France, to them, is as a domain to its lord, and a lord is not deprived of honor in being prodigal and neglectful.

He merely gambles away his own property, and nobody has a right to call him to account.

Founded on feudal society, royalty is like an estate, an inheritance.

It would be infidelity, almost treachery in a prince, in any event weak and base, should he allow any portion of the trust received by him intact from his ancestors for transmission to his children, to pass into the hands of his subjects.

Not only according to medieval traditions is he proprietor-commandant of the French and of France, but again, according to the theory of the jurists, he is, like Caesar, the sole and perpetual representative of the nation, and, according to the theological doctrine, like David, the sacred and special delegate of God himself.