Marshal MacMahon had succeeded M. Thiers as
President of the Republic, and it was well known that the Marshal,
as well as the Royalist majority in the French Chamber, favoured
the restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, represented by the Comte
de Chambord, as head of the elder branch. People of the type of M.
Ducros, and of the President of the Nyons Tribunal, viewed the
possible return of a Legitimist Bourbon Monarchy with the gravest
apprehension. Given the character of the Comte de Chambord, they
felt it would be a purely reactionary regime. Traditionally, the
elder branch of the Bourbons were incapable of learning anything,
and equally incapable of forgetting anything. These two shrewd
lawyers had both been vigorous opponents of the Bonapartist
regime, but they pinned their faith on the Orleans branch,
inexplicably enough to me, considering the treacherous record of
that family. They never could mention the name of a member of the
Orleans family without adding, "Ah! les braves gens!" the very
last epithet in the world I should have dreamed of applying to
them.
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