the deans of faculty, of the provost of the royal college of the Head
Town, or of the oldest provost if there are more than one royal college;
and of at least three of the principal inhabitants, selected by our
Royal Council of Public Instruction.
6. The bishop and prefect will be members of this council, and will have
votes in the meetings, above the rector.
7. The council of the University can visit, whenever they consider it
proper to do so, the royal and district colleges, the institutes,
boarding-schools, and other seminaries of instruction, through two
appointed inspectors; who will report on the state of teaching and
discipline within the jurisdiction of the University, according to the
instructions delivered to them.
The number of inspectors for the University of Paris may amount to six.
8. The council will select each of these inspectors from two candidates
recommended by the rector.
9. The council will also select, each from two candidates recommended by
the rector, the provosts, the censors or inspectors of studies, the
professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and higher mathematics, the
chaplains, and bursars of the royal colleges.
10. The inspectors of the Universities will be selected from the
provosts, the superintendent-masters, the professors of philosophy,
rhetoric, and mathematics of the royal colleges, and from the head
masters of the district colleges; the superintendent-masters in the
royal colleges will be chosen from the professors of philosophy,
rhetoric, or superior mathematics in the same colleges.
11. The council of the University can revoke, if they see cause, any
appointment they may make: in these cases their resolutions must be
notified and accounted for, and cannot take effect until sanctioned by
our Royal Council of Public Instruction.
12. No one can establish an institution or a boarding-school, or become
head of an institution or a boarding-school already established,
without having been previously examined and duly qualified by the
council of the University, and unless their qualification has been
approved of by the Royal Council of Public Instruction.
13. The council of the University will examine and decide on the
accounts of the faculties, and of the royal colleges; they will also
examine the accounts of general expenditure handed in by the rector,
and, after having decided on them, will transmit the same to our Royal
Council of Public Instruction.
14. The council will keep a registry of its proceedings, and will
forward a copy once a month to our Royal Council.
15. In public ceremonies, the council will rank after the Council of
Prefecture.
Section 2.
_Of the Rectors of Universities._
16. The rectors of the Universities are appointed by us, each selected
from three candidates presented by our Royal Council of Public
Instruction, and chosen from rectors already appointed, from
inspectors-general of study, of whom we shall speak hereafter, from the
professors of faculty, the professors of the Universities, the provosts,
the censors, and the professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior
mathematics in the royal colleges.
17. The rectors of the Universities appoint the professors, doctors of
faculty, and masters in all the colleges, with the exception of the
professors of philosophy, rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the
royal colleges, who are appointed as already named in Article 9.
18. The rectors will select the candidates from amongst the professors,
doctors of faculty, and masters already employed in the old or new
establishments of education, or from the pupils of the Normal School,
who, having completed their courses, have received the degree of
Professor-Substitute.
19. The professors and doctors of faculty thus appointed can only be
removed by the council of the University upon the explained proposition
of the rector.
20. The professors and doctors of faculty, appointed by one or more
rectors, not being those of the Universities in which they are actually
employed, can choose the University and select the employment they may
prefer; but they are bound to notify their decision, one month before
the commencement of the scholastic year, to the rector of the University
to which they belong.
21. The pupils of the Normal School selected by rectors not belonging to
the University from whence they were sent, have the same privilege of
option, on giving similar notice.
22. The rector of the University will preside, whenever he thinks
proper, at the examinations which precede the conferring of degrees in
the different faculties.
23. The rector has the entire charge of correspondence.
24. He will lay before the council of the University all matters that
require to be submitted to them, appoint the reporters, if necessary,
regulate the order of discussion, and sign the resolutions.
25. If opinions are equally divided, he has the casting vote.
Section 3.
_Of the Faculties._
26. The number and composition of the Faculties in each University are
settled by us, on the proposition of our Royal Council of Public
Instruction.
27. The faculties are placed immediately under the authority, direction,
and supervision of that Council.
28. The Council appoints their deans, each from two candidates, who will
be nominated for selection.
29. It appoints the professors for life, each from four candidates, two
of whom must be presented by the faculty in which a chair has become
vacant, and the other two by the council of the University.
30. Over and above the special teaching with which they are charged, the
faculties will confer, after examination, and according to the
established rules, the degrees which are or may become necessary for the
various ecclesiastical, political, and civil functions and professions.
31. The diplomas of degrees are issued in our name, signed by the dean,
and countersigned by the rector, who can refuse his _visa_ if he has
reason to think that the prescribed conditions have not been correctly
observed.
32. In the Universities which as yet have no faculties of science or
literature, the degree of Bachelor in Letters may be conferred after the
prescribed examinations by the provost, the inspector of studies, and
the professors of philosophy and rhetoric of the royal college of the
Head Town of the district. The inspector of studies will perform the
functions of dean; he will sign the diplomas, and will take his place in
the sittings of the councils of the University, after the provost.
Section 4.
_Of the Royal and District Colleges._
33. The Royal Colleges are governed by a provost, and the District
Colleges by a principal.
34. The provosts and principals will execute and cause to be executed
the regulations regarding instruction, discipline, and compatibility.
35. The administration of the royal college of the Head Town is placed
under the immediate superintendence of the rector and the council of the
University.
36. All the other colleges, royal or provincial, are placed under the
immediate superintendence of a committee of administration composed of
the sub-prefect, the mayor, and at least three of the principal
inhabitants of the place, appointed by the council of the University.
37. This committee will propose, in each case, two candidates to the
rector, who will select from them the principals of the local colleges.
38. The principals, thus appointed, can only be removed by the council
of the University, upon the proposition of the committee, and by the
decision of the rector.
39. The Committee of Administration will examine and decide on the
accounts of the local colleges.
40. The Committee will also examine and decide on the accounts of the
royal colleges, except only on those of the royal college of the Head
Town, and will transmit them to the council of the University.
41. The Committee will also keep a register of its proceedings, and
transmit the same once in every month to the council of the University.
42. The president of this Committee will be the sub-prefect, or, in his
absence, the mayor.
43. The bishops and prefects are members of all the Committees in their
diocese or department; and when present they will have votes above the
presidents.
44. The heads of institutions and masters of boarding-schools
established within the boundaries of cities or towns in which there are
either royal or local colleges, are required to send their boarders as
day-scholars to the classes of the said colleges.
45. The second Ecclesiastical School which has been or may be
established in each department, in virtue of our decree of ..., is
excepted from this obligation: but the said school cannot receive
day-scholars of any description.
TITLE III.
_Of the Normal School._
46. Each University will send, every year, to the Normal School at
Paris, a number of pupils proportioned to the necessities of education.
This number will be regulated by our Royal Council of Public
Instruction.
47. The council of the University will select these pupils from those
who, having finished their courses in rhetoric and philosophy, are
intended, with the consent of their relatives, for public teachers.
48. The pupils sent to the Normal School will remain there three years,
after which they will be examined by our Royal Council of Public
Instruction, who will deliver to them, on approbation, the brevet of
Professor-Substitute.
49. The pupils who have received this brevet, if not summoned by the
rector of other Universities, will return to that to which they
originally belonged, where they will be placed by the rector, and
advanced according to their capacity and services.
50. The head master of the Normal School will hold the same rank, and
exercise the same prerogatives, with the rectors of the Universities.
TITLE IV.
_Of the Royal Council of Public Instruction._
51. Our Royal Council of Public Instruction will be composed of a
president and eleven councillors appointed by us.
52. Two of this number will be selected from the clergy, two from our
State Council, or from the Courts, and the seven others from individuals
who have become eminent for their talents or services in the cause of
public instruction.
53. The president of our Royal Council is alone charged with the
correspondence; he will introduce all subjects of discussion to the
Council, name the reporters, if necessary, establish the order of
debate, sign and despatch the resolutions, and see them carried into
effect.
54. In case of an equal division of opinions, he will have the casting
vote.
55. Conformably with Article 3 of the present decree, our Royal Council
will prepare, arrange, and promulgate the general regulations concerning
instruction and discipline.
56. The Council will prescribe the execution of these rules to all the
Universities, and will watch over them through the Inspectors-General of
Studies, who will visit the Universities whenever directed by the
Council to do so, and will report on the state of all the schools.
57. The number of the Inspectors will be twelve; that is to say, two for
the faculties of law, two for those of medicine, and the remaining eight
for the faculties of science and literature and for the royal and local
colleges.
58. The Inspectors-General of Studies will be appointed by us, each
being selected from three candidates proposed by our Royal Council of
Public Instruction, and who will have been chosen from amongst the
rectors and inspectors of the Universities, the deans of faculty, the
provosts, the censors of study, and the professors of philosophy,
rhetoric, and superior mathematics in the royal colleges.
59. On the report of the Inspectors-General of Studies, our Royal
Council will give such instructions to the councils of the Universities
as may appear essential; they will detect abuses, and provide the
necessary reforms.
60. The Council will furnish us with an annual account of the state of
public instruction throughout our kingdom.
61. It will propose all such measures as may be considered suitable to
advance instruction, and for which it may be requisite to appeal to our
authority.
