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emissaries in France met with only limited encourage- ment, the Royalists promising their adherence " only if Monseigneur the Due d'Orl^ans does not come to place himself at our head". This induced Louis XVIII. to try to come to an understanding with Louis Philippe, and he sent Baron de Roll with a letter written by his own hand to assure Louis Philippe that he only required a viva voce assurance of repent- ance for " wanderings from the right path and regret- table errors" to receive him as first prince of the blood and to give him a commission in the army of Cond6.
The Due d'Orl6ans proved unmanageable. "Er- rors and wanderings," he said. "Does the King number me among the rebels who in his Procla- mation he calls Traitors to the God of their Fathers and rebellious against the authority which God has ordained to govern them 1 1
" So long as his Majesty does not make known his intention of giving France a limited monarchy, I shall consider it my first duty not to participate in measures that are contrary to my principles and opinions, which I cannot and never will sacrifice."2 He also added that if he was known as an adherent
1 Louis XVIII.'s Proclamation on the death of his nephew had left no doubt that if he obtained the throne he would place the monarchy on exactly the same footing as before the Bevolution, taking no account of the changes in ideas and manners that had taken place, nor of the desire of many Loyalists for Constitutional changes.
2 The Emperor of Russia said that Louis Philippe was the only Bourbon who was really a Liberal at heart, or understood liberal ideas.
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of Louis XVIII., whose agents were plotting the over- throw of the Directory, he would compromise the safety of his mother and two brothers in France.
In 1793 the Duchesse d'Orleans, his mother, had been set at liberty, but her estates were sequestered and her two younger sons still in prison in Marseilles. She entered into negotiations with the Government of the Directory, who wishing to get rid of Louis Philippe, who as known favourite of the Constitutional party was a danger to the stability of the Directory, agreed to release the young princes and ameliorate the position of the Duchess on condition that they should go to America, and that their elder brother, the Due d'Orleans, should have preceded them to that country.
Louis Philippe could not remain deaf to his mother's entreaties. He arrived in Philadelphia in October, 1796, and was joined there by his brothers in February, 1797.
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CHAPTER V.
Life of Louis Philippe after the execution of his father — Exile in America and England — Visits Sicily — Prejudice against him — Becomes engaged to the Princess Marie Amelie, daughter of the King and Queen of the Two Sicilies — Marriage and life in Sicily — Fall of Napoleon and Restoration of Louis XVIII. — The Due d'Orleans returns to France.
The three d'Orleans princes travelled about in Amer- ica staying first in one place then in another. When they visited Cuba the Spanish Government, which was allied with the Directory, seized them and put them in prison. They contrived to escape to New York, and in January, 1800, obtained permission to go to England, which for a long time had refused to receive them. On arriving in England they took a house at Twickenham, where they lived very comfortably, but had a most modest establishment, their court consist- ing only of one loyal friend, M. de Montjoie. The Due d'Orleans went a great deal into society in Lon- don, and became very English in his manner of life and his dress.
The Comtesse de Boigne,1 an old family friend who saw a good deal of the young princes, says : " JVL
1 Memoirs of Comtesse de Boigne. 100
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le Due d'Orleans was fairly good looking, but had no distinction either in figure or manners. He never seemed quite at his ease. His conversation, though interesting, was somewhat pedantic for a man of his age. The Due de Montpensier was passionately fond of music, the Due d'Orleans tolerated it for his brother's sake. The three brothers were deeply at- tached to each other."
Their long sojourn in the prisons of Marseilles had ruined the health of both the younger brothers, who showed symptoms of consumption. Of this fell dis- ease the Due de Montpensier fell a victim. He was buried in Westminster. A warm climate being thought necessary for Beaujolais, he was sent to Malta, and his brother wrote and asked permission of Ferdinando IV. to bring his brother to Sicily, but before permission arrived Beaujolais was dead at Malta. He was twenty-eight years old.
The Due d'Orleans went to Sicily to thank the King for the permission given, and to pay his respects to the royal family, and his engagement to Princess Marie Amelie was arranged. By this time Napoleon was in power in France, and the Due d'Orleans saw that it was for his interest to unite with the older branch of the Bourbons (Louis XVIII. and Comte d'Artois and his sons), and a reconciliation was effected while he was in England. At a subsequent meeting Louis XVIII. acknowledged that both in ap- pearance, manners and ability, the Due d'Orleans was superior to his cousins, the Due de Angoul6me and de Berry, sons of Comte d'Artois. Louis Philippe's
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opinions had modified, and a letter1 written at this time is extant in which he says : "If the wrongful employment of force succeeds in placing on the throne of France in fact, but not by right, any other than our legitimate King, we shall follow the voice of honour which bids us appeal in his name till our last breath to God, to Frenchmen, and our sword. I am bound to the King of France, my elder and my master, by all the oaths that can bind a man, by all the obligations that can bind a prince."
His name was among the signatures of the royal family protesting against the usurpation of Napoleon, and also against the execution of the Due d'Enghien ; but he took no part in the intrigues of the emigres.
The financial position of both sides prevented the immediate marriage of Louis Philippe and Marie Amelie. Meanwhile the King of Spain had abdicated, and Napoleon had taken the Spanish royal family to France. The Spaniards rose in insurrection against the French, and Ferdinando, King of Sicily, declared himself Regent of Spain, and sent his second son Leopold, Duke of Salerno, to represent him. Leopold was only eighteen, and, burning for an opportunity to distinguish himself, Due d'Orleans asked leave to accompany him, and to fight against the armies of Napoleon. He and the Duke of Salerno landed in Spain in 1810, but the English Government inter- fered, the expedition came to nothing, and the two princes had to return to Sicily.
The Due d'Orleans then went to Barcelona, where 1 By Due d'Orleans. 102
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his mother had taken refuge, to obtain her necessary consent to his marriage. When on 6th September, 1797, a Decree of the Five Hundred expelled "la Citoyenne Egalite" " 1 and " la Citoyenne Verite " 2 from France, a member of the Council of the Five Hundred, Rouzet, asked permission to accompany them, for he had himself been imprisoned under the Terror, and had made the acquaintance of the Duchesse d'Orl^ans and become devoted to her. His respectful attach- ment was inspired as much through pity for her misfortunes as by admiration for the smiling philo- sophy with which she bore them.
