The Royalist party in France, as we expected, has yielded
completely to the Comte de Paris. He has signified privately through his friends, and semi-publicly through the Francais, that he does not wish, for the present, to take the title of King, or to issue any manifesto. "To forestall a name is not enough t, forestall fortune." He will be known, therefore, by the name he has always borne, and will remain quiet to watch events. This course displeases the more ardent Legitimists, and some of them have retired from politics; but the majority adhere to their princi- plea, declare that the "King is King, whatever his ideas," and that, as he has the right to give the mot d'ordre, he has also the right to abstain from giving it. That is the only logical position for the party, unless it renounces the notion that leadership passes by hereditary right. If the King can be deposed because he is selfish and inactive, the Kingship is elective, the precise doctrine against which the Legitimists pro- test. The Orleanist leaders also have all acceded to the new order of things, which they do not quite approve, as they hold the Parliamentary idea as important as the idea of Royalty, but which adds to their social respectability. They can no longer be taunted as Brummagem Royalists.
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