the Three Days. erable to the Charter of Louis few members of the Right, who, XVIII.; and in that case the knowing that their persons were question whether the Duc d'Or- perfectly safe, had independence leans should be Emperor could and patriotism enough to take part be submitted to the suffrages of the in the deliberations of the ChamNation. Or the Chamber might ber. A portion of the Peers also provide for the convocation of a attended. In obedience to the Constituent Assembly, a Conven- repúblican spirit of the times, the tion of the whole Kingdom, for Deputies appeared in the ordinary the purpose of enacting a new dress of citizens, instead of the offundamental law in place of the ficial costume, which they had Charter. But the considerations been accustomed to wear before hinted at in the last cha.er, In consewhich induced the liberal party to accede to the bestowment of power on the Duc d'Orleans, prevailed on the majority of those men of influence, who possessed the means of directing public affairs, to determine that the present Chamber should proceed to the complete settlement of the Government upon a stable basis. The same considerations led the Chamber, when it had once resolved upon settling the Government, to proceed with a degree of precipitancy, which left no room for the operation of adverse schemes, and hardly afforded time for due reflection and deliberation on the part of the Deputies themselves. In doing so, they avoided, perhaps, present disorders, but sowed the seeds of future contentions at least, if not revolutions. The opening of the Chambers was celebrated at the stated time and in the usual place, with all the forms of a royal sitting, so far as they were applicable to the new state of things. It was justly regarded by all parties as a crisis of peculiar difficulty and importance. About half the Deputies elect assembled, including some The Duc d'Orleans, as Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, opened the sitting with a speech fully in accordance with the principles of the Revolution. It was a plain, direct, manly address, worthy of the speaker and the occasion. He spoke of the struggle of the Three Days, of the heroism of the people of Paris, of the consequent dissolution of the pre-existing social system, and of the necessities of public order, which had placed him in authority. He alluded to the misfortunes of the royal family with delicacy and propriety. While holding up to the rest of Europe a desire of peace as well as liberty, as the animating spirit of France, he gave assurance that respect for the rights of all, and consequent public stability, would enable the new Government to maintain itself unharmed under all the hazards of a forcible change of dynasty. That portion of it, which spoke of his own personal views and feelings, was peculiarly judicious and satisfactory. 'I hastened,' he says, to the midst of this valiant People, followed by my family, and wear- the wishes of the victorious party, if they had been left to declare the throne forfeited for high crimes, without being anticipated in regard to it by the King. ing those colors, which, for the second time, have marked among us the triumph of liberty. I have come, firmly resolved to devote myself to all that circumstances Nothing was done at this sitshould require of me in the situa- ting; but the next day the Chamtion wherein they have placed me, bers met, and M. Labbey de to establish the empire of the laws, Pompières having taken the chair to save liberty which was threaten- as senior member, they proceeded, and to render impossible the ed to verify the credentials of return of evils so great, by secur- the several Deputies present, and ing forever the power of the Char- as usual chose five persons to be ter, whose name, invoked during presented to the Lieutenant Genthe combat, was also appealed to eral, out of whom he, as succesafter the victory. In the accom- sor to the rights of the King, plishment of this noble task it is should select for them a President. for the Chambers to guide me. They were MM. Casimir Perrier, All rights must be solemnly guar- Jacques Lafitte, Benjamin Delesantied, all the institutions necessa- sert, Dupin, and Royer Collard; ry to their full and free exercise and the selection fell upon M. must receive the development of Casimir Perrier. Baron Paswhich thay have need. Attached by inclination and conviction to the principles of a free government, I accept beforehand all the consequences of it.' These professions of cordial participation in the feelings of the People, whether wholly sincere or not, were such as the occasion demanded, and served to augment the popularity of the Lieutenant General. He concluded by announcing the abdication of Charles and the renunciation of the Dauphin, which he had received late the night before from Rambouillet. He did not state that any reservative had been made in favor of the Duc de Bordeaux; nor was it necessary; for the abdication itself was a mere deference to necessity, which the condition annexed to it neither strengthened nor diminished. Indeed it would have been quite as consonant to quier was appointed President of the Chamber of Peers. Other business of form occupied the Chambers until the fourth day of the session, August 6th, when the important proceedings for amending the Charter and transferring the Crown were commenced, and continued during the succeeding day, on which these important changes were finally completed, and the Duc d'Orleans became King of the French. The proposition for these modifications of the Government was made by M. Bérard, a Deputy very generally respected, who had efficiently forwarded the recent movements. It consisted of a series of Resolutions, first, declaring the throne of France vacant by reason of the events of July; secondly, proposing certain suppressions, alterations and additions in the text of the Charter; thirdly, stipulating that certain were the prominent speakers in laws shall be enacted with the the debate, in which also MM. least possible delay; and lastly, Benjamin Constant, Alexandre setting forth that on condition of de Laborde, Demarçay, Augushis accepting these conditions and tin Perrier, and de Brigode, propositions, the Chamber of among others, took more or less Deputies declares that the uni- part. In regard to the form of versal and urgent interest of the the debate, we need only say that, French nation calls to the throne except some conversation as to His Royal Highness Louis Philip- an address in reply to the speech pe d'Orleans, Duc d'Orleans, of the Lieutenant General, which Lieut. General of the Kingdom, ended in a decision that the proand his descendants forever in the position of M. Bérard should take male line by order of primogeni- the place of an address, ture, with the perpetual exclusion cepting this, the debate turned of females and their descendants,' upon the merits of the questions by the title of King of the French. presented in the several ResoluAs, next to the change of dynasty, tions. these conditions and propositions, or guarantees as they are often called, comprise the constitutional advantages secured by the Revolution, they will justify a particular examination. The discussion of the Resolutions was perfectly free, insomuch that several royalist Deputies very firmly and fully expressed their attachment to the family of Charles X., although none of them went so far as to defend the Ordinances, and several of them spoke with sorrow and indignation of the pernicious councils, by which the King had been misled. Nothing is more singular, how ever, in the proceedings of these two days, than the extreme brevity of the debates, the absence of any elaborate speeches for effect, and the business like manner in which the proposed measures were discussed and settled. MM. Bérard, Villemain, Dupin, Eusébe Salverte, Mauguin, La Fayette, Hyde de Neuville, de Martignac, and de Conny ex The speech of M. Bérard, which introduced the whole subject to the consideration of the Chamber, was the only general statement of the views of the Orleans party; and for that reason more than for its intrinsic merits, we introduce it in this place. 