evolution, and once more the
Marquis de Lafayette was in charge of the municipal troops, which
assembled at St. Cloud and other defensive points.

[Illustration: The Revolution of July 28, 1830. From the painting by
Delacroix.]

In vain did Charles protest that he would revoke every offensive
ordinance, and restore the charter. It was too late.

Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, was appointed lieutenant-general of
the kingdom. When he appeared at the Hotel de Ville wearing the
tricolor, his future was already assured.

There was only one thing left now for Charles to do: he formally
abdicated, and signed the paper authorizing the appointment of his
cousin to the position of lieutenant-general; and ten days later, Louis
Philippe, son of Philippe Egalite, occupied the throne he left.

The note struck by this new king was the absolute surrender of the
principle of divine right. He was a "citizen king"; his title being
bestowed not by a divine hand, but by the people, whose voice was the
voice of God! The title itself bore witness to a new order of things.
Louis Philippe was not King of France, but "King of the French." King
of France carried with it the old feudal idea of proprietorship and
sovereignty; while a King of the French was merely a leader of the
people, not the owner of their soil. The charter and all existing
conditions were modified to conform to this ideal, and on the 9th of
August the reign of the constitutional king began.

It was the middle class in France which supported this reign; the class
below that would never forget that he was, after all, a Bourbon and a
king; while the two classes above, both royalists and imperialists,
were unfriendly, one regarding him as a usurper on the throne of the
legitimate king, and the other as a weakling unfit to occupy the throne
of Napoleon.

When Charles X. tried to secure the banishment of the families of the
men who had voted for the death of Louis XVI., he may have had in mind
his cousin, the son of Philippe Egalite, the wickedest and most
despicable of the regicides. Whatever his father had been, Louis
Philippe was far from being a wicked man. Whether teaching school in
Switzerland, or giving French lessons in America, he was the
kindest-hearted and most inoffensive of gentlemen. The only trouble
with this reign was that it was not heroic. The most emotional and
romantic people in Europe had a common-place king. Only once was there
a throb of