Lord John Russell, Paymaster of the Forces.

Mr. P. Thomson, Vice President of the Board of Trade, and Treasurer of the Navy. Lieut.-Gen. Sir Edward Paget, Master General of the Ordnance. Sir Robert Spencer, Surveyor General to the Board of Ordnance. Right Hon. C. W. Wynn, Secretary at War

Ireland.

Marquis of Anglesea, Lord Lieu

tenant.

Mr. Stanley, Chief Secretary. Lord Plunkett, Lord Chancellor. Mr. Pennefather, Attorney General.

There was necessarily a suspension of business in parliament, till the new ministers, who had vacated their seats by accepting office, should be re-elected. Mr. Stanley, the new Chief Secretary for Ireland, encountered a mortifying defeat in attempting to be reelected for Preston, where the right of suffrage is almost universal. He was opposed by the notorious Mr. Hunt, the merest of all demagogues, except the Irish agitator: and by Mr. Hunt and radical reform, the heir of the house of Derby, a member of the new whig ministry, and the representative of what he and his friends called temperate and moderate reform, was completely beaten.

During the remainder of the year, no business of importance was transacted, except the passing of a regency bill, in conformity with the recommendation in the speech from the throne. The bill

It

had been introduced into the House of Lords by lord Lyndhurst on the day which, in the House of Commons, sealed the fate of the ministry, and its arrangements were recognized by their successors, to be those which the case required. provided, that, in the event of a posthumous child of the present queen, her majesty should be guardian and regent during the minority. If that event should not occur, the duchess of Kent was to the minority of her daughter, the be guardian and regent during princess Victoria, the heiress presumptive. It was declared that the princess herself should not marry while a minor, without the consent of the king, or, if he died, without the consent of both Houses of parliament, and that the regency of her mother should be at an end, if, while regent, she married a foreigner.

Å select committee was appointed on the 9th of December," to inquire what reductions can be made in the salaries and emoluments of offices held during the pleasure of the Crown by members of either House of parliament, and to report their opinion and observations thereupon to the House;" and on the 23rd, both Houses adjourned to the 3rd of February, ministers having declared, that a long adjournment was necessary, in order to enable them to prepare the different measures which they intended to submit to parliament, and more especially to concoct that plan of reform to which they had pledged themselves on accepting office, and by which alone they could hope to retain it.

ministers, both on account of what it was taken for granted they were inclined to do, and what it was certain they would refuse to grant, these writers began to hint at the probability of a change of dynasty, as the only step that would quiet the apprehensions, and satisfy the demands of the people, and to speak of it as a measure which would neither be unexpected nor regretted. The "Globe," a literary journal to which the duke of Broglie and M. de Guizot, both of them prominent actors in the scenes which followed, were understood to be contributors, put forth, in February, an article entitled, "France and the Bourbons in 1830." It was there said, "of all the crises through which we have passed since 1814, the present is, without contradiction, the most decisive for the house of Bourbon. It is, to reckon rightly, the fourth attempt at counter-revolution. It is curious and profitable to observe what part the nation has performed in all these rash experiments-how it has been progres➡ sively instructed and strengthened, while the party, which is dragging down royalty with itself, has been misled and weakened ;-how, at every counter-revolutionary effort, the same melancholy and fatal idea of the separation of the throne and the country has presented itself, but on each occasion gathering strength, accepted by a greater number of minds; at first concealed as a secret intrigue or feeling of hostility, afterwards disclosed in public as an opinion, and thus proceeding, until, if Heaven avert it not, and if the old enemies of liberty still proceed farther, this opinion will become the resolution of a party with popular assent." "Certainly we need not now conceal

that there has been for ten years a secret and concerted hostility. We may, we ought, to acknowledge it in the face of the country, for now frankness and information are required. Frankness is likewise necessary for the throne, which is now hanging over the same abyss, which was opened in 1820 by a guilty re-action. No; the national party entertained no projects hostile to the existing dynasty; it sought only a legitimate defence. No; there was no conspiracy, when conspiracy was flagrant and avowed on the other side. If subsequently a plan of defence has been formed, if designs hostile to the dynasty have been entertained, if in some parts of the country these designs have found favour and support, if dangerous associations have existed secretly for a long time, if insurrections have been attempted, all this did not occur (we can prove it) until after the example set by the other side, until after the attack and violation of the charter. We can prove that, even under M. de Villèle, in consequence of discussion finding a legitimate vent by means of the press, acts of hostility were repressed, and that they only broke forth at a later period, when, overcome by discussion and by the progress of political morals, this minister attempted a third violent reaction, by establishing the censorship, destroying the purity of election by fraud, and dipping his hands in the blood of citizens. Then again the question of dynasty was brought forward. But only a few days passed over, when the king perceived his danger, and all was forgotten. M. de Polignac has again raised the storm. The violence of this storm will increase daily, if he continues

in office, or if he be succeeded by any one, either bold or timid, who may attempt, by force or stratagem, to oppose the henceforth irresistible development of popular liberty." Against these and similar publications the government did not spare state prosecutions. The editor of the Globe was condemned to an imprisonment of four months, and a fine of 2,000 francs. The editor of the National was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and a fine of 1,000 francs, for an article of a similar tendency. The editors of the Journal du Commerce, and of the Courrier Français, who had appealed to the Cour Royale against a sentence of the tribunal of Correctional Police, which had condemned them to the penalties of fine and imprisonment, for publishing, with approbation, the plan of the Brittany Association, for refusing payment of taxes, if the charter should be violated, had their appeal disallowed, and their original sentence confirmed. The flame was too widely spread, and too abundantly fed from every quarter, to be any thing but excited by partial and occasional gusts of ministerial vengeance.

