Page:Coubertin - France since 1814, 1900.djvu/35

 of Bourbon. To overturn it had required a terrific cataclysm, an epic crime ; and that crime had scooped out an abyss in which the entire nation had nearly perished. Was it likely that a race so strong, and with so great a past behind it, could possibly be tumbled over in a mere riot, like some dynasty of a day ? Such a catastrophe as that would have required the resurrection of the Convention and the scaffold, an hypothesis which no sane person could for a moment entertain.

In 1815 everything was changed. That child-like faith in the stability of the Monarchy had been considerably shaken, for the Monarchy had visibly melted away before a mere military pronunciamiento, although it was supported by the majority of the nation. What earthly security did it then offer ? The Royal Family had lost its prestige, and it was not so popular in the country that it could afford to lose it. The French people were as yet unaware of the political genius and persevering will that were latent in Louis XVIII. ; it but dimly suspected the great qualities of his nephew, the Duc d'Angoulême. Owing to his having played no leading part in history, this modest prince has still to wait for history's