14. The king is the supreme head of the State; he has comhand of the land and naval forces, declares war, concludes reaties of peace, alliance, and commerce, appoints all the offiials of the public administration, and issues the regulations nd ordinances necessary for the execution of the laws and the afety of the State.

15. The legislative power is exercised jointly by the king, System of che Chamber of Peers, and the Chamber of Deputies of the lawmaking departments.

16. The right of initiating legislation belongs to the king.

17. Proposed laws are submitted, at the option of the king, either to the Chamber of Peers or to the Chamber of Deputies, except laws for raising taxes, which must be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies first.

18. Every law must be discussed and passed freely by a majority of each of the two houses.

19. The chambers have the right to petition the king to submit a law relating to any subject and to indicate what they deem the law should contain. 1

Louis XVIII's intentions of restoring harmony and prosperity to the long distracted nation were sadly hindered by the bitterness and discontent which the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars had engendered. The nobles and clergy, who had left France or had been driven out, came back with the determination to recover their ancient privileges; and distinguished soldiers of Napoleon found themselves rudely thrust aside by the returning emigrants, many of whom had borne arms against France. Chancellor Pasquier (see above, Vol. I, p. 349), with his usual insight, gives in his Memoirs the following picture of the strained relations in France after the Restoration of the Bourbons.

1The succeeding sectic

186. Diffi

of Louis

XVIII and

ment.

Vanquished on the 10th of August, 1792, immolated on the cult position 21st of January, 1793, the Bourbon monarchy had returned after twenty-two years, which had seen a republic, a directorial his govern- government, a consulate, and an empire. It came back not in a blaze of glory, since not a single victory had been won in the past twenty years either by it or in its name, but bringing with it the blessings of a necessary peace. Peace abroad, peace at home, was all that was expected of it; but for this dual peace to be lasting it must be an honorable one. No longer could any ambitious daydreams be indulged in; we could revel no more in the enjoyment of the brilliant victories which had become so dear to the French heart. Care must be taken the while to respect the memory of them, and to be considerate in the treatment of those who had risen to an illustrious and glorious prominence, all the more precious in that it alone had survived the shipwreck. Yet fate and the force of circumstances rendered these memories cherished by so large a majority of Frenchmen - a painful subject to the king, the royal family, and almost all those who had returned in their wake.

Strained relations

between the returned

Émigrés

and the Napoleonic nobility

Napoleon's former generals slighted

The situation was a delicate one, for hardly any one dared to give frank expression to his natural sentiments. Some there were who, in spite of the caution enjoined by policy, necessarily found their prestige dimmed. Accustomed as they had been for fifteen years to hold first rank both in the army and at court, they now found themselves forced to share their power with men the greater number of whom had hitherto remained unknown to fame, and who suddenly assumed an attitude characterized by a superiority which displayed itself with that ease. which usually belongs only to a possession of long date. . .

It not unfrequently occurred that the most illustrious among generals heard people ask in the salons of the Tuileries who they were. These names, which had so often resounded in the bulletins of the Grande Armée, were known in Vienna, in Berlin, and in the many capitals through which their bearers had passed as conquerors. On the other hand, those who in their own country, and in its very capital, involuntarily put this slight upon them, were perpetually exasperated at heart by the consideration and respectful treatment which policy dictated should be

own to men of the empire, and which seemed to the returned yalists excessive.

...

There was an ever-present and ill-concealed feeling of angonism between the throng of officers who had won their romotion in the wars of the Revolution and the noblemen of l ages who were in so great a hurry to wear their old epaulets nce more or to procure fresh ones.