The Duchesse d'Orl£ans, though of a sweet and pure nature, had not great strength of mind, or perhaps years of neglect from her husband and separa- tion from her family disposed her to be touched by the admiration and devotion of Rouzet. He obtained unbounded influence over her, called himself her Chancellor, and through her influence obtained from the King of Spain the title of Comte de Folmont.3 The position he thenceforward took up in her house- hold was the cause of her estrangement from the Due d'Orl^ans and her daughter, Princess Adelaide, who, after many years' exile, first with Mme. de Genlis at Bremgarten, and then with her aunt, the Princesse de Conti, at Fribourg, and in Bavaria and Hungary, had at last succeeded in joining her mother in Spain. She remained with her six years, and finally decided
1 Duchesse d'Orleans.
2 Her sister-in-law, Duchesse de Bourbon.
* See Le Notres Vieux Papiers, le Comte de Folmont.
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to join her brother at Malta and then in Sicily, where she was introduced to her future sister-in-law, and received with much consideration.
While the Due d'Orleans had been in Spain a party had been formed at the Sicilian Court to pre- judice King Ferdinando against him, and to oppose the marriage. They objected to the boundless ambition of Louis Philippe, his want of means, and the strait- ened circumstances of the Sicilian royal family who would have to support his household; and his mother withheld her consent. The course of true love never yet ran smooth, and it was not till Marie Amelie had declared that if the marriage was not allowed she would become a Capuchin nun, that the King gave way. The Queen of Sicily, how- ever, exacted the presence of the Due d'Orleans' mother at the wedding, and he went to Mahon in Minorca to persuade her. * The Duchesse d'Or- leans required the consent of the King (Comte de Provence, Louis XVIII.) to this marriage of the first Prince of the Blood. This obtained, she no longer withheld her own, and arrived in Palermo for the wedding. Maria Carolina received her very graciously, and the Duchesse d'Orleans reminded her that in 1776, when she and her husband were travelling in Italy, Queen Maria Carolina had said to her, "If God gives me a daughter I should like her to marry your eldest son, the Due de Valois, as his title then was ".
1 The entrance into Spain of Napoleon's army obliged her to leave Barcelona and Figueras.
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Chapel in the Palace at Palermo, where Marie Amelie
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The contract was signed on the 15th November, 1809 ; the letters of Louis XVIII., dated Hartwell, England, were annexed. But King Ferdinando met with an accident and broke his leg, so the marriage was postponed till 25th November, and as the King could not stand, it had to be celebrated in his room. An altar was erected there, and the ceremony was per- formed by Mgr. Monarchia.
Marie Amelie's wedding-dress was of cloth of silver of Sicilian manufacture. She wore a tiara of diamonds and some white feathers in her hair. An entry in her journal of this date says : " Knowing the sacredness of the tie I was about to form, I was filled with emotion and my limbs tottered under me, but the Due d'Orl^ans pronounced his 'Yes' in such a resolute voice that it gave me courage ".
After the ceremony in the King's room, the wed- ding party went to the chapel for a " Te Deum " and the Service of Benediction. The Palace chapel is very small but beautifully proportioned, and is one of the most interesting and remarkable specimens of Saracenic-Byzantine architecture in existence.
After the service in chapel the bride and bride- groom went out on the balcony of the Palace to show themselves to the populace, and by command of the King supped alone with himself and the Queen.
In order to avoid the friction which inevitably arises in royal as well as other families, when house- holds live in too close intimacy, the King had given his daughter the Palazzo Santa Teresa, afterwards
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known as Palazzo d'Orleans, as a residence ; but it required repairs, and for a while the newly married couple had to remain in a set of apartments allotted to them in the Royal Palace ; but in superintending the work at Santa Teresa the Due d'Orleans found scope for indulging the love of building, which was one of his prominent characteristics. Ferdinando said of his son-in-law : " He has ' mal del pietro ' ".
Just before his marriage the Due d'Orleans wrote the following letter to a friend, M. de Guilherry : "I am about to marry the lady you wished me to marry, and if I were all that I am not, and if the times were what they are not, it would be difficult for me to make a marriage in any respect more advantageous to me. What a benefit it will be to me! What a slap at prejudice ! What a means of reconciliation with the elder branch of my family, and of entering into close relations with the royal family of Austria ! What an advantage for me to marry a Bourbon ! "
Marie Amelie was twenty-seven years old and knew something of the world, so she was not sur- prised to find her married life one of trouble; but she endeavoured to acquire an imperturbable temper, and to be as unmoved by the petty difficulties of domestic life as by great trials.
M. de Folmont caused trouble between the Dowager Duchesse d'Orleans and her son and his wife.
Besides this there were the difficulties caused by straitened means, for when Queen Maria Carolina was exiled the English Government also stopped the
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payment of 2,000 ounces monthly, which it had been arranged should be given to Marie Amelie when she married. But her great affection for her husband enabled her to be happy in spite of all this. That the Due d' Orleans, for other than political reasons, was lucky in his wife we can well imagine, for she had been trained by a mother who, whatever defects of character she may have had, was certainly a de- voted and affectionate wife to an unfaithful husband, her inferior in mind and manners.
That speech of the Queen of Naples is often quoted, in which she expressed her indignation to her granddaughter, the Archduchess Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife, who forsook him in the day of adversity. She said to her : " When one is married it is for life. You should have tied your bed-curtains together and let yourself out of the window to rejoin him, rather than have deserted him in the hour of trial."
This was the sentiment expressed by Maria Caro- lina, though Napoleon had been her direst enemy.
Marie Amelie, in being allowed to choose her own husband, was more fortunate than most prin- cesses of her time, whose marriages were generally arranged for political reasons only. The greater num- ber, when hardly beyond the age of childhood, were sent to distant countries, where a different language was spoken and different manners and customs to those of their homes obtained, to marry men whom they had never seen and who were often most un- congenial and unsuitable husbands.
