ble proof of the independence of our aristocracy. Our nobles disregarded the displeasure of the crown, and chose rather to yield to the current of popular prejudice, thinking that the most effectual mode of reducing her majesty to insignificance, was to abstain from all measures against her. There was one circumstance, of a nature not to be openly avowed in debate, which had great weight with many of the peers. They were convinced, that the bill would not be passed by the Commous, and they opposed it for that reason. Since it was not to pass finally, the sooner it was stopped in its progress, the better. Whether it would have received the sanction of the Lower House, had it been allowed to go so far, it is not easy to divine; but it is obvious, that the difficulties of the investigation, felt to be considerable in the Lords, would have been increased a thousand-fold in the Commons. That House could not examine witnesses on oath; it could not have the benefit of the opinions of the judges: the advocates on both sides were like wise members, so that whatever they could not say or do, in the one capacity, would be said and done by them in the other. It is impossible to guess what course the inquiry would have taken

there, how it would have been conducted, or to what extent it might have been spun out.

The failure of the bill, though a defeat to ministers, was far from being a triumph to the queen; for, surely, it could be no matter of exultation to have been pronounced guilty of adultery, and worthy of degradation, by a majority of the highest assembly known to our law, and to have been declared guilty, even by the greater number of those who were unwilling to concur in any measure of punishment. The faction, however, hailed it as a triumph. On the evenings of the day on which the bill was abandoned, and of the following Saturday and Monday, scanty illuminations took place in some quarters of the metropolis-less the ebullition of zeal, than the fruits of precaution against the outrages of a mob that paraded the streets. Addresses of congratulation poured in upon her; and resolutions were passed at various meetings, condemning the ministers, and recommending their removal. The ministers, however, remained in their places; and, from the day when the bill was abandoned, her majesty began to be less an object of public interest, and to fall gradually into comparative insig nificance.

the ultra-royalists; for their notions, feelings, and prepossessions were not in unison with those of the majority of the nation, and yet they cared much more for them than for the tranquillity of their sovereign. As little could he be disposed to trust the generality of the liberals, who were, for the most part, too intimately connected with the partisans of the late usurper. But Decazes was free from both kinds of objection. His principles of government were acceptable to the nation; his personal attachments made him acceptable to the Bourbons.

This ministry were not quite I agreed among themselves. The principal point on which they differed, was the law of elections. According to the settlement of 1817, every Frenchman of thirty years of age or upwards, who paid 300 francs of direct contribution, had a vote; and the deputies were chosen directly by their votes, without any intermediate appointment of electors. The effect of this arrangement had been to make the chamber of deputies much more popular in its constitution than before; and, at each annual renovation of a fifth part of its members, which had since taken place, the côté gauche, or violently liberal party, had gained greatly in strength. Had any doubt been entertained as to the practical operation of the existing mode of choosing the deputies, that doubt was entirely removed by the result of the elections of the Autumn of 1819. Nearly twothirds of the returns had been in favour of the côté gauche, while the remaining third was divided very unequally between the ministers and the ultra-royalists. If, therefore, the system was not al

tered, the next elections would necessarily put the reins of power in the hands of the liberals.

It was from a knowledge of this, and to guard against that accession of strength, which it was foreseen that the liberals would acquire, and which they did acquire, by the elections of 1819, that the ultra-royalists had, in the beginning of that year, attempted to procure a modification of the election law, and that the Chamber of Peers had declared in favour of a change. The ministers, we have seen, defended the law as it stood, and no alteration was made. Some of them were still inclined to follow the same course, and to trust for support, not to any arrangement by which the structure of the Chamber of Deputies might be affected, but to the adoption of such a line of policy as should ensure them the concurrence of the more moderate adherents of the côté gauche. Others were favourable to some change of the election-law, provided the change was not fundamental. As both of these classes threw themselves, in effect, into the arms of the decided oppositionists, M. Decazes could not have concurred with them without endangering his credit at court. therefore thought, that the system of elections should be placed on a new basis. And as the liberals would never co-operate in effecting an alteration which would impair their own influence, he saw, that, to accomplish his design, it would be necessary to form a partial union with the ultraroyalists. Accordingly, in the month of November a change of administration took place. The baron Pasquier succeeded the marquis Dessole in the depart

ment of foreign affairs; marshal St. Cyr and baron Louis resigned; Decazes became minister for the interior, and was placed at the head of his colleagues, with the title of president of the council of minis

ters.

