Léon de Maleville, 101; M. de Belleyme, 43; other votes were given to Deputies who were not candidates. Neither had the "absolute majority" of voters, and a fresh ballot was therefore necessary. There were now 346 Deputies present and the result was for M. Duprat, 166; M. de Maleville, 136; M. de Belleyme, 34; other votes being thrown away as before. A third ballot was ordered; and now the contest lay between the two candidates having the greatest number of votes. The number of those who voted was 358; for M. Duprat, 178; M. Léon de Maleville, 179; majority against Ministers, 1. M. de Belleyme had given his own vote and those of 34 friends against the rival Ministerialist and for M. de Maleville.

After the election of a VicePresident, M. Duvergier de Hauranne brought forward his plan of electoral reform. His proposition involved these points,-first, a slight diminution in the qualification of electors; second, an augmentation in the number of electors in colleges where they are under 400; third, the addition of voters by the admission of physicians, advocates, and other professional men; and, fourth, a more equitable division throughout the kingdom of the Deputies to be elected, which would have the effect of creating 79 new members.

The debate lasted for several days, but excited very little interest. Ministers opposed the motion, and had a triumphant majority after a spirited speech from M. Guizot.

On a division, there were for the motion of M. Duvergier de

In the course of the Session some important changes took place in the constitution of the SoultGuizot Ministry; and, on the 10th of May, the following announcement of the new appointments appeared in the Moniteur :

"M. Dumon, Secretary of State for the Department of Public Works, to be Minister of Finance, in the place of M. Lacave Laplagne. M. Trézel, Peer of France, Lieutenant-General commanding the Twelfth Military Division, to be Minister of War, in the place of Lieutenant-General Moline de Saint Yon; whose resignation is accepted. The Duc de Montebello, Peer of France, Ambassador at the Court of the King of the Two Sicilies, to be Minister of Marine and Colonies, in the place of Admiral Baron de Mackau ; whose resignation is accepted. M. Jayr, Peer of France, Prefect of the Department of the Rhone, to be Minister of Public Works, in the place of M. Dumon; nominated Minister of Finance.'

A separate ordinance charged. M. Guizot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the interim of the Ministry of Marine and Colonies, during the absence of the Duc de Montebello at Naples.

In the Chamber of Deputies, a few days afterwards, M. Odillon Barrot put some questions to the Government respecting the late changes in the Ministry, claiming the information as a right due to the representatives of the country. M. Guizot admitted the right of the Chambers to demand explana

nations, though it was the prerogative of the Crown to select Ministers. The reason why the late Ministers were called on to resign was, that they did not, either by their language or in their persons, afford that support to the policy of the Cabinet which they were expected to give. M. Lacave Laplague then rose. He said that

he spoke only for himself. It was true that he had refused to resign, and had been forced to do so: but he made this admission without any asperity of feeling, and he recommended the Conservatives to forget their differences, and unite in cordial co-operation for the future.

charter of Don Pedro and the constitution of 1837. The one was the voluntary gift of the Sovereign, whilst the other had been freely discussed and voted by the representatives of the nation. M. Crémieux easily conceived the preference of the French Ministry for the former, because of its being less liberal than the popular charter. He next referred to the administration of Costa Cabral, that scourge of his country; his liberticide intrigues, his overthrow of the constitution on the 25th of January, 1842, and his proclamation of absolute power in Portugal. Then, arriving at the revolution of October 1846, he branded in energetic terms the perjury of the Queen, her abolishing trial by jury, suspending the liberty of the press, and signing that atrocious decrec, in virtue of which any citizen suspected of being disaffected could be shot without trial by the soldiers who arrested him. Charles X., he maintained, had not been guilty of one-thousandth part of the atrocities perpetrated by Donna Maria, and yet he had been dethroned and irrevocably banished, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs himself (M. Guizot) had acted a prominent part in the insurrection which had overturned that monarch. In conclusion, M. Crémieux contended that the presence of Povoas at Oporto could not be invoked to justify the casus fæderis. Since 1834 Povoas had ceased to be a Miguelite officer, and no more represented the interests of the usurper at Oporto than did Das Antas or Sa da Bandeira. The interference of France was unjustifiable, and could only be accounted for by the desire of M. Guizot to curry favour with foreign powers. "We are," added

