mentioned. On our way south we had visited the château and had lunch with the Count and his family. They could not speak a word of English, nor was there any look of other than French blood in them.
My father had written to the Count to inquire whether it were safe to proceed, and the young Count very kindly rode out to meet us a stage before reaching Nantes, and urged us most strongly not to proceed that evening, but remain there. The town was in agitation, there had been on the preceding day a fight with the soldiery, and a general had been torn off his horse and killed. By his advice we remained where we were in somewhat rough quarters, and next day drove through Nantes in the early morning and proceeded to Châteaubriant.
The insurrection in Paris had been driven back into the faubourg Saint Antoine. General Lamorcière summoned the insurgents to lay down their arms, under pain of a bombardment, and they yielded. The four days' battle had cost the lives on one side and on the other of 5000 men, among whom were seven generals, four others had been severely wounded, two representatives (no great loss) had been killed and three wounded. Twelve thousand prisoners made during the insurrection or after the conflict were deported to Algeria.
There were two candidates for the Presidency of the Republic, General Cavaignac, head of the executive since June 24th, and Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. The latter was elected by an overwhelming majority. This despised adventurer, who had evoked the pity of his countrymen by his attempt on Strassburg in 1837, and their laughter by his expedition to Boulogne in 1842, had now planted his foot on the first step of the ladder leading to the throne.
We got without any serious contretemps to St. Malo, and thence by Plymouth returned to Lew.
Never, probably, did any King fall so lumpishly and was so little regretted as Louis Philippe. He was thought to be avaricious, and to treat his kingdom as a good speculation; he was not regarded as a man of principle, but as one ready to adopt any watchword that would suit the time, as one who courted the mob, which despised him; as one who used corruption without scruple; as one who adopted low means to attain mean ends.