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There was much happiness in the beginning of Marie Amelie's married life. Her husband's sister, Adelaide d'Orl^ans, between whom and Louis Phil- ippe a very true and deep affection existed, made her home with them. The sisters-in-law were great friends, and Mile. Adelaide gave French lessons to Marie Amelie,1 who called her "My dear good Adelaide". In her journal Marie Amelie describes her sister-in-law as follows : " She is about my height, her face is large, and she has a wide mouth. Her eyes are very fine and she has beautiful fair hair. She seems very amiable and witty, and pleases me greatly."
Adelaide d' Orleans was a very remarkable woman, with much intellect, practical ability and strength of mind. She was destined to play a prominent part in the future of her brother and his family ; indeed she has been termed "one of the factors which de- termined the history of Europe in the beginning of the nineteenth century".
The Palazzo d' Orleans became the rendezvous of all the clever and interesting people who came to Sicily, but differences of opinion on political matters between the Queen and the Due d'Orleans caused many painful scenes, and Marie Amelie was placed in a painful position between her love for her mother and her conviction (which she retained through life) that it was impossible for her husband to be in the wrong. The Prince Royal shared the liberal ideas
1 Even during her married life in France she wrote her daily journal in the Italian language.
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of the Due d' Orleans, but the Queen was so con- vinced that the French Revolution had been caused by the weak concessions of Louis XVI., that she would not even agree to reasonable reforms. The whole island was in a state of insurrection, and Lord William Bentinck, British ambassador at Palermo, was obliged to interfere, saying that England could not allow such a state of affairs to continue in a country whose Government and Court owed its ex- istence to the protection of English arms and the support of English money. He had a very high opinion of the Due d'Orl6ans, and said : " All the troubles of the Sicilian Government came from their not knowing how to profit by the treasure they had in the Due d'Orleans ".
King Ferdinando was obliged to abdicate in favour of his son, and Bentinck was named Captain-general of Sicily.
Botta, in his History of Naples, says : " The people are like the climate — always in extreme. On the one side we see extreme benevolence and ideal virtue ; on the other, hatred approaching ferocity. The his- tory of the Two Sicilies is that of conspiracies, civil wars, foreign wars, conflagrations, treachery, exe- cutions of the just and the unjust, acts of heroism and invincible courage. A Republic contaminated by rapine, Ferdinando twice driven away and re- stored, a Republic the slave of France, a Monarchy the slave of England. A Republic established by the agency of a soldier, a Monarchy restored by a priest (Ruffo). Those who fawned on the King or
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Championnet, afterwards fawned on Joseph Bonaparte and his successor Murat."
In the edict of 18th July, 1808, when Napoleon appointed his "well-beloved brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, Grand- duke of Berg, to the throne of Naples and Sicily, vacant by the succession of my brother Joseph to the throne of Spain," it was added that if Caroline Murat survived her husband she should suc- ceed to the throne before her sons. She had more capacity than any of the other sisters of Napoleon, and when she arrived at Naples her beauty and grand air, and her four charming children, were greatly admired.
To hear of the homage paid to her by the fickle Neapolitans was gall and wormwood to Maria Caro- lina, in Sicily.
Though Bentinck had been appointed to be Captain- general of Sicily, Maria Carolina would not yield to his authority, and he felt that there would be no peace in the island so long as she remained there to influence the King, and he insisted on her retir- ing to Austria. Her youngest son, Leopold, Duke of Salerno, accompanied her.
Until Marie Amelie married the Due d'Orleans it had never occurred to her to question the policy or government of her parents, but now her eyes were opened. At this time she wrote in her journal : " My heart was torn by conflicting emotions, sentiments of filial love, love of country, compassion, justice and honour. I seemed to float in a sea of anguish."
To her cousin, the Emperor of Austria, she wrote
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commending to his care " the mother whose departure causes me the deepest affliction ".
But the mother and daughter never met again, for in 1814 Queen Maria Carolina was found dead in her bedroom at Vienna, having been struck with apoplexy. In her last years at Vienna her chief pleasure was the company of Napoleon's little son, the King of Rome, her only great-grandchild. This boy's godmother was Caroline Murat, who had usurped Maria Carolina's throne.
Queen Maria Carolina's influence at Vienna was a thing of the past, and at her death the Murats showed more respect to her memory than the Austrian Court, which did not go into mourning for her, while the Murats postponed the Court functions that were about to take place when the news of her death reached Naples.
Maria Carolina had many fine qualities, but she could not realise that there must be a change in the governance of the world, that there was to be a new order of things because the old had accomplished its purpose.
The departure of the Queen from Sicily delivered the Due d'Orleans from a very insecure position. She had not scrupled to declare that he was the moving spirit of the Opposition in Sicily, and made Ferdinando remove him from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Sicilian army. The Due d'Orleans would not act against his principles, and when some of his friends who were leaders of the Reform party were arrested, he quite expected to meet with the same treatment.
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For a long time he kept a horse ready saddled and bridled in order to be able to take flight at a moment's notice.
It must have been a most trying position for Marie Amelie, what with anxiety for her husband's safety, and the pain of hearing her mother inveighing against him, and regretting that she had allowed the marriage.
Besides these family and political discussions, the married life of Marie Amelie was clouded by pecuniary trouble. The d'Orleans apparently had no resources except the pensions allowed to the Due d'Orleans and his mother and sister by the English Government, and they were not paid punctually. Poor Louis Philippe had incessantly to write begging letters, and applied to the Duke of Kent and Duke of Portland to use their influence to get these pensions paid.
Prospects seemed to brighten when the Catalonian Government offered Louis Philippe a post in the army opposing Napoleon in Spain. This expedition, how- ever, came to nought, and Louis Philippe returned de- jected to Sicily- During his absence a son had been born to him, the Due de Chartres. He had looked forward to this child's birth with great joy and hopeful- ness. Writing to his friend Guilherry, he had said : " My wife will soon make me a father, Alleluia ".
When writing after the child's birth Marie Amelie, to whom her sister-in-law had imparted her own ambitious views, said : "July, 1810. Every one here looks upon your son as likely to become heir-pre- sumptive to the throne of France." When he returned to Palermo, Marie Amelie had the joy of presenting
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their son to him. To a friend she describes her boy as " ravishing, very like his father ". Two daughters were born while they were in Sicily.1 The English Govern- ment insisted that the Due d'Orleans should live as a private person in Sicily. He chafed against this, and longed to be able to leave what was to him " sleepy hollow ".2 But it was not until the fall of Napoleon, at the end of 1813, that a wider field was open to his energies. On the 23rd April, 1814, the English man- of-war, Aboukir, brought the news to Palermo.
