GENERAL HISTORY. 



[25 



might naturally be expected to be 

 followed by the immediate resto- 

 ration of the ancient royal dy- 

 nasty ; hut France was not in the 

 same state of preparation for such 

 an event as England on the down- 

 fail of the protectorate. The 

 Bourbons were unknown or for- 

 gotten by the mass of the nation, 

 and the allied powers had hitherto 

 cautiously avoided any open indi- 

 cations of intending to adopt their 

 cause. The declaration in their 

 favour at Bourdeaux was the work 

 of a few : in Paris they had no 

 party except some emigrants who 

 had been permitted to return ; 

 and it is affirmed, that the em- 

 peror of Russia, on his entrance 

 into the capital, was yet undeter- 

 mined how to act in this point. 

 To Talleyrand alone is ascribed, 

 by the be^^t informed, the resolu- 

 tion of placing Lewis XVIII. on 

 the throne of his ancestors. This 

 consummate politician, whose ta- 

 lents had made him necessary to 

 Buonaparte, found no difficulty in 

 transferring his allegiance from 

 one who had slighted his counsels, 

 and had brought on his own ruin, 

 to a sovereign who would be in- 

 debted to him for his crown, and 

 probably give him his entire con- 

 fidence. When, therefore, the 

 provisional government, of which 

 he was the main spring, presented 

 their plan of a constitution to the 

 conservj'.tive senate, that body 

 passed a decree in which was the 

 following article : " The present 

 Constitution shall be submitted to 

 the acceptance of the French peo- 

 ple, in the form which shall be 

 regulated. Louis Stanislaus Xavier 

 shall be proclaimed King of the 

 French, as soon as he shall have 

 accepted and sworn by an act 

 •tatiug, I accept the Constitution ; 



/ swear to observe it, and cause it 

 to be observed." This was con- 

 firmed by the legislative body, 

 and no opposition appeared on any 

 part to the resumption of royalty 

 by the head of the Bourbons. It 

 is indeed probable, that eventually 

 this must have taken place, who- 

 ever had first been in possession of 

 the helm. Republicanism had 

 been tried and found unsuitable to 

 the genius of the nation ; and no 

 other settlement than a restoration 

 of hereditary royalty could have 

 united so many suffrages ; but it 

 was happy for the tranquillity of 

 France, that the determination 

 was instant, and by the highest 

 authority. 



Several succeeding days were 

 distinguished by the accession of 

 different French marshals, and of 

 various public bodies, to the new 

 order of things. On April I3th, 

 the interesting circumstance took 

 place at Paris of the entry of Mon- 

 sieur, the kind's brother, into the 

 capital. The allied sovereigns, 

 who very prudently had hitherto 

 avoided all appearance of inter- 

 fering in the domestic concerns of 

 the French, thought it expedient, 

 that this solemnity should be 

 purely national, and therefore 

 neither attended it in person, nor 

 permitted their troops to join the 

 train ; lord Castlereagh, however, 

 with the whole of the English 

 mission, conceived it a compliment 

 due to a family which had so long 

 resided in this country, to appear 

 in the procession. His Royal 

 Highness was met at the barrier 

 by the members of the provisional 

 government, the municipal autho- 

 rities, and the ministerial officers, 

 and entering amidst a group of 

 marshals of France, and great offi- 

 cers, proceeded in grand ceremony 



