or to England,
where he mixed in local politics, for example, plotting against Lord
Palmerston, whose brusque manners he disliked; and in 1838 he ended his
strange life with some dignity, having, as one of his eulogists puts it,
been faithful to every Government he had served as long as it was
possible to save them.

With the darker side of Talleyrand's character we have nothing to do
here; it is sufficient for our purposes to say that the part the leading
statesman of France took during the Cent Tours was simply nil. In 1814,
he had let the reins slip through his hands; 1815 he could only follow
the King, who even refused to adopt his advice as to the proper way in
which to return to France, and though he once more became Chief Minister,
Talleyrand, like Louis XVIII., owed his restoration in 1815 solely to the
Allies.

The Comte d'Artois, the brother of the King, and later King himself as
Charles X., was sent to Lyons, to which place the Duc d'Orleans followed
him, and where the two Princes met Marshal Macdonald. The Marshal did
all that man could do to keep the soldiers true to the Bourbons, but he
had to advise the Princes to return to Paris, and he himself had to fly
for his life when he attempted to stop Napoleon in person. The Duc
d'Orleans was then sent to the north to hold Lille, where the King
intended to take refuge, and the Comte d'Artois remained with the Court.

The Court was very badly off for money, the King, and Clarke, Duke of
Feltre, the War Minister, were the only happy possessors of carriages.
They passed their time, as the Abbe Louis once bitterly remarked, in
saying foolish things till they had a chance of doing them.

The Comte d'Artois, who, probably wisely, certainly cautiously, had
refused to go with De Vitrolles to stir up the south until he had placed
the King in safety, had ended by going to Ghent too, while the Duc de
Berry was at Alost, close by, with a tiny army composed of the remains of
the Maison du Roi, of which the most was made in reports. The Duc
d'Orleans, always an object of suspicion to the King, had left France
with the Royal party, but had refused to stay in Belgium, as he alleged
that it was an enemy's country. He crossed to England where he remained,
greatly adding to the anxiety of Louis by refusing to join him.

The end of these Princes is well known. Louis died in 1824, leaving his
throne to his brother; but Charles only held it till 1830, when after the
rising calle