The Due d'Orleans rushed into his wife's room exclaiming " Bonaparte is done for ! Louis XVIII. is re-established, and I am off to France in this ship which has come to fetch me ! "
Marie Amelie and her sister-in-law Adelaide wept for joy, and after an interchange of almost incoherent congratulations, all three went to inform King Ferdinando of the news. He knelt down, and bowing his head till it touched the ground, he offered thanks to God.
It afterwards turned out that Louis XVIII. had not sent for his cousin, but the Due d'Orleans set off on the Aboukir, which landed him at Genoa. He was accompanied only by his English valet White, and Captain Gordon, but he was determined to assert from the first his position as first Prince of the Blood.
At Marseilles he borrowed a general's uniform
1 Louise, afterwards Queen of the Belgians — Clementine, Prin- cess of Saxe-Cobourg, mother of Ferdinand, Tzar of Bulgaria. 2 " Ce dortoire."
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and reviewed the troops. At Lyons he did the same, and let it be known that he expected due honour to be shown to him wherever he stopped.
On arriving at Paris he took up his abode at a hotel in the Rue Grange Bateliere, having sent on Captain Gordon to engage apartments. The same evening he went alone to the Palais Royal, the home of his forefathers. He did not give his name, and the guard tried to prevent his entrance, but the Due d' Orleans would not be hindered, he entered and knelt down and kissed the steps of the grand stair- case. At last he felt he had come again to his own.
The next day, 17th May, he presented himself at the Tuileries. Louis XVIII. received him kindly, and reinstated him in his old rank in the French army, saying, "Twenty-five years ago you were a lieut.- general, you are one to-day ".
On the following day the King issued a decree restoring the Palais Royal and the Park of Mous- seaux to the Due d'Orl6ans and his sister, and two days later another decree restored to them all the estates which the House of Orleans had formerly possessed. The Journal des Debats, 7th June, 1814, has the following paragraph : " Monseigneur le Due d'Orl^ans, first Prince of the Blood, has been living at the Palais Royal. Yesterday, on leaving the Palais at midday, he was acclaimed by an immense crowd which had assembled to welcome him back to Paris ; he was greatly moved."
His first care was to put the Palais Royal in order. It had been devastated, and after the death
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of Philippe Egalite had been declared national pro- perty and used as a law-court, and afterwards let out in sets of apartments, and part of it used as warehouses.
By July he had succeeded in getting a few rooms in a fit condition to receive his wife and family, and went to Palermo to fetch them.
nr>
CHAPTER VI.
Eestoration of Louis XVIII. — His character — Comte d'Artois — " Monsieur " — Madame Eoyale — The Due d'Orleans presents his wife and family at Court — The manner of their reception — King's opinion of Marie Amelie.
It is generally supposed that Louis XVIII. was placed on the throne of France by the Allies, but he was elected Constitutional King of France by an Act of the Imperial Senate, which had just decreed the deposition of Napoleon.
The Act was worded as follows : —
(1) The French Government is monarchical and hereditary in the male line, in order of primogeniture.
(2) The people of France of their own free will call to the throne Louis Stanislaus Xavier de France, brother of the late King, and after him the other members of the House of Bourbon in the old order.
This decree was signed by the Republican party as well as the Legitimists.
When his return to France was decided upon, Louis XVIII. said ; " For a few days I could under- stand the saying : ' Happy as a king ' ".
Louis XVIII. is not a popular character, and jus- tice has hardly been done to his fine qualities.
The power of Louis XVIII. consisted in his un-
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King Louis XVIII
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shakable belief in himself and his rights. His firm conviction of the greatness, dignity, antiquity and majesty of his race gave him real power, which all who approached him felt. Even Bonaparte's generals confessed to its impressing them ; they were more in awe of this cripple in his arm-chair than of their great leader.
It was this faith in his rights that gave him the sceptre. The first quality of a king is to believe in his royalty, as that of a priest is to believe in his religion.
After their first interview, Guizot wrote : " The impotence of the King, combined with his dignity, made a profound impression on me. The glance and attitude of this old man glued to his seat, a haughty serenity, and in spite of his weakness a quiet con- fidence in the power of his name and his rights, were most striking." It is impossible not to admire the indomitable fortitude with which he bore the woes of many years of exile and poverty, to which were added the trials of bodily infirmity and a crippled condition, for he was a martyr to rheumatic gout.
However, he never allowed ill-health to interfere with the performance of public duties, but said: "A king may die, but cannot allow himself to be ill".
The only way in which he betrayed impatience was by insisting on his coachman driving him at top speed ; the rapid motion seemed a solace, and great was the expenditure of horse-flesh, the amount of horses used up in providing for his daily drive.
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Though unable himself to join the army, he was not without physical courage. When visiting the army of Conde on the Rhine, during the emigration, a ball shaved his forehead ; his retinue exclaimed in alarm, but he merely said : " If the ball had gone a trifle lower, the King of France would have been called Charles X., instead of Louis XVIII.
Louis XVIII. 's wife had died while they were in exile at Hartwell, 1810. She was the daughter of the King of Sardinia; the marriage had been arranged for the Comte de Provence by ambassadors, and he awaited the arrival of his bride with great anxiety, but was well satisfied when she appeared. Giving an account of their first meeting, he says : " She was neither handsome nor pretty, but she pleased me". The marriage was a kind of family gathering. Louis XV. was present, decorously reading in his prayer- book, surrounded by his family.
In his Memoirs ' the bridegroom relates that " The Dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI., with misplaced sincerity, allowed himself to say, when I asked him how he liked my bride : ' Not much ; were I un- married, I should feel no great desire to have her for my wife '. I replied : ' I congratulate you that your taste has been better suited in your own wife. We are both satisfied with our lot'."
