signal marks of the king's favour, who gave him a to form a new administration, in which Pasquier CHAPTER XCII. RICHELIEU'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. THE second administration of the duc de Richelieu was a transition to the complete and absolute royalist system. The direct object in the formation of this ministry was to modify the electoral law, and to check the revolutionary tendency; but the minister was carried by circumstances beyond his object; for as he could look for a majority only in the right, he was Capefigue, 'Hist. de la Restauration,' iii., c. 16. compelled to adapt his measures to the opinions of the royalist party. The Chamber of Deputies was now divided into two distinct parties, the right and the left. The duc de Richelieu had undertaken to defend the exceptional laws which his predecessor had proposed for the safety of the king and the royal family. The first measure discussed was the law that affected individual liberty, and it gave rise to most violent debates. It was finally carried in both Chambers with very little modification. The law for the re-establishment | convicted, and severely punished. The press was of the censorship of the journals was also carried, after tamed by the vigour of the ministerial prosecutions, considerable opposition from Royer-Collard, Camille- and the places of public instruction also felt the weight Jordan, general Foy, Bignon, Lafayette, and Benjamin of their power. The example of the German univerConstant.* These debates attracted attention all over sities showed them the danger of allowing public Europe, already agitated by the assassination of the teachers the free expression of opinion; and the comduc de Berri, and a military revolution in Spain, which mission of public instruction suspended the courses had compelled Ferdinand to swear to the Constitution of Guizot, who lectured on history, and of Cousin, who of the Cortes. The French cabinet sent instructions taught philosophy. to the ambassadors at the foreign courts, to assure them that the government of France was strong enough to crush any faction which should threaten the throne of the Bourbons or the tranquillity of Europe. The The great question of the session was the electoral law. The plan of the new ministry gave greater influence to large property than that of Decazes. In both schemes the number of the Chamber of Deputies The ministry made little use of the exceptional law was to be increased to 430 members; and in both which enabled them to arrest suspected persons. They schemes the unity of the electoral college was broken considered the law for the re-establishment of the cen- by substituting for it colleges of the arrondissemens, sorship as much more important. A royal ordonnance and departmental colleges. But the new ministerial regulated the manner in which the censorship should law proposed to give the colleges of the arrondissemens be exercised, and named the censors, among whom only the power to name as many candidates as the were Auger and Raoul-Rochette. There was also department sent deputies; and out of these candidates established a superior commission of censorship, com- the departmental college, which was to consist of oneposed of magistrates belonging to the court of Cassa-fifth of the electors taken from among those who paid tion and to the Cour Royale: but though the men in the largest amount of taxes, was to choose the deputies whose hands the censorship was placed were men who were to be sent to the Chamber. This was in of good character, the censorship is in its nature an effect to transfer all the power to the departmental arbitrary and tyrannical power; and the more so, colleges, and to a minority of the electors.* because the exercise of it is of necessity entrusted in debates on the electoral law roused all the passions a great degree to subordinate persons; and, if appeal of the opposing parties. The extreme left adhered to is made to the higher authorities, it causes delay, and the principles of the law of the 5th of February, delay is the death of a journal. An association was because they were thus assured of a majority. The formed among the liberal party, to protect "prisoners doctrinaires, and a few who belonged to the centre of state," whom the law of arrest was going "to plunge gauche, defended the principle of direct election, to into dungeons ;" and in a prospectus it was declared secure which they were willing to consent to some "that arbitrary power clothed with the forms of law changes. Lafayette said, that if the government had could not prescribe against the eternal laws which God wished to revise the Charter, there would have been has engraven on every heart; that humanity and less opposition from the friends of liberty; " for I do justice were manifestly outraged by a measure which not think," he said, " that the nation has not the right to delivered the liberty and the honour of citizens to the remodel its social pact in concert with the government: mercy