CHAPTER LXVIII.

THE REACTION IN EUROPE

 

DURING the years which succeeded the downfall of Napoleon and of the military predominance of France, the union and independence of cognate races, effected by the revolutions in Belgium, Greece, and Italy, present a striking contrast to their arbitrary separation and subjugation under foreign rulers, which so often prevailed in former times, and even at the Congress of Vienna. Another marked feature of the new epoch is the union of France and England, previously the bitterest opponents, as the protectors of liberal opinions against the despotism of the Eastern Empires. In the internal history of nations is to be observed a constant struggle for more liberal institutions. One of the worst features of the period is the vast augmentation of standing armies in the Continental countries, the result of the great military struggle with the first French Empire, and of national jealousies springing from the adjustments by which it was followed. Armies as great during peace as in the previous century they were in times of war, impoverish the people by withdrawing their flower from agriculture and manufactures, and by the taxes necessary for their maintenance; while at the same time they are a constant threat to civil freedom, and a dangerous incentive to war by the ready means they offer for waging it. England, in a great measure exempt by her position from this disastrous competition, and aided by the wonderful progress of mechanical inventions, has experienced a vast increase of material prosperity and wealth.

One of the first acts of Louis XVIII. on re-entering his capital was to appoint Talleyrand his chief minister. The remnant of Napoleon’s army, 45,000 strong, had retired beyond the Loire under Marshal Davoust, but yielding to necessity, hoisted the white flag, and was eventually disbanded. The war continued on the north-eastern frontier. The French commandants of some of the fortresses in that quarter, though willing to recognize the authority of Louis XVIII, refused to surrender to foreign troops, and the places had to be besieged. As it was considered necessary to the security of the throne that the Allies should continue to occupy some parts of France, the English army was stationed in the district north of the Seine, the Duke of Wellington having his headquarters at Paris; the Prussians were cantoned to the west of that capital, between the Seine and Loire; the Russians were distributed about the Oise, the Meuse, and the Moselle, while Prince Schwarzenberg’s headquarters were at Fontainebleau. The eastern and southern provinces of France, including Provence, were also occupied by divisions of the allied armies, so that two-thirds of France were in their power. The armies of occupation at last amounted to more than a million men.

A new Chamber of Deputies, consisting of 395 members, was elected according to a method sanctioned only by a Royal Ordinance; but as its constitution was placed on a more liberal and democratic footing, this fact escaped observation and censure. The elections showed that France was become almost ultra-royalist. The Chamber of Peers was purged, and the peerage declared hereditary. In choosing Talleyrand and Fouche for his ministers, Louis was guided by the advice of the Duke of Wellington.

In July were begun the negotiations for the Second Peace of Paris. The French were compelled to restore to their lawful owners those works of art which they had carried off from various European capitals in order to adorn their own. The definitive treaties between France and the Allies were signed November 20th, 1815. France was now deprived of part of the territories which the Peace of 1814 had left to her. The Duchy of Bouillon, the towns of Philippeville, Marienburg, Saarlouis, Saarbrück and some adjacent districts, were assigned to the new kingdom of Belgium and to Prussia. The part of Alsace north of the Lauter was also detached from France, including Landau, which became a fortress of the Ger­man Confederation. Part of the county of Gex was assigned to Geneva, but Ferney was retained by France. The fortifications of Huningen were to be demolished. From Geneva to the Mediterranean the line of demarcation existing in 1790 was to be followed, so that the King of Sardinia regained that part of Savoy which had been left to France by the former peace. But on the whole France lost only 20 square leagues of territory, whilst it had gained 40 by the annexation of the Venaissin by the Constituent Assembly. The indemnity to be paid to the Allies for the expenses of the war was fixed at seven hundred million francs. A number of fortresses extending along the northern frontier were to be occupied, at the expense of France, by an allied army not exceeding 150,000 men for a maximum period of five years. This term, however, was eventually much abridged. The army of occupation was placed under the command of the Duke of Wellington. Another treaty between Russia, Prussia, Austria, and England, excluded the Bonaparte dynasty for ever from the French throne, and bound the contracting parties to em­ploy their whole forces for that purpose.

Royal ordinances of July 24th had expelled twenty-nine members from the Chamber of Peers, had ordered nineteen Generals or other officers, who had abandoned the King, to be arraigned before court-martial; and thirty-eight persons to be placed under the surveillance of the police till they should be either banished or brought before the tribunals. The most remarkable among the Generals condemned was Marshal Ney, “the bravest of the brave,” who was shot on the morning of December 7th, near the Observatory of the Luxembourg. Ney was undoubtedly guilty of treachery; but Louis violated by his execution the broader and more honourable interpretation of the Capitulation of Paris, which granted an amnesty to all within its walls. It was contended, however, that this applied only to civilians, and not to the military. Lavalette, Director General of the Posts, who had again seized that office on the flight of the King, and aided the return of Napoleon, was also condemned to death, but escaped through the heroism of his wife, who exchanged clothes with him in prison. Sir Robert Wilson also aided his flight. The day after the execution of Ney a general amnesty was proclaimed; but the Chamber insisted on the perpetual banishment of regicides. On the whole the measures adopted by Louis XVIII. were marked by moderation. He disappointed the emigrants and ultra­Royalists by declining to support their cause so warmly as they had hoped. In the south of France the fanatical Royalists and priest-party took a ferocious vengeance on the Republicans and Bonapartists. Marshal Brune, one of Napoleon’s Generals, was slain by the populace at Avignon in open day, in the presence of several thousand spectators. At Nimes, regularly organized bands, led by Trestaillon and Pointou, slaughtered the Protestants as Bonapartists; and similar scenes took place at Toulouse and other towns.

Louis XVIII, though far from popular, contrived, like his prototype Charles II, through good sense, and by accommodating himself to the spirit of the times, to die in possession of the crown ; while his brother, the Comte d’Artois, like the Duke of York in England, by his rigid adherence to obsolete principles, ultimately forfeited his own rights and those of his family. While Louis courted the middle class, at that time the predominant one in France, his brother Charles adhered exclusively to the nobles and clergy; and the Pavilion Marsan, that part of the Tuileries which he inhabited, became the rendezvous of the admirers of the ancient regime, and the focus of reactionary intrigues. With all his bigotry, however, Charles possessed a certain dignity of character which saved him from contempt; and though he was ridiculed as a Don Quixote and a Jesuit, he was hated rather than despised.

In September, Talleyrand was superseded in the Ministry by the Duke de Richelieu, one of the best and most respectable of the emigrant nobles, who had distinguished himself in the Russian service, as Governor of Odessa, by his humanity and ability. At the same time Decazes replaced as head of the police, Fouche, Duke of Otranto, the blood-stained missionary of Nantes. Richelieu’s influence with the Emperor Alexander succeeded in procuring for France a mitigation of the terms imposed by the treaties of November 20th, 1815. Already in February, 1817, the allied Courts had consented to reduce the army of occupation by 30,000 men, and the Congress of allied Sovereigns, which assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle at the end of September, 1818, decreed that the occupation should be entirely terminated in the following November. The sum payable by France was also reduced to 265,000,000 francs, of which 100,000,000 were to be acquitted by inscriptions on the great book of the public debt of France. These favourable terms were chiefly procured through the disinterested influence of the Duke of Wellington, who thus shortened the duration of the proud position which he occupied and of the vast emoluments which accompanied it. Soon afterwards an assassin attempted his life at Paris; an act afterwards rewarded by Napoleon with a legacy of 10,000 francs. The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle put the finishing hand to the pacifica­tion of Europe. France as well as England now formally acceded, by a protocol signed November 15th, to the principles of the European Pentarchy for the maintenance of Peace, published in a Declaration of the same date, and to be upheld by means of conferences and congresses. The Congresses of Laibach in 1821, and of Verona in 1822, were the result of this agreement.

In December, 1818, Richelieu, alarmed at the number of Liberal members returned to the Assembly, among whom was Lafayette, resigned the Premiership, in which he was succeeded by General Dessolles; but Decazes, who became Minister of the Interior, was the real chief of the Cabinet. A more liberal policy was now adopted: the freedom of the press was extended, and an amnesty granted to many banished persons. Decazes was supported by the party called Doctrinaires, which took its rise about this time. At its head was Royer Collard, and it counted in its ranks many men distinguished by their talent, as Guizot, Villemain, Barante, Mole, and others. But the assassination, by Louvel, of the Due de Berri, second son of the Comte d’Artois, when returning from the opera, February 13th, 1820, occasioned a return to less liberal measures. Louis, at the instance of his brother and of the Duchess of Angouleme, now reluctantly dismissed Decazes, and Richelieu returned once more to power. Seven months after her husband’s death the Duchesse de Berri gave birth to a Prince, the Due de Bordeaux (September 29th, 1820). Richelieu introduced into the Ministry M. Villele, an ultra-Royalist, who, in December, 1822, became Prime Minister. The revolutions against the Bourbon Governments in Spain and Italy in 1820, produced in France a further reaction which at length compelled Richelieu to retire.

The Carbonari, and other secret societies, had been introduced into France a few years after the restoration, and included in their members some Frenchmen of distinction, as Lafayette, Manuel, D’Argenson, Constant, and others. Lafayette presided over the central committee of the Parisian Carbonari. This restless spirit wanted, it is said, to make himself Dictator. Revolutions were several times attempted in different parts of France, but without success, though some of the Carbonari were put to death for them.