" My wife was endowed with estimable qualities, and I never had cause to find fault with her. Her sole study was to please me and adopt my friendships
1 MSmoires de Louis XVIII, Becueillis et mis en ordre par M. Le Due de D . Paris, 1833.
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The Comtesse de Provence Wife of Louis XVIII
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or dislikes without trying to influence me. But Court intrigues disturbed our peace. As a matter of policy I showed consideration to my grandfather's favourite, Mme. du Barry ; this enraged the Dau- phiness, Marie Antoinette, and her husband made remarks which induced my wife to say : ' Till now I had thought that politeness constituted part of the education of French Princes of the Blood '."
In speaking of his early married life the Comte de Provence says : " Ennui reigned at Versailles during the last years of my grandfather's reign ; he was in great dread of death, and it was a great shock to him when the Marquis de Chauvelin fell dead at his side while he was playing cards with Mme. du Barry.
" Next day he said to Due de Richelieu : ' Chau- velin has gone below before us to secure my place and yours '.
"'Ah, Sire/ replied Richelieu 'it is on all occa- sions my duty to give precedence to your Majesty/
"'On this occasion, Monsieur/ replied the King, 1 your age will exempt you.' "
During the emigration and the days of exile the Comte de Provence and his wife were separated for many years ; he fell under the influence of the Comtesse de Balbi,1 and his wife under the influence of her lady- in-waiting, and coldness sprang up between them ;
1 Of this lady the story is told that when the Comte de Pro- vence heard of her flirtations with others during his absence" he wrote to her : " Caesar's wife should be above suspicion ". She replied : " I am not your wife, and you are not Caesar ".
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but they eventually came together again, and when her death occurred at Hartwell her husband, writing to a friend, remarked : " I confess I did not realise how much I loved the Queen" (Louis XVIII. dated his accession from the day of his nephew Louis XVII. 's death in the Temple, years before the Restoration), "I miss her a hundred times a day. I say to myself, mechanically, I must tell her this or that, and then I remember that I have no one to confide in."
Louis XVIII. always needed a confidante, and he found one after his return to France in Zoe, Mme. du Cayla ; she was endowed with much wit and had the tone of the great world, and with her he enjoyed the intellectual conversation that he so much prized. A more detailed account of Mme. du Cayla will be given in a subsequent chapter.
When Louis XVIII. returned to France he said one of his first cares was to get rid of his friends the Allies : " For fear they should take a fancy to my kingdom if they stayed too long in it ".
He relates how, when he lay down to rest the first night of his arrival at the Tuileries in his brother's room, which had recently been occupied by Bonaparte, he could not sleep, visions of those he had lost, and the terrible scenes they had lived through, passed through his brain, menacing phantoms seemed to appear through a blood-coloured vapour. "I was thankful, when I found myself alone," he wrote, u to be able to relieve myself by sighing and even sobbing without restraint, as well as by prayers. I made a firm resolu-
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tion never to act in such a way as to expose myself and my family to such a fate as my brother's had been." 1
" I found," he says, at a later date, " a new France, new habits, manners and costumes, and underneath an outward show of deference, much self-esteem and a profound conviction of individual worth. What greatly surprised me was the avidity for titles, rank, crosses of honour, etc. I said to myself, where are the true Republicans, those who were so contemptuous of kings, nobles and privileges ? "
The ancient families returned to their accustomed places at Court, so did the new nobility, " Les valets de Bonaparte," as Louis XVIII. calls them. The first wished to retake the place they had lost at the Revolution, the second would not yield the place they had conquered.
Endless quarrels resulted, the Court preferred to talk with old friends, and the middle-class ladies were furious that no notice was taken of them.
It was often announced in the Gazette that this or that gentleman had been granted an audience by the King ; it was generally for no important purpose, but generally with reference to some complaint of their wives or daughters as to precedence or privilege. The King said all this made his life a burden to him, his head whirled, he could hardly believe that great generals or statesmen would descend to occupy them- selves with such puerilities.
Louis XVIII. was polite and gallant in the style of a gentleman of the old regime. He had a weakness
1 Memoirs of Louis XVIII. 121
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for ladies who were witty and had the tone of the great world, and endured the society of the others with resignation.
Seeing Marshal Berthier, who had been loaded with benefits by Napoleon, hasten to do homage on his arrival, Louis XVIII. made some painful reflections on the human heart and the rareness of gratitude.
For the French say : "II nous faut du nouveau n'en fut il plus au monde ".
Louis XVIII. , while doing justice to his good qualities, thoroughly distrusted the Due d'Orldans and thought with Barras that he would be better in Sicily. Barras said : " Even Republicans think of him as a Constitutional King. He would always be a rallying point for Revolutionaries. Bonaparte is to be feared, but he is far off ; but were d'Orleans here he would be a rallying point for the Opposition."
Louis XVIII. had, however, a very great esteem and affection for the Dowager Duchesse d'Orleans and sympathy for the cruel tribulations she had undergone, and gave " a great proof of it," he said, "in allowing her son to return to France ".
"The Due d'Orleans," he said, "has done a little of everything in his life, has been alternately prince, Republican, soldier, emigrant, Professor of Mathe- matics, a citizen of the United States, an English gentleman, a Sicilian noble, but has now returned to his rank as a Prince of the Royal House of Bourbon. The different positions he has ' filled have left marks on his character, which is complex. He has great abilities, and has received a perfect education."
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Louis XVIII. did not like Adelaide d'Orleans, Louis Philippe's sister, though he admitted that her conduct during exile entitled her to respect. He thought very highly of Marie Amelie, and records in his Memoirs : " I had heard a great deal in favour of this Princess, but when I became personally ac- quainted with her, I found in her many more good qualities than I had been led to expect. Such a wife in some degree quieted my apprehensions as to the Due d'Orleans."
The prosperous days of the Sicilian Monarchy had long been over, and Marie Amelie quitted Sicily with no regret but that of leaving her father ; as for her husband, his mother and sister, for them poverty, exile, and humiliation were over and they were returning to their beloved France, to the wealth and honours appertaining to the House of Orleans. They landed at Marseilles, journeyed by boat and coach to Lyons, where they were received with due honours.
