XI. 1821. CHAP. tions, in reality subverts them. The proposed law strikes at the root of representative institutions, for it goes to destroy intelligence in those who are to exercise them. What is the present condition of society? Democracy overwhelms us like a spring-tide. Legitimate monarchy has nothing to fear from a power which places the press under its safeguard; it is our adversaries who have exposed it to its real danger, by holding out its liberty as inconsistent with monarchical institutions. The press is a social necessity which it is impossible to uproot. The proposed law tends to destroy its utility by subjecting it to arbitrary restrictions. In vain, however, do you attempt this its power will resist all your attacks, and only become the more dangerous from being directed against the throne, not the ministers who abuse its powers.' "We wish the charter," replied M. Castelbajac in a voice of thunder, "but still more we wish the king : we wish for liberty, but it is liberty without license: unrestrained freedom of discussion is another word for anarchy the law presented to us is peculiarly valuable, for it brings back this difficult subject to the principles of the charter. Respect religion, the laws, the monarch— such are the laws which order demands; the liberty of the press can only be maintained by the laws which prevent its abuse. Such repression is the soul of real freedom." It is doubtful how, under ordinary circumstances, this difficult matter might have been determined; but the example of the ruin of monarchy in the adjoining states 1 Ann. Hist. proved all-powerful with the majority in both Houses-the v. 54,76, majority, however, a curious circumstance, being greater 281, 298; in the Commons than the Peers. In the former it was 82, the numbers being 219 to 137; in the latter 41, they being 124 to 83.1 80; Cap. vii. Lac. iii. 225, 228. This victory on the part of the administration was immediately followed by a general organisation of secret societies over all France, and the turning of the energy of democratic ambition into the dangerous channel of occult XI. 1821. 16. Carbonari societies in conspiracy. Ever since the second Restoration and the CHAP. Royalist severities of 1815, these societies had existed in France, and many of the leading men of Opposition were initiated in them; but the events of this stormy year gave Rise of the them redoubled activity and importance. The example and secret of Government overturned, and the Liberals universally France. installed in power in Spain and Italy, was sufficient to turn cooler heads than the ardent republicans of France. The Carbonari of Italy established corresponding societies over all the country, with the same signs, the same oaths, the same objects, the same awful denunciations of vengeance, in the event of the secrets of their fraternity being revealed. The existence of these societies, which were the chief means by which the revolutions of 1820 were brought about, was strenuously denied at the time, on both sides of the Channel, while the designs of the 1 Lam. vii. conspirators were in progress; but they have been fully 20, 21; Cap. revealed since 1830, when they were entirely successful. 302; VaulaEvery one was then forward to claim a share in the move- Sociétés ment which had placed a new dynasty on the throne, and i. 30. which none then dared call treason.1 belle, des Secrètes, bonarism in This most perilous and demoralising system was first 17. introduced from Italy into France in the end of 1820, Rise of Carand the autumn of the succeeding year was the time when France. it attained its highest development, and when it became a formidable power in the State. Nothing could be conceived more admirable for the object to which it was directed, or better calculated to avoid detection, than this system. It was entirely under the direction of a central power, the mandates of which were obeyed with implicit faith by all the initiated, though who composed it, or where it resided, was unknown to all save a very few. Every person admitted into the ranks of the Carbonari was to provide himself with a musket, bayonet, and twenty rounds of ball-cartridge. All orders, resolutions, and devices were transmitted verbally; no one ever put pen to paper on the business of the association. Any XI. 1821. CHAP. revelation of the secrets or objects of the fraternity was punished with death, and they had bravoes ready at any time to execute that sentence, which was pronounced only by the central committee, or to assassinate any person whom it might direct. The members were bound by the most solemn oaths to obey this invisible authority whatever it might enjoin, without delay, hesitation, consideration, or inquiry. The association borrowed the illusions of the melodrama to add to the intensity of its impressions: it had, like the German, its Geheim-gericht nocturnal assemblages, its poniards directed against the breast, its secret courts of justice, its sentences executed by unknown hands. It was chiefly among the students at colleges, the sub-officers in the army, and the superior classes of mechanics and manufacturers, that this atrocious system prevailed, and it had reached its highest point in the end of 1821. It has since spread across the Channel; and Vaulabelle, those who are acquainted with the machinations of the Secrètes, Ribbonmen in Ireland, and the worst of the trades19, 37; Cap. vii. 301, unions in Great Britain, will have no difficulty in recogvii. 