She had ordered a large sum
to be paid yearly to the Baron de Richemont, and the report was that
she had wished to recognize him on her death-bed as her brother. But
her confessor had counselled her that such a recognition would
introduce new contentions among the Bourbons, and give the pretender
Henry V. equal claims with Louis XVII.
Yet the Duke de Normandie was not silent; he spoke so loudly of his
rights that Louis Philippe at last held it advisable to arrest him
and bring him to trial. The preliminary investigation continued
fifteen months; then he was brought before the court, and accused of
conspiracy against the safety of the state.
The Gazette des Tribunaux of the 3d, 4th, and 5th of November, 1834,
gave the details of this trial. Spectators poured in from all sides,
and also, in an unexpected manner, witnesses who declared themselves
ready to prove the identity of the Baron de Richemont with the Duke
de Normandie, son of Louis XVI. The accused appeared entirely calm
and dignified before the bar, and when the counsel for the
government accused him of appropriating a name that did not belong
to him, he asked quietly,
"Gentlemen, if I am not Louis XVII., will you tell me who I am?"
No one knew how to reply to this question; but many eminent
legitimists had come to solemnly declare that the accused was in
truth their king, and that he was the rescued orphan of the Temple.
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