in circumstances very
different. He is no longer obliged to tell you what the King is
who comes to you, what his misfortunes are, his virtues, his
rights to the throne and to your love; he is no longer obliged to
depict his person, to inform you how many members of his family
still exist. You know him, this Bourbon, the first to come, after
our disaster, worthy herald of old France, to cast himself, a
branch of lilies in his hand, between you and Europe. Your eyes
rest with love and pleasure on this Prince, who in the ripeness of
years has preserved the charm and elegance of his youth, and who
now, adorned with the diadem, still is but ONE FRENCHMAN THE MORE
IN THE MIDST OF YOU. You repeat with emotion so many happy mots
dropped by this new monarch, who from the loyalty of his heart
draws the grace of happy speech. What one of us would not confide
to him his life, his fortune, his honor? The man whom we should
all wish as a friend, we have as King. Ah! Let us try to make him
forget the sacrifices of his life! May the crown weigh lightly on
the white head of this Christian Knight! Pious as Saint Louis,
affable, compassionate, and just as Louis XII., courtly as Francis
I., frank as Henry IV., may he be happy with all the happiness he
has missed in his long past! May the throne where so many monarchs
have encountered tempests, be for him a place of repose! Devoted
subjects, let us crowd to the feet of our well-loved sovereign,
let us recognize in him the model of honor, the living principle
of our laws, the soul of our monarchical society; let us bless a
guardian heredity, and may legitimacy without pangs give birth to
a new King! Let our soldiers cover with their flags the father of
the Duke of Angouleme.
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