The overthrow of Napoleon placed the supreme power in Europe in the hands of the Pentarchy, or five Great Powers, viz., England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and France. The Emperor Alexander I, whose inclination to mysticism was in­creased by his connection with a kindred spirit, the Baroness Krüdner, of Riga, whom he visited secretly every day, to pray with her and hear her counsels, conceived the idea of sanction­ing the new system by a holy bond, and of regulating in future the measures of policy by the precepts of religion. With this view he persuaded the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia to join with him in a treaty executed at Paris, September 26th, 1815, and subsequently styled the Holy Alliance. All the potentates of Europe were invited to subscribe to it, with two exceptions : the Turkish Sultan, and the Roman Pontiff. In the preamble to this Convention the Signatories solemnly declared that the object of the act was to manifest to the universe their firm resolution to take for their rule of conduct, both in the administration of their respective States, and in their political relations with foreign Governments, those holy and Christian precepts of justice, charity, and peace, which are not applicable to private life alone, but which ought also directly to influence the counsels of Princes, and to guide all their steps, as the only means of consolidating and perfecting all human institutions. It is needless to say that this Holy Alliance, like other holy leagues of the same description, be­came an instrument of despotism and was regarded with little favour in England.

A revolution which broke out in Spain encouraged the outbreak of revolutions in Portugal and Naples. The members of the Holy Alliance after their meeting at Laibach on January 2nd, 1821, suppressed the revolution in Naples, and after their meeting at Verona in October, 1822, took measures for the suppression of the rising in Spain. The King, Ferdinand VII, had returned from his French captivity full of projects of vengeance against his subjects, and with a determination to abolish the reforms introduced by the liberal Cortes in Church and State. During the war and the captivity of Ferdinand, the Cortes had, in March, 1812, established a new Constitution, the work of a small democratic faction, by which the Royal authority was reduced to little more than a name. That Assembly was declared altogether independent of the King, and was to consist only of one Chamber, invested with the legislative power; the prerogative of the King in that respect being restricted to proposing, and a temporary veto. The Cortes were also to determine yearly the amount of the land and sea forces; to confirm treaties of alliance and commerce; and to propose to the King the names of 120 persons, out of whom he was to select the 40 members of his Council of State. All ecclesiastical benefices and judicial offices were to be filled up by selecting from three persons named by this Council. The King was not to leave the Kingdom, nor to marry, without the consent of the Cortes, under the penalty of losing his throne.

Ferdinand VII restored to liberty by Napoleon in 1814, immediately after his return applied himself to restore the ancient regime. On the other hand, the Cortes in turn had encroached on his prerogatives even in the most trivial matters. Ferdinand issued decrees in May abolishing the Constitution. All Liberals and Freemasons, and all adherents of the Cortes, and of the officers appointed by them, were either compelled to fly or subjected to imprisonment, or at least deposed. All national property was wrested from the purchasers of it, not only without compensation, but fines were even imposed upon the holders. Dissolved convents were re­established. The Inquisition was restored, and Mir Capillo, Bishop of Almeria, appointed Grand Inquisitor, who acted with fanatical severity, and is said to have incarcerated 50,000 persons for their opinions, many of whom were subjected to torture. But autos da fé were abolished. The Jesuits were restored and made controllers of education. Guerilla bands were dissolved, their leaders dismissed without reward, and commands in the regular army bestowed only upon the nobles. The adherents of Joseph Bonaparte and of the former French Government were banished. By these measures some of the bravest and most loyal spirits of the country were driven into the ranks of the opposition, and 10,000 persons are computed to have fled into France. The Kingdom was governed by a Camarilla, consisting of the King’s favourites, selected from the lowest and most worthless of the courtiers; while most of his faithful friends, the companions of his exile, were dismissed. This Camarilla administered justice and bestowed offices accordingly as it was bribed.

The French invasion of Spain had occasioned a revolution in Spanish America. Till the dethronement of the Royal Family of Spain, the American colonies had remained loyal, and an insurrection attempted by General Miranda in the Caraccas, in 1806, had been speedily suppressed. But, like the mother country, the colonists revolted at the usurpation of Napoleon and his brother Joseph; and thus, properly speaking, they were no more to be called rebels than the Spaniards of the Old World. As, however, they declined to submit to the Juntas erected in Spain, they were declared to be rebels by the Regency established at Cadiz, August 31st, 1810. The insurrection had broken out in Venezuela in April, whence in the course of the year it spread over Rio de la Plata, New Granada, Mexico, and Chili. The insurgents demanded to be put on an equality with the inhabitants of Spain, freedom of manufactures and commerce, the admission of Spanish Americans to all offices, the restoration of the Jesuits, etc. The insurrection acquired its greatest strength in Venezuela, where it was first headed by Miranda, and subsequently, after 1813, by Simon Bolivar. In some of the other provinces its progress, owing to the dissensions of the inhabitants, was not so rapid and successful. After the restoration of Ferdinand, however, the movement had gone too far to be recalled, even had that Sovereign and his commanders displayed more moderation and good faith than was actually the case. Ferdinand exhausted his disordered finances in a vain attempt to recover these colonies, for which purpose an expedition, under General Morillo, was despatched to America in 1815. In 1819 the Floridas were sold to the Americans for one million and a quarter sterling.

It is impossible for us to describe the struggle between Spain and her colonies. The chief results were, that Bolivar achieved the inde­pendence of Venezuela and Granada, which were erected into the Republic of Colombia, Dec. 1819. In the previous May, the States of the Rio de la Plata, or Buenos Ayres, had been constituted into the Ar­gentine Republic. The independence of Chili and Peru was also secured by the aid of Bolivar, and the Republic of Bolivia was established in Upper Peru in August, 1825. In Mexico, Iturbide, who had become leader of the insurgents after the death of Hidalgos, Morelos, and Mina, caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor in 1822, but was dethroned in the following year, when the Republic of Mexico formed a league with Colombia. The independence of Colombia, Mexico, and Buenos Ayres, was recognized by Great Britain, Jan. 1st, 1825. In Paraguay, Francia ruled as despot from 1810 to 1837.

The loss of the American colonies, and a bad system of rural economy, by which agriculture was neglected in favour of sheep breeding, had reduced Spain to great poverty. This state of things naturally affected the finances; the troops were left unpaid, and broke out into constant mutinies. A successful military insurrection, led by Colonels Quiroga and Riego, occurred in 1820. Mina, who had distinguished himself as a guerilla leader, but having compromised himself in a previous mutiny, had been compelled to fly into France, now recrossed the Pyrenees to aid the movement. The Constitution of 1812 was proclaimed at Saragossa; and Ferdinand, alarmed by an insurrection of the populace and the threats of General Ballesteros, who told him that he must either concede or abdicate, was obliged to swear to it at Madrid. The long-promised Cortes were convened in July, when Ferdinand opened the Assembly with a hypocritical speech, remarkable for its exaggeration of Liberal sentiments. The Cortes, at the dictation of the army, immediately proceeded again to dissolve the convents, and even to seize the tithes of the secular clergy, on the pretext that the money was required for the necessities of the State. The Inquisition was once more abolished, the freedom of the press ordained, the right of meeting and forming clubs restored; a large number of persons was dismissed from office, and replaced by members of the Liberal party. But on the whole the insurgents used their victory with moderation, and, with the exception of some few victims of revenge, contented themselves with depriving their opponents, the Serviles, of their places and emoluments.

The Spanish revolutionists were divided into three parties: the Décamisados, answering to the French Sans-culottes; the Communeros, who were for a moderate constitutional system ; and the Anilleros, known by the symbol of a ring; who, dreading the interference of the Holy Alliance, endeavoured to conciliate the people with the crown. There were riots in Madrid in 1821; when the Décamisados broke into the prison where the Canon Vinuesa was confined, who had attempted a counter-revolution, and murdered him with a hammer. Martinez de la Rosa was courageous enough to denounce the act in the Cortes; but it was approved by the great majority not only of that Assembly, but also of the nation; and in commemoration of it was instituted the “Order of the Hammer,” having a small hammer for its badge. In Eastern Spain the Secret Societies seized several hundred obnoxious persons and shipped them off to the Balearic Islands and to the Canaries. The Government was too weak to interfere, and could only bring back a few in secret. General Morillo, who after his return from America had been appointed Governor of Madrid, attempted to re-establish a reactionary Ministry, but was compelled by popular agitation to dismiss it. The revolution, though originated by the soldiery, was adopted by the more educated class of citizens. On the other hand, the clergy and the peasantry were bitterly opposed to it. In the summer of 1821 guerilla bands were organized in the provinces in the cause of Church and King, and obtained the name of “Army of the Faith.” One of the most noted leaders of these bands was Maranon, a monk of La Trappe. He was the first to mount to the assault of the fortified town of Seo de Urgel, where was established, in July, 1822, what was called a “Regency during the captivity of the King,” under the presidency of the Marquis Mata Florida, the Bishop of Tarragona, and Baron d’Eroles. The Royalists got possession of nearly all Catalonia, but before the end of the year they were for the most part reduced by Mina, the Constitutional general. In these civil disturbances dreadful atrocities were committed on both sides.

The ravages of the yellow fever, which had been imported from America, and carried off many thousands, had some effect in allaying these disturbances. The French Government, with the ulterior design of interfering in Spanish affairs, seized the pretext of this disorder to place a cordon of troops on the Pyrenees; to which the Spaniards opposed an army of observation. Ferdinand, relying on the Army of the Faith, and on his Foreign Minister, Martinez de la Rosa, a Moder ado, thought he might venture on a coup d'etat before the appear­ance of the French ; but his guards were worsted in a street fight, July 7th, 1822. General Ballesteros and Morillo declared themselves averse to any infringement of the Constitution; at the same time Riego suddenly returned to Madrid, and was elected President of the Cortes. Ferdinand was now base enough to applaud and thank the victors, to dismiss the Moderados from the Ministry, and to replace them by Exaltados, or Radicals. The bloodthirsty fury of the clubs and the populace was gratified by the illegal execution of two Royalist commanders,—Colonel Geoiffeux and General Elio. This state of things attracted the attention of the Holy Alliance. In October, 1822, the three Northern Monarchs assembled in congress at Verona to adopt some resolution respecting Spain. It appeared to them that every throne in Europe was threatened. The French Ministry, considering that the establish­ment of a Republic on the other side of the Pyrenees would endanger the Bourbon throne, were also inclined to intervene; while the English Cabinet, in which Canning was now Foreign Secretary, as well as the great mass of the English people, were averse to any interference, and especially by France. The policy of Metternich was now predominant. The Emperor Alexander had more than ever set his face against revolutions, had given up all his Eastern projects, and even abandoned the revolutionary Greeks, however serviceable that movement might eventually prove to him. It was at first the object of the three allied Powers to dispense with the co-operation of France in the affairs of Spain, and to bear down the opposition of England ; but ultimately they resolved to support France, and each of the four Powers addressed a note of much the same tenor to the Madrid Cabinet, insisting on an end being put to the present state of things. The Duke of Wellington, who had attended the Congress for England, declined to interfere, and on returning home through Paris, warned Louis against interference in Spain, to which, indeed, the French King himself, as well as his Minister, Villèle, was averse. But the Spaniards refused to listen to moderate counsels, and replied haughtily to all the expostulations of France; so that Chateaubriand himself, who had now become Minister at War, in the place of Montmorenci, though he had opposed at Verona the use of force, now adopted the contrary opinion.

