Louis, by the Grace of God, &c. When Divine Providence recalled us last year to the throne of our fathers, we thought it our duty to remove from public functions some men to whom good reasons did not permit us to grant that confidence with which magistrates and administrators ought always to be invested. Yet, upon the account given us of the long services of some of them, and with the intention of giving to our subjects a fresh proof of justice and royal munificence, we were pleased to grant to several functionaries so removed from the places occupied for a long time, pensions of retreat or provisional salaries. The hope we had conceived of restoring in a few years the finances of our kingdom and the success of our first efforts, permitted us even to extend this beneficent measure, and to introduce into it great liberality. But we have been informed that in the disastrous days that suspended the course of the benefits we were occupied in spreading among our people, several individuals to whom we had granted these marks of our goodness, were eager, under the domination of the usurper, either to return to their old functions, or to accept new. The part they took in the support of the criminal enterprise that has caused all the miseries which France now groans under, has made them lose all right to the favours we had conferred upon them; and the disorder which those evils have introduced into the finances of the state, the immense charges which our faithful subjects are called upon to support, notwithstanding all our care to alleviate the burthen, imposes upon us the obligation to confine for the future our liberality within the bounds of severe justice and strict economy. However, in fulfilling this duty, we would be sure that the measure we propose to order should be executed with equity and discernment; that the offences of the men to whom it is to be applied should be examined and judged with the most rigorous impartiality; that they should be placed in the balance with the length and importance of the services formerly rendered; in fine, that if in certain cases that which is superfluous ought to be taken from men to whom our generosity was pleased to grant it, our justice never theless should still leave them what is neces For these causes we order— Art. 1. There shall be formed with our minister, secretary for the department of finance, a commission charged to take cognizance of pensions and salaries granted by us since 1st April 1814, to the functionaries of the administrative and judicial order, whom we did not think proper to preserve in their employments. 2. This commission shall have the documents it may deem necessary to ascertain the origin and motives of these recompences, together with the names and qualities of those who have obtained them. 3. It shall besides examine what part these men have taken in the events that occurred since the 20th March to the 7th July, to whom the said pensions or salaries were granted, in order to enable us to decide what treasures and reductions it may be necessary to order. 4. The commission shall make a report upon each of the erasures and reductions which it may be their duty to propose. Simeon, the father, is appointed president; and Becquey, Royer Collard, Travon de Langlade, and Harmond, are appointed the committee, of which Rosman is to be secretary. The ordonnance is dated on the 20th September. A second ordonnance orders: Art. 1. There shall be formed with our minister at war, a committee, which shall be presided by one of our cousins, marshals of France, and composed of two lieutenantgenerals, one marechal-de-camp, one inspector or sub-inspector of reviews, and a commissary. A superior officer shall be the secretary. 2. This commission shall be charged with the examination of the conduct which all officers of all ranks have adopted during the usurpation. None of the officers mentioned in article 2. shall occupy an employment in our army until the commission shall have examined their conduct, and reported favourably. The duke of BELLUNO is president. Lieutenant-general count BORDESSOULT, Marechal-de-camp, Pierre de BROGLIE. Sub-inspector, Chef de BIEN. The secretary, chevalier de QUERELLES. The king, in ordaining the formation of the commission, had for his object: 1. To remove from the list of activity dangerous men, capable of yet corrupting the spirit of the troops. 2. To establish a necessary distinction between officers who associated themselves with the usurper's criminal attempt by the zeal with which they seconded him, and those who yielded to the fatal example which was set them. It is not the king's intention to confound the latter with the former; for thus there would be a danger of classing with the most guilty, men who may in future perform actual service to the king and state, and though the reduction which has taken place in the battalions of the army removes to many of them the moment when they can be invited. to the honour of serving his majesty; it is proper not to place them, at this moment, under a sort of reprobation, which might render them accessible to the intrigues of the enemies of legitimate authority. To afford the commission rules, with the aid of which it may be able to