It seems hard to imagine how such a tragedy could have borne its part among the causes of Louis Philippe’s downfall; but those who look into Alison or Lamartine will see it set down as one of the events which greatly assisted in bringing about the revolution of February.  Mobs, like women, are often swayed by persons rather than by principles.

It was believed by the populace that court favor had prevented the duke from going to prison like any common criminal, and that the same influence had procured him the poison by which he escaped a public execution.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DOWNFALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE.

As I said in the last chapter, everything in the year 1847 and during the opening weeks of 1848 seemed unfavorable to Louis Philippe.  Besides the causes of dissatisfaction I have mentioned, there was a scarcity of grain, there were drains on the finances, there was disaffection among the National Guard, and hostility among the peers to the measures of the Ministry.  Then came the conviction of M. Teste, a member of the Cabinet, for misappropriating public funds.  Even private affairs seemed turned against the royal family.  Madame Lafarge murdered her husband, and it was said that the court had attempted to procure her acquittal because she was connected with the house of Orleans by a bar-sinister.  A quarrel about an actress led to a duel.  The man wounded was a journalist who was actively opposed to the king’s Government.  It was hinted that the duel was a device of the court to get him put out of the way.  But the greatest of the king’s misfortunes was the death of his admirable sister, Madame Adelaide, in January, 1848.  She had been all his life his bosom friend and his chief counsellor.  She died of a severe attack of influenza.

In a letter from the Prince de Joinville to the Duc de Nemours, found in the garden of the Tuileries in February, 1848, among many valuable documents that had been flung from the windows of the palace by the mob, the situation of things at the close of 1847 and the beginning of 1848 is thus summed up by one brother writing in confidence to another:—­

“The king will listen to no advice.  His own will must be paramount over everything.  It seems to me impossible that in the Chamber of Deputies at the next session the anomalous state of the government should fail to attract attention.  It has effaced all traces of constitutional government, and has put forward the king as the primary, and indeed sole, mover upon all occasions.  There is no longer any respect for ministers; their responsibility is null, everything rests with the king.  He has arrived at an age when he declines to listen to suggestions.  He is accustomed to govern, and he loves to show that he does so.  His immense experience, his courage, and his great qualities lead him to face danger; but it is not on that account the less real or imminent.”