government ; exceptional measures, which will
be first tolerated, then execrated ; universal di.s-
CGPfent, national excitement, civil war, foreign
invasion; dangers from all sides to the throne,
the altar, the public liberty, the dynastv, the ex-
isting peers, and all other peers; in fine, an
absolute despotism or liberty — a third time, and
too dearly, purchased. Do you wish to count us ?
It is not in this assembly you must do so — it is
in the midst of thirty millions of Frenchmen you
must commence your calculation. There is but
one way to avoid these dangers; it is by reject-
ing or withdrawing the proposition submitted to
the Chamber. It is the unanimous opinion of
the novernment to resist any change in the Law
of Elections. The results of the pro- i Monitcur,
posal. even to make such a change March 2«,
have been sufficient to prove its dan- l,}^ • .A"",
ger, and to render it the first duty ^g. cap. vi
of the Government firmly to oppose 129, 133: Lac
it." I ii 281,283.
Notwithstanding these denunciations the ma
jority of the peers remained firm in g^
their resolution; and M. Barthele- Adoption of
my's proposition was adopted by a M- Banheie-
raajority of 45 — the numbers beinjr I"^'^ proposi
98 to 53. bo elated were the Roy- feat of Minis
alists with this victory that they tersonthefix-
proceeded immediately to another ingofthe
1 _ . »• ■.. .u /-• financial year
demonstration agauist the Govern- •'
ment of a much more doubtful kind. It had been
determined by the ^Ministers, and agreed to by
the Chamber of Deputies, to make a change in
the financial year. To accomplish this, there
was but one method that appeared practicable,
and that was to vote the supplies at once for
eighteen months. This, however, was a violation
of the charter, which declared that the supplies
were to be voted for one year only; and on this
ground it had been strongly opposed in the
Chamber of Deputies. " When Bonaparte,"' said
M. de Yillele in that Chamber, " came , , , .
to disperse the National Assembly,
they invoked their rights as established by the
constitution. He answered, ' You have violated
them.' Dread a similar answer. Dread it
whether your blindness brings you to see a tri-
umphant democracy demand the overthrow of
the throne, and the dissolution of the Chamber of
Peers — or a new soldier tries to consecrate in
this hall a violation of the principle of legitimacy."
The expedience of the case being on the other
side, however, the Chamber of De- , . „. .
.' , 1 , , 1 ^ -^ ^ Ann. Hist,
puties adopted the change; but it li.ss 59;Mon-
was at once rejected in the House iteur, Marcli
of Peers, by a majority of 39 — the ?.» i^^ii-^'^
numbers being 93 to 54.' ' '
These repeated defeats convinced the Govern-
ment that the time had now arrived gg
when it was necessary to take a de- Measures of
cisive step. M. Dessolles laid a the Govem-
memoir before the King, in which ™^°'-
the state of the ease was clearly set forth, and the
courses which might be adopted were pointed
out.* It was evident that it had become un-
* "Lea deux Chambres vont etre en complete dissi-
dence sur une question fondamentale, celle qui constituj
le corps electoral, principe democratique de la Consiitu
tion. Les deputes veulent maintenir le systeme electo-
ral, les Pairs yeulent le modifier. Dans cette position,
le Minietere da votre Majeste partageant I'opinion de la
Chamtre Elective, il ne reste au Roi qu"un parti a prendre,
c'est on de dic-soudre la Chambre elective et de composer
nn Minicrere dans le sein de la majorite de la Pairie, on
de Koutenir le .Ministre el la Charnbre des Peputes et d#
1819.]
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
I'Jt
avoidable either to dissolve the Chamber of De-
puties, and form a new Ministry in harmonj' with
the opinions of the majority of the Peers, or to
overcome the majority in the Peers by a great
creation in that Assembly. It was at first pro-
posed simply to repeal the ordinance of 15th
Aagust, 1815, which excluded from the House
the peers who had taken an active part in favor
of Napoleon during the Hundred Days ; but the
King objected to this. "I wish," said Louis,
" that they should hold their seats from my single
will, and that they should feel grateful for it."
