114] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



of it ; that the prefect, though in- 

 formed fi'om the first of the ex- 

 istence of this society, made no 

 report thereon to our ministers, 

 but tacitly authorised it ; and that 

 Colonel Clouet, the Colonel of 

 the departmental legion, was one 

 of the chiefs and founders of 

 this society : our ministers being 

 heard, we order. That the Sieur 

 Morgan, our Attorney-general, 

 before the Royal Court of Amiens, 

 and Sieur Seguier, prefect of the 

 Somme, are recalled ; and that 

 the Sieur Clouet is dismissed 

 fiom active service." 



It was, doubtless, in conse- 

 quence of suspicions occasioned 

 by these political manoeuvres, that 

 the allied troops were drawn in 

 the beginning of the year to 

 Amiens and its vicinity, beyond 

 the line first marked for their 

 occupation. 



That the metropolis was still 

 considered as not free from in- 

 ternal danger, appeared from an 

 article in the Paris papers. May 

 12th, which mentioned, that for 

 some days past, several "24 pound- 

 ers had been removing from the 

 castle of Vineennes, to the roval 

 hotel of the Invalids, to be jjlaced 

 on the platform. 



Party rancour had proceeded to 

 such an extreme at Nismes, that 

 it was not to be expected, that an 

 outward reconciliation, j)roduced 

 by the intervention of authority, 

 would sup))ress every outrage of 

 a bigotted and infuriated popu- 

 lace, when the power of imme- 

 diate coercion was withdrawn. A 

 letter fiom that town made public 

 m Paris, relates, that on May 

 14th, a marriage having been ce- 

 lebrated among the Protestants, 

 a mob, which had threatened 



some persons who were going to 

 the solemnity, assembled at the 

 spot after it was daik, and began 

 to perpetrate violences. The per- 

 sons within, finding their lives in 

 danger, left the house, which 

 was broken open, as was like- 

 wise one in the neighbourhood. 

 The prefect, in sending an ac- 

 count of this incident to the mi- 

 nister of the interior, I'epresented 

 it as if the mob had gone to a 

 house in which were some ad- 

 herents of Buonaparte, where 

 they had committed some ex- 

 cesses —an example of the prac- 

 tice of the Catholics, to conceal 

 their religious persecutions under 

 the mask of political zeal. The 

 minister, M. Laine, however, 

 causing the affair to be more 

 closely examined, obtained from 

 the ministerof justice the punish- 

 ment of the rioters, and the Pro- 

 testants expected in him a future 

 protector. In the meantime, most 

 of the Prot«stants of distinction 

 and property thought it prudent 

 to leave Nismes. 



On June 17th, was solemnized 

 the marriage of the Duke of 

 Berri, younger nephew of the 

 King, to Maria Carolina, the 

 daughtei of the king of Naples. 



During the recess of the cham- 

 bers, the two parties of consti- 

 tutionalists and high royalists 

 were actively employed in sup- 

 porting their several principles ; 

 and the ecclesiastics were endea- 

 \ ouriug to diffuse those maxims of 

 church authority, which, though 

 frequently in France at variance 

 with the regal preiogative, were 

 habitually the firm auxiliaries of 

 the monarchy. An Abbe V^inson 

 distinguished himself as the au- 

 thor of a work, entitled " Con- 

 cordat 



