Soundtrack:
Louis-Aîmé Maillart - Overture to Les Dragons de Villars [2]
*exterior* *Lyons* *we see soldiers in French uniform in the streets* *we see the hauling down of the city flag stamped with the arms of France and Navarre in the middle, emblazoned with the silver lion of Lyons and the motto "Montjoie Saint Denis" beneath* * *a conventional tricoleur is run up in its place*
*exterior* *we see soldiers in French uniforms dumping corpses in a mass grave* *another soldier holds a hand to his nose indicating the smell*
*interior* *courtroom* *a judge hands down a sentence to men and two women in front of him* *we can see the reaction this provokes* *the audience in the court room starts shouting and crying* *we hear a child shouting "Gramère!"* *an older boy jumps to his feet and is yanked forcibly back down by the person sitting next to him* *the sentenced do not look humbled, or even scared* *their chins are raised and shoulders thrown back in defiance* *their lips are moving but we can't hear what they're saying over the roar of the courtroom*
*then we hear what the judge hears* *and we understand why his face blanches*
Sentenced: *singing* Entendez vous dans nos campagnes? Les cris impurs des scélérats? Qui viennent jusque dans nos bras! Prendre nos fils, nos femmes!
*joined by the audiences* Aux armes Lyonnais! Formez vos batallions! Marchez, marchez, le sang des bleus.
Child who cried "Grandma": Rougira nos sillons! [3]
*cut to Dijon* *we see the tumbrils of prisoners being driven into the square in front of the Palais de Ducs de Bourgogne* *the men and women are similar to their Lyonnais counterparts* *not afraid as they start to sing*
Prisoners: c'est nous les brigands, les Bourguignons. Les brigands du Roi! Du petit Roi Henri, ohé, Du petit Roi Henri, ohé! Arrivent les Bleus, les assassins, tous les voyous Orléannais. En avant derrière M'sieur Henri! Henri le Cinquième! Henri le Cinquième! [4] [5]
*even the soldiers look a little rattled at these people's singing*
*cut to Paris* *on
all the newspapers headlines we see things like "Lorraine has declared for Henri", "Henri being acclaimed king in Aquitaine" "Vannes-Nantes-Rennes have signed a mutual defence pact" "Dauphiné and Provence have rallied under « dévoués à l'honneur, à la patrie et à le Roi Henri [6]»"*
*cut to the Théâtre Graslin in Nantes* *Henri enters the "royal" box to riotous applause and cheers* *the curtain rises on the première of Olympe de Gouges Le Tyran Détroné ou France Sauvée*
*cut to Louis Philippe in the late duc de Chartres' study at Saint-Cloud* *with him is Alexandre Dumas père* *Louis Philippe is showing him that the room has been redecorated for "the dauphin"*
Louis Philippe: to be used as a schoolroom.
Dumas: of course, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: *sits down on window bench* *rests his chin on the top of his cane* that's all you think?
Dumas: I think it ill-behoves a king whose kingdom is in flames to be worried more about wallpaper than quenching those flames, sire.
Louis Philippe: it's a phase, Monsieur Dumas. The French army entered Chambéry three days after quelling the riots at Lyons. They have had nothing but victories over the
supposedly indefatigable armies of Radetzky to push him all the way back to Milan in the last month. True, Radetzky has scored some tactical victories over the French army, but the strategic victories look very much different. The Austrian is a magnificent organization, formiddable on paper, but highly ineffective in the matter of a defensive war.
Dumas: as your Majesty says
Louis Philippe: my agents in Vienna and Prague tell me that all of Austria is in a matter of stupefaction. The emperor's announcement to the Imperial Council that he wishes for the duke of Reichstadt to be
regent- can you imagine that, Monsieur Dumas? - for the emperor's incompetent son. A boy two generations removed from
obscurity in Corsica, will now decide the fate of Italy, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and countless other states-
Dumas: from him, I should say it's to be expected, Majesty. Names have a very heavy burden attached to them, sire, and his even more than most.
Louis Philippe: and what has his name gotten him? From what I've heard, he's absolutely frantic for this war to end before he gets swept out of power. He has no
metier du souverain. What others - like Chambord and his henchmen - mistake for skill in their adoration, is merely a conman's trick. He is no brilliant general, name me one political decision of his that has been made successfully. His ideas for education, for an empire wide postal service, for a judiciary, a string of hospitals for the poor through the empire...where are they now? Lying fallow. To be sure, some fools like Baden and Saxony may implement some of them, but why do you think so many are unwilling to obey him? Because they know his time is short. Nobody in Austria will agree to
him being regent. Not when all he has done is bring them war and death to keep what they had.