It was agreed, in consequence, to make a great
creation of peers ; and next morning the columns
of the Monitr.ur revealed to the astonished Paris-
ians the names of sixty-three persons ; all of the
Liberal party, or attached to the Liberal party,
I Moniteur, who were advanced to the peerage.^
March 8, 1819; Among them were six of Napoleon's
Ann. Hist. ii. marshals — viz., the Dukes of Albu-
I3r' nif ^' '^^'^^' Cornegliano, and Dantzio, the
' ' Prince of Echmuhl, INIarshal Jour-
dan, and the Duke of Treviso ; and man}' names
known to fame — in particular, Rapp, Latour
iMaubourg, Reille, Dubreton, Maurice Mathieu,
Claperede, Admiral Tonguet, and several others.
The victory of the Liberals was now complete.
&y the coup d'etat of September 5,
Great major- 1816, they had revolutionized the
ity in the Chamber of Deputies ; by that of
Chamber of March 5, 1819, they had overcome
Stnisters. ^'»« resistance of the Chamber of
Peers. The king had thrown him-
self into their arms ; the magistracy was filled
with their adherents, the army guided by their
generals, the press by their supporters. The
whole powers of the state were wielded by their
adherents. An astonishing revolution ! to have
been effected in so short a time, in a country in
which the tide had set so violently the other
way during the year 1815; but by no means
without a parallel, both in the previous and sub-
sequent history of that volatile and easily excit-
ed people, and not without parallels among
their more sober neighbors on this side of the
Channel. Nothing remained for the Govern-
ment to consolidate its power but to demon-
strate its ascendency in the Chamber of Depu-
«ies ; and here the effects of the decisive blow
struck in the Peers at once appeared, for, on a
1 ;^nn_ Hist, division on the Electoral Law in
ii. 82; Moni- the Chamber of Deputies, Ministers
teur, Mar. 22, -^-ere supported by a majority of 5G
lal'J. _jl^g numbers being 150 to 91. *
Although not five years had elapsed since the
98. second restoration of the Bourbons,
Great and yet decisive events, frauirht with
IruIt8"^or'ihe ^^^^ '^^'^ of futurity, had during that
changes al- time taken place both in Franco
ready made in and England. It is a mistake to
France. suppose that important events preg-
nant with lasting consequences produce their
elfects in every instance immediately. This is,
without doubt, sometimes the case ; and of the
reality of such sudden results the French Revo-
lution affords ample evidence. But, in general,
hriser ropposition qui s'est formic dans la Chambre des
fairs. Et je nc dissimulc pas a voire Majesty que ce der-
nier parti est le plus populaire, ct que dans les circon-
Htances actuellefs, c'cst Ic scul qui puisse ramcjier la calme
dans Ics esprits." — Mimoire tlu Marqui-i Dcsnollcs au Roi,
Mars 2, 181 'J. Capefioii-, lliitoire li- la Jirstauralion,
•I. J35.
the lasting effects of the ,,(eatest political
chan
period, and when they have had time to work, as
it were, through all the strata of society. The
great political alterations made in France during
this period, the coup d'etat changing the Elect-
oral Law, the new ordinances for the regulation
of the army, the great democratic creations of
peers, rendered a revolution inevitable, but inevi-
table at a future period. The first fixed the re-
presentation upon a uniform and democratic basis
of small proprietors and moderate intelligence,
disfranchising practically the higher education
and larger properties of the kingdom, by throw-
ing them into a minority ; the second deprived
Government of the support, in any crisis which
might arise, of a faithful and intrepid army, and
rendered it next to certain that, in the decisive
moment, it would side with the enemies of the
monarchy ; the third severed from the throne
any aid it might receive from a body of peers
whose interests were identified with its preser-
vation. In like manner, the new monetary sys-
tem adopted in England, in 1819, had rendered
an entire change of government and alteration
of policy inevitable at no distant period ; for it had
laid the foundation of such a prodigious altera-
tion of prices as could not fail to change the ruling
class in the country, and, by the general suller-
ing with which it must be attended, shake even
the stability and loyalty of the British character.
It is worthy of observation how early the
French nation, after they had at-
tained the blessing, had shown -, ^^\
themselves unfitted, either from xups d'etat m
character or circumstances, for the France since
enjoyment of constitutional govern- J?*® Restora-
ment. Only five years had elaps-
ed since it was for the first time established
in France by the overthrow of Napoleon, and
scarcely a year had passed which was not
marked" by some coup d'etat, or violent infringe-
ment, by the sovereign, of the constitution.