M. Crémieux, "the humble servants of England in Lisbon, and the precursors of Austria in Switzerland."

M. Guizot said that, as the affairs of Portugal were alone the object of the interpellations of the honourable deputy, he should confine himself at present to that subject, but, whenever the honourable gentleman might think proper to put any questions to him on the subject of Switzerland, he should be equally ready to reply to him. He should not go so far back as the honourable Deputy had done in the history of Portugal and her internal dissensions; if the struggle had only been between two charters for Portugal, the discussion which now engaged their attention would never have been raised, and they would have heard nothing about intervention. Neither should he say any thing either in praise or disparagement of the men who had played a part in the affairs of Portugal, for he considered it best to confine himself to the simple question before the Chamber. When the events of 1846 broke out, when the Queen adopted those measures which caused the civil war against the Queen, who had suspended, he would not say annihilated, the constitutional guarantees (Loud interruption.) He must beg honourable members to allow him to make use of such expressions as he thought best.--The Queen, by an illegal decree, had suspended the constitutional guarantees. An insurrection broke out against her. At that moment the Government declared in favour of the principle of non-intervention. That principle was the common right of nations and the duty of all Governments. They had immediately proclaimed it. They

had, however, interests at stake in Portugal which compelled them to be very close observers of what was going on. When they saw the Sovereign endeavour, even apparently, to force back a people which had just entered on the path of liberty into an absolute line of government, they felt presentiments of evil; they considered that a people which had just entered on a constitutional path should not be made to retrograde. Sovereigns who flattered themselves that they could pursue such conduct were deceived; and, if they affected to use the language of absolute power, they drew on themselves the same dangers and the same misfortunes as the absolute power itself. They had therefore proclaimed the principle of non-intervention. From October to January not a word was said contrary to that principle, but at the end of January three fresh facts arose. In the first place, the Miguelite party developed itself, and began to play an important part. That was a point which he should not attempt to establish by proofs gathered from interested parties, but from testimony given on the spot by persons the least suspected of being biassed by the acts of the Pretender himself. On the 14th of October the British Chargé d'Affaires at Lisbon informed his Government that a great movement was visible among the Miguelite masses; that formidable bands went through the country in the name of Don Miguel, and that a body of 1200 peasants had attacked a village, from which they drove all the authorities and the troops. On the 26th of November he again wrote that the English consul at Oporto had always led him to believe that the Miguelites gave no cause for

alarm, but that nevertheless that party was showing itself; that its agents were preparing for a coup de main, and that, if the Government did not take care, it would have to repent; for the strength of that party was every day increasing in a most alarming manner. On the 5th of March he again represented the Miguelite party as actively engaged in raising the people, and employing agents in every quarter, and on the 10th of April Don Miguel addressed a proclamation to his party, in which he spoke in high terms of his rights, his pretensions, and his hopes. These were acts which did not permit them to doubt but that the Miguelite party were concerned with the events which were taking place in Portugal. Don Miguel had left Rome; he had gone to London to be more within the reach of passing events, and that circumstance coincided with the manifestations made by his partisans. The Queen of Portugal had already demanded the support of the powers who had signed the quadruple treaty. These facts changed the state of affairs for them both in right and in fact-in right, because they called for the application of the treaty of the quadruple alliance, a special law for that part of Europe, for France, Spain, and England. It was easy at the present time not to attach any importance to that treaty, but it was their guarantee against the re-establishment of Carlism in Spain. The causes of Don Miguel at Lisbon, and of Don Carlos at Madrid, were closely united. One was never seen to rise up without the other, and, when the Government saw the Comté de Montemolin and Don Miguel both repair to London at the same time, it was