62. It will induce and encourage the production of such books as may
still be wanting for general purposes of education, and will decide on
those which are to be preferred.
63. It will remove, if necessary, the deans of faculty, and will propose
to us the removal of the rectors of Universities.
64. It will examine and decide on the accounts of the general
administration of the Universities.
65. The Normal School is placed under the special authority of the Royal
Council; the Council can either appoint or remove the administrators and
masters of that establishment.
66. The Council holds the same rank with our Court of Appeal and Court
of Accounts, and will take place, in all public ceremonies, immediately
after the last-named.
67. It will keep a registry of all its proceedings, and will deposit a
copy with our Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the
Interior, who will furnish us with an account of the same, and on whose
report we shall exercise the right of reforming or annulling them.
TITLE V.
_Of Receipts and Expenses._
68. The tax of one-twentieth on the expenses of studies, imposed upon
the pupils of colleges and schools, is abolished from the date of the
publication of the present decree.
69. Excepting always: 1. The charges for terms, examinations, and
degrees, applied to the benefit of the faculties; 2. The subscriptions
paid by the pupils of the royal and local colleges for the advantage of
those establishments; 3. The annual contributions of the heads of
seminaries and boarding-schools, for the use of the Universities.
70. The townships will continue to supply the funds for scholars on the
foundation, and the sums they have hitherto contributed under the title
of help to their colleges: with this object, the total of these sums, as
also of the burses, will be included in their respective budgets with
the fixed expenses; and no deviation whatever from this will take place,
unless previously submitted to our Royal Council of Instruction.
71. The townships will also continue to supply and keep in repair the
buildings requisite for the Universities, the faculties, and colleges.
72. The councils of the Universities will settle the budgets for the
colleges and faculties.
73. The faculties and royal colleges, of which the receipts exceed the
expenses, will apply the surplus to the treasury of the University.
74. The councils of the universities will receive the annual
contributions of the heads of seminaries and boarding schools.
75. They will manage the property belonging to the University of France
situated in the district of each provincial university, and will collect
the revenue.
76. In case the receipts of the faculties, or those assigned for the
expenses of general administration, should prove inadequate, the
councils of the universities will make a distinct requisition, and will
state the sums required to replace each deficiency.
77. This requisition will be addressed to our Royal Council of Public
Instruction, who will transmit it, with suggestions, to our Minister the
Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.
78. The expenses of the faculties and Universities, as settled by our
Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior, will
be paid on his order from our Royal Treasury.
79. There will also be paid from our Royal Treasury, in like manner--1,
the expenses of our Royal Council of Public Instruction; 2, those of the
Normal School; 3, the Royal donations.
80. For these purposes the annual income of 400,000 francs, forming the
appanage of the University of France, is placed at the disposal of our
Minister the Secretary of State for the department of the Interior.
81. Further, and in provisional replacement of the tax abolished by Art.
68 of this present Decree, our Minister the Secretary of State for the
department of the Interior, is authorized by us for the promotion of
public instruction in our kingdom, during the year 1815, to apply to the
Minister of our Household, who will place at his disposal the sum of one
million, to be deducted from the funds of our Civil List.
82. The funds proceeding from the reduction of one twenty-fifth of the
appointments in the University of France, will be applied to retiring
pensions; our Royal Council is charged to propose to us the most
eligible mode of appropriating this fund, and also to suggest the means
of securing a new one for the same purpose, in all the universities.
TITLE VI.
_Temporary Arrangements._
83. The members of our Royal Council of Public Instruction, who are to
be selected in conformity with Art. 52, the inspectors-general of
studies, the rectors and inspectors of universities, will be appointed
by us, in the first instance, from amongst all those who have been or
are now actually employed in the different educational establishments.
The conditions of eligibility settled by that Article, as also by
Articles 10, 16, and 58, apply to situations which may hereafter become
vacant.
84. The members of suppressed universities and societies, who have taken
degrees as professors in the old faculties, or who have filled the posts
of superiors and principals of colleges, or chairs of philosophy or
rhetoric, as also councillors, inspectors-general, rectors and
inspectors of academies, and professors of faculties in the University
of France, who may find themselves out of employment by the effect of
the present decree, are eligible to all places whatever.
85. The fixed salaries of the deans and professors of faculties, and
those of the provosts, inspectors of studies, and professors in the
Royal colleges are not to be altered.
86. The deans and professors of the faculties that will be continued,
the provosts and doctors of faculty of the district colleges at present
in office, are to retain the same rights and privileges, and will be
subject to the same regulations of repeal, as if they had been appointed
in pursuance of the present decree.
We hereby inform and command our courts, tribunals, prefects, and
administrative bodies to publish and register these presents wherever
they may deem it necessary to do so. Moreover we direct our
attorneys-general and prefects to see that this is done, and to certify
the same; that is to say, the courts and tribunals to our Chancellor,
and the prefects to our Minister the Secretary of State for the
department of the Interior.
Given at Paris, in our Castle of the Tuileries, February 17, in the year
of grace 1815, and in the twentieth of our reign.
(Signed) LOUIS.
By the King; the Minister Secretary of State for the Interior.
(Signed) THE ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU.
No. VII.
_Note drawn up and laid before the King and Council in August 1816, on
the question of dissolving the Chamber of 1815; by M. Laine, Minister of
the Interior._
It being considered probable that the King may be obliged to dissolve
the Chamber after its assembly, let us consider what will be the
consequences.
Dissolution during the session is an extreme measure. It is a sort of
appeal made in the midst of passions in full conflict. The causes which
lead to it, the feelings of resentment to which it will give rise, will
spread throughout France.
The convocation of a new Chamber will require much time, and will render
it almost impossible to introduce a budget this year. To hold back the
budget until the first month of the year ensuing, is to run the risk of
seeing the deficit increase and the available resources disappear.
This would in all probability render us incapable of paying the
foreigners.
After such an unusual dissolution, justified by the danger which the
Chamber may threaten, it is difficult to suppose that the electoral
assemblies would be tranquil. And if agitation should exhibit itself,
the return of the foreigners is to be apprehended from that cause. The
dread of this consequence, in either case, will induce the King to
hesitate; and whatever attempts may be made to disturb the public peace
or to assail the Royal authority, his Majesty's heart, in the hope that
such evils would be merely transitory, will decide with reluctance on
such an extreme remedy as dissolution.
If then, the necessity of dissolving the Chamber becomes pressing, will
it not be better, before it meets, to adopt means of preserving us from
this menacing disaster?
The renewal of one-fifth of the members, which, under any circumstances,
seems to me indispensable to carry out the Charter, and which I regret
to say we too much neglected in the month of July 1815, will scarcely
diminish the probable necessity of dissolution.
The members returned for the fourth series are, with a few exceptions,
moderate; they have no disposition whatever to disturb public repose, or
interfere with the Royal prerogative, which alone can maintain order by
giving confidence to all classes. The other four-fifths remain
unchanged; the apprehended dangers are consequently as imminent.
This consideration induces me to recommend the adoption of a measure
which might facilitate a complete return to the Charter, by recalling
the decree of the 13th of July, which infringed it in the articles of
age and number, and has also reduced to problems many more of its
conditions.
This measure would be to summon, by royal letters, only such deputies as
have reached the age of forty, and according to the number stipulated in
the Charter.
To effect this, we should choose the deputies who have been first named
in each electoral college. We should thus pay a compliment to the
electors by summoning those who appear to hold the most distinguished
places in their confidence.
It is true it will be said that the Chamber not being dissolved, the
present deputies have a kind of legal possession.
But the electors and the deputies they have chosen, only hold their
power from the Decree.
The same authority which conferred that power can recall it by revoking
the Decree.
The King in his opening speech appeared to say that it was only owing to
an extraordinary circumstance that he had assembled round the throne a
greater number of deputies. That extraordinary circumstance has passed
away. Peace is made, order is re-established, the Allies have retired
from the heart of France and from the Capital.
This idea furnishes an answer to the objection that the operations of
the Chamber are nullified.
The King had the power of making it what it is, in consequence of
existing circumstances.
The Chamber of Deputies does not alone make the laws. The Chamber of
Peers, and the King, who in France is the chief branch of the
legislative body, have co-operated in that enactment.
If this objection could hold good in the present case, it would equally
hold good in all the rest. In fact, either after the dissolution, or
under any other circumstances, the King will return to the Charter, in
regard to age and number. On this hypothesis, it might be said that the
operations of the existing Chamber are nullified. Article 14 of the
Charter could always be explained by the extraordinary circumstances,
and its complete re-establishment by the most sacred motives. To return
to the Charter without dissolution is not then to nullify the operations
of the Chamber more than to return to the Charter after dissolution.
Will it be said that the King is not more certain of a majority after
the proposed reduction than at present? I reply that the probability is
greatly increased.
An assembly less numerous will be more easily managed; reason will be
more readily attended to. The Royal authority which is exercised in the
reduction will be increased and secured.