estimate the degree of confidence which it may yet grant to officers who served during the usurpation, the king has resolved that certain classes shall be fixed, corresponding to the particular position in which these officers were placed, and according to the more or less active part which they took in the rebellion of the army. The numerical order of classes will serve to fix the order of classes for their replacement in activity. The business of the committee will be reduced to ascertaining, by examination of the conduct of each officer, the class to which he ought to belong. This indication will determine the rank which he must take among those to whom the king's indulgence still leaves the hope of re-entering the army, or it will mark his place among the officers who must be excluded therefrom, Thus there will be arranged, in the first class, the general officers, officers of all ranks, military administrators, and employés, who, within 20 days after the arrival of Buonaparte at Paris, abandoned the military service. In the 2d class: those who, without quitting the service, refused to sign the oath of fidelity to Buonaparte, and to the additional articles of the pretended constitutions of the empire. In the 3d class: those who, without quitting the service, expiated that oblivion of their duty, by quitting, by voluntary resignation, the service of the usurper. In the 4th class: the officers who, in the first instance drawn into the rebellion, abandoned the usurper's party before the return of the king, and rallied with the partisans of the royal authority. In the 5th class: those who, employed in the army in the first instance, were cashiered, as suspected by Buonaparte's government, and not on grounds bringing their reputation in question. In the 6th class: those who remained in the service, but against whom there exist in the public offices denunciations creditable to their attachment to the cause of the king. In the 7th class: those who not being in active service on the arrival of the usurper, did not make application for active service until the king's return. In the 8th class: the officers of all ranks and arms, and the military administrators, who retained the destination they had obtained before the king's departure, and did not solicit any new one. In the 9th class: the officers who did se dentary duty in the interior, either in the fortresses, or with the national guards. In the 10th class: the officers of all ranks and arms, and the military administrators, who, after the king's departure, applied for and obtained the appointments, ranks, re wards, or the confirmation of ranks and rewards which it had pleased the king to grant them. In the 11th class: the officers of all ranks and of all arms, the military administrators and employés, who formed part of one of the armies formed by Buonaparte, and who followed its movements until the return of the king to Paris. In the 12th class: those of the above de nominated persons who signed addresses to who signed addresses to Napoleon Buonaparte. In the 13th class: the officers who com manded battalions of federés, or corps of partizans. The 14th class will consist officers and military administrators, placed in one or other of the undermentioned positions: 1. The officers of all ranks and of all arms, military administrators and employés, who declared for Buonaparte within the twenty days which preceded the king's departure, excited the troops to insurrection, and favoured, within that period, in any way, the progress of the usurper. 2. The general and superior officers who, in the military divisions and fortresses, hoisted, of their own accord, the standard of usurpation, and published seditious proclamations. 3. The general and superior officers who, in their districts, repressed or punished the movements of the king's faithful servants in support of lawful authority. 4. The commandants of places and forts who, summoned in the king's name, and by officers sent by the minister at war, refused to open their fortresses, and exposed them to all the dangers of a siege, if it be ascertained that they intentionally opposed a criminal resistance to the orders of the king. 5. The general and superior officers who marched against the royal troops collected in the interior. 6. The officers of all ranks and arms, and military employés, who shall be convicted of having insulted the effigy of the king or princes, or the decorations which they had previously obtained from the kindness of his majesty. 