IX. 1820. were charged, sabred, and trampled under the hoofs of CHAP. horses yesterday by the cuirassiers. The indignation of the capital is at its height; the agitation of the people is hourly increasing; tremble for the morrow." "Here is the blade of a sabre broken by a cut," exclaimed M. de Corcelles, holding up the fragment with a theatrical air. "Blood flows, and you refuse to hear us; it is infamous." The Ministers ably and energetically defended, 1 Lam. vi. their measures; and the violence of the two parties be- 325, 327; came so great that the president, in despair, covered iii. 129, 142. himself, and broke up the meeting.1 Ann. Hist. pression. These violent appeals, however, failed in the desired 78. result, and their failure contributed more than any other Their supcircumstance to produce that adhesion of the Doctrinaires to the proposed electoral law, as modified by M. Boin, which led to its being passed into a law. A suppressed insurrection never fails, for the time at least, to strengthen the hands of government. In the present instance, the influence of that repression was enhanced, not only by the patience and temper of the armed force employed, and moderation of the Government in the subsequent prosecutions, but by another circumstance of decisive importance —the military had faithfully adhered to their duty. The utmost efforts had been made to seduce them, and failed of success. All the hopes of the insurgents were rested on their defection, and their steadiness made them despair of the cause. The leaders of the revolt saw that their attempt had been premature, that the military had not been sufficiently worked upon, and that the attempt must be adjourned. They let it die away accordingly at the moment, reserving their efforts for a future period. Although the crowds continued to infest the streets for several days, and great efforts were made at the funeral of Lallemand-who was buried with much solemnity, in presence of some thousand spectators, on the 9th-yet the danger was evidently past. The capital gradually became tranquil; the large majority of 95 in the Chamber IX. 1820. CHAP. of Deputies, on the last reading of the bill, passed almost without notice; and it was passed by a majority of 95 in the Peers the numbers being, 141 to 56. The Government behaved with exemplary moderation, it may even be said timidity, in repressing this revolt. It was known that money had circulated freely among the insurgents, and it was known from whom it came. But it 1 Ann. Hist. Was deemed more prudent, now that the insurrection had iii. 139, 161; been surmounted, not to agitate the public mind by the trial of its leaders, and no further prosecutions were attempted. It will appear in the sequel what return they made for this lenity, when the crisis of 1830 arrived.1 Lam. vi. 325, 327; Cap. vii. 47, 49. 79. This was the great struggle of the year, because it was The budget. a direct effort to supplant the Bourbon dynasty on the one hand, and establish it more firmly in the legislature on the other. Everything depended on the troops: if they had wavered when the insurgents marched on the Hôtel de Ville, on 6th June, it was all over, and 1820 would have been 1830. The remaining objects of the session, which involved the comparatively trifling matters of the public welfare or social happiness, excited scarcely any attention. The budget was voted with scarce any opposition. The gross revenue of the year was 8,741,087,000 francs; the net income, deducting the expense of collection, 739,712,000 francs, which showed a cost of above £5,000,000 in collecting an income of £30,000,000, or nearly 17 per cent a very large proportion, but which is explained by the circumstance of the direct taxes, forming above a third of the whole, being exigible from above five millions of separate little proprietors. The expenditure was estimated at 511,371,000 francs, exclusive of the interest of the debt. Every branch of the public revenue exhibited symptoms of improvement, and the most unprecedented prosperity pervaded the country. It is a singular circumstance, iii. 175,192. but highly characteristic of the real motives which actuated the Liberal opposition at this period, that this 2 Ann. Hist. 2 IX. 1820. era of unexampled social wellbeing was precisely the CHAP. one which they selected for most violently agitating the public mind for an overthrow of the monarchy and change of the dynasty, by whom alone those blessings had been introduced.* 80. conspiracy, Lafayette. Convinced, from the unsuccessful issue of this attempt, that they had no chance of success in their endeavours to Military overthrow the Government, unless they could enlist the headed by military on their side, the Liberal leaders, after the prorogation of the Chamber, bent their whole efforts to that object. It is now known who they were; subsequent success has made them boast of their attempts; they are no longer afraid to admit their treason. "M. Lafayette," * The Budget of 1820 and 1821 stood thus: From a statement laid before the Chamber by the Minister of Finances, it appeared that the produce of the sinking fund, which, in 1816, was 20,000,000, IX. 1820. CHAP. says Lamartine, " declared to his friends that open force could now alone overturn the Government, which had declared war against the equality of classes." Emissaries despatched from this centre set out to sound the departments and the troops. The parliamentary opposition of M. Lafitte and Casimir Périer unconsciously aided the conspirators, who were grouped around Lafayette, d'Argenson, Manuel, Corcelles, Roy, and Merilhou. That conspiracy found innumerable accomplices, without the need of affiliating them, in the half-pay officers, the remains of Napoleon's army, in the small number of Republicans, in the Buonapartists-as numerous as the discontented-in the holders of the domains of the emigrants, who were every day more apprehensive of the loss of their heritages, and of the influence of those who were now protected by the Government.1 1 Lam. vi. 328. and in 1817 was increased to 40,000,000, had been highly gratifying. It was as follows: And from a statement laid before the Chamber by the celebrated economist M. Ganihl, it appeared that before the Revolution the public burdens stood thus: So that the taxes on land, industry, and fixed capital had increased a third, and those on consumption had remained the same, though their amount per head diminished, from the increase of population, in the intervening period, from 25,000,000 tɔ 30,000,000 souls.-Ann. Hist., iii. 175, 198, 200; and iv. 601, 603. IX. 1820. signs, and corrupt the Numerous as this band of conspirators was, it was not CHAP. on them alone that their leaders totally, or even chiefly, rested. The great object was to seduce the military 81. actually in arms; for long experience had taught the Their deFrench that it is by them that all social convulsions in efforts to their country are, in the last resort, determined. They troops. were not long in finding a few desperadoes who were willing to execute their designs. A captain in the Legion de la Meurthe, in garrison at Paris, named Nantil, a halfpay colonel, named Sauzet, and a colonel of the disbanded Imperial Guard, named Maziare, agreed to act as leaders. Their plan was to surprise the fortress of Vincennes, to corrupt the regiments in Paris, to rouse the faubourgs and the schools, and with the united forces march on the Tuileries. A great number of the half-pay generals of the Empire-in particular, Generals Pajol, Bacheluz, Merten, Maransin, Lafitte, and superior officers in retirement—were engaged in the conspiracy, the object of which was to dethrone the Bourbons. On that they were all agreed, but on ulterior measures there was great difference of opinion. Lafayette desired to proclaim a republic or a constitutional monarchy, whose interests were identical with those of the Revolution, and who might be" fettered by the bonds of a representative democracy." The great majority wished to proclaim Napoleon II., hoping to restore with him the days of glory, of promotion, and plunder. Lafayette indulged a sanguine hope that, as Napoleon's son was in the hands of the Austrians, who would not allow him to accept the proffered crown, it would become a matter of necessity to bestow on him the dictatorship, of which he had enjoyed a foretaste in 1790, and of which he had dreamed in 1815. The day of rising was fixed for 19th August: Nantil was to raise his legion, and head the attack; Lafayette went to his château of Lagrange to rouse his department, and aid in the assault on Vincennes; M. d'Argenson went to Alsace to array in arms its numerous republicans ;1 and M. de 1 Lam. vi. Cap. vii. 328, 330; 62,63; Lac. iii. 6-9, 429. |