GENERAL HISTORY. 



[49 



CHAPTER V. 



Entrance of Louis XVIII. to Compeigne and Paris. — His Declaration 

 respecting the Constitution. — His Address to the Nation on the Armies 

 of the Allies. — Funeral Service/or Louis XVI. S^c. — Military Promo- 

 tions of Princes of the Blood.— Buonaparte' s Departure to Elba. — 

 Peace signed with the Allied Powers, and Conditions. — Constitution 

 presented by the King to the Legislative Body. — State of Parties in 

 France. — Discussions on the Liberty of the Press.— Expose of the 

 State of the Nation. — Legion of Honour continued. — French Budget. 

 — King's Debts. — Emigrant Property, and Debates thereon.—^ 



, Clerical Education. — Civil List, 



THE King of France made his 

 entry into Compeigne on April 

 29th, under different military 

 escorts, the Marshals Ney and 

 Marmout riding by the side of the 

 carriage in which were his Majesty 

 and the Duchess of Angouleme. 

 Six other marshals of France, 

 Moncey, Mortier, Lefebvre, Jour- 

 dan, Brune, and Serrurier, with 

 Prince Berthier, were in waiting 

 for him at that town,^ so generally 

 had these great oflScers conformed 

 to the new order of things. They 

 all had the honour of dining with 

 the king. On the same day he re- 

 ceived a deputation from the legis- 

 lative body, the president of which 

 addressed him in a congratulatory 

 speech. Oue of its sentences de- 

 clared the political expectations 

 entertained by that body : " By 

 you will be cemented the bases of 

 a government wisely and prudently 

 balanced. Your Majesty wishes 

 only to enter into the exercise of 

 rights which sufFice for the royal 

 authority ; and the execution of 

 the Keoeral will, intrusted to your 

 .paternal hands, will thereby be- 

 Vol. LVI. 



come more respectable and more 

 assured." Similar sentiments were 

 expressed in an address by the pre- 

 sident of the senale. 



On May 3rd, the grand and in- 

 teresting ceremonial took place of 

 the solemn entrance of Louis XVIII. 

 into his capital. He was attended 

 by a great concourse of people 

 who had gone to meet him, to the 

 gate of St. Denis, whence he 

 slowly proceeded to the metropo- 

 litan church of Notre Dame. He 

 was there seated under a canopy, 

 over which was the figure of St. 

 Louis; and having on his knees 

 devoutly kissed the relic of the 

 true cross, and received the holy 

 water, he was addressed by the 

 vicar-general, M. Lamyre, as the 

 organ of the Parisian clergy. "The 

 God of St. Louis (said he) has 

 re-established your throne, you 

 will re-establish his altars. God and 

 the king, such is our motto ; such 

 has ever been that of the clergy of 

 France." Te Deum was then 

 celebrated, in the presence of the 

 seqate, the legislative bodj', and a 

 vast assembly of distiuguiabed 



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