XI. 1821. sess the habits of business or practical acquaintance with CHAP. affairs requisite for his office, and was more fitted to shine in the saloons than the cabinet of the Foreign Office. M. de Peyronnet, the Minister of Justice, had been a barrister who had distinguished himself by his courage at the side of the Duchess of Angoulême at Bordeaux in 1815, and by his ability in pleading the cause of Madame Du Cayla, when claiming her children and fortune from her inexorable husband. His talent was remarkable, his fidelity to the royal cause undoubted, his zeal great, his firmness equal to any emergency. But his prudence and capacity were not equal to his resolution; and it was already feared, what the result too clearly proved to be the case, that he might ruin the royal cause while wishing to save it. Finally, Marshal Victor, Duke de Belluno, in the important situation of Minister at War, presented a combination of qualities of all others the most important for a ministry of the Restoration. A plebeian by birth, a soldier of fortune who had raised himself by his courage and capacity, a marshal of Napoleon, he conciliated the suffrages of the Liberals; a resolute character, a determined minister, a faithful Royalist, a man vii. 253, of intrepidity and honour, he carried with him the esteem iii. 190, 193. and respect of the aristocratic party.1 1 Lam. vii. 12, 17; Cap. 257; Lac. the press. The first difficulty of the new Ministry was with the 13. laws regarding the press; and this, situated as they were, Law regardwas a difficulty of a very serious kind. The administra-ing t tion of the Duke de Richelieu had been overthrown, as is usually the case with a legislature divided as that of France was at that period, by a coalition of extreme Royalists and extreme Liberals, who for the moment united against their common enemy, the moderate Centre. But now that the victory was gained, it was not so easy a matter to devise measures which should prove acceptable to both. The first question which presented itself was that of the press, the eternal subject of discord in France, and, like that of Catholic emancipation in England, the XI. 1821. CHAP. thorn in the side of every administration that was or could be formed, and which generally proved fatal to it before any considerable period had elapsed. It was the more difficult to adjust any measure which should prove satisfactory, that the former Ministry had been mainly overthrown by the press, and M. Chateaubriand, who held a distinguished place in the new appointments, had always been the ardent supporter of its liberty, and owed his great popularity mainly to his exertions in its behalf. Nevertheless, it was obviously necessary to do something to check its licentiousness; the example of successful revolution in Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Piedmont, was too inviting not to provoke imitation in France; and it was well known to the Government that the secret societies, which had overturned everything in those countries, had their affiliated branches in France. It was foreseen also, what immediately happened, that the great majority of the journals, true to the principle "to oppose everything, and turn out the ministry," would speedily unite in a fierce attack upon the new administration. The necessity of the case prevailed over the dread of being met by the imputation of inconsistency, or the lingering qualms of the real friends of freedom of discussion; and a law was brought forward, which, professing to be based on the charter, in reality tended to abridge the liberty of the press in several most important particulars.1 1 Lac. iv. 222, 223; Cap. vii. 278, 279; Ann. Hist. v. 6, 7. 14. provisions. By this law, which was brought forward by M. de Its stringent Peyronnet on the 2d January, it was enacted that no periodical journal could appear without the king's authority, excepting such as were in existence on the 1st January 1822; the delinquencies of the press were declared to fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the royal courts, which decided without a jury: they were authorised to suspend, and, in serious cases, suppress any journal which published a series of articles contrary to reli XI. 1821. gion or the monarchy; the pleadings were permitted to CHAP. be in private, in cases where the court might be of opinion that their publication might be dangerous to order or public morality. In the event of serious offences against the law, during the interval of the session of the Chambers, the king was authorised to re-establish the censure by an ordonnance, countersigned by three ministers; but this power was to be transitory only, and was to expire, if, within a month after the meeting of the Chambers, it was not converted into a law. There can be no doubt that these provisions imposed very great restrictions upon the press, and, by withdrawing the offences regarding it from the cognisance of juries, rendered the punishment of them more expeditious and certain. Still, as it did not re-establish the censorship, and left untouched publications exceeding twenty leaves, it did not infringe upon the most valuable part of public discussion, that which was meant to influence the understanding, however galling it might be felt by that which was most dangerous, iii. 222, 223. being addressed to the passions." 1 1 Cap, vii. Ann. Hist. 278, 280; v. 6, 7; Lac. on it. The "Gauche" in the Chambers, the Liberals in the 15. country, rose up at once, and en masse, upon the project of Discussion a law being submitted to the deputies. "It is the slavery of the press, the entire suppression of its freedom, which you demand. Better live in Constantinople than in France, under such a government." Nothing could exceed the violence with which the project was assailed, both by the Opposition in the Chambers and the press in the country. M. de Serres on this occasion rejoined the ranks of the Liberals, from which he had so long been separated he distinguished himself by an eloquent speech against that part of the project which proposed to withdraw offences against the laws of the press from the cognisance of juries. "The mask has fallen," said he; "we are presented with a law destructive of the liberty of the press-one which, under pretence of saving our institu : 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 proved all-powerful with the majority in both Houses-the majority, however, a curious circumstance, being greater 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 1 Ann. Hist. v. 54,76, Lac. iii. 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 conspirators were in progress; but they have been fully 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 1 Lam. vii. 20, 21; Cap. 301, belle, des Secrètes, 17. bonarism in This most perilous and demoralising system was first 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 |