61. But whatever opinion may be formed on this point, upon which men, according to their previous prepossessions, will probably be divided to the end of the world, one thing is perfectly clear, and will admit of no doubt, that the coup d'état was determined on by the French Government with a want of preparation to meet

highly reprehensible, but absolutely inconceivable. The preamble of the coup d'état proves that the Ministry were fully aware how violently the

that however adverse to the passion for | detrimenti res publica capiat." And self-government which had sprung up subsequent experience has abundantly with the mild government and freedom proved that a severe restriction on the of the Restoration, they were noways liberty of the press was absolutely inat variance either with the letter or dispensable in France; for every govspirit of the constitution, as settled ernment that has since arisen, whatby the Charter, or with subsequent ever its origin had been, has been practice as approved by the Liberal obliged to commence a war to the party themselves. The most impor- knife with the press, and that which tant change they effected was that supplanted Charles X. has itself been which they made on the electoral sys- overturned by it. tem, the corner-stone of all representative government; and they brought it back, both as to the numbers of the Chambers and the qualification of the electors, to what had been fixed by the Charter. This was done, no doubt, by an ordonnance, not an act of the legislature; but the alteration on the constitution which it abrogated had itself been introduced by an ordon-its consequences, which was not only nance alone (14th July 1815); and the change on the Electoral Law, on 5th September 1816, which gave such additional weight to the Liberal party, was effected also by a royal ordon-current of public opinion was running nance, not only without the opposi- in favour of Liberal opinions, how tion, but with the cordial approbation strong was the passion for self-governof the whole Liberal party in France. ment, and that the most strenuous What an ordonnance had done, an resistance might be expected to any ordonnance could competently undo. regulation tending to abridge these All the subsequent changes on the dispositions. By the ordonnances the electoral system, with the exception Government drew the sword, threw of the one passed by the Chambers in away the scabbard, and perilled the July 1820, had been effected by ordon- Crown and constitution of France upnances alone, in virtue of the powers on the doubtful issue of arms. Prince conferred on the King by the 14th ar- Polignac was at once Prime Minister ticle of the Charter, and not a whisper and Minister at War in the absence of had ever been heard that he had ex- Marshal Bourmont; and he had asceeded his powers in introducing them. sured the Cabinet in reply to a quesAnd although, without doubt, the re- tion as to the means of resisting any strictions on the press were of so vio-insurrection in the capital, that no lent a kind that they were inconsist- popular movement was to be appreent, if long continued, with the exist- hended, and at all events Paris was ence of freedom, or the free action of sufficiently garrisoned to crush any the people on the Government, and rebellion, and guarantee the public could not have coexisted long with a tranquillity." What, then, were the real representative constitution; yet, forces with which Prince Polignac proconsidered as a mere temporary re- posed to coerce Paris, when in the striction, to enable the Government most violent state of effervescence, to surmount a passing difficulty, they and when supported by a large and were not beyond the powers vested in powerful party in every town of the King by the 14th article of the France? They consisted in all, at Charter, like those conferred on the the very highest estimate, of 11,550 consuls by the Roman senate in ardu-men, and twelve pieces of cannon, ous times "Caveant consules ne quid with six rounds of grape-shot to each

66

* The garrison of Paris, when the conflict commenced, consisted of

The remainder of the Guard, fully 18,000 strong, was thus stationed

-Etats Militaires, given in CAPEFIGUE, Histoire de Louis Philippe, i. 397, and Annuaire Historique, xiii. 112. Marmont makes this force still less. He says he had, Infantry of the Guard, 5500; Infantry of the Line, 4000; Cavalry, 750; in all, 10,250 men, with 12 guns. Of these he lost 1200 in detached posts when the revolt broke out, so that he actually fought with only 9050 men.-See MARMONT, viii. 268.

risians, in full enjoyment of the most magnificent weather, rose on the morning of that day, expecting only to inhale the enjoyments of summer in their highest perfection. The appearance of the ordonnances, which were instantly repeated from mouth to mouth, excited at first surprise and stupor rather than indignation. Men knew not what to think of such an audacious step. Crowds, not of rioters, but of anxious and agitated persons, were formed at the doors of the offices of the public journals, and in some of the most frequented parts of the city. Some applauded, many blamed, none were indifferent to the step which had been taken. The day, however, passed over without any alarming demonstrations having taken place, although in the universal anxiety which prevailed the experienced eye might discern the symptoms of an approaching storm. The truth was, the people had no leaders as yet prepared for such an emergency; and though it was known that the chief Opposition barristers, M. Odillon Barrot, Dupin aîné, Mauguin, Barthè, and Merithon, had met with the leading editors of journals and writers on the Liberal side, and consulted on what was to be done, nothing had transpired as to the result of their deliberation, and the day passed over without any disturbance.

times. M. de Laborde was the president of that meeting; and, among others of lesser note, the protest bore the signatures of M. Thiers and M. Correl, M. Corte, the editor of the Temps, and M. Baude. And however much we, who have been instructed by the event, may lament the consequences of this decisive step, which first hoisted the standard of insurrection against the ordonnances, it is impossible to refuse a tribute of admiration to the gallant men who, inspired by the love of freedom and their country, hazarded their heads in open resistance to what they deemed illegal acts on the part of the Government.

