has frustrated all designs against our | liberties, and disappointed all hopes; but that preponderance of the press is fearful, and bespeaks a dangerous and distressing state of society. This general perturbation in the state, and in all the constituted authorities, is an evil foreign to the usual and healthful state of society, and it is to it that it behoves us to apply a remedy. We are told that France is tranquil; that the public order is nowhere disturbed. True: externally, peace is everywhere preserved: no reports break the general tranquillity; but does the evil I have pointed out exist the less? Is it less grave, less alarming, less important in the eyes of all serious or reflecting men? It is more to be apprehended than many riots, more serious than the disorders such as have for a long time agitated England.

quietude which disturbs the public security; and that disquietude proceeds from the distrust which the country entertains of the present Ministry, and the reciprocal distrust which the Ministers entertain of the country. This fact is notorious; no one can deny it; it strikes every mind. So strong is this distrust on the part of the Ministers of the Crown, that it has even entered into the speech which they have composed for the King. Reciprocally, the country has no confidence in the Ministers; and it is of the nature of such feelings mutually to inflame each other. It is impossible to conceal, in vain to disguise, that there is no sympathy whatever between the Ministers of the Crown and the people. But we are living under a constitutional monarchy, of which it is an indispensable condition that a concur27. "Such open disorders are symp-rence should subsist between the King toms which power cannot fail to recognise it is unavoidable, when they break out, that Government should become aware of grievances, and endeavour to rectify them. With us no such warning exists: the danger, unknown, unheeded, lurks in the bosom of society. Its surface is tranquil-so tranquil, indeed, that Government is tempted to believe that the depths can never be stirred, and itself beyond the reach of all danger. Our words, gentlemen, the freedom of our words, is the only warning which power can receive amongst us; the sole voice which can penetrate to the King, and dissipate his illusions. Let us beware, then, of weakening their force; let us beware of softening our expressions; let them be respectful, even tender; it is our duty to be so, and no one has accused your committee of being awanting in that respect; but let them not be timid or doubtful. Truth has already difficulty enough to penetrate into the cabinets of kings; let us not send in its light pale and feeble; let it be such that it is alike impossible to misunderstand our meaning and to doubt the loyalty of our sentiments.

28. "The fact is, that, in the midst of universal protestations of devotion and fidelity, there exists a vague dis

and the majority in both Chambers. It is in vain to say our attempts to restore such a concurrence are an invasion of the Royal prerogative—a stripping the King of his legitimate power. Such is neither the object nor the language of the address. No attempt is made in it to dictate to the King what should be done. The existence of the evil is only indicated, leaving it to his Majesty to apply the remedy which his wisdom may dictate. But when the Ministers of the Crown have spoken in the speech from the throne of Force, it is surely permitted to the Chamber to allude to the law. I vote for the address, and against the amendment.”

29. So great was the impression produced by the speech of M. Berryer, who was then for the first time heard in the Assembly, that M. RoyerCollard said, "This is not only an orator, but a power which has appeared amongst us.' But it was all in vain: the Opposition was too strongly rooted in the Chamber and the country to be overcome by any reasoning how convincing, any eloquence how persuasive soever. The address, as it originally stood, was voted, and the amendment, which was intended to soften it,* rejected by a majority of

*The amendment on the address proposed,

40, the numbers being 221 to 181. | de Chateaubriand resigned his situaThat majority, considerable as it was, tion as ambassador at Rome, and redid not convey an adequate idea of turned to literary poverty, when he the real strength of the Opposition; heard that Government were deterfor 30 of the minority were detached mined to resist the majority of the from their ranks by the conciliatory Chamber. M. Marcellus, formerly his terms of the amendment on which chargé-d'affaires when ambassador in the vote was taken, so that the real London, refused the situation of Unstrength of Ministers was only 150 der-Secretary of State to Prince Poout of 402. This great majority was lignac; and M. Lamartine declined a produced by the defection of the similar offer of the direction of foreign whole Left Centre to the Opposition affairs, from a dread that a violation side, headed by M. Agier, a liberal of the Charter was in contemplation. Royalist, who by this defection over- Polignac on this occasion expressed turned, in the first result, the throne himself in the most earnest manner as in the last, the liberties of his to no permanent violation of the Charcountry. ter being thought of, but only a temporary suspension of it, to secure its durability in future times.*

