military glory, would under such circumstances, naturally be ready to burst forth against your authority upon the first fair occasion. the ancient rules with regard to the Sunday; rules never, perhaps, very wise, and now hostile to the habits of the whole of the generation whom they were Yet if you had returned unaccom-to affect. This measure of itself was panied by the ancient Noblesse, and the sufficient to produce a shock. It would Clergy, things might possibly have settled naturally create a belief, that all was to down into something like content. But, be attempted to be restored, as far as loaded with a numerous class of persons, religion was concerned. Nine tenths of all on the tiptoe of expectation; all expect the active men in France are, perhaps, ing employments and honours; all eager to no more Catholics than I am, having, be restored, as well as yourself, to power with their mothers' milk, imbibed a disand to wealth; and, all having, which like, and even a hatred, of that Church you had not, to contend with rivals for and its clergy. The effect of such meathat power and that wealth, and with sures must be to fill them with disconrivals, too, whom they found in posses- tent, alarm, and resentmentment; for sion; loaded with this almost numberless every man living soon hates whatever class, who, to say the truth, had claims makes him uneasy. If measures of this as fair as your own to a restoration, it kind, which I can allow to have been required wisdom and energy that do not adopted by you from motives of real fall to the lot of mankind to prevent piety, were calculated to revive all the those heart-burnings which arose from apprehensions of religious persecution, this cause, and the effects of which we the re-burial of the late king and queen's now so clearly trace, not in speculation, remains marked out not a few of the but in decisive facts. A man bereft of greatest men in the country for regicides. power or profit, always becomes a bitter The funeral service upon that occasion; enemy of him who has displaced him. the amual humiliation appointed; the But if such changes become pretty gene- language of the noblesse, the clergy, the ral throughout a whole country: if a sert Royalist pamphleteers, the official jour of proscription be set on foot; and espe- nal, clearly showed, that there was, in cially if the grounds of that proscription the end, to be neither oblivion nor forbe such as almost every man in the com-giveness for what was called the "murmunity will naturally see level,in some degree, against him, and even against his children; it is manifest that a convulsion can be prevented by the bayonet alone. And, if the danger; if the suffering, extend itself to the military as well as to all other persons in power, who can expect that any thing short of a great, an overwhelming, foreign force, constantly present in the country, will be able to support the ruler on his throne ? der" of the late king and queen. And, thus another list of proscription was promulgated, written in characters of blood. But, if it had been possible for you to remain upon the throne amidst the hostility excited against you by all these causes, your power must have been de stroyed, and yourself dethroned, by the attacks upon property, which were made in so open a manner. The notion which the presses in this country are so very While these changes were at work, anxious to inculate is, that your over producing hostility in every part of the throw is to be attributed solely to the country, the priesthood seem not to have army, who, we are told, governs the peobeen idle. I am not blaming them for ple of France, and forces upon them their endeavours to bring back the peo-whatever laws and government it pleases. ple to their former sentiments. They We are told, in one column of these might deem it their duty. But, as waspapers, that Napoleon is unable to collect to be expected, they proceeded with very a large army: that he has been compelled little caution. The people, who had, in general, long set aside the old way of thinking along with the tythes and the convents, saw with great jealousy and alarm the crucifixes re-hoisted at every corne in the towns, and on the sides of the high-ways; and, as if you scorned to approach bytes, you re-established to lower his tone because he wants an army; that he has expressed his willingness to abide by the Treaty of Paris because he wants an army; that he has abolished the Slave Trade, which you would not abolish, because he wants an army; that he pays his court to the people and promises them liberty of the press and free representative government because he wants an army: and, strange to say, in the opposite column, we are very gravely assured,a sa matter of fact taken for grant'd, that it is the army and the army alone, who has brought him back to France, and put him upon your throne, against the will of thirty millions of people! It really seems, that delusion is never to cease. It really seems, that, upon that subject, men are to continue in wilful blindness unto the end, unless their eyes be torn open by some dreadful convulsi on or calamity. the credulous part of the English nation that such a revolution could have taken place without the consent