The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-03-07 00:00:00

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M. MANUEL
[PROM A PARIS COARRIPORDINT.I
Th:s member of the Chamber of Deputies an btirn at
Bareelonnette. in the department of the HautetAlpea.
His father, who oas a notary, sent him to Houergne, t
be educated by an uncle, and also for the advantage of a
change of air,_ as ell his brothei. bad died betifeen the
age of five and seven. The uncle, who teas an eeclesii,-•
tic, soon observed that his nephew, along "with g: %%-
boldness of character, displayed, even in infancy, greet
natural talents. He sent him to Ni,,iies to improve Ins
education, and he returned home from his studies at a t
early age of 15. He was about to embark in. the trad
which the inhabitants of the Alps tarry on v.!:!,
Piedmont; when the revolution broke out, and icd
ced him to.alter his plans. In 1792, though then ecatv..
Ifify 17, he entered Into the army, and served in thy,
rat Canipaigits in Italy and Germany. He las the:,
remarkable tor his good sense, his great facility of tr.:-
pressicin, aid a cal& firmness which gave him an ascend-
ancy over all his cOmpanione. He soon rose to the out(
of captain of cavalry ; but about the time of the slguing of
the treaty of Campo Formio; alien lie bad served
a;it veers, he retired from the army in• consequent.,
of ill heal:b. At that epoch French advocates were
not required to undergo preparitotY exanainations ;
they were called "official defenders." Al. Manu-lperform-
ea the part of official defender for several of his friends. On
these occasions his talent for pleading became manifest and
'he determined to devote himself to the bar. He tepaired to
Aix, a kids, under the new Bovernment;wn.s the seat of
court of appeal. Here he applied himself to study, and
was soon cap;hlcof figurihg with distinction in his co.v
profession. In 1815 he took an active part against tin,
fanatics and aristocracy of Aix. After the return of
Baonapartsq the business of the courts being in a
great measure suspended, M. Manuel visited Paris.
Ile had nut been ling there when he learned that
tv/o electoral arronlisasments of the Hautes-Alpes had re-
turned him a-deptity. He wished to decline this honour;
but being urge i by his friends to accept it, he took his
seat, and 'very soon became a leading man in the
Chamber. fin the formation of a Committees to
draw up the plan of a Constitution, in the mime
of the Pio:Won't government, he was chos,m one of
the Members. There were then two parties in
the Chamber—one for recalling the Bourbons, under cc:-
Lain conditions ; the other for Napoleon 11. The debates
were extremely violent. M. Manuel prevailed on both
parties to abandon their points of contention, to think
only of what was due to the country, an f to proclaim na
soyere'gn. After the' dissolution of this assembly, M.
Manuel returned to private life. He applied to he a&
mitted to the bar in Paris, but his application was re-
jected by the Pioeurenr-General Bellart. He was seve
ral times put in nomination to represent Paris, but mini.-
terial influence carried the elections against bite by small
majorities. He was at length chosen by La Vendee. It
was intended to make a proposition for declaring him
unworthy to sit in the Chamber, but the Ultras did not
venture on this course, but anxiously wai-ed for wale
pretext to exclude bias, which they at length found in his
able reply to the speech of M. Chateaubriand.