of policy, hatred, corruption, meanness, and all it is not because the Charter secures to one man the the passions of certain individuals." The style of this title of count or baron, to another a bishopric; it is address shows clearly from what school it came. A because it proclaims equality, liberty of conscience, committee was formed for the purpose of defending individual liberty, that it is become the idol of French state prisoners against the law and the arbitrary mea- patriotism, and that we have taken the oath to the sures of the ministers. The committee consisted, Constitution; and now they release us from it: recolamong others, of Laffitte, Casimir Perrier, Lafayette, lect the contempt and shame that men have taken Kératry, and Odillon-Barrot. This organization was pleasure in pouring upon the national standard, to a matter of importance, not only with respect to the which the most glorious recollections are attached; special object for which it was formed, but also as this standard which was, I do not fear to repeat it, the containing the elements of the direct conspiracy against standard of liberty." Lafayette was still the same the house of Bourbon, which afterwards broke out. It man that he was in 1789 and '90; no wiser than when is said that a conspiracy was even then formed, which he proposed the Declaration of Rights. He and the had partisans both among civilians and the military, comte d'Artois, it was said, were the only two Frenchand that the government had proof against the leaders. men who never changed. De Serre made an eloquent But nothing was done by the government; and the attack on Lafayette's insurrectionary, rambling talk; ministry must be condemned as guilty of great weak- and he reminded him, that when popular masses are ness, if, with evidence before them, they were afraid to once roused, it is no longer possible to check their punish. The ministers, however, did not spare the movements at our pleasure. press; many publications were seized, the writers were *Annuaire IIistorique par 1820,' p. 40, &c. The doctrinaires aimed at fixing the new electoral *Annuaire Historique pour 1820,' p. 84, &c. law on a basis of their own, as a means of arriving at not a word against the agitators, who had rendered power; and Camille-Jordan proposed an amendment such measures necessary. to the ministerial plan, in which the doctrinaires obtained the support of the extreme left. His amendment (30th of May) was, that each department should be divided into as many arrondissemens as it sent deputies to the Chamber, and each arrondissement should have an electoral college, and elect its own deputy direct the electors in each arrondissement to be those who had their domicile in it, were thirty years of age, and paid 300 francs in direct taxes.* This amendment obtained the priority over another, made by Delaunay, by a single vote; which showed that there was a majority against the ministers. The cabinet had put forth all its strength: five ministers, members of the Chamber, had voted, and yet the result showed that the ministry would be defeated on their own question. Great efforts were made to gain over some of the opposition members; and after a three days' debate, the amendment of Camille-Jordan was rejected by a majority of 133 voices to 123. There were various rumours as to the way in which this small majority was secured; and it has been said that it was an affair of money; in other words, that some deputies were bribed. But there is no evidence of the fact, though it is certain that, in a numerous assembly, there are always some who will sell anything for money. The agitation within the Chamber was shared by the people. The côté gauche appeared to be looking outside for support, after the fashion of the revolutionary times. Lafayette's speech had no meaning, if it was not an appeal to the masses, and to the recollections of the Revolution. There was a great crowd around the Chamber of Deputies and the Place Bourbon; there was a conflict between some of the gendarmerie and the gardes du corps, who cried out "Vive le Roi," and the crowd, whose cry was "Vive la Charte." Some of the liberal deputies were insulted. A young student of law, named Lallemant, was killed by one of the garde in a struggle, the circumstances of which were not well ascertained. The government was blamed for taking measures of precaution, though thousands of people were running about the streets with seditious cries. All the troops of Paris were placed under the order of marshal Macdonald, and every measure was taken to secure the public peace. On the 21st of June the cavalry had to charge the assembled people, who were dispersed without any bloodshed. If the government had not made a demonstration of force, it is probable that the throne of the Bourbons would have been overthrown in 1820; for there is no doubt that there were persons who directed these movements, and were ready to take advantage of them. Some of the deputies of the gauche declaimed against