n his surroundings--in his
own family even--only the worst side of human nature; and, in some
respects, of those very opinions to which he was tempted to adhere.

The Camors were originally from Brittany, where they had held, in the
eighteenth century, large possessions, particularly some extensive
forests, which still bear their name. The grandfather of Louis, the Comte
Herve de Camors, had, on his return from the emigration, bought back a
small part of the hereditary demesne. There he established himself in the
old-fashioned style, and nourished until his death incurable prejudices
against the French Revolution and against Louis XVIII.

Count Herve had four children, two boys and two girls, and, feeling it
his duty to protest against the levelling influences of the Civil Code,
he established during his life, by a legal subterfuge, a sort of entail
in favor of his eldest son, Charles-Henri, to the prejudice of
Robert-Sosthene, Eleanore-Jeanne and Louise-Elizabeth, his other heirs.
Eleanore-Jeanne and Louise-Elizabeth accepted with apparent willingness
the act that benefited their brother at their expense--notwithstanding
which they never forgave him. But Robert-Sosthene, who, in his position
as representative of the younger branch, affected Liberal leanings and
was besides loaded with debt, rebelled against the paternal procedure. He
burned his visiting-cards, ornamented with the family crest and his name
"Chevalier Lange d'Ardennes"--and had others printed, simply "Dardennes,
junior (du Morbihan)."

Of these he sent a specimen to his father, and from that hour became a
declared Republican.

There are people who attach themselves to a party by their virtues;
others, again, by their vices. No recognized political party exists which
does not contain some true principle; which does not respond to some
legitimate aspiration of human society. At the same time, there is not
one which can not serve as a pretext, as a refuge, and as a hope, for the
basest passions of our nature.

The most advanced portion of the Liberal party of France is composed of
generous spirits, ardent and absolute, who torture a really elevated
ideal; that of a society of manhood, constituted with a sort of
philosophic perfection; her own mistress each day and each hour;
delegating few of her powers, and yielding none; living, not without
laws, but without rulers; and, in short, developing her activity, her
well-being, her genius, with that fulness