At Dijon they found Comte d'Artois, who had been sent by the King to meet them. This was Marie Amelie's first meeting with the Prince who had been such a prominent figure in the early married life of her unfortunate aunt, Marie Antoinette. The Count d'Artois was the idol of the Legitimist party. Al- though his youth was past, he still had a fine figure and gallant bearing, and was indeed the beau-ideal of a French Prince, courteous, chivalrous and charming. During the Revolution, Burke said that if the Bourbon race was ever restored it would have to be by a prince who could sit eight hours a day on horseback. No
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•captain in the guards managed his charger with more skill and address, no courtier was more perfect in all the graces that dignify manners than Comte d'Artois, the King's brother, and the death of his beloved mistress, Mme. de Polastron, made such a profound impression on him that he had quite abjured the libertine habits of his youth.
He wished to forget Egalite and receive the Due d'Orleans as his cousin and friend, and though the first meeting was somewhat embarrassing, he showed himself full of consideration and attention. He made the whole d'Orleans party don white cockades, which he gave them. He himself wore a large one in his hat. He accompanied his cousins to Paris. It was indeed a new Paris for the Due d'Orleans, his mother and his sister. Another generation had arisen. Man- ners, institutions and religious spirit all were different to what they had known. The streets and appearance of the city were new — Napoleon had embellished it with fine new buildings and bridges — ail traces of the Revolution had vanished.
The day after their arrival in Paris the whole d'Orleans family went to pay their homage to the King. The Dowager Duchess and her daughter Adelaide especially wished to thank him for the re- storation of their property. Louis XVIII. had estab- lished his bodyguard and military retinue on a footing of great splendour, and the d'Orleans family were received in great state. The royal guard presented arms, and the drums beat when they descended from their carriages. A majestic major-domo conducted
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them to the King's apartment, where the whole of the Royal Family were assembled. The King was seated in his wheel chair,1 he wore a powdered wig and queue, and velvet boots and leggings. His face was very handsome, his features fine, but he was very corpulent and permanently crippled by gout. His intellect and vast stores of knowledge made him the superior in whatever society he might find himself. His manner was most royal and dignified, and he was capable of implying every shade of approval or disapproval by his smile.
He received the Due d'Orleans and his sister very coolly, but greeted the Dowager Duchess and Marie Amelie with warmth ; spoke in praise of her mother, for whom she was in mourning ; 2 offered his condol- ences, and then introduced her with much cordiality to her cousin, Madame Royale,3 Duchesse d'Angou- leme. Madame Royale received Marie Amelie very affectionately, but her manner to the rest of the d'Orleans party belied the polite words she was forced to address to them, although even Louis XVIII. was forced to admire the demeanour of the Due d'Orleans on this occasion, and wrote : " He possesses exquisite tact and knows exactly the right thing to do ; it would be impossible to have more dignity and grace
1 He was crippled from gout.
2 The news of her mother's death had only reached Marie Amelie at Fontainebleau, and she found the Palais Boyal draped in black.
8 Marie Therese Charlotte, only daughter of Marie Antoinette, and wife of Due d'Angouleme, son of Comte d'Artois, heir-pre- sumptive to the throne.
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of manner than he has. He surpassed himself on this occasion — even Madame Roy ale had to acknow- ledge it, though she had felt great repugnance to meeting him, for she could not forget Egalite. However, by degrees she got used to the pres- ence of the Due d'Orleans, and received him almost graciously."
Louis XVIII. was charmed with Marie Amelie at this first meeting. Her strongly marked Bourbon features, her demeanour, the reserve and appropriate- ness of her replies showed all the traditions of race that were so dear to him. He tried to disarm the Due d'Orleans by loading him with riches, but made a marked difference in his treatment of Marie Amelie and his treatment of her husband and his sister. As daughter of the King of Naples, the title of Royal Highness was given to Marie Amelie, but not allowed to the Due and Mile. d'Orleans. When they went to the Tuileries both folds of the door were thrown open for the entrance of Marie Amelie, then one fold was closed, and the Due d'Orleans and his sister had to enter through the other half !
Madame Royale always treated Marie Amelie with the greatest affection and respect, and said : "She is so good, so excellent, so closely related to us".
Louis XVIII. has been called an egoist and accused of being cold-hearted, but his feelings for Madame Royale show him in a different light. He was greatly impressed with the nobility of her character when he received the first letter she addressed to him on her
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release from the Temple. After the execution of her father and mother she was for a long time alone in this prison with her aunt, the noble and saintly Mme. Elizabeth, who must have had great influence in the formation of her character. She was sixteen years old at the time that the execution of Mme. Elizabeth left her absolutely alone at the mercy of the blood- thirsty monsters who had taken the lives of various members of her family. At this time her little brother was being slowly done to death in the same building, but she was not allowed to see him, and no one would answer her questions, so she was ignorant of his fate in the rooms underneath her.
She occupied a small room at the topmost floor of the fortress. Her aunt had taught her to wait upon herself, so every morning she arose, bathed and dressed herself, and did her hair, then put her room in order. Then timing herself by her watch, she would walk up and down the room for an hour to make up for lack of proper exercise. Then she would read over again one of the few books that were in her possession, and mend her scanty wardrobe. The prison commissioners visited her three times a day to see that she had not contrived to escape ! In the winter she suffered much from cold and chilblains through insufficient firing. For twelve months, from May, 1794, to June, 1795, she never set eyes on a woman. A man brought her meals to the door, she took what was brought, handed out used crockery and shut the door. After this date the authorities decided to improve her condition, she was provided with whatever clothing she asked for,
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and allowed to walk on the platform above her room every evening. She was also allowed needles, thread and knitting materials, as well as tea and sugar and chickens for dinner, also cakes and chocolate. Public sympathy seemed to have been aroused for the desolate girl, and the Committee of General Safety appointed Madame de Chantereau, a kind and charming woman, to be her companion. A deputation from the City of Orleans demanded her release at the bar of the Hall of Convention. Their petition was favourably received, and it was resolved to enter into negotiations with her cousin, the Emperor of Austria, and to give her up to him in exchange for some French prisoners in his power.