Again, in the event of a dissolution, would the King be more certain of
a majority? How many chances are against this! On one side the ultras,
whose objection to transfer a portion of the Royal authority to what
they call the aristocracy, occupy nearly all the posts which influence
the operations of the electoral assemblies. On the other, they will be
vehemently opposed by the partisans of a popular liberty not less
hostile to the Kingly power. The struggles which will take place at the
electoral assemblies, will be repeated in the Chamber, and what
description of majority will emanate from such a contest?
If the plan of reduction appears inadmissible;--if on the other hand, it
should be decided that the hostile spirit of the Chamber compels the
dissolution after convocation;--I should not hesitate to prefer
immediate dissolution to the danger which seems so likely to arise from
dissolution after assembly.
But if immediate dissolution were to lead to the forming of a new
Chamber animated by the same spirit and views, it would then become
necessary to find remedies, to preserve the Royal authority, and to save
France from the presence of foreigners.
The first method would be to sacrifice the Ministers, who are ready to
lay down their places and their lives to preserve the King and France.
The above notes are exclusively founded on the probable necessity of
dissolution after the Chamber is convoked.
This measure will become necessary if, under the pretext of amendments,
the King's wishes are trifled with; if the budget should be thrown out,
or too long delayed; or if the amendments or propositions are of a
nature to alarm the country, and in consequence to call in the
foreigners.
The customs adopted during the last session, the bills announced, the
acrimony exhibited, the evidences we have thence derived, the hostility
already prepared by ambitious disturbers, the determination evinced to
weaken the Kingly authority by declaiming against the modified
centralization of government, all supply powerful reasons for expecting
the probable occurrences which will necessitate the dissolution of the
Chamber.
Taking another view, it ought not to be easily believed that a few
misguided Frenchmen, compromising the fortune of their country by
continuing to oppose the Royal authority, may go the length of exposing
themselves to the double scourge of foreign invasion and civil war, or
that they be content with the loss of certain provinces through
imprudent propositions, legally unjust, or....
Are we permitted to hope that in presenting such bills as religion and
devotion to the King and the country may inspire us to frame, these
bills will not be rejected?
Shall we be enabled to draw up these bills in such a manner as to
convince the Session and the world that malevolent opposition alone can
defeat them?
Notwithstanding the great probabilities that the dissolution may become
necessary, the danger would be less formidable, if the King, at the
opening of the session, were to express his wishes energetically; if he
were to issue previous decrees, revoking all that has not been yet
carried out in the Decrees of July 1815; if, above all, after having
declared his will by solemn acts, his Majesty would firmly repeat those
acts in the the immediate vicinity of the throne, by removing from his
person all those who might be inclined to misrepresent or oppose his
wishes.
To avoid resistance and contest, would the following plan be available?
When the bills, the decrees, and the other regulations are ready, would
it be suitable for the King to hold an Extraordinary Council, to which
he should summon the Princes of the Royal family, the Archbishop of
Rheims, etc. Let all the bills to be brought forward be discussed and
settled in that Council, and let the Princes and the chief Bishops
declare which of these are to be adopted by unanimous consent. If, after
this Council, all the great and influential personages summoned by his
Majesty were to announce that such was the common wish of the King and
the whole of the Royal family, France would perhaps be saved.
But the great remedy lies in the King's pleasure. Let that once be
manifested, and let its execution be recommended by his Majesty to all
who surround him, and the danger disappears.
"Domine dic tantum verbum, et sanabitur Gallia tua!"
No. VIII.
_Correspondence between the Viscount de Chateaubriand, the Count
Decazes, Minister of General Police, and M. Dambray, Chancellor of
France, on occasion of the seizure of 'Monarchy according to the
Charter,' in consequence of an infraction of the laws and regulations
relative to printing. September, 1816._
1. OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE SEIZURE.
_October 19th, 1816._
On the 18th of September, in execution of the warrant of his Excellency,
dated on that day, authorizing the seizure of a work entitled, 'Of
Monarchy according to the Charter,' by M. de Chateaubriand, printed by
Le Normant, Rue de Seine, No. 8, and which work had been on sale without
the deposit of five copies having been made at the office for the
general regulation of the book-trade, I went, with Messrs. Joly and
Dussiriez, peace-officers and inspectors, to the house of the abovenamed
M. Le Normant, where we arrived before ten o'clock in the morning.
M. Le Normant admitted to us that he had given notice of the work of
M. de Chateaubriand, but that he had not yet deposited the five copies.
He affirmed that on the same morning, at nine o'clock, he had sent to
the office for the general regulation of bookselling, but that he was
told that the office was not open. Of this he produced no proof.
He admitted that he had printed two thousand copies of this work,
intending to make a fresh declaration, the first having only been for
fifteen hundred copies; that he had delivered several hundreds copies to
the author; that, finally, he had transmitted others on sale to the
principal booksellers of the Palais-Royal, Delaunay, Petit, and Fabre.
While I was drawing up a report of these facts and statements,
M. de Wilminet, peace-officer, came in with an individual in whose hands
he had seen, near the Bridge of the Arts, the work now in question, at
the moment when the person, who says his name is Derosne, was looking
over the title. M. Derosne has admitted that he bought it for four
francs, on the same day, the 18th, at about nine and a half in the
morning. This copy has been deposited in our hands, and M. Le Normant
has reimbursed the cost to M. Derosne.
We seized, in the second warehouse on the first floor, thirty stitched
copies which we added to that of M. Derosne. In the workshops on the
ground-floor, I seized a considerable quantity of printed sheets of the
same work, which M. Le Normant estimates at nine thousand sheets; and
thirty-one printing-forms which had been used for printing these sheets.
As it was sufficiently proved, both by facts and the admissions of the
printer, that the work had been offered for sale before the five copies
were deposited, we took possession of the stitched copies, the sheets,
and the forms. The sheets were subsequently piled up in a carriage in
the courtyard, and the stitched volumes made into a parcel, were
deposited at the foot of the staircase at the entrance of the house. The
forms, to the number of thirty-one, were placed under the steps of the
garden, tied together with cord. Our seal had been already placed on the
top, and M. de Wilminet prepared to affix it also on the lower parts.
All this was done without the slightest disturbance or opposition, and
with a perfect respect for the authorities.
Suddenly tumultuous cries were heard at the bottom of the entrance
court. M. de Chateaubriand arrived at that moment, and questioned some
workmen who surrounded him. His words were interrupted by cries of "Here
is M. de Chateaubriand!" The workshops resounded with his name; all the
labouring men came out in a crowd and ran towards the court, exclaiming,
"Here is M. de Chateaubriand! M. de Chateaubriand!" I myself distinctly
heard the cry of "Long live M. de Chateaubriand!"
At the same instant a dozen infuriated workmen arrived at the gate of
the garden, where I then was with M. de Wilminet and two inspectors,
engaged in finishing the seals on the forms. They broke the seals and
prepared to carry off the forms; they cried loudly and with a
threatening air, "Long live the liberty of the press! Long live the
King!" We took advantage of a moment of silence to ask if any order had
arrived to suspend our work. "Yes, yes, here is our order. Long live the
liberty of the press!" cried they with violent insolence: "Long live the
King!" They approached close to us to utter these cries. "Well" said I
to them, "if there is such an order, so much the better; let it be
produced;" and we all said together, "You shall not touch these forms,
until we have seen the order." "Yes, yes," cried they again, "there is
an order; it comes from M. de Chateaubriand, he is a Peer of France. An
order from M. de Chateaubriand is worth more than one from the
Minister." Then they repeated violently the cries of "Long live the
liberty of the press! Long live the King!"
In the meantime, the peace-officers and inspectors continued to guard
the articles seized or sequestered, and prevented their being carried
off. They took the parcel of stitched copies from the hands of a workman
who was bearing it away.
The peace-officer who was affixing the seals, being compelled by
violence to suspend the operation, addressed M. de Chateaubriand, and
asked him if he had an order from the Minister. He replied, with
passion, that an order from the Minister was nothing to him; he came to
oppose what was going on; he was a Peer of France, the defender of the
Charter, and particularly forbade anything to be taken away. "Moreover,"
he added, "this proceeding is useless and without object; I have
distributed fifteen thousand copies of this work through all the
different departments." The workmen then repeated that the order of
M. de Chateaubriand was worth more than that of the Minister, and
renewed, more violently than before, their cries of "Long live the
liberty of the press! M. de Chateaubriand for ever! Long live the King!"
The peace-officer was surrounded. A man of colour, appearing much
excited, said to him violently, "The order of M. de Chateaubriand is
worth more than that of the Minister." Tumultuous cries were renewed
round the peace-officer. I left the garden, leaving the forms in charge
of the inspectors, to advance towards that side. During my passage,
several workmen shouted violently, "Long live the King!" I held out my
hand as a sign of peace, to keep at a respectful distance those who were
disposed to come too near; and replied by the loyal cry of "Long live
the King!" to the same shout uttered in a seditious spirit by the
bewildered workmen.
