The Duc de Broglie, an excellent man, grandson of Madame de Stael, was made President MacMahon’s prime minister.  So far the Monarchists had prospered.  They had command of the president, the Assembly, and the army.  These were all prepared to accept Henri V., provided he would retreat from the position he had taken up in 1871, consent to become a constitutional sovereign, give up his White Flag, and accept the Tricolor.  The Monarchists appointed a Committee of Nine to negotiate this matter with the prince at Froehsdorf; but Marshal MacMahon gave them this warning:  “If the White Flag is raised against the Tricolor, the chassepots will go off of themselves, and I cannot answer for order in the streets or for discipline in the army.”

With great difficulty the nine succeeded in procuring an assurance from the Comte de Chambord that he would leave the question of the flag to be decided in concert with the Assembly after his restoration.  Meantime he came to Versailles and remained hidden in the house of one of his supporters.  Everybody urged him to accept the conditions on which alone he could reign, and fulfil the hopes of his faithful followers.  They implored him to ascend the throne as a constitutional sovereign, and to accept the Tricolor, in deference to the wishes of the people and his friends.

He passed an entire night in miserable indecision, walking up and down his friend’s dining-room, debating with himself whether he would give way.  It had been arranged that the next day he should present himself suddenly in the Assembly, be hailed with acclamation by his supporters, and be introduced by the marshal-president himself as Henri Cinq.  The building was to be guarded by faithful troops, the telegraph was prepared to flash the news through France, the very looms at Lyons were weaving silks brocaded with fleurs de lys.  But Henri V. could not bring himself to comply.  He fled away from Versailles before dawn.  “He is an honest man,” said M. Thiers, “and will not put his flag in his pocket.”  A few days later he published at Salzburg a letter in which he protested against the pressure his friends had brought to bear on him.  “Never,” he said, “will I become a revolutionary king,” by which he meant a king who reigned under a constitution; never, he protested, would he sacrifice his honor to the exigencies of parties; “and,” he concluded, “never will I disclaim the standard of Arques and of Ivry!”

“The count,” said an English newspaper, “seems to have forgotten that Arques and Ivry were Protestant victories.”

“My person,” continued the count, “is nothing; my principle is everything.  I am the indispensable pilot, the only man capable of guiding the vessel into port, because for this I have mission and authority.”

Thus ended all chances for Henri V. The Orleans princes, having concluded a compact with him as his heirs, felt themselves bound in honor to refuse to accept any compromise which “the head of the family” did not approve.