to pass; of wandering,
a devoted mother and banished queen, from hamlet to hamlet,
and chateau to chateau; of testing humanity, high and low, on
the romantic side, and, at the end of a victorious
conspiracy, of rearing in France the standard of the
monarchy--all this was too dazzling not to captivate a young
and high-spirited woman, bold through very ignorance of the
obstacles she had to surmount, heroic in the hour of danger
through levity; able to endure all but ennui, and ready to
lull any misgivings with the casuistry of a mother's
love."[AH]

[Footnote AH: Louis Blanc.]

The ex-king, Charles X., who, having abdicated, had no power to
nominate to the regency, still issued a decree, dated Edinburgh,
March 8th, 1831, by which he authorized "a proclamation in favor of
Henry V., in which it shall be announced that Madame, Duchess de
Berri, is to be regent of the kingdom during the minority of her
son."[AI]

[Footnote AI: By the laws of France the dauphin attained his majority
at the age of thirteen.]

The duchess, assuming the title of Countess of Segana, crossed over
to Holland, and, ascending the Rhine and traversing the Tyrol, safely
reached Genoa. The King of Sardinia, Charles Albert, received her
kindly, and loaned her a million francs. But the French consul
discovered her through her disguise, and by order of the French Court
the Sardinian king felt constrained to request her to withdraw from
his domains.

The Duke of Modena received her hospitably, and assigned to her use
the palace of Massa, about three miles from the sea. Here, with
confidential advisers, she matured her plans. Secret agents were sent
to all the principal cities in France, to organize royalist
committees and to prepare for a general uprising. The plan was for
the insurrection to break out first in the west of France, to be
immediately followed by all the southern provinces.

While affairs were in this posture, a very curious measure was
adopted by the Government, which merits brief notice. The Chamber of
Deputies, composed of the _bourgeoisie_, voted the abolition of the
hereditary peerage. This was a constitutional amendment, which needed
to be ratified by the Chamber of Peers. But the Peers were not
disposed thus to commit suicide. Louis Philippe had been placed upon
the throne by the bourgeoisie. The nobles were Bourbonists. He felt
constrained to support the measures of his friends. He ther