7. The officers on half-pay who voluntarily quitted their homes to meet Buonaparte, and who accompanied him to Paris. The officers comprehended within the 14th class shall remain in a state of non-activity, unless ulterior information furnish proof of their repentance and return to true principles. The commissioners shall distribute the officers subjected to their examination into these fourteen classes, according to the cir cumstances in their conduct respectively. With this view, it shall draw up lists divided by classes, in which shall be inscribed the officers naines, and it shall add its observations on the particular considerations which shall attenuate the offences of these officers, and shall solicit exceptions in their favour: the officers of all ranks and arts, the military administrators and employés who served during the usurpation, and who, since the king's return, have retained or obtained employment in the army, or in the royal guard, shall be not the less bound, conformably to article 4. of the ordonnance of October 12, to furnish to the commission all the information which it shall have to demand of them. The minister at war, in consequence of the opinion of the committee, shall take the king's orders on their destination. All officers shall be bound to address directly their applications to the minister at war, who shall regulate the order in which they are to be examined; and there shall be drawn up, with that view, lists of the names of the officers, with regard to whom it shall be of importance to the war minister to know, in the first instance, the opinion of the commission. The commission will remark, that the bu siness is not, in the last result, to impose corporal punishments, but to remove from the army men who, even if not labouring under any preventive cause, could have merely an uncertain hope of their resuming their place, in consequence of the disproportion which already exists between the number of competitors and that of employments; that, by a special favour of the king, these officers have, in the half-pay of non-activity, which is granted to them, an indemnity for the preference which others shall have over them; and the commission will hence perceive the necessity of avoiding the excess of indulgence, because nothing will be more contrary to the interests of France. These articles were received with dissatisfaction by the chamber of peers, and they proposed to the king the following amendments, which were accepted : Art. 1. and 2. No alteration. the space of two months from the promulgation of the present law, to remove from France all the persons comprised in the second list of the above-mentioned ordonnance, who shall not have been brought before the tribunals, and to deprive them of all property, titles, and pensions, conferred on them gratuitously. They shall not be at liberty to return to France without the express permission of the king, upon pain of transportation. 4. Are excepted from the amnesty as principal movers and instigators of the revolt 1st, Those who have been accomplices in the return of the usurper to France, by corresponding with him or his agents in the isle of Elba, and facilitating his means; 2d, Those persons who, before the 23d of March, accepted from the usurper the functions of ministers or counsellors of state; 3d, The prefects nominated by the king, who acknowledged the usurper before the 23d of March; 4th, The marshals and generals commanding military divisions or sub-divisions, who declared for the usurper before his entrance into Paris; 5th, The generals in chief, who directed their forces against the royal armies. Conformably to the 4th article of the ordonnance of the 24th of July, these individuals cannot be prosecuted, except in the forms and according to the constitutional laws. Nevertheless, the prescription of ten years, determined by the 631st article of the code of criminal process, is reduced to three months with regard to them. 5. In the prosecutions which may take place in pursuance of the preceding articles, the public treasury may proceed as a civil party, by its agents, to recover from the accused, if they be found guilty, an indemnity for the injury caused to the state. The produce of these pecuniary condemnations shall be applied to the payment of the extraordinary war contributions. 6. No alteration. 7.-1st. The children, the relations in the ascending and descending degrees, of Napoleon Buonaparte, his uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, his brothers, their wives and their descendants, his sisters, and their husbands, are excluded from the kingdom for ever.They must depart from it within a month, under the penalties of the 91st article of the penal code. They cannot enjoy any civil right, or possess any property, titles, revenues, or pensions, gratuitously granted to them; and they must sell, within six months, all the property they possess by legal titles. 2d. Those regicides, who, in contempt of a clemency almost without bounds, have voted for the act additional, or accepted offices or employment under the usurper, and who, by such conduct, declared themselves the irreconcilable enemies of France, and of the legitimate government, are excluded from the kingdom for ever, and must depart from it within one month, under the penalties denounced in the 33d article of the penal code: "If the proscribed shall, during the term of his banishment, return within the territory of the kingdom, he shall, on the mere proof of his identity, be condemned to the pu nishment of transportation." They cannot enjoy any civil rights, or possess any property, titles, or pensions, gratuitously conferred on them. The first of the unfortunate victims to these decrees was M. Labedoyere. The facts recorded in our preceding narrative were fully proved by the testimony of many credible witnesses, and he was found guilty, but several legal objections were advanced by his professional advisers, which