LOUIS XVIII. 



di Borgo, am) Liechtenstein, March 31, by the assur- 

 ance that the restoration of the Bourbons was the 

 wish of a large majority of the nation. (See lie 

 I'nult's Rccit Aistorif/ue sur la Kestauration de la 

 lloyaute en France, le 31 Mars, 1814.) The senate 

 now appointed a provisional government under the 

 presidency of Talleyrand, which, April 3, gave the 

 authority of a law to the resolve of the senate of 

 April 2, for the deposition of Napoleon, and pub- 

 lished in the Moniteur the project of the constitution 

 of April 5, according to which the Bourbons were 

 to be recalled to the throne. A decree of April 4, 

 also intrusted the government to the count of Artois, 

 until the moment when Louis, called to the throne of 

 i'nmrt', should accept the constitution drawn up for 

 the kingdom. Louis XVIII. now left Hartwell, and 

 reached London, April 20, whence the prince regent 

 (George IV.) accompanied him to Dover. From 

 Dover, the duke of Clarence (now William IV.), 

 April 24, conducted him to Calais. With Louis 

 landed also the duchess of Angouleme, the prince of 

 Conde', and his son, the duke of Bourbon. Upon 

 landing, he pressed the duchess of Angouleme to his 

 heart, and said, " I hold again the crown of my an- 

 cestors; if it were of roses, I would place it on your 

 head; as it is of thorns, it is for me to wear it." The 

 memory of his landing upon French ground, is per- 

 petuated by a Doric column of marble erected at 

 Calais, and the trace of his first footstep is carefully 

 preserved in brass. The king remained some days in 

 Compiegne, where, as at St Ouen, he received depu- 

 tations from the authorities at Paris. He was wel- 

 comed at St Ouen by the emperor of Austria, and at 

 Compiegne by the emperor of Russia. From St 

 Ouen, May 2, he issued that remarkable proclama- 

 tion, by which he accepted the most essential part of 

 the constitution of the senate (April >}, in iweive 

 articles, but submitted tne whole, as being too hastily 

 drawn up, to the revision of a committee of the sen- 

 ate and legislative body. 



May 3, Louis made his entrance into Paris. The 

 hopes of all now rested upon him. In compliance 

 with the will of his unhappy brother, who had com- 

 manded forgiveness, he solemnly declared '" that all 

 examinations into opinions and votes, until the time 

 of the restoration, are forbidden. The same oblivion 

 is made the duty of the courts of justice and of the 

 citizens." He formed his ministry of members of the 

 former provisional government, and of zealous royal- 

 ists, such as the chancellor D'Ambray. One of his 

 first ordinances related to the continuance of the 

 oppressive taxes (droits reunis), which the state of the 

 kingdom rendered necessary. It had been promised 

 that they should be abolished, but it was only possi- 

 ble to ameliorate the mode of their collection. He 

 afterwards concluded peace with Austria, Russia, 

 Britain, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, at 

 Paris, May 30, 1814, and caused a constitution to be 

 drawn up. Although his ministry too little under- 

 stood the spirit of public opinion, yet, by prudence 

 and firmness, it was able to restrain the disaffected. It 

 inclined to the old prejudices, and fulfilled none of 

 the just expectations of the nation, with regard to the 

 freedom of the press, and the prevalence of liberal 

 ideas. The old royalists, as well as the partisans of 

 the empire, had been deceived in the dreams of their 

 pride and covetousness. The former thirsted for 

 revenge, and aspired to regain their lost advantages. 

 The latter, including the soldiers of Napoleon, 

 100,000 of whom had returned from captivity, were 

 indignant at the disgrace of the French arms. After 

 the proclamation of peace, Louis caused his chancel- 

 lor, D'Ambray, in his presence, to lay before the 

 legislative body and the senators the constitution oi 

 the kingdom (la charte constitutionnelle), June 4, it 



having been already approved by nine senators and 

 nine deputies, after it had been drawn up by the 

 three ministers D'Ambray, Montesquieu and Fer- 

 rand. It was unanimously accepted as the will of 

 the king, and recorded. (See France, since 1814.) 

 The chamber of deputies, which was established by 

 this instrument, requested the kintr to take the sur- 

 name of " the desired," Louis le Desire. When the 

 chamber was occupied with fixing the civil list, 

 Louis answered the deputies, " Let them attend to 

 the state, and neglect me." The king appointed 

 from the new and old nobility, from the senators and 

 marshals, 151 members of the chamber of peers; 

 fifty-three of the former senators, among whom were 

 twenty-three foreigners, were not appointed peers by 

 the king ; others were excluded, as Caulaincourt, 

 Fesch, Fouche, Gregoire, Roederer, Sieyes. They 

 retained, however, their property, and the widows of 

 those who had died received pensions. It was not 

 to be expected, that men who had voted for the death 

 of Louis XVI. could now be peers of France. The 

 king gave his full confidence to his minister, M. tie 

 Blacas, and the chancellor D'Ambray. The latter and 

 the five secretaries of state, (the minister of foreign 

 affairs Talleyrand of the interior, of war, of the 

 finances, of the navy), and the directors-general of 

 the police and the post-office, together with the state 

 counsellors and the maitres des requetes, formed the 

 king's council, to which were admitted distinguished 

 men of the old and new nobility, and the former state 

 officers, together with some whose only claim was, 

 that they had shared the sufferings of Louis. The 

 new relations with foreign powers were regulated by 

 Talleyrand with his usual ability, and not without 

 dignity and a proper regard to the pride of the nation. 

 His diplomacy now professed great magnanimity and 

 respect tor Hie rights of the people. On the olhe 

 hand, the minister of the interior, abbe Montesquieu, 

 did not succeed in gaining the public opinion in 

 favour of the Bourbons. Still less did the minister 

 of war, general count Dupont, succeed in gaining 

 the favour of the army, which hated him. His suc- 

 cessor, Soult, contributed much, by his severe mea- 

 sures, to excite the anger of the army against the 

 king. 



The personal mildness of Louis XVIII., and his 

 love of justice, were often betrayed, in spite of the 

 judgment which he frequently showed, into impru- 

 dent and inconsistent measures. He was accused of 

 surrounding himself with the leaders of theChouans, 

 and with emigrants, and admitting them, in prefer- 

 ence to all others, into the royal guard. The army 

 was exasperated by the diminution of the pensions of 

 the members of the legion of honour, and the severity 

 which had placed so many officers upon half pay. 

 The chamber of peers, composed mostly of the old 

 nobility, and attached to their old prejudices, often 

 thwarted the better views of the chamber of deputies. 

 The chancellor D'Ambray showed great weakness in 

 favouring the privileged classes, and was careless in 

 the duties of his office. The count Blacas, little 

 acquainted with France, was hated by all parties. 

 The censorship of the ministers limited the freedom 

 of the press, while libels were promulgated against 

 men who had displeased the government. Merely 

 in consequence of a political reaction, thirty honour- 

 able names were struck from the list of members of 

 the national institute. Hired or fanatical writers 

 maintained that the sale of the national domains was 

 invalid, and that the crimes of the revolution were 

 not to be pardoned. The restoration of tithes and 

 the old privileges was openly talked of in the coun- 

 try. The ordinance of Blacas with regard to the 

 Sunday police excited so much ill feeling in Paris, 

 that it was found necessary to repeal it. The pro- 