In reply to the note of the Powers, San Miguel, the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, told them that the constitution was the same which had been recognized by the Emperor Alexander in 1812, and declined to make any alteration; whereupon the ambassadors of the three Powers demanded and received their passports, January 11th, 1823. In the spring, the French army of observation, which had been increased to 100,000 men, was placed under the command of the Duke of Angouleme. To resist the threatened invasion, the Spanish Government appointed Mina to the defence of Cata­lonia, Ballesteros to that of Navarre, Morillo took the command in Galicia, Asturia, and Leon, while O’Donnell, Count of Abisbal, was stationed with the reserve in New Castile, to support either of those generals, as occasion might require. But these troops were few and ill-disciplined; while in Old Castile stood guerilla bands, under the priest Merino, ready to aid the French invasion. An attempt on the part of Ferdinand to dismiss his Liberal Ministry induced the Ministers and the Cortes to remove him to Seville (March 20th, 1823), whither the Cortes were to follow.

The Duke of Angouleme addressed a proclamation to the Spaniards from Bayonne, April 2nd, in which he told them that he did not enter Spain as an enemy, but to liberate the captive King, and, in conjunction with the friends of order, to re-establish the altar and the throne. The French crossed the Bidasoa, April 7th. The only serious resistance which they experienced was from Mina. Ballesteros was not strong enough to oppose them, while the traitor O’Donnell entered into ne­gotiations with the enemy, and opened to them the road to the capital. Ballesteros was compelled to retire into Valencia, and the French entered Madrid May 23rd. The Spaniards re­ceived the French as deliverers. A Regency, composed of the Duke del Infantado and four other nobles, was now instituted till the King should be rescued from the hands of the Liberals, and immediately commenced an unmeasured reaction. A French corps was despatched into Catalonia against Mina, who still held out in that province; and another against Seville, where the Cortes had reopened their sittings; but on the ad­vance of the French they retired to Cadiz, June 12th, taking with them the King, whom they declared of unsound mind, and a provisional Regency was appointed. Zayas arrested for a while the march of the French at Talavera de la Reyna, but was compelled to yield to superior numbers. Mina was shut up in Catalonia ; Ballesteros, driven from Valencia into Gran­ada, was defeated in the mountains near Campillo de Arenas, when he capitulated and acknowledged the Regency at Madrid. About the same time Morillo surrendered at Corunna. These events enabled the Duke of Angouleme to march with the bulk of his army to Cadiz, where he arrived August 16th. Fort Trocadero was captured on the 31st, Fort St. Petri on the 20th of September, when the bombardment of the city was begun. Cadiz having capitulated, October 1st, Valdez conducted the King to the French camp in a boat, while the Cortes made their escape by sea. All further resistance being now hopeless, Mina also capitulated, and surrendered to the French the for­tresses which he still held in Catalonia, on condition of a free and unmolested retreat (November 2nd). Riego, who had endeavoured to annoy the French rear, was captured while attempting to join Mina. Sir Robert Wilson and a few other Englishmen had aided the Spanish Liberals in this struggle. The Duke of Angouleme returned to Paris before the end of the year, but Spain continued to be occupied by an army of 40,000 French.

The first act of Ferdinand after his release was to publish a proclamation, October 1st, revoking all that had been done Ssince March 7th, 1820. The Inquisition, indeed, was not re­stored ; but the vengeance exercised by the secular tribunals was so atrocious that the Duke of Angouleme issued an order prohibiting arrests not sanctioned by the French commander : an act, however, which on the principle of non-interference was disavowed by the French Government. The brave Riego was condemned to death at Madrid, November 7th, and the King and Queen of Spain made their public entry into Madrid on the 13th. The whole Spanish army was now disbanded, and its place supplied by the “ Army of the Faith.” These men were gradually formed into a militia called “ Royal Volun­teers,” who plundered and murdered the Constitutionalists to their hearts’ content; while the Camarilla, now directed by Victor Saez, the King’s confessor, only laughed at the exhortations to moderation addressed to them by the French and English Ambassadors. It is computed that 40,000 Con­stitutionalists, chiefly of the educated classes, were thrown into prison. The French remained in Spain till 1827. It was the occupation of Spain by the French that induced Canning, then the English Prime Minister, to recognize the Republics of South America, in order that if France held Spain it should not be Spain with the Indies.

The Zea Bermudez, the new Minister, endeavoured to rule with moderation. But he was opposed on all sides. The nobles and clergy attacked him because he attempted to tax them. His most dangerous enemy, however, was the Apostolic Junta, erected in 1824 for the purpose of carrying out to its full extent, and independently of the Ministry, the victory of bigotry and absolutism. Saez was at the head of it, and the King sometimes attended its sittings. Every day it engrossed more and more the whole power of the State, and was thus engaged in continual conflicts with the Ministry. In 1825 Zea Bermudez, having caused the notorious Bessieres to be shot for having organized riots in order to force the King to dismiss his Liberal Ministry, was compelled to resign. He was succeeded by the Duke del Infantado, who in turn succumbed to intrigue. The Junta now procured the appointment of the weak and incapable Salmon, and in the spring of 1827 excited in Catalonia an insurrection of the Serviles. The insurgents styled themselves Aggraviados (aggrieved persons), because the King did not restore the Inquisition, and because he some­times listened to his half-Liberal Ministers, or to the French and English Ambassadors, instead of suffering the Junta to rule uncontrolled. The history of the revolt is obscure. Saez, who had been relegated to his bishopric of Tortosa, and pro­bably also the Northern Powers, were concerned in it, and the object seems to have been to dethrone Ferdinand in favour of his brother Carlos. But the Duke del Infantado, during his brief administration, had restored a regular army of 50,000 men, at the head of which Espana, accompanied by the King in person, proceeded into Catalonia, when the insurgents were subdued, the province disarmed, and many persons executed.

Portugal was also shaken by revolutions during this period. The Regent, who, on the death of his mother Maria, March 20th, 1816, ascended the throne with the title of John VI, continued, after the downfall of Napoleon, to reside in Brazil, which had been erected in 1815 into the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves. Lord Beresford, as a member of the Portuguese Regency, as well as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, directed the affairs of Portugal. The discontent at this state of things was fanned into a revolt by the Spanish Revolution of 1820. Colonel Sepulveda estab­lished in August a Provisional Government in Oporto; and General Amarante, who had been despatched from Lisbon to quell the revolt, was compelled by his own troops to join the Junta of Oporto. In the middle of September a constitution even more liberal than that of Spain was proclaimed in Lisbon, and a Junta appointed to conduct the Government in the King’s name. Lord Beresford, who had been absent in the Brazils during these occurrences, on his return to Portugal early in October, found that his power had departed, and was compelled to return with his officers to England. The English Govern­ment forebore to interfere, and left the settlement of matters to King John. That Sovereign was himself driven from Brazil in April, 1821, by an insurrection of the Portuguese soldiery in favour of the constitution promulgated in the mother coun­try, and sailed for Portugal, leaving his eldest son, Don Pedro, Regent of Brazil. On his arrival in Portugal in July, John VI. accepted the constitution which had been framed during his absence ; but his wife, Charlotte, a sister of Ferdinand VII. of Spain, refused to take the oath to it.

The interference of the Holy Alliance and of the French in the affairs of Spain, encouraged the reactionary party in Portu­gal. Towards the end of February, 1823, Count Amarante, the Queen’s most distinguished adherent, raised the standard of revolt at Villa Franca, and was immediately joined by several regiments. Dom Miguel, the Queen’s youngest and favourite son, fled secretly from Lisbon toward the end of May, and proceeded to the camp of the insurgents; when Sepulveda, betraying the freedom which he had himself established, also joined the reactionary movement. The people of Lisbon fol­lowed the impulse of the soldiery; the Cortes, seeing them­selves abandoned, dispersed; the Ministers resigned; the King, as usual, submitted, and on the 5th of June the new constitution was abolished. This reaction was accomplished without bloodshed. From this time all the Queen’s efforts were directed to dethrone her husband and procure the crown for Dom Miguel. The Marquis Louie, the King’s chamberlain and favourite, who had the reputation of a Liberal, was found murdered, March 1st, 1824, and the Minister at War received letters threatening him with a similar fate. Dom Miguel, having assembled the garrison of Lisbon, April 30th, exhorted them to extirpate all Freemasons and Liberals; caused all generals, ministers, and officers suspected of Liberalism to be apprehended, and even the King, his father, to be placed under surveillance. John would no doubt have now been compelled to resign his crown but for the interference of the French and English Ambassadors and the diplomatic corps. To avoid the machinations of his son, John went on board the “Windsor Castle,” a British man-of-war, in the Tagus, May 9th, whither he was followed by all the foreign ambassadors. From this refuge the King issued orders forbidding anybody to obey his son; when Dom Miguel, finding himself abandoned by part of his troops, threw himself at his father’s feet and implored his forgiveness. This he obtained, but he was ordered to leave the Kingdom, and took up his residence at Vienna. While these events were passing in the mother country, Don Pedro constituted himself Emperor of Brazil by the aid of the revo­lutionary party, October 12th, 1822, and the Empire of Brazil was declared independent. John VI. was induced through British mediation to recognize the new empire, May 15th, 1825.