The restoration of the Bourbons in 1815 was
immediately attended by the creation of sixty
peers on the Royalist side, and the expulsion of
as many from the Democratic ; this was follow-
ed, within four years, by the creation of as
many on the Liberal. The whole history of
England prior to 1S32 could only present one
instance of a similar creation, anil that was of
tiecl»e peers only, in 1713, to carry through (he
infamous project of impeaching the Duke of
Marlborough. It was threatened to bo repeat-
ed, indeed, during the heat of the Reform con-
test ; but the wise advice of the Duke of Welling-
ton prevented such an irretrievable wound being
inllicted on the constitution. The French Cham-
ber of Deputies was fir.'^t entirely remodeled,
and 133 new members added to its numbers, by
a simple royal ordinance in 1815 ; and again
changed — the added members being t;iken
away, and the sulfrage established on a uniforir.
and highly democratic basis — by another royal
ordinance, issued, by the sole authority of tiic
king, the following year. Changes, alternately
on the one side or the other, greater than were
accomplished in England by the whole legisla-
ture in two centuries, were carried into execu-
tion in France in the very outset of its eonstitu-
tional career, by the sole authority of the king,
in two years.
li-e
HISTORY OF K UK OPE.
I Chap.
What ib suW more rcmarkaWe, and at first
l,Ki sifjlit seems almost unaccountable,
Tho coups every one of those violent stretches
iTeiai v, ere ii\\ of regal power was done in tho in-
lar side ^^^ terest, and to frratify tho passions, of
the majority at the moment. Tho
Royalist creation of peers in 1S15, the Democratic
addition of sixty to their numbers in 1S19, the
addition of 133 members to the Chamber of De-
puties in tho first of these years, their with-
drawal, and the change of the Electoral Law by
the coup d'etat of September 5, 1S16, were
all done to conciliate the feelinjrs, and in obe-
dience to the fierce demand, of the majority.
That these repeated infringements of the con-
.stitution in so short a time, and in obedience
to whatever was the prevailing cry of the mo-
ment, would prove utterly fatal to the stability
of the new institutions, and subversive of the
growth of any thing like real freedom in the
land, was indeed certain, and has been abun-
dantly proved by the event. But the remark-
able thing is, that, such as they were, and fraught
with these consequences, they were all loudly
demanded by the majority ; and the power of
the Crown was exerted only to pacify the de-
mands, which in truth it bad not the means of
resisting
A little reflection, however, will at once show
101. how it happens that, in periods of
Causes of this crisis and violent public excite-
peculiarity. ment, the people so frequently de-
mand, and the government concede, what is
certain in the end to prove fatal to the interests
of both. It is that both are governed by pres-
ent feelings or convenience, and neither is ca-
pable of either carrying their views into futu-
rity, or, if they could do so, of incurring present
risk or obloquy to avert the perils with which
these views are fraught. Neither can make
'•the past or the future predominate over the
present." The one party demand what appears
at tho time to them to be a most desirable oh
ject ; the other concedes what they are proLablv
reluctant to grant, but which is yielded to avoid
tho risk of present ccjUision. Thus the power
of the Crown is exerted to forward the advance.s
of democracy ; and the influence of democrnnv
is directed to forward changes which, by de-
stroying all intermediate influences, are in truth
paving the way for future despotism. Tranquil-
lity and peace are generally purchased at the
moment by such concessions ; but this advan-
tage is gained at the expense of future safety;
the danger is transferred from the streets to the
legislature — from the turbulence of mobs to
Acts of Parliament. The danger in such a case
is, not so much that the Government will be
overturned in a well-concerted urban tumult, as
that, with the consent of all branches of the le-
gislature, and the cordial support of the ma-
jority of the people, measures in the end de-
structive of the nation, and subversive of its lib-
erties, will be adopted. Whoever has attentive-
ly considered the situation of a country in which
a mere numerical majority has reallj^, and not
in form merely, acquired the direction, will see
that this is the greatest social danger which
threatens society; and as it arises from the most
prevailing weakness of human nature — that of
sacrificing the future to the present — it is tho
one which is least likely to be obviated by any
efforts of human wisdom. Possibly it is one of
the appointed means by which communities
make their exit from the world ; and as nations,
like single men, were not destined for immor-
tality, but intended, at the appointed season, to
make way for their successoi-s on this transitory
scene, so it is by the growth of popular pas-
sions, which tend to shorten their duration, that
the way is prepared for their removal from the
theatre of existence, and the gates of the tomb
opened to the most j>owerful and renowned of
human societies.
1814.]
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
107
CHAPTER YII.
