LOTUS XVJ1I. 



563 



hibition of masked balls during Lent, caused still 

 greater dissatisfaction ; and the obstinacy of the 

 curate of St Roch, who opposed the burial of a cele- 

 brated actress in consecrated ground, exasperated 

 the people against the priests. In short, every tiling 

 appeared to confirm the warning of Lally-Tollendal: 

 " But one more act of madness was wanting to 

 France ; and that we now have ; we see the throne 

 of the king shaken by his friends." Against the 

 pure, or, as they were afterwards called, ultra 

 royalists, were united the republicans and the mili- 

 tary and constitutional royalists. In the midst of all 

 this, Napoleon returned from Elba. 



To understand the events of March, 1815, it is 

 necessary to call to mind what the majority of the 

 nation expected of Louis XVIII. (See Comte and 

 Dunoyer's Censeur ou Examen des Actes et des 

 Ouvrages qui tendent a detruire ou a consolider la 

 Constitution de VEtat ; and the Examen rapide du 

 Gouvernement des Bourbons en France^ depuis le 

 Mois d'Avril, 1814, jusquau Mots de Mars, 1815.) 

 The nation wished, 1. to have its political liber- 

 ties secured, or the right of being represented 

 by deputies, chosen by the people ; 2. the personal 

 liberties of the individuals, or security from prosecu- 

 tions for imaginary crimes, or contrary to the legal 

 forms; 3. the equality of citizens in the eye of the 

 law, and the rights of all to obtain any civil and 

 military dignity, by merit and talents ; 4. the aboli- 

 tion of feudal services ; 5. the right, in criminal 

 accusations, to be judged by a jury ; 6. the indepen- 

 dence of the judiciary upon every other power in 

 the state ; 7. the right of levying taxes by their 

 representatives, and on all in proportion to their 

 property ; 8. the right of every individual to exer- 

 cise any means of gaining a living which did not 

 interfere with the rights of other citizens; 9. the 

 right of every one to communicate his thoughts to 

 his fellow-citizens, by public writings, being respon- 

 sible only to the law ; and, 10. the right of every 

 one to perform divine worship in his own way, with- 

 out molestation. But instead of satisfying the de- 

 mands of the nation, the Bourbons, it was main- 

 tained by the parties above mentioned, had sought to 

 destroy public opinion, and had thus lost the attach- 

 ment of the French. The following grievances were 

 particularly complained of: 1. the abolition of the 

 national colours; 2. the surrender of all the fortresses 

 beyond the ancient frontiers of France, to the 

 allies, by Monsieur, as lieutenant-general, April 23, 

 1814 (with these fortresses he had given up 13,000 

 cannons, and had thus caused tiie loss of Belgium, 

 and of the left bank of the Rhine) ; 3. the royal 

 declaration, whereby the new constitution had been 

 imposed upon the nation by virtue of the royal 

 pleasure and prerogative, while it ought to have 

 been proposed to it for acceptance (from the form 

 used for this purpose, it would follow, that every 

 successor of the king might abrogate or alter the 

 charter at will) ; 4. the stain upon the national 

 honour from the king's declaration that he owed his 

 crown to the prince regent of Britain ; 5. the 

 exclusion of many respectable members of the 

 senate from the chamber of peers, and the filling 

 their places by others, who, for twenty years, had 

 borne arms against France ; 6. the neglect to abolish 

 the droit reunis, and other vexatious taxes ; 7. the 

 restrictions on the freedom of the press ; 8. the per- 

 secutions of the holders of the national domains, and 

 the expressions of the minister, count Ferrand, on 

 this subject in the chamber of deputies ; 9. the libels 

 against those who had taken part in the revolution, 

 although these were forbidden by the constitution ; 

 10. the exclusive appointment of the old nobility to 

 embassies : 11. arbitrary taxes, imposed without the 



consent of the legislature ; 12. the great influence of 

 priests, &c. It ought to be observed, however, on 

 the other hand, that Louis XVIII. had provided for 

 the personal security of the subject by the indepen- 

 dence of the tribunals, and the responsibility of the 

 ministers ; though the law on the latter point had 

 not yet gone into effect when the revolution of March 

 began. But the ministers should have forgotten 

 their old ideas, and ruled in a popular manner. 

 Henry IV. had, when he ascended the throne, 

 changed his religion, and thus obtained the love 

 of his people. 



Napoleon at Elba was fully informed of the troubles 

 in France, and the divisions at the congress. His 

 appearance in France, March 1, 1815, was like a 

 thunderbolt to the army and the nation. The state 

 of popular feeling was entirely unknown to Louis. 

 Those who surrounded him, as ignorant as himself, 

 still deceived him with accounts of the devotion of 

 the army, and of desertion among the soldiers of 

 Napoleon. The defection of Labedoye"re and Ney 

 finally opened the eyes of the king, but it was too 

 late. He was obliged to flee from Paris, in the 

 night of March 20, after having dissolved the two 

 chambers on the 19th. On the evening of March 

 22, he reached Lille, whence he issued several 

 decrees, forbidding all levies and contributions for 

 Napoleon, and disbanding the rebellious army. 

 Twenty-four hours after, he was obliged to leave 

 Lille, to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies, 

 and went by Ostend to Ghent. The duke and 

 duchess of Orleans, the old prince of Conde, the 

 count of Artois, and the duke of Berry, hastily left 

 Paris. The duke of Bourbon remained in Vendee, 

 and the duke and duchess of Angouleme in the 

 south of France. Their object was to awaken a 

 popular sympathy in favour of the king. An army 

 was, indeed, formed in Vendee, and the duke of An- 

 gouleme levied troops ; but, deserted by a part of 

 them, and surrounded by the generals of Napoleon, 

 he was obliged to conclude the capitulation of Pont 

 d'Esprit, April 8, in consequence of which he em- 

 barked, April 15, at Cette for Barcelona. The 

 duchess of Angouleme, whose fortitude had been 

 the subject of admiration, showed at Bourdeaux, the 

 courage of a heroine. The city and the people 

 were devoted to her, but the troops favoured the 

 advance of general Clauzel, and the duchess was 

 obliged to embark for England, April 2. Besides 

 the ministers and several officers, marshals Berthier, 

 Victor, Marmont, and the duke of Feltre, followed 

 the king. The number of his followers amounted at 

 last to a thousand. While in Ghent, he issued an 

 official paper, the Journal Universel, which con- 

 tained several pieces by Chateaubriand. In the 

 meanwhile, Talleyrand, at Vienna, was actively en- 

 gaged in the cause of the king, and Louis was 

 included in the league of March 25, against Napoleon. 

 When the allies invaded France, Louis XVIII. re- 

 turned and went to Cambray. He here proclaimed 

 a general amnesty, with the exception of traitors, and 

 promised to avoid all the faults he had committed in 

 1814, from ignorance of the new spirit of the nation, 

 and to dismiss Blacas. In the meanwhile, the cham- 

 bers, convoked by Napoleon, had appointed an exe- 

 cutive commission under the presidency of Fonche, 

 and deputies who were to negotiate with the allies 

 upon the basis of their independent right to choose a 

 form of government; but the allies would not consent 

 to this. Blucher and Wellington besieged Paris, and 

 Fouche, who had already induced Napoleon to leave 

 France, put a stop to the shedding of blood, by the 

 capitulation of Paris, July 3. Louis was thus again 

 restored to the throne of France. July 7, the Prus- 

 sians and British entered Paris, and on the afternoon 

 2 N 2 