The endeavours of the Spaniards to set up a constitutional King, roused a similar desire in other countries. The Italian peninsula, like the Iberian, was also shaken by revolutions. Pius VII. had re-established, so far as was possible, the ancient state of things, and was favoured by all the European Powers. Ferdinand IV., restored to his Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by Austria, had been put, as it were, under her guardianship by his treaty of alliance with that Power of April 29th, 1815. By a Concordat with the Pope, Ferdinand restored the Papal influence in Naples, though he refused to acknowledge his vassalage to the Holy See by the ancient tribute of a white palfrey. An attempt by Murat to regain the crown proved fatal to that adventurer. Murat, the son of a village shop­keeper, not content with an asylum in the Austrian States, and a fortune such as he could not have ventured to dream of at the beginning of his military career, after many hair-breadth escapes and romantic adventures in flying from France to Corsica after the restoration, made a descent at Pizzo, in Calabria, October 8th, 1815, in the hope that the people would declare in his favour ; but falling into a snare laid for him by the podesta of the place, he was captured and shot as a com­mon rebel, October 13th.

Various secret societies had sprung up in Naples and Sicily, which, on the departure of the Austrian troops in 1817, began to manifest themselves. The chief of these were the so-called Carbonari, or charcoal-men: to oppose whom was instituted the loyal society of Calderarii (tinkers or braziers, who use the coals). The Carbonari comprised more than half a million persons, chiefly of the higher and better educated classes, and of the army. The Calderarii had originated in Sicily, with the Prince of Canosa, the Minister of Police, at their head. It was rumoured that a society of Sanfedisti had been formed under the auspices of Count De Maistre, the publicist, in which were enrolled Princes and Prelates, with the design of uniting all Italy under the Pope, a project afterwards revived. The Spanish revolution of 1820 had an electrical effect at Naples ; and it is remarkable that here also the insurrection was organ­ized by the soldiery. On the night of June 1st, Lieutenant Morelli proclaimed the Constitution at Nola, at the head of a squadron of horse ; and, hastening to Avellino, was immedi­ately joined both by the civil and military officers there, who had long been Carbonari. General Pepe, the Commandant of Naples, put himself at the head of the insurrection, and with a regiment of cavalry joined the insurgents at Salerno ; while General Carascosa, whom the King had despatched against them with 5,000 men, remained undecided and inactive. Symptoms of revolt having manifested themselves at Naples itself, the King, without striking a blow, conceded all demands; dismissed his Ministers, replaced them by Liberals, and pro­claimed the Spanish Constitution of 1812, which the people hardly knew even by name, instead of the Liberal Sicilian Constitution of the same date ; which, however, had been abrogated. The Sicilians also rose ; not, however, to aid the sister country, but to proclaim their own independence. Ferdinand IV., under the pretext of illness, abandoned the government to his son Francis, Duke of Calabria; when Caracosa and Pepe returned to Naples, and the army, the people, the Court, and the Crown Prince himself assumed the Carbonari colours (black, pink, and sky-blue).

The Neapolitan revolution was entirely a military one, and the only fighting that occurred was between some regiments which differed in opinion ; that of Sicily was a popular insur­rection. The Viceroy, General Naselli, having displayed the Carbonari colours, the people of Palermo assumed the yellow badge of Sicily ; and on the festival of St. Rosalia, July 15th, the chief one of the Palermitans, they demanded the independ­ence of the island under a Prince of the Royal House. Gene­ral Church, an Englishman, who commanded the garrison at Palermo, having attempted to interfere, was compelled to fly for his life; Naselli also fled after having established a Pro­visional Junta, to which, however, no respect was paid. The people, having defeated the troops in a battle, obtained entire possession of Palermo, which during two consecutive days be­came a scene of robbery and massacre. A new Junta was now appointed, at the head of which was the Prince of Villa Franca, and one Vagleia, of Monreale, a monk. But the revolutionary Government at Naples despatched 5,000 men against Palermo, and compelled that city to capitulate, October 5th.

The Neapolitan revolution inspired the Austrian Govern­ment with alarm for the safety of all Italy, and Metternich brought about a Congress at Troppau in October, 1820, which was attended by the Emperors Alexander and Francis, and the Crown Prince of Prussia; by the Ministers, Metternich, for Austria; Hardenberg, for Prussia; Nesselrode and Capo- distria, for Russia; Caraman and Laferronays, for France, and Sir Charles Stewart, for England. Ferdinand, at the invitation of the Allies, obtained the reluctant consent of his people to go to Troppau in the character, as he affirmed, of a mediator, and after renewing his oath to the constitution. Up to this period Alexander had acted in a liberal and beneficent spirit. He had emancipated the serfs in Courland, Esthonia, and Livonia, had ameliorated their condition throughout the Empire, and had promoted education and favoured religious toleration. But the military revolutions in Spain and Italy filled him with alarm, for the soldiery were the main prop of his own power. In spite of the opposition of England and France, and even at first, in some degree, of Russia, which dreaded too great a preponderance of Austria in Italy, Metter­nich succeeded in forming a League between Austria, Russia, and Prussia for the suppression of the Neapolitan rebellion. The Congress was transferred to Laibach in January, 1821, when it was determined to send an Austrian army into the Neapolitan dominions. France acquiesced, and England, single-handed, could do nothing but protest. Next month, 60,000 Austrians, under General Frimont, marched into the South of Italy, with Ferdinand in their train, who plainly threatened to abolish the new constitution. The Neapolitans had raised an army equal in number to that of the invaders, and such was the national enthusiasm, that it was joined by the friends and kinsfolk of the King, and even by the Prince of Salerno, his son. But the constitutional troops were for the most part raw and ill-disciplined, and badly supplied with arms and provisions; and the Austrians, after overcoming some slight resistance from Pepe and Carascosa, entered Naples, March 24th. Ferdinand now gave vent to the wrath which he had postponed at his restoration. The people were disarmed, all suspected persons were arrested, and confiscations and exe­cutions became the order of the day. Walmoden was sent with a body of Austrians into Sicily, to restore the ancient state of things in that island.

The effects of the Spanish revolution also extended to Pied­mont, where Victor Emanuel I, after his restoration, had placed everything as much as possible on the old footing. The Carbonari were also active here, and were in communication with those of Naples, and with the malcontents in France. They even induced Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, to enter into their plots. That Prince, though but a distant kins­man of the King, was presumptive heir to the throne, Victor Emanuel, having only a daughter, whose succession was barred by Salic law. The Carbonari flattered Charles Albert with the hope of becoming King of all Italy if the revolution should succeed ; and after some hesitation he agreed to enter into their schemes. On the 9th of March, 1821, Colonel Arsaldi proclaimed at Alessandria the Spanish Constitution, and the troops at Turin also hoisted the three-coloured flag. Victor Emanuel, abandoning the Government to the Prince of Carig­nano, abdicated the throne March 13th, in favour of his brother, Charles Felix, then residing at Modena. The insurrection was put down by a portion of the troops which remained faithful to the King, helped by an Austrian force under Count Bubna. Victor Emanuel, however, declined to resume the crown which he had relinquished. The Prince of Carignano, who had secretly assured the new King that he, as well as the higher class in general, was adverse to the revolution, was only pun­ished by two years’ relegation from the Court; and Charles Felix, who was also childless, maintained the Prince’s right to the crown, in spite of the endeavours of Austria to obtain it for the Duke of Modena, son of the Archduke Ferdinand and of Beatrix, the only daughter of Victor Emanuel.

Lombardy also contained many secret societies, and was, in fact, the chief centre of the Carbonari, and of the society of “Italian Federation,” which was to be the nucleus of the in­surgent populations. Lombardy was to have risen when the Piedmontese army had crossed the Ticino. But this expecta­tion was frustrated, and such was the vigilance of the police, that any outbreak was prevented; though the Archduke Rainer, who resided as Viceroy with his family at Milan, fled at the first alarm of danger. Towards the end of 1821 the police discovered and captured some members of a secret society, among the most noted of whom were Confalionieri and Silvio Pellico. The latter, in a well-known work, has related the particulars of his imprisonment in the fortress of Spielberg at Brünn, the capital of Moravia. The Emperor himself is said to have regulated, down to the minutest particulars, the treatment of the prisoners confined there.

While the Austrian Government, guided by the counsels of Metternich, kept so vigilant an eye on the domestic affairs of other countries, the home administration was conducted on a system of laissez-aller, which though popular enough with the indolent, pleasure-seeking Viennese, was highly detrimental to the interests of the State. Everything was neglected. In a time of peace, the Government got every year deeper into debt. The Russians, in conformity with the Peace of Adrianople, were allowed to settle at the mouth of the Danube, and thus virtually to command that river. The harbour of Venice was suffered to fill with sand, and the steam navigation between that port and Trieste to be monopolized by the English. In the midst of this frivolity of the Austrians and their Govern­ment, the Bohemian, Hungarian, and Italian nationalities began to expand and to develop themselves into formidable Powers. The movement, taking its origin in Bohemia and Hungary in the study of national antiquities and literature, assumed at length a political cast, and begot a desire for national independence. With regard to Church matters, the Emperor and his Ministers, were far from being bigoted. Intellectual culture among the clergy was discouraged; the pretensions of Rome were re­pressed, and the Pope was obliged to confirm the Italian bishops nominated by the Emperor. The Jesuits were ex­cluded from the Austrian dominions till 1820, and were then only admitted in Italy and Galicia.

