XXX. 1832. 9. the Ministry, and creation of peers. Oct. 11. CHAP. summer, than Louis Philippe began to look around him for a new combination, to give greater strength and consideration to the Administration of Marshal Soult, which Changes in had been constructed in haste to meet the exigencies of the past crisis. To effect this object he endeavoured to form a Ministry embracing persons of all shades of political opinion, but vesting the majority in the Doctrinaires, whose political opinions were more especially in accordance with those which had placed and could alone retain him upon the throne. Soult was President of the Council, Minister at War, and Prime Minister; the Duke de Broglie received the portfolio of Foreign Affairs; M. Hermann, that of the Finances; M. Thiers, of the Interior; and M. Guizot, that of Public Instruction. M. de Montalivet, the former Minister of the Interior, was degraded to the position of Administrator-General of the Civil List, a very subordinate situation. Finally, an ordonnance appeared next day creating sixty new peers, besides seven nominated since the close of the last session Oct. 12. -a fresh inundation, which completed the degradation of the dignified portion of the legislature. These repeated creations, which so effectually destroyed the consideration and weight of the peerage in the sister kingdom, leave no room for doubt that if the same measure, which was so 1 Moniteur, anxiously pressed upon the King of Great Britain by the 13, 1832; Liberal party, had been carried into effect, it would have effectually destroyed our mixed constitution, and forced us either into a despotic monarchy or an elective republic.1 Oct. 12 and Ann. Hist. xv. 214; Cap. vi. 281, 284. 10. Marshal Soult's cir prefects. Oct. 13. The accession of the new Ministry was followed by a remarkable circular, drawn up by M. Thiers, but addressed cular to the by Marshal Soult to the prefects, explanatory of the principles on which his Government was formed. “The political system of my predecessor," said he, "shall be mine; it is the national system; the Chambers have declared it. The maintenance of the monarchy and of the charter is the first condition of public liberty; but that liberty cannot CHAP. XXX. 1832. be secured till it is regular. It honours and secures itself by respect for the laws. Order within and peace without will be the best guarantees for its duration. France, therefore, may rely on my efforts to maintain order and peace. Within, the Government has need of all your courage and wisdom. Every attempt at disorder should be energetically repressed. Measures are in progress which will effectually efface every trace of disorder in the western departments. Anarchy has been conquered in Paris, on the 5th and 6th of June, by the courage and devotion of the troops of the line, and of the National Guard. The factions in those deplorable days have unveiled at once their audacity and their weakness. None of their projects are either unknown to the Government or feared by it. Sedition will find the country unanimous in the desire to give to Government all the support of which it stands in need. In concert with the powers in alliance with us, we will press forward the solution of the great European questions. Our armies, ardent but docile, lend to moderation the support of force. Europe knows it; but it knows, at the same time, our fidelity to our engagements, and our firm determination to preserve the peace of the world. Government will not be wanting to its duty; but it is in the Circulaire country above all that it has confidence. If success crown Oct. 13, our efforts, it will be owing to its patriotism. It is my vi. 368, 370. old custom to refer everything to the honour of France."1 1 du M.Soult, 1832; Cap. views of the cans. The Republicans meanwhile, though defeated, were not 11. subdued, but the disaster they had met with induced, as State and usual in such circumstances, a change in their system of Republiattack. Conquered in the public streets, they took refuge in secret societies and the affiliation of clubs. Republicanism had then its catacombs, as Christianity, from the same cause, had had during the persecutions of the Roman emperors. These secret societies had existed both in XXX. 1832. CHAP. France and the neighbouring states during the Restoration; but they had fallen into comparative disuse during the license of open hostility which followed the Revolution of July. Now, however, that the strength of the Government had been felt, and its existence seemed likely to be prolonged, the democrats resumed their efforts by means of these affiliated societies; and it was by means of them that the contest was chiefly conducted during the remainder of the reign of Louis Philippe. Their efforts, however, were now less shrouded in secresy than formerly; they included a greater number of persons, and were directed chiefly to extend in the manufactories and workshops their principles, and gain there the supporters who might overturn the Government. The great organ particular, of these secret societies was the Liberal press; and every Sunday it spoke in language sufficiently intelligible, but still not cognisable by the law-the language of measured agitation and legal treason.1 1 See, in Le Bon Sens, Sept. and Oct. 1832. 