violence, unless by the means which were employed now, but which could only be justified by some event shewing their necessity. With regard to the complaint, that the Deputies had not experienced sufficient protection, that was the fault of the agents of police. Government would institute an inquiry into this subject; all com plaints would be received, and even in vited, and justice would be administered with the utmost rigour. Notwithstanding these explanations, Manuel and Benjamin Constant called loudly an inquiry into the events of the past day, declaring that the vio lence had been a all on the side of the royalists; they insisted, therefore, that the Chambers were not free to deli berate. Even M. Courvoisier main tained the other side only by saying, that they ought to deliberate," were it beneath the poniard." The left side, according to the principle laid down, took no part in the vote closing the discussion. Placards on this day had invited the students to assemble for the pur. poses of vengeance. No movement, however, took place till the evening, when a body of young men, amount ing to 5 or 6000, marching two a breast, and armed with large canes, traversed the streets, having their num ber swelled by a vast crowd of spectators. Attempts were made to disperse them with the foot gen-d'armerie, but they always formed afresh, amid cries of Five le Roi! vive la Charte! At length, being charged by the horse gen-d'armes, and by a squadron of dragoons, they dispersed without re sistance. Many had their canes wrest ed from them, and about thirty-five or forty were arrested. ر At the meeting of the following day, Benjamin Constant loudly proclaimed that the freedom of debate was more than ever subverted. The Moniteur had said nothing of the faction which, amid cries of Vive le Roi! assassinated peaceable citizens, while the youths who raised the laudable cry of Vive le Roi! Vive la Charte! were the object of its invective. A violent faction had committed the most criminal outrages to silence those cries, which are the interpreters of our dearest sentiments. It was time that public opinion should put down thoselying declarations which sought to calumniate those admirable youths, who loved at once their King and the charter, who prepared an enlightened and independent generation, of whom we might boast in the face of Europe. 1 lum To these charges, the Keeper of the Seals replied, that a legal prohibition by the prefect of police against numerous assemblages, was fully justified by the events of the preceding day. The last speaker, therefore, apologizing for the events of yesterday, had made at first the apology of sedition. The crowd resisted all the injunctions made to them by the police; they resisted the moderate action of the gend'armerie; to make them yield, it was necessary to introduce regular troops. (a cry from the left," It was necessary to kill them.") "No, gentlemen, no one was killed; but for the maintenance of the laws, and the public safety, the authority of the King prevailed. Every forbearance compatible with public order was observed. It was only after two hours of useless efforts made by the ordinary police and gen-d'armerie, that the regular troops were called in. It is swelling greatly the waves of sedition to say, that 40,000 men were ever assembled; the fourth part of that number was never united at any one point." Some of these facts were strenuously contradicted from the opposite side, but notwithstanding their protests that the Chamber was in no state to deliberate with freedom, the consideration of the law of elections was resumed. This day was the era of a memorable crisis in this terribly contested ques the whole Chamber was to consist now This most important amendment came on the House by surprise, and neither party found themselves prepared to express any very decided opinion upon it; other incidents attracted their attention. The following day had been fixed for the funeral of Lallemand. It was attended by 3 or 4000 students, dressed in mourning. The ceremony passed solemnly and tranquilly; but in the evening a considerable assemblage took place, not only of students, but of artizans and workmen. They were dispersed by an armed force, and several among the multitude were struck and wounded. These occurrences were again the subject of warm remonstrances in the Chambers. M. Lafitte exclaimed, "that blood flowed around them; that peaceable citizens were sabred in the streets, and that fathers of families were condemned to see their children massacred before their eyes." The ministers replied as before, that the measures taken had in no degree exceeded the necessity of the occasion; that it was only by regular troops that Paris could be saved from a 20th June and a 10th August. The following day, the 7th, being that appointed for the execution of Louvel, considerable apprehensions were felt; but though the multitude assembled was vast, no disturbance took place, unless of a very trifling nature. The following evening, however, was again very stormy. Meantime, the Chambers were keenly debating the amendment introduced. The liberals considered this creation of privileged electoral bodies as an unconstitutional measure, while the other side represented it as a concession made to the factious. The ministry even floated in some uncertainty, being afraid of conceding the point, without being certain of gaining the law by it. In the course of debate, however, it be came evident, that men's minds were more and more inclined to this conciliatory plan. Being put to the vote, therefore, on the 9th, it was carried by the large majority of 135 to 66. It was expected that the publication of an amendment so materially changing the character of the law, would have calmed the agitation which prevailed throughout the capital. The multitude, however, once entered on their career, were not to be stopped by modifications, which they were little qualified to understand. At eight o'clock on the following evening the boulevards were covered with a multitude, supposed to exceed a hundred thousand men. After fruitless attempts to disperse them by other means, a ge neral charge was made by the cuirassiers of the Royal Guard, and a complete Manchester scene ensued; three are said to have been killed on the spot, and a great number wounded. This disastrous night gave rise next day to fresh debates, in which the facts were stated in a very different manner by opposite parties. Lafitte present ed a letter from the inhabitants of Port St Denis, stating, that, notwithstanding the immense multitude assembled, not the slightest tumult or cry had been raised, when the cuirassiers appeared brandishing their sabres. They were received with cries of Vive la Charte! upon which they instantly darted upon this immense multitude, which sought flight through all the neighbouring streets, while the troops followed, putting every thing to the sabre which they encountered. Lafitte, therefore, urged, that the soldiers were studiously exasperated against the citizens, who were represented to them as factious; that no one was safe; and that the deliberations of the assembly