The first proceeding of the Chambers, which attracted attention, was the resolution annulling the election of M. Gregoire. This man, formerly bishop of Blois, had voted in the convention for the murder of Louis XVI., and had been just returned by the department of the Isère. It was deemed a scandal, that there should exist even a possibility of clothing such a man with the functions of a legislator. The liberals were ashained of a choice, which gave them so discreditable an ally; the ultra royalists exulted in it, as a proof of the consequences that might be expected, if a new course of policy was not followed. The resolution annulling his election, on the ground of some real or pretended informality, was carried by acclamation.

In the mean time, as it was known that a new system of election was in agitation, the public attention was every where directed to it with the keenest anxiety. According to general report, the ministers were not yet agreed as to the nature or extent of the alteration that was to be made. They were divided, it was said, between two plans. According to the first, there were to be two sets of electoral colleges, the one consisting of persons who paid 300 francs of direct coutribution, the other of persons paying 1,000 francs. These two sets of colleges were to elect each one half of the Chamber,and were to exercise each a control over the elections of the other. The second plan, pro

posed and supported by M. Laine, was, that persons paying 600 francs of taxes, should choose a number of candidates equal to double the number of deputies, and that from the persons thus chosen, the deputies should be elected by the votes of those who payed 300 francs of taxes. Both projects aimed at the same end, and employed similar means. Both were intended to render the Chamber of Deputies less democratical in its composition, and sought to accomplish this by making the elections, in one stage or other, dependent on the more opulent classes.

While it was yet uncertain what the intended change would be, numerous petitions were presented in favour of the existing system, and deprecating, in the strongest terms, any alteration. These produced very violent discussions; and on a question, whether the further consideration of them should be gotten rid of by passing on to the order of the day, the ministers prevailed only by a majority of 117 to 112. In this debate, complaints were made of the improper arts which had been used to multiply petitions, and to increase the number of signatures. A pamphlet, said baron Pasquier, minister of foreign affairs, had been circulated in the department of La Sarthe, which announced, in the most alarming terms, that in four years the charter would be abrogated, the purchasers of national estates dispossessed,, the feudal government restored, and blood shed in torrents. This department had, in consequence, produced the greatest number of petitioners-a circumstance, which alone was calculated to excite the vigilance of the Chamber in respect to these

petitions generally. The circulation of the pamphlet was admitted by B. Constant.

The fact is, that it was by such representations as those contained in this pamphlet, that the public interest was principally excited. Few would have cared about a modification of the elective systein, had it not been, that they were persuaded to identify the continuance of the existing plan with the security of property, and to believe that a change in it would be followed by an attack of the rights which had accrued under or after the revolution. To calm these fears, some laws were introduced sanctioning, more or less directly, the purchases which had been made of national domaius.

The new law was expected from day to day with extreme anxiety, but the indisposition of M. Decazes prevented it from being propounded. The 18th of February arrived, and still it had not been brought forward. On that day the duc de Berri fell under the blow of an assassin named Louvel; and this event, for the particulars of which we refer to the Chronicle, entirely changed the relative position of the political parties.

The general horror, excited by such a deed, gave the eager royalists courage as well as strength; and to oppose them at such a moment, when atrocious deeds threatened the very existence of the monarchy, had almost the air of making common cause with anarchy and murder. Their indignation was strongly directed against Decazes. They had always disliked him, probably because, withont adopting their principles or sympathizing in their

feelings, he had more than shared with them the personal attachment and confidence of the sovereign. Now they openly maintained, that, by his leaning to democratical principles of government, he had brought on the late melancholy event. Nay, one of their party, M. Clausel de Cossergues, on the day after the assassination, made a formal proposition in the Chamber of Deputies, that M. Decazes should be impeached as an accomplice in the murder, and as guilty of treason, according to the 56th article of the charter. Nor was this the wild ebullition of momentary passion. On the next day, he coolly persisted in it, disclaimed all motives of personal animosity to the minister, and requested a time to be fixed for the discussion of the charge; and though he afterwards withdrew it, yet he did so, not because he thought it unfounded, but because the resignation of Decazes, which had by that time taken place, rendered it unnecessary.

The ministers felt that this event had shaken their power. They endeavoured to strengthen themselves in their posts by the adoption of vigorous measures, and immediately brought forward their scheme of a new law for the regulation of elections. In the speech in which Decazes, on the 15th of February announced it to the Chamber of Deputies, he claimed indulgence for the imperfection of the work, which, be alleged, was still in preparation at the moment when the duc de Berri was assassinated. He founded, however, on the cruel death of the prince, the necessity of strengthening more powerfully and more speedily the hands of the royal government, and de