266 



FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



bassadeurs en disponililitc. But the rigorous censor- 

 ship of the press, established by an ordinance of June 

 2-1, was much more obnoxious than any previous 

 measures of the ministry. The opposition papers 

 sometimes appeared with whole columns blank ; a 

 thousand ingenious contrivances were invented for 

 expressing free opinion, and the liberal spirit became 

 the more active in other means of attack. Some ex- 

 citement was produced, about this time, by the 

 assault of the marquis de Maubreuil on the grand 

 chamberlain, Talleyrand. The marquis knocked 

 him down by a violent blow on the face, in the pre- 

 sence of the court, and alleged, as a reason for his 

 conduct, that he had been employed by Talleyrand, 

 at the time of the first restoration, to assassinate 

 Napoleon, and to waylay the wife of Jerome Bona- 

 parte, in order to obtain possession of the crown 

 jewels. Having succeeded only in the latter enter- 

 prise, Talleyrand refused the promised reward, and 

 punished his complaints with an imprisonment of six 

 months. The story appears to have made little im- 

 pression on his judges, and he was fined and impri- 

 soned for five years. The interment of Manuel, who 

 died August 20, at the country house of Lafitte, was 

 a new cause of irritation. Lafitte was refused per- 

 mission to remove the body to his house in Paris, and 

 to bury it from thence ; he therefore proposed, that 

 the funeral procession should proceed directly to the 

 cemetery of Pere Lac/iaise. The police eagerly ac- 

 cepted this proposition, in order to prevent demon- 

 strations of popular feeling and respect, similar to 

 those which had attended the funeral of general 

 Foy. The procession arrived, towards noon, at the 

 gates of Roule, where an immense number of peo- 

 ple had assembled. The people took out the coffin, 

 and carried it upon their shoulders, but were finally 

 prevailed upon by the gendarmes to allow it to be 

 put back into the hearse ; from which, however, 

 they unharnessed the horses, and drew it themselves. 

 New bodies of gendarmes now appeared in one of 

 the boulevards, with another funeral car drawn by 

 four horses, into which they insisted on removing the 

 coffin. A compromise was finally made, and two 

 horses were slightly harnessed to the car, whilst the 

 people continued to draw it. Lafayette delivered a 

 short speech at the grave. The immense multitude 

 dispersed without further disturbance. During this 

 year, France was obliged to agree to accredit the 

 agents of the southern republics of America, as 

 IVlexico and Colombia would not consent to the 

 half-way measures by which the French govern- 

 ment wished to obtain commercial advantages, 

 without compromising her adherence to legiti- 

 macy. Early in the summer, war broke out with 

 Algiers, but was carried on with little spirit. It 

 arose chiefly from a controversy respecting a debt 

 due the Algerines for corn purchased on account of 

 the French government, in 1793. 



Villele was not so blind as not to see that the 

 ministry was losing ground. He, therefore, deter- 

 mined to dissolve the chamber, which had still three 

 years to run. This he did either because he expected 

 to obtain a majority by a new election at this time, 

 of which there might be less chance three years 

 later, or because he really wished to throw himself 

 upon the nation, and receive his sentence from its 

 decision. In Paris, out of 8000 votes, only 1114 

 were for the ministerial candidates ; the rest were 

 for the liberals, Dupont-de 1'Eure, Lafitte, Casimir- 

 Perrier, Benj. Constant, De Schonen, Ternaux, 

 Royer-Collard,and baron Louis. The same result took 

 place in the departments, and a majority of the cham- 

 ber was liberal. This result occasioned the greatest 

 joy in Paris, and caused some disturbances, in which 

 nearly fifty persons were killed by the gendarmes. 



The ordinance which had dissolved the chamber 

 had been accompanied by another, dated Novem- 

 ber 5, 1827, creating seventy-six new peers an act 

 certainly unconstitutional in spirit, although the 

 right of the crown to create new peers is not limited 

 by any precise rule. Among the list, we hardly find 

 one, except Soult, who could be considered entitled to 

 the honour by past services. January 4, 1828, when 

 the ministry was partially dissolved, the names of 

 Villele, Peyronnet and Corbiere were added to the 

 number. The seventh ministry was now formed. 

 Count de la Ferronaye, late ambassador to St Peters- 

 burg, was created minister of foreign affairs ; count 

 Portalis, whose report against the Jesuits was not for- 

 gotten by the liberals, keeper of the seals and mini- 

 ster of justice; M. de Caux, minister of war ; M. 

 Martignac, minister of the interior; count Roy, 

 minister of finance. The department of commerce 

 was erected into a separate ministry, and assigned to 

 M. St Cricq, who had been for several years at its head, 

 as director-general of the customs. M. de Chabrol, 

 minister of the marine, who was said to have opposed 

 the dissolution of the national guards, remained in 

 the new ministry, as did, likewise, count de Frayssin- 

 ous, minister of ecclesiastical affairs ; but the depart- 

 ment of public instruction was taken from this min- 

 ister, and raised to a separate branch of administra- 

 tion, to which M. de Vatismenil was appointed. The 

 session was opened February 5, 1828 ; and the king, 

 in his speech from the throne, congratulated the na- 

 tion.on the victory of Navarino. The new peers were 

 received without any question respecting the legality 

 of their creation. The chamber' of deputies was so 

 equally divided, that the balance of power remained 

 with a fraction of about thirty members detached 

 from the right side. Royer-Collard was chosen pre- 

 sident of the chamber by the king, from the five can- 

 didates presented to him. The king, in this instance, 

 deviated from the custom of selecting the candidate 

 who had the majority of votes. Before the discus- 

 sions respecting the answer to the king's speech took 

 place, Chabrol and Frayssinous, the two members 

 of the Villele ministry who had remained in the 

 cabinet, resigned their posts, and were succeeded by 

 Hyde de Neuville and Feutrier, bishop of Beauvais. 

 Several illegal returns of deputies had been set 

 aside, and the liberal party gained new strength by 

 supplying the vacancies. A proposition of M. de 

 Conny, to subject all members of the chamber 

 accepting office to a new election, was passed, 

 after some warm debates, by a vote of 144 to 133, 

 but was rejected by the peers, by a vote of 210 to 

 41. The discussions on the abuses in the post- 

 offices, and the existence of a cabinet noir, where all 

 suspected letters were opened (as is the case in many 

 countries in Europe), were also animated. A salu- 

 tary law, providing for the annual revision of the 

 jury and electoral lists, was passed, and many abuses 

 connected with them, which had grown up under the 

 late ministry, were exposed. A committee was 

 appointed to inquire whether there were grounds for 

 impeaching the late ministry for peculation and 

 treason ; but, as they had not the power to send for 

 persons and papers, they reported " that there was 

 occasion for procuring further information respecting 

 the accusation of treason, that had been advanced 

 against the late ministry." The consideration of 

 this report was deferred till after the discussion of 

 the budget, which virtually amounted to abandoning 

 the impeachment. The clergy were dissatisfied with 

 the ordinance, directing that no person should thence- 

 forth be intrusted with the charge of schools, and 

 with instruction in any house of education, unless he 

 declared, in writing, that he did not belong to any 

 religious congregation, not legally established in 



