friends of intelligence, the propagators and professors of the liberal and learned arts-the Jesuits-as far behind the time in which they were living as they had been before the time at which they appeared-the Jesuits-not, as of old, remarkable for their profound knowledge and vast acquirements-but retaining merely their dangerous and selfish policy, their profligate and treacherous morality -were marching with stealthy steps, through bye-ways and secret avenues, towards the most important offices in the country, and hoping and attempting to substitute for the misfortune of infidelity-the curse of superstition. Already had this crafty and ambitious sect crept near the cabinet of the King, whispered into the ear of the minister, insinuated itself into the seminaries of education-the affairs of religion became the daily business of the state; laws were brought forward which punished sacrilege as parricide; the Chamber of Deputies resembled a council of Nice; and the Government interfering-where it is most dangerous to interfere with the pleasures of the Parisians-elongated the gowns of the actresses and the opera dancers, and peremptorily decided how many inches of their necks and their ancles should be exposed.-Lo! through the streets of Paris, so gay, so in

dolent, so prone to ridicule and irreligion, marches the long procession, chaunting the 'Miserere;' and the Minister of War delights

the

army with an assurance that-that regiment is excellent at prayers, and this regiment incomparable at 'pâques.' While 'the Tartuffe' recovers its originality, and is given amidst shouts of applause, as if it were a new piece written for the period.

And now amidst a series of measures, the one more unpopular than the other, the monarchy moves steadily and unhappily on to its de

struction.

The indemnity to emigrants weakens the security of property-the law of primogeniture shocks that equality*—at once the darling

* The law to establish a system of primogeniture was thrown out in an hereditary Chamber of Peers.

"What," said M. Molé, whose moderation I need not mention-" What,” said M. Molé, "of the adoption or the rejection of this law? The parties interested are fathers, elder children, younger children, and France. Well! will the fathers receive more authority? or will they not, by the most immoral of combinations, be condemned, in some degree, to disinherit many of their offspring? And the eldest born! That right which they will hold from the law, in opposition to Nature, will it not render them odious and hostile to their brothers and sisters? And the

passion and the ruling principle of Francethe law against the press*, which, when refused, is followed by an ordonnance—the disbandment of the National Guards- the new younger born, against whom this project is directed? In wishing to make an aristocracy with the elder children, will you not make a formidable democracy with the younger ones? And France in taking from the circulation one fourth of her property, will you not diminish her landed revenue, and will she not be menaced by new impositions ?"

"The right of the elder born," said another Peer, "is intelligible at the time when the possession of fiefs obliged their proprietors to lead their vassals to battle. But everything is changed; the people to-day pay the subsidies, and concur in the formation of the army; 'nobles' and 'roturiers' all have the same duty to perform. No one has the right to claim peculiar laws or peculiar privileges to protect his property, and watch especially over its conservation. The transmission of fortune from a father to his children, without distinction of age or of sex, is the law of God, and man has only the right to interfere so far as to regulate this right and to conciliate it with paternal authority."

Such were and are the opinions in France.

* The plan of the Government was, by increasing the duty on the newspapers, to increase their price, thereby reducing their influence and the number of their readers. It is just worth remarking that this idea was taken from the English system, and recommended to M. de Villèle by M. Cottu.

"A-t-on jamais vu un calcul plus erroné," said M.

creation of peers-carry the administration in every way to the furthest verge of constitutional power. Each spring of the constitution, stretched to the utmost, is strained, and its power injured.

Mons. de Villèle, as a statesman, was guilty of that fault, which, if we regard its conse

quences, is a crime. The system which he

essayed, left, in its failure, no legitimate resource. Moderation after violence becomes weakness; and when violence has been car

Benj. Constant, “que celui qu'on nous presente! en élevant le prix des journaux, on ne diminuera point leur produit annuel! mais le plus simple bon sens n'indiquet-il pas qu'en doublant le port on diminuera le nombre des abonnés, et par consequent le produit de la taxe ? Maintenant toute la question est de savoir s'il est juste, sage et politique de diminuer la circulation des journaux de la capitale, et de tuer l'existence de ceux des départ

mens.

"Dans tout ceci," said M. de Chateaubriand, "n'y-at-il pas quelque chose de puéril et de sauvage qui fait véritablement rougir? La France est elle-donc redevenue barbare ?”

"Dans la pensée intime de la loi," said M. Royer Collard, "il y a eu de l'imprévoyance au grand jour de la creation à laisser l'homme échapper libre et intelligent au milieu de l'univers !"

The Academy protested; the law was finally withdrawn.

ried to the extremest limit of the law, the next step you make justifies resistance. Mons. de Villèle was a man of ability; he had a certain administrative talent, a certain parliamentary tact; but he had none of those loftier and more noble qualities which lift a statesman to that height from which he can survey and provide for the wants of an epoch. All his ideas and hopes were within the hemisphere of detail and intrigue to tickle the ear of the King, to entrap a majority of the Chamber, and to attend to the official duties of his department all this M. de Villèle understood, and understood well: but to see the course necessary to the nation, to urge the King to that course, to lead the Chamber to it-such a part was beyond the reach of his capacity, and totally out of the range of his ideas. Simple in his habits and expressions, regular in his office, and prodigal in places and dinners to his adherents, he exercised a great sway over the minds of those Deputies who, fresh from their provinces, sympathized with his manners, enriched themselves by his appointments, and felt themselves raised in consideration by his hospitality. By this provincial body M. de Villèle was adored; but all the better men of his time and of his party he alternately offend