gar, like
the '_high-life_' of sundry other places ruled by governments of divers
forms. But when young men born to names which in the popular mind
represent the history of France show themselves as athletes in a
Parisian circus, or appear as grooms on the carriages of _cocottes_ in
the Bois de Boulogne, their folly naturally damages more or less in the
public estimation the principles with which the names they bear are
associated.

Under the Empire the Legitimists, as a body, really played the game of
the Emperor by holding themselves aloof from public life in all its
departments, in accordance with the policy adopted by the Comte de
Chambord. The inevitable effect of this policy was to widen the gulf
between them and the body of the French people. It tended to bring about
in France results like those aimed at by the National League in
Ireland, and to prevent a gradual and wholesome reconciliation between
the heirs of the class which was exiled and plundered during the
Revolution, and the heirs of the classes which eventually profited by
the proscriptions and confiscations of that unhappy time. The disastrous
war of 1870-71 did much to counteract the social mischief thus wrought.
The French Legitimists came forward in all parts of France to the
defence of their country. They were brought thus into contact with the
people and the people with them. They ceased to be a caste and began to
be citizens. The way was thus prepared, too, for that fusion of the two
great Royalist camps, the camp of the Legitimists and the camp of the
Orleanists, which has since taken place. A very intelligent young
officer of Engineers, himself the heir of an ancient name, told me at
Dijon that there are at this time more men of the old families of France
on the rolls of the army than ever before since 1789. Instead of
rejoicing in this as the wholesome sign of a growing moral harmony
between all classes of Frenchmen, the leaders of the Republican party
have been incensed by it. Doubtless they regard it as an obstacle to the
development of their idea of 'moral unity.' Under President Grevy, the
Minister of War actually drove one of the best soldiers in France,
General Schmidt, out of his command at Tours by insisting that he should
forbid his officers to accept invitations from their friends who lived
in the chateaux which are the glory of Touraine, the traditional garden
of France. Imagine a High Church secretary-at-war in England issuing an
o