GENERAL HISTORY. 



[115 



cordat explique au Roi, " for 

 which he was legally proceeded 

 against by the Correctional Po- 

 lice. The judgment of the Court 

 was given on September 3d, to 

 the following effect : " Consi- 

 dering that the Abbe Vinson is, 

 according to his own avowal, the 

 author of the publication in ques- 

 tion : that, through the whole 

 course of that work, disregarding 

 article 9 of the Charter, and ar- 

 ticle 13 of the Concordat, he has 

 characterised as pillage and ma- 

 nifest robbery, the sale of the 

 national domains, and their pur- 

 chasers and possessors, even those 

 of the present day, as sacrilegious 

 robbers ; that he has endeavoured 

 to alarm the consciences of the 

 said holders, by menacing them 

 with the vengeance of heaven, 

 and by maintaining, that the pope 

 and the bishops could not legalize 

 the seizure of the domains of the 

 church : Considering that in ano- 

 ther passage, he strongly cen- 

 sures the conduct of our Holy 

 Father the Pope, and the body of 

 the Galilean church, which he 

 designates under the name of 

 Concordaire, and denominates 

 schismatic ; that in so doing, the 

 Abbe Vinson, whatever may have 

 been his intentions, has instigated 

 the French people to violate a 



] law of the realm, maintained, at 

 least piovisionally, by the Char- 



I ter, and has failed in respect to 

 the King, and has even encou- 

 raged disobedience to his autho- 

 rity," the tribunal therefore 



suppresses the work, sentences 

 the Abbe Vinson to three months 



j imprisonment, to a fine of 50 

 francs, and to remain two years 

 under the surveillance of the high 



I police, under a bail of 300 francs. 



The principles of the royalist 

 party were apparently so favour- 

 able to the crown, that it was 

 long regarded as certain, that 

 when the time came for re- 

 assembling the legislative cham- 

 bers, they would exist in their 

 former state, and possess the 

 same majorities to controul the 

 ministers, and give an impidse 

 towards measures for the gra- 

 dual renovation of the character 

 of the ancient monarchy. But 

 from causes not perfectly ex- 

 plained, probably, however, re- 

 sulting from alarms excited in 

 the King's mind of the spread of 

 public disaffection, in consequence 

 of danger to constitutional liberty 

 and private property, the nation 

 was surprised on September 6th, 

 by a royal ordinance, by which 

 the chamber of deputies was dis- 

 solved, and a new one was con- 

 stituted with great alterations. 

 This document commenced with 

 the following preamble : " Since 

 our return to our states, eveiy 

 day has demonstrated to us, that 

 truth which we proclaimed on a 

 solemn occasion — that the advan- 

 tage of ameliorating is closely 

 accompanied with the danger of 

 innovating. We are convinced, 

 that the wants and the wishes of 

 our subjects united in preserving 

 untouched, that constitutional 

 charter which is the basis of 

 public law in France, and the 

 guaranty of general tranquillity. 

 We have therefore judged it ne- 

 cessary, to reduce the Chamber 

 of Deputies to the number deter- 

 mined by the Charter, and to 

 summon thereto oidy men of the 

 age of forty : but to carry into 

 effect this reduction in a legal 

 manner, it is become indispensa- 



[1 2] ble 



