believe that any party of Frenchmen, however besotted in their understanding or wicked in their hearts, should have propounded such extraordinary suggestions if the fact were not absolutely authenticated. The notes were communicated by more than one of the cabinets to Richelieu himself, who made them public, and instituted judicial proceedings to discover their authors. Legal proof was wanting to fix the Count d'Artois with a guilty connivance, although moral proof was sufficiently abundant; as it was, a person high in his confidence was traced to be the actual writer of the documents, and he was divested by a royal ordinance of the dignities he held as a councillor of State and a member of the privy-council.

In the face of such exhortations, and with the undoubted tendencies of the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, who were deeply repugnant to all systems of constitutional liberty, it was fortunate for France that among her recent enemies she had two enlightened friends. Alexander of Russia, albeit rapidly verging toward retrograde sentiments, was still possessed of a generous heart and a liberal mind, and was, moreover, fond of the display of a generosity which had perhaps ceased to be earnest with him. Besides, he had a real admiration of the French nation, and the echo of the applauses bestowed upon him in the theatres of Paris still vibrated in his ear. The Duke of Wellington, who has been the object of such virulent abuse to every order of French writers, had a profound appreciation of the existing state of things in France, and soundly judged that the time had arrived when the French people were entitled, by the patience they had manifested under most oppressive burthens, and by the judicious spirit that seemed generally to prevail, to be relieved from further coercion, and to be left for the future to themselves. This opinion he had every reason to believe was very unpalatable to his own government, but he nevertheless frankly expressed it when consulted by the allied sovereigns; and such was the estimation in which his character was held throughout Europe, that his testimony was deemed conclusive of the question. And indeed it could scarcely be otherwise, for, with a rare disinterestedness, he was voluntarily denuding himself of immense appointments, and of a position that gave him a commanding influence in the councils of France. Fortified by so important an assent, Richelieu and the king besieged Alexander with importunate letters; and by dint of their untiring activity, it was at length arranged that a congress should be held towards the close of the year at Aix-la-Chapelle, in which the four great powers should solemnly deliberate on the internal situation of France, on the security it gave for a happy continuance of peace and order, and on the policy of immediately withdrawing from her territory the remaining portion of the army of occupation.

During the month of September 1818, a vast tide of migration set in towards the ancient city of Charlemagne, which was startled from its mediæval repose, and stormed in all its quaint domiciles by a sudden confluence of strangers from every corner of Europe. All the legations were of unusual magnitude, notwithstanding that the real business to be discussed was already virtually settled. The Russian legation counted no less than five redoubtable diplomatists-Capo d'Istria, Nesselrode, Lieven, Alopeus, and Pozzo di Borgo. The British boasted as many: Wellington, Castlereagh, Canning, Planta, and Stewart. The Austrian was less numerous, containing only, as chiefs, Metternich and Vincent. So likewise the Prussian, which was filled by Hardenberg and Glötz. The French was formed by Richelieu, Rayneval, and Mounier. From the 20th these different negotiators began to arrive, and the 30th was fixed for the opening of the Congress. In the interim the king of Prussia made his appearance, and prepared to play the part of host in a city now included in his dominions. On the 28th, Alexander and the emperor of Austria made an imposing entry, and on the second day thereafter the conferences were formally opened.

With regard to the main point, the evacuation of the French territory, the question had been prejudged, and was adopted almost without discussion. On the evening of the 1st of October the important protocol was signed, fixing this evacuation to take place on or before the 30th of November ensuing, and it was immediately forwarded by express to Louis XVIII. It may be imagined that the king almost trembled with joy when he read it; and he at once wrote a letter to the Duke de Richelieu overwhelming him with thanks, concluding it in these words—' I have lived long enough, my dear duke, now that I behold France free, and the French flag again floating over every French fortress.' He had certainly good reason to rejoice at this auspicious fact, which might haply secure him a seat in the affections of the French sufficiently strong and enduring, not only to insure his own throne, but to impart a lasting stability to his dynasty.

The other questions relative to France were likewise adjusted without any difficulty. These were of a financial nature, and had reference to the prompt liquidation of the balance still due under the fourteenth article of the treaty of the 20th of November 1815. This had been a main inducement with Austria and Prussia to acquiesce so readily in the evacuation, and by the arrangements concluded with Baring and Hope it was easily effected. The 164,000,000 resulting from the rente of 12,400,000 francs were to be paid by drafts on Baring and Hope in nine monthly instalments, dating from the 6th of January next. Another 100,000,000, which were taken to cover every charge due by France, were to be paid by an inscription of rentes representing that sum accord

ing to the price of stocks on the 5th of October 1818. By a subsequent convention, dated the 19th November, the term for the payment of the 164,000,000 was extended over eighteen months, in consequence of an unexpected panic that had seized upon the money-market, and plunged all financial and commercial affairs into the direst confusion.

After the principal questions incident to the Congress had been thus amicably arranged, and France formally received into the family of nations as a great and independent power, the Emperor Alexander continued his journey to Paris, where he was received with marked cordiality by Louis XVIII., and by the French generally with gratifying acclamations. He made, however, a very brief stay, and was succeeded in his visit by the king of Prussia, attended by one of his sons. The Grand Duke Constantine also appeared to renew his dissipations, and to squander money with barbaric profusion. Paris was thronged, as previously, with innumerable strangers, and never was that splendid capital the scene of greater gaiety, luxury, and magnificence, than in the winter of

1818.