the ministerial measures of precaution, but said The electoral law was in suspense, and the debates were interrupted by the tumults of the month of June. A conciliatory amendment was proposed by Courvoisier, Boin, and Beugnot, to the minister De Serre. According to this amendment, there were to be two classes of electoral colleges, one class for the arrondissemens, and one for the departments: the departmental colleges, composed of those who paid the largest amount of taxes, were to choose a certain number of deputies; and the colleges of the arrondissemens were to retain the direct election of a number of deputies equal to the number in the actual Chamber. As the law was finally passed (20th June), the departmental colleges were to elect 172 deputies; and the colleges of the arrondissemens were to elect the 258 actual deputies.* Such was the result of this long discussion, which kept Paris and all France in agitation for six months. Many of the deputies, wearied and exhausted by the struggle, obtained leave of absence; and there were scarcely left a sufficient number to vote the budget. As soon as the session was over, the ministry had plenty to do to maintain the public peace. There were popular movements in several of the large towns, and manifest symptoms of hostility to the dynasty of the Bourbons. The imagination of many of the young men was inflamed by the discourses which had been pronounced in the Chamber of Deputies; and the vague ideas of liberty and of government, which had distracted France during the Revolution, were still fermenting. The iron hand of Bonaparte had for a time compressed all political agitation, but the spirit of the first Revolution only slept: it was not dead, and it awoke again, and showed its terrors under the more feeble sway of the Restoration. The ministry was dissatisfied with the ambiguous position which the doctrinaires had maintained during the session. Most of them were still members of the Conseil d'État, and it was resolved to get rid of them. The names of Royer-Collard, Guizot, Barante, and Camille-Jordan, no longer appeared on the list. During the month of June the troops had remained faithful, and resisted the attempts to seduce them. This was encouraging to the king; for in Spain it was the army that had made the Revolution. The people of the faubourgs also remained quiet, though attempts were made to excite them to tumult. Money, it is said, was freely distributed in all the movements against the dynasty of the Bourbons, though it is not said who supplied it. The real history of all this disturbance may never be fully known; but there is no reason to doubt of the existence of a party, which finally succeeded, whose object was to overthrow the Bourbons. Even at this time there was a military conspiracy; systematic attempts were made to cor *Annuaire Historique pour 1820, Loi des Elections,' p. 550, where the text of the law is given. rupt the troops, and with success in some instances, | of the protocol and of the declaration before they were especially the legions of the Meurthe and of Nord. A regular plan of operations was concerted; a provisional government was to be established. The 19th of August was the day fixed for the outbreak, according to evidence obtained by the police. The officers, who were compromised, were arrested on the morning of the 19th, and brought for trial before the Chamber of Peers, which was occupied with this matter for more than two months.* On the 29th of September the duchess of Berri gave birth to a male child, who received the title of duc de Bordeaux, in honour of the city which was the first to proclaim the Bourbons. This event caused such rejoicing in France, that one would have supposed that every Frenchman was a royalist. Calumny afterwards attempted to call in question the duke's parentage, and maintained that he was a supposititious child; but the evidence of his birth is as strong as the most incredulous can require. The corps diplomatique, on addressing the king on the birth of the child, said, "This child of sorrows, of recollections, and of regrets, is also the child of Europe; he is the presage and the guarantee of the peace and the repose which are destined to follow so much agitation." finally settled. A note was written to the king of Naples, to invite him to a fresh congress of crowned heads, to settle the affairs of Naples; which was afterwards done at Laybach. The duc de Richelieu's ministry was now proceeding openly in a royalist direction. The events of June, and the military conspiracy of August, showed there was open war between those who would support the constitutional throne, and the men who sought to overthrow it. The University was re-organized; and a number of places were made in the royal household, which were distributed with the view of attaching to the crown persons of various ranks and opinions. General Rapp, an old friend of Napoleon, a rough soldier, was named grand-master of the wardrobe. The conspiracy of August showed that it