MANUEL MANURES. 



671 



college of Mimes. He entered as a volunteer In one 

 of the battalions of the requisition in 1793, and rose 

 to the rank of captain. After the peace of Campo- 

 Formio, lie quitted the army, studied law, was ad- 

 mitted to the bar at Aix, and soon acquired a high 

 reputation for talent. In 1815, he was elected to 

 the cliamber of deputies which was convoked by 

 Napoleon, and after the abdication of that monarch, 

 M. Manuel strenuously contended for the rights of 

 the young Napoleon. He also moved a spirited 

 protest against the force which was used by the 

 allies to bring about the restoration of the Bourbons. 

 This was, of course, an unpardonable crime, and an 

 opportunity was found *to display, at least, the dis- 

 position for punishing him. In 1815, he settled at 

 Paris, and, in the following year, applied for admis- 

 sion to the Paris bar, that he might be entitled to 

 plead in the courts. The council of discipline, as it 

 is called, consulted the members of the bar at Aix 

 as to their opinion of his character, in the hope of 

 finding something against him; but, though their 

 answer was favourable, the council refused to comply 

 with his request. This refusal was repeated in 1816. 

 In 1818, he was elected a member of the chamber of 

 deputies by three departments, and became one of 

 the most formidable opponents of the ministers, 

 speaking extemporaneously with great facility 

 a talent possessed by few of the French deputies. 

 On the opening of the budget in 1819, he delivered 

 a speech which produced a very lively sensation, 

 and was printed by order of the chamber. " Our 

 political organization," said he, " is at once deficient 

 in its municipal system, which is its natural basis ; 

 in the national guard, which must be our protection 

 in peace, our defence in war; in the jury, without 

 which the liberty of the press is an empty shadow; 

 and in the responsibility of officers, which is the 

 safeguard of all rights." In the ensuing sessions, he 

 continued, in a series of bold and eloquent speeches, 

 to oppose the arbitrary measures which then charac- 

 terized the policy of the French government. On 

 the exclusion of Gregoire (q. v.), on the bills for 

 suspending the liberty of person and of the press, on 

 the laws of election, on the reform of the jury, the 

 organization of the council of state, colonial legisla- 

 tion, public instruction, &c.,he maintained the rights 

 of the nation, and defended the charter in spite of 

 the menaces, murmurs, interruptions, and calumnies 

 of the royalist faction. Calm and immovable, yet 

 fervid and ardent, his courage and eloquence were 

 always victorious over the violence of his enemies. 

 During the new elections, in 1823, the greatest 

 efforts were made to prevent his being chosen, and 

 after the election a plan was formed for excluding 

 him, as unworthy of a seat. This being found im- 

 practicable, his enemies determined to effect his ex- 

 pulsion, and a pretext was found in his first speech 

 of the session, on the question of the Spanish war. 

 In the outset he was called to order ; the president 

 pronounced him in order ; he was again interrupted 

 by loud cries ; he was accused of defending regicide; 

 his expulsion was demanded ; he was prevented from 

 explaining or proceeding, and the president, unable 

 to restore order, was obliged to adjourn the chamber. 

 The next day, Labourdonnaye moved his expulsion ; 

 Manuel defended himself, in an eloquent speech, from 

 the charge brought against him. The motion was 

 sustained and referred to March 3; on that day, Ma- 

 nuel protested against the power of the chamber to 

 expel a representative of the nation, but his expul- 

 sion was voted by a majority. On the next day, he 

 again took his seat, and, being required by the presi- 

 dent to withdraw, replied that he should yield only to 

 force. The session was then suspended for an hour 

 the members of the left side remaining in their seats. 



In this interval the huissier (sergeant at arms) read 

 to him an order of the president requiring him to 

 leave the hall; but his reply was as before, " I shall 

 yield only to force." The huissier called in a detach- 

 nent of the national guard, which refused to act ; 

 nd a body of the gendarmerie was introduced. On 

 >eing directed by the commanding officer to retire, 

 le refused, and the order was issued to the gendarmes 

 to arrest him. As they approached, he rose and ex- 

 jressed himself ready to follow them, the members 

 jresent accompanying him. Manuel was again cho- 

 seii to the chamber in 1824. He died in 1827, and 

 was buried in the Pere Lachaise, some obstacles 

 which were interposed to the solemnization of his 

 obsequies being surmounted by the firmness and pru- 

 dence of his friends. 



MANUMISSION, among the Romans ; the solemn 

 :eremony by which a slave was emancipated. (See 

 Freedman.) Constantine the Great, after his con- 

 version, transferred to the Christian church all such 

 solemn ceremonies of the heathen. Thus he allowed 

 the Christian masters to emancipate their slaves be- 

 fore the altar on festival days, and especially at Eas- 

 ter, by placing the deed of emancipation on the head 

 of the freedman in the presence of the congregation. 



MANURES ; vegetable, animal, and mineral mat- 

 ters, introduced into the soil, to accelerate vegetation 

 and increase the production of crops. If the soil to 

 be improved be too stiff, from excess of clay, it will 

 require sand ; if too loose, from excess of sand, it 

 will be benefited by clay ; but, when sand is mixed 

 with argillaceous soil, the latter must be broken and 

 pulverized, which may be effected by exposing it to 

 the frost, and afterwards drying it. Marl is a natural 

 compound earth, used with great success in the melio- 

 ration of soils. It consists of a mixture of clay and 

 lime, sometimes containing a little silica and bitumen. 

 Those varieties of it which contain more clay than 

 lime, are advantageous for a dry, sandy soil ; while 

 calcareous marl, or .that in which the lime predomi- 

 nates, is suited to an argillaceous soil. The great 

 advantage of marl is, that it dilates, cracks, and is 

 reduced to powder, by exposure to moisture and air. 

 Marl in masses would be totally useless on the 

 ground ; yet it is necessary to begin by laying it on 

 the ground in heaps ; for the more it is heaped, the 

 more it dilates, splits, and crumbles to dust ; in which 

 state it is fit to spread upon the ground. Marl is 

 sometimes formed into a compost with common man- 

 ure, before it is laid on the soil ; in this state, how- 

 ever, it should be applied sparingly at a time, and 

 renewed frequently. It operates by subdividing the 

 soil, and hastening decomposition ; its calcareous 

 particles disorganizing all animal or vegetable bodies, 

 by resolving them into their simple elements, in which 

 state they combine with oxygen, and facilitating this 

 union. The best time for marling is the autumn. 

 Quick lime, and especially that derived from fossil, 

 or living shells, is another excellent means of amend- 

 ing soils. It is particularly adapted to cold, marshy 

 soils, abounding in organic matters, as it assists 

 powerfully in the con version of animal and vegetable 

 substances into nourishment for plants. Ashes are 

 very beneficial to the soil, by attracting moisture 

 front the atmosphere, in consequence of the alkali 

 they contain, and thus accelerating vegetation. 

 Gypsum is, however, the most universal mineral 

 manure ; but chemists are not agreed as to the man- 

 ner in which it acts on vegetation. It is strewed, in 

 the state of fine powder, over crops, when the leaves 

 are in full vigour towards the latter end of April, or 

 the beginning of May. 



Common manure consists of the remains of orga- 

 nized bodies, of every description, whether animal or 

 vegetable, in a state of decomposition (i. e. resolving 