Thus did France reap the fruit of all her painful sacrifices during the last three years, of her return to tranquillity and constitutional order, of her repudiation of violent doctrines, of her wise and judicious policy, of her scrupulous regard to good faith; and she was now again launched into the career of selfgovernment, with all the advantages experience had taught her, of the value of liberal and settled institutions to the welfare, the comfort, and the prosperity of nations.

CHAPTER XIX.

DISSOLUTION OF THE RICHELIEU CABINET-MINISTRY OF DECAZES-ASSASSINATION OF THE DUKE DE BERRY-CONGRESS OF LAYBACH AND TROPPAU -INVASION OF NAPLES-MINISTRY OF VILLELE CONGRESS OF VERONA, AND INVASION OF SPAIN-ROYALIST ASCENDANCY-DEATH OF LOUIS XVIII.-MATERIAL AND FINANCIAL STATE OF FRANCE-1818 to SEPTEMBER 1824.

But if the French people had now again their destiny in their own hands, after undergoing an ordeal of humiliation the most memorable in the history of modern nations, it was no necessary sequence that they had at all improved in wisdom, or had become apparently more sensible of the value of a temperate and orderly government. No sooner was the strong arm of repression withdrawn, and a certain freedom of action permitted, than the passions which had been only hushed, not extinguished, burst forth with renewed fury, and replunged the land into a neverceasing revolution, oscillating with violent throes from the two extremes of the opposing poles, which, after verging once more on Jacobinism, staggered back to Royalism, and fastened for a gloomy time not only in France, but throughout Europe, the odious sway of despotism and priestcraft.

The Duke de Richelieu had rendered the great service to his country-which he was perhaps the only man in it capable of rendering of freeing it from the presence and burthen of 150,000 foreign bayonets. To accomplish this important object, he had given reiterated pledges to Alexander and the other sovereigns at Aix-la-Chapelle, that although his ministry had severed itself from the ultra-Royalists, it was only that the country might be governed on moderate and constitutional principles, as deduced from the Charter of Louis XVIII., and that there was no danger of the fell spirit of republicanism being reawakened. This was precisely what the emperor desired, and what he was himself attempting to realise in his new kingdom of Poland, with but very indifferent success. Old apprehensions, however, still lingered in his mind, which continued touched with religious mysticism, and he foreboded evil from any union with, or undue encouragement to, ultra-liberalism. My dear Richelieu,' he said, 'you are yourself all honesty and sincerity, and I trust implicitly on your word. I do not fear the development of liberal principles in France; I would rather wish to see them prosper, for I am a true Liberal myself. But I fear the Jacobins, and detest them;

have a care how you entangle yourself with them. Europe will tolerate no more Jacobinism. Nothing but a holy alliance of kings, founded on morality and Christianity, can maintain social order?

In these words the autocrat gave Richelieu a warning which both bespoke his just appreciation of the French character and made a deep impression on the mind of the minister. In sooth, such are the rapid and unaccountable fluctuations in French tendencies, that whereas, three years ago, the Royalists exercised an uncontrolled supremacy, they were now completely crushed, and had no hope of a resurrection but in some violent overthrow of the existing government; whilst, on the other hand, the Constitutionalists were fast losing ground, and the Jacobins rising in the ascendant. Never has any nation given such decisive proof of incapacity to adhere to consistent or moderate principles, and of an irresistible tendency to embrace exaggerated doctrines, whatsoever may be their hue. Although a man of excellent capacity and enlightened views, Richelieu was unacquainted with his countrymen; and when he answered for them at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, he little thought that within a month he would be the victim of a generous credulity, and would be obliged, from the dread of a responsibility he had not foreseen, to throw up a post he vainly contemplated would henceforth possess some features of attraction to console him for past

anxieties and mortifications.

The annual renewal of a fifth of the Chamber of Deputies took place towards the close of 1818, and resulted in a large return of the ultra-liberal party, notwithstanding the most energetic measures of the government to carry its own candidates. The Royalists being themselves incapable of deciding the elections, threw in the weight of their influence against the ministry; and with such effect, that even in the departments of the west and north, in La Vendée and Brittany, men of the revolutionary stamp were returned, of whom Manuel and Lafayette were the most distinguished. After a very severe struggle in Paris, Benjamin Constant was defeated only by a small majority, the final numbers being, for M. Ternaux, his opponent, 3827, and for Constant, 3740. These elections gave not only umbrage, but profound alarm to the court; which interpreted them as undoubted indications of hostility to the Bourbon dynasty. Without exactly viewing the danger in so serious a light, the king was himself uneasy, and held many anxious conferences with his ministers, among whom a decided difference of opinion existed. From long residence in a country where all authority emanates from a single will, and, above all, from his deference to the sentiments of Alexander and his allies, who engrossed perhaps an undue share of his apprehensions and sympathies, Richelieu advised an imme