The liberty of worship, The representative system, chambers were closed against the members, and the monarch entered the capital and The free consent of the representatives to took possession of the government. It is the levying of men and taxes, The responsibility of ministers, The irrevocability of the sale of national property of every description, The inviolability of all kinds of property, The abolition of tithes, The abolition of the ancient nobility, and the new hereditary nobility, and of feudal institutions, The entire oblivion of all political opinions and votes to the present moment, The institution of the legion of honour, The rewards due to the officers and soldiers, and the relief required by their widows and children, The institution of juries, The irremovability of the judges, and The payment of the public debt. Every government which would not guarantee all these things would have only an ephemeral existence, and would never secure the tranquillity of France nor of Europe. The chamber finally declares, that if the bases specified in this declaration be disregarded or violated, the representatives of the nation deem it their sacred duty to protest, in the face of the whole world, against the injustice and usurpation; and they confide the defence of the sentiments which they now proclaim to all good Frenchmen, to all generous hearts, to all enlightened minds, to all men jealous of their liberties, and, in fine, to all generations. (Signed) LANJUINAIS, president. No sooner had the army departed, than the city was inundated by the troops of the allies. The chambers peaceably continued their sittings, and hastened to complete the constitution which they had undertaken to model. In two or three days their labours would have terminated: but on the very day which succeeded the entry of the allies, it was publicly announced that the sovereigns, in violation of all their promises, had determined to reinstate Louis on the throne, without any of the restrictions which his subjects would have wished to impose upon him. On the next day the doors of the therefore unjust to charge them with the omission of that which they had no opportunity to execute. The presence of the army, and the tumult of the federates, rendered it impossible immediately to recal the monarch, or to enter into negociations with him; and that restraint was no sooner removed, than, before they had time to give the most distant intimation of their wishes or intentions, the king was forced upon them by foreign bayonets. Yet, strange to say, the return of Louis was greeted with loud and general acclamations. He had halted at St. Denis, and crowds of citizens hastened to that town to gaze on their returning sovereign, having in their pockets the white cockades for which they had changed, on the preceding day, the violet emblems and snuff boxes of Napoleon. On the morning of July the 8th, the tri-coloured flag, which had hitherto floated on all the towers and monuments of the capital, was taken down, and replaced by the crested lilly. The national guards, to the number of two thousand men, presented themselves at the barriers of St. Denis, and demanded permission to pass. Their request was grant ed, on condition that they should deposit their arms; and, unwilling to occasion superfluous bloodshed, they acceded to this condition. Having offered their protestations of fidelity to the monarch, they were requested to return to Paris and influence their comrades in favour of the king. On their arrival at the gates of the capital, they found that Massena, after permitting all who pleased to quit Paris, had issued an order that no one should re-enter the gates; a stratagem by which he hoped to exclude the friends of the Bourbons from the city. In the evening, the duke of Otranto had an interview with the duke of Wellington, of which the purport is unknown: but it terminated in an understanding that the provisional government should fully declare the intentions of the allies, and dissolve itself. Fouché assured the English general that the example would be eagerly and peaceably followed by both the chambers, and that Louis Hitherto we believed that the intentions of the allied sovereigns were not unanimous upon the choice of the prince who is to reign in France. Our plenipotentiaries gave us the same assurances at their return. However, the ministers and generals of the allied powers declared yesterday in the conferences they had with the president of the commission, that all the sovereigns had engaged to replace Louis XVIII. upon the throne; that he is to make his entrance into the capital this evening or to-morrow. Foreign troops have just occupied the Thuilleries, where the government is sitting. In this state of affairs, we can only breathe wishes for the country; and our deliberations being no longer free, we think it our duty to separate. The marshal prince of Essling, and the prefect of the Seine, have been charged to watch over the maintenance of public order, safety, and tranquillity. We have the honour, &c. CAULAINCOURT, duke of Vicenza. The chamber was overwhelmed with confusion and dismay. A profound silence ensued. For some moments the members gazed on each other, and then