GENERAL HISTORY. 
intimated a preference given to 
the counsels of royalist favourites, 
to the general wishes of the na- 
tion. The following passage points 
at the grievances which at that 
time chiefly pressed upon the 
public feelings. << Meanwhile 
foreigners possess France as a 
conquered country ; to civil dis- 
cord they add the ravage of pro- 
vinces; they dissipate the funds 
which ought to find their way into 
thetreasury; they devour the pro- 
visions of the people, who are 
threatened with approaching fa- 
mine; they carry off themagazines 
of arms, the ammunition of war, 
and the cannon from the ram- 
parts of our cities. The white 
flag floats only overruins. They 
Gespoil us of our public monu- 
ments, the tokens of our former 
glory ; they seize the monuments 
of art which alone remain to us 
after twenty years of conquest. 
It is dishonour, Sire, which the 
people are most reluctant to par- 
don; and your Majesty has re- 
mained silent in the midst of 
all these attacks on the national 
honour!” To these keen and 
natural complaints the only reply 
to be made was, You are a con- 
quered people, and what you are 
now suffering is no more than 
hn have inflicted upon half 
urope. It is obvious that the 
King, whom they had deserted, 
and who could only have been 
restored by foreign arms, was en- 
tirely powerless to resist foreign 
compulsion ; and it was perfectly 
natural on his part that he should 
give his chief confidence to that 
domestic party from which alone 
he could expect personal attach- 
ment. The sentiment with which 
M. Laine, president of the cham- 
[91 
ber of deputies, concluded his 
speech to that chamber, seems to 
have been best accommodated to 
circumstances: ‘+ Let us leave it 
to God, who afflicts this nation, 
to judge kings ; but let us sur- 
round our Sovereign with all the 
power which is necessary for 
extinguishing discord, causing 
France to be respected, and pro- 
tecting public liberty.” 
The apprehensions of the court 
from the prevailing spirit of dis- 
content were manifested by a 
law-project, or bill, presented by 
the King to the chambers on 
October 17th, for the suppres- 
sion of seditious cries, speeches, 
papers, and other incitements to 
insurrections, which descended 
to minute particulars that, in 
a well-established government, 
would scarcely have been thought 
worthy of notice. This proposed 
measure was the subject of much 
discussion, and various amend- 
ments were suggested, which 
were consented to by the King. 
The law was carried by great 
majorities. The principal court of 
justice, named the Cour Royal, 
was opened on November 2nd. 
Its first president, Seguier, de- 
livered an address, which afford- 
ed a specimen of the political doc- 
trine that may be expected to 
obtain court favour under the 
renewed reign of the Bourbons. 
“ All authority (said he) pro- 
ceeds from God, and it is not 
given to the people to dispose of 
it. Our ancestors, who guarded 
their franchises, and cherished 
their liberty, wiser than we, re- 
cognized that our kings reigned 
by the grace of God, and not by 
constitutions. The monarch, an 
image of the Divinity, is not less 
