Star.
London, England, 1830-08-21 00:00:00

FRA,CE.
SITTING OF THE 17th ♦UGUST.

After much precious discussion, chiefly relative to the acceptance
rejection of the oath,
M. Marachal, after having examined the existing law respecting
the oath, proposed the adoption of the amendments which follow
" Art. I. All public functionaries, whether of administrative or
judicial order, the officers of the army and navy, must take on oath
in there terms I swear fidelity to the King of the French, obe.l
dience to the Constitutional Chartet, and to the laws of the kingdom.
"Art. 2. Nothing shall be added or changed in the formula of
this oath unless by virtue of a law.
" Art. 3. All functionaries now employed, administrative or ju.
dicial, and all officers now employed or disposable for the army or,
navy, shall be allowed fifteen days from the promulgation of the
present law to take the oath, on failure in which they shall be con-
Bidet-id as resigned."
The Chamber decided on discussing this to-morrow.
The Minister of War then presented a Bill for fixing legally and 'I
definitively the arrangements of military and naval officers. Up to
the Ist of February, 1829, the treatment of these officers had been
compromised by rigorous measures ; before that time numerous
claims had resounded through the Chamber. Government at length
determined on doing justice, and the ordinance of the 18th February,
1829, appeared. This ordinance but very imperfectly effected its
object. Now, it was necessary to fix definitively these arrangements
of the officers of the army, awaiting the code which was to rule the
conservative principle of the rights of officers.
" Louts Philippe, &c.
" Art. I. In future the officers of the army can only lose their
rank by resignation, or by being cashiered ; in all other cases they
are in active service, ou half-pay, or in retirement.
" 2. The King, as supreme head of the army, regulates all that
concerns active service or half-pay.
" 3. The bases of the allowance of half.pay and pensions to the
widows and orphans of soldiers can only be determined by law.
4. The pensions of the land forces are in future to be regulated
by a Tariff annexed to the present law.
"b. The allowances of military pensions made up to the present
time are and remain confirmed.

" 6. There is no change made in the regulation in force for the
liquidation of military pensions, as it is settled by the laws, ordi.
nances, and regulations on that head ; but in future no modifica-
tions can be made in it but by virtue of a law.
" Arts. 7,8, and 9, regulate the distribution and source of the
pensions. . _ _

" Given at the Palais Royal, &c.
(Signed) " LOUIS PIIII.IPPE.
" Secretary of State for the War Department,
(Signed) " COMIC GERARD."
The Chamber gate leave to the Minister of War to bring in the
bill, and ordered it to be printed and distributed in the bureau.
The Minister of the Interior stated the heads of a proposed law,
as follows :

" Art. 1. Every Deputy who shall accept a public appointment
with a salary shall be considered as virtually giving in his resignation
as a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
" 2. Nevertheless he shall continue to sit in the Chamber until
the day when the election which his acceptance of &public paid situ-
ation has occasioned shall take place.
" 3. Officers up to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel inclusive are ex-
cepted from the first article.
. _ _

."
4. Those Deputies who, by reason of their accepting public
office, shall cease to be members of the Chamber of Deputies, may
be re-elected.

" 5. The present law shall be applied to Deputies promoted to
public appointments since the opening of the present Session."
The Chamber gave leave to the Minister of the Interior to bring
in this bill, and to send it first to the bureaux for examination.

The 31inister of the Interior then stated the articles of a proposed
measure to give employ to the workmen, and to furnish the necessaty
funds to pay for these works. The bill ran thus s
" Art. I. An extraordinary credit of live millions is opened, on
the tax of 1830, to the Minister of the Interior, who wilt use it for
public works and other urgent wants, for which it is indispensable
to provide.
" 2. He shall render an account of tke use of this credit, in the'
legal and usual form.'
The Minister announced to the Chamber that the works had
commenced, by virtue of a Royal Ordinance dated yesterday.
M. Jars spoke in the name of the commission charged with the
examination of the proposal of M. Delessert, relative to the recom-
pense and pensions to be given to the wounded, the widows, and
victims of the 27th, 28th, and 29th of July. He proposed, in a few
words, the adoption of the law which the commission has amended,
as follows:

" Art. 1. Recompences shall be decreed to all those who were
wounded in defending the national cause in Paris on die glorious
days of the 26th, 27th, 20th, and 29th of last July.
" Art. 2. The fathers, mothers, widows, and children of those
who have fallen, of may fall in consequence of their wounds, shall
receive a pension or relief.
" Art. 3. A medal shall be struck to perpetuate the remembrance
of those events.

" Art. 4. A Commission shall be named by the Government, to
make the necessary inquiries to decide on those who, in confor-
Inky with the preceding articles, shall be entitled to pensions or
relief. The progress of this Commission shall be reported to the
Chambers.

