FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



271 



lie took the prescribed constitutional oath. A ma- 

 jority of the chamber of peers, actually present, con- 

 curred in these measures. 



Tiie Moniteur of August 12th contained the names 

 of the new ministry, as follows : foreign aftairs, count 

 de Mole ; war, general Gerard ; finance, baron 

 Louis; interior, Guizot; marine, general Sebastiani 

 (q. v.) ; keeper of the seals and minister of justice, 

 Dupont-de 1'Eure ; president of the ministry, duke 

 de Broglie. B. Constant was made president of the 

 committee of legislation and the administration of 

 justice in the council of state, Lafitte and Casimir- 

 Perrier were also appointed ministers of state, with- 

 out special departments. 



The spirit of order, manifested by the people 

 during the struggles in Paris, which prevented all 

 outrage and plundering, was still further shown in the 

 unmolested retreat of Charles X., who took passage 

 for England in two American vessels. He was re- 

 ceived here merely as a private person. Some in- 

 dividuals, including M. Chateaubriand, proposed to 

 acknowledge the duke of Bourdeaux, as king, on the 

 ground of expediency. But the policy of giving the 

 crown to a minor in such troubled times, and to one 

 who could only regard the privileges of the people as 

 wrongfully wrested from his royal authority, was 

 hardly deserving of discussion. 



The revolution of July, 1830, thus drove one dy- 

 nasty from the throne of France, and seated another 

 in its place : it thus prevented a return to the des- 

 potic government of the seventeenth century, and 

 preserved the little share of liberty which the charter 

 of 1814 had granted, with a sparing hand, to the 

 French nation. In theory, it sanctioned the doctrine 

 of the sovereignty of the people, and dealt a fatal 

 blow to the absurd notion of passive obedience ; but 

 in practice, it has done little towards realizing the 

 expectations of those who looked to see a monarchy, 

 surrounded by republican institutions, substituted for 

 the charter government. The popular or revolu- 

 tionary party, or " party of the movement," as they 

 have been called, demanded that the work of reform 

 should go on, and that more power should be lodged 

 in the hands of the people ; while the conservatists, 

 or juste milieu (proper medium) party, resisted all 

 further change, and were desirous to go as little out 

 of the way of legitimacy as possible. The majority 

 of the chamber of deputies, which had been elected 

 previous to the revolution, was of the latter party, 

 while the ministry was divided. Lafayette, La- 

 marque, Dupont de 1'Eure, Odillon-Barrot, &c., were 

 among the most prominent of the movement party : 

 of these, Lafayette was commander-in chief of the 

 national guards, Dupont de 1'Eure keeper of the 

 seals, and Odillon-Barrot prefect of the Seine. 



In the month of August, four of the ex-ministers, 

 Peyronnet, Guernon de Ranville, Chantelauze, and 

 Polignac, were arrested ; and, on the 23d of Sept., 

 a committee of the chamber of deputies reported re- 

 solutions in favour of impeaching them of treason, 

 for having falsified the elections, arbitrarily changed 

 the institutions of the kingdom, and excited civil war. 

 After two days' discussion, the report was accepted : 

 on the 30th, the impeachment was sent up to the 

 peers. The accused were then examined before a 

 commission appointed by the peers for this purpose, 

 and the 15th of December was finally fixed upon for 

 the trial of the impeachment. 



Meanwhile, a motion had been made and carried, 

 in the chamber of deputies, for an address to the 

 king, praying him to cause a bill (projet de lot) 

 abolishing capital punislunents to be presented for 

 their consideration. The king, in his answer, pro- 

 mised to comply with this request, and expressed his 

 disapprobation of inflicting capital punishments for 



political offences. The people, who demanded ven- 

 geance on their late oppressors, considered this in 

 the light of a conspiracy between the executive and 

 legislative, to screen them from their fate ; and, on 

 the 17th and 18th of October, mobs assembled before 

 the Palais Royal, uttering threats against the govern- 

 ment. The national guard and the troops of the 

 line were both put in requisition to preserve tranquil- 

 lity; and the ministers felt themselves obliged to 

 abandon the intended bill. On occasion of the dis- 

 turbances, Odillon-Barrot, prefect of the department 

 of the Seine, issued a proclamation exhorting tht: 

 people to preserve order, in which he designated the 

 proposition of the ministers as unseasonable. The 

 conservatists in the ministry resented the use of such 

 language by a subordinate officer, and demanded his 

 dismission. But the king, fearful of the consequen- 

 ces, would not consent to this step ; and baron Louis, 

 the duke de Broglie, count Mole', and Guizot, imme- 

 diately quitted their offices. 



The new ministry was now composed of the mouve- 

 ment party : Dupont retained the seals, Sebastiani 

 the navy department, and Gerard the war depart- 

 ment, while Lafitte succeeded to the post of presi- 

 dent of the council and minister of finance, marshal 

 Maison to that of minister for foreign affairs, Monta- 

 livet to the ministry of the interior, and Merilhou to 

 that of public instruction. In a few days, however, 

 general Gerard retired, and was replaced by marshal 

 Soult ; marshal Maison was succeeded by Sebastiani ; 

 and the marine was given to count d'Argout. 



The trial of the ministers finally came on Dec. 15, 

 and lasted till the 21st, the court sitting every day 

 from ten o'clock till four. M. Persil, the attorney- 

 general, Berenger, reporter of the committee who 

 had prepared the bill, and Madiez de Montjau, were 

 appointed on the part of the deputies to conduct the 

 impeachment. The 15th, 16th, and 17th, were occu- 

 pied in the opening of the charge by Berenger, and 

 the examination of witnesses. The evidence of the 

 first charge, that of having interfered with the elec- 

 tions, consisted of the circulars of the ex-ministers, 

 requiring the public functionaries to vote for minis- 

 terial candidates, and of other written instruments, 

 promising places in return for votes. The charge of 

 having arbitrarily changed the institutions of the 

 country, rested on the memorial to the king, and the 

 ordinances themselves, the illegal and unconstitu- 

 tional nature of which was undeniable. The use of 

 military power to enforce them was equally a crime ; 

 and the charge of having excited civil war, and armed 

 the citizens against each other, was made out by evi- 

 dence, showing that they had directed and approved 

 of the employment of the troops in Paris during the 

 three days. The 18th, 19th, and 20th, were occupied 

 by the speeches of the attorney-general on the import 

 of the evidence, and of the counsel for the prisoners, 

 and by the reply of M. Montjau for the impeach- 

 ment. The counsel for the accused were M. Mar- 

 tignac for prince Polignac, Sauzet for Chantelauze, 

 Hennequin for Peyronnet, and Cremieux for Guernon 

 de Ranville. Martignac contended, first, that, as 

 the provision of the charter, which rendered the 

 ministers responsible, also declared the person of the 

 king inviolable, and the nation had, by the acts of 

 July, chosen to render the king personally responsi- 

 ble, and driven three generations at once from the 

 throne, that article of the charter was virtually 

 annulled ; secondly, that the chamber of peers did 

 not constitute the court prescribed by the charter, as 

 two-fifths of its members had been ejected by the 

 accusers themselves ; and, thirdly, that there was no 

 law which applied to the case, the charter having 

 only provided that laws should be passed defining 

 what should be esteemed treason, which laws had 



