The French
people, however, were indignant at this defect of communication in their
territory, and said, without the least show of reason, that they would
have preferred that the five hundred and seventy-five thousand billions
of francs which had been expended upon the fortifications should have
been laid out in a more peaceful manner. However, behind his forts, the
King lay secure.
As it is our aim to depict in as vivid a manner as possible the strange
events of the period, the actions, the passions of individuals and
parties engaged, we cannot better describe them than by referring to
contemporary documents, of which there is no lack. It is amusing at the
present day to read in the pages of the Moniteur and the Journal des
Debats the accounts of the strange scenes which took place.
The year 1884 had opened very tranquilly. The Court of the Tuileries had
been extremely gay. The three-and-twenty youngest Princes of England,
sons of her Majesty Victoria, had enlivened the balls by their presence;
the Emperor of Russia and family had paid their accustomed visit; and
the King of the Belgians had, as usual, made his visit to his royal
father-in-law, under pretence of duty and pleasure, but really to demand
payment of the Queen of the Belgians' dowry, which Louis Philippe of
Orleans still resolutely declined to pay.
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