M. de Chateaubriand was at this time in the entrance court, apparently
intent on preventing the carriage laden with the sheets of his work from
departing for its destination. I ascended the staircase for the purpose
of signifying to M. Le Normant that it would be better for him to second
my orders by using whatever influence he might possess over his workmen,
so as to induce them to return to their workshops; and to let him know
before them that he would be held responsible for what might happen.
M. de Chateaubriand appeared at the foot of the staircase, and uttered,
in a very impassioned tone, with his voice vehemently raised, in the
midst of the workmen, who appeared to second him enthusiastically,
nearly the following words:--
"I am a Peer of France. I do not acknowledge the order of the Ministry;
I oppose it in the name of the Charter, of which I am the defender, and
the protection of which every citizen may claim. I oppose the removal of
my work. I forbid the transport of these sheets. I will only yield to
force, and when I see the gendarmes."
Immediately, raising my voice to a loud tone, and extending my arm from
the first landing-place of the staircase on which I then stood, I
replied to him who had just manifested to myself formally and personally
his determined resistance to the execution of the orders of his
Majesty's minister, and had thereby shown that he was the real exciter
of the movements that had taken place; I said--
"And I, in the name and on the part of the King, in my quality of
Commissary of Police, appointed by his Majesty, and acting under the
orders of his Excellency the Minister of General Police, demand respect
for constituted authority. Let everything remain untouched; let all
tumult cease, until the arrival of fresh orders which I expect from his
Excellency."
While I uttered these words, profound silence was maintained. Calm had
succeeded to tumult. Soon after, the gendarmes arrived. I then ordered
the workmen to return to their workshops. M. de Chateaubriand, as soon
as the gendarmes entered, retired into the apartments of M. Le Normant,
and appeared no more. We then finished our work and prepared the report
of all that had occurred, after having despatched to the Ministry of
Police the articles seized, and committed the forms to the guard, and
under the responsibility of M. Le Normant.
At the moment of the disturbance one of the stitched copies disappeared.
Subsequently we seized, at the house of M. Le Marchand, a book-stitcher,
and formerly a bookseller, in the Rue de la Parcheminerie, seven parcels
of copies of the same work; and at No. 17, Rue des Pretres, in a
wareroom belonging to M. Le Normant, we placed eight forms under seal,
and seized four thousand sheets of the same work.
I have forwarded to the Ministry of Police reports of these different
operations, with the sheets and copies seized of the work of
M. de Chateaubriand.
M. Le Normant appeared to me to conduct himself without blame during
these transactions, which were carried into effect at his
dwelling-place, and during the tumult which M. de Chateaubriand promoted
on the occasion of the seizure of his work. But it is sufficiently
proved by his own admission and by facts, that he has issued for sale to
various booksellers, and has sold himself copies of this work before he
had deposited the five as required by the laws.
As to M. de Chateaubriand, I am astonished that he should have so
scandalously compromised the dignity of the titles with which he is
decorated, by exhibiting himself under these circumstances, as if he had
been nothing more than the leader of a troop of workmen, whom he had
stirred up to commotion.
He was the cause of the workmen profaning the sacred cry of "Long live
the King!" by using it in an act of rebellion against the authority of
the Government, which is the same as that of the King.
He has excited these misguided men against a Commissary of Police, a
public functionary appointed by his Majesty, and against three
peace-officers in the execution of their duty, and without arms against
a multitude.
He has committed an offence against the Royal government, by saying that
he would acknowledge force alone, in a system based upon quite a
different force from that of bayonets, and which only uses such coercive
measures against persons who are strangers to every sentiment of honour.
Finally, this scene might have led to serious consequences if, imitating
the conduct of M. de Chateaubriand, we had forgotten for a moment that
we were acting by the orders of a Government as moderate as firm, and
as strong in its wisdom as in its legitimacy.
2. THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
_Paris, September 18th, 1816._
My Lord Count,
I called at your residence this morning to express my surprise. At
twelve this day, I found at the house of M. Le Normant, my bookseller,
some men who said they were sent by you to seize my new work, entitled
'Of Monarchy according to the Charter.'
Not seeing any written order, I declared that I would not allow the
removal of my property unless gendarmes seized it by force. Some
gendarmes arrived, and I then ordered my bookseller to allow the work to
be carried away.
This act of deference to authority has not allowed me to forget what I
owe to my rank as a Peer. If I had only considered my personal
interests, I should not have interfered; but the privileges of the
Peerage having been compromised, I have thought it right to enter a
protest, a copy of which I have now the honour of forwarding to you. I
demand, in the name of justice, the restitution of my work; and I
candidly add, that if I do not receive it back, I shall employ every
possible means that the political and civil laws place within my reach.
I have the honour to be, etc. etc.,
(Signed) COUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
3. THE COUNT DECAZES TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
_Paris, September 18th, 1816._
My Lord Viscount,
The Commissary of Police and the peace-officers, against whom you have
thought proper to excite the rebellion of M. Le Normant's workmen, were
the bearers of an order signed by one of the King's ministers, and in
accordance with a law. That order was shown to the printer named, who
read it several times, and felt that he had no right to oppose its
execution, demanded in the King's name. Undoubtedly it never occurred to
him that your rank as a Peer could place you above the operation of the
laws, release you from the respect due by all citizens to public
functionaries in the execution of their duty, and, above all, justify a
revolt of his work-people against a Commissary of Police, and officers
appointed by the King, invested with the distinctive symbols of their
office, and acting under legal instructions.
I have seen with regret that you have thought otherwise, and that you
have preferred, as you now require of me, to yield to force rather than
to obey the law. That law, which M. Le Normant had infringed, is
extremely distinct; it requires that no work whatever shall be published
clandestinely, and that no publication or sale shall take place before
the necessary deposit has been made at the office for the regulation of
printing. None of these conditions have been fulfilled by M. Le Normant.
If he has given notice, it was informal; for he has himself signed the
Report drawn up by the Commissary of Police, to the effect that he
proposed to strike off 1500 copies, and that he had already printed
2000.
From another quarter I have been informed that, although no deposit has
been made at the office for the regulation of printing, several hundred
copies have been despatched this morning before nine o'clock, from the
residence of M. Le Normant, and sent to you, and to various booksellers;
that other copies have been sold by M. Le Normant at his own house, for
the price of four francs; and two of these last copies were in my hands
this morning by half-past eight o'clock.
I have considered it my duty not to allow this infraction of the law,
and to interdict the sale of a work thus clandestinely and illegally
published; I have therefore ordered its seizure, in conformity with
Articles 14 and 15 of the Law of the 21st of October, 1814.
No one in France, my Lord Viscount, is above the law; the Peers would be
offended, on just grounds, if I thought they could set up such a
pretension. Still less would they assume that the works which they feel
disposed to publish and sell as private individuals and men of letters,
when they wish to honour the literary profession with their labours,
should enjoy exclusive privileges; and if these works are submitted to
public criticism in common with those of other writers, they are not in
any respect liberated from the control of justice, or the supervision of
the Police, whose duty it is to take care that the laws, which are
equally binding upon all classes of society, should be executed with
equal impartiality.
I must also observe, in addition, that it was at the residence and
printing-office of M. Le Normant, who is not a Peer of France, that the
order constitutionally issued for the seizure of a work published by him
in contravention to the law, was carried into effect; that the execution
of the order had been completed when you presented yourself; and upon
your declaration that you would not suffer your work to be taken away,
the workmen broke the seals that had been affixed on some articles, and
placed themselves in open rebellion against the King's authority. It can
scarcely have escaped you, that by invoking that august name they have
been guilty of a crime of which, no doubt, they did not perceive the
extent; and to which they could not have been led, had they been more
impressed with the respect due to the act of the King and his
representatives, and if it could so happen that they did not read what
they print.
I have felt these explanations due to your character; they will, I
trust, convince you that if the dignity of the Peerage has been
compromised in this matter, it has not been through me.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord Viscount,
Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
(Signed) THE COUNT DECAZES.
4. THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
_Paris, September 19th, 1816._
My Lord Count,
I have received the letter which you have done me the honour to address
to me on the 18th of this month. It contains no answer to mine of the
same day.
You speak to me of works _clandestinely_ published (in the face of the
sun, with my name and titles). You speak of revolt and rebellion, when
there has been neither revolt nor rebellion. You say that there were
cries of "Long live the King!" That cry has not yet been included in the
law of seditious exclamations, unless the Police are empowered to decree
in opposition to the Chambers. For the rest, all will appear in due time
and place. There will be no longer a pretence to confound the cause of
the bookseller with mine; we shall soon know whether, under a free
government, a police order, which I have not even seen, is binding on a
Peer of France; we shall learn whether, in my case, all the rights
secured to me by the charter, have not been violated, both as a Citizen
and a Peer. We shall learn, through the laws themselves, which you have
the extreme kindness to quote for me (a little incorrectly, it may be
observed), whether I have not the right to publish my opinions; we shall
learn, finally, whether France is henceforward to be governed by the
Police or by the Constitution.