12. Everything at this period seemed to favour Louis Death of Philippe, and promised stability to his reign. Hardly Reichstadt. had the catastrophe of the Chateau of Blaye confounded 1832. the Legitimists, and the suppression of the insurrection in the Duke of July 22, Paris dashed the hopes of the Republicans, when a new event occurred, which deprived the third great party in the State of its natural head and most formidable prestige. On the 30th July the telegraph announced that the Duke of Reichstadt, only legitimate son of Napoleon, had expired at Schoenbrunn, near Vienna, on the 22d of that month. This amiable and interesting young man, born to such destinies, involved in such a fall, had, since his transference on the removal of the French Emperor to Elba, been under the care of his grandfather, the Emperor of Austria, by whom his youthful years had been kindly and sedulously tended. He retained, however, a faint recollection of the scenes of his infancy, and the catastrophe which had precipitated his father from the throne; XXX. 1832. and when he reached the years of adolescence, and read CHAP. the story of the immortal hero whose blood ran in his veins, much of his father's spirit reappeared in his character, despite all the prudence and precautions of his Austrian educator. He had already received a regiment from his grandfather, and had worn the Austrian uniform but his heart was with the French; and his youthful cheek fired with enthusiasm when he read the accounts of their glorious achievements, when led by his father's genius. He early evinced a strong predilection for military operations, and no small amount of military talent and enthusiasm ; but these very qualities, coinciding with a feeble and consumptive constitution, shortened his life. In the end of 1831, the symptoms became so alarming that he was removed from Vienna to Schoenbrunn, and during the spring of the following year, he was so weak that he could only enjoy the fresh air by being drawn in a garden-chair through its charming pleasure-grounds. When the last hour approached, he received the sacrament, according to the custom of the imperial family, with his mother and all his relations, dressed in white as for a bridal day; and on the 22d July he calmly breathed his last, amidst his weeping relatives, with a smile, even in death, still on his features. He carried with him to the tomb the greatest inheritance of modern times, and was interred in the family vault of the house of Hapsburg, in the convent of the Capuchins at Vienna. A simple Latin inscription on his tomb re- 1 Moniteur, cords his glorious destiny, striking qualities, and prema- 1832; Cap. ture end; but they would perhaps be better expressed vi. 356, 357; in the brief and plaintive inscription of the Courtenay xv.343,344. family, "Quomodo lapsus! quid feci?" The session of the Chambers opened on the 19th November, and the King, who presided in person, was loudly applauded in going and returning from the hall. July 30, Ann. Hist. 1832. 13. the Cham bers, and King's speech. Nov. 19. CHAP. An attempt at assassination was, however, made by a desperado at the extremity of the Pont Royal, who fired at the King. Happily the shot did not take effect; and Opening of the King said calmly, "It is nothing; there is no mischief done," and continued his progress as if nothing had occurred. In the speech from the throne, after alluding to the Legitimist insurrection in the west, and the Republican in Paris, he observed, "A recent event, decisive for the public peace, has destroyed the hopes of the former party." He dwelt with just pride on the brilliant display at Antwerp, where the flags of England and France floated together at the mouth of the Scheldt, and in which his two sons bore a part; and concluded with these words, entirely in harmony with the circular of the Prime Minister: "Yet a few efforts, and the last traces of disquietude, inseparable from a great revolution, will be effaced. The feeling of stability will re-enter all minds; France will regain confidence in its future, and then will be realised the dearest wish of my heart-that of Moniteur, seeing my country raised to the pitch of prosperity to 1832; Ann. which it is entitled to aspire, and of being enabled to say Nov. 20, Hist. xv. 225. 14. strength in ber. with truth, that my efforts have not been wholly without effect in working out its destinies." 1 The first trial of strength, as usual, took place on the Trials of choice of a president for the Chamber; and the vote then the Cham- showed how much strength the Government had gained by recent events. M. Lafitte, the Opposition candidate, had only 136 votes, while M. Dupin, who was the Ministerial, had 234. The election for the vice-presidents was equally decisive: MM. Berenger and Delessert, who were supported by Government, had 270 and 255 respectively; while MM. de Schonen and Dupont de l'Eure, the Opposition candidates, had only 179 and 136. The orator of Government, M. de Sade, expressed, in the debate on the address, the general feeling, and the causes which had led to this large majority, in these words : |