The after-shocks of that great social convulsion which had agitated Europe since 1792, were also felt in Germany as well as in Italy and the Spanish Peninsula. The Germans in general were desirous of an extension of their political liberties, and a confirmation of them by means of constitutions, which had indeed been promised by the Act of Confederation. This matter occasioned some serious disputes between the King of Wurtemberg and his subjects. But the Germans are a people who seem little capable of initiating revolutionary movements, and require to be influenced by an impulse from without. States were assembled in Wurtemberg, Baden and Hanover, but not in Prussia. Till the second French Revolution in 1830, political demonstrations in Germany were mostly con­fined to the students of the universities. These, however, were mere harmless mummeries, such as the adoption of a particular dress, the displaying of the German colours, and other acts of the same kind. The most remarkable demonstration occurred in 1817, on the celebration of the third centenary of the Re­formation ; when on the 18th of October, the anniversary of the battle of Leipsic, a number of students from various uni­versities assembled at the Wartburg near Eisenach, the scene of Luther’s concealment. After the festival had been celebrated with songs, speeches, and a procession by torch-light, most of the students dispersed; but a few remained behind, and amused themselves with burning certain insignia of the Ger­man military service, as well as some histories and other works of an anti-Liberal tendency. The whole affair was absurd and harmless enough, and would speedily have sunk into oblivion had it not been magnified into importance by the notice taken of it by the Prussian and Austrian Ministers. Hence it attracted the attention of the Emperor Alexander, who in the following year took upon himself to interpose in the domestic affairs of Germany by directing his Minister Stourdza to de­nounce to the Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle the revolutionary movements of the German students. Among the agents of Russia in Germany was Augustus von Kotzebue, the dramatist, who was suspected of transmitting to St. Petersburg information against the students, and in a weekly paper which he edited, employed himself in turning them and their professors into ridicule. One Sand, a student of Jena, irritated by the denunciations which he heard against Kotzebue, and inflamed by a mistaken patriotism, set off for Mannheim, Kotzebue’s residence, and stabbed him to the heart, March 23rd, 1819. After the murder, Sand made an ineffectual attempt at suicide, and in conformity with the German law, which requires con­fession of a crime before execution, was not executed till fourteen months afterwards. This act of Sand’s confirmed the German statesmen in their notion of a secret and widespread conspiracy, or rather, perhaps, afforded them a pretext to act as if such a thing really existed. At a Congress of German Ministers, held at Carlsbad in July, 1819, which was attended by the Princes Metternich and Hardenberg, Count Rechberg from Bavaria, and others, were adopted what have been called the Carlsbad Resolutions, viz., a more rigid superintendence of the press, the suppression of the independence of the uni­versities, and the establishment of a central Commission of Inquiry at Mainz, to discover the existing conspiracy, and to punish the participators in it. These Resolutions were adopted by the Federal Diet, September 27th. But though the Com­mission sat ten years, filled the prisons with students, and deprived of their chairs, and even banished, many of the pro­fessors at the universities, still it did not succeed in discover­ing any conspiracy, for in fact none existed.

Few other events of European importance occurred during the reign of Louis XVIII of France. It will suffice to remind the reader of the English expedition to Algiers under Admiral Sir E. Pellew, afterwards Lord Exmouth, in August, 1816 ; when, with the assistance of a small Dutch squadron, the fortifications of the place were destroyed, 7,000 Algerines killed, and that nest of pirates was reduced to submission, though not without great loss on the part of the British. The Dey was compelled to abolish Christian slavery for ever, and to liberate upwards of 3,000 Christian slaves of all nations, who were detained at Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. George III died January 29th, 1820, and was succeeded on the throne by George IV, who had long been Regent. Sweden also had ex­perienced a change of Sovereign by the death of Charles XIII in February, 1818, and the accession of Bernadotte, Crown Prince by adoption, with the title of Charles XIV. On the decease of Pope Pius VII, August 20th, 1823, the Cardinal della Genga, a bigoted churchman, was elected to the Papal chair, and assumed the title of Leo XII.

Louis XVIII died unregretted, September 16th, 1824. He was not destitute of talent; he had considerable literary culture, and as he had sense enough to accommodate himself to the temper of the times, he was a suitable King to succeed the turbulence of the Republic and the Empire. His brother, Charles X., who now ascended the throne, had, during the last year or two, been virtually ruler of France. Some of his first measures seemed to promise liberality. He suffered the Constitution to remain, and he abolished the censorship of the press. This last act, however, was soon recalled; while the dismissal of 150 generals and superior officers of the time of Napoleon enlisted against him the feelings of the army. The favour which he showed to the House of Orleans seemed a concession made to the Liberal party. Louis Philippe, the head of the family, had returned to France. He had married Amelia, daughter of Ferdinand IV. of Naples, by whom he had many children, and appeared to lead far from the Court a quiet and secluded life. But under this exterior he con­cealed ambition, and sought to recommend himself to the people by the assumption of a citizenlike simplicity. Charles X. mistook his character. In the hope of conquering him by generosity, and identifying the interests of the elder and younger Bourbons, Charles conferred upon him, unsolicited, the title of Royal Highness, and directed that the vast estates should be restored to him which, before the Revolution, had formed the apanage of the House of Orleans. But Louis Philippe did not respond to these generous acts by giving the King his political support. At the same time, in order to secure the Crown to the elder branch of the House of Bourbon, Charles declared his son, the Duke of Angouleme, now past middle age, Dauphin, and he caused this act, as well as the magnificent grant to the Orleans family, to be confirmed by the Chambers.

Charles X was crowned with the usual solemnities at Rheims, May 29th, 1825. He soon, however, discovered from unmistakable symptoms that the ancient régime had irrevocably departed. He sought to combat revolutionary ideas by means of religion, and the influence of the parti prêtre. The Jesuits were re-established, and new colleges founded for them; the Court assumed an air of ostentatious devotion; magnificent processions of ecclesiastics paraded the streets ; and great pains were taken to inspire the soldiery with religious fervour. But it soon became manifest that such projects were useless. The death of General Foy, one of the heads of the Liberal party, November 28th, gave occa­sion for a popular demonstration. His funeral was attended by 100,000 persons in mourning and bareheaded, though it rained in torrents, and a subscription for his widow reached a million francs, the Duke of Orleans contributing 10,000. The popular feeling was still more directly manifested at a review of the National Guard, April 29th, 1827. No cries were heard but Vive la Charte! not a single cheer was raised for the King ; and some of the regiments shouted A bas les ministers! A bas les Jesuites! On the next day the National Guard was dissolved. M. Villèle hoped to overcome the opposition to the Government by a new Chamber; but the elections gave 428 Liberals against 125 Ministerialists, and Villèle, who was highly unpopular, felt himself compelled to resign (January 3rd, 1828).

M. de Martignac, who now became Prime Minister, introduced some popular measures. Among these were a new law of the press, relaxing the rules prescribed to journalists ; and several regulations against the Jesuits. At this period Royer Collard was President of the second Chamber ; on the left or Opposition benches of which sat Benjamin Constant, Lafayette, Casimir Perier, Lafitte, and other distinguished men. Mar­tignac’s foreign policy was also Liberal. He acted in con­junction with England in the affairs of Portugal and Greece; the French fleet took part in the battle of Navarino, and General Maison led a French army into the Morea. But before we relate these events we must take a brief retrospect of the Greek Revolution.

The Turkish Empire had long been in a declining state. Empire. The Sultans were little more than the puppets of the Janis­saries. The reforms attempted by Selim III had terminated in his deposition in 1807, as we have already related. His successor, Mustapha IV, had scarcely enjoyed the throne a year when he also was dethroned, July 28th, 1808, in an insurrection headed by Mustapha Bairactar, Pasha of Rust­chuk. His half-brother, Mahmoud II, was now elevated to the throne, which, however, he enjoyed only by sufferance of the Janissaries. The war which broke out again with Russia in 1809 inflicted fresh losses on Turkey, and it would probably have gone hard with her had not the imminence of a war with France induced the Emperor Alexander to grant the Porte moderate conditions. By the Peace of Bucharest, however, May 28th, 1812, Russia remained in possession of Bessarabia and the eastern part of Moldavia as far as the Pruth. Turkey seemed almost in a state of dissolution. The army was disorganized; in Egypt Mehemet Ali had nearly rendered himself independent; in the provinces the pashas were constantly revolting.

That the Turks should have so long maintained their empire in Europe over peoples so much more numerous than them­selves, must perhaps be ascribed to the circumstance that these peoples are composed of various races unfitted to com­bine in any general political object, and that the Turk, as a soldier, is far superior to those over whom he rules. He has never mingled, like the conquerors of the North, with the Christian races he has subdued and regards as his slaves. His fatalism and his indolence deprive him of all wish to acquire the arts and manners of a higher civilization; hence the line between him and his European subjects is as strongly drawn as in the first days of conquest, and will most probably remain so as long as he holds supreme power. Exclusive of Armenians and Jews, the European subjects of the Sultan are composed of four distinct races, speaking different languages, and having different laws and customs, viz. Slav, Roumans, Albanians, and Greeks. Of these races the Slav, inhabiting Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, the Herzegovina, and Montenegro, amounting to upwards of seven million souls, is by far the most numerous. But these different Slav races were never united among themselves. The Montenegrins, in their inac­cessible mountains, have preserved from the earliest period a sort of independence, which the Servians also have partly succeeded in achieving. The Rouman or Wallach population, inhabiting the trans-Danubian provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, and still speaking a bastard Latin dialect, come next in point of number, counting about four million souls. The Albanians or Arnauts, inhabiting the west coast of Turkey, the ancient Epirus, amount to about one and a half million. It was among these mountaineers that Ali Pasha of Jannina, established towards the end of the last century a kind of independent rule. This remarkable barbarian was the son of Veli Bey, Aga of Tebelen, and of Chamco, a woman of great beauty and spirit, said to have been a descendant of Scanderbeg. Ali’s early years were spent in marauding expe­ditions ; his more ambitious schemes were fostered by a marriage with Emina, daughter of the Pasha of Del vino, one of the three Pashalics into which Albania is divided, the other two being Paramatia and Jannina. Ali’s father-in-law having been strangled for aiding Greek sedition, was suc­ceeded in his Pashalic by Selim, who favoured and befriended Ali; but Selim having incurred the suspicion of the Porte, Ali treacherously murdered him, and sent his head to Con­stantinople. For this base and inhuman act he was re­warded with the Pashalic of Thessaly, where by his extortions he amassed sufficient treasure to purchase the Pashalic of Jannina.