" This Bill shall be discussed at a public sitting, immediately
after the Bill relating to the oath."
M. D. de Tracy stated, at great length, a proposition for the
abolition of the puniAment of death.
M. de Montigny opposed the immediate consideration of this,
as them wi..re wore urgent ameliorations required in the penal
code.

Gen. Lafayette (profound silence)-1 think, contrary to my ho.
nourable colleage, that the abolition of the punishment of death is a
principle which may be decreed before making the ameliorations
which are proposed, the necessity of which I feel. It is not a novel
idea ; the abolition of the punishment of death has been demanded
at all times iu the well-known constituent Assembly. It is so now
in the Senate of the United States. You perceive it is no new idea,
and each person may have his predetermined opinion on this point.
As to me, I should ask for the abolition of the punishment of death
till I have the infallibility of human judgments demonstrated to me.
The punishment of death has always inspired me with a feeling of
horror, since the execrable use made of it during the Revolution.
Our revolution has a different character ; it is the revolution of pa-
triotism, courage, and generosity. I believe, for my part, that it
will be suited to the commencement of this revolution to do a great
act of humanity by abolishing the punishment of death. I vote for
its being now taken into consideration.
M. Lepelletier d'Aubnsy called for an adjournment.
M. de Tracy opposed it.
M. de Rambateur opposed the consideration.
The adjournment was negatived, and the question taken into
consideration.

M. de la Pinsonnierc proposed as follows All those Deputies,l
who shall nut have taken the oath or given in their adherence before
the expiration of 15 days from the promulgation of the present law,
shall be considered as having resigned, unless in some case of public
hindrance."
On all shies—Seconded, supported.
M. de Alartignac—l claim to be heard (a movement show.
ing great interest and curiosity.) I easily conceive the mo-
tives which have dictated the proposition that you have just
heard, but I still hope that it will be useless to have recourse
to this unusual procedure ; and I sin about to submit to the
Chamber some obervations which it will do well to attend to.
It is doubtless important, in the grave circumstances In which we
are placed, that all interests should be represented in this Chamber,
and that every past of the country should possess an organ here to
represent its wishes, its necessities, and its complaints. Such is the
importance, it appears to me impossible that it should not be felt;
and it is precisely this fact which leads me to regard the proposed
meanie as useless. A single obstacle retains at their homes mid
from this place some of the members of this Chamber; and cer-
tainly, for the honour of human nature, we ought not to be uto.
nished at it ; this obstacle is the necessity of a new oath. There Is
in this an engagement to abandon those who have been proscribed,
and to transfer the ath of fidelity made to one King and one
dynasty to another King and another dynastyy—ootnething
which alarms the conscience and rends the heart. This mo.
sal resistance can only yield to a duty still more imperious;
and such a duty must be studied to be comprehended. What is de-
manded from us—from us Deputies of France ? It is the necessity
of examination ; and I hesitate not to m here the result of
this examination, convinced as I am tralctilaiiere is no genuine senti-
ment or conscientious opinion which cannot be circumspectly
delivered from this tribune with freedom. My political Meads and
myself attached to the Royal house which has just fallen, have
done every thing prescribed by conscience and reason to prevent this
new misfortune. We have known for a long time the wishes, the
wants, and the re,ousees of France, and we have not to reproach our-
selves with having concealed them in a memoir which we composed
in October, 1828, by the Cabinet of which I formed a part, and
from which I am able, without injury to becoming decorum, to ex-
tract a single passage. of whatever we said to the King after having
explained our plan of conduct:—
" Any other means of security—any measure of a different
nature—cannot enter into our minds, for our notification will not
admit of others, and we are unable to suggest any thing beyond
what is here presented. The wisdom of two Kings has made
great concessions to France, and France has with great fervour
adopted them. In the actual state of the public mind, and with
the feelings which these concessions themselves have tended so
deeply to Impress, to think of withdrawing, sus~g, or ma
difying them would be to make a question of the ex of royalty
itself, and doubtless no In France will have the fatal courage
to give such counsel to triulng"--(" Bravo, bravo.")

