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IX.

1820.

CHAP. cast by M. de Chauvelin, who, though grievously ill, was carried into the Chamber, and decided the question by his vote. He was conveyed home in triumph by a vociferous mob, and became for a brief period the object of popular idolatry. The revolutionists were in transports, 37,38; Ann. and everywhere anticipated the immediate realisation of their hopes, by the defeat of the Government on so vital a question.1

1 Cap. vii.

Hist. iii.

139.

73.

In this extremity, Ministers made secret overtures to The amend the chiefs of the Doctrinaires, whose numbers, though Boin is car- small, were yet sufficient to cast the balance either way ried by Go- in the equally divided assembly. This overture proved

ment of M.

vernment.

entirely successful. A fresh amendment was proposed by M. Boin and M. Courvoisier on their part, and supported by the whole strength of the Government, the Right, and their adherents in the Centre. It was to this effect, that the Chamber of Deputies was to consist "of two hundred and fifty-eight members chosen by the arrondissements, and a hundred and seventy-two by the departments; the latter being chosen, not by the whole electors, but by a fourth of their number, composed of those who paid the highest amount of taxes." This was an immense change to the advantage of the aristocracy; for not only did it add a hundred and seventy members to this Chamber, but it added them of persons chosen by a fourth of the electors for each department paying the highest assessment in other words, by the richest proprietors. Nevertheless, so gratified were the Doctrinaires by getting quit of the much-dreaded double mode of election, or so sensible had they in secret become of its dangerous tendency, that they agreed to the compromise; and M. de Boin's amendment was carried by a majority of five, the numbers being a hundred and thirty to a hundred Moniteur, and twenty-five. Only five members were absent from 1820; Ann. the entire Chamber-an extraordinary circumstance, proving the unparalleled interest the question had excited. This victory was decisive; the waverers came

June 13,

Hist. iii.

128, 153.

round after it was gained; and the final division on the question showed a majority of ninety-five for Govern

ment.

CHAP.

IX.

1820.

74.

ances in

It soon appeared that this vehement strife in the Chamber was connected with still more important de- Disturbsigns out of doors-that they were linked with the revo Paris. lutions in progress in Spain, Portugal, and Italy; and June 5. that it was not without an ulterior object that Lafayette had invoked the tricolor flag, and thrown down the gauntlet, as it were, to the monarchy. No sooner was the news of the decisive vote in favour of the principle of the new law known in the capital than the most violent agitation commenced. M. Manuel and M. Benjamin Constant published an inflammatory address to the young men at the university and colleges; and the sinister omen of crowds collecting in the streets indicated the secret orders and menacing preparations of the central democratic committee. Seditious cries were heard; and so threatening did affairs soon appear, that the military were obliged to disperse them by force; and in the tumult a young student of law, named Lallemand, was shot, and died soon after. This unhappy event augmented the general excitement; the mobs assembled in still greater force, and the Government took serious precautions. The posts were everywhere doubled; the guards were drawn into Paris; large bodies of infantry and cavalry were Moniteur, stationed on the bridges in the Place Carrousel, and 1820; Ann. around the Chamber of Deputies; and proclamations 130, 136; were placarded in all directions, forbidding all assem- 323, 324. blages of persons even to the number of three.1

1

June 6,

Hist. iii.

Lam, vi.

come se

This proclamation was met by a counter one from the 75. democratic committee, which was affixed to the gates of which beall the colleges and schools, calling on the young men to rious. meet and avenge their comrade who had been slain. June 6. They did so accordingly; and, marching two and two, so as to avoid the literal infringement of the order of the police, formed a column of above five thousand persons,

1820.

CHAP. armed with large sticks and sword-canes, which debouched IX. upon the Place Louis XV., directly in front of the palace of the legislative body. The gates of the Tuileries and gardens were immediately closed, and the huge mass was driven, by repeated charges of cavalry, who behaved with the most exemplary forbearance, out of the Place. They immediately marched along the Boulevards towards the Faubourg St Antoine, where the immense masses of workmen, so well known in the worst days of the Revolution, were already prepared to receive them; and, returning from thence with numbers now swelled, by the idle and excited from every coffeehouse, to between thirty and forty thousand men, moved towards the Place de Grève 1 Moniteur, and Hôtel de Ville. The head of the column, however, 1820; Ann. was met on the way by a strong body of the gendarmerieà-cheval, which charged and dispersed it, upon which the whole body took to flight. Thirty or forty were made prisoners, and immediately lodged in custody.1

June 7, 8,

Hist. iii.

