It does not appear that the sagacious monarch was
esteemed by his subjects, as such a prince should have been esteemed.
The light-minded people, on the contrary, were rather weary than
otherwise of his sway. They were not in the least attached to his
amiable family, for whom his Majesty with characteristic thrift had
endeavored to procure satisfactory allowances. And the leading statesmen
of the country, whom his Majesty had disgusted, were suspected of
entertaining any but feelings of loyalty towards his house and person.
It was against the above-named pretenders that Louis Philippe (now
nearly a hundred years old), a prince amongst sovereigns, was called
upon to defend his crown.
The city of Paris was guarded, as we all know, by a hundred and
twenty-four forts, of a thousand guns each--provisioned for a
considerable time, and all so constructed as to fire, if need were,
upon the palace of the Tuileries. Thus, should the mob attack it, as in
August 1792, and July 1830, the building could be razed to the ground in
an hour; thus, too, the capital was quite secure from foreign invasion.
Another defence against the foreigners was the state of the roads. Since
the English companies had retired, half a mile only of railroad had been
completed in France, and thus any army accustomed, as those of Europe
now are, to move at sixty miles an hour, would have been ennuye'd to
death before they could have marched from the Rhenish, the Maritime, the
Alpine, or the Pyrenean frontier upon the capital of France.
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