In one of her earlier letters, she wrote: "The Duke of Chartres has greatly improved in disposition during the past year. He was born with good inclinations, and has now become intelligent and virtuous. Possessing none of the frivolities of the age, he disdains the puerilities which occupy the thoughts of so many young men of rank such as fashions, dress, trinkets, follies of all kinds, and a desire for novelties. He has no passion for money, is disinterested, despises glare, and is, consequently, truly noble. Finally, he has an excellent heart, which is common to his brothers and sister, and which, joined to reflection, is capable of producing all other good qualities."
Demolition of the Bastile.
During the boyhood of Louis Philippe, revolutionary principles were rapidly spreading over France; and, as he approached manhood, they had reached their maturity. The example of his father, and the teachings of Madame de Genlis, inclined him strongly in the direction of popular rights, though his mother did not at all sympathize with these revolutionary principles. When the exasperated people rose and demolished the Bastile the symbol and the instrument of as great despotic power as ever existed upon earth Madame de Genlis took her pupils into Paris to witness the sublime drama. In describing the scene, she writes eloquently:
"This redoubtable fortress was covered with men, women, and children, working with unequalled ardor, even on the most lofty parts of the building and on its turrets. The astonishing number of these voluntary laborers, their activity, their enthusiasm, their delight at seeing the fall of that terrible monument of tyranny these avenging hands, which seemed consecrated by Providence, and which annihilated with such rapidity the work of many centuries all this spoke at once to the imagination and the heart."
The Duke of Chartres joins the Jacobin Club.
When the Duke of Chartres was informed that the Assembly had annulled all the rights of primogeniture thus depriving him, as the first-born, of his exclusive right to the title and the estate he threw his arms around his brother, the Duke of Montpensier, and said, "Now, indeed, we are brothers in every respect." The unconcealed liberal opinions of the young prince increased the exasperation of the court against the whole Orleans family. And when, guided by his radical father, and in opposition to the advice of Madame de Genlis, the young duke became a member of the Jacobin Club then numbering, as it was estimated, four hundred thousand in France the indignation of the court reached its highest pitch.
On the 20th of November, 1785, the young Duke of Chartres, then in his thirteenth year, became colonel of the nineteenth regiment of dragoons. He proceeded, not long after, to Vendôme, and devoted himself, with all the enthusiasm of youth, to the duties of his profession. His democratic principles led him, in opposition to the example of most of his brother-officers, to associate quite familiarly with the common soldiers.
His affability.
Noble sentiment.
"Far from imitating the example of these young noblemen, who disdained to mix or converse with the soldiers, the duke was constantly in the midst of them, and the advice and reprimands which they received from his lips had double the force of usual orders. On every occasion he proved himself the soldier's friend. He heard their complaints with kindness, and the generous, noble familiarity with which he replied to their demands in a little time won for him all their hearts. Strengthened by those affections, which he so well knew how to merit, he was enabled, without any exertion, to establish and preserve the strictest discipline. His men obeyed him with pleasure, because his orders were always given with urbanity.
"His exemplary conduct had the happiest influence over the whole garrison of Vendôme. The soldiers now forgot his youth; the oldest officers found in him such intelligence and punctuality as sometimes left their experience in arrear. He frequently reached the stables, in the morning, before the lieutenant, whose duty it was to call there; and he exhibited equal energy in every other subject. His lieutenant-colonel, imagining that this too frequent appearance among the men would lessen that respect for the dignity of colonel which he considered essential to the maintenance of discipline, ventured to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. He replied:
"'I do not think that I shall forfeit the respect of my men, or be less entitled to their regard, by giving them an example of punctuality, and by being the first to submit myself to the demands of discipline.'"2
Chapter II
The Exile
1791-1794Plans for the invasion of France.
In the month of August, 1791, the Duke of Chartres left Vendôme with his regiment, and went to Valenciennes, where he spent the winter. He had been appointed commandant of that place, and, young as he was, discharged the important duties of the position with ability and firmness, which secured for him a very high reputation. The emigrant nobles had assembled on the French frontier, in the electorate of Trèves, where they were organizing their forces for the invasion of France. It was understood that Leopold II., then Emperor of Germany, was co-operating with them, and was forwarding large bodies of troops to many points along the German banks of the Rhine for a crusade into France.
The French government demanded of the emperor an explanation of his intentions. He replied: "We do not know of any armaments in the Austrian states which can be magnified into preparations for war." Though Louis XVI. was in cordial sympathy with the emigrants, and, by his secret agents, was urging the Emperor of Austria to lend him troops to aid in crushing the revolution in France, still he was compelled not only to dissemble, but on the 20th of April, 1792, publicly to declare war against the Emperor of Austria, who was brother of his queen, Maria Antoinette.
The campaign of 1792.
The Duke of Orleans, Egalité, begged permission of the king to join the armies of revolutionized France in their march against Austria, and to take with him his two oldest sons, the Duke of Chartres (Louis Philippe), and the Duke of Montpensier. In the campaign of 1792, which ensued, both of these young men acquired distinction and promotion. General Biron, in command, wrote to the minister of war:
"Messieurs Chartres and Montpensier have accompanied me as volunteers, and, being exposed for the first time to a brisk fire from the enemy, behaved with the utmost heroism and intrepidity."
The Duke of Chartres, in command of a brigade of dragoons, was soon after transferred to a corps at Metz, under General Kellerman, who subsequently obtained such renown in the wars of the Empire.
When the Duke of Chartres first appeared at head-quarters, General Kellerman, not knowing who he was, and surprised by his youthful appearance, exclaimed:
"Ah, monsieur! I never before have had the pleasure of seeing so young a general officer. How have you contrived to be made a general so soon?"
The duke replied: "By being a son of him who made a colonel of you." They clasped hands cordially, and a warm friendship commenced between them.
The invasion of France.
In July, 1792, the united armies of Prussia and Austria commenced their march from the German fortresses upon the Rhine into France. The emigrant nobles, and all their partisans, were received into the ranks of these invaders. Their combined strength amounted to 160,000 men. The Duke of Brunswick, in command of the united armies, issued from Coblentz, on the 15th of July, 1792, his famous manifesto, in which he declared, "That he would punish as rebels every Frenchman who should oppose the allied army; and that, should any attack be made upon the royal family in the Tuileries, the whole city should be given up to destruction, and the rebels to instant death."