and approbation, nay, against the will of thirty millions of people full of spirit and military notions? It is notorious, that the eleven months of your reign was employed by the writers and haranguers of France to extol your government, and to traduce the government and character of Napoleon. It is notorious, that, while the press was free for men like Chateaubriand and Cretelle, whose employment was to blacken Napoleon and to applaud you, it was closed against those who dared to think of taking the other side. It is noto' rious that you established a Censorship after having pledged yourself to maintain the Liberty of the Press. It is notorious that many persons were already in prison for long terms for what were deemed libels. Yet, with this most pow crful instrument in your hands, you were wholly unable, with the treasures of the country at your command, to gain over to you any part of the people in number sufficient to make their voice heard. Is it possible, then, for us to be made believe, that the people of France did not, from the bottom of their hearts prefer the government of Napoleon to that of the Bourbons? They talk to us of the army, of conspiraties, of fraternities, & I know not what; but, how could any, or all of these preventthe people France from falling upon Napoleon on his way to Paris, or at thegates of Paris? Before your restoration, it was generally believed in England, that Napoleon's government was so oppressive, and that the people of France were so miserable under it, that they only wanted an opportunity to cast off his yoke and to hoist the White Flag, We have been assured and we have very generally believed, that your reign was a paternal reign; that it was a continued series of benefits to the people of France; that you had restored them to morality, religion, liberty, peace, and happiness; that, in short, your government produced effects precisely the contrary of the effects produced by his government. Yet, at the end of eleven months, he comes back with only six hundred men, and, instead of finding a people armed to arrest his progress, he rides on, almost without a guard, to the gates of Paris, over a tract of 500 miles, through many populous and fortified towns, without seeing a single arm raised against him, and, indeed, amidst the shouts of a people, who hail him as a The truth is, that there needed neither Deliverer. While, on the other hand, armies nor conspirators nor fraternities to you, who are in possession of all the pow- overset your throne, the existence of ers and treasures of that great country; which was opposed to the feelings, the are supported by the two Chambers of habits, and to the immediate interest of the Legislature: are surrounded by hun- the present inhabitants of France, who, dreds of thousands of armed men, leave besides the grounds of discontent, resent your palace and quit the soil of France, ment, and alarm before stated, proceeded, without being able to discover a single in this instance, upon the further and individual to draw a sword or to speak still stronger ground, that their property, a word in your defence. Nay, the very their real property; that nearly the whole guard of hired foreigners: even the Swiss of the real property in France; that the soldiers, against surrounding your person preservation of all this, and of every part with whom the fate of your unfortunate of it, was incompatible with the reign of brother was not a sufficient warning; the House of Bourbon, however great the even these wretched men, who let them-wisdom and the virtues of the Princes of selves out to fight for hire, are quietly that House may be. I myself am of disbanded and banished out of the reach of popular resentment, by a decree of Napoleon published at Lyons. Can it be believed by any body on earth, except the same opinion. I was of that opinion It that the Bourbons should be welcome guests in France, because their presence there menaced the whole nation with ruin. The people of England, many of whom are now for rushing headlong into a war for the purpose of again restoring you by force of arms, know though they appear determined not to know,any thing of this, the greatest of all the obstacles to the success of such a project. Nor is this so very wonderful, when there have been found the means of persuading you, that it was practible. The truth is, that, where powerful interests are opposed to reason, though the latter be clear as the noon day Sun, the former generally prevail in deciding men's opinions. It is, therefore, not at all surprising, that the Noblesse of France should still have beleived, that the people of that great country were to be brought, if not to submit to their former vassalage, at least, to yield up their estates. They will, I dare say, like the STUARTS, live along, generation after generation, in the indulgence of this ridiculous belief; but, I am persuaded, that it will soon be discovered by the people of England, and especially by the great holders of our Funded Debt, that their fortunes ought not to be expended in so foolish and so wicked an adventure. When the powerful class, to whom 1 have last more particularly alluded, shall have brought to their aid in this discussion, not philanthrophy, not