The presence of Mme. de Chantereau very much alleviated the trials of the young princess's life ; Mme. de Mackau and de Tourzel, old members of her parents' household, were allowed to visit her. The preparations for her going to Austria were completed ; a suitable escort and even a trousseau were provided, and on 18th December, 1795, she left the Temple at midnight (probably to avoid a popular demonstration) and for ever, having been three years there in captivity.
News had reached Louis XVIII. at Verona of the proposal to set his niece at liberty, and he found means to get a letter through to her begging her to look upon him as a father. She replied saying that his letter had given her the first moment of real happiness that she had known for three years.
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Marie' Therese de Bourbon, Madame Royale, at the time of her Release from the Temple Prison
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When Louis XVIII. heard that she was to be sent to Austria, his one idea was to prevent her con- tracting a marriage with one of her Austrian cousins. He looked upon her as a valuable political asset. Her youth, sex, and misfortune had evoked universal sympathy for the Orphan of the Temple, as she was called, and a marriage between her and the Due d'Angouleme, heir-presumptive to the throne, would be very advantageous to the Legitimist cause, on account of her birth, she being the only living child of the last monarch, Louis XVI., as well as on account of the popular feeling for her.
He wrote to her telling her never to forget that she was a Frenchwoman, and that it had been her parents' wish she should marry the Due d'Angouleme.
The Austrian Emperor sent an escort to the frontier to Basle to meet his niece, and she was received at Vienna with every mark of considera- tion.
She wrote to Louis XVIII. : " I await with im- patience the orders of my King and uncle. At Vienna I must show to the Emperor all the gratitude I owe him for having obtained my freedom, but I should never take any steps in my future life without your consent, whatever may happen. And be assured that your niece, like her father, will always love France and her family. From you, my uncle, I im- plore pardon for all misguided Frenchmen, and I lay at your feet the homage and respect of all good Frenchmen. I would rather suffer discomfort and poverty with my relations than live at the court of
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a prince who shows himself their enemy. I have one boon to ask of you, my uncle, which is to pardon Frenchmen and restore peace. I, whose father, mother, brother, and aunts' lives they have taken, demand it. It will be for your welfare. You will never ascend the throne by force of arms. Opinions change but peace is necessary. In Paris people are dying of hunger and detest the Government, but also they detest foreigners. They would not welcome a king who comes to them sword in hand. I implore you to issue a new manifesto. In the name of my parents, who loved Frenchmen, I implore you to give peace to France."
Louis XVIII. was profoundly moved by this letter, which was a very remarkable one to be written by a young girl. In her solitary life a noble spirit had been fostered. From that time forward he never ceased negotiating till he was able to receive his niece in his home and arrange for her marriage with the Due d'Angoul^me. Four years dragged away before this was accomplished. The Emperor Paul of Russia had given him an income and the old palace of the Dukes of Courland to reside in at Mittau. It was a fine place, not unlike Ver- sailles, and before the arrival of his niece there was no detail for her comfort and convenience that was too small for Louis XVIII. to attend to.
When she arrived, his joy and delight transformed him, and it might have been thought he was the bridegroom and not his nephew, the Due d'Angou- l£me, who was very shy and retiring.
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The party had driven out some way to meet Mme. Royale's carriage, and when they returned Louis XVIII. called to the household : " She is here ! She has come ! " casting aside his usual impassive de- meanour.
The prospective bride and bridegroom had not met since they were children, but since the marriage had been arranged had corresponded with each other. The Due d'Angoul£me was three years older than his bride. His father, Comte d'Artois, was one of the first of the royal family to leave France ; his sons accompanied him, and their years of exile were passed at Turin (the Court of their grandfather, the King of Sardinia), at Coblentz, where he served his apprentice- ship in the Royalist army, in the Netherlands, in England, and finally for many years at Edinburgh, where they had to endure a life of great privation. The letters 1 of Marie Therese had let Louis XVIII. discern plainly that both in intellect and character she was the superior of the Due d'Angoul§me, who was apathetic, disinclined to study, without martial ardour or "savoir vivre," with ungenial manners. He was, however, sincere, kind-hearted and generous, and full of real courage that only needed an oppor-
1 Thinking that letters were intercepted at the Austrian Court, Louis XVIII. 's emissary resorted to subterfuge to deliver them. This displeased the Princess. She wrote: "I disapprove of M. de Guiche's method. When one is doing no wrong, one need not hide it. My position requires me to be above any suspicion of double dealings. You need not fear that letters are opened. It is thought natural you should write to me ".
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tunity to show itself. He had during his stay in England and Scotland imbibed liberal ideas which were rather a shock to Louis XVIII. He was sincerely religious and careful in his religious duties, which was a quality likely to endear him to his bride, who in that respect resembled him. As they had not met since childhood, Louis XVIII. thought it well to send a description of the Due d'Angouleme to Marie Therese, and he ended by saying : " It will be the more easy for you to be happy with him since his heart has been given to none but you, and his principles will ensure that this first sentiment will also be the last. I count much on your influence with him, for you will, I think, not be satisfied that he should be only an affectionate husband ; you would wish him to be worthy of the high position which we cannot doubt he is destined one day to occupy. Born with excellent capacities, a life of forced in- action has discouraged him. When he learns from you yourself that the best means to please you is to make himself worthy of you, this is all that will be needed to excite him to study, and France will one day owe its happiness to you V
The marriage was celebrated at the chapel of the Palace at Mittau, on 10th June, 1799, by Cardinal Montmorency and the Abbe Edgeworth,2 in the pres- ence of many French Emigres, the nobility of Cour- land and Russian officials. Paul I. sent the bride a diamond necklace, and a letter in which he said :
1 Daudet's Histoire de l' emigration.
2 Who had been with her father at his execution.
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" Your misfortunes, virtues and heroic courage have made you an object of interest to all well-disposed people. When you re-enter France see only the repentance of a nation which deplores the crimes of scoundrels to whom she has had the misfortune to give birth".
The Comte d'Artois was unable to be present at his son's marriage, and Louis XVIII. wrote him an account of it and thus describes the bride : " She is like both her father and mother. At the first glance she would not be thought pretty, but she gains on one. She is well made, carries herself well, holds her head to perfection, moves with ease and grace. Her natural gaiety has not been destroyed ; when her thoughts can be turned from the terrible past, she laughs heartily. She is sweet, kind and loving, but in public her demeanour is that of a Princess accus- tomed to hold her Court. She has the mind of a person of mature age, but she is as innocent and pure as the day she was born."
