When
General Foy died, in November, 1825, the Duke of Orleans put his
name for ten thousand francs to the subscription opened to provide
a fund for the children of the General. Some friendly
representations were made from the Chateau to the Palais Royal on
this matter. It was answered that the Duke of Orleans had
subscribed not as Prince, but as a friend, and in private called
attention to the modesty of the gift compared with others, with
that of M. Casimir Perier, for example, which amounted to fifty
thousand francs. This excuse was satisfactory at the Tuileries.
Is this saying that Louis-Philippe was already at this time
thinking of dethroning his benefactor, his relative, and his King?
We think not. He profited by the errors of Charles X.; but if
Charles X. had not committed them, the idea of usurpation would
not have occurred to the mind of the chief of the younger branch.
Men are not so profoundly good or so profoundly wicked. They let
themselves be carried further than they wish, and if the acts they
are to commit some day were foretold them, the prophecies would
most often seem to them as impossible as insulting.
Madame de Gontaut, Governess of the Children of France, recounts
an incident that took place at the Louvre, December 22d, 1824, at
the opening of the session of the Chambers: "The crowd was
prodigious. The Dauphiness and the Duchess of Berry and
Mademoiselle d'Orleans were present in one of the bays.
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