The Greeks, the smallest in point of number of all the European races under Ottoman sway, comprising hardly more than one million souls, have alone succeeded, by means of European sympathy, in asserting their entire independence of the Turks. They inhabit the Morea, the adjoining province of Livadia, or ancient Greece proper, the islands of the Archi­pelago, and the Ionian Islands, besides being scattered in some of the larger cities of the Turkish Empire, as Constanti­nople, Smyrna, etc. The increase of wealth, acquired by commerce, had inspired them with new tastes and more ex­tended ideas. Young men of the upper classes were sent to Paris and other places for education; in the schools established at home the Greek classics were read, and, whatever may be the right of the modern Greeks to trace their descent from the ancient Hellenes, inspired the youth with a love of liberty and a desire to emulate their assumed ancestors. Among a people thus disposed, the Spanish revolution of 1820 was not without its influence. Their aspirations for independence were encouraged by the dilettante Philhellenism which, in many parts of Europe, had become a sort of fashion. We have already adverted to the origin of this feeling in the time of Voltaire and Catharine II. of Russia; in which latter country, however, it was solely a political idea, cherished with the view of weakening Turkey and rendering her an easier prey.

The disappointed hope that something would have been done for them at the Congress of Vienna, led the Greeks to form Secret Societies, or Hetaireiae, with the view of securing their independence by revolt. These societies contained some distinguished persons, as Count Capodistrias, Secretary of the Emperor Alexander, nay, it was even supposed the Em­peror himself. However this may be, it is certain that the Greeks relied on Russian aid. A rising of the Greeks, though often contemplated, was first actually agitated to any purpose by Alexander Ypsilanti, son of the Phanariot Hospodar of Wallachia, before mentioned, and a general in the Russian service.¹ From Kischneff in Bessarabia, whither he had re­moved from Moscow the central committee of the Hetairia, he despatched agents in all directions to incite the Greeks to rise (1820). But the insurrection first broke out in Moldavia and Wallachia, in 1821, during which the Christians displayed as much barbarity as their lords, by massacring great numbers of Turks in Jassy and Galatz, and plundering their houses. This revolt, however, was disclaimed and reproved by Alex­ander and denounced by the Patriarch, and was easily put down by the Turks. Soon after insurrectionary symptoms began to show themselves in Greece, especially among the Mainotes, as well as in the north of the Morea, in the Archi­pelago, and at Athens, where the inhabitants compelled the Turks to take refuge in the Acropolis. Ali, Pasha of Jannina, took part in the movement, and was joined by Odysseus, the leader of some Albanian tribes despatched against Ali by the Sultan. A civil war now began. It was marked by the most frightful massacres. The chief events of the first two or three years were, the promulgation of a new Constitution for Greece on New Year’s Day, 1822 ; the reduction and murder of Ali Pasha, who, though still a Mahommedan, caused a diversion in favour of the Greeks (February 5th) ; the taking of Scio by the Turks in April, when they massacred some 25,000 of the inhabitants, and enslaved about double that number, so that, including the fugitives, the island was almost depopulated; and the capture of Napoli di Romania by the Greeks, under Kolokotroni, December 21st. At this period Mavrocordato, a Phanariot of ancient family, was the principal leader of the revolution. The war continued through 1823, and it was not till the following year that the Western Powers began to interfere. Sultan Mahmoud had treated the Greeks with moderation, in order apparently to deprive Russia of any pretence for intervention, and the Emperor Alexander refrained from interfering, though he proposed to the principal European Powers early in 1823 that the Greeks should be placed in the same relation to the Porte as the Danubian Principalities, and should be governed by four Hospodars. The European Governments, however, were not yet prepared to interfere, though in many countries a strong Philhellenistic feeling prevailed. The first active aid for the Greeks came from England. The accession of Canning to the Ministry, as Foreign Secretary, was favourable to their cause, and early in 1824 they obtained in London a loan of <£800,000. Lord Byron, an ardent Philhellenist, not content with assist­ing them from his own resources with money and arms, pro­ceeded to Greece to give them his personal aid. He was accompanied by Colonel Stanhope. But a nearer acquaint­ance with the Greeks speedily dissipated all classical illusions. Byron died at Missolonghi, April 19th, from vexation, disap­pointment, and the effects of the climate. Stanhope was cheated and laughed at by the treacherous Odysseus, who seems to have possessed all the slyness of his classical name­sake. In December, 1824, Canning recognized the Greek Government by sending them a friendly note.

The death of the Emperor Alexander I, who, at the early age of  forty-eight expired after a short illness at Taganrog on the Sea of Azov, December 1st, 1825, accelerated the crisis of the Greek revolution. The Russian throne now devolved to Nicholas I, Alexander’s youngest brother, in favour of whom Constantine, the second brother, Governor of Poland, had formally renounced his rights. Nicholas, however, seems not to have been aware of this; at all events, when the news of Alexander’s death arrived at St. Petersburg, he caused the troops to swear obedience to Constantine. This circumstance was near producing a revolt. Constantine persisted in and publicly notified his renunciation of the crown. But when the soldiery were again called upon to take the oath to Nicholas, a large portion of them, incited, it is said, by a faction led by Prince Trubetzkoi, who were for establishing a federative republic, refused to accept the change, and it became necessary to shoot down some of the regiments with artillery. When Nicholas was crowned at Moscow, Con­stantine hastened from Warsaw, was the first to do him homage, and embraced him in public, in order that no doubts might remain of the good faith of this transaction.

The accession of Nicholas inaugurated a new era in Russian policy. Alexander, like his predecessors since Peter the Great, had favoured the introduction of foreign culture and manners. Nicholas was distinguished by his predilection for the ancient Muscovitism, and a bigoted adherence to the Greek Church. He made no secret of his pretensions to be the Pope and Emperor of the Greeks, wheresoever they might dwell, and it might be anticipated that he would not remain a passive spectator of the Greek revolution. The Duke of Wellington, who was sent to congratulate Nicholas on his accession, was at the same time instructed to come to an understanding with him on this question. The Tsar at first disputed the right of other Powers to intermeddle with his policy regarding Turkey, but at length consented to sign a secret Convention, April 4th, 1826, by which he recognized the new Greek State; which was, however, to pay a yearly tribute to the Porte. Turkey was to be compelled to accept this arrangement, to which the accession of the remaining members of the Pentarchy was to be invited.

It was precisely at this juncture that Turkey was still further weakened by a domestic convulsion. Towards the end of May, 1826, Sultan Mahmoud II. issued a hattischerif for the reform of the Janissaries, which, however, still left them considerable privileges. Nevertheless, that licentious soldiery rose in insurrection on the night of June 14th, and plundered the palaces of three grandees whom they considered to be the authors of the decree. The riot was continued on the following day. But the Janissaries had neither plan nor leaders, and the Sultan, who had previously assured himself of the support of the Ulema, as well as of the marine, the artillery, and other troops, putting himself at the head of the bands that remained faithful to him, and displaying the tunic of the Prophet, dismissed the crowd which surrounded it to the slaughter of the Janissaries assembled in the Hippo­drome. In a single night 4,000 were massacred and cast into the Hellespont; in the following days 25,000 more. Their wives and children were also murdered, and their very name abolished.

Mahmoud had vanquished his domestic enemies, but by the same act had rendered himself defenceless against ex­ternal ones; and, being hampered by the Greek insurrection, he found himself compelled to submit to all the dictates of Russia regarding the points which had been left undecided by the Treaty of Bucharest. By the Treaty of Akerman, October 7th, 1826, the Porte consented that the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia, though appointed by the Sultan for a period of seven years, should rule independently; that they should have a divan chosen from among the Boyars, and should not be deposed without the sanction of the Tsar. The Servians, though still tributary to the Porte, were to elect their own princes; the Porte was to restore the districts which had been taken from them, and to refrain from inter­fering in their affairs. Russia was to occupy the east coast of the Black Sea, and her vessels were to have free entrance into all the Turkish waters.

Greece was not mentioned in this treaty; but Canning perceived the necessity of preventing the Russians from in­vading Turkey in its present defenceless state under pre­tence of the Greek cause. The events of the last year or two had been unfavourable for the Greeks. Mehemet Ali, who cherished hopes of the whole Turkish succession, had, early in 1825, despatched into the Morea an army of 17,000 men under his adopted son, Ibrahim, by whom the Greeks had been defeated, and Navarino taken in May, as well as the little island of Sphagia which lies before it. Hence Ibrahim made incursions into the Morea, but achieved no extensive or lasting conquests till in April, 1826, having been joined by the Turkish commander Redschid Pasha, Missolonghi, after a protracted and heroic defence, yielded to their united arms, April 22nd, 1826. The Greeks had now exhausted the loan, and their affairs began to look desperate. Canning apprehended that Nicholas might come to an understanding with Mehemet Ali to divide Turkey between them ; and these fears were shared by the French and Austrian Cabinets. All that part of Greece not occupied by Ibrahim had fallen under the influence of Kolokotroni, a mere agent of Russia. Lord Cochrane and General Church, who arrived early in 1827 to assist the Greeks as volunteers, unadvisedly promoted the views of Russia, by aiding, on the recommendation of Kolokotroni, the election of Count Capodistrias as President of Greece. In this state of things was concluded the Treaty of London of July 6th, 1827, which founded the Kingdom of Greece. Prince Metternich did not approve the erection of this State, for fear that religious sympathy might place it under Russian influence; but as the alternative lay between English and Russian views, he adopted the former. He also helped to persuade the French Government to consent to the erection of the Greek Kingdom, to which Charles X. was per­sonally averse; and it was stipulated that the new King should be selected from one of the European dynasties. To this Canning agreed, on condition that the Greeks should be allowed to choose their own Sovereign. This negotiation was the most important act of Canning’s short administration as Premier. He had held that office since April, and died in the following August.