On the subject of my respect and loyalty to the King, my Lord Count, I
require no lessons, and I might supply an example. With respect to my
rank as a Peer, I shall endeavour to make it respected, equally with my
dignity as a man; and I perfectly well knew, before you took the trouble
to inform me, that it will never be compromised either by you or any one
else. I have demanded at your hands the restitution of my work: am I to
hope that it will be restored? This is the immediate question.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord Count,
Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
(Signed) THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
5. THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND TO THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY.
_Paris, September 18th, 1816._
My Lord Chancellor,
I have the honour to forward to you a copy of the protest I have
entered, and the letter I have just written to the Minister of Police.
Is it not strange, my Lord Chancellor, that in open day, by force, and
in defiance of my remonstrances, the work of a Peer of France, to which
my name is attached, and printed publicly in Paris, should have been
carried off by the Police, as if it were a seditious or clandestine
publication, such as the 'Yellow Dwarf,' or the 'Tri-coloured Dwarf'?
Beyond what was due to my prerogative as a Peer of France, I may venture
to say that I deserved _personally_ a little more respect. If my work
were objectionable, I might have been summoned before the competent
tribunals: I should have answered the appeal.
I have protested for the honour of the Peerage, and I am determined to
follow up this matter to the last extremity. I call for your support as
President of the Chamber of Peers, and for your interference as the head
of justice.
I am, with profound respect, etc. etc.,
(Signed) THE VISCOUNT CHATEAUBRIAND.
6. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE COUNT DECAZES.
_Paris, September, 19th, 1816._
I send you confidentially, my dear colleague, a letter which I received
yesterday from M. de Chateaubriand, with the informal Protest of which
he has made me the depository. I beg you will return these documents,
which ought not to be made public. I enclose also a copy of my answer,
which I also request you to return after reading; for I have kept no
other. I hope it will meet your approbation.
I repeat the expression of my friendly sentiments.
DAMBRAY.
7. THE CHANCELLOR DAMBRAY TO THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
_Paris, September 19th, 1816._
My Lord Viscount,
I have received with the letter you have addressed to me, the
declaration relative to the seizure which took place at the residence of
your bookseller; I find it difficult to understand the use you propose
to make of this document, which cannot extenuate in any manner the
infraction of law committed by M. Le Normant. The Law of the 21st of
October, 1814, is precise on this point. No printer can publish or offer
for sale any work, in any manner whatever, before having deposited the
prescribed number of copies. There is ground for seizure, the Article
adds, and for sequestrating a work, if the printer does not produce the
receipts of the deposit ordered by the preceding Article.
All infractions of this law (Art. 20) will be proved by the reports of
the inspectors of the book-trade, and the Commissaries of Police.
You were probably unacquainted with these enactments when you fancied
that your quality as a Peer of France gave you the right of personally
opposing an act of the Police, ordered and sanctioned by the law, which
all Frenchmen, whatever may be their rank, are equally bound to respect.
I am too much attached to you, Viscount, not to feel deep regret at the
part you have taken in the scandalous scene which seems to have occurred
with reference to this matter, and I regret sincerely that you have
added errors of form to the real mistake of a publication which you
could not but feel must be unpleasant to his Majesty. I know nothing of
your work beyond the dissatisfaction which the King has publicly
expressed with it; but I am grieved to notice the impression it has
made upon a monarch who, on every occasion, has condescended to evince
as much esteem for your person as admiration for your talents.
Receive, Viscount, the assurance of my high consideration, and of my
inviolable attachment.
The Chancellor of France,
DAMBRAY.
No. IX.
TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL REFORMS EFFECTED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF FRANCE
FROM 1816 TO 1820.
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR (M. LAINE).
_From May, 1816, to December, 1818._
_Sept. 4th, 1816._--Decree for the reorganization of the Polytechnic
School.
_Sept. 25th, 1816._--Decree to authorize the Society of French Missions.
_Dec. 11th, 1816._--Decree for the organization of the National Guards
of the Department of the Seine.
_Dec. 23rd, 1816._--Decree for the institution of the Royal Chapter of
St. Denis.
_Feb. 26th, 1817._--Decree relative to the administration of the Public
Works of Paris.
_Ditto, ditto._--Decree for the organization of the Schools of Arts and
Trades at Chalons and Angers.
_March 12th, 1817._--Decree on the administration and funds of the Royal
Colleges.
_March 26th, 1817._--Decree authorizing the presence of the Prefects and
Sub-Prefects at the General Councils of the Department or District.
_April 2nd, 1817._--Decree to regulate Central Houses of Confinement.
_Ditto, ditto._--Decree to regulate the conditions and mode of carrying
out the royal authority for legacies or donations to Religious
Establishments.
_April 9th, 1817._--Decree for the assessment of 3,900,000 francs,
destined to improve the condition of the Catholic Clergy.
_Ditto, ditto._--Decree for the suppression of the Secretaries-General
of the Prefectures, except only for the Department of the Seine.
_April 16th, 1817._--Three Decrees to regulate the organization of, and
persons employed in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.
_Sept. 10th, 1817._--Decree upon the system of the Port of Marseilles,
with regard to Custom-house Duties and Storehouses.
_Nov. 6th, 1817._--Decree to regulate the progressive reduction of the
number of Councillors in each Prefecture.
_May 20th, 1818._--Decree to increase Ecclesiastical Salaries,
particularly those of the Curates.
_June 9th, 1818._--Decree on the discontinuance of Compositions for
Taxes payable at the Entrance of Towns.
_July 29th, 1818._--Decree for the establishment of Savings Banks, and
Provident Banks, in Paris.
_Sept. 30th, 1818._--Decree which removes from his Royal Highness
_Monsieur_, while leaving him the honorary privileges, the actual
command of the National Guard of the Kingdom, to give it back to the
Minister of the Interior, and the Municipal Authorities.
_Oct. 7th, 1818._--Decree respecting the use and administration of
Commons, or Town property.
_Oct. 21st, 1818._--Decree respecting the premiums for the encouragement
of the Maritime Fisheries.
_Dec. 17th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization and
administration of the Educational Establishments called _Britannic_.
COUNT DECAZES.
_From December, 1818, to February, 1820._
_Jan. 13th, 1819._--Decree to arrange public exhibitions of products of
industry.--The first, to take place on the 25th of August, 1819.
_Jan. 27th, 1819._--Decree for creating a Council of Agriculture.
_Feb. 14th, 1819._--Decree for the encouragement of the Whale Fishery.
_March 24th, 1819._--Decree introducing various reforms and improvements
in the School of Law, at Paris.
_April 9th, 1819._--Decree appointing a Jury of Manufacturers to select
for reward the artists who have made the greatest progress in their
respective trades.
_April 10th, 1819._--Decree relative to the institution of the
Council-General of Prisons.
_April 19th, 1819._--Decree to facilitate the public sale of merchandise
by auction.
_June 23rd, 1819._--Decree to reduce the period of service of the
National Guard of Paris.
_June 29th, 1819._--Decree relative to holding Jewish Consistories.
_Aug. 23rd, 1819._--Two Decrees upon the organization and privileges of
the General Council of Commerce and Manufacture.
_Aug. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the erection of 500 new Chapels
of Ease.
_Nov. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
teaching of the Conservatory of Arts and Trades.
_Dec. 22nd, 1819._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
the Public Treasury of Poissy.
_Dec. 25th, 1819._--Decree relative to the mode of Collation, and the
system of public Bursaries in the Royal Colleges.
_Dec. 29th, 1819._--Decree authorizing the foundation of a permanent
asylum for old men and invalids, in the Quartier du gros Caillon.
_Feb. 4th, 1820._--Decree for the regulation of public carriages
throughout the Kingdom.
MINISTRY OF WAR (MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR).
_From September, 1817, to November, 1819._
_Oct. 22nd, 1817._--Decree for the organization of the Corps of
Geographic Engineers of War.
_Nov. 6th, 1817._--Decree for the organization of the Staff of the
military division of the Royal Guard.
_Dec. 10th, 1817._--Decree respecting the system of administration of
military supplies.
_Dec. 17th. 1817._--Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
the Corps of Engineers.
_Dec. 17th, 1817._--Decree relative to the organization of the Staff of
the Corps of Artillery.
_Dec. 24th, 1817._--Decree upon the organization of Military Schools.
_March 25th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and sale of gunpowder
for purposes of war, mining, or the chase.
_March 25th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and organization of
the Companies of Discipline.
_April 8th, 1818._--Decree for the formation of Departmental Legions in
three battalions.
_May 6th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization of the Corps and
School of the Staff.
_May 20th, 1818._--Decree relative to the position and allowances of
those not in active service, or on half-pay.
_May 20th, 1818._--Instructions approved by the King relative to
voluntary engagements.
_June 10th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization, system, and
teaching of the Military Schools.
_July 8th, 1818._--Decree relative to the organization and system of
Regimental Schools in the Artillery.
_July 15th, 1818._--Decree relative to the supply of gunpowder and
saltpetre.
_July 23rd, 1818._--Decree respecting the selection of the General Staff
of the Army.
