cordat expliqué au Roi," for which he was legally proceeded against by the Correctional Police. The judgment of the Court was given on September 3d, to the following effect: "Considering that the Abbé Vinson is, according to his own avowal, the author of the publication in question that, through the whole course of that work, disregarding article 9 of the Charter, and article 13 of the Concordat, he has characterised as pillage and manifest robbery, the sale of the national domains, and their purchasers and possessors, even those of the present day, as sacrilegious robbers; that he has endeavoured to alarm the consciences of the said holders, by menacing them with the vengeance of heaven, and by maintaining, that the pope and the bishops could not legalize the seizure of the domains of the church: Considering that in another passage, he strongly censures the conduct of our Holy Father the Pope, and the body of the Gallican church, which he designates under the name of Concordaire, and denominates schismatic; that in so doing, the Abbé Vinson, whatever may have been his intentions, has instigated the French people to violate a law of the realm, maintained, at least provisionally, by the Charter, and has failed in respect to the King, and has even encouraged disobedience to his authority," the tribunal therefore suppresses the work, sentences the Abbé Vinson to three months imprisonment, to a fine of 50 francs, and to remain two years under the surveillance of the high police, under a bail of 300 francs.

The principles of the royalist party were apparently so favourable to the crown, that it was long regarded as certain, that when the time came for reassembling the legislative chambers, they would exist in their former state, and possess the same majorities to controul the ministers, and give an impulse towards measures for the gradual renovation of the character of the ancient monarchy. But from causes not perfectly explained, probably, however, resulting from alarms excited in the King's mind of the spread of public disaffection, in consequence of danger to constitutional liberty and private property, the nation was surprised on September 6th, by a royal ordinance, by which the chamber of deputies was dissolved, and a new one was constituted with great alterations. This document commenced with the following preamble: "Since our return to our states, every day has demonstrated to us, that truth which we proclaimed on a solemn occasion-that the advantage of ameliorating is closely accompanied with the danger of innovating. We are convinced, that the wants and the wishes of our subjects united in preserving untouched, that constitutional charter which is the basis of public law in France, and the guaranty of general tranquillity. We have therefore judged it necessary, to reduce the Chamber of Deputies to the number determined by the Charter, and to summon thereto only men of the age of forty: but to carry into effect this reduction in a legal manner, it is become indispensa[12]

ble

ble to convoke anew the electoral colleges, in order to proceed to the election of a chamber of deputies." Then followed a set of articles for the regulation of the impending general election of deputies, the first of which was, "None of the articles of the Constitutional Charter shall be revised." The number of deputies now to be returned for the 86 departments of the kingdom

was 258.

This sudden and unexpected change is said to have been urged upon the King, principally by the four cabinet ministers, the Duke of Richelieu, Corvetto, Lainé, and De Cazes, and at length carried against the opposition of the other ministers. The princes and princesses of the blood were not apprised of the intention, till the publication of the Moniteur containing the royal ordinance; and their principles being highly monarchical, they were thrown into great consternation at the intelligence. The courtiers in general participated in the affliction; but the first effect on the public was a rise in the stocks. The dissolved deputies hastened down to the places where their interest lay, and the usual bustle of a general election began to pervade the country.

The influence of the ministerial majority was displayed in a signal manner, by the treatment of Viscount Chateaubriand, a distinguished character in the royalist party. He had published a work against the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, and the changes adopted for its renovation, the announcement of which excited an extraordinary

curiosity in the public. A very few copies had been sold, when the police took possession of the whole impression; and on September 21st, a royal ordinance was issued, directed against the author. It was in the following terms: "Viscount Chateaubriand having, in a printed work, raised doubts respecting our personal will, manifested by our ordinance of the 5th of the present month, we have ordered and do order what follows:-Viscount Chateaubriand shall, from this day forth, cease to be reckoned among the number of our ministers of state."

