Star.
London, England, 1830-02-27 00:00:00

i," R. 4 NCF: AND THE BOURBONS IN 1830.

From Le Globe.

W. at; ~t last approaching the term of the lamentable pole.
a).cal ewuctt At which we have for these eight months past engaged.
Our Parliament it about to open, and Royalty must meet the
country lace to face. All good men have looked impatiently for-
ward to this t vent ; for there is nothing more humiliating to a great
nation than to have every morning to foresee or to defeat the follies
or a powtr at once menacing and despicable. Such an existence is
a lite of hazard—that is to say, of anguish and disorder, of dis-
iyo.sing illusions, and of bad passions. Feeling our destiny to de-
pentl upon the turn up of a die, which some weak had may at any
aim rent cast, men }:ccome accustomed to dream of chances, to calcu-
late the means of defence, and soon after of attack. Nothing is so
near to fear as sedition, and nothing sop much tends to mischief as
contempt of authority.
To ray nothing of the loss of eight months for our glory and
pc.wer abroad, and for the enlightened administration of our affairs
home, a loss always irreparable, is not the corrupting disquietude
created in society by the mere accession of such a ministry sufficient
:Or its condemnation ?

This was on the first day, the first cry of every voice. Men
looked far beyond the mere questions of constitutional mechanism
on which parties might be about to play their game. Royalty was
tilt to be struck and compromised. The phrase " 1688 and the
Stuarts" then resounded ; and in fact, since the period of the Bth of
August, the dispute for Royalist or for Liberal, has existed and
does exist solely on this great and awful idea.
The phrase is perhaps bold, Gut it is sincere. When we cherish
no after-thought and venture to intermeddle in the affairs of our
country, it is fit to put aside all-vain precautions and to speak
'rankly. There are sorrows and dangers enough in civil warfare,
dangers and depravity enough in the intrigues and conspiracies
which lead to the overthrow of a throne, not to make us dread to
foresee such a state of things, and yet to make us look at the
chances, and, above all, to make us endeavour to induce thole to
look at them who may be able to avert the evil. The parliament
and the king alone possess this power. It is, therefore, to the
"'ornament and the king that we address ourselves along with all
good citizens, to consider what at present is the relative situation of
royalty and France.
For our part we arc of opinion that all the crises through which
we have passed since 1814, the present is without contradiction the
most decisive for the House of Bourbon. It is, to reckon rightly,
the fourth attempt at counter-revolution. It is curious and pro-
fitable to observe what part the nation has performed in all these
rash experiments—how it has been progressively instructed and
strengthened, while the rarty which is dragging down royalty
with itself has been misled and weakened ;—how at every
counter-revolutionary effort the same melancholy and fatal
idea of the separation of the throne and the country has pre-
sented itself, but on each occasion gathering strength, ac-
t opted by a greater number of minds ; a first concealed as a secret
intrigue or feeling of hostility, afterwards disclosed In public as an
opinion, and thus proceeding, until, if Heaven avert it not, and if
eze old enemies of liberty still proceed farther, this opinion will be-
come the resolution of a party with popular assent. However, all
r•tn so ardently desire tranquillity and the security of their inter-
ests, that on every occasion when royalty separates itself from those
141:o compromise it, and takes the slightest step in the way of a re-
turn towards the nation, that moment the hope of fixing the fate of
the Bourbons with a future liberty revives. It is natural to calculate
en all the advantages derivable from their old hereditary succession,
tae real goodness and facility of character which endeared them to
eta ancestors : men flatter themselves with pleasing plans of a slow
are. peaceful reform which shall reduce royalty to its true station—
, axely, that of reigning without governing; a situation in which
the Prince is withdrawn from the storms of popular disapprobation
yd the struggles of Parliamentary majorities and minorities. No
c^;. we apprehend, will deny the tendency of men's minds to incline
alts.mately, according to the danger or the security of the charter,—
tc a change of dynesty or to the maintenance of the reigning family.
It has appeared at every crisis which we at present can call to recol-
L:Lion. Lest it should be doubted, let us try to sketch, in a few
words, and with perfect candour, the picture of these crises. If we
c'c not truly describe the flux and reflux of the national opinion, we
are open to contradiction.
_

Whoever has lived 30 years in France must recollect under what
circumstances the Bourbons returned. They were forgotten or dis-
regarded by their contemporaries. The new generation knew no-
thing of their existence, and did not even know their names. The
victwies of foreigners smoothed the path for them, either in comae.
quence of offended national pride, or the restlessness of old animosi-
ties revived by fear, stoma, and wars between the country and the
party which was to arise under the protection of their throne were
foreseen. There was a moment of hesitation and alarm ; but another
danger still more pressing operated on the national will. There
was no longer any head to the empire. The son of Napoleon
was still in the cradle, and that cradle had for its protector
an Emperor of Austria. The Bourbons were of our own blood;
the Senate of the empire, degraded as it was, spoke of conditions and
of liberty. The same sentiments were expressed by the legislative
body which had given vent to the first sigh for the misfortunes of the
country. It was known that conditions would be agreeable to the
head of the family. He was described to us as instructed by mis.
fortune, enlightened by study and the spectacle of English liberty,
and proud of all our recent glories. The liberal opinions of this
Prince at the commencement of the revolution were recollected.—
Promises reached us from all quarters, and the alarm, without being
dissipated, was calmed. The declaration of St. Ouen, the octroy of
the charter, though it appeared offensive to pure theory, completed
the half conversion of France. Louis XVIII. began with some
favour a reign which he dated back twenty-five years, in memorial
of legitimacy; but around this legitimacy, which few compre.
bonded, but however was admitted as an innocent pretension
there soon arose a cloud of grotesque and insolent legitima-
cies, the mere recollection of which is farcical—the old no.
blesse, the emigrants, court robes, the ante-chamber dignities of
Versailles, corporations, the clergy, La Vendee, and the Chouans !
It was variety, avidity, and vengeance in full cry. Some insulted
out uniforms and the titles of our new warriors; others wrapped
themselves up in the pride of their caste, and looked with disdain on
citizens whom they had but lately courted. In some quarters they
established themselves as conquerors in a country divided by civil
war, and surrounded themselves with peasants guilty of the most
terocious crimes. All demanded, and even took, what they called
their property,—feudal rights, tithes, places, pensior.s, decorations,
titles. They soon stifled some favourable presages. The ration
trembled. At that time, animated with one spirit, still warm with
the life of the empire, and possessing the controul of public affairs
and of the army, she, with an immense power, surrounded a throne
almost foreign. Indignation seized her. A favourable wind brought
back her Emperor. Notwithstanding the resentment caused by his
wars, his tyranny, and the danger of an invasior, yet he was received
as an avenger, as a liberator, as a man of the people and of the re-
volution. The counter-revolution had, by its follies, bapthed him
First Consul and Child of the Republic. A second time flight
carried the Bourbons to foreign camps. Thus, for having offended,
not with their own hands, but with the hands of their friends, the
national feelings.—for having threatened the rights acquired by the
revolution, they were dashed to pieces like glass. Buonapartism,
the centre at that time of strength and union, cast them off; and it
became manifest that they had only been• adhered to in the hope
that they afforded a sanction to the revolution. That hope was be.
trayed, and they were deserted. Had not foreign sovereigns felt an
interest for them, but had in like manner deserted them, they would
have died in exile. .

To be continued.
The office of Chaplain-General to the Army is to be
abolished. it is at present held by the Dean of Carlisle,
Dr. Hodgson.