The Session of the Chambers was opened, as had been announced, on the 2nd of March. The king delivered the following speech:— "Messieurs, It is always with confidence that I assemble round my throne the peers of the realm, and the deputies of the departments. "Since your last session, important events have consolidated the peace of Europe, and the concert established between my allies and me for the happiness of the nations. War has been extinguished in the East. The moderation of the conqueror, and the

amicable intervention of the powers, by preserving the Ottoman empire from the evils which threatened it, have maintained the equilibrium and confirmed the ancient relations of states. Under the protection of the powers which signed the treaty of July 6, Greece will rise independent from its ruins. The choice of the prince called to reign over it will sufficiently evince the disinterested and pacific views of the sovereigns. I pursue at this moment, in concert with my allies, negotiations, the object of which is, to bring about a reconciliation, necessary for the repose of the Peninsula, between the princes of the house of Braganza. In the midst of the grave events with which Europe was occupied, I found it expedient to suspend the effects of my just resentment against a Barbary power; but I cannot leave longer unpunished the insult offered to my flag. The striking reparation which I desire to obtain, in satisfying the honour of France, will turn out, by the aid of Providence, to the advantage of Christendom.

"The accounts of the receipts and of the expenditure will be submitted to you at the same time with the state of our wants and resources for the year 1831. I have the satisfaction of seeing, that, in spite of the diminution which has taken place in the revenue of 1829, comparatively with that of the preceding year, it has exceeded the estimates of the budget. A recent operation has sufficiently indicated the interest at which loans have become negotiable; it has demonstrated the possibility of alleviating the burthens of the state. A law relative to the sinking fund will be presented to you. It will be connected with a plan of repayment, or exchange, which we hope will

reconcile what the tax-payers expect from our solicitude, with the justice and good will due to those of our subjects who have placed their capital in the public funds. The measures, on which you will have to deliberate, will have for their object to satisfy all those interests. They will afford the means of assisting, without new sacrifices, and in a few years, towards the expenses which are imperiously required for the defence of the kingdom, the prosperity of agriculture and of commerce, the works of our fortresses, those of our ports, the repair of roads, and the finishing of canals. You will have, likewise, to occupy your attention with several laws relative to the judicial order, with different projects of public administration, and with some measures destined to ameliorate the condition of the military on half-pay. I have sympathized in the sufferings which a long and rigorous winter has inflicted upon my people: but charity has multiplied its succours, and it is with the liveliest satisfaction that I have seen the generous cares lavished upon indigence, in all parts of the kingdom, and particularly in my good city of Paris. "Messieurs, The first desire of my heart is to see France happy and respected, developing all the riches of her soil and of her industry, and enjoying, in peace, institutions, the blessing of which it is my firm purpose to consolidate. The Charter has placed the public liberties under the safeguard of the rights of my Crown. These rights are sacred. My duty towards my people is to transmit them entire to my successors.

"Peers of France,-Deputies of Departments,-I doubt not of your concurrence to effect the good which

I wish to accomplish. You will repel the perfidious insinuations which malevolence seeks to propagate. If culpable manœuvres should raise up against my government obstacles which I do not wish to foresee, I shall find the power of surmounting them in my resolution to maintain the public peace, in my just confidence in Frenchmen, and in the love which they have always shown to their kings."

In the concluding words of the speech, which alone alluded to the opposition raised against the government, the liberals found a distinct avowal, that their opposition was considered, not constitutional, but malevolent and perfidiousmade up of culpable manoeuvres-and that the executive, if that opposition continued, would meet it by measures which the constitution did not know. The friends of ministers again alleged that it meant nothing more than that the king, if he and the Chambers still differed, would appeal to the people by a new election. In the Peers there was no division on the address; it was an echo of the speech, except that his majesty was assured, in somewhat equivocal phraseology, that France was as much averse to anarchy as the king was to despotism. Chateaubriand alone dissented from the address; it did not appear to him to be sufficiently strong. The language of the ministers, he said, filled him with consternation. "Superior talents may excuse consternation. Superior talents may excuse, if they cannot fully justify, bold and hazardous enterprises. Genius has its dictatorship and its tyranny, and sometimes they are submitted to; but blame must inevitably fall on ministers who, having never directed the affairs of a great nation, do not fear by their