30. Ministers were thunderstruck by this majority, which was much larger than they had anticipated; but they were not deterred by it from pursuing the course which they had adopted. They answered it by the immediate dismissal of all the public functionaries who had taken a part in the hostile vote. One of the most remarkable of these was M. Calmon, Director-general of Registers and Domains. He received his congé, and his situation was offered to M. Berryer; but he replied, “I am too young as yet in the Chamber to deserve a situation, and next year I will perhaps deserve a higher one. The place was bestowed on M. de Suleau, a young writer of talent on the Royalist side, who had the courage in this crisis to ally himself to its fortunes. But several able men, especially in the diplomacy, hastened to resign their offices, or declined uniting themselves to the Administration. M.

and on which the vote was taken, was in these terms:-"Cependant notre honneur, notre conscience, la fidélité que nous vous avons jurée, et que nous vous garderons toujours, nous imposent le devoir de faire connaître à votre Majesté, qu'au milieu des sentimens unanimes de respect et d'affection dont votre peuple vous entoure, de vives inquiétudes se sont manifestées à la suite des changemens survenus dans la dernière session. C'est à la haute sagesse de votre Majesté de les apprécier, et d'y apporter le remède qu'elle croira convenable. Les prérogatives de la Couronne placent dans ses mains augustes les moyens d'assurer cette harmonie constitutionnelle, aussi nécessaire à la force de la Couronne qu'au bonheur de la France."— Annuaire Historique, xiii. 37, 38.

31. It was resolved in the Council that the King should receive the address, surrounded by all the majesty of the throne, but that he should return a severe answer to the deputation. M. Royer-Collard, as President, presented and read it with a faltering and moved voice; for he was overwhelmed with the magnitude of the crisis, and the mild but yet dignified manners of the King. Charles answered, when it was concluded, "I have heard the address which you have presented to me in the name of the Chamber of Deputies. I had a right to reckon on the concurrence of the two Chambers to carry out the good

sance.

"Le Prince m'écrivit pour m'appeler à Paris, et pour me confier la direction des affaires étrangères. Je répondis en m'excusant sur ma jeunesse et sur mon insuffiton du reproche, vous êtes done du nombre "Eh bien,' me dit-il avec bonté et du de ceux qui me calomnient, en m'accusant de vouloir renverser les institutions que soutiennent à la fois le trône et la liberté. Vous croyez, donc, que je rêve un coup d'état?'

Non, mon prince,' lui dis-je, ‘je ne crois pas qu'un coup d'état soit dans vos pensées; mais je crois qu'un coup d'état est dans la fatalité inévitable de la position que le Roi et le Ministère prennent devant le pays.' M. le Prince de Polignac alors m'entraînant dans son grand cabinet, et se promenant avec moi d'un bout à l'autre, pendant deux heures d'un entretien confidentiel et passionné, protesta avec énergie, evidemment sincère, contre toute pensée de renverser ou même d'atténuer la Charte, et me conjura, avec plus de force, de croire en lui, et d'accepter le poste de confiance qu'il me gardait dans son Ministère."LAMARTINE, viii. 191.

which I meditated; my heart is griev-| Collard as to the men who would be

ed to hear from the deputies of the departments that such concurrence is not to be looked for. I have announced my resolution in my speech at the opening of the session; that resolution is immovable; the interests of my people forbid me to depart from it. My Ministers will make known to you my intentions." In effect, on the following day, in the midst of an uncommonly full house, the Minister of the Interior put into the hands of the president an ordonnance of the King, which prorogued the Chamber until the 1st September following.

likely to carry with them a majority of the Assembly. None could do so,' replied the statesman, discouraged by the incoherence of the elements of the Assembly over which he presided." One of the Cabinet, when the address was presented, suggested to the King whether it might not be possible still to come to an accommodation with the Chamber, and to get a majority? "A majority!" replied the King hastily, revealing his secret thoughts, "I should be sorry to gain it; I would not know what to do with it."