Dumas: and your Majesty?
Louis Philippe: my wars are
necessary. To avenge the humiliation of Mexico and Havana, to blot out the disgrace of Egypt and to consolidate
my dynasty.
Dumas: to speak of Mexico I'm told Prince Iturbide's wife recently had a little boy.
Louis Philippe: a perfect illustration of Reichstadt's "impotence". Where was the
princess he promised Madame l'Imperatrice for her son? He has only been able to get the king of the Belgians' nephew for her daughter. And then marries the
supposed Prince Imperial off to...one of the daughters of his generals?
Dumas: a Frenchwoman, sire [7]
Louis Philippe: I thought she was born in America.
Dumas: on a French vessel quarantined in Newark harbour, sire.
Louis Philippe: *makes grunt*
Dumas: I take it from your Majesty's...gloating over matters in Savoy and Piedmont, that you do not wish to acquiesce to Reichstadt's terms regarding the Rhine.
Louis Philippe: he has ordered me out of my rightful inheritance. Baden is a bastard, even the king of Bavaria agrees with that. I am simply reclaiming Baden as the
legitimate heir [8], and the Palatinate is lawfully French, even Louis XIV thought so.
Dumas: I am not here to dispute what Louis XIV believed or not, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: no, you are here because I would like you to be my grandson's tutor.
Dumas: *bows* your Majesty, it is an honour.
Louis Philippe: then you accept?
Dumas: to educate the future of France is a colossal responsibility. And one I would be
proud to undertake, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: see, Monsieur Dumas, even when the king is choosing wallpaper, he is still working for the future good of France. Do you think Monsieur Henri, sitting in his box at the opera, ignoring the plight of the men and women who have died for him, understand that?
Dumas: your Majesty does not believe that it would be a good idea to take the boot off the throat of the Bisontins now that they have been suitably punished. Victor [Hugo] stressed-
Louis Philippe: they will soon settle down. Monsieur Henri is a passing fashion, a phase. Winter is coming, Monsieur Dumas, and then? When all of Monsieur Henri's wretches are crowded into Nantes. How do you think the poor, the hungry, the cold, will regard a king they see being fed steaming plates of food on silver trays? Winter is the great equalizer.
Dumas: I understand that to mean that your Majesty will not consider relenting. In Besançon, Dijon, Lyons, the winter will be
just as hard there as in Nantes.
Louis Philippe: if I relent now, I will look weak.
Dumas: your Majesty would look gracious.
Louis Philippe: Monsieur Dumas, I cannot arrest Monsieur Henri without causing the Revolution everyone fears. I cannot shoot him, I cannot exile him, since all of this indicates that I actually regard he and his rabble as a threat. I can only starve him out. I am in the most unenviable position of a person who has had a snake crawl into bed with them. If I irritate the creature, it will bite, and if I stay still, it may bite anyway. If Monsieur Henri had decided - at any point over the last few months - to head to Geneva from Lyons, or take ship from Marseilles or Toulon for Sicily, over the Pyrenees to Spain or find a tramp steamer- I hear his finances are not in a good state. Most of what he has is borrowed to the hilt. And his moving on is not so much a progress around the kingdom as it is his credit running out- to take him to England or Hamburg or the Americas...I would've gladly told them to welcome him with open arms. I know what it is like to be a penniless exile, running for your life, you see.
Dumas: of course, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: I cannot move and he cannot stay. And once the French realize that, they will quiet down. The duke of Reichstadt being named regent in Austria is already angering many Bonapartists from what Minister Soult, Marshal Oudinot and the Comte de Morny tell me. Even members of his own family who thought that perhaps his treatment of Léon was a one-off, have looked at how coldly he behaved towards Prince de Pontecorvo with disgust.
Dumas: both were neccessary, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: one can understand that they are unsure if they have any safety. Archduke Karl writes me from Vienna that that is the foremost of the archdukes' concerns. That they will not be safe if their great-nephew or cousin were to take over. And it provides a useful point: with Reichstadt in power in Vienna, who shared tutors with Monsieur Henri, who was educated in diplomacy by Prince Metternich as Monsieur Henri was...what hopes does an
Austrian have of ruling France? They are already referring to Henri as the "other bastard[9]" and the "soldat à la crème".
Dumas: *remains silent* *just nods*
Louis Philippe: so as you can see, Monsieur Dumas, I am
neccessary. [10]
*cut to Dumas climbing into his carriage in the cour d'honneur*
Victor Hugo: and? Did his Majesty say anything?
