ALD. 1814. 
FRANCE. 
tuation in which he was placed. In his character there 
was no decision eonepnatere er and yet all 
these qualities were imperiously called for. With the 
military he never could be , and even if he 
‘could ity with them must have rendered him 
jobnoxious to the allies, and the mass of the French na- 
tion ; yet almost his first measure was to court the mar- 
shals and of : By a fatal inconsist- 
ency, w he courted their support, he lent himself to 
the intrigues of the emigrants, or at least did’ not, with 
sufficient promptitude, put down their extravagant pre- 
tensions to their former privfleges. Thus he doubly alie- 
confidence and attachment. Such 
_ Soon after his entry into Paris, he formed his minis- 
try. At the head of it was M. D’Ambray as chancellor ; 
T: foreign affairs ; 
King, as members of the chamber 
for life. This list com nearly all the 
and other chief ity of the time prior to 
lution, with some of the new titles; among 
latter were T. d, Clarke, Lebrun, Berthier, 
men, named by 
opened by Louis, in a speech too plainly shewing the ne- 
ee ecdne eas tothe ania vice ol ibeiow of 
; for he was particularly careful to impress on the 
and through them on the nation, that the lo- 
Seer eee een ned veneezes! ne blennet t 
monuments of their valour remained ; and that the 
chefs d'ceuvre of the arts would belong to them hencefor- 
it, bore a considerable resemblance to that of Great Bri- 
tain ; but in some points it differed from it, for the King 
of France was invested with the privi not only of 
ing but of adjourning both the bers. By. 
i igi two ways— 
in 
respecting them to 
ministers were introduced into the chamber of 
to present a law on this subject. The 
was divided into two parts, the first respected the publi- 
press. According to the first, every work of above 30 
sheets 1 be published freely, without previous exa~ 
mination; but the liberty which was apparently given on 
this part of the projet, was in a great measure withdrawn, 
667 
by the proposal that the director-general of the press 
might order all writings under 30 sheets to be commu- 
nicated to him before al printed. The 5 Aten 
~of censors was to be vested in the King. No journals 
or periodical ings were to appear without the King’s 
authority. According to the second of the pro- 
law, no person could be a printer or bookseller, 
without the King’s licence, which might be withdrawn ; 
and all printing establishments not Loaued might be 
destroyed. The projet concluded with a proposal that 
the law should be revised in three years. 
This projet was referred to a committee, who de- 
cided by a mere majority of votes, that previous censor- 
ship ought not to serve as the basis of the law. When 
the report of the committee was brought up, several 
bold and eloquent speeches were made in favour of the 
liberty of the press, which seemed to prove that more 
practicable ideas of the nature and object of government 
-were beginning to prevail in France ; but the painful re- 
avleaes os the same men who spoke thus freely and 
warmly. on this important topic, gave applause, appa- 
rently oe zealous and saaedh es +4 ieee of Pena. 
parte, forces the mind to withhold from them the rarer 
and more useful tribute of disinterested patriotism. In 
the sitting of the 11th of August, the Abbé Montesquieu 
the chamber of deputies in defence of the plan 
of the law, which had been submitted tothem, conceding, 
however, on the part of the King, certain amendments, 
to the effect that no censure should apply to a work ex- 
ceeding 20 sheets, and that the law shenld cease to ope- 
rate at the end of session 1816. After an animated de- 
bate, the law, as amended by the concession on the part 
of the crown, was adopted by the chamber, there being 
137 votes for it, and 80 against it. , 
The only other topic of considerable interest and im- 
ce, which came under the discussion of the cham- 
rs, related to the restoration of the unsold estates of 
the emigrants. A law to that effect passed the cham~ 
ber oe dapaties by alarge majority ; it was then carried 
up to the chamber ‘of peers, where it passed by a majo- 
rity of 100 votes out of 103 present. On this occasion 
Marshal Macdonald ounced a discourse of great ef- 
fect, at the close of which he announced his intention of 
proposing a projet of a law, the object of which should 
to t life annuities to those of the emigrants, 
the sale of whose estates had left them unprovided 
for! The nature of the law was most mali- 
ciously misrepresented in one of the Paris journals. 
According to the statement in it, Marshal Macdonald 
asserted that the military of all ranks’ were willing’ to 
contribute a portion of their pay to create a fund for 
the oer of the Pee ope The effect, and pro- 
bably purpose of this misrepresentation, was to 
increase the ill-will of the soldiery, already sullen and 
irritated, not only towards the emigrants, but also: to- 
wards the King and the government. The offending: 
journal was immediately suppressed ; but such was e1- 
ther the timidity or the indecision of the government, that 
in a short time it was again permitted to be published. 
History. 
—— 
‘A, D. 1814. 
On the pro- 
perty.of the 
emigrants. 
On the 10th of December, Marshal Macdonald pre- Discontents 
sented tothe chamber of 
of indemnity for the emigrants: he estimated at 300 
millions the amount of confiscations or sales made, and 
of course the amount of indemnities to be provided ; 
and he proposed to replace the value of the confiscated 
and sold estates by an annuity of 2} per cent. 
Such were the two principal topics that came under. 
discussion before the chambets during 1814: they were 
not only important in themselves, but they had a ma- 
terial influence on the stability and permanence of 
Louis’ government ; for the very limited liberty grant- 
a sketch of his system in France. 