_Aug. 3rd, 1818._--Decree relative to the military hierarchy, and the
order of promotion, in conformity with the Law of the 10th of March,
1818.
_Aug. 5th, 1818._--Decree relative to the allowances of Staff Officers.
_Aug. 5th, 1818._--Decree relative to the system and expenses of
Barracks.
_Sept. 2nd, 1818._--Decree relative to the Corps of Gendarmes of Paris.
_Dec. 30th, 1818._--Decree regulating the organization and system of the
Body-guard of the King.
_Dec. 30th, 1818._--Decree regulating the allowances to Governors of
Military Divisions.
_Feb. 17th, 1819._--Decree on the composition and strength of the
eighty-six regiments of Infantry.
No. X.
M. GUIZOT TO M. DE SERRE.
_Paris, April 12th, 1820._
My dear Friend,
I have not written to you in all our troubles. I knew that you would
hear from this place a hundred different opinions, and a hundred
opposite statements on the position of affairs; and, although I had not
entire confidence in any of those who addressed you, as you are not
called upon, according to my judgment, to form any important resolution,
I abstained from useless words. Today all has become clearer and more
mature; the situation assumes externally the character it had until now
concealed; I feel the necessity of telling you what I think of it, for
the advantage of our future proceedings in general, and yours in
particular.
The provisional bills have passed:--you have seen how: fatal to those
who have gained them, and with immense profit to the Opposition. The
debate has produced this result in the Chamber, that the right-hand
party has extinguished itself, to follow in the suite of the
right-centre; while the left-centre has consented to assume the same
position with respect to the extreme left, from which, however, it has
begun to separate within the last fifteen days. So much for the interior
of the Chamber.
Without, you may be assured that the effect of these two debates upon
the popular masses has been to cause the right-hand party to be looked
upon as less haughty and exacting; the left, as more firm and more
evenly regulated than was supposed: so that, at present, in the
estimation of many worthy citizens, the fear of the right and the
suspicion of the left are diminished in equal proportions. A great evil
is comprised in this double fact. Last year we gained triumphs over the
left, without and within the Chamber; at present the left triumphs over
us! Last year we still remained, and were considered, as ever since
1815, a necessary and safe rampart against the _Ultras_, who were
greatly dreaded, and whose rule seemed possible; today the _Ultras_ are
less feared, because their arrival at power is scarcely believed. The
conclusion is, that we are less wanted than formerly.
Let us look to the future. The election bill, which Decazes presented
eight days before his fall, is about to be withdrawn. This is certain.
It is well known that it could never pass; that the discussions on its
forty-eight articles would be interminable; the _Ultras_ are very
mistrustful of this its probable results; it is condemned; they will
frame, and are already framing, another. What will this new bill be? I
cannot tell. What appears to me certain is, that, if no change takes
place in the present position, it will have for object, not to complete
our institutions, not to correct the vices of the bill of the 5th of
February, 1817, but to bring back exceptional elections; to restore, as
is loudly proclaimed, something analogous to the Chamber of 1815. This
is the avowed object, and, what is more, the natural and necessary end.
This end will be pursued without accomplishment; such a bill will either
fail in the debate, or in the application. If it passes, and after the
debate which it cannot fail to provoke, the fundamental question, the
question of the future, will escape from the Chamber, and seek its
solution without, in the intervention of the masses. If the bill is
rejected, the question may be confined within the Chamber; but it will
no longer be the Ministry in office who will have the power and mission
of solving it. If a choice is left to us, which I am far from despairing
of, it will lie between a lamentable external revolution and a
ministerial revolution of the most complete character. And this last
chance, which is our only one, will vanish if we do not so manage as to
offer the country, for the future, a ministry boldly constitutional.
In this position of affairs, what it is indispensable that you should be
made acquainted with, and what you would discover in five minutes if you
could pass five minutes here, is, that you are no longer a Minister, and
that you form no portion of the Ministry in office. It would be
impossible to induce you to speak with them as they speak, or as they
are compelled to speak. The situation to which they are reduced has been
imposed by necessity; they could only escape from it by completely
changing their ground and their friends, by recovering eighty votes from
the one hundred and fifteen of the actual Opposition, or by an appeal to
a new Chamber. This last measure it will never adopt; and by the side of
the powerlessness of the existing Cabinet, stands the impossibility of
escaping from it by the aid of the right-hand party. An _ultra_ ministry
is impossible. The events in Spain, whatever they may ultimately lead
to, have mortally wounded the governments of _coups d'etat_ and
ordinances.
I have looked closely into all this, my dear friend; I have thought much
on the subject when alone, more than I have communicated to others. You
cannot remain indefinitely in a situation so critical and weak, so
destitute of power for immediate government, and so hopeless for the
future. I see but one thing to do at present; and that is, to prepare
and hold back those who may save the Monarchy. I cannot see, in the
existing state of affairs, any possibility of labouring effectively for
its preservation. You can only drag yourselves timidly along the
precipice which leads to its ruin. You may possibly not lose in the
struggle your reputation for honest intentions and good-faith; but this
is the maximum of hope which the present Cabinet can reasonably expect
to preserve. Do not deceive yourself on this point; of all the plans of
reform, at once monarchical and liberal, which you contemplated last
year, nothing now remains. It is no longer a bold remedy which is sought
for against the old revolutionary spirit; it is a miserable expedient
which is adopted without confidence. It is not fit for you, my dear
friend, to remain garotted under this system. Thank Heaven! you were
accounted of some importance in the exceptional laws. As to the
constitutional projects emanating from you, there are several--the
integral renewing of the Chamber, for example--which have rather gained
than lost ground, and which have become possible in another direction
and with other men. I know that nothing happens either so decisively or
completely as has been calculated, and that everything is, with time, an
affair of arrangement and treaty. But as power is situated at present,
you can do nothing, you are nothing; or rather, at this moment, you have
not an inch of ground on which you can either hold yourself erect, or
fall with honour. If you were here, either you would emerge, within a
week, from this impotent position, or you would be lost with the rest,
which Heaven forbid!
You see, my dear friend, that I speak to you with the most unmeasured
frankness. It is because I have a profound conviction of the present
evil and of the possibility of future safety. In this possibility you
are a necessary instrument. Do not suffer yourself, while at a distance,
to be compromised in what is neither your opinion nor your desire.
Regulate your own destiny, or at least your position in the common
destiny of all; and if you must fall, let it be for your own cause, and
in accordance with your own convictions.
I add to this letter the Bill prepared by M. de Serre in November, 1819,
and which he intended to present to the Chambers, to complete the
Charter, and at the same time to reform the electoral law. It will be
seen how much this Bill differed from that introduced in April, 1820,
with reference to the law of elections alone, and which M. de Serre
supported as a member of the second Cabinet of the Duke de Richelieu.
BILL FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATURE.
Art. 1. The Legislature assumes the name of Parliament of France.
Art. 2. The King convokes the Parliament every year.
Parliament will be convoked extraordinarily, at the latest, within two
months after the King attains his majority, or succeeds to the throne;
or under any event which may cause the establishment of a Regency.
_Of the Peerage._
Art. 3. The Peerage can only be conferred on a Frenchman who has
attained his majority, and is in the exercise of political and civil
rights.
Art. 4. The character of Peer is indelible; it can neither be lost nor
abdicated, from the moment when it has been conferred by the King.
Art. 5. The exercise of the rights and privileges of Peer can only be
suspended under two conditions:--1. Condemnation to corporal punishment;
2. Interdiction pronounced according to the forms prescribed by the
Civil Code. In either case, by the Chamber of Peers alone.
Art. 6. The Peers are admissible to the Chamber at the age of
twenty-one, and can vote when they have completed their twenty-fifth
year.
Art. 7. In case of the death of a Peer, his successor in the Peerage
will be admitted as soon as he has attained the required age, on
fulfilling the forms prescribed by the decree of the 23rd of March,
1816, which decree will be annexed to the present law.
Art. 8. A Peerage created by the King cannot henceforward, during the
life of the titulary, be declared transmissible, except to the real and
legitimate male children of the created Peer.
Art. 9. The inheritance of the Peerage cannot henceforward be conferred
until a Majorat of the net revenue of twenty thousand francs, at least,
shall be attached to the Peerage.
_Dotation of the Peerage._
Art. 10. The Peerage will be endowed--1, With three millions five
hundred thousand francs of rent, entered upon the great-book of the
public debt, which sum will be unalienable, and exclusively applied to
the formation of Majorats; 2, With eight hundred thousand francs of
rent, equally entered and inalienable, to be applied to the expenses of
the Chamber of Peers.
By means of this dotation, these expenses cease to be charged to the
Budget of the State, and the domains, rents, and property of every kind,
proceeding from the dotation of the former Senate, except the Palace of
the Luxembourg and its dependencies, are reunited to the property of the
State.
Art. 11. Three millions five hundred thousand francs of rent, intended
for the formation of Majorats, are divided into fifty majorats of thirty
thousand francs, and one hundred majorats of twenty thousand francs
each, attached to the same number of peerages.
