XXIX. 1832. Chamber, that in the first months of the year 1832 France CHAP. would have 500,000 regular troops and 1,000,000 national guards under arms, besides all the fortresses armed and provisioned; and so she had, but the cost occasioned an enormous addition to the public expenditure, which greatly swelled the general discontent. In truth, the expense was unavoidable, and was the necessary consequence of the change of government. The overthrow of Charles X. had excited a spirit, both in France and the adjoining states, which the new Government, how anxious soever, was unable to control. The revolution in Belgium, the democratic movements in Switzerland, the attack of the republicans on Spain, the overthrow of the government in Hesse-Cassel, had entirely done away with the prestige in favour of Louis Philippe which at first existed at the Continental courts, from his having interposed between them and a general convulsion. They doubted now, not his inclination, but his ability to restrain the movement, and all were rapidly arming in their own defence. Prussia took up arms to defend her provinces on the Rhine, Austria to protect her possessions in Italy, Russia to overawe the malcontents on the Vistula. France was placed by its own act in a state of antagonism with all Europe: its inhabitants had already discovered that though revolutions may be very exciting things, they are very expensive; and that a people which plays the part of knocker-down and putter-up of kings must be content to pay the charges contingent on the assumption of such a character. 23. of Notre Rue So general was the discontent excited by these circumstances, that it led to various plots among the Republicans Conspiracy in different parts of France. One, called the conspiracy Dame and of Notre Dame, consisted in an attempt, made by a dozen th Prouvaires. desperadoes, to set fire to that venerable pile, as a signal, Jan. 4. it was supposed, for a general insurrection in the capital. The flames took effect, and were with difficulty extin XXIX. 1832. Jan. 17. CHAP. guished. One of the incendiaries, arrested on the spot, being interrogated as to his profession, answered, “an émeutier." Twelve persons were seized in the cathedral under the most suspicious circumstances, but five only were convicted, and that only of the minor offence of concealing a conspiracy, which was only punishable with imprisonment. It appeared on the trial that the police had been warned, and taken no steps to prevent it. Shortly after, a more serious conspiracy was discovered, the centre of which was in the Rue Prouvaires, in which some partisans of the Royalists and leaders of the Napoleonists were engaged. The object of the conspirators, who were said to be connected with extensive ramifications in the neighbouring towns, was to march on the Tuileries and overturn the Government. The police had information all along from some traitors in the plot of what was going on, but they allowed it to proceed till the designs of the conspirators were approaching maturity. They then acted, and with such effect, that the chiefs, in number about two hundred, were arrested at their place of meeting in the Rue Prouvaires at midnight, after some resistance, in which a sergeant of police was killed, and several of the conspirators wounded. Paris was astonished vi. 72, 73; next morning by the report of so considerable an arrest iii. 168, 177. during the night, and the ringleaders were tried and convicted some months afterwards.1 1 Moniteur, Jan. 17, 1832; Cap. L. Blanc, 24. at Grenoble. These alarming symptoms in Paris were re-echoed Conspiracy by equally threatening notices from the provinces. At March 12. Toulon, Strasbourg, and Grenoble, there had, during the whole winter, been repeated altercations between the military and the citizens, in which it was observed that the national guard generally took part with the latter. At length, in the middle of March, matters came to a crisis in the latter city. A foolish dispute had got up there between the prefect and citizens about a masquerade of children and a masked ball, which he, dreading ulterior XXIX. 1832. designs, had prohibited.* Great discontent existed at CHAP. this act of authority, and cries of "A bad prefect!" were heard in the streets, where groups of murmuring and threatening malcontents were soon formed. The prefect, alarmed at these appearances, called out the military, and the générale beat to assemble the national guard; but as usual at that time, none obeyed the summons. Upon this, orders were given to the military to clear the streets. They advanced accordingly, with fixed bayonets, and several of the mob received wounds from that weapon before the assemblage was dispersed. No great mischief had been done on either side, but in the excited state of men's minds, extreme indignation arose among the people. The whole inhabitants rose, and were joined by vast multitudes from the country, and soon the prefect, whose firmness in presence of danger was not equal to his rashness in provoking it, was obliged to take refuge in his hotel, and the soldiers, to avoid a collision, were confined to their barracks. The national guard joined the insurgents; the city for two days was in their possession. Such was the threatening aspect of affairs, that General Hulot, who arrived with a regiment of dragoons and a iii. 193,205; battery of cannon from Lyons, deemed it expedient to 75; Ann. withdraw the obnoxious regiment from the city, which at 272, 