was less than 30,000 francs. At length, the ministry could command neither party, and Charles determined on the experiment of a decidedly royalist government.

De Villèle's ministry had been characterised as le ministère déplorable,-that of de Martignac, as le ministère phraséologiste,—and now, on the 8th of August, 1829, came le ministère impossible, composed of the Prince de Polignac, a bigotted Romanist, who was completely identified with the old regime, Labourdonnaye, a violent partisan of the coté droit, or aristocratical side of the Chamber, and other high royalists. The nation saw, in the King's choice, open war with free institutions, and that the attempt to bring the monarchy into union with them was abandoned: hence the cry against the ministry was universal. Labourdonnaye soon resigned; and, after various changes in the cabinet, de Polignac alone retained his place, to guide his new colleagues to the edge of that precipice over which they were about to plunge both themselves, and their infatuated sovereign.

The King's speech, on the 2nd of March, 1830, as remarkable for its graceful emphasis, as for its lofty spirit, caused an instant depression in the funds. The address of the Deputies was carried against the ministers, condemning their presumed line of policy, and respectfully warning the King, of the consequences of continuing in office an administration to which the nation

was strongly hostile. Charles replied that his resolutions were fixed, and that his ministers would represent his views. The Chambers were immediately prorogued, and great excitement followed all over France, accompanied with a furious paper war. Associations were formed for printing pamphlets to oppose the government. The names of the majority who voted the address, were published in various forms,-and to have been un des 221, was a badge of honour. The ministers purified, as it was called, every branch of the administration, and many préfets, and other officers, who were not sufficiently subservient, were dismissed, journalists were prosecuted, and the sale of snuff-boxes and other articles, inscribed 221,' were prohibited.

The anniversary of the entry of Charles X. into Paris, was celebrated with great pageantry, and the deluded monarch, and his ministers, were securely dreaming, amidst the full pomp of monarchy, on the brink of ruin. The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved, to re-assemble in August; and the King sought to influence the elections, by a weak and ridiculous proclamation,-while the ministers plied all the manœuvres used by de Villèle, in 1824. The success of the French arms at Algiers, was known in Paris on the 9th of July; and amidst fêtes, and Te Deums, and illuminations, the ministry seemed to think they saw the prelude to gaining a triumph over liberty at home, and some of

their abettors broached this doctrine.

De Polignac became more violent and determined, and at the same time more detested; while the priests enchained the conscience of the monarch, and blinded his mental vision. The elections. increased the opposition to two hundred and eighty votes. The ministers immediately concerted with the King to suspend the liberty of the press,

and with the will, but without the talent for despotism, they drew up a miserable state-paper, which attempted to shield, by sophistry, what no reasoning could reconcile with the Charter. The celebrated and fatal ordonnances, were issued on the 26th of July,-one dissolved the Chamber, and consequently annulled all the elections; a second entirely extinguished the freedom of the press; and the third commanded a new and aristocratical law of election. Most of the liberal journalists determined that their papers should appear, in spite of the ordonnances; and their seizure, on the 27th of July, was the signal of revolution.

Desperate conflicts now began, between the people and the soldiery; the Marseillaise Hymn, the song of the revolution, was on innumerable tongues; and all Paris was in arms. The pavements, and the public carriages, were converted into barricades, across the streets and boulevards; and, for three days, the contest was going on, in various parts of the city in the mean time, Charles had fled,--the tri-colored flag waved over the royal palaces, and the Bourbons had ceased to reign.

Upwards of 3,000 individuals were killed, or wounded, during the progress of this Revolution,— another awful example of the consequences of attempting to maintain arbitrary power, in opposition to the growth and developement of the national mind! No crisis ever bore more completely the aspect of a struggle for principles. It was a moral revolution, like that of America,—not a scene of anarchy and plunder among citizens,— but of a people fighting for their liberties, against the instruments of arbitrary power.

It is melancholy that so much blood must be shed, to teach princes that they can no longer hold their crowns as an independent patrimony, apart from the voice of those over whom they reign-The proudest monarchs must be exiles from their thrones, to proclaim to all other potentates, that their power, and their grandeur, exist but for the good of the community:-that hereditary government is but a form, in which the majesty of nations may be embodied most safely for themselves, and that when any legitimate ruler ceases to reign for the public weal,-tramples on the sacred claims of freedom,—and forgets the interests of millions in his own will, the time is come for a higher power to utter forth its mandate,-that kings may know that the source of all sovereignty, on earth, is in the people,-before the indignant thunders of whose voice, no tyranny can stand.

LETTER XXII.

Religion in France-History of Protestantism-Persecutions Present state of Protestantism-Institutions, and exertionsToleration-Moral state of France-Infidelity - Romanism-Demoralisation of the capital-Versailles-St. Cloud-Mont Calvaire-Ruel-St. Denis-Amiens.

THE entire population of France is estimated at 33,000,000, of whom only about a million and a-half are nominally Protestant: the rest are Roman Catholics and unbelievers. Though, in the large towns, the majority of the men may with propriety be regarded as of an infidel character, the great body of the people are still, in a considerable degree, attached to the Romish religion. There has been a gradual re-action, of late years, in its favour, and this has no doubt been very much owing to the bitter experience which many thousands have had, of the effects of infidelity, and their ignorance of a system which can better meet

VOL. II.

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