21, 22. nising features well known to them, perhaps by dearbought experience.1 Sociétés 305; Lam. M. Lafayette, Manuel, and d'Argenson were at the head of these secret societies in France, and they had attained such an extent and consistency in the end of 1821 that it was thought the time for action had arisen, * "Cette fois, M. Lafayette, pressé sans doute par les années qui s'accumulaient, et craignant que la mort ne lui ravît, comme à Moïse, la terre promise de la liberté, avait manqué à son rôle de tribun légal, à son caractère, à son serment civique de député, à ses habitudes d'opposition en plein jour; et il avait consenti, au risque de la sécurité de sa vie, et de sa conscience, à devenir le moteur, le centre, et le chef d'une ténébreuse conspiration. Toutes les sociétés secrètes des ennemis des Bourbons, et le Carbonarisme qui les résumait toutes en ce moment, parlaient de ses menées, et aboutissaient à lui.”— LAMARTINE, Histoire de la Restauration, vii. 26. See also, to the same effect, CAPEFIGUE, Histoire de la Restauration, vii. 308. The chiefs of this dark conspiracy were General Lafayette and his son, M. Manuel, Dupont de l'Eure, M. d'Argenson, Jacques Kochler, Comte Thiard, General Taragre, General Corbineau, M. de Lascelles, and M. Merithou. General Lafayette was by all acknowledged to be the head and soul of the conspiracy.— LAMARTINE, Hist. de la Restauration, vii. 29, 30. E XI. 1821. 18. conspiracy Jan. 1, the more especially as the revolutions of Spain and Naples, CHAP. which were mainly their work, had strongly excited men's minds, and the accession of the Royalist Ministry in France threatened danger if the execution of their Abortive measures was any longer delayed. It was determined at Befort. to make an outbreak in several different places at once, 1822. in order to distract the attention of Government, and inspire a belief of the conspiracy having more extensive ramifications than it really had. Saumur, Thouars, Béfort, Nantes, Rochelle, and Toulon were the places where it was arranged insurrections should take place, and to which the ruling committee at Paris transmitted orders for immediate risings. So confident were they of success, that General Lafayette set out from Paris to Béfort, to put himself at its head, and only turned back when near that town, on hearing that it had broken out, and failed of success. Béfort, in effect, was so filled with conspirators, and they were so confident of success, that they at length were at no pains to conceal their designs, and openly armed themselves with sabres and pistols, and mounted the tricolor cockade. The vigour and vigilance of the governor, however, and the fidelity of the garrison, caused the attempt to miscarry. M. de Tourlain, the governor, was shot by one of them; but the rest, including M. de Corcelles and Carrel, fled on the road to Paris, and met General Lafayette a few leagues from the gate, just in time to cause him to turn back to his chateau of La Grange, near that capital. Such was the energy with which the Carbonari removed all traces or proofs of the conspiracy, that Colonel Pailhis Tellier, and two or three others, who had been caught in the very act, alone were brought to justice, and escaped with the inadequate punishment of iii. 233, 234. three years' imprisonment.1 A more serious insurrection broke out, towards the end of February, at Thouars, where General Berton was at the head of the conspirators. In the night of the 23d February he set out from Parthenay, and surprised 1 Lam. vii. 36, 40; Cap. vii. 308, 309; Lac. XI. 1821. 19. Berton's conspiracy Feb. 23. CHAP. Thouars, where he made prisoners the brigade of gendarmerie, and published a proclamation, declaring the establishment of a provisional government, composed of Generals Foy, Demarcay, and Lafayette, M. Benjamin at Thouars. Constant, Manuel, and d'Argenson, at Paris. He next attempted an attack upon Saumur; but in that he was foiled by the intrepidity of the mayor, at the head of a body of young Royalists at the military school, and the commander of the castle. Obliged to retreat, the insurgents soon lost heart, and dispersed; and Berton himself sought refuge in the marshes of Rochefort, where he was at length arrested, along with several of his accomplices, Their guilt was self-evident: they had made themselves masters of Thouars, and proclaimed a provisional government. Six of the leaders, including Berton and a physician, Caffé, were sentenced to death; but the lives of all 1 Ann. Hist. Were spared, at the intercession of the Duchess de Angou. 87, 90; lême, excepting the two last. Caffé anticipated the 237, 253; hands of justice by committing suicide in prison; but 56, 58; Cap. Berton was brought to the scaffold, and died bravely, exclaiming with his last breath, "Vive la France! Vive la liberté !" 1 Lac. iii. 235, Lam. vii. vii. 311, 312. Still more important consequences followed a conspiConspiracy racy at Rochelle. It originated at Paris, on the insti 20. of La Ro chelle. gation of General Lafayette, who directed a young and gallant man, named Bories, a sub-officer in the 45th regiment, to proceed from Pau, with some of the privates of his regiment, whom he had enrolled in the ranks of the Carbonari, to that city, in order, with the aid of the affiliated there, to get up a revolt. They were betrayed, however, before the plot could be carried into execution, by one of their accomplices, at the very time when they were concerting with the emissaries of General Berton a joint attack upon Saumur. Most important articles of evidence were found upon them, or from the information to which their apprehension led; among others, the cards cut in two, and the poniards, marked with their number |