211 



FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



were ntlacke.l by (lie chasseurs, some killed, some 

 NMiiisuU-il, anil otlu-rs taken prisoners and ill used. 

 Lyons was also visited by some disturbances, and 

 the Chouans agitated the west of France ; but, by 

 the vigorous measures of government, all these 

 tumults were speedily repressed. 



A reform of the cliamber of peers now became the 

 principal cry in France ; in other words, the abro- 

 gation of hereditary peerage, and the appointment of 

 a senate, the members of which should possess, from 

 their personal characters, a solid claim to public con- 

 fidence. The venerable and popular Lafayette pub- 

 lished a long election address, in which he strong- 

 ly advocated the expediency of a peerage for life 

 only ; and so unpalatable had hereditary power been 

 in France since the revolution of 1789, that the go- 

 vernment was obliged to make this concession to the 

 public will. 



Meantime other subjects occupied the minds of the 

 French the settlement of Belgium, the deliverance 

 of Poland, and the emancipation of Italy and the 

 Peninsula ; and the meeting of the chambers was 

 looked forward to with intense interest. Theelections 

 hud taken place in the beginning of July ; and, al- 

 though great efforts had- been made by the move- 

 ment party, they gave a decided majority in favour 

 of the ministry. Of the thirteen deputies returned 

 for Paris, the ministerial party carried eight. 

 Pledges, however, were very generally demanded, 

 and as generally given, to abolish the hereditary 

 peerage ; but, except upon this point, the movement 

 party did not seem to liave gained any accession of 

 strength by the creation of the new constituency. It 

 should, however, be remarked that this constituency 

 was, as we have already stated, extremely small, and 

 that the whole administration, down to the minutest 

 ramifications, was lodged solely in the hands of the 

 government. 



On the 23d of July, the king opened the chambers 

 with a speech which produced a very powerful ef- 

 fect. Adverting to the internal state and interests 

 of the country, he declared his resolution to punish 

 equally the machinations of Carlist conspirators and 

 of republican alarmists. He stated that the Austri- 

 ans, on the demand of France, had evacuated the 

 papal states ; that the Belgic fortresses on the side 

 of France were to be demolished ; and that the Por- 

 tuguese fleet had been captured. 



On the 27th, 28th, and 29th of July, the celebra- 

 tion of the three memorable days of the previous 

 year's revolution took place, and was attended with 

 great splendour and popular enthusiasm. The first 

 day was devoted to the inauguration of the brazen 

 tablets in the Pantheon, recording the names of the 

 heroes who fell in the cause of liberty a very splen- 

 did and imposing ceremony. On the second day, 

 Paris became one great fair, when the population 

 gave themselves wholly up to joy and merriment. 

 On the 29th, there was a review, which was a grand 

 spectacle. The king and royal family were every- 

 where received with the greatest enthusiasm. There 

 were above 100,000 men under arms ; and the cor- 

 diality which pervaded the ranks appeared almost to 

 confound the rules of military discipline. 



The election of the bureaux (that is, of the presi- 

 dent and secretaries of the standing committees of 

 the chamber of deputies) showed the strength of the 

 ministerial party. Out of eighteen, the opposition 

 carried only six. But the great trial of strength was 

 to take place in the choice of the president of the 

 chamber. The friends of M. Lafitte had determined 

 to elect him president : the ministerial candidate was 

 Girod de 1'Ain ; and the prime minister had declared 

 that if the former was chosen he should immediately 

 retire. Lafitte, though by no means with the move- 



ment party, was supported by them as an opposition 

 candidate, as well as by a large body of his friends. 

 The struggle, which was severe, resulted in the choice 

 of the ministerial, by a plurality of only three votes 

 above the opposition candidate. In consequence of 

 the smallness of the ministerial majority, M. Casimir 

 Perrier resigned, and the ministry was dissolved ; but,, 

 on the invasion of Belgium by the Dutch being com- 

 municated by king Leopold, and a resolution formed 

 to send 50,000 French troops to repel it, they con- 

 sented to retain office for some time longer. 



Riots, in Paris and other parts of France, for the 

 most insignificant causes, and the question of the 

 abolition of hereditary peerage, continued subjects t>f 

 apprehension and agitation until the middle of Sep- 

 tember. On the 16th of that month, the fall of War- 

 saw to the Russians was officially announced by 

 ministers to the chamber of deputies. This intelli- 

 gence became at once the topic of conversation and 

 indignant declamation in every circle ; and, on Friday, 

 the 17th, " War against Russia !" and " Long live 

 the brave Poles !" were the shouts of most formidable 

 rioters in the Palais Royal and boulevards, who 

 attacked the hotel of the minister for foreign affairs, 

 and committed many other outrages. On the follow- 

 ing day, the ministers Perrier and Sebastiani were 

 burned in effigy; and the vast multitude which had 

 congregated could only be controlled by the military. 

 The riots continued throughout the whole of Sunday, 

 and, on Monday, were prosecuted with renewed 

 violence, and the most dangerous cries and vocifera- 

 tions, as, " Down with the king !" " Turn out the 

 ministers !" &c. The apprehension of twenty of the 

 ringleaders, who, assembled in the retired apartment 

 of a secluded dwelling, were taken in the act of 

 arranging plans for further riotous proceedings, and 

 the loyalty of the national guard and soldiers of the 

 line, frustrated the designs of the disaffected ; and the 

 explanations of the war minister, Sebastiani, contri- 

 buted materially to satisfy the minds of the more 

 intelligent of the citizens of Paris. " Every pacific 

 exertion," he said, "had been made to assist Poland 

 against Russia. Poland had 3,000,000 men, it was 

 true ; but it had neither ports, mountains, nor means 

 of defence. Overtures, nevertheless, had been made 

 at St Petersburg, and Russia had been made to feel 

 that the fate of Poland was a question of interest to 

 Europe. It had been promised by the cabinetof Peters- 

 burg, that the kingdom of Poland should be preserved; 

 and in this all the great powers of Europe concurred." 



On the 10th of October, the annihilation of the 

 hereditary quality of the French peerage was carried 

 by an overwhelming majority, the numbers having 

 been 324 to 86. 



With the exception of discontents in the provinces, 

 and the discussions arising from the measures taken 

 by government against the efforts of a few of the 

 refractory editors of public journals, affairs now, for 

 some time, bore an aspect of comparative tranquil- 

 lity. Such, in the beginning of November, was the 

 internal state of France ; and its probability of peace 

 with other nations was equally flattering. 



The Moniteur of the 22d November contained a 

 list of newly-created non-hereditary peers, comprising 

 some of the most distinguished leaders of the old 

 Bonapartean army; also several scientific and lite- 

 rary characters, as the baron Cuvier, Cassini, and 

 Gilbert des Voisins ; with a few of the old noblesse 

 of France. The object of the king and ministers, in 

 these selections, appears to have been to conciliate 

 all except the republican party. This creation had 

 been rendered necessary from its having been suffi- 

 ciently ascertained that a majority of the peers was 

 not only against the abolition of the hereditary prin- 

 ciple but had determined to maintain their opinions 



