348 



ORLEANS ORLOFF. 



partially administered. A count Horn was con- 

 demned to be broken alive for the murder of a 

 banker. The family and the courtiers represented 

 to the regent, that the count was connected with 

 the most illustrious families, and even with himself. 

 " Gentlemen," replied the prince, "the shame is in 

 the crime, not in the punishment ; and as for myself, 

 I will bear my part of the disgrace." In 1723, he 

 finally resigned the government into the hands of the 

 young king, whom he had gradually made acquainted 

 with affairs in an unrestrained manner, and gave 

 himself up to the wildest excesses. Yet, after the 

 death of Dubois (August, 1723), he took upon him- 

 self the duties of premier, and would allow his 

 favourite roues no share in affairs ; and it is remark- 

 able, that, even in his orgies, no state secret ever 

 escaped him. He died in December, 1723, of apo- 

 plexy, the consequence of his excesses, at the age of 

 forty-nine. For an account of the regent and the 

 regency, see Marmontel's Regence du Due d 'Orleans 

 (Paris, 1805) ; St Simon's Memoires ; and parti- 

 cularly Sevelinges's Memoires secrets et Correspon- 

 dance inedite du Cardinal Dubois (Paris, 1815). 



ORLEANS, Louis JOSEPH PHILIP, duke of, great 

 grandson of the preceding, was born in 1747, and 

 until the death of his lather, in 1787, bore the title 

 of duke of Chartres. During the revolution he ac- 

 qnired an unfortunate notoriety, and, even in his 

 youth, was distinguished for his unbridled licentious- 

 ness. His wife, Louisa Mary Adelaide de Pen- 

 thievre (born 1753), whom he married in 1769, in- 

 herited the virtues and piety of her father, the duke 

 of Penthi&vre. The duke of Chartres was accused 

 of having seduced her brother, the prince of Lam- 

 balle, to participate in his excesses, for the purpose 

 of ruining his constitution and inheriting his estate. 

 This marriage was only a source of unhappiness to 

 the duchess, who turned all her thoughts to the 

 education of her sons, of whom the only survivor, 

 Louis Philip, now occupies the throne of France. 

 Nature had done much for the duke of Orleans, for- 

 tune yet more ; he was immensely rich : his person 

 was rather above the common stature, and his coun- 

 tenance was pleasing, until his debaucheries had dis- 

 figured it with eruptions. He was dexterous and 

 active in bodily exercises, not without intelligence, 

 but ignorant and credulous; a good-natured, weak 

 man, without any decision of character. After 

 having indulged to satiety in all sensual pleasures, 

 he found a new kind of excitement for his palled 

 appetites in the storms of the revolution, and a new 

 source of pleasure in the gratifications of revenge. 

 His public life was entirely the work of circum- 

 stances. Entitled by his birth to the place of grand- 

 admiral, he commanded a division of the fleet against 

 Keppel, in the action off Ushant, in 1778 ; but his 

 division was not brought forward : the duke was ac- 

 cused of cowardice, and, instead of being created 

 grand-admiral, he was made colonel-general of hus- 

 sars. From this time may be dated his hatred of 

 Louis XVI. Several years later, he was chosen grand- 

 master of the free-masons in France ; and, in 1 788, 

 on the beginning of the disputes between the court 

 and the parliament, he embraced the popular cause, 

 and opposed the king in the siance-royale of Novem- 

 ber 19, on which account he was banished, but 

 treated with marks of honour by the people. He 

 then purchased large quantities of corn, for the pur- 

 pose of supplying the poor gratuitously or at low 

 prices, and, in 1788 and 1789, caused warm rooms 

 to be prepared, into which the destitute were re- 

 ceived and fed. 



Having teen nominated to the states-general as 

 deputy of the noblesse of Crespi, in Valois, he es- 

 poused the cause of the third estate. Want of 



courage, only, prevented him from appearing at 

 the head of the populace. On the 12th of July, 

 1789, he appeared among the crowd in the garden 

 of the palais royal ; but his courage failed him, and 

 he soon withdrew into his palace. His adherents 

 now used him merely for their own purposes, and 

 flattered his ambitious hopes so long as he was neces- 

 sary to them. He caused scandalous libels against 

 the queen, whom he pursued with the most oitter 

 hatred, to be distributed ; and his bust was carried in 

 triumph through the streets by the populace. The 

 attempts of the 5th and 6th October, or which he is 

 considered the instigator, were but partially success- 

 ful. Lafayette threatened him with a legal investi- 

 gation, and the terrified prince obtained permission of 

 the king to retire to England. He returned in eight 

 months, took the civic oath, and was acquitted by 

 the assembly of the charges brought against him. 

 On the flight of the king, he declared that he should 

 decline the regency in case it were offered to him. 

 An attempt was made at this time to reconcile him 

 to the court, and the negotiations had taken a 

 favourable turn ; but the courtiers, who knew nothing 

 of the matter, treated him with the most insulting 

 contempt, on his appearance at court, in January, 

 1792, and even spit upon him as he went down stairs; 

 and he was thenceforward the irreconcilable enemy 

 of the king and queen. 



The 20th ot June and the 10th of August 

 (1792) must have convinced the duke that a stronger 

 party than his own had now acquired the ascen- 

 dancy. He was returned to the national con- 

 vention as member for Paris, with Marat, Robes- 

 pierre, and Danton, and, in September, 1792, he 

 assumed the name of Egaliti, and, in December, 

 declared, through the press, his renunciation of his 

 right of succession to the throne. On the trial of the 

 king, he voted for his death, and was present at the 

 execution. The Jacobins, who had no longer any 

 occasion for him, now abandoned him : he was struck 

 from their rolls, and included in the general proscrip- 

 tion of the Bourbons. He was imprisoned at Mar- 

 seilles, but was afterwards transferred to Paris, and 

 condemned to death by the revolutionary tribunal for 

 a conspiracy against the republic. He heard his 

 sentence with calmness, and died with firmness on the 

 same day (November 6, 1793). His wife, who re- 

 turned to Paris after the restoration, died there in 

 1821. 



ORLEANS, MAID OF. See Joan of Arc. 

 ORLEANS, NEW. See New Orleans. 

 ORLEANS TERRITORY. See Louisiana. 

 ORLOFF ; a Russian noble family. Gregory 

 Orloff was one of five brothers, who lived a dissi- 

 pated life. After his fortune was ruined, he sup- 

 ported himself by gambling and other arts. He 

 served in the seven years' war, and, when count 

 Schwerin was taken prisoner, carried him to Peters- 

 burg. The grand-princess Catliarine, who had just 

 lost her favourite Poniatowski, fell in love with him. 

 He and his brothers assisted her much in the revolu- 

 tion, by which she was declared empress, and her 

 husband, the emperor Peter III., deprived of life. 

 Orloff soon attained the highest dignities ; was al- 

 lowed to wear the picture of the empress in his but- 

 ton-hole ; and became enormously rich. But Orloff 

 was rude and inconsiderate, so that, after some time, 

 the empress wished to rid herself of him. He was 

 sent to Moscow to take measures against the plague, 

 and, when he returned, was represented on a medal 

 and triumphal arch in the character of Curtius. He 

 was then sent to Fockschani, in Walacliia, to attend 

 a conference with the Turks, whom, however, he 

 offended by his overbearing character ; and the ob- 

 ject of the meeting was lost. The empress now sent 