6 M. Bérard said: A solemn compact united the French People with their Monarch. This compact has been broken; and the violator of it has no title now to insist on its execution. Charles X. and his son in vain pretend to transmit a power, which they no longer possess. Their power is extinguished in the blood of thousands of victims. The act of abdication, which has been laid before you, is only a fresh instance of perfidy. The appearance of legality which it wears is a mere deception. It is a brand of discord thrown among us. 'The real enemies of our country, those who by flattering urged the fallen Government on to ruin, are busy on all sides; they assume all colors, they proclaim all opinions. If a vague desire of liberty seizes on some generous minds, our enemies hasten to take advantage of a sentiment, which they are incapable of understanding; and ultra-royalists present themselves in the guise of rigid republicans. Others affect a hypocritical attachment for the forgotten son of the conqueror of Europe, which would change into hate, if there could be any serious question of making him Chief of France. The instability, inseparable from the existing forms of Government, encourages the promoters of discord. Let us disarm them by putting an end to it. A supreme law, that of necessity, has placed weapons in the hands of the Parisians, to repel oppression. This law has caused us to adopt as a provisionary Chief, and as the only means of safety, a Prince, who is the sincere friend of constitutional institutions. The same law would lead us to adopt, without delay a definitive head for the State. 'But whatever confidence this Prince inspires, the rights which we are called upon to defend, oblige us to establish the conditions, under which he shall receive his power. Odiously deceived on several occasions, it will be permitted us to stipulate the strictest guarantees. Our institutions are incomplete, vitiated even in certain points of view; it is necessary to extend and reform them. The Prince, who is at our head, is already aware of our just The principles of several wants. fundamental laws have been recognised by him already; and other principles, other laws, are not less indispensable, and will also be secured. We are the elected delegates of the People. They have confided to us the defence of their rights, the expression of their wants. Their first wants, their dearest interests, are liberty and repose. They have conquered their liberty; it is for us to secure their repose; and we cannot do so except by giving them a stable and just Government. It is idle to pretend that in doing so, we exceed our powers. I could refute this objection, if there was sufficient occasion, by invoking the law to which I have already referred, that of imperious, invincible necessity. In this state of things, taking into consideration the grave and pressing situation in which the country is placed, the indispensable necessity of changing this precarious posture for a safer one, and the universal wish manifested by France to obtain the completion of her institutions, I have the honor to propose the following Resolutions.' There can be no doubt that the Resolutions had been fully concerted and arranged out of the Chamber, before they were proposed in it. If this did not appear from the nature of the propositions themselves, it would from the slight discussion and alteration they received in passing through the Chamber to become the fundamental law of the land. Indeed there is little to be selected from the debates of these two days, which accords with the all important nature of the subjects in agitation. Except a feeling protestation on the part of M. de Martignac, against the application of the word ferocity to the conduct of Charles, the most remarkable speeches in opposition to the Resolutions were those of M. de Conny and of M. Hyde de Neuville. M. de Conny argued at some length the claims of the Duc de Bordeaux in the following manner: In the terrible circumstances in which we are placed, freedom of debate is more than ever a sacred law. I came forward at the voice of my conscience; silence would be cowardice. Social order is shaken to its foundations. These tumultuous commotions, which suddenly suspend the action of the legitimate powers instituted to maintain order in society, are epochs of calamity, which exercise the most fatal influence upon the destiny of nations. Inexorable history, rising above contemporary passions, will impress upon these lamentable days the character which belongs to them, and the cry of human conscience is raised to consecrate this eternal truth, that force constitutes no right. 'In these times of trouble, liberty is invoked, but the expression of thought has ceased to be free. Liberty is stifled by the sanguinary cries, which carry alarm in every direction. Suffer not your selves to be subjugated by the cries which resound about you. Statesmen, remain calm in the midst of perils, and when confused voices call to France the son of Napoleon, invoke the Republic, and proclaim the Duc d'Orleans, unshaken in your duties, remember your oaths, and acknowledge the sacred rights of the royal infant, whom, after so many misfortunes Providence has given to France. Think of the judgment of posterity:- it would be terrible. You would not wish that history should say you were faithless to your oaths. The eyes of Europe are upon us. We have too long exhibited to her a spectacle of strange instability; too long have we changed sides, as often as victory has changed colors. Brought back to truth by misfortune, let us remain calm in the midst of so many turbulent passions, and let us bestow our respect and tears upon great and royal disasters. 6 By continuing faithful to our duties, I wish to spare our country all the calamities and crimes consequent on usurpations. Viewing with an anxious mind the destiny of France, I perceive the twofold scourge of civil and foreign war threatening onr noble country, I perceive liberty disappearing forever, I perceive French blood flowing, and this blood would recoil upon our heads. Deference to the principle of gitimacy, that principle established by the Charter, can alone preserve our country from this fearful destiny. All France is bound by oaths. The army, ever faithful, will bend their arms before the young King. I call to witness our national honor. Let us not exhibit to the world the scandal of perjury. In the presence of the sacred rights of the |