could not, in any point of view, be con sidered as free. On the other hand, it was stated by the Keeper of the Seals, that these dreadful events were the result of an organized rebellion, which had its chiefs, its signals, its manoeuvres. It only waited for darkness, and the dismissal of the spectacles on the boulevards, to take advantage of the confusion. The cries were menacing. They were not merely Vive la Charte! they were directed against the King. All peaceful means were employed in vain; the police officers failed; the national guard failed; the gendarmes who then came up, were surrounded, assailed with stones and canes, and obliged to call for assistance. A squadron of cuirassiers arrived, but did not act till the police had three times summoned the people to disperse. They replied by seditious shouts and showers of stones. Nothing was then left but to charge the assailants. Among the seditious cries heard were the following: Live our brothers of Manchester Down with the ChambersDown with the royalists-Down with with the emigrants-Down with the missionaries-Down with the cuirassiers-Down with the dragoons. This catastrophe formed the crisis of the public troubles. On the following days the strictness of the police, and the patroles of troops, prevented any numerous assemblage. Five hun dred persons were arrested; and a number of students were expelled from the schools. The others returned to their studies; and the people of Paris gradually resumed the usual train of their occupations and pleasures. On the 15th, 16th, and 17th, corresponding movements took place in the cities of Brest, Nantes, and Rennes; they were suppressed by similar measures. The law of elections met now with little farther opposition, its details only being the subject of some discussion. On the 12th June it was carried by a majority of 59, (154 to 95.) The law, when carried into the Upper Chamber, went through with much less opposition, and without any very memorable discussion. On the 28th June it was carried by a majority of 141 to 56. Thus terminated a question which had shaken France to the foundation, and had brought her almost to the brink of revolution. The public voice, vigorously and somewhat tumultuously declared, had the effect of checking a measure which would have reduced the French government to a pure aristocracy, and of modifying it in a manner which did not perhaps render it materially less efficient than before. The remainder of the debates in the Chamber related to subjects of finance, which can excite little interest on this side of the Channel, and even in France were sunk into secondary importance by the other great concerns in agitation. In the end of January the minister of finance presented the budget, or estimated expense for 1820, with a comparison of the preceding year, (in livres.) not its attention been engrossed by subjects of stronger interest. The com The increase of 3,900,000 livres was represented as very small, when it was considered that there were eleven mil-mittee, however, to whom the budget lions of expenses not comprised in the service of 1819. Besides, in conse quence of upwards of five millions of arrears still to be drawn, the service of 1820 would not cost more than that of the preceding year. The minister regretted that he was unable to an nounce, for this year, any diminution of the public burdens, but entertained, sanguine hopes that this might take place in future years. 1 The increase in the expenditure, however small, caused a painful feeling in the Assembly, which would have shewn itself more strongly, had Registration and domains, Interest, contributions, Posts, Lottery, Sundries, Direct contributions, t was referred, examined its details with The following estimate was made to the Chamber, of the amount of the receipts of the preceding year: 1 The session was dissolved, somewhat unexpectedly, on the 22d July. Soon after the rising of the Chambers, France was alarmed by a some what serious military conspiracy, formed at Paris. It seems to have ori 134,375,130 ginated with one Nantil, a captain in the legion de la Meurthe, a person in embarrassed circumstances, and discontented at not having obtained the cross of the Legion of Honour. Several of his brother officers being gained over ers. They were taken without resistance in their barracks or lodgings; the affair was not known in Paris till next morning, and was exhibited to the eye only by the imposing military force assembled for the protection of the Tuilleries. Nantil made his escape. Of seventy-five who were arrested, very few were found of high rank in the army, and the conspiracy, on the whole, did not appear to be nearly so formidable as had been at first inferred from the exaggerated statements given by the ringleaders to those whom they wished to seduce. Of the seventy-five apprehended, no evidence was found against forty-one; the trial of the rest took place in the following year by the Chamber of Peers. Aramification of this conspiracy was formed at Cambray, where seve by him, the plot soon spread through the legion, and was communicated to the inferior officers of other military bodies. Nantil seems to have gained over accomplices by the most false representations, describing the conspiracy as supported by several general offi cers, and as possessed of most extensive pecuniary funds. One individual was asserted to have contributed not less than 25,000l. It was said to be formed into three committees, one called the Imperial Committee, and intended to proclaim Napoleon II. with Prince Eugene as regent. The other was named the Republican Committee, and had under it the Committee of Grenoble, acting upon the same views. After a good deal of discussion, these three committees at length agreed to unite, and to proclaim Napoleon II. as the name which would be most attracral officers, belonging to the regiment tive to the military. Apprehensive of of the Seine, there quartered, had discovery, they determined, even in an formed the design of leading it to Paimperfect state of preparation, to at ris, to co-operate with the insurrection tempt a rising in Paris on the evening in that capital. On learning the disof the 19th of August. Government, covery which had taken place at Paris, however, already knew the design, by they left their quarters, and fled into the information of several non-commis- Belgium. The King of the Nethersioned officers of the Royal Guard; lands, however, having agreed to deand on the morning of the 19th the liver them up, some were arrested at Duke of Ragusa was informed of that Mons. being the night fixed. A council of members was immediately called, and it was at first proposed to allow the conspiracy to put itself into action, and only to be ready to meet and crush it. This course, however, was judged too critical; and at five the Duke re'ceived authority to arrest the ringlead 1 This alarm was followed soon after by a joyful occurrence, the birth of a son to the Duchess of Berri. This event furnished the royal house with the heir which it had long wanted, and was considered as giving an additional stability to the throne of the Bourbons. |