FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



269 



It enabled them to assemble an army, which, in case 

 of necessity, might be used at home, and, even if it 

 were absent at Algiers, the military preparations 

 might be useful for their purposes. A war of this 

 kind would, the partisans of the ministry hoped, divert 

 the public attention, and victory would at once render 

 them popular with a nation so enthusiastically fond of 

 military glory. In both calculations, the ministry, 

 ;is we shall see, were grievously mistaken. Count 

 LJourmont, the minister of war, was appointed 

 commander-in-chief of the expedition, and admiral 

 Duperre, the commander of the fleet. April 20, 

 1830, the Moniteur stated the reasons for the war to 

 be, that the dey had raised the ancient tribute of 

 17,000 francs per annum to 60,000 francs, and, finally, 

 to 200,000 francs ; that, though this sum was duly 

 paid from 1820 to 1826, the dey had been unfavour- 

 able to the French interest, insulted the French flag, 

 and struck the French consul, &c. May 10, the 

 army, consisting of 37,577 infantry, and 4000 horse, 

 embarked at Toulon, and the fleet, consisting of 

 ninety-seven vessels, of which eleven were ships of 

 the line and twenty-four frigates, set sail. June 14, 

 at four o'clock, the army begun to disembark at Sidi 

 Ferrajah, on the coast of Africa. 



May 17, the royal ordinance dissolving the cham- 

 ber appeared in the Moniteur. At the same time, 

 new elections were ordered, and the two chambers 

 convoked for August 3. The Moniteur of June 15 

 contained a proclamation of the king, in which he 

 culled upon all Frenchmen to do their duty in the 

 colleges, to rely upon his constitutional intentions, 

 &c. In this proclamation are these remarkable 

 words : " As the father of my people, my heart was 

 grieved ; as king, I felt insulted. I pronounced the 

 dissolution of that chamber." It ends thus : " Elec- 

 tors, hasten to your colleges. Let no reprehensible 

 negligence deprive them of your presence ! Let one 

 sentiment animate you all ; let one standard be your 

 rallying point ! It is your king who demands this of 

 you ; it is a father who calls upon you. Fulfil your 

 diiiies. I will take care to fulfil mine." The elec- 

 tions for the new chamber took place in the latter 

 part of June and in July. The activity and talent 

 displayed in the opposition papers during this struggle 

 were admirable. Though the success of the army in 

 Algiers became known during the electoral struggle 

 at home, and though all parties exulted in the success 

 of the French arms, it appears that the ministry 

 gained no popularity by it. All the returns of the 

 new elections indicated a strong majority against 

 the ministry, so that, in the beginning of July, in- 

 telligent men spoke of. a change of the ministry 

 as a natural consequence ; and the funds rose ; 

 but the infatuated ministry had determined otherwise. 

 It preferred to attack the charter, violate the social 

 contract, and expose France to a civil war, rather 

 than to yield. Priests governed the monarch ; am- 

 bition blinded his ministers. The ministerial papers 

 now began to assert, that, after the enemies in Africa 

 were subdued, those at home remained to be con- 

 quered. They began to utter the phrase coup d'etat, 

 which several papers, under the more direct influence 

 of the clergy, actually demanded. During this time, 

 tlie king and queen of Naples visited Paris, and many 

 festivals took place, strongly in contrast with the 

 state of political affairs. The king also ordered Te 

 Deum to be sung in all churches of the kingdom for 

 the victory of his army in Africa, the news of which 

 reached Paris (July 9) four days after the capture of 

 Algiers. The capital was illuminated. 



At an earlier period, the negotiations between 

 France, Russia, and Great Britain, at London, 

 relative to Greece, had come to a conclusion, 

 Uit- three powers coinciding in the oiler of the 



sovereignty to prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. See 

 Greece. 



In several departments numerous conflagrations had 

 taken place, which were evidently the work of incen- 

 diaries. Many people, whether reasonably or not, 

 believed these atrocities to have been perpetrated by 

 the instigation of the ministry. This appears from 

 the cries of the populace, when prince Polignac was 

 arrested " This is the monster who has burned our 

 houses. Hang him, hang him !" 



Of the 221 who voted tor the answer of the cham- 

 ber, 220 were re-elected. The liberals in the new 

 chamber were 270, the ministerial members 145, 

 and fifteen were undecided. In consequence of this 

 result, the ministers made a " report to the king" 

 (July 26), setting forth at length the dangers of a 

 free press (of which they say, " At all epochs, the 

 periodical press lias only been, and from its nature 

 must ever be, an instrument of disorder and sedition"), 

 and calling upon the king to suspend the liberty ot 

 the press a measure authorized, as they asserted, 

 by the 14th article of the charter, which declares, 

 that the king lias the power to make all regulations 

 and ordinances for the execution of the laws ami 

 the safety of the state. "The state," they said, 

 " is in danger, and your majesty has the right to 

 provide for its safety. No government can stand, 

 if it has not the right to provide for its own safety ; 

 besides, the 8th article of the charter only gives 

 every Frenchman the right 1 of publishing his own 

 opinions, but not, as the journals do, the opinions ot 

 others ; the charter does not expressly allow journals 

 and the liberty of the press. The journals misre- 

 present the best intentions of government ; and the 

 liberty of the press produces the very contrary of 

 publicity, because ill-intentioned writers misconstrue 

 every thing, and the public never knows the truth." 

 This report, to which its consequences have given an 

 historical importance, is one of the shallowest and 

 most preposterous state papers on record. It com- 

 bines unconstitutionality with miserable sophistry and 

 the verbiage of despotism. Despotism must never 

 argue, or it is lost. The Polignac ministry had 

 resolved to violate the constitution, and had not 

 talent to play the despot. History proves that 

 nothing is so violent and so blind as bigotry, reli- 

 gious or political ; and this was the characteristic of 

 the whole party, priests and laymen, who supported, 

 or rather instigated, Polignac. This report was 

 accompanied by the three celebrated ordinances, 

 which were the more immediate causes of the revolu- 

 tion. The first dissolved the chamber, " according 

 to the 50th article of the charter " which was plainly 

 annulling the election, not dissolving the chamber, 

 because the new chamber had not been organized. 

 The second suspended the liberty of the periodical 

 press, although, according to law, the liberty of the 

 press, even if suspended, revives of itself, on the 

 dissolution of the chamber. The third ordinance 

 prescribed a new law of election, from which the 

 ministers expected more favourable returns. 



The Constitutionnel, the National, Courrier Fran- 

 cais, Temps, Globe, Journal de Commerce, Messager, 

 Figaro, and others, all liberal papers, resolved to 

 appear without the authorization of government, 

 required by the new ordinance. The Journal des 

 Debats refused to unite in this measure. An opinion 

 of eminent lawyers was published, declaring that the 

 property in a journal was like any other property, 

 and could only be attacked by regular judicial pro- 

 cess. All the liberal papers in Paris were suppressed, 

 and only the Moniteur Universel, Quotidienne, Gazelle 

 de France, Drapeau Blanc, allowed to appear. 

 The same thing was done in the departments. The 

 seizure of the liberal journals, on Tuesday morning. 