This fatal courage, resumed M. Martignac, others have shown,
and their foolish presumption and inexplicable ignorance of the state
of the country have shaken down in two days a throne which has
existed for eight centuries. We have not witnessed without profound
grief this frightful overthrow. We have accompanied with our
regret, and with the respect due to august misfortune, these unhappy
Princes, who wanted nothing to enable them to fulfil their exalted
destiny, than a proper distrust of false friends, and a better under.
standing of the country they were called to govern, and of the
times in which we live. We wish in this great shipwreck
it was possible to abide by the principle of legitimacy. that
conservative principle which the Chamber has recently de.
signated as yet more salutary for the people than for kings.—
Such has not been the case; the nature of things, the force of
circumstances, and the power of events, have not permitted it.
Menaced with all the evils which attend anarchy ; yielding to the
law of necessity ; receiving from that necessity a mandate which no
other authority can dispute, you have declared the throne of France
vacant, modified the Charter, annulled promotions to the Peerage,
drawn up a declaration of the rights of the country, and pro.
claimed a King and a dynasty. My friends and myself, having
taken no part in these acts, find ourselves in the presence of a deed
accomplished. It is in this situation that the grave consideration
is presented to us, whether we ought to abandon our posts, or
submit to the oath which is required of us. It is granted
that, until now, we have been divided on this question; I con-
fess it. I had doubts when I saw my noble and generous friend,
M. Hyde de Neuville, adopt an opinion contrary to my own. It re-
quired a profound conviction to enable him to resist the force of
his example : but-this conviction I entertain, and it is not for me
to conceal the voice of my heart, when I feel it to be emphati-
cally that of my conscience. Nothing is more simple or more
easy than the part of retirement. In that is to be found peace to
the heart, and repose to the mind. It may be aided that it is un-
attended with danger, for the organs of prevalent opinion are pro-
digal in praise of those who retire, and hold them up with no incon-
siderable ingenuity as a model for all those who are in a si.
miler position. But is this really honour? Is it the clearly-un-
derstood performance of duty ? Ido not think so, and I boldly say
so. Deputies, we hold our mandate not from Royalty, but from
our country. This mandate was given to us under other cir-
cumstances, for a state of things more legal and more regular
but ought we to desert it because circumstances have become more
grave, more menacing, more difficult ? The soil of our country is
still rocking with the violent shock that overturned the throne.—
Ought we to abandon those who labour to make it firm at the risk
of subjecting society itself to fresh shocks? Convinced as we ought
to be, since we profess to be so, that our principles are the wisest,
ought we to renounce the making the expression of them heard,
when we have received no express mission so to do ? Laws on which
the tranquillity of the future entirely depends are to be submitted
tophe Chamber, on which we have aright to put forth an opinion,
and to give or refuse a vote. Shall we leave without an organ at
this decisive moment, the country which has nominated us—the opi-
nion which we represent—the interests of every kind which have been
confided to us ? And if misfortunes which we might have avoided
ate the consequence of this unconsidered revolution, should we not
be responsible in our own eyes—in the eyes of our fellow-citi-
zens, for the mischiefs which we have allowed to be done ? Aotl if
our example were followed by the electors who have invested us with
our power, could we calculate the consequences of such imprudence ?
For me, Gentlemen, I have no doubt, and my duty is as clear to me
as the light of day. We arc at a moment of effervescence and pre.
possession. I will oppose with all my strength the dangers of pre-
cipitation : I will wait with patience for reflection. I will resist
being led away. I will combat all that appears dangerous to me.—
When they shall speak to me in the name of liberty, a language which
I understand full well, I will speak in the name of order, and all the
world will understand me. I will oppose experience to theories—the
interest of my country to the interest of party. I will demand the exe-
cution of the laws, if I think I see them violated. If I see our streets--
our squares, filled with ignoble images, or the misfortunes of the great
handed over to derision and outrage, I will invoke the public
I decency, which in France has also the authority of the law. I will
call upon her until justice be done—until there only remains shame
at insulting unfortunate old age and fallen power ; and I am sure no
man will disavow this.--(Universal cheers.) This, as I conceive
it, is our duty. What would be thought of us if we acted contrary
to honour ? and what idea would they entertain of our honour who
should blame us for our choice ? Have we here any personal interest
to consider, any ambition to satisfy ? Are we the creatures of a new
power, :taking for favours, and founding on a change of language and
doctrine the hopes of new fortune? Are these the results we seek
...the triumphs we hope for ? It is not for us, destined to contend
against a measure which drives us on, that triumphs are reserved.
A laborious task—one difficult, and condemned beforehand by
those who are renounced. Such is our sad lot. But the lot which
our fellow-citizens have cast on us is preferable to a useless inac-
tivity, however borourable the motive on which it is founded.
These are some of the considerations which determined us ; it was
time that they should be clearly explained. This explanation, to
which we shall not revert again, was called for by the proposition
which has been made to you. (Much excitement.) I cannot believe
but that, after having heard us, those of our colleagues who still
hesitate will feel the necessity of retaining the post to which they
are called, and remain generous citizens, after having been faithful
subjects. Ido not oppose the taking the measure into considera-
tion • but Ido hope that, before the law a intervene, it will have
become useless. (Much excitemeny which lasted a considerable
time.)
The proposition was taken into consideration. The Chamber
then rose.