GENERAL HISTORY. 



[117 



partments. " The King, by his 

 ordinance of the 5tli of September, 

 has appointed you to preside at 



the electoral college of This 



choice is highly honourable to 

 you, so that you cannot but be 

 penetrated witli tiie importance 

 of the duty you will have to 

 fulfil. It consists in regulating 

 and directing tlie assenilily, whicli 

 will have to elect the Deputies 

 which his Majesty has convoked 

 for the 4th of November. In 

 leaving to the Electors all tliat 

 freedom which appertains to them, 

 you will Ijear in mind tliat his 

 Majesty has delegated to you his 

 right of maintaining onler in the 

 Electoral Assembly. The influ- 

 ence which yoiu' important mis- 

 sion gives, sliould not be exer- 

 cised without your constantly im- 

 pressing, at the same time, that 

 the King expects of his faithfvd 

 subjects^ that they will make 

 choice of no others than men re- 

 commended by their ])riiteiple3 in 

 favour of legitimacy, by their mo- 

 deration, by tlieir love f(jr their 

 Sovereign, and for France, of 

 which Ins Majesty is most of all 

 desirous of ensuring tlie tranrpiil- 

 lity and happiness." 



The check given to ultra-royal- 

 ism did not [)revent the conse- 

 cration of an additional religious 

 solemnity, to commeniorate tlie 

 sufferings of the late unfortunate 

 possessois of the throne. On 

 October 'Jtii, a circular letter was 

 addi'e.-sed by tlie King, counter- 

 signed by the minister, to tiie 

 arclibisliops and bishops of the 

 kingdom, directing, that the an- 

 niversary of the 16tli of that 

 montli sliould be observed by a 

 solenni service in all the churches, 

 in memory of the late Queen 



Marie-Antoniette ; at which, how- 

 ever, no discourse or funeriil ora- 

 tion should he pronounced, but 

 there should be read from the 

 pulpit a letter from that prin- 

 cess, " recovered as it were by 

 miracle," written some hours be- 

 fore her death, in which she ex- 

 ])resscd all the sentiments with 

 which religion could ins])ire a 

 most Christian fJueen, and the 

 most tendei' of mothers. 



On the :id of November, the 

 King, who had connnunicated to 

 the VI cars -general of Paris his 

 pleasine, tliat on the eve of the 

 opening of the Chambers, a so- 

 lemn mass of the Holy Ghost 

 should be celebiatcd, repair- 

 ed in grand ])r(>cession to the 

 cathedral of Notre Dame, accom- 

 panied by all the meudjers of the 

 Royal Family. 



On the following day, proceed- 

 ing in state to the chamber of 

 deputies, and attended by the 

 peers, his ^Majesty delivered a 

 speech from the throne, which 

 began with giving a gratifying 

 representation of the general state 

 of France. " Trantiuillity (said 

 he) reigns throughout the king- 

 dom : the amicable ilispositions 

 of the foreign Sovereigns, and 

 the exact observance of treaties, 

 guarantee to lis peace without 5 

 and if a senseless enterprise for 

 an instant caused alarm relative 

 to our interior tianqnillity, it has 

 only served to elicit a further 

 proof of the attachment of the 

 nation, and of the fidelity of our 

 army." As a cloud over this 

 exhilarating prospect, he then 

 touched upon the intemperature 

 of the seasons, which had delayed 

 the harvest, and caused suffer- 

 ings among the people ; and upon 



the 