The Treaty of London was executed only by the three maritime Powers, England, France, and Russia; and in August the fleets of those countries, under Admirals Cod­rington, De Rigny, and Heiden, appeared in the Greek waters to support the treaty. In the harbour of Navarino lay an Egyptian fleet of fifty-one men-of-war and upwards of forty other ships, which were now blockaded by the allied fleets. In consequence of Ibrahim having violated an armistice which had been agreed upon, as well as to arrest the horrible atro­cities which he committed in the adjacent district, the allies entered the harbour and almost totally destroyed the Turco- Egyptian fleet, October 26th. After the battle, Codrington sailed to Egypt and compelled Mehemet Ali to recall Ibrahim.

The battle of Navarino, an act of doubtful policy on the part of the Western Powers, naturally enraged the Sultan. He declared all treaties at an end; and though he consented to allow the Greeks an amnesty, he altogether rejected the idea of recognizing their independence. The Ambassadors of the three Powers consequently took their departure from Constantinople December 8th. To Russia the Porte gave particular cause of offence by refusing to carry out the stipulations of Akerman, and by an offensive Firman, issued December 20th. Nicholas, in consequence, now released from the Persian war by an advantageous peace, declared war against the Sultan, April 26th, 1828. France and England remained idle spectators of this war, though a French army, under General Maison, was despatched to occupy the Morea. The Russians, under Wittgenstein, crossed the Pruth early in May, captured Brahilo, June 19th, but finding Shumla, the key of the Balkan, impregnable, masked it with a corps of 30,000 men, and proceeded to Varna, which surrendered October 10th. To the west, the Russians, under Wittgenstein, were unsuccessful, and were obliged to recross the Danube. In the following summer, General Diebitsch, having taken Shumla (June 11th), crossed the mountains and appeared before Adrianople, which immediately surrendered, though his force consisted of only 15,000 men. A Russian division had penetrated to Midiah, within 65 miles of the Bosphorus. The Russian army in Asia, under Paskiewitsch, had also been successful; Wellington and Metternich intervened, and the Porte, seeing the inutility of further resistance, signed the Peace of Adrianople, September 14th, 1829. The stipulations of this treaty were little more than a confirma­tion of those of Bucharest and Akerman, except that the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia were to be appointed for life, and no Turks were to reside in those Principalities, nor any Turkish fortresses to be maintained there. Russia restored nearly all her conquests. The passage of the Darda­nelles was to be free. The most important article was that by which the Porte acceded to the provisions of the Treaty of London with regard to the Greeks.¹ But two or three years were still to elapse before the final settlement of the Greek Kingdom, during which Capodistrias governed in the interest of Russia. He had, however, to contend with conspiracies and insurrections. The little Greek fleet was burnt by Miaulis, July 30th, 1831, to prevent it being used in the Russian in­terest, and shortly after Capodistrias was assassinated (October 9th). He was succeeded in the Government by his younger brother Augustine. Meanwhile the Ministers of the five Powers at London were endeavouring to establish the Greek Kingdom. The proffered Crown was declined by Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg; but at last King Louis of Bavaria, whose poetical temperament rendered him an enthusiastic Philhellenist, accepted it for his younger son Otho, May 7th, 1832. The distinguished Hellenist and Homeric scholar, Thiersch, had visited Greece in the preceding year, and warped, perhaps, by his favourite studies, as well as by his own amiable temper, had beheld everything in a favourable light. The National Assembly of the Greeks recognized Otho for their King, August 8th, and a Provisional Government of Bavarian Ministers was appointed till he should take pos­session of the throne. Otho landed at Nauplia, February 5th, 1833; but it was not till June 1st, 1835, that he took the Government into his own hands, when he removed his resi­dence to Athens. In the interval, the Bavarian Government had had to contend with many difficulties and insurrections, which continued under the new King.

M. de Martignac, and the Liberal French Ministry which had assisted the Greek cause, had been dismissed before the Peace of Adrianople. M. de Martignac had never enjoyed the King’s confidence. On July 30th, 1829, the Chambers were dissolved, and a few days after the Ministry received their dismissal. Nothing could be more impolitic than the choice of their successors. Prince Jules de Polignac, a most unpopular person, who had been bred up in the bosom of the Royal family, and shared in its exile, was now appointed head of the Ministry. The selection of his colleagues was still worse. M. Labourdonnaye, detested for the harshness and severity of his character, received the portfolio of the Interior, but soon resigned. The most injudicious appointment of all was that of General Bourmont, as Minister at War, one of the leaders in the war of La Vendee, a man of great political as well as military talent, but hated and contemned by the nation for his desertion to the allies just before the battle of Waterloo. The installation of this Ministry was bailed with a universal shout of disapprobation. The journalists, among whom may be named Guizot, Thiers, and Benjamin Constant, assailed the Government in the most unmeasured terms. Alarming symptoms appeared in the provinces. A union to resist all unconstitutional taxes began in Brittany, and soon spread throughout France. The revolutionary society called Aide-toi was instituted, and Lafayette began to agitate in several of the provincial towns, especially Lyons, where he was received with tumultuous applause.

The Chambers were reopened March 2nd, 1830. The King, in his opening speech, expressed his determination to maintain the privileges of the Crown, and to repress all attempts to overthrow them. In this assembly appeared M. Guizot, as leader of the party called, from their somewhat pedantic constitutional system, the Doctrinaires. The Chamber of Deputies complained, in an address to the throne, of the Government’s want of confidence in the people. Symptoms of opposition were also displayed in the Chamber of Peers, where Chateaubriand thundered against the Ministry, and even the Duke of Fitz-James, who, though a favourite of the King’s, was an enemy of Polignac’s. Montbel, one of the Ministers, advised the King to dissolve the Chambers, and appeal to the people by a manifesto; though the majority of the Ministry counselled moderation. It was thought that some popularity might be gained by an expedition against Algiers, which piratical state, under the Dey Hussein Bey, had infested the commerce of France, plundered her settle­ments, insulted her Consul, and fired on the ship of an officer sent to demand redress, But the British Government was opposed to the expedition; a large English fleet was des­patched into the Mediterranean, and it became necessary for the French to obtain the consent of England to the enterprise. This circumstance, as well as the appointment of General Bourmont to the command of the expedition, deprived it of all merit in the eyes of the nation. The fleet was to sail from Toulon, May 16th ; on that day the Chambers were dissolved, and the new ones were to meet early in August. At the same time a partial change was made in the Ministry. But the expedition was not so successful as had been hoped. It was detained by storms, and at the outset two brigs fell into the hands of the Algerines. This was all the news that arrived during the elections, in which the society Aide-toi, and the Comité directeur, under Lafayette, busied themselves against the Crown. The result was that a Chamber was returned still more hostile to the Government than the former one. When the elections were completed, news arrived that Algiers had capitulated, July 4th; a victory, however, which, though announced with great pomp, had no effect whatever on the nation. A grand Te Deum was appointed to be performed, and Bourmont was made a Marshal of France; but the people flocked to the Palais Royal, to pay their homage to the Duke of Orleans. It became evident that either the Chambers or the King must fall. Under these circumstances the King and Government resolved on a coup d'etat. The 14th Article of the Charter provided that the King might issue ordinances necessary for the execution of the laws and the safety of the State. Availing themselves of this Article, the French Minis­ters published, July 25th, the celebrated and fatal ordinances of St. Cloud, by which the freedom of the press was suspended, a number of Liberal journals suppressed, the law of election altered, by diminishing the number of electors and raising the qualification; the Chambers, which had not yet met, were again dissolved, and new Chambers appointed to meet, September 28th. Further ordinances named a considerable number of councillors of State, selected from the ultra-Royalist party. Yet these violent measures had been adopted without taking the necessary military precautions to insure their success. The troops in Paris numbered not 12,000 men, and these had been placed under the command of Marmont, who was un­popular with the army.

The ordinances appeared in the Moniteur, July 26th. The tumult and agitation in Paris were extreme. Groups assem­bled in the streets; daily labour was suspended; all master printers or manufacturers, of Liberal politics, closed their workshops, as if by common accord. In the evening the windows of Prince Polignac’s hotel were broken by the mob. On the following day a protest against the ordinances appeared in nearly all the Liberal journals. It was now that M. Thiers first prominently appeared, who was to rise from the calling of a journalist to one of the first offices of the State. The gens d'armes, who were directed to destroy the presses of the Liberal newspapers, met with a determined resistance at the office of the Temps, and could with difficulty find a locksmith to open the doors. Collisions occurred between the mob and the gens d’armes, and the more timid citizens closed their shops. It was between five and six o’clock in the evening before the troops appeared; but the sight of them only in­creased the rage of the people, who began to assail them with stones, tiles, and other missiles. Meanwhile the Liberal deputies having assembled at the house of Casimir Périer, drew up a protest denying the King’s right to dismiss Cham­bers which had not yet met, and declaring all new elections under the ordinances illegal. The night was spent in arming. It was arranged that the disbanded National Guard should reappear in uniform on the following day, and thus give the insurrection an appearance of legality. The pupils of the Polytechnic School mingled with the people, and Lafayette arrived in Paris from the country.

While these things were going on the Ministers had assem­bled at Prince Polignac’s, and had resolved to declare Paris in a state of siege, to send for troops from the provinces, and to arrest the Deputies who had signed the protest. But they were not strong enough to carry out these measures. Marmont had not disposed even the few troops he had so as effect­ively to hinder the operations of the people. The King, at this critical juncture, had gone to hunt at Rambouillet!