The Due d'Angoul^me had always wished to marry his cousin, and his shyness soon wore off; the young couple were genuinely in love with each other. Louis XVIII. wrote : " I wish that the Court of Vienna, who affected to pity my niece for her marriage and to look upon her as a victim to family exigencies, could see them together ".
Napoleon said that Madame Royale was the only man of her family, and when she returned to France, after the Restoration, she became the idol of the army, but she was not popular in Court circles.
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Her rigid adherence to the etiquette of the old regime, the horror (which she did not attempt to hide) she felt for all who had taken any part in the Revolution, many of whom held high positions in the new Government, and a stiff ungenial manner, obscured her many fine qualities and real nobility of heart.
Louis XVIII. said the Parisians could not forgive her because she could not forget.
At the Tuileries she used the apartments on the first floor that had been her mother's. Her own little sitting-room was hung with white velvet embroidered mfleurs de lys, the last work of Marie Antoinette and Mme. Elizabeth. Her prie-dieu was a stool on which her brother, Louis XVII. , had sat in the Temple. In it was a drawer in which she kept some treasured relics : the black silk vest and white cravat worn by Louis XVI. on the day of his death, a lace cap worked by Marie Antoinette in prison, some fragments of a fichu worn by Mme. Elizabeth on the scaffold. Every year, on the 21st January and 16th October, the anni- versaries of the deaths of her father and mother, she shut herself up in this room and passed the day in prayer.
Many years of exile and hope deferred had withered away all traces of good looks and given an ineffaceable tinge of melancholy to her appearance and character, and her adherence to an old-fashioned and unbecoming style of dress exposed her to the ridicule of the more frivolous Parisians, but all who really knew her loved and respected Madame Royale.
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When the d'Orleans family returned to France she was the first lady of the Court, and also during the subsequent reign, for the wife of Charles X., as well as the wife of Louis XVIII., had died before the Restoration.
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CHAPTER VII.
Life at the Palais Koyal — The Hundred Days — The Life of the d'Orleans Family in England — Louis XVIII.'s Opinion of the Due d'Orleans — His Eeturn to France with his Family.
Soon after their arrival in Paris Marie Amelie gave birth to her second son 1 the Due de Nemours.2
Louis Philippe was much occupied in negotiations for the settlement of his proper estates and recover- ing from those into whose hands they had fallen. In this he was much assisted by Mdme. Adelaide who had a wonderful head for business. By the help of their devoted man of business, Dupin, they arrived at an arrangement by which, after paying only 4,500,000 instead of the 25,000,000 demanded, they entered into possession of their father's great fortune.
The Palais Royal soon became the meeting-place of the elite of the old families of France, as well as the marshals, senators and generals who had been converted into Peers of France during the Empire, and also many men who had risen to eminence during the Revolution. The rigid etiquette maintained at
1 On hearing that she had given birth to a son she said to M. de Blacas : " Be so good as to tell the King he has one more faith- ful subject ".
2 Louis XVIII. and Duchesse d'Angouleme were godparents.
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the Tuileries made the royal receptions tedious and a bore ; but at the Palais Royal receptions, which were held the first Wednesday of every month, there was gaiety and movement and the pleasures and amusements of good society. The simplicity and graciousness of the Due d'Orleans was universally praised, and Mdme. Adelaide, who detested con- ventionality, was talkative, and had a very cordial manner, was very popular. People stood a little more in awe of Marie Amelie, who, Talleyrand said, was " the greatest great lady in Europe ".
Few people were more intimate with the d'Orleans family than the Comtesse de Boigne, and in her Memoirs she speaks as follows of Marie Amelie : "I cannot overestimate the veneration and tender devotion I feel for the Duchesse d'Orleans. She was adored by all about her. The more often any one came in contact with her, the deeper was the venera- tion and respect she inspired. Her sympathetic tact in no way modified the loftiness of her sentiments and the strength of her character. She treated everybody with the kindness natural to her, but her attitude was marked by such delicate shades of consideration that each individual could learn his position in her society. She had persuaded herself that she had no head for business (although her opinions enjoyed deep respect in the family councils) ; she thought her sister-in-law Adelaide, had much greater capacity for dealing with affairs and yielded to her in questions of politics. The sisters-in-law were so different, and belonged to such widely separated schools of thought, that they
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would not have been naturally congenial to each other had they not been united by their common devotion to the Due d'Orleans. Mdme. Adelaide lived only for her brother, and never was there an affection more passion- ate than that of Marie Amelie for her husband. In full dress her appearance was admirable ; she was very gracious but extremely dignified. In her eyes there was an expression that seemed to emanate from a pure and noble soul, and I am convinced that the Duchesse d'Orleans owed much of the fascination that she exercised over the most hostile people to the in- fluence of that glance."1 Excellent concerts were arranged under the direction of Mdme. Adelaide, whose taste for music had been cultivated by Mme. de Genlis, and who was herself a fine harpist.
Mdme. Adelaide delighted in showing Paris to her sister-in-law; together they visited the old Paris of legend and history. There was not a church or an interesting place that they left unvisited. To en- courage art they visited the studios, and were often seen at the theatres. They walked unattended in the public gardens, conversing freely with any acquaint- ances they might meet.
But these good times did not last long. Marie Amelie was not yet to know the blessing of a peaceful and secure home. The d'Orleans family had only been twelve months in France when Napoleon escaped from Elba, March, 1815, and the King and royal family fled to Ghent in most undignified haste.
1Mme. de Boigne, daughter of Marquis d'Osmond, French ambassador in London.
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M. David
Marie Amelie, Duchesse d'Orleans, and her eldest son
the duc de chartres
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It seemed as if all kings in the nineteenth century- were obsessed with the fear of sharing the fate of Louis XVI., and as soon as their power was threatened, for fear of being too late, they fled without striking a blow. The King of Naples had set the example, as soon as the French appeared on his borders. Louis XVIII. did the same on the approach of Napoleon — Charles X. as soon as there was a revolt against his