SPAIN AND ITALY FROM THE PEACE OF 1814 TO THE RETOLUTION OF 1820.
Differing from each other in climate, na-
tional character, and descent, there
Analo'Tv of '* ^ striking, it may be a portentous,
i!ie early resemblance in their history and po-
liistory of litical destinies between Spain and
Ent'laiid"^ Great Britain. Both were inhab-
° ' ited originally by a. hardy race, di-
vided into various tribes, which maintained an
obstinate conflict with the invaders, and were
finally subdued only after nearly a century's
hai'assing warfare with the Legions. Both, on
the fall of the Empire, were overrun by suc-
cessive swarms of barbarians, with whom they
kept up for centuries an indomitable warfare,
and from whose intermingled blood their de-
scendants have now sprung. The Visigoths to
Spain were what the Anglo-Saxons were to
Britain ; and the Danes in the one country
came in place of the Moors in the other. The
rocks of Asturias in the first were the refuge of
independence, as the mountains of Wales and
the Grampian Hills were in the last. . Both
â– were trained, in those long-continued strug-
gles, to the hardihood, daring, and persever-
ance requisite for the accomplishment of great
things in the scene of ti'ouble. In both tlie
elements of freedom were laid broad and deep
in this energetic and intrepid spirit; and it was
hard for long to say which was destined to be
the ark of liberty for the world. The ardent
disposition of both sought a vent in maritime
adventure, the situation of both was eminently
favorable for commercial pursuits, and both be-
came great naval powers. Both founded colo-
nial empires in various parts of the world, of
surpassing magnitude and splendor, and both
found for long in these colonies the surest foun-
dations of their prosperity, the most prolific
sources of their riches. When the colonies re-
volted from Spain in 1810, the trade, both ex-
port and import, which she maintained with
them, was exactly equal to that which, thirty
}'ears afterward, England carried on with its
colonial dependencies. Happy if the parallels
^hall go no fartiier, and the fnture historian
i-hall not have to point to the severance of her
colonies as the commencement of ruin to Great
Britain, as the revolt of South America, beyond
all qui'stion, has been to the Spanish monarch v-
Historians have re|)(-ated to siitiety tJiat tlie
^ decline of ."^paiii, which has now con-
The (-olo- tinned witiiont inf erru[)tion for ncar-
nies were ly two centuries, is to lie ascribed to
nniasource the drain which these great colonics
To Spam.''"'"'' P'""^'^"' "P"n •''« strength of tiie par-
ent slate. They sccnKMl to lliink
that the mother country is like a vast reservoir
filled with vigor, health, and strength, and that
whatever of tliese was communicated to the co-
lonial ofTsiioots, was so mucli witlulrawn from
the parent state. Tliere never was a more er-
roneous oi)inioii. No country ever yet was
weakened by colonial dependencies; tlieir es-
tablishment, like the swarming of bees, is an
indication of overflowing numbers and super-
abundant activity in the original hive. As
their departure springs from past strength, so
it averts future weakness. It saves the state
from the worst of all evils — a redundant pop-
ulation constantly on the verge of sedition from
suffering — and converts those who would be
paupers or criminals at home, into active and
useful members of society, who encourage the
industry of the parent state as much b^^ their
consumption as they would have oppressed it
by their poverty.
Every emigrant who is now landed on the
shores of Australia, converts a pau-
per, whose maintenance would have Co;o,Jies
cost Great Britain £14 a year, into are always
a consumer who purchases £8 year- a benefit lo
ly of its manufactures. Rome and ''''' Paren'
Athens, so far from being weakened,
were immeasurably strengthened by their colo-
nies: those flourishing settlements which sur-
rounded the Mediterranean Sea were the brill-
iant girdle which, as much as the arms of the
Legions, contributed to the strength of the Em-
pire; and England would never have emerged
victorious from her immortal conflict for Euro-
pean freedom, if she had not found in her colo-
nial trade the means of maintaining the contest,
when shut out from the markets of the Conti-
nental states. If it were permitted to follow
fanciful analogies between the body politic and
the human frame, it would be safer to say that
the prolific parent of many colonies is like the
happy mother of a numerous offspring, who ex-
hibits, even in mature years, no symj)toms of
decline, and preserves the freshness and charms
of youth for a much longer period than she
who has never undergone the healthful labors
of parturition.
