Page:Life of Louis Philippe, late king of the French.pdf/21

Rh country seat, and though he might have been watching the course of events, he took no active part either in dethroning his kinsman, or in contriving plans for his own aggrandisement.

M. Thiers and M. Scheffer visited Nenilly for the purpose of negotiating with the Duke. He, however, was absent, and the interview took place with the Duchess and the Princess Adelaide, to whom they explained the danger with which the nation was threatened, and that these could only be averted by the determination of the Duke to put himself at the head of a constitutional monarchy. M. Thiers said, “That nothing was left the Duke of Orleans but a choice of dangers, and that, in the existing state of things, to recoil from the possible perils of royalty, was to run full upon a republic and its inevitable violences." The Duke having considered the communication, acceded to the request, and came to Paris at noon on the 31st, to accept the office assigned to him. The abdication of Charles X. and his son was placed in the hands of the lieutenant-general on the 2nd of August. The Chamber of Deputies declared the throne vacant on the 7th, and on the 8th the crown was offered to the Duke of Orleans. He formally accepted the offer on the 9th, and was inaugurated under the title of Louis Philippe I., King of the French. Charles X. and his young grandchild, Henry, Duke of Bordeaux, in whose favour he abdicated, were peaceably conducted out of the kingdom.

As we have stated, Louis Philippe became King of the French on the 9th of August, 1830; and the happiest consequences were expected from the event. The nation had the most unbounded confidence in the king's talents for government. It was believed that the extraordinary vicissitudes of his early life, together with his knowledge of the world, would on all