Page:The Royal Family of France (Henry).djvu/90

 again. The present Royal Family of France is numerous enough to cause any new sacrilegious Napoleon or Republican to fall into either a swoon or a convulsion before attempting a further robbery of the Royal children's own The power of number cannot stand against the Almighty; as though eighty Royal sons of the House of Judah did not perish in one day; as though it were more difficult for the Supreme Being to continue the line of Kings than to expel the dynasty of the two Napoleons out of the Kingdom of France; as though the destiny of generations was not controlled by Him. The Capetians of the first branch numbered three brothers; not one mounted the throne. The Valois consisted of three brothers, yet a distant relation, the ancestor of our Orleans Princes, Henry IV., wore their Crown. Louis XIV. and Louis XV. saw with their own eyes four generations of Dauphins pass away. Neither Louis XVI., Louis XVI II., or Charles X. were succeeded by their sons. The Orleans Princes, in spite of the lustre of a numerous family, have eaten the bread of exile on the English soil; Holyrood, Claremont and Twickenham are familiar names to contemporary Frenchmen. Let the Royal Princes not give ear to flatterers; the safety of France and the future of their dynasty lie in a sublime act of political charity, in placing duty above every human consideration.

The time seems drawing nigh. "Reaction," vague and mysterious rumours, such as foreshadow great social crises, have been floating in the air for these last few months, because Frenchmen are growing more attentive to the Administration which disgraces France. As to the Members of the Royal Family, no Orleanist faction, or Orleanist conspiracy exists, though certain people choose to believe, or at least to assert, that it does. It is impossible that any definite project, any concerted plan, should exist. The only plot that could be contrived, is a plot such as always succeeds, which is not foiled on the eve of execution, which it would be difficult to stay on the day itself, which explodes in an instant, which finds thousands of conspirators, not one of whom has known of it beforehand; it is a deep want universally felt, filling the heart of every man directly it shows itself. The higher and educated classes of Frenchmen thirst for that reconciliation, implore it with ardent and earnest desire. Surely we