There is no reason, in the nature of things,
why colonies should exhaust the 4
mother country; on the contrary. Support
the tendency is just the reverse, which col-
They take 'from the parent state ""o.^JJio
what it is an advantage for it to ihcr coun-
lose, and give it what it is bene- "■>'•
ficial for it to receive. They take ofl" its sur-
])lus hands and m(>uths, aiul therebj' lighten
the labor market, and give an inq)ulse to the
principle of jxipuiation ; while tliey provide (he
means of subsistence for thosc^ who rcMuain at
home, by oj)ening a vast and rapidly increas-
ing market for its manufactures. A colony for
long is always agricultural or mining only.
Manufactures, at least of the finer sort, can
never spring uj) in it for a very long period.
An old state, in wliirh manufactiircs and the
arts have long flonrislicd, will nowhcn^ find
such a certain and growing vent for its fabrics
as in its colonial settlements; while they Avill
never find so sure and stead}' a mai-ket for
their rude produce as in the wants of it,3 in-
138
HISTORY OF EUROl'E.
[CiiAr. VIT.
Iinliitant^ Similnrity of tustis ami Imbits ren-
iliMs tho fabrics aiul productions of tho parent
state more accoptablo to tlie young one than
those of foreign lanils. The certainty of not
having theirsupplies of necessaries inlerruptetl,
is an inaj>precial>le advantage to tlie mother
couutrv. Tlieir iileiitit y of interest perpetuates
tlic union which absohite dependence on one
part l»ad nl first commenced. Tlie connection
between a parent slate liberally and wisely
governed, and its colonies, is founded on the
surest of all foundations — a real reciprocity of
advantages; and, as such, may long prove dura-
ble to the great benefit of both, and retain the
infant state in the bonds of allegiance, after the
time lias arrived when it might aspire to the
lienors of separate dominion.
To preserve, however, this connection be-
5. tween the mother country and her
VVtiat the robust colonies, a wise and liberal
eolonia] system of government is indispens-
The' parent able. If such be not adopted, they
state will, when they have attained ma-
sliould be. jority, inevitably break off on the
first serious difficulties of the parent state.
Nothing can permanently retain them in their
allegiance but a real reciprocity of advantages,
and the practical enjoyment of the powers of
self-government by the colonies. The reason
is, tliat the rule of the distant old state, if unaided
by colonial representation, direct or indirect,
never can be founded upon an adequate know-
ledge of the necessities, or attention to the in-
terests, of the youthful settlement. It will
always be directed by the ideas, and calculated
for the advantage of the society with which it
is surrounded — generally the very reverse, in
the first instance at least, of what the young
state requires. The true colonial policy, which
can alone insure a lasting connection between
the mother country and her transmarine de-
scendants, requires the most difficult of all sacri-
fices on the part of the former — that of her es-
tablished prejudices and selfish interests. Yet
it is the sacrifice of her immediate advantages
only; for never will the interests of the old
state, in the end, be so promoted as by the most
liberal and enlarged policy towards its distant
offspring. "What that policy should be, has
been written in charactei's of fire on the tablets
of history. It should be the exact reverse of
that which lost England North, and Spain,
South America. It should be the government
of the colonies, not for the interest of the mother
country, but for the advantage of themselves —
an administration which should make them feel
that they would lose rather than gain by a
severance of the connection. Rule the colonies
as you would wish them to rule you, if the seat
of government were in the colony, and you
were the distant settlement, and it will be long
indeed before they will desire to become inde-
pendent. This is, perhaps, the last lesson of
wisdom which will be learned by the rulers of
mankind ; yet is it the very first precept of the
religion which they all profess; and the whole
secret of colonial, as indeed of all other govern-
ments, is to do to others as we would they
should do unto us.
There is no idea more erroneous than that
which is entertained by manj' in this country,
that it is for the interest of the old state to sever
the connection with tho colonies when they
have arrived at a certain degree of g
strength; because by so doing, as it Inevitable
is said, you retain the advantages of '"ss to the
mercaniile intercourse, and get quit siate"rrom
of the burden of providing for defense, the separa-
Expcrience has proved that this opin- tion of the
ion is of all others the most fallacious; '"'o'l'^s-
because the very first thing which a colony
docs when it becomes independent, is to levy
heavy ini|iort duties on the manufactures of the
mother country, in order to encourage its own,
and thus the benefit of its vising market is at
first abridged, and at length lost to the parent
state. The United States of America, accord-
ingly, have imposed an import duty of 30 per