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 terin 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, throw 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

diate departure from the hitherto liberal policy of the cabinet, and a modification of the electoral law, whereby the hazard of unsafe returns might be averted. This he considered absolutely essential to save the Restoration from another downfall: but Decazes held an entirely different view of the matter. This minister, who by birth belonged to the middle class of society, was inclined to take the more popular side of the question, and to maintain that the government, instead of retrograding, should still advance, and win the confidence of the country by further enlightened concessions. Various causes induced Louis XVIII. eventually to coincide in this latter opinion. First, his quarrel with the Royalists had become even more aggravated from the recent annihilation of the Count d'Artois's influence as commander of the National Guards; secondly, his own prepossessions were in favour of a progressive policy; for, to do this monarch justice, he was especially intent to be the king of a nation, and not of a faction; thirdly, his personal predilection for Decazes was an element of some weight, although he entertained for Richelieu and his character the highest regard and esteem.

The new Chamber of Deputies, which occasioned this disturbance of the ministerial unanimity, was in truth very singularly compounded. In a country like England, where parties have existed for centuries, it is easy to assign their relative positions and principles; but in France such distinctions are more difficult to draw, since there no historical associations knit men together in confederacies, and rarely antecedent relations tend to sink personal ambitions in general purposes. Thus every man aspires to play an important part, and to do so, sets up for himself as a political power, arrogating some wisdom superior to that of his fellows. In this difficulty of identification the French have invented appellations to describe the different colours' of an Assembly, drawn from their divisional localities in the hall of sitting. Thus they present an 'extreme-right,' signifying ultraRoyalists; a 'right,' signifying Conservative or Retrogressive Monarchists; a 'centre-right,' signifying Conservative Liberals ; a centre-left,' signifying Progressive Liberals; a 'left,' signifying Democratic Liberals; an 'extreme-left,' signifying ultraLiberals and Republicans. At this time another division existed called the 'Doctrinaires,' who found it very difficult to tell how they differed from the 'centre-left,' but who formed, nevertheless, a powerful section of the Chamber, acknowledging as their leader Royer-Collard. Continual fluctuations occurred in the composition of these sections, as individuals changed in their caprices or tendencies; and it was not an uncommon thing for a man to box the entire compass of the hall in the course of a few sessions, gradually shifting his quarter as the needle of pique or interest pointed, or taking a flying leap at once from one