Art. 12. These Majorats will be conferred by the King exclusively upon
lay Peers; they will be transmissible with the Peerage from male to
male, in order of primogeniture, and in the real, direct, and legitimate
line only.
Art. 13. A Peer cannot unite in his own person several of these
Majorats.
Art. 14. Immediately on the endowment of a Majorat, and on the
production of letters-patent, the titulary will be entered in the
great-book of the public debt, for an unalienable revenue, according to
the amount of his majorat.
Art. 15. In case of the extinction of the successors to any one of these
Majorats, it reverts to the King's gift, who can confer it again,
according to the above-named regulations.
Art. 16. The King can permit the titulary possessor of a Majorat to
convert it into real property producing the same revenue, and which will
be subject to the same reversion.
Art. 17. The dotation of the Peerage is inalienable, and cannot under
any pretext whatever, be applied to any other purpose than that
prescribed by the present law. This dotation remains charged, even to
extinction, with the pensions at present enjoyed by the former Senators,
as also with those which have been or may hereafter be granted to their
widows.
_Of the Chamber of Deputies._
Art. 18. The Chamber of Deputies to Parliament is composed of four
hundred and fifty-six members.
Art. 19. The Deputies to Parliament are elected for seven years.
Art. 20. The Chamber is renewed integrally, either in case of
dissolution, or at the expiration of the time for which the Deputies are
elected.
Art. 21. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is elected according
to the ordinary forms for the entire duration of the Parliament.
Art. 22. The rates which must be paid by an elector, or one eligible for
an elector, consist of the principal of the direct taxes without regard
to the additional hundredths. To this effect, the taxes for doors and
windows will be separated from the the principal and additional
hundredths, in such manner that two-thirds of the entire tax may be
entered as principal and the remaining third as additional hundredths.
For the future this plan will be permanent; the augmentations or
diminutions of these two taxes will be made by the addition or
reduction of the additional hundredths: the same rule will apply to the
taxes on land, moveables, and other personal property, as soon as the
principal of each is definitely settled. The tax on land and that on
doors and windows will only be charged to the proprietor or temporary
possessor, notwithstanding any contrary arrangement.
Art. 23. A son is liable for the taxes of his father, and a son-in-law
whose wife is alive, or who has children by her, for the taxes of his
father-in-law, in all cases where the father or father-in-law have
transferred to them their respective rights.
The taxes of a widow, not re-married, are chargeable to whichever of her
sons, or, in default of sons, to whichever of her sons-in-law, she may
designate.
Art. 24. To constitute the eligibility of an elector, these taxes must
have been paid one year at least before the day of the election. The
heir or legatee on the general title, is considered responsible for the
taxes payable by the parties from whom he derives.
Art. 25. Every elector and Deputy is bound to make affidavit, if
required, that they pay really and personally, or that those whose
rights they exercise pay really and personally, the rates required by
the law; that they, or those whose rights they exercise, are the true
and legitimate owners of the property on account of which the taxes are
paid, or that they truly exercise the trade for the license of which the
taxes are imposed.
This affidavit is received by the Chamber, for the Deputies, and at the
electoral offices for the electors. It is signed by them, without
prejudice to contradictory evidence.
Art. 26. Every Frenchman who has completed the age of thirty on the day
of election, who is in the enjoyment of civil and political rights, and
who pays a direct tax amounting to six hundred francs in principal, is
eligible to the Chamber of Deputies.
Art. 27. The Deputies to Parliament are named partly by the electors of
the department, and partly by the electors of the divisions into which
each department is divided, in conformity with the table annexed to the
present law.
The electors of each electoral divisions nominate directly the number of
Deputies fixed by the same table.
This rule applies to the electors of each department.
Art. 28. All Frenchmen who have completed the age of thirty years, who
exercise political and civil rights, who have their residence in the
department, and who pay a direct tax of four hundred francs in
principal, are electors for the department.
Art. 29. When the electors for the department are less than fifty in the
department of Corsica, less than one hundred in the departments in the
higher and lower Alps, of the Ardeche, of the Ariege, or the Correze, of
the Creuse, of the Lozere, of the higher Marne, of the higher Pyrenees,
of Vaucluse, of the Vosges; less than two hundred in the departments of
the Ain, of the Ardennes, of the Aube, of the Aveyron, of the Central,
of the Coasts of the North, of the Doubs, of the Drome, of the Jura, of
the Landes, of the Lot, of the Meuse, of the lower Pyrenees, of the
lower and upper Rhine, of the upper Saone; and less than three hundred
in the other departments; these numbers are to be completed by calling
on those who are next in the ratio of taxation.
Art. 30. All Frenchmen aged thirty years complete, who exercise
political and civil rights, who dwell in the electoral division, and who
pay a direct tax of two hundred francs in principal, are electors for
the division.
Art. 31. The electors of departments exercise their rights as electors
of division, each in the division in which he dwells. To this effect,
the elections for the departments will not take place till after those
for the division.
Art. 32. The Deputies to Parliament named by the electors of division
ought to be domiciled in the department, or at least to be proprietors
there for more than a year, of a property paying six hundred francs in
principal, or to have exercised public functions there for three years
at the least.
The Deputies nominated by the electors of departments may be selected
from all who are eligible throughout the kingdom.
_Forms of Election._
Art. 33. At the hour and on the day fixed for the election, the Board
will repair to the hall selected for its sittings. The Board is to be
composed of a President appointed by the King, of the Mayor, of the
senior Justice of the Peace, and of the two chief Municipal Councillors
of the head-towns in which the election is held. At Paris, the senior
Mayor and Justice of the Peace of the electoral division, and two
members of the general Council of the Department, taken according to the
order of their appointment, are to co-operate with the President in the
formation of the Board.
The duties of secretary will be fulfilled by the Mayor's secretary.
Art. 34. The votes are given publicly by the inscription which each
elector makes himself, or dictates to a member of the Board, of the
names of the candidates upon an open register. The elector inscribes the
names of as many candidates as there are Deputies to elect.
Art. 35. In order that any eligible person may become a candidate, and
that the register may be opened in his favour, it is necessary that he
should have been proposed to the Board by twenty electors at least, who
inscribe his name upon the register.
At Paris, no one can be proposed, at the same election, as a candidate
in more than two electoral districts at the same time.
Art. 36. At the opening of each sitting, the President announces the
names of the candidates proposed, and the number of votes that each has
obtained. The same announcement is printed and posted in the town after
every sitting.
Art. 37. The register for the first series of votes remains open for
three days at least, and for six hours every day.
No Deputy can be elected by the first series of votes, except by an
absolute majority of the electors of the district and department, who
have voted during the three days.
Art. 38. The third day and the hour appointed for voting having expired,
the register is declared closed; the votes are summed up; the total
number and the number given to each candidate are published, and the
candidates who have obtained an absolute majority are announced.
If all the Deputies have not been elected by the first scrutiny of
votes, the result is published and posted immediately; and after an
interval of three days, a second series of votes is taken during the
following days, in the same manner and under the same formalities and
delays. The candidates who obtain a relative majority at the second
voting are elected.
Art. 39. Before closing the registers at each voting, the President
demands publicly whether there is any appeal against the manner in which
the votes have been inscribed. If objections are made, they are to be
entered on the official report of the election, and the registers,
closed and sealed, are forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, who will
decide.
If there are no appeals, the registers are destroyed on the instant, and
the official report alone is forwarded to the Chamber.
The official report and registers are signed by all the members of the
Board.
If there are grounds for a provisional decision, the Board has the power
of pronouncing it.
Art. 40. The President is invested with full power to maintain the
freedom of the elections. The civil and military authorities are bound
to obey his requisitions. The President maintains silence in the hall
in which the election is held, and will not allow any individual to be
present who is not an elector or a member of the Board.
_Arrangements common to the two Chambers._
Art. 41. No proposition can be sent to a committee until it has been
previously decided on in the Chamber. The Chamber, on all occasions,
appoints the number of the members of the committee, and selects them,
either by a single ballot from the entire list, or on the proposition of
their own board.
Every motion coming from a Peer or Deputy must be announced at least
eight days beforehand, in the Chamber to which he belongs.
Art. 42. No motion can be passed by the Chamber until after three
separate readings, each with an interval between them of eight days at
the least. The debate follows after each reading. When the debate has
concluded, the Chamber votes on a new reading. After the last debate, it
votes on the definitive adoption of the measure.
Art. 43. Every amendment must be proposed before the second reading. An
amendment decided on after the second reading will of necessity demand
another reading after the same interval.
Art. 44. Every amendment that may be discussed and voted separately from
the motion under debate, will be considered as a new motion, and will
have to undergo the same forms.
Art. 45. Written speeches, except the reports of committees and the
first opening of a motion, are interdicted.
Art. 46. The Chamber of Peers cannot vote unless fifty Peers, at least,
are present; the Chamber of Deputies cannot vote unless one hundred
Members, at least, are present.
Art. 47. The vote in both Chambers is always public.
Fifteen Members can call for a division.
The division is made with closed doors.