were referred to a council of revision. Having considered the documents, the reporting judge expressed his opinion that the objections were not so serious as to justify the annulment of his sentence. New council then appeared, to re-argue the questions in dispute, and Messrs. Joly and Mauguin stated the case of the prisoner with great eloquence and effect. The latter again brought forward the objections founded on the incompetence of the councils at war, and the omission of legal and necessary forms. It was pleaded that Labedoyere knew not the Bourbons, had never sworn to them allegiance, and was exempted from all fidelity to Louis by the violation of his pledge to establish a free constitution. The flight of Louis to Ghent was represented as an abdication precisely similar to that of James II. of England, which had absolved his subjects from their allegiance. "I do not endeavour," said M. Mauguin, "to exculpate my client from all that is imputed to him. Placed in one of those extraordinary situations which are happily rare in the history of nations and of kings, the monarch had to choose between pardon and justice. This choice had been made, and colonel Labedoyere has been brought before you. The natural judges of the accused are the councils of the 7th division. He had been transferred to the 1st division, because there was no council of war formed at Grenoble; but the king alone had not the right of making this transfer. It required an order from the judges of the court of cassation, and perhaps even a law enacted by the three branches of the legislative authority." Proceeding to consider the question of form, M. Mauguin endeavoured to establish :1. That the second council of war had contravened the law, by not specifying in the minutes of its proceedings the place in which its session was held.-2. That the examination of the witnesses had not been regular. The judgment did not prove that they had been heard separately. They had not been required to make oath, but merely a simple promise to tell truth. They had not declared whether they were relations or allies of the accused.-3. The prisoner's defence was incomplete. Public notoriety proved that he had been interrupted in the middle of his speech. He was not allowed to justify his intentions, though tribunals for the investi, gation of crimes are obliged to examine, not merely the fact, but the intention by which it is rendered criminal.-4. It was refused to call witnesses in exculpation." The president here asked, had the accused cited or designated any witnesses by name. M. Mauguin said he believed he had not. M. Mauguin said, that the ordonnance of the 6th of March did not apply to colonel Labedoyere; since the king had, by a proclamation issued at Cambray on the 27th of June, on his entering France, declared his intention to be, to deliver to the tribunals only the authors and instigators of the horrible plot which had brought back Buonaparte. The council had made a vague use of the words treason and rebellion. It should have been distinctly proved that colonel Labedoyere was an author or instigator of the plot. M. Ricard, procurer of the king, having answered these objections, the council withdrew to the hall of deliberation, and at one o'clock pronounced the following judgment :-" Considering that the second council was competent, that the proceedings have been regularly conducted, and the law rightly applied, declares unanimously that the said judgment is confirmed, and that it shall have its full. and entire execution." When the family of Labedoyere heard. that the council of revision had confirmed his sentence, his wife, clad in deep mourning, appeared before the king, as he was entering his carriage, and falling at his feet exclaimed, "Pardon! Pardon! Sire!" "Madame!" replied the king, "I know your sentiments, and those of your family, and never was it more painful for me to pronounce a refusal. If M. Labedoyere had only offended me, his pardon should be granted, but all France demands the punishment of the man who has brought upon her the lamentable evils of war, I deign to promise my protection to you and your child." The mother of the unfortunate victim was prevented from seeing the king by those around him. Colonel Labedoyere displayed in his last moments the most touching fortitude. His appeal was heard on Saturday morning; at half-past one his sentence was confirmed, and at halfpast six on the same evening he underwent his sentence. He was led to the plain of Grenelle, where, after receiving on his knees the benediction of his confessor, he rose up, and without waiting for his eyes to be bandaged, laid open his breast to the veterans who were to shoot him, and exclaimed, "Surtout ne me manquez."-(Above all do not miss me.) An instant elapsed and he was no more! The selection of Fouché to guide the councils of Louis was by no means voluntary on the part of the sovereign; but to the duke must be attributed all the subsequent humiliation of France, and all the proscriptions of her statesmen and generals. At the head of the provisional government he alone had acted, and kept his colleagues in a state, of entire subservience. They feared they might impede his measures by acting with |