was necessary to re-organize the army; in doing which, all the officers were removed who could not be relied on. The change was great, and the object was to annihilate the spirit of revolution which animated a great many of the officers. In order to influence the elections, it was resolved that the king should issue a proclamation to the electors of the kingdom. Pasquier drew up the proclamation, which was modified in the council, corrected by the king, written out with his own hand, and lithographed. A hundred thousand of these facsimiles were circulated through the kingdom, and they produced a great effect. "Keep away from the functions of deputy," said the king, those who ferment disturbances, those who are the artificers of discord, who propagate unjust distrust of my government: it depends on you to secure the repose, the glory, and the happiness of our common country; you have the will to do it; show it by your choice." The result surpassed the expectations of the royalists. The returns from the arrondissemens produced a majority for the centre and the right; and the returns from the departments were royalist, with the excep tion of a few departments. Thus the right obtained a complete victory; but the king expressed his fears to the duc de Richelieu, that such a majority was more than could be wished; it was more than the minister would be able to govern. The revolution in Spain had not disturbed that country in such a way as to give Alexander and his allies a reasonable pretext for direct interference; and indeed the geographical position of the peninsula, with respect to the rest of Europe, in some measure isolates it from all states except France. But the revolution at Naples, which, like that of Spain, originated with the army, was different in its character; and the position of Naples, with respect to the States of the Church, to the Austrian possessions in Italy, and to the several powers established in this peninsula by the Congress of Vienna, made a revolution in this kingdom a matter of concern to the allied powers. The news of the Neapolitan revolution caused great uneasiness at the Tuileries, owing to the close relationship of the royal family to the king of Naples. The Austrian cabinet promptly placed the army in Lombardy and the Tyrol on a war footing, and preparations were made for an intervention in the affairs of Italy. But this was a grave matter, which required the deliberation of all the allied powers; and Metternich succeeded in forming If the dynasty was secured by the new elections, it a congress at Troppau. His great object was to induce was not certain that the ministry was. The côté Alexander to adopt the principle of intervention, with gauche had gained little; and, with the exception the view of maintaining the states of Europe in their of a few men, who had some talent for specialties, no complete integrity, both as to territory and form of new name of note was added to the liberal party. The government, as fixed by the treaties of 1815. Alex-royalists received some fresh men, who were afterwards ander at first showed reluctance, but he at last assented, and Austria, Prussia, and Russia signed a protocol to this effect, which was accompanied by a declaration of the object of this new alliance, and an invitation to France and England to adopt this principle. The English and French plenipotentiaries knew nothing better known: M. de Peyronnet, procureur-général at Bourges; Dudon; Puymaurin; and general Donnadieu, who hated Decazes, and was also a violent opponent of the Richelieu cabinet. Among the deputies of Paris were M. Quatremère de Quincy, a man distinguished for his learning, and M. Olivier, one of the regents of the bank of France. The duc de Richelieu * The subsequent history of this affair is briefly given by saw the necessity of making advances to the royalists, Lacretelle, Hist. de la Restauration,' iii., p. 6, &c. and Châteaubriand accepted the embassy to Berlin. There were also negotiations with M. de Villèle, and the king's speech at the opening of the session was previously submitted to him. In his speech, the king spoke of the few years that probably remained to him, and expressed his ardent wish that the union between the crown and the Chambers might be strengthened, in order to allow the establishment of a system of government suited to so large a country as France. He foresaw that the moderate party had lost the power, which would fall into the hands of his brother and the ultra-royalists. M. Corbière was made president of the royal council of public instruction; and Laine and Villèle were made members of the Conseil du Roi; but they got less than they expected, and were not satisfied. They were rather dangerous allies than sincere friends to the administration. metropolitan sees, and for eighteen others at a future time, and for the increase of the salaries of the poorer vicaires; for the payment of the salaries of new curés and new vicaires; for the increase of the funds for the repair of