the middle of
June. Early in July, Algiers was taken. Immense spoils, valued at
48,000,000 francs, were seized by the French. England grew apprehensive.
George IV. had just died (June 26), and the Duke of Wellington, who was
retained in power by the new king, William IV., demanded from the French
Government an engagement to retain none of its new conquests. "Never," said
Lord Alverdon to Lavel, the French Ambassador, "never did France, under the
Republic or under the Empire, give England such serious ground of complaint
as she has been giving us for the last year." It was in vain. The seething
spirit of the people in France seemed to demand an outlet. The victories
of French arms in Africa were cast before the French people as a sop. The
permanent annexation of Algiers was announced. It was too late.

[Sidenote: "Hernani"]

[Sidenote: Theophile Gautier]

[Sidenote: Honore de Balzac]

[Sidenote: French Government outvoted]

[Sidenote: Charles Xth's Coup d'Etat]

The heated spirit of the rising generation had already been revealed in the
hysterical demonstrations that occurred on the occasion of the first
performance of Victor Hugo's "Hernani" on February 25. Conspicuous among
the leaders of the literary tumult was Theophile Gautier, then a youth of
eighteen, but already an author and an _Hugolatre intransigeant_, who led
the claque on this first night resplendent in a rose-colored doublet and
streaming long hair. With him was young Balzac, who had just won renown and
notoriety by his "Physiologie du Mariage," and the first of his "Contes
Drolatiques." In March, the Liberals in the Chambers declared their want of
confidence in the government by a majority of forty votes. Charles X.,
staking all on the success of his Algerian campaign, dissolved the
Chambers. "No compromise, no surrender," was the motto of the Royalists as
they appealed to the people. The result was an overwhelming majority
against the government. No less than 202 deputies pledged to opposition
were elected. The whole of France was now waiting for the _coup d'etat_,
and Europe waited with France. "Your two weakest points are the electoral
law and the liberty of the press," said Metternich to the French Ambassador
in Vienna, "but you cannot touch them except through the Chambers. A _coup
d'etat_ would ruin the dynasty." The Czar, in St. Petersburg, spoke in a
like strain to the Duc de Mortemart. Charles X. could not be restrained.
"There are only Lafa