Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/714

 700 ORLEANS of Louis XIV.- he persuaded parliament to set aside the royal will, to place the regency exclu- sively in his hands, and to confide to him the guardianship of young Louis X Y. He was re- gent from Sept. 2, 1715, to Feb. 22, 1723 ; and during his administration, especially in the early part of it, he had to contend against many ad- verse circumstances. The state was deeply in debt; provinces had been desolated by pro- tracted wars ; commerce was completely para- lyzed. After attempting several measures of relief, in 1716 the regent adopted John Law's plan of a national bank, which for a time cre- ated a fictitious prosperity, but in 1720 ended in a terrible crash and an increase of the public debt. Some retrenchment and reform however was effected. The regent abandoned altogether the foreign policy of Louis XIV. Yielding to the representations of Dubois, who received a large pension from the English government, he concluded, Jan. 4, 1717, with Great Britain and Holland, the treaty known as the " triple alliance," by which he consented to expel the pretender from France, to discon- tinue the fortifications at Mardyck, to destroy the port of Dunkirk, and not to increase the French navy, giving up at the same time all right to trade in the South sea. Meanwhile Alberoni, prime minister of Philip V. of Spain, was de- vising plans to overthrow the house of Han- over in England and the regent in France, and restore Spain to her former rank as a ruling power in Europe. A conspiracy plotted in Paris by the Spanish ambassador Cellamare, the duchess of Maine, and some discontented noblemen in Brittany, was discovered by Du- bois; but the regent contented himself with sending the ambassador back to Spain and the duchess to her chateau at Sceaux, and execu- ting four of the insurgent Bretons. But this plot led to active hostilities with Spain ; and Austria having joined the triple alliance in 1718, the English destroyed the Spanish fleet, and Berwick stormed some of the northern strong- holds of Spain. Alberoni, whose plans were baffled, was expelled from Spain, and by the treaty of Madrid, January, 1720, part of west- ern Europe was remodelled, mainly through the influence of the abbe Dubois, who rose to the rank of cardinal and archbishop. After Louis XV. was declared of age, Dubois continued prime minister for about six months, and on his death the duke of Orleans resumed the reins of government in that capacity ; but his con- stitution had been shattered by debauchery, and before the end of four months he died of apo- plexy. By his marriage with Mile, de Blois he had one son, Louis (1703-'52), and six daugh- ters. A natural son, Jean Philippe, known as the chevalier d' Orleans, became high prior of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, and a grandee of Spain. V. Lonis Philippe Joseph, styled Philippe Egalite, the fifth duke of his house, and great-grandson of the regent, born at St. Cloud, April 13, 1747, guillotined in Paris, Nov. 6, 1793. Under the title of duke of Chartres, which he bore till 1785, he married in 1769 Louise Marie Adelaide of Bourbon- Penthievre, great-granddaughter of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Montespan, who, owing to her brother's death, brought her husband the rich inheritance of her house. He increased his immense fortune by speculation, and construct- ed three of the rows of buildings around the garden of the Palais Eoyal. He early showed signs of opposition to the court, and in 1771 signed the protest of the princes against the dissolution of the ancient parliaments. Queen Marie Antoinette felt an instinctive antipathy to him, and he conceived a violent hatred toward her, which occasionally broke out in open hostility. In 1776 he became the head of " the princes' party," in opposition to that of the queen, and charged Marie Antoinette with instigating the wrongs and insults he re- ceived from Louis XVI. His claims to the office of grand admiral of France being disal- lowed, he participated in 1778 as a volunteer in the naval battle of Ushant, when the high- est praise, soon followed by ridicule, was be- stowed upon his conduct ; he was then re- called, and received the empty title of colonel- general of hussars. After a visit to London, where he was intimate with the prince of Wales, afterward George IV., he devoted him- self to pleasure and dissipation. During the famous diamond necklace trial, he denounced Marie Antoinette, and is charged with having encouraged the libellous publications of the countess of Lamotte. In 1787 he appeared in the assembly of notables, and plotted with the most ardent members of the parliamentary op- position. He opposed the financial policy of the government, and was consequently exiled to Villers-Gotterets. The popularity thus ac- quired was enhanced by his lavish expenditure of money to relieve the sufferings of the peo- ple during the severe winter of 1788-'9, and in the succeeding elections for the states general he was chosen at Paris, Villers-Ootterets, and Crespy in Valois. He was among the first no- bles who joined the deputies of the third estate, and aided in transforming the states general into a national assembly. The Palais Royal became the headquarters of revolutionary demonstrations, and thence came the signal for the storming of the Bastile. The events of Oct. 5 and 6, 1789, were generally ascribed to the Orleans party; the duke himself was accused by the Ohatelet ; but the assembly de- clared there was not sufficient reason to allow one of its members to be arraigned before a tribunal. Lafayette, however, forced him by threats to go to London, where he remained for nine months. On his return, July 11, 1790, there were some attempts at a reconciliation between him and the court; he had been at last promoted to the admiralship ; but the treatment which he received from the courtiers estranged him for ever, and incited him to further revolutionary projects. But his wa- vering and pusillanimous conduct disheartened