of 1847
and the beginning of 1848 is thus summed up by one brother writing
in confidence to another:--

"The king will listen to no advice. His own will must be paramount
over everything. It seems to me impossible that in the Chamber of
Deputies at the next session the anomalous state of the government
should fail to attract attention. It has effaced all traces of
constitutional government, and has put forward the king as the
primary, and indeed sole, mover upon all occasions. There is no
longer any respect for ministers; their responsibility is null,
everything rests with the king. He has arrived at an age when he
declines to listen to suggestions. He is accustomed to govern,
and he loves to show that he does so. His immense experience, his
courage, and his great qualities lead him to face danger; but it
is not on that account the less real or imminent."

Then, after further summing up the state of France,--the finances
embarrassed, the _entente cordiale_ with England at an end, and the
provinces in confusion,--the prince adds: "Those unhappy Spanish
marriages!--we have not yet drained the cup of bitterness they
have mixed for us to drink."

In this state of things the opposition party was divided into liberals
who wished for reform, and liberals who aimed at revolution. For
a while the two parties worked together, and their war-cry was
Reform! There was little or no parliamentary opposition, for the
Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies were alike virtually
chosen by the Crown. The population of France in 1848 was thirty-five
millions; but those entitled to vote were only two hundred and
forty thousand, or one to every one hundred and forty-six of the
population, and of these a large part were in Government employ.
It was said that the number of places in the gift of the Ministry
was sixty-three thousand, every place, from that of a guard upon
a railroad to that of a judge upon the bench, being disposed of
by ministerial favor.

The plan adopted to give expression to the public discontent was
the inauguration of reform banquets. To these large crowds were
attracted, both from political motives and from a desire in the
rural districts to hear the great speakers, Lamartine and others,
who had a national renown. Many of the speeches were inflammatory.
The health of the king was never drunk on these occasions, but
the "Marseillaise" was invariably played.

Seventy-four of these banquets had been given in th