The appointment of the candidates affords the means of distinguishing in each arrondissement, the men who may aspire to the honour of sitting in this Chamber. It will have the effect of informing the government itself of those whom their fellow-citizens judge most worthy to fill public functions. What would happen, if the law of the 5th February subsisted? The privilege, of which so formidable a picture has been drawn, might then reign in effect, and, I confess, would not be long of beco. ming bloody. But this is not the privilege with which we are threatened. It would be that of men trained in the principles of a liberty which I do not fear to call despotism, and whose mind is exalted by a species of fever, which I would wish not to call revolutionary. With them the history of our misfortunes would soon begin afresh. On the other side, what ground have we for apprehension. A party which would wish to revive extinguished rights, to injure acquired rights, to overthrow the constitutional system established by the charter, would fail in this enterprize, unless it were strong enough to make a new revolution; but as to the power of making such a revolution, ask your consciences, and say in what part of France it resides."

On the 25th May, after ten days of debate, only a third part of the orators inscribed had spoken; but as all the arguments on both sides seemed exhausted, and the mind of every one made up, the assembly used the power which it has reserved in its hands, of closing a debate, the continuance of which it considers unnecessary. There remained still the detailed examination of the clauses. The only important amendment was one moved by Camille Jourdan, which went to do away with the whole principle of the new law. Af. ter a warm debate, it was negatived by a majority of 10 (133 to 123.) The

whole assembly were present except a single member, detained by illness. This victory, however narrow, was considered as deciding the question of the principle of election. Accordingly, on the 3d June, the first article, which established the basis of the new law, was decided by a majority of 5 (130 to 125.)

The intelligence of this vote, when communicated to the public, brought on a crisis, which for some time past had been gradually threatening. Various circumstances had combined to put Paris in a ferment. On the night of the 28th April, a bomb-shell was discharged under the windows of the Duchess of Berry, with a very loud detonation; the object of which was suspected to be that of causing the abortion of the Princess. The person concerned, however, made his escape: but on the night of the 6th May, he was found on the same spot, preparing one of greater dimensions. He proved to be an ex-officer of the name of Gravier, a deformed little man. He pretended to have merely wished to amuse himself by giving a false alarm to the royal guards posted there; but when the piece was examined, it was found wrapped in papers, on which seditious verses were written. Several of his comrades were arrested during the night, among whom similar instruments were found. He and an associate of the name of Bouton were brought to trial, and condemned to death, which sentence, however, at the intercession of the Duchess, was commuted into that of hard labour for life.

An incident so serious, joined to the discussions in the Chamber, and various reports of a sinister nature that were industriously circulated, produced an extraordinary fermentation, both in Paris and the departments. The Duke d'Angouleme, in a journey

which he undertook through France, was everywhere received with cries of Vive la Charte! an expression which was understood to import a decided hos tility against the constitutional changes in contemplation. In the course of the debates on the law of elections, the liberal deputies were escorted home by crowds of people, raising the same exclamation. It was not, however, till the passing of the first article of the law of elections, that the tumults rose to any alarming height. The crowd collected on that day far surpassed any former assemblage. In France, and, generally, on the continent, the most active personages on these occasions are the students, who almost universally support the principles of liberty, not only in words, but in deeds. Of them the crowd which blocked up the door of the Chambers after this critical vote, was chiefly composed. Another party, who were afterwards understood to be in a great measure composed of guard soldiers, dressed as citizens, and armed with large canes, raised loud cries of Vive le Roi. Amid so violent a collision of sentiments, quarrels were not long of arising, which from words came to blows; and the tumult quickly rose to a great height. Detachments of gen-d'armerie, and even of the Royal Guard, were called in: they at first dispersed the rioters without difficulty; but in the midst of the tumult, one of the Guard soldiers fired a musket, which struck a young student of the name of Lallemand, who was carried home, and died in two hours.

This disastrous event redoubled the agitation which already prevailed throughout Paris. Placards were fixed on the walls of the different schools, inviting the youths to assemble, and take vengeance. The stormy debates expected in the Chamber of Deputies, and the approaching trial of Louvel in

the Peers, rendered the prospect more critical. The Guards, rendered odious by the catastrophe of Lallemand, were withdrawn ; but all the gen-d'armerie were called out, and the troops in and near Paris were held in readiness to march at a moment's warning. The sitting of the Chamber almost resembled that of the Convention, during the most stormy periods of the Revolution. This similarity was alluded to by Camille Jordan, who was the first speaker. "At that time," he said,

the authors of the insults on the na. tional representation were chiefly men covered with rags, drawn from the dregs of the people. Yet even then the insults never rose to such a height as now, when well-dressed men, armed with canes, used violence to compel others to join with them in crying Vive le Roi. All these men came from the same place, were guided by the same chiefs, obeyed the impulse of the same agents. Every one might see that these excesses had not been sufficiently checked. I do not blame the authorities," said he;" they were struck with terror; they feared to find powerful men among the guilty." At the same time M. Lafitte presented a letter from the father of Lallemand, stating that his son had been guilty of no violence, but was walking peaceably, and unarmed, when he received the fatal blow.

In reply to these charges, the Keeper of the Seals imputed the troubles to the giddiness of a few rash and impru dent young men, who had seized this opportunity of raising a disturbance. To have surrounded the Chambers with a great military force, on account of the first slight disturbances, would have been to raise an indiscreet alarm; it would have had the appearance even of imposing a restraint on their deliberations. When a great crowd is assembled, and parties are heated, it was impossible to prevent deeds of

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 invited, and justice would be administered with the utmost rigour.

Notwithstanding these explanations, Manuel and Benjamin Constant called loudly for an inquiry into the events of the past day, declaring that the violence had been all on the side of the royalists; they insisted, therefore, that the Chambers were not free to deliberate. 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 purposes of vengeance. No movement, however, took place till the evening, when a body of young men, amounting to 5 or 6000, marching two abreast, and armed with large canes, traversed the streets, having their number 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 Vive le Roi! vive la Charte! At length, being charged by the horse gen-d'armes, and by a squadron of dragoons, they dispersed without resistance. Many had their canes wrest ed from them, and about thirty-five or forty were arrested.

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 those lying 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.

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 tion. Brisson and Courvoisier, friends of ministers, came forward and proposed a modification, which it was hoped would be the means of uniting the opposite parties. Two hundred and fifty-eight deputies were to be named directly and finally by the colleges of arrondissement, and the only change

was to consist in the erection of new colleges, each of which was to consist of the fourth part of the electors paying the highest contributions in each department. These departmental colleges were to elect 132 deputies, so that the whole Chamber was to consist now of 420 members. By this arrangement, although a considerable infusion of aristocratic election was introduced, yet a great majority, somewhat exceeding three-fifths, was still elected by colleges, in which the middling ranks were likely to predominate.

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 keen ly debating the amendment introduced. The liberals considered this creation of privileged electoral bodies as an une constitutional 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 general 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 manœuvres. 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 Chambers Down with the royalists-Down with with the emigrants-Down with the missionaries-Down with the cuiras siers-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 hundred 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 Up. per 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.)