Dumas: lot of pretty words about how he's looking after the future of France. Wants me to be tutor to his grandson.
Hugo: what did you say?
Dumas: that I would be honoured. And I don't think he should be putting new wallpaper up yet. He believes he's illustrating his stability, his permanence.
Hugo: and you don't agree?
Dumas: my father was a
mulatto, my grandfather a
negro, my great-grandfather a
monkey. Where my family
starts, Louis Philippe's ends [11]
*fade to black as carriage drives out of the gates of Saint-Cloud*
[2] opera based on the novel,
La Petite Fadette by George Sand: the story of twin brothers (essentially the jock and the musician-types) who fall in love with the same girl
[3] *sung to the tune of La Marseillaise* do you hear from the countryside? The impure cries of these wretches? They come into your midst! Take your sons [for their war], your wives! To arms Lyonnais! Form your batallions! The blood of the bleus [the French army], shall redden the furrows.
[4] we are the brigands, the Burgundians, the brigands of the king. Of little King Henri, ohé, of little King Henri, ohé. Then come the bleus, those murderers, with all their Orléanist thugs. Onward, we follow M'sieur Henri! Henri the Fifth! Henri the Fifth!
[5] Dijon, for all its indifference when Henri was in prison, the city (like Lyons) was one of Napoléon's biggest supporters during the Hundred Days - for similar reasons - while Charles X (as constable of the kingdom) had promised to put an end to the policy of the "droits réunis", Louis XVIII ignored him. While Dijon was apathetic before, they've probably realized that, no matter how many Bibles they swear on, Paris isn't going to believe them. So, Vive le Petit Roi Henri (little because he hasn't been crowned yet)
[6] devoted to honour, the fatherland and King Henri
[7] the daughter in question is Caroline Lallemand (b.1819): daughter of Henri Lallemand (a Napoléonic general, and late brother to Frankie's representative in Texas, Charles Lallemand) and Henriette Girard (niece of Stephen - born Étienne - Girard, the richest man in the United States, and first US multi-millionaire in history). Caroline got a substantial inheritance from her great-uncle Steve on his death in 1831. She's American born, but to two French Catholic parents (dad's from Metz, mom's from Bordeaux, born to a French father and an Irish mother). Pretty sure while the ex-empress of Mexico doesn't like the idea of a "gringo" daughter-in-law (she certainly didn't care for Alice Green OTL), Caroline's money and that she's "French by technicality" make her squint at it. The being born on a French vessel is because some sources say Henriette Girard was born in New Jersey in 1802, others say she was born in France.
[8] while Louis Philippe's raison de guerre has never been discussed, this shows just how "tortured" an argument he had to come up with to justify it. While west bank of the Rhine is a revolutionary policy, he does have a "less radical" one if anyone asks: namely the Baden Succession. In a situation much too convoluted to go into in depth, when the grand duke, Ludwig I, died in 1830, that was officially the end of the house of Baden (by most European royal families' standards). The only reason that Leopold I (Gustav Vasa's brother-in-law) was allowed to succeed was because Franz I had chosen to recognize him as heir rather than let Bavaria claim it (which Prussia opposed as well) when Stephanie de Beauharnais' husband died in 1818. Louis Philippe (and the whole house of Orléans) descends from not just Liselotte - through whom he's claiming the Palatinate - but Auguste of Baden. Auguste is the representative of the senior line of Baden-Baden, and since Baden followed (by my understanding) some sort of male preference primogeniture rather than Salic Law (hence how Bavaria was able to claim it and why Leopold was married to Gustav's sister), Louis Philippe's "claim" is not that crazy: out there, to be sure, but probably a lot more credible than the War of the Palatinate Succession since Auguste
didn't renounce her rights to Baden for her marriage. Mostly because it was likely deemed unnecessary
[9] l'Autrichien. Autre (other), chien (bastard). Nickname in the Grand Armée for an Austrian. Soldat à la crème (soldiers with cream), a pun on the red trousers and the white tunics of the Austrian uniform looking like strawberries and cream. Henri's never worn the uniform since he entered France, but the fact that he wore it at all...likely it does as much to diminish enthusiasm for him as the Prince Imperial serving in the British army did
[10] Louis Philippe's response to Jérôme Bonaparte, Prince de Montfort when asked if he wasn't being too harsh
[11] Dumas' response when someone tried to defend slavery to him. Ten bucks says Dumas'
Richelieu in his
Three Musketeers (published in 1844) is inspired by Louis Philippe?
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