actuated by one common feeling, they rose from their seats, and hastened from the hall, In the chamber of representatives the message was differently received. A mo ment of silent consternation followed. M. Manuel then presented himself in the tribune, and proposed that the chamber should continue its sitting and await the result. "Gentlemen!" said he, "you foresaw this event, but it ought not to form any change in your conduct. One of two things will happen: either the enemy will respect your independence, and if the word of kings are not vain, all hope would not be forbidden, or they will forget what they have declared, and expel the national representation from this place. Let us shew that we are worthy of the cofidence of our constituents. Let us remain firm at our post, and leave to other hands the odious task of dispersing the representatives of France. These expressions once electrified France and Europe; let us repeat them a second time, 'We were sent hither by our constituents, and nothing but bayonets shall remove us.” Bravo! Bravo! Yes! Yes! resounded from all parts of the assembly. Count Regnault afterwards presented himself, and spoke as follows: "You have lately placed yourselves under the safeguard of the nation. That declaration requires now to be modified. You are guarded by a handful of brave citizens, and if you are permitted, if you are ordered to die at your posts, they ought to be spared all danger. Declare that the guard placed at the gates of palace is only a guard of honour, and that if any armed force presents itself it shall be ordered to make no resistance." This motion was unanimously adopted. The assembly then passed to the order of the day, and with as much coolness as if no danger menaced them, began to debate the question, whether, under the new constitution which they were framing, the peerage should be hereditary; and, at their usual hour of breaking up, adjourned till eight o'clock on the following morning. As soon as it was known that the provisional government had dissolved itself, and that the king would make his public entry on the morrow, crowds of persons, some led by interest, and others by affection, hastened to St. Denis to congratulate the king on the speedy re-assumption of his power. The populace of Paris, and particularly of the suburbs, unawed by the near approach of the king, and the dread of his vengeance, and equally unterrified by the foreign bayonets which surrounded them, hastened to the gates, and insulted every one who appeared to be going to St. Denis, or returning from it. As soon as they had passed the gates, the loyal citizens mounted the white cockade; but this badge of fidelity was not suffered to appear within the walls of the metropolis. Every one who attempted to enter the gates, adorned with these ribbands, was insulted, threatened, and most violently attacked; some received very serious injuries, and more than one were murdered. In pursuance of their adjournment, the members of the chamber of representatives repaired to the usual place of their assembly. But the gates of the palace being shut, the avenues guarded by a military force, and the officers who commanded it having declared that they had a formal order to refuse all entrance to the palace, one hundred members of the chamber assembled at the house of M. de Lanjuinais, their president, and issued an appeal to the people, which produced no sensible effect. The very individuals who, but a few hours before, had rent the air with cries of "Down with the Bourbons!" now rushed out in multitudes, by the re-opened gates, to welcome the monarch whom they had thus calumniated by every species of reviling! At two o'clock it was announced that the king approached, and the populace, who were crowded to excess, opened to the right and left. The monarch was attended by his ministers; by a regiment of officers, who, during the late events, had faithfully adhered to his cause; by the duke de Berri, and the count d'Artois. When Louis arrived at the barrier, the prefect, and the whole of the municipal body, appeared to receive him. The prefect addressed him in an harangue, which formed a ludicrous contrast to a production precisely similar, in which the same body, if not the same orator, welcomed Napoleon, on his arrival at Paris, three months before: "Sire,-One hundred days have passed away since your majesty, forced to tear yourself from our dearest affections, left your capital, amidst tears and public consternation. In vain did the municipal body of your good city of Paris raise the unanimous cry of faithful subjects. They announced to all Frenchmen the imminent evils with which they were menaced. But there are moments in which Heaven does not permit the voice of magistrates to be heard. It was not in their power to prevent an error too fatal. The phrensy of the passions, the destructive disturbance of public tranquillity, the interruption of commerce and industry, civil war and us. foreign invasion, have at once afflicted your people. Heaven, Sire! is overcharged with vengeance, and restores you only to pardon Your majesty interposes between Europe and your people, to give them peace, and to reconcile them anew to all nations.