274. length appeased the tumult.1 1 L. Blanc, Cap. vi. 74, Hist. xiv. to Ancona and its rea sons. These repeated outbreaks in so many different places 25. soon after each other, convinced Casimir Périer both of Expedition the futility of the National Guard as any security against resolved on, popular disturbances, and of the necessity of presenting some object of external interest to the French, to prevent them from perpetually brooding over their internal grievances. In Flanders, the avowed object of French predilection and ambition, any hostile expedition was coerced Three of the figures in the masquerade were meant to represent the budget, and two supplementary budgets; a circumstance which sufficiently proved the political character of the procession, but at which any man of sense, so as matters did not go farther, would only have laughed. VOL. V. N 1832. CHAP. by the jealous alliance of England, and the open hostility XXIX. of Prussia, whose battalions were assembling in warlike attitude on the banks of the Meuse. Italy, therefore, was the quarter where an exciting and interesting eruption could with least risk be made; and although it could not of course be attempted without awakening the jealousy of Austria, yet her hostility was less to be dreaded than that of England and Prussia, and her finances and military preparations were not in such a state as to render it probable that in any event she would actually draw the sword. An expedition to Italy was therefore resolved on, in the double view of presenting a distraction to French thought at home, and counteracting Austrian xv. 97, 99. influence abroad; and Ancona was the place to which it was determined to send the expeditionary force.1 1 Cap. vi. 14, 16; Ann. Hist. 26. State of affairs in Italy. May 21, 1831. 2 Ann. Hist. xiv. 534, 538; L. Blanc, iii. 179; Cap. vi. 12, 15. The situation of Italy at this period was such, it must be confessed, as to invite, and in a manner justify, such an intervention. Its inhabitants had never recovered the shock of the revolution of July, and such had been the agitation in the Roman States in particular, that, on the requisition of the papal government, the Austrians had, in the spring of 1831, moved a body of troops into Romagna, and Marshal Firmont, with 20,000 men, occupied Bologna.. The French government had remonstrated against that step; but its military preparations were at that period too incomplete to admit of any ulterior measure, and the Austrian troops remained in the Legations, where their presence, though not openly resisted, was a perpetual cause of irritation and discontent. Aware that this state of things could not long continue without inducing a rupture between them, France and Austria, with the concurrence of the other powers, by a joint note on May 21, 1831, invited his Holiness to appease the discontents of his subjects by introducing among them some of the reforms which were most ardently desired and seemed most reasonable.2 These were, that provincial assemblies, elected by a certain degree of popular choice, should be established to XXIX. 1832. regulate local concerns; that a central junta should be CHAP. organised to revise the administrative departments of the government; that laymen should be admitted to all its offices; and a council of state appointed, composed of the most respectable and eminent men in the nation. 27. ances in and Aus How reasonable soever these demands may appear to those who are accustomed to the actions of a constitu- Disturbtional government, they were far from meeting the views Romagna, of the Holy See, which was desirous, above all things, of trian interretaining the administration of affairs in the hands of ference. the ecclesiastics, and excluding every approach to popular control. Accordingly, although the pontifical court declared its willingness to make every concession which could reasonably be desired, yet the changes made, which were expressed as done ex proprio motu, were far from satisfying the general wish; chiefly because, though provincial assemblies were established, their members were chosen, not by popular election, but by the governors of provinces, and laymen were excluded from the government of the Legations. The public discontent, accordingly, so far from being appeased, went on continually increasing. At length matters reached such a crisis, and the disturbances in the Legations were so threatening, that on the 10th January 1832, the papal government an- Jan. 10, nounced to the ambassadors of the five powers the resolution they had taken of marching troops into the Legations, and disarming the civic guards. England strongly disapproved this step, but it was cordially approved by the other powers; and strange to say, the French ambassador, M. de St Aulaire, expressed his entire acquiescence in it. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, the inhabitants of Romagna were in such a state "S'il arrivait," disait l'ambassadeur de France, M. de St Aulaire, "que dans leur mission toute pacifique, les troupes exécutant les ordres de leur souverain rencontrassent une résistance coupable, et que quelques factieux osassent com. mencer une guerre civile aussi insensée dans son but que funeste dans ses résultats, le soussigné ne fait aucune difficulté à déclarer que ces hommes seraient considérés comme les plus dangereux ennemis de la paix générale, par le gouvernement Français."-Note de M. de St Aulaire, 10th January 1832. LOUIS BLANC, iii. 182. 1832. |