when
the Chamber some two years since decreed that crown jewels should be
sold by auction, they exempted the Regent. Republican France will not
sell the Regent. This is a very remarkable fact, and would have eased
the mind of the old Duke of Orleans could he have foreseen it. This
sparkling gem, which he dreaded to buy fearing the censure of his
people, has now sunk so deeply into their affections that even after
the final extinction of the race of Bourbons which it was bought to
adorn, the same people, now being sovereign, cannot bring themselves
to part with it.
