His despotism was thus carried beyond the limits of endurance. So far from seeking to attach his great officers to his own person, by lavishing upon them the favors of his government, his suspicions had become alarmed at the growing wealth of his nobles, in consequence of the immense incomes drawn by them from the estates placed under their control, within the districts of which they were the titulary lords. To prevent this inordinate increase of wealth among a class of persons who, it was thought, might one day employ it against the throne and dignity of the sovereign, an institution was formed, called the Royal Chamber of Accounts, which, by a sort of star-chamber process, appraised the estates of the nobility, and disburdened them of so much of their wealth as the king deemed a matter of superfluity to them. Several of the black nobles had already been subjected to the jurisdiction of this royal court; and, actuated by secret indignation for this arbitrary spoliation of their property, they sought only for an opportunity to drive Christophe from his power, in the hope to share the same authority among themselves.
In the month of August, 1820, Christophe, while attending mass, was attacked with paralysis, and was immediately carried to his palace at Sans Souci, where he remained an invalid for many months, to the great satisfaction of his subjects.
This event, so favorable to the treacherous designs of the discontented chiefs of his government, furnished an occasion for the formation of a dangerous conspiracy, at the head of which were Paul Romaine, Prince of Limbe, and General Richard, the governor of the royal capital. The conspirators designed to