The measures, taken for securing the elections to the new chamber as much as possible in favour of the ministry, are worthy of observation. The secretary of state for the interior informs the prefects of the departments, that whatever vacancies may have happened in the electoral colleges since 1815, the ordinance of the 5th does not authorise their being filled up; and that if the president of the departmental college be not arrived by the 4th of October, the King confers upon them the power of choosing who shall preside among the members of the college. He further intimates, that the electoral colleges, according to the existing regulations, are precluded from any business, except that for which they are convoked, and are therefore prohibited from drawing up addresses, and appointing particular deputations.

The following circular was addressed by the minister of the interior, to the several presidents of the electoral colleges of departments.

partments. "The King, by his ordinance of the 5th of September, has appointed you to preside at the electoral college of ― This choice is highly honourable to you, so that you cannot but be penetrated with the importance of the duty you will have to fulfil. It consists in regulating and directing the assembly, which will have to elect the Deputies which his Majesty has convoked for the 4th of November. In leaving to the Electors all that freedom which appertains to them, you will bear in mind that his Majesty has delegated to you his right of maintaining order in the Electoral Assembly. The influence which your important mission gives, should not be exercised without your constantly impressing, at the same time, that the King expects of his faithful subjects, that they will make choice of no others than men recommended by their principles in favour of legitimacy, by their moderation, by their love for their Sovereign, and for France, of which his Majesty is most of all desirous of ensuring the tranquillity and happiness."

The check given to ultra-royalism did not prevent the consecration of an additional religious solemnity, to commemorate the sufferings of the late unfortunate possessors of the throne. On October 9th, a circular letter was addressed by the King, countersigned by the minister, to the archbishops and bishops of the kingdom, directing, that the anniversary of the 16th of that month should be observed by a solemn service in all the churches, in memory of the late Queen

Marie-Antoniette; at which, however, no discourse or funeral oration should be pronounced, but there should be read from the pulpit a letter from that princess, "recovered as it were by miracle," written some hours before her death, in which she expressed all the sentiments with which religion could inspire a most Christian Queen, and the most tender of mothers.

On the 3d of November, the King, who had communicated to the Vicars-general of Paris his pleasure, that on the eve of the opening of the Chambers, a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost should be celebrated, repaired in grand procession to the cathedral of Notre Dame, accompanied by all the members of the Royal Family.

On the following day, proceeding in state to the chamber of deputies, and attended by the peers, his Majesty delivered a speech from the throne, which began with giving a gratifying representation of the general state of France.

"Tranquillity (said

he) reigns throughout the kingdom: the amicable dispositions of the foreign Sovereigns, and the exact observance of treaties, guarantee to us peace without ; and if a senseless enterprise for an instant caused alarm relative to our interior tranquillity, it has only served to elicit a further proof of the attachment of the nation, and of the fidelity of our army." As a cloud over this exhilarating prospect, he then touched upon the intemperature of the seasons, which had delayed the harvest, and caused sufferings among the people; and upon the

the great charges unhappily still necessary, the first of all the means for meeting which is economy, which it has been his study to render operative in all parts of the administration. Speaking of his negociations with the Holy See, and the state of the church of France, he said, “You have no doubt been of opinion with me, that we ought not to restore to divine worship that which the piety of our fathers had bestowed upon it, (that unfortunately would be impossible) but―to ensure to the ministers of our holy religion an independent income." A resolution is then declared of the King's firm adherence to that fundamental law of the Charter, which secures to the faith of their ancestors the pre-eminence due, but guarantees to all a rational liberty, and to each the peaceable enjoyment of his rights, condition, and pro

perty. As speeches from the throne may probably, in France as well as in England, be regarded as the language of the existing ministers, the substance of the preceding address will indicate the principles of government adopted by the persons now at the helm.

Several important topics were brought into discussion at the meetings of the chambers before the close of the year; but as we do not profess to include the debates of foreign deliberating assemblies in our historical sketch, and the results of those in question will afford matter for the ensuing year, we here terminate our summary of French affairs, now, happily, interesting rather as the domestic concerns of a particular nation, than as exerting an influence on the politics of Europe.

CHAPTER