FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



275 



in spite of the dangers which might arise from such 

 an opposition to the popular will. The bill was car- 

 ried through that chamber (Dec. 27) by a majority of 

 thirty-six, exactly the number of new peers that had 

 been created. 



A bill also passed the two chambers, banishing 

 from France for ever all the members of the elder 

 branch of the Bourbons and their descendants. Al- 

 though disapproved of by the ministers, it was carried 

 by a large majority, with an amendment, by which 

 the penalty of death, attached by the bill to a viola- 

 tion of the prohibition against entering the kingdom, 

 was omitted. The same bill, by its second section, 

 denounced the same sentence of perpetual exclusion 

 against the family of Napoleon. 



The crowds tli.at produced the repeated riots which 

 so frequently disturbed the peace of Paris during this 

 year, were principally furnished from the multitudes i 

 of unemployed men, whom the unsteadiness of all 

 relations, consequent on the revolution, had deprived 

 of the means ot support. Credit, trade, and manu- 

 factures had all equally suffered. These riots, again, 

 by increasing the feeling of insecurity, augmented 

 the mischief. In the course of the autumn, the 

 chambers had voted 18,000,000 francs to be applied 

 to-the relief of the manufacturers, and in providing 

 employment for the people. In asking this grant, 

 the minister of commerce stated that the existing 

 distress arose, in a great measure, from the riots so 

 frequent in the capital; but it existed likewise in the 

 provinces, and, at Lyons, led to disturbances much 

 more serious than those which had molested Paris. 

 A suburb of that city, called the Croix Russe, is in- 

 liabited principally by weavers, as are also the suburbs 

 of Vaize, La Guillotiere, and Les Bretteaux, the 

 whole population of these suburbs being about 30,000. 

 The weavers, it appears, had been discontented ever 

 since the revolution of 1830, which had so materially 

 depressed their trade that it was barely possible to 

 subsist on their wages. Some time previous they had 

 resolved on a tariff or price-list, which, however, in 

 consequence of the state of their trade, the masters 

 were compelled to reject. On the 21st of November, 

 the workmen simultaneously struck for wages, and 

 the tumult immediately commenced, the mob of the 

 town, men, women, and children, joining with the 

 insurgent weavers, many of them being armed. The 

 national guard was speedily called out; but their 

 conduct on the occasion appears to liave been equi- 

 vocal, and their interference fruitless. The prefect 

 of the police and commandant of the garrison, general 

 Ordonneau, endeavoured in vain to pacify the rioters, 

 the number of whom, well supplied with arms, be- 

 came hourly more formidable. The mob, at length, 

 after having been fired on by the national guard, and 

 some of them sabred by the cavalry in repeated 

 charges, became desperate, and attacked and disarm- 

 ed several bodies of the military, and took two can- 

 nons ; for which, and their muskets, they cast balls 

 during the night, at the same time barricading the 

 streets of their quarter. On the following day, they 

 attacked and beat the troops and national guard in 

 every quarter. Immense multitudes from the fau- 

 bourgs and the heights of La Croix Russe, marched 

 on the Hotel de Ville, carrying the principal posts 

 and bridges by the way, and driving back the troops. 

 The workmen in all parts of the town co-operated in 

 this movement, by unpaving the streets, raising bar- 

 ricadoes, and firing on the military from the windows. 

 They also burned the buildings of the octroi (tax- 

 houses), and several dwelling-houses, from the win- 

 dows of which they had observed the firing of their 

 opponents to proceed. Nothing was carried away, bul 

 all was burned or broken on the spot, with the view ol 

 showing that it was not plunder which was sought. 



These troubles at Lyons were announced at Paris 

 yj the Moniteur of the 23d of November, in the 

 shape of a private letter, and caused the greatest ex- 

 citement in the metropolis. On the 25th, the same 

 paper published an ordinance of the king, appointing 

 ;he duke of Orleans and the marshal duke of Dal- 

 matia (Soult) to repair instantly to Lyons, and take 

 the necessary steps for the suppression of the in- 

 surrection. The troops of the line being expelled 

 from the city, on the 24th all was quiet. The shops 

 and theatres were opened, and the workmen and 

 their allies (among whom are stated to have been 

 many of the national guard) were in possession of 

 the city, which was kept then in a state of siege. Its 

 authorities had been deposed by an insurrectionary 

 mob and its armed force expelled ; yet, when "ic- 

 tory had thus been obtained, the insurgents of Lyons 

 instantly embraced the opportunity to recall and ac- 

 knowledge the civil authorities whom they had tem- 

 porarily deposed, denying all political motive, and 

 imply demanding such regulations as should secure 

 them food. The consequences of this extraordinary 

 state of affairs were, that order became perfect, and 

 business and pleasure were at once resumed, though 

 the city was still virtually in possession of the insur- 

 gents and their partisans. On the 24th, the munici- 

 pal council of Lyons voted the sum of 150,000 francs, 

 to provide for the immediate necessities of the dis- 

 tressed workmen, and to afford succour to the wounded 

 and their families. For the same purposes, a public 

 subscription was opened, to which the contributions 

 were considerable. From the most authentic accounts 

 it may be collected, that the number of killed, on 

 both sides, during the sanguinary contention of which 

 Lyons was the scene, was between 500 and 600 ; of 

 wounded, the amount was much more considerable. 

 On the 4th, the duke of Orleans and marshal Soult, 

 with a formidable escort of national guards, troops of 

 the line, chasseurs, and artillery, entered the city 

 without impediment. The prince was received by 

 the mayor of Lyons, who addressed his royal high- 

 ness, and received a gracious reply. The troops 

 having repaired to their quarters without interrup- 

 tion, an order of the day was issued, dissolving the 

 national guard of Lyons, Guillotiere, Croix Russe, 

 and Vaize, with disgrace, and commanding the in- 

 stant surrender of their arms. The colonel of the 

 thirteenth regiment of the line was publicly cashiered 

 for suffering his soldiers to be disarmed, and the men 

 of the regiment were severely reproved. Measures 

 were subsequently taken against a portion of the 

 press, stated to have encouraged the insurrection of 

 the operatives of Lyons ; and, the city being placed 

 under military government, and no apprehension 

 being entertained that its tranquillity would be again 

 disturbed, the duke of Orleans and the veteran mar- 

 shal returned to Paris on Sunday, the llth of 

 December. 



Early in the year 1832, a convention was finally 

 concluded between the United States of America and 

 France, by which the latter agreed to pay the sum of 

 25,000,000 of francs to the former, in six annual in- 

 stalments of 4,166,666 francs each, in full for all 

 claims of the citizens of the United States for unlaw- 

 ful seizures, captures, sequestrations, or destructions 

 of their vessels, cargoes, or other property, by that 

 government ; the former engaging to pay, on its 

 part, the sum of 1 ,500,000 francs, in six ajinual in- 

 stalments, in full of all claims presented by France 

 on behalf of her citizens. This engagement with 

 America, France neglected or railed to fulfil ; and, 

 towards the close of 1834, president Jackson, in his 

 address to congress, used language on the subject 

 of so belligerent a nature, that fears were entertained 

 of a war between these two great states. Better 

 I 



