590 PARIS. 
pleaded that he adted under the orders of Bonaparte ; who 
was then Emperor of the ifle of Elba, and his fovereign. 
General Cambronne, like Drouet, had gone with Napo¬ 
leon to Elba. The acquittal of this latter officer added 
to the difappointment of the king and the ultra-royalifts, 
and Louis infilled on the court revifing the acquittal of 
Cambronne, which they did ; but, to his great aftonilli- 
menf, they confirmed their former decifion. 
The refult of thefe two trials gave confiderable fatis- 
fadtion to the inhabitants of Paris; and it was now evi¬ 
dent, that the influence of the ultra-royalifts was on the 
decline. They confoled themfelves, however, for the 
prefent, with the fooliffi mummery of digging up the re¬ 
mains of the duke d’Enghien out of the fofle on the 
fouth fide of the caftle of Vincennes. The firlt objedt 
which caught attention was a boot, in tolerable preferva- 
tion, in which were found the bones of the leg and foot; 
the fkull was then found; the face was downwards; one 
leg had remained in an almoft vertical pofition, and the 
arms were bent towards the back; a rather large Hone ap¬ 
peared to have been defignedly thrown upon the head, the 
bones of which were frad'tured. Some of the hair was (till 
in prefervation. The various fragments of the. body, 
thus colledled, were placed in a flieet. There were alfo 
found feventy-three German ducats; a leathern purfe, in 
which there were a louis and fome pieces of filver, a ring, 
and a gold chain which the prince was in the habit of 
wearing round his neck. There was remarked the perfo¬ 
ration made by a ball in the ffioulder-blade, and in the 
fmall cafque which the prince wore at the time of execu¬ 
tion. His huflar-boots were in tolerably good preferva¬ 
tion. The flieet, containing the fragments, was placed 
in a leaden coffin. 
The moll important event in France this year was the 
diffolution of the chamber of deputies, by a royal ordon- 
nance of September the 5th. In the preamble, his majefty 
fays, “ We are convinced that the wants and wifhes of 
our fubjedts concur in preferving untouched the Confti- 
tutional Charter, the balls of public law in France, and 
the guarantee of general tranquillity. We have, in con- 
fequence, judged it neceflary to reduce the chamber of 
deputies to the number determined by the charter, 
and not to call to it men under forty years of age. 
But, to effedl this redudlion legally, it becomes indif- 
penfable to convoke anew the eledioral colleges, in order 
to proceed to the eledlion of a new chamber of depu¬ 
ties.” The ordonnance then declares, that “ none of the 
articles of the conllitutional charter ffiall be revifed ;” 
difl'olves the chamber; reduces the number of deputies 
from 420 to 258 ; convokes the eledioral colleges for 
the eledlion of a new chamber, to meet on the 4th of 
November. Another ordonnance, appointing the preli- 
dentsof the eledioral colleges, was remarkable for the ex- 
cltifion of all members of the royal family front this im¬ 
portant office, and the nomination of feVeral of thole 
members of the late chamber who fupported the conftitu- 
tion againll the party known by the appellation of 
ultra-royalifts. It cannot be denied, that this meafure 
was eminently calculated to infpire confidence in all 
dalles, as evincing a determination, on the part of the 
king, to maintain the inviolability of perfonal property 
and private property, including the national domains, 
the reftitution of which was manifeftly a great objedl of 
the late chamber. 
We fhall take this opportunity of Hating a few particu¬ 
lars relative to the chambers of parliament as at prefent 
conftituted, after the various modifications the Charter 
has undergone in that refpedl. Under the article London, 
vol. xiii. p. 382, 3, we gave a copy of the Conllitutional 
Charter of the 6th of April, 1814, which was to be pre- 
fented to Louis ; and his acceptance of it was to confti- 
tute him king ot France. He did not become king by ac¬ 
cepting it, but was brought in by the vidlorious armies, 
and declared himfelf to be in the twentieth year of his 
reign. However, he promifed to admit the chief articles, 
as the bafis, or foundation, of a Charter which he was to 
give them; and, accordingly, the particulars we fliall give 
are chiefly to (how the variations between that document 
and the prefent Charter, which is now-appealed to by all 
parties as the'fafeguard of French liberty. 