64. Matters were brought to a crisis by an event which occurred on the forenoon of the 27th. The majority of the journals, and all the Royalist ones, had yielded to the ordonnances, and taken out the requisite licences from the Government. The latter were loud in their praise of the coup d'état, and maintained it was imperatively called for by the circumstances of the country. But the editors of a few of the ultraLiberal journals were determined to make no such concession, and conceiving, perhaps with justice, that an act of the legislature could alone deprive them of their legal rights, resolved on resistance. Their journals accordingly appeared without the requisite licence, 63. Appearances, however, rapidly and with the protest of the Opposition changed on the morning of the 27th.journals in their columns. This open The editors and proprietors of the Op-defiance of Government was immediposition journals, deeming, according to the opinion of these celebrated lawyers, the ordonnances illegal, had resolved on resisting them; and a solemn protest had been agreed upon, in which they were denounced as unconstitutional, and resistance was openly threatened.

"The Government," said these courageous men, "has lost the character of legality which commands obedience; we resist it in so far as we are concerned it is for France to determine how far resistance should extend." Forty-four proprietors, contributors to, and editors of journals, met in the office of the National, and signed the me:norable protest, which became in a manner a patent of nobility in after

ately followed by an order issued to seize the refractory papers, and close their printing-offices and places of sale; and a commissary of police, accompanied by two gendarmes, repaired to the offices of the National and the Temps, situated in the Rue de Richelieu and Boulevard des Italiens, to enforce the order. The editors and proprietors of these journals, however, opposed the most resolute resistance to the police. When summoned to submit in name of the Government, they called on the police to abstain in the name of the law. A blacksmith, who was sent for to force open the door of the hôtel occupied by the Temps, declined to act in obedience to the orders of the police;

a second was sent for, and the mob | were quartered in the towns in the vitook his tools from him; and the doors cinity; and no instructions were sent were at length only forced open, and to the prefects in the departments to seals put on the printing-presses, by a take any extraordinary precautions, or workman who was said to have been how to act at all in the critical circumemployed in making fetters for the stances which were approaching. By convicts in the galleys. These pro- a negligence still more reprehensible, ceedings, which occurred in the most no provision whatever was made for populous and frequented parts of Paris, furnishing rations or water, or extra excited the most vehement agitation. ammunition, to the troops on active A vast crowd assembled in the streets service; and during the conflicts of where the seizures had been effected, the succeeding days, when they were whose language and gestures bespoke under arms almost without intermisthe extreme passions with which they sion night and day, under a burning were animated. The general ferment sun, they remained without any rewas worked up to a perfect frenzy by gular supplies, and were for the most a judgment of the Tribunal of Com-part indebted for food to the humanity merce, a court in the first instance at or policy of their enemies. Paris, which ordained a printer in the employment of the Courrier Français, who had refused to print that journal without a licence, for fear of contravening the ordonnance, to do so within twenty-four hours, on pain of imprisonment, seeing "that the ordonnance, being contrary to the Charter, would not be held obligatory, neither on the sacred person of the King, nor on the citizens whose rights it infringed.'

65. The King and Ministers, who had been overjoyed at the success with which the ordonnances had been received on the 26th, were not awakened from their delusion by the events of the 27th. On the first of these days, so little had any serious resistance been anticipated, that the King had gone on a hunting party to Rambouillet; and even on the day following, the Court remained at St Cloud, which, for the service of the palace, deducted twelve hundred men from the few battalions of the Guard, the only ones who could be relied on for the defence of Paris. Reports were received from all the police-offices; but though they in general spoke of crowds in the streets, a general suspension of business, and great agitation in the public mind, yet, with an infatuation that now appears inconceivable, no efficient steps were taken to guard against the approach of danger. None of the Liberal leaders were arrested; no additional troops were brought into Paris, though eighteen thousand of the Royal Guard

