and that heir remains an outlaw simply because he descends from Henry
IV., and has a right to reign. Madame, you appeal to us as among the
representatives of the chivalrous deeds and loyal devotion which
characterized the old nobility of France. Should we deserve that
character if we forsook the unfortunate, and gained wealth and honour in
forsaking?"

"Your words endear you to me. I am proud to call you cousin," said the
Duchesse. "But do you, or does any man in his senses believe that if you
upset the Empire you could get back the Bourbons; that you would not be
in imminent danger of a Government infinitely more opposed to the
theories on which rests the creed of Legitimists than that of Louis
Napoleon? After all, what is there in the loyalty of you Bourbonites
that has in it the solid worth of an argument which can appeal to the
comprehension of mankind, except it be the principle of a hereditary
monarchy? Nobody nowadays can maintain the right divine of a single
regal family to impose itself upon a nation. That dogma has ceased to be
a living principle; it is only a dead reminiscence. But the institution
of monarchy is a principle strong and vital, and appealing to the
practical interests of vast sections of society. Would you sacrifice the
principle which concerns the welfare of millions, because you cannot
embody it in the person of an individual utterly insignificant in
himself? In a word, if you prefer monarchy to the hazard of
republicanism for such a country as France, accept the monarchy you find,
since it is quite clear you cannot rebuild the monarchy you would prefer.
Does it not embrace all the great objects for which you call yourself
Legitimist? Under it religion is honoured, a national Church secured, in
reality if not in name; under it you have united the votes of millions to
the establishment of the throne; under it all the material interests of
the country, commercial, agricultural, have advanced with an unequalled