cathedrals, episcopal residences, seminaries, and other buildings of the diocesan clergy. The budget of this session promised a diminution of taxation, for the first time since 1815. The receipts were estimated at 888,021,745 francs, and the expenses at 882,327,374; which left a surplus of above five and a half millions. Besides this, it was estimated that there would be a surplus on the year 1820 of more than 24 millions. This was a remarkable result to have been produced in a country which had been so heavily taxed, and had suffered so much from intestine disorder. But there was opposition to that part of the One of the first measures of the session, which budget which diminished the land-tax, because it opened on the 19th of December, 1820, was a comple- would diminish the number of electors. The land-tax ment to the electoral law, for the purpose of fixing the was very unequal in different departments, and this limits of the arrondissemens (23rd of February, 1821). inequality was the result of the union of different The limits of the arrondissemens were fixed according provinces at different times and under different circumto the wishes of the royalists, and in such manner as stances. When the Constituent Assembly made the to give the majority a chance of re-election. The new departmental division, they had not the necessary ministry intended to propose a law for the indemnity information for making an equal distribution of the of the emigrants, but on a very different basis from land-tax. It is stated that at this time (1821) some that which was afterwards passed; but this measure departments were taxed much more heavily than was to be preceded by a law of indemnity for the others: in Aveyron, for instance, the land paid one"donataires Français," for those who had been de- sixth of the net revenue; and in Basses-Pyrenées only prived of the property which they held in foreign one-seventeenth. The ministerial plan was to make countries, either by the loss of the French conquests or a reduction of 20 millions, to be distributed over the by the treaties. The ministerial measure was modified fifty-two departments which were most heavily taxed." after much discussion; and it was enacted (26th of The question of prolonging the censorship gave rise to July), in the first article, that the "French 'donataires' great personalities in the Chamber of Deputies; and who had been entirely deprived of their dotations Pasquier, by his reply to a coarse attack of Castelin foreign countries, and who possessed nothing in bajac, alienated the royalists from the ministry, though France, as well as the widows and children of those he said no more than any honourable man might have who were deceased, might be entered (pourront être said. The censorship was prolonged, but only for two inscrits) on the books of pensions, by way of indemnity months after the opening of the next session. The for the loss of the said dotations." The subsequent present session closed on the 31st of July, 1821. articles determined all the special circumstances. This The basis of the congress of Laybach had been laid was an ill-timed measure, by which the ministry came at Troppau. The emperors of Russia and Austria and to the relief of the men of the Revolution and of the the king of Naples met at Laybach early in January, Empire, without even mentioning the emigrants. 1821. The king of Prussia was represented by HarThough there were many honourable names on the list denberg, Bernstorff, and Krusemark. France had of the donataires, soldiers covered with honourable three representatives there, and Great Britain was wounds, there were other names that recalled pain-represented by lord Stewart. The matters discussed at ful recollections-Jean-Bon-Saint-André, Jean de Bry, Laybach may be reduced to five heads: the general Quinette, Drouet, general Clauzel, and others. One question of intervention: the application of this prinof the deputies said, that an indemnity to such men was ciple to the revolution of Naples: the attempt to form a reward for conspiracy; but such an indemnity only an Italian confederation: the revolution of Piedmont : prepared the way for another still more extensive and and the Greek insurrection, which broke out during burdensome for France. A draft of a municipal law the sitting of the Congress. All the little princes of was prepared, but, as it was ascertained that it would not Italy had their representatives at Laybach; and Gentz please the majority, it was withdrawn. To please the was employed, as he had been before, in drawing up religious party in the Chamber, the ministers provided, the minutes of the proceedings, and other diplomatic by a law, for the endowment of twelve episcopal or documents. It is said, and there can be little doubt. that Ford Castlereagh, then the English minister for *Annuaire Historique, &c., pour 1821;' 'Discours prononcé par le Roi, &c., le 19 Décembre, 1820,' p. 585. Annuaire Historique pour 1821,' c. 7. Loi des Donataires," p. 588. |