66. When, on the morning of the 27th, Marmont commenced the active duties of the command of the garrison of Paris, with which he had been invested by the King, he was petrified at its small amount; for after deducting the non-effective and the Guard on service at St Cloud, it did not exceed ten thousand men, of whom not more than four thousand were of the Guard, upon whom reliance could be placed in a conflict with the people. He immediately made his dispositions; but before his orders could reach the troops, the agitation had assumed a very threatening appearance, and it was evident that a most serious conflict was approaching. The people everywhere descended into the streets, and collected in immense multitudes in and around the principal points in the city. The Rue de Richelieu, the avenues of the Palais Royal, and the neighbourhood of the Hôtel des Affaires Etrangères, where the council of Ministers sat, were soon beset by vast crowds. The Rue St Honoré and the boulevards, the whole way from the Place de la Bastile to the Place de la Madeleine, were filled with multitudes, as yet unarmed, but whose looks and gestures told that they were prepared for any enterprise, however audacious. Cries of "Vive la Charte !-à bas les Ministres!" were heard from the crowd. So threatening did the aspect of things soon become, that orders were given to close the gates of the

Palais Royal, and some detachments | was not so clear what course should of gendarmerie and troops of the line be pursued by the friends of liberty were stationed around it to enforce the and order. The young and courageorder. Soon the ominous cry was ous were clear for instantly taking up heard in the crowd, "Vive la Ligne!-- arms; the more reflecting and prudent vivent les frères et enfants du peuple!" hesitated at openly resisting the GovThe grievous mistake was committed ernment, and hazarding the newborn of leaving the troops, under arms but liberty of France on the perilous issue inactive, close to the people, and in of the sword. The discussions were communication with them. Soon their still going on, when a deputation arsympathy with the multitude was made rived, professing to come from the manifest by their opening their ranks, electors of Paris, which cut the Gorand letting the human torrent flow dian knot, by declaring that, as the through without resistance, amidst loud ordonnances had evidently and openly cheers from the people. The only symp- violated the constitution, and the Govtom of collision which appeared was in ernment were preparing to support front of the palace of the Duke of Or- them by force, nothing remained but to léans, where the troops were fired up- have recourse TO INSURRECTION; that on from the windows of a house. They many of the master-manufacturers had answered by a general discharge at the already thrown their workmen into the windows, by which several persons streets, and that they were prepared were killed, among whom was an in a body to support them with their American, who had fired the first shot, whole moral and physical strength. and struck one of the soldiers. Deputations from various bodies of young men succeeded, who, with the courage and rashness of youth, declared that they were ready instantly to take up arms, and praying the depu

*

The discussion, which now became very animated, was still going on, when the sound of discharges of musketry in the streets, and the clank of charges of cavalry on the pavement, interrupted the deliberations; and the persons assembled separated, without having come to any other resolution but that of meeting on the following day at the house of M. Audry de Puyraveau, in the Faubourg Poissonnière.

67. Meanwhile an assembly of the leaders of the Liberal party had taken place at the house of M. Laborde, in the Rue d'Artois, on the evening of the 26th, and another, more numer-ties to place themselves at their head. ously attended, at the hôtel of M. Casimir Perier. Thirty persons, nearly all members of the Chamber of Deputies, were there assembled. Their names, many since known in the rolls of fame, prove how large a part of the intellectual strength of France was already arrayed against the Government. Opinions, as might have been expected in an assembly of men of such information and intelligence, were much divided as to the course which should be pursued. All agreed in condemning the ordonnances, and holding them illegal, and a violation of the Charter; but as they had been promulgated by authority, and were obviously to be enforced by power, it They were MM. Mauguin, Bavoux, Chardel, De Lobau, Voisin de Gartempe, Persil, Louis, Dupin aîné, Charles Dupin, Berard, Mechin, Camille Perier, Odier, Lefebvre, Vassal, Andry de Puyraveau, Sebastiani, Gerard, Villemain, Guizot, Auguste St Aig nan, Labbey de Pompières, Baillot, Bertin de Vaux, Delessert, Maréchal Duchaffant, Milleret, Mathieu Dumas, Salverte, De Schonen.-Tribune, 28 July 1830; Annuaire Historique, xiii. 130.

*

68. Marmont's plan of operations was based, like that of Napoleon in repelling the attack of the sections in 1795, on the defence of the Tuileries, Louvre, and Carrousel, as a vast fortress in the centre of the city. The 3d regiment of the Guard, with four guns, was stationed in the Place Carrousel and in the Palais Royal; the Swiss regiment of the Guard, with six guns, in the Place Louis XV.; the 1st regiment of the Guard, with two guns, in the Rue des Capucins, in front of the Hôtel des Affaires Etrangères, where the Ministers were assembled; the 15th line regiment on the Pont