Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Aumale (Duc d'), Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis d'Orléans

Men of the Time, eleventh edition
by Thompson Cooper
Aumale (Duc d'), Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis d'Orléans
823807Men of the Time, eleventh edition — Aumale (Duc d'), Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis d'OrléansThompson Cooper

AUMALE (Duc d'), Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis d'Orléans, prince of the family of Orleans, born in Paris, Jan. 16, 1822, the fourth son of the late king Louis-Philippe and his queen Marie-Amélie, was educated, like his brothers, in the Collége Henri IV., and at the age of seventeen entered the army. In 1840 he accompanied his brother, the Duke of Orleans, to Algeria, took part in the campaign which followed, returning to France in 1841, and he completed his military education at Courbevoie. From 1842 to 1843 he was again in Algeria, where, at the head of the subdivision of Medeah, he conducted one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war, capturing the camp and all the correspondence of Abd-el-Kader, together with 3,600 prisoners and an immense treasure, for which service he was made a lieutenant-general, and appointed to the command of the province of Constantine. In 1844 he directed the expedition against Biskarah, and in the same year married Marie Caroline Auguste de Bourbon, daughter of Prince Leopold of Salerno, who was born April 26, 1822. (She died at Twickenham, Dec. 6, 1869.) In 1847 the duke succeeded Marshal Bugeaud as Governor-General of Algeria, which position he filled upon the surrender of Abd-el-Kader to the French authorities. On receiving the news of the revolution of Feb., 1848, he resigned his command to General Cavaignac, and joined the ex-royal family in England. With his brother, the Prince de Joinville, he protested against the decree banishing his family from France, and afterwards resided chiefly in England, devoting himself to literary pursuits. At the commencement of 1861, a pamphlet, addressed by him to Prince Napoleon Bonaparte, excited great sensation, and led to a species of political persecution by the French authorities, who condemned the printer and publisher of it to fine and imprisonment, which sentence was appealed against. The duke challenged Prince Napoleon, whose refusal to meet him excited great indignation in France. The same year the Literary Fund of London invited the duke to preside at their annual dinner, on which occasion his speech also excited attention. The Duc d'Aumale, who, as heir of the great house of Condé, possesses an ample fortune, in addition to a beautiful seat on the banks of the Thames near Twickenham, owns a fine estate in Worcestershire, where he formerly occupied his time as a practical agriculturist. Shortly before the elections for the National Assembly on Feb. 8, 1871, the Duc d'Aumale, who, during the Franco-German war, had in vain sought permission to serve in the French army, addressed from London a proclamation to the electors of the Department of the Oise, in which, while declaring his preference for a constitutional monarchy, he stated his willingness to bow to the national will, if a Liberal Republic were adopted as the form of government. His candidature was successful, but he did not return to France until after the law banishing the members of the Orleans family was repealed on June 8. His election was confirmed the same day, but in consequence of an understanding between him and M. Thiers, he did not take his seat in the Assembly until Dec. 19, 1871. Previously to this, in Oct., 1871, he had been chosen President of the Council-General of the Oise. He was elected a member of the French Academy, Dec. 30, 1871, by 27 votes against 1, in succession to the illustrious Montalembert. The Duc d'Aumale was nominated a General of Division, Mar. 10, 1872, and in this capacity he presided over the Council of War before which Marshal Bazaine was arraigned. At the elections for the Assembly in Feb., 1876, the Duc d'Aumale declined to come forward again as a candidate in order that he might devote his undivided attention to the military division of which the command had been entrusted to him. The first two volumes of his "Histoire des Princes de la Maison de Condé," appeared in 1869, and were translated into English by Mr. Robert Brown-Borthwick, under the title of "History of the Princes de Condé in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries," 2 vols., 1871. The Duc d'Aumale was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, Feb. 14, 1880. His eldest son, Louis-Philippe-Marie-Léopold d'Orléans, Prince de Condé, born in 1845, died in June, 1866. His second son, François-Louis-Marie-Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Guise, was born at Twickenham, Jan. 5, 1854, and died in France, July 25, 1872.