Notwithstanding these conflicting elements, the modration and indifference of Louis XVIII prevented any erious disturbances during his reign, but his death in 824 brought to the throne a man of decidedly reactionry notions, his brother, Charles X. The new ruler, who was known as "King of the Emigrants," was especially favorable to the clergy, whom he regarded as the main support of the monarchy, but his efforts to aid them in regaining their former influence really helped to prepare the way for his own overthrow. De Tocqueville, whose work on Democracy in America gave him a permament place among the noted publicists of the nineteenth century, thus describes the religious situation after the Restoration, as he remembered it, in a letter to an Englishman, Lord Radnor, bearing the date of May, 1835.

account of

When Napoleon reëstablished the exercise of the 187. De Catholic religion, he did not restore their property to the Tocqueville's clergy, but assigned to them part of the revenue of the State. clerical From proprietors they became pensioners. This was not the influence in only blow struck by him at their independence. . . . He gave the Restorapolitics after up the inferior clergy to the uncontrolled jurisdiction of the tion bishops, for the emperor thought, rightly or not, that he would always be able to manage easily a few bishops, and that by con

trolling them he would be master of all the clergy This was the

used to support the monarchy

The Church Catholic religion was the religion of the State, although it did ९९ not dare to define the words the religion of the State." The property of the clergy was not restored to them, nor, I believe, were even their salaries increased. But they were allowed an indirect share in the government. The parish priest, from the weight given to his recommendations, became a sort of political authority. Offices were filled with more regard to religious opinions than to capacity-so, at least, it was generally thought. As the Restoration became more firmly established, the union between Church and State became more and more evident. A law was passed punishing with the utmost rigor all sacrilegious profanation of sacred objects and theft from churches. The archbishops and some of the bishops obtained seats in the House of Peers. The nation was governed, or thought that it was governed, by the priests; their influence was felt everywhere.

The spirit of Voltaire

revived

Impiety a form of opposition to the

king's policy

Then reappeared what we call in France the Voltairian spirit: the spirit of systematic hostility and sarcasm directed not only against the ministers of religion but against religion itself, against Christianity in all its forms. The books of the eighteenth century were reprinted in cheap editions. Plays, songs, and caricatures were filled with bitter satires against religion. The hatred of a portion of the population against the clergy became inconceivably violent. At that time I held a judicial post; and I noticed that whenever a priest was accused of any offense whatever, the jury, in general very indulgent, almost invariably and unanimously condemned him. Under the empire the Church took no part in politics; after the Restoration it became a political party in itself. It joined the most ardent votaries of absolute monarchy, and often declaimed from the pulpit in its favor.

The result was fatal. Almost all the Liberal party, that is, the great majority of the nation, became irreligious on political grounds. Impiety was a form of opposition. Excellent men were furious when religion was mentioned; others, notoriously immoral, talked incessantly of restoring altars and of inculcating reverence toward God. I do not think, my lord, that there is a single Frenchman of any party whatever, who at this day

does not consider the religious hatred brought about by the Restoration as the chief cause of the downfall of the Bourbons. If it had stood alone, the elder branch would have sustained itself with difficulty; united to the clergy, and exposed to the intense animosity excited by the political influence of the priests, its fall was inevitable.

In addition to the controversy about the political power of the clergy, France was agitated by a conflict over the liberty of the press which (subject to laws designed to check its abuse) had been guaranteed by the eighth article of the Charter. The opponents of the royal policy had seized the opportunity to criticise the government in the most extravagant terms and had rudely caricatured the clergy and nobles. To Charles X's ministers this seemed deplorable, and extremely dangerous to the established order, and accordingly, in the following memorandum, they gave him their view of the situation, urging him to make use of the power which he enjoyed under article fourteen of the Charter to regulate and control the liberty of the press.

advise him to

Notwithstanding a real prosperity such as France never en- 188. Charles joyed before, signs of disorganization and symptoms of anarchy X's ministers manifest themselves at almost every point in the kingdom. The check the successive causes which have concurred to weaken the authority licentiousof monarchical government tend now to impair and debase it. ness of the press (July, The press has excited confusion in the most upright minds, 1830) - has shaken the firmest convictions, and produced, in the midst of society, a confusion of principles which lends itself to Facts are the most fatal enterprises. Its anarchical theories distorted by the way pave the press for anarchy in the State. It is worthy of remark, sire, that the periodical press has not even fulfilled its most essential condition, that of publicity. Strange as it may seem, it is none the less true that there is no publicity in France, taking this word in its correct sense. In this state of things, facts, even