Art. 48. The Chamber of Peers can admit the public to its sittings. On
the demand of five Peers, or on that of the proposer of the motion, the
sitting becomes private.
Art. 49. The Chamber of Deputies can only form itself into a secret
committee to hear and discuss the propositions of one of its Members,
when a secret committee is asked by the proposer of the motion, or by
five Members at least.
Art. 50. The arrangements of the laws now in operation, and particularly
those of the law of 17th February, 1817, and which are not affected by
the present law, will continue to be carried on according to their form
and tenour.
_Temporary Arrangements._
Art. 51. The Chamber of Deputies, from this date until the Session of
1820, will be carried to the full number of 456 Members.
To this effect, the departments of the fourth series will each name the
number of Deputies assigned to them by the present law; the other
departments will also complete the number of Deputies, in the same
manner assigned to them. The Deputies appointed in execution of the
present article will be for seven years.
Art. 52. If the number of Deputies to be named to complete the
deputation of any department, does not exceed that which the electors of
the department ought to elect, they will all be elected by these
electors. Should the case be otherwise, each Deputy exceeding this
number will be chosen by the electors of one of the electoral divisions
of the department, in the order hereinafter named:--
1. By such of the electoral divisions as have the right of naming more
than one Deputy, unless one at least of the actual Deputies has his
political residence in this division.
2. By the first of the electoral divisions in which no actual Deputy has
his political residence.
3. By the first of the electoral divisions in which one or more of the
actual Deputies have their political residence, in such manner that no
single division shall name more Deputies than those assigned to it by
the present law.
Art. 53. At the expiration of the powers of the present Deputies of the
5th, 1st, 2nd and 3rd series, a new election will be proceeded with for
the election of an equal number of Deputies for each respective
department, by such of the electoral divisions as have not, in execution
of the preceding article, elected the full number of Deputies which are
assigned to them by the present law.
Art. 54. The Deputies to be named in execution of the preceding article
will be; those of the 5th series, for six years;--those of the 1st, for
five years; those of the 2nd, for four years; and those of the 3rd, for
three years.
Art. 55. The regulations prescribed by the above articles will be
observed, if, between the present date and the integral renewing of the
Chamber, a necessity should arise for replacing a Deputy.
Art. 56. All the elections that may take place under these temporary
regulations, must be in accordance with the forms and conditions
prescribed by the present law.
Art. 57. In case of a dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, it must be
integrally renewed within the term fixed by Article 50 of the Charter,
and in conformity with the present law.
No. XI.
_Letters relative to my Dismissal from the Council of State, on the 17th
July, 1820._
M. DE SERRE (KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL) TO M. GUIZOT.
_Paris, July 17th, 1820._
I regret being compelled to announce to you that you have ceased to
belong to the Council of State. The violent hostility in which you have
lately indulged, without the shadow of a pretext, against the King's
government, has rendered this measure inevitable. You will readily
understand how much it is personally distressing to myself. My friendly
feelings towards you induce me to express a hope that you may reserve
yourself for the future, and that you will not compromise by false steps
the talents which may still advantageously serve the King and the
country.
You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs chargeable on the
department of Foreign Affairs. This allowance will be continued. Rest
assured that I shall be happy, in all that is compatible with my duty,
to afford you proofs of my sincere attachment.
DE SERRE.
M. GUIZOT TO M. DE SERRE.
_July 17th, 1820._
I expected your letter; I had reason to foresee it, and I did foresee it
when I so loudly declared my disapprobation of the acts and speeches of
the Ministers. I congratulate myself that I have nothing to change in my
conduct. Tomorrow, as today, I shall belong to myself, and to myself
alone.
I have not and I never had any pension or allowance chargeable on the
department of Foreign Affairs. I am therefore not necessitated to
decline keeping it. I cannot comprehend how your mistake has arisen. I
request you to rectify it, as regards yourself and the other Ministers,
for I cannot suffer such an error to be propagated.
Accept, I entreat you, the assurance of my respectful consideration.
GUIZOT.
M. GUIZOT TO THE BARON PASQUIER, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
_Paris, July 17th, 1820._
Baron,
The Keeper of the Seals, on announcing to me that, in common with
several of my friends, I am removed from the Council of State, writes to
me thus: "You enjoy at present a pension of six thousand francs,
chargeable on the department of Foreign Affairs; this allowance will be
continued." I have been extremely astonished by this mistake; I am
completely ignorant of the cause. I have not and I never had any pension
or allowance of any description chargeable on the department of Foreign
Affairs. Consequently I am not called upon to refuse its continuance. It
will be very easy for you, Baron, to verify this fact, and I request you
to do so, as well for the Keeper of the Seals as for yourself, for I
cannot suffer the slightest doubt to exist on this subject.
Accept, etc.
GUIZOT.
THE BARON PASQUIER TO M. GUIZOT.
_Paris, July 18th, 1820._
Sir,
I have just discovered the cause of the mistake against which you
protest, and into which I myself led the Keeper of the Seals.
Your name, in fact, appears in the list of expenses chargeable on my
department, for a sum of 6000 francs. In notifying this charge to me, an
error was committed in marking it as annual: I therefore considered it
from that time in the light of a pension.
I have now ascertained that it does not assume that character, and that
it related only to a specified sum which had been allowed to you, to
assist in the establishment of a Journal. It was supposed that this
assistance was to be continued, in the form of an annuity, towards
covering the expenses.
I shall immediately undeceive the Keeper of the Seals by giving him the
correct explanation.
Receive, I pray you, the assurance of my high consideration.
PASQUIER.
No. XII.
M. BERANGER TO M. GUIZOT, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
M. Minister,
Excuse the liberty I take in recommending to your notice the widow and
children of Emile Debraux. You will undoubtedly ask who was this Emile
Debraux. I can inform you, for I have written his panegyric in verse and
in prose. He was a writer of songs. You are too polite to ask me at
present what a writer of songs is; and I am not sorry, for I should be
considerably embarrassed in answering the question. What I can tell you
is, that Debraux was a good Frenchman, who sang against the old
Government until his voice was extinguished, and that he died six months
after the Revolution of July, leaving his family in the most abject
poverty. He was influential with the inferior classes; and you may rest
assured that, as he was not quite as particular as I am in regard to
rhyme and its consequences, he would have sung the new Government, for
his only directing compass was the tricoloured flag.
For myself, I have always disavowed the title of a man of letters, as
being too ambitious for a mere sonneteer; nevertheless, I am most
anxious that you should consider the widow of Emile Debraux as the widow
of a literary man, for it seems to me that it is only under that title
she could have any claim to the relief distributed by your department.
I have already petitioned the Commission of Indemnity for Political
Criminals, in favour of this family. But under the Restoration, Debraux
underwent a very slight sentence, which gives but a small claim to his
widow. From that quarter I therefore obtained only a trifle.
If I could be fortunate enough to interest you in the fate of these
unfortunate people, I should applaud myself for the liberty I have taken
in advocating their cause. I have been encouraged by the tokens of
kindness you have sometimes bestowed on me.
I embrace this opportunity of renewing my thanks, and I beg you to
receive the assurance of the high consideration with which I have the
honour to remain,
Your very humble Servant,
BERANGER.
_Passy, Feb. 13th, 1834._
END OF VOLUME I.
JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, PRINTER,
LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note
The following changes have been made to the text:
The spelling of the name, Chateaubriand, was standardized.
Page 1: "MM. LAINE" changed to "MM. LAINE".
Page 27: "ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU" changed to "ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU".
Page 126: "mained intact" changed to "remained intact".
Page 126: "deremanded for the clergy" changed to "demanded for the
clergy".
Page 141: "pusue their designs" changed to "pursue their designs".
Page 153: "not to detroy" changed to "not to destroy".
Page 222 (in this version): In the footnote "Historic Illustrations"
has been changed to "Historic Documents".
Page 247: "he Pyrenees" changed to "the Pyrenees".
Page 263: "spread themelves abroad" changed to "spread themselves
abroad".
Page 264: "share the reponsibility" changed to "share the
responsibility".
Page 272: "sonnetteer" changed to "sonneteer"
Page 276: "at the C urt" changed to "at the Court".
Page 312: "leader vainly eadeavoured" changed to "leader vainly
endeavoured".
Page 317: "often controlls wills" changed to "often controls wills".
Page 326: "When be learned" changed to "When he learned".
Page 342: "renouced empty or" changed to "renounced empty or".
Page 349: "crossed the saloon in her way" changed to "crossed the saloon
on her way".
Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "people surrounds" changed
to "people surround".
Page 358 (in this version): In the footnote "worthy your having faith"
changed to "worthy of your having faith".
Page 366: "my thanks or them" changed to "my thanks for them".
Page 367: "descripion of Jerusalem" changed to "description of
Jerusalem".
Page 407: "through the the Inspectors-General" changed to "through the
Inspectors-General".
Page 412: "Council in in August" changed to "Council in August".
Page 441: "three mile lions" changed to "three millions".
Page 441: "five hundred francs of rent" changed to "five hundred
thousand francs of rent".