33. The prorogation of the Chamber was immediately followed by several political banquets, at one of which M. Odillon Barrot presided at Paris, where everything was said that could inspire vigour and resolution in the Liberal party. No obstacle was thrown by Government in the way of these assemblages; but it was otherwise with the licentiousness of the press, which had now reached an unparalleled height. Several prosecutions took place against the leading Liberal journals, particularly the National, the Globe, the Nouveau Journal de Paris, and the Journal du Commerce, which were followed by convictions and sentences of considerable severity. Alarmed at the menacing aspect of public affairs, the courts of law now took part with the prosecution in these cases as much as in the preceding years they had inclined to the other side. Some articles at the same time appeared in the Moniteur, which disavowed the intention of resorting to violent measures ascribed to the Gov

32. This bold and decided step, which, like a similar measure resorted to by Charles I. in England, was in effect a declaration of war against the Chamber, excited general surprise; it was not supposed the King was capable of so much resolution, or of adhering so perseveringly to one course of policy. It was foreseen that such a prorogation, on the eve of a costly expedition to Algiers, and with no provision for the current expenses of the season, could only be the prelude to a dissolution. What a dissolution would lead to, in the present excited state of the public mind, it was not difficult to foresee. In effect, the King had made up his own mind to go through with all the measures which he deemed essential to maintain the prerogatives of the Crown, and the Cabinet was so submissive to his will that no resistance on their part was to be apprehended. "The Chamber,' said he, has played a high game in attacking my Crown, but I have answered them as a king." The Ministers respectfully proposed the ques-ernment by the Liberals; but they tion to him whether he should yield excited little attention, and as the to the injunction of the address, and Royalist journals continued not the change his Ministry? "No," replied less strongly to inculcate the necessity the King; "that would be a degrada- of having recourse to a coup d'état, tion of the Crown, and an abdication the opinion became universal that such of the royal prerogative. Besides, a measure was really intended, and what ministry could come to an un- that Government was only waiting for derstanding with such a Chamber? a favourable opportunity for promulWhen I wished to change the Mar- gating it. tignac Ministry, whose concessions, received by ingratitude, led me to the edge of the abyss, I consulted Royer

34. During the sort of interregnum which prevailed between the prorogation of the Chamber and the publica

The

tion of the ordonnances, two occur- | result was 325,000,000 francs between rences took place, well worthy of a the original imposition and the cenplace in history, from their present times additionels, or local burdens, importance and their consequences in derived from the direct taxes. future times. The first of these was charges of collection were 16,200,000 a report by the Minister of Finance francs, or 5 on the total sum reon the state of the country, dated 15th ceived by the treasury; and this large May 1830, which threw the most val- sum was obtained after 91,865,000 uable light on that momentous sub-francs had been remitted to the project, and the progress the nation had prietors from the sums exigible by law, made under the Government of the by the indulgence of the Government. Restoration; the second, the expedi- The increase was still more marked in tion to Algiers, not less important to the indirect taxes, for they had risen, the commercial and maritime interests without any new burdens having been of the kingdom, and the ultimate fate imposed, from 163,000,000 francs in of Islamism, and balance of the Chris- 1818, to 212,000,000 in 1828; while tian and Mohammedan powers. the charges of collection, which had been 18 per cent in 1813, and 143 in 1818, had been reduced in 1828 to 121 per cent. The treasury exhibited an equally favourable result; the receipts were 1,030,782,656 francs (£41,200,000), and the expenditure was 1,026,617,152 francs,—a state of matters which, considering the large military establishment, exceeding 200,000 men, on foot in the empire, and the large sum set apart for the sinking fund, bespoke in the clearest manner the general wellbeing and prosperity of the country.