On the 28th the men of the Faubourg St. Antoine, inter­spersed with a few National Guards, took possession of the Hotel de Ville, and hoisted on the roof the three-coloured flag, which was also displayed in most of the streets. Marmont, who had expressed his disapprobation of the ordinances, and had undertaken the command unwillingly, wrote to the King, advising him to negotiate; but Charles, instead of either dis­missing him or following his advice, ordered him to resist. Marmont now directed two columns against the Hotel de Ville; but many of the soldiers began to fraternize with the mob, and only the Swiss Guards did their duty. The Liberal Deputies having assembled at the house of Audry de Puyravaux, debated whether they should turn the revolt into a revolution. Puyravaux himself, supported by Lafayette, Lafitte, and others, was for that course; while Casimir Périer, General Sebastiani, and Guizot advocated constitutional measures and another protest. At length it was resolved to send a deputation, headed by Lafitte and Arago, to Marmont, to require that all further effusion of blood should be arrested. Marmont now again advised the King to yield. But Charles would make no concessions, and Marmont was directed to concentrate his troops in the neighbourhood of the Tuileries. Reinforcements were anxiously expected. But the line of telegraphs had been intercepted, and the messages despatched to St. Omer and Luneville to bring up troops by forced marches came too late. On July 29th the people had obtained possession of all Paris, except the quarter of the Tuileries, where Marmont maintained his ground, but not without considerable bloodshed. Lafayette having, at the request of the Deputies, assumed the command of the National Guard, fixed his quarters at the Hotel de Ville, whence he issued a proclamation calling on the people to achieve their liberty or die. On the evening of the 29th the people succeeded in getting possession of the Tuileries, and were thus entirely masters of the metropolis. They acted for the most part with moderation and forbearance, though they plundered the Archbishop’s palace. The number of the slain seems to have been about 700.

Consternation reigned among the courtiers at St. Cloud. As happens in such conjunctures, advice of the most various kinds was tendered to the King. Most were for making con­cessions. Many gave up the King for lost, and thought only of saving the dynasty by proclaiming the Duke of Bordeaux and a regency. All seemed to have lost their heads, except Guernon de Ranville. That Minister had at first advised moderation; now he dissuaded from all concession, because it was too late. The only course, for the King, he contended, was to fly to some loyal province, to rally round him what troops remained faithful, as well as a loyal Chamber. He might then negotiate with success, which at present, after his troops had been beaten, was impossible. But this sensible advice was supported only by the Duke of Angouleme. Charles yielded to the advocates of concession. Polignac was dis­missed, and the Duke de Mortemar, who had served in the army of Napoleon, and had lately represented France at the Court of St. Petersburg, was appointed in his place. Mortemar, in conjunction with Vitrolles and D’Argout, proceeded to draw up some new ordinances, in which a few necessary concessions were made; and he appointed Casimir Perier to the finances, and General Gerard, Minister at War. Charles, who, after a hand at whist, had gone to bed and to sleep, was awakened, and after some little hesitation signed these concessions, with which De Semonville, Vitrolles, and D’Argout hastened to Paris.

On the morning of the 31st what was called a Municipal l Commission was instituted and installed at the Hotel de Ville, to watch over the public safety. Its members were Lafayette, Casimir Perier, Lafitte, Gerard, Puyravaux, Lobau, Von Schonen, and Mangin. The Commission proceeded to name some Ministers: Odillon Barrot as General Secretary, Gerard as Commander of the Forces, Lafayette as Commandant of the National Guard. The authority of the new board was uni­versally recognized. In fact, the revolution seemed to be accomplished, as nearly all the troops of the line had joined the people, while the guards had retired to St. Cloud. Such was the state of things at Paris when De Semonville arrived to announce the withdrawal of the unpopular ordinances and the appointment of a new Ministry. The Municipal Com­mission refused to listen to him ; Von Schonen coldly observed, “It is too late; the throne has fallen in blood.” De Semonville, after the failure of a similar attempt with the Deputies at the house of Lafitte, returned in despair to St. Cloud to relate his ill success. Mortemar now proceeded to Paris to try what he could do with the more moderate party; but having equally failed, he vanished, to reappear a few days after in the ante­chamber of the Duke of Orleans.

Louis Philippe had apparently taken no part in the move­ment. He had spent the whole summer at his seat at Neuilly in the bosom of his numerous family; but in this retirement he had been secretly making a party, among whom may be named Talleyrand, Lafitte, and Thiers. These men persuaded the Deputies that they could not do better than raise Louis Philippe to the throne. The Parisian populace, who had long looked upon him as their friend, would offer no opposition; Talleyrand, who enjoyed a great reputation in the Courts of Europe, would reconcile them to the change of dynasty; the bourgeoisie of the National Guard, with their leader Lafayette, would acquiesce. Of the two parties from whom opposition might be expected, the Royalists had been conquered, while the Bonapartists and Republicans knew not how to use their sudden and unexpected victory. A proclamation, drawn up by Thiers, was posted on the walls of Paris, recommending the Duke of Orleans, who had fought at Jemmapes, as the “ Citizen King.” The Deputies having met in the Palais Bourbon, signed a paper requesting the Duke of Orleans to undertake the government of the kingdom, with the title of Lieutenant-General, and to uphold the three-coloured flag till the Chambers should have fully assured the realization of the Charter.

The Duke of Orleans entered Paris on foot, July 30th, like a private gentleman. His first care was to see Talleyrand. He had no doubts about the Parisians. His only anxiety was how foreign Governments might regard the revolution; and when Talleyrand had satisfied him on this point, he no longer hesitated. He sent the same night for the Duke of Mortemar, who undertook to carry to the King a letter in which Louis Philippe still spoke of his fidelity ! Charles was deceived by it. So little did he imagine that the Duke of Orleans would betray him, that on July 31st he named that Prince by a formal patent Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, and requested him in a letter to maintain the rights of the Crown. The Duke now published a proclamation concluding with the words: “In future a charter will be a truth.” The Deputies also made a separate proclamation, in which they pledged themselves to procure the legal establishment of certain rights which they specified. In order to obtain the support of the Municipal Commission, the Duke of Orleans proceeded, at the head of the Deputies, to the Hotel de Ville. He won Lafayette’s heart by exclaiming: “You see, gentlemen, an old National Guard, who is come to visit his former general.” An agreement was speedily concluded in the brief phrase, “A popular throne with republican institutions.” Lafayette then embraced the Duke, and, conducting him to the balcony, placed him under a three-coloured flag, as the man of the people.

The new Lieutenant-General now proceeded to name a Ministry selected from all parties, except the Royalists. Among them were Dupont de l’Eure, who inclined to the Republicans; Guizot, the representative of the Doctrinaires; Lafitte, Louis Philippe’s confidant; Baron Louis, the favourite of Talleyrand; Bignon, a Bonapartist; the Duke de Broglie, to show the aristocrats that they would not be excluded from the new regime; General Gerard, and Admiral Rigny. Thus was completed the “Revolution of July,” called also the Grande Semaine, and from the superior importance of the 27th, 28th, and 29th, the “Three Days.”

On July 31st Charles X. quitted St. Cloud for Trianon. During this short march he was deserted by some of his guards. At Trianon, De Ranville repeated his advice to the King to fly to Tours, and assemble a Chamber in that city. But Charles still relied on the Duke of Orleans, and was for waiting till he should hear from him. The anxiety of the Duchess of Berri was, however, so great that she induced the King to proceed on the following day to Rambouillet, where they were joined by the Duchess of Angouleme. The soldiers now began to desert in troops. A letter having at length arrived from the Duke of Orleans, purporting that the King had become too unpopular to retain the Crown, Charles published an ordinance announcing his abdication in favour of his grandson the Duke of Bordeaux, whom he proclaimed as Henry V, and calling on the Lieutenant-General to conduct the Regency in the name of the young King (August 2nd).

But Louis Philippe had other views. In his speech to the Chambers, though he announced the abdication of the King, and the Dauphin’s renunciation of his rights to the throne, he forebore to mention that these things had been done in favour of the Duke of Bordeaux. He refused to receive any com­munications from the King, and repulsed all who came to him on the King’s behalf. He saw that he could reckon on the majority of the Parisians. Advocates for a Republic could be found only among some of the lowest class. The middle classes would not hear of it, though at the same time they saw that the old line of the Bourbons could not remain. Louis Philippe now began to take measures for driving Charles and his family from France. Marshal Maison, Odillon Barrot, and Von Schonen were sent, as if officially, and by order of the Lieutenant-General and the Deputies, to accompany the King over the frontier. On their arrival at Rambouillet they found the King asleep; but Marmont told them that, for such a step, it was necessary to have a written order from the Duke of Orleans, and the Commissioners hastened back to Paris to procure one. The Duke displayed excitement and displeasure at their return, exclaiming, “He must go! he must go!”. It was determined to effect the King’s expulsion by means of the Parisian mob. Before break of day an insurrection was organized; the word was given “ to Rambouillet! ” and arms were distributed to the people, who were to march thither and compel the unfortunate King and his family to fly. Marshal Maison, who with his fellow Com­missioners had driven back to Rambouillet, told Charles that the people of Paris were marching against him. When the truth at last stared the old King in the face he gave vent to such an ebullition of rage that Maison was glad to hasten from his presence. But 60,000 men were marching on Rambouillet; and Charles, having no means of resistance, at length consented to go into exile. The Commissioners gave him a military escort to Cherbourg, where he embarked for England. Nothing could exceed the respect with which the unfortunate monarch was treated during this journey by all ranks of the people. In England, the royal fugitives were at first received at Lulworth castle, in Dorsetshire, and subsequently took up their abode, for the second time, at the palace of Holyrood, at Edinburgh, which had been placed at their disposal by the English Government. Great Britain was now ruled by William IV.; his brother, George IV., having expired, after a long illness, June 26th, 1830.