rible monument of tyranny--these avenging hands,
which seemed consecrated by Providence, and which annihilated
with such rapidity the work of many centuries--all this spoke
at once to the imagination and the heart."

When the Duke of Chartres was informed that the Assembly had
annulled all the rights of primogeniture--thus depriving him, as the
first-born, of his exclusive right to the title and the estate--he
threw his arms around his brother, the Duke of Montpensier, and said,
"Now, indeed, we are brothers in every respect." The unconcealed
liberal opinions of the young prince increased the exasperation of
the court against the whole Orleans family. And when, guided by his
radical father, and in opposition to the advice of Madame de Genlis,
the young duke became a member of the Jacobin Club--then numbering,
as it was estimated, four hundred thousand in France--the indignation
of the court reached its highest pitch.

On the 20th of November, 1785, the young Duke of Chartres, then in
his thirteenth year, became colonel of the nineteenth regiment of
dragoons. He proceeded, not long after, to Vendome, and devoted
himself, with all the enthusiasm of youth, to the duties of his
profession. His democratic principles led him, in opposition to the
example of most of his brother-officers, to associate quite
familiarly with the common soldiers.

"Far from imitating the example of these young noblemen, who
disdained to mix or converse with the soldiers, the duke was
constantly in the midst of them, and the advice and reprimands which
they received from his lips had double the force of usual orders. On
every occasion he proved himself the soldier's friend. He heard their
complaints with kindness, and the generous, noble familiarity with
which he replied to their demands in a little time won for him all
their hearts. Strengthened by those affections, which he so well knew
how to merit, he was enabled, without any exertion, to establish and
preserve the strictest discipline. His men obeyed him with pleasure,
because his orders were always given with urbanity.

"His exemplary conduct had the happiest influence over the
whole garrison of Vendome. The soldiers now forgot his youth;
the oldest officers found in him such intelligence and
punctuality as sometimes left their experience in arrear. He
frequently reached the stables, in the morning, before the
lieutenant, whose duty it was to call ther