35. From the report of the Finance Minister it appeared that the population of France, which in 1821 amounted to 30,304,340 souls, inhabiting 5,886,727 houses, the average rent of which was 49 francs a house, and the entire value 303,832,734 francs, had increased in 1830 to 31,657,429 souls, inhabiting 6,396,008 houses, at an average annual value of 66 francs, amounting in all to 384,008,125 francs. This exhibited an increase of a third in the average annual value of houses during those nine years, of a fourth in their entire value, and an increase of 1,300,000, or about a thirteenth, in the numbers of the whole inhabitants. But the relative increase in the proportion of rural and urban dwellings was not less decisive as to the comparative advance in the great divisions of society than the sum total was of their common prosperity; for in 1821 only 169,810,754 francs belonged to towns, and 134,021,980 francs to rural localities; while in 1830 no less than 211,806,483 francs arose from the former, and 172,201,642 francs to the latter. With reason, the Finance Minister concluded that this was "the evident consequence of the increase of population, of the general wellbeing of society, and of the numerous buildings which since 1820 have been constructed upon all points of the territory."

36. The direct taxes exhibited a great increase in all branches, especially those on houses and windows, during the same period. The general

37. The details presented in regard to the public debt were still more important, for they exhibited in one view the vast benefits conferred by the Government of the Restoration, and formed, as it were, the testament bequeathed by the elder branch of the Bourbons to the country. The public debt, according to this statement, consisted of 3,949,553,337 francs (£158,000,000), and the annual interest to 170,328,205 francs (£6,800,000). The capital re deemed by the sinking fund amounted to 755,402,140 francs, and its annual charge to 37,503,204 francs. The annuities charged on the treasury, and which were divided among 187,173 parties, amounted to 56,984,196 francs; and the entire annual charge of the debt, interest of capital sums, and annuities, was 322,752,660 francs. the pensions only 1,825,604 francs were civil, 5,986,000 francs ecclesiastical, while the military were 47,643,000 annually,-a curious proof of how entirely the resources as well as inclina

Of

tions of the French, even in peace, had run into the profession of arms. The debt contracted for the indemnity to the emigrants, nearly a fourth of the whole, was included in this enumeration.

39. It is very remarkable, that while the prosperity of the country had increased in this prodigious ratio during the Restoration, its discontents had fully kept pace with it, and they had now reached the highest point at 38. It need hardly be said, after the very time when the wellbeing of these statistical details, that the coun- the people was most universal and try had eminently prospered under the conspicuous. The smiling aspect of government of the Restoration, espe- the fields, the busy activity of the cially during its later years; and that commercial towns, the animation of in no former period had benefits so the seaports, the splendour and ingeneral and important been conferred creasing edifices of the capital, were upon all classes of society. Under the equalled only by the general discongovernment of its ancient kings, since tent and sullen disloyalty which perthe year 1822-that is, during a period vaded these scenes of prosperity and of only eight years the imports and happiness. What was still more reexports of France had increased 50 per markable, the classes among whom the cent, and the tonnage of the shipping discontent was the greatest, were the nearly 25 per cent.* The annual value very ones which had been most largely of agricultural production over the benefited by the government of the whole kingdom had risen to 945,353,962 Bourbons, and most severely crushed francs, drawn from 12,659,773 arable by that which had preceded it. The hectares (30,800,000 acres), being at proprietors, altogether excluded from the rate of 72 francs per hectare, or participation in the government unnearly 18s. an acre. The difference be- der the despotism of Napoleon, and tween this average value of agricultu- who had been let into a large share of ral produce and that of Great Britain, it under that of the Restoration, were notwithstanding the great advance in generally averse to their benefactors, industry and prosperity made in France and sighed for the return of their tyduring the Restoration, is very remark-rants. able; for the average value of agricultural produce per acre in this country has never been estimated by competent observers at less than £6 sterling per

acre.

The burgher class, reduced almost to nullity during the latter years of the Empire, had prospered immensely under the pacific reign of the Bourbons, and, from its influence in the elections, had wellnigh got the

* TABLE SHOWING THE EXPORTS, IMPORTS, AND TONNAGE OF FRANCE DURING

-Statistique de la France (Commerce Exterieur), 8, 15.

In the French statistical tables, Commerce Spécial means the exports and imports, with the value of the merchandise transhipped and re-exported deducted; Commerce Général, the exports and imports including these. When, in this work, the exports and imports are quoted without explanation, the Commerce Spécial is meant.