133, 135;

Lam. vi 324.

76.

mation on

in the Chamber

ties.

It may be readily imagined what use was made of these Loud decla- untoward events by the unscrupulous and impassioned the subject leaders of the Liberal party in the Chamber of Deputies. The loudest and most vehement complaints were made of Depu- against all concerned in the repression of the riots,-the Ministers, for having ordered the measures which led to their suppression; the military, gendarmerie, and police, for having executed them. Although the conduct of all the three had been prudent, forbearing, and exemplary in the highest degree, yet they were all overwhelmed by the most unmeasured obloquy. Not a whisper was breathed against the leaders or followers of the seditious assemblages, which had not only for days together kept the metropolis in alarm, but seriously menaced the monarchy. Still less was it observed by these impassioned declaimers, that a revolt of so serious a kind' had been stifled with the loss of a single life. "Blood," exclaimed M. Lafitte, "has never ceased, during eight days, to flow in Paris; a hundred thousand of its peaceable citizens

IX.

1820.

were charged, sabred, and trampled under the hoofs of CHAP. horses yesterday by the cuirassiers. The indignation of the capital is at its height; the agitation of the people is hourly increasing; tremble for the morrow." "Here is the blade of a sabre broken by a cut," exclaimed M. de Corcelles, holding up the fragment with a theatrical air. "Blood flows, and you refuse to hear us; it is infamous." The Ministers ably and energetically defended 1 Lam. vi. their measures; and the violence of the two parties be- 325, 327; came so great that the president, in despair, covered iii.139,142. himself, and broke up the meeting.1

Ann. Hist.

77.

These violent appeals, however, failed in the desired result, and their failure contributed more than any other Their sup circumstance to produce that adhesion of the Doctrinaires to the proposed electoral law, as modified by M. Boin, which led to its being passed into a law. A suppressed insurrection never fails, for the time at least, to strengthen the hands of government. In the present instance, the influence of that repression was enhanced, not only by the patience and temper of the armed force employed, and moderation of the Government in the subsequent prosecutions, but by another circumstance of decisive importance -the military had faithfully adhered to their duty. The utmost efforts had been made to seduce them, and failed of success. All the hopes of the insurgents were rested on their defection, and their steadiness made them despair of the cause. The leaders of the revolt saw that their attempt had been premature, that the military had not been sufficiently worked upon, and that the attempt must be adjourned. They let it die away accordingly at the moment, reserving their efforts for a future period. Although the crowds continued to infest the streets for several days, and great efforts were made at the funeral of Lallemand-who was buried with much solemnity, in presence of some thousand spectators, on the 9th-yet the danger was evidently past. The capital gradually became tranquil; the large majority of 95 in the Chamber

IX.

1820.

CHAP. of Deputies, on the last reading of the bill, passed almost without notice; and it was passed by a majority of 95 in the Peers, the numbers being, 141 to 56. The Government behaved with exemplary moderation, it may even be said timidity, in repressing this revolt. It was known that money had circulated freely among the insurgents, and it was known from whom it came. But it 1 Ann. Hist. Was deemed more prudent, now that the insurrection had i. 139,161; been surmounted, not to agitate the public mind by the 325, 327; trial of its leaders, and no further prosecutions were atCap. vii. 47, 49. tempted. It will appear in the sequel what return they made for this lenity, when the crisis of 1830 arrived.1

Lam, vi.

78.

This was the great struggle of the year, because it was The budget. a direct effort to supplant the Bourbon dynasty on the one hand, and establish it more firmly in the legislature on the other. Everything depended on the troops: if they had wavered when the insurgents marched on the Hôtel de Ville, on June 6th, it was all over, and 1820 would have been 1830. The remaining objects of the session, which involved the comparatively trifling matters of the public welfare or social happiness, excited scarcely any attention. The budget was voted with scarce any opposition. The gross revenue of the year was 8,741,087,000 francs; the net income, deducting the expense of collection, 739,712,000 francs, which showed a cost of above £5,000,000 in collecting an income of £30,000,000, or nearly 17 per cent-a very large proportion, but which is explained by the circumstance of the direct taxes, forming above a third of the whole, being exigible from above five millions of separate little proprietors. The expenditure was estimated at 511,371,000 francs, exclusive of the interest of the debt. Every branch of the public revenue exhibited symptoms of improvement, and the most unprecedented prosperity pervaded the country. It is a singular circumstance, iii. 175, 192. but highly characteristic of the real motives which actuated the Liberal opposition at this period, that this

Ann. Hist.

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