— Your majesty will hasten to gather together and to re-unite the dispersed elements of the political body. The passions are now calmed in all generous hearts, reason is heard, and love of our country and our king will complete the rest. A period of twenty-five years, marked by so many vicissitudes, and, like all epochs of history, by glory and reverses, cannot be preferred to the recollection of eight centuries which have revolved under the sceptre of our kings, counted by long intervals of prosperity, and by the moderation and the bounty of the sovereigns of your august dynasty. "Frenchmen! In every part of the kingdom, if the example of the capital, which has always been of such great weight, can still guide you, you will see it on the day which has followed these storms, calm amidst the numerous efforts which have been made to agitate it, forgetting all discords, abjuring the spirit of party, and hastening around a king, who, as a first pledge of his return, has proclaimed new guarantees for your happiness, and the establishment of institutions calculated to secure a wise liberty and the welfare of France. Let us protest to him, according to the wish of his heart, that the passions are about to be tranquillized, that the children of the great family are about to unite to approach him, and will henceforth only have one rallying cry." The monarch shortly replied, "In remov-. ing from Paris I experienced the greatest sorrow and regret. Testimonies of the fidelity of my good city of Paris reached me.I return with emotion. I foresaw the misfortunes with which it was threatened; it is my wish to prevent and repair them." The procession again moved on. The royal carriage was now surrounded by the municipal body of Paris, and by the marshals of the empire. As it slowly proceeded, handkerchiefs were waved from every window, and acclamations resounded from every voice. It was five o'clock before the proces sion reached the Thuilleries, which the monarch entered amidst universal and enthusiastic expressions of veneration and attachment. Had the sincerity of the Parisians been estimated by their external indications of rejoicing, Louis might have justly been regarded as the only idol of their devotion. The garden of the Thuilleries, which had been entirely abandoned during the absence of the king, was now thronged by elegant company. Ladies formed their own sets for country dances, and, bringing their own music, danced, crowned with lilies, before the windows of the palace, while the king, sometimes gracefully kissing his hand, and sometimes bursting into tears, returned by his courtesies these hollow, unsatisfactory, and deceitful testimonies of attachment to his person. On the succeeding day the king officially announced his ministers. The prince de Talleyrand was appointed president of the council, and secretary for foreign affairs; marshal St. Cyr, minister of war; baron Louis, minister of finance; the duke of Otranto, minister of police; the duke de Richelieu, minister for the department of the king's household; baron Pasquier, minister of justice; and count de Jaucour, minister of marine. The selection of these individuals, to fill the executive offices of the state, was contemplated with satisfaction by the most enlightened classes of the nation. They viewed, in imagination, France reviving from the pressure of her unexampled calamities, and resuming her august place among the nations: forming new combinations of glory, and seeking new objects of activity for her ardent spirit, in the cultivation of the fine arts, in the discoveries of science, and the researches of truth. The mild and benevolent disposition of the sovereign was regarded as a sufficient guarantee for his goodness of intention, and it was hoped that the experience of the late momentous revolution might have corrected his political inexperience, and removed that mental blindness which had rendered him unconscious of the errors of his former government. How fallacious were these hopes, will be seen in our narrative of subsequent events The reaccession of Louis proved fatal to the cause of Joachim Murat. Driven from the Neapolitan dominions, he had sought refuge in France, and there, on the return of the Bourbons, he was persecuted and proscribed. He hired a vessel at Toulon, on intelligence of their arrival, by which he might effect his escape, but the ship sailed without him, carrying away all his effects and attendants. He was left completely destitute, and wandered more than a fortnight in the woods, subsisting on a few pieces of brown bread, which he obtained from the humanity of the neighbouring shepherds. He at length resigned himself to the compassion of the inmates of a small villa near Toulon, where he remained concealed more than a month, indebted for his daily food to the benevolence of two naval officers. While he remained in concealment, he wrote repeatedly and ineffectually to some friends at Paris, claiming their interference and protection. His letters were either intercepted or neglected. The place of his retreat was now discovered. A band of more than thirty armed men surrounded the house, and he had scarcely time to escape to an adjoining vineyard, carrying with him