1. All ranks are equally admiffible to public employ¬ 
ments, whether civil or military. 
2. The Catholic is the ftate-religion ; but all other reli¬ 
gions may be openly profefled, and none imply political 
difqualification. 
3. All fales of national property during the Revolution 
are confirmed to the purchafers. 
4. The perfon of the king is inviolable; the refponfibi- 
lity reds with his minifters. 
5. The executive power is veiled in the king ; the legis¬ 
lative, in the two houfes of parliament as in England, 
with the diftindtion, that no bill can be brought in but 
by a minifter of the crown, parliament having the right 
only of praying the king to bring in any particular bill. 
6. The houfe of peers cannot be lawfully afl'embled ex¬ 
cept at the fame time as the houfe of commons. 
7. The members of the commons houfe are eledled for 
five years, the houfe being renewable by a fifth annually. 
8. The fittings of the houfe of commons are open to 
the public; thole of the peers are private; all money-bills 
mull originate with the commons. 
9. The judges are named by the king; and, when ap¬ 
pointed, are not removable. Juries are employed in cri¬ 
minal cafes only. 
The houfe of peers in France is, in many refpedls, on the 
fame footing as in England, their number being unlimi¬ 
ted ; their nomination veiled in the king; their dignity 
hereditary. Like our peers, they meet every felfion on 
the fame day as the commons ; and their proceedings, 
unlefs accompanied by fimultaneous proceedings of the 
lower houfe, would be void. Like our peers alfo, they 
take cognizance of charges of treafon and of high politi¬ 
cal mifdemeanours ; but they do not form a court of ju¬ 
dicial appeal. All bills, with the exception of money- 
bills, may originate in either houfe; but the degree of pub¬ 
lic intereft excited by the debates of the peers is not fo 
great as by thofe of the lower houfe. The reftridtions as 
to attending the debates, and printing the fpeeches of the 
peers, though not abfolute, are greater than in England. 
10. The king’s brothers and nephews, with the princes 
of the blood (Orleans, Bourbon, Conde), are peers in 
right of their birth. 
The number of peers in France is at prefent (1820) 
nearly 280 : a number comprifing two very diftindl clalfes; 
the old nobility of France, dripped of the greater part of 
their paternal eftates, but dignified by fuch names as 
Montmorency, Tremouille, Luxembourg; and the fena- 
tors or generals of the revolution, who can boaft of no 
anceftry ; and who, in point of property, are, in general, 
very limited, but who lay claim to public regard for their 
perfonal exertions ; fuch are Lanjuinais, Paltoret, Barthe- 
lemy, Macdonald, &c. Thofe who were members of the 
fenate on the abdication of Bonaparte were made peers, 
and had their life-penlion (1500I. a-year) confirmed to 
them by Louis XVIII. but the conllitution requires that 
all future peers (hall pofl'efs a certain entailed property, 
the amount of which, evidently adapted to the levelling 
efieiSls of the revolution, is only 1250I. of clear income 
for a duke, 800I. for a marquis or earl, and 400I. for a vif- 
count or baron. 
The French houfe of commons alfo is in many refpedls 
fimilar to theBritilh; each being the arena in which poli¬ 
tical parties try their ftrength, and in which the fupport 
or the overthrow of a miniltry is decided. The nature 
of the fubjedts difculfed, the privileges of the houfe, the 
admiffion of the public to the debates, are all fimilar to 
our ufages ; but there are fome important differences as 
to the legal qualifications of the members, and the confti- 
tution of the body. The number of deputies or mem¬ 
bers is regulated by the amount of population. This, 
however. 
