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Page 5
The French people idolized him, and declared that he would some day be to
France what Wellington was to England.
His father was then King, and the Duke induced the King to send him on
active service, and for six years he was in various campaigns, always
distinguishing himself for his bravery and soldierly qualities.
At the end of this time there was a revolution in France. The King was
deposed, a second republic declared, and the whole Orleans family exiled.
The King and the princes went to England, and purchased some fine property
near London, at a place called Twickenham. Here the Duke lived, devoting
himself to literature and study.
The ungrateful French Government, forgetting the services he had done for
his country, not content with banishing him with the rest of his family,
took from him a famous estate called Chantilly, which had belonged to his
ancestors for centuries.
Despite this treatment the Duke's love for his country never changed.
When the Franco-German war broke out in 1870 he instantly offered his
services to France.
Napoleon III., the same Napoleon who sent Maximilian to Mexico, was then
Emperor of France.
He declined the help of the Duke d'Aumale, fearing to allow any of the
princes of the royal blood to serve in the army, lest they might endeavor
to influence the soldiers to bring about a new revolution.
After the battle of Sedan, when Napoleon was taken prisoner, and France
once more became a republic, the Duke returned to France and took an
active part in the affairs of State, and Chantilly and the greater portion
of his lands were restored to him.
The other Orleans princes also returned to France, and remained there
until 1883, when the Minister of War, following the policy of Napoleon
III., declared it undesirable to have the princes serving in the army.
The Duke's name was struck off the army-roll by that General Boulanger who
made such a stir in France at that time. All the commissions held by the
Orleans princes were cancelled, and the whole family once more banished
from France.
A few weeks after the Duke had left France, the French people were
somewhat ashamed to learn that this man, whom they had twice hounded out
of the country, had returned good for evil, and made a present to the
nation, or rather to the Institute of France, of his beautiful chateau of
Chantilly.
The Institute laid the matter before the Government, and asked that the
decree of exile be revoked.
After some time this was done, and the Duke returned to France to live in
Chantilly, which, by the terms of his gift, he was at liberty to use
during his lifetime.
The Duke was seventy years of age. His death was caused by the news that
the Duchess d'Alen�on, a favorite niece of his, had been burnt to death in
a dreadful fire which has just occurred in Paris.
Some charitable ladies organized a bazaar for the benefit of sick women
and children.
The great ladies of France were interested in it, and its opening was one
of the fashionable events in Paris.
One afternoon during the progress of the bazaar, when the place was full
of visitors, and many of the greatest ladies in French society were in the
building, buying and selling, a cry of fire was raised, and it was found
that one of the stalls was in flames.
Unhappily, there was but one exit to the building, and the fire spread so
rapidly that it was impossible for all to escape. A number of the ladies
were burned to death.
All Paris, indeed all Europe, is in mourning because of the disaster, for
there is hardly a noble family in Europe which was not represented at the
bazaar.
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