two brace of pistols, and determined to die rather than fall into the hands of his enemies. They passed him, threatening vengeance, as he lay concealed in the thick foliage. The search was continued several days without success, and they set a price upon his head. He tremblingly stole from his retreat every night, and received some scanty and precarious subsistence from the officers, who would not even now desert him; and at length he was enabled, by their means, to escape to Bastia, in Corsica. Their share in this event having been discovered, they were immediately cashiered and thrown into prison. At Bastia, Murat prepared the following proclamation, for circulation on the coasts of Calabria, and for distribution as soon as he should enter the Neapolitan territory : JOACHIM NAPOLEON, KING OF THE TWO Brave Neapolitans!-Your Joachim is restored to you. He is again in the midst of you. His afflictions and yours are terminated. Your king, in announcing to you his return, does not announce a pardon; you never offended him; but he renews to his children the oath he has already sworn to them, namely, to render them happy! He will never be perjured, and his heart, which you so well know, and your own constant fidelity, form your guarantees that his promises are not deceitful, and that he will not, like Ferdinand, prolong the epoch of vengeance. I have lived in solitude, in one of those modest asylums which are always to be found among virtuous poverty. There I despised the poignards of those assassins of Marseilles of those cannibals, who, during the whole period of the French revolution, steeped themselves in the blood of their fellow-citizens. I had resolved to await, in my retreat, the termination of the anti-revolutionary fever which devoured France, in order to attempt the conquest of my states, and to seek in your hearts a refuge from misfortunes, and from the most unheard of and unjust persecution, when I was induced to remove, in consequence of the indignation I felt on reading the letter written by Ferdinand to lieutenant field-marshal baron Bianchi. I could not endure that a prince, who calls himself the king and father of the good Neapolitans, should consecrate, by a solemn monument, the national dishonour. I could not endure that he should style hostile banditti, that army which was composed of the flower of all classes of the nationthat brave army, of which I was the creator and the chief that army which had given so many proofs of courage and fidelity which had covered itself with glory-which had elevated the character of the Neapolitan people among nations and which owed its ultimate reverses solely to hostile proclamations instigating desertion, and to the false reports which were circulated of the death of its king. I then resumed all my resolution, I threw myself into a small boat, and landed in Cor sica, where I immediately found hospitality, and at the same time offers of service from all the brave men who had formed part of the Neapolitan army. Secure of the love of my people, and happy thus to recal them to my memory, I formed and have executed the plan of re-conquering my states, and avenging the national dishonour, who pos Soldiers and citizens! All of you sess noble hearts, and are animated by sentiments of patriotism, assemble around your king. The offence is common to all. Let us state it plainly: The prince who calls the Neapolitan soldiers a hostile banditti insults the whole nation. He has lost his right to the throne; and Ferdinand pronounced his abdication, by the letter which he wrote to the baron de Bianchi. Yes, brave men, my beloved citizens, we have been injured, and if the offence is common to all, you ought all to assemble around your king, to expel from your territory so perjured a prince-a prince who so often promises pardon, and always shews himself vindictive. May the Casa Lanza, may that monument which Ferdinand wished to raise to the national dishonour, be rased from its foundations, and on its ruins may there be erected a column, bearing an inscription, which will inform the present generation, and the most remote posterity, that in every place the national army, after having gained signal vie tories, not being able to resist the number of its enemies, was compelled to sign an honour. able peace; and that Ferdinand, for having constructed the said place in the heart of the kingdom, as a monument of national dis honour, and for having given the title of hostile banditti to the national army, was declared by the Neapolitan nation unworthy to govern, and has for ever lost his throne Yes, the nation is offended! What Neapolitan, if this be not avenged, will henceforth be proud of that name, and shew himself in the great society of the world? To arms!! To arms!! Let the nation rise in mass! Let every true Neapolitan, who possesses sentiments of honour, fly to my camp! Let the provincial legions assemble! Let the army re-organise itself! Let my brave sol diers rejoin their standards! Let the brave and faithful guard of security of my good city at Naples once more save my capital! My royal palace, all the persons and pro perty of that immense city, are under its protection! Let the brave, the faithful Cala |