humanity, for, though natives of their bosoms, they are discarded in a question of war or peace with France; but, when they shall have brought to their aid that common sense, unclouded by passion, which is their guide in their private concerns, they will perceive that another war for the purpose of placing the Bourbons upon the throne of France is an undertaking, which, as long as the possesion of property is desirable amongst men, can never succeed. We have been so long accustomed to talk about Napoleon only as the obstacle to the restoration of your family; we have spent so many years in invective against him and his revolutionary predecessors in power, that, at last, we seem to have wholly overlooked what has been going on in the interior of France. We seem to have forgoten, and we may be well excused for it seeing that you and your advisers appear to have forgotten it also; we seem to have forgotten, that the whole of the houses aud fands of Frauce, were, previous to the revolution, the property of the Crown, the Noblesse, and the Church, the exceptions being so insignificant as to be almost unworthy of notice. We seem to have forgotten, that all the property of the crown: all the property of the Church, even to the very Churches and Church Yards in many cases; and a great part of the property of the Noblesse, was confiscated, and was sold to individuals. We seem to have forgotten, that the houses and land of the whole country thus came into the hands of new owners, and that the land was sold in such small parcels and under such circumstances so very advantageous to the purchasers, that a great part of the labouring men became proprietors of land. We seeta to have forgotten, that the titles to these innumerable estates rest solely upon the legality of the sales and upon the due execution of the laws passed by the National Assemblies and by Napoleon and his Legislative Bodies. We seem to have forgotten, that to call the legality of these acts in question is to shake the titles of the whole of these proprietors. If we had not compleatly forgotten all these things, we should not have been surprized, that the people were alarmed at seeing you begin dating your official acts in the NINETEENTH year of your reign, thereby clearly declaring by impli cation, that all the laws passed since the death of your brother were in fact, null and void, whenever you chose to declare them null and void. We should not have been surprized at the suspicions excited by the conduct of the Clergy, some of whom talked of refusing absolution to persons who had purchased Church property. We should not have been surprized at the general indignation arising from the dismissing of men from public employments because they or their relations held property formerly belonging to the Crown, the Church, or the Noblesse, or from the shutting out from the officers of the army all those against whom existed similar objections. We should not have been surprized at the general alarm and out-cry against the act for restoring, directly and as matter of right, to the Noblesse, all that part of this property not yet sold by the nation, and which struck, at once, at the root of all the titles of the property which had been sold. We should not not have been surprized at ...... in short, we should not have been at all sur prized at the return and at the cordial and joyful reception of Napoleon, whose very presence put an end to all these alarms and terrors which your restoration and the subsequent measures of your government had spread through every department and parish in France. precisely the same basis as your right to your crown. You were very careful not to acknowledge, that you owed your crown to the people. Setting aside the compliment to our Prince Regent, your declarations bore, that you derived your crown from your ancestors and from Divine Providence; and, accordingly, you dated the commencement of your reign from the day of the death of your predecessor in the line of kings. Now, if what had passed, during the last twenty five years had, in no degree, impaired your rights, it was impossible that it could have impaired the rights of the Clergy and the Noblesse, which were as ancient and as sacred as yours. Even if one could possibly suppose, that a whole nation would be indifferent to the security of their property, the idea of the return of that property to its ancient owners must have given rise to the horrid apprehension of a return of all the ancient oppressions of the Feudal System, under which the people of that fine country were wretched slaves. If the estates returned, the seigneuries would have returned; for, such things If, in spite of the fair claim that these are never done by halves. Indeed, the two orders had upon you; if you, firmly power which was found sufficient to dis-seated yourself, had disregarded these possess people of their landed property would have been more than sufficient for every other purpose. And, when we know, that the Feudal System sent thousands of persons annually to the Galleys for offences now unknown to France; when we know that the petit Seigneurs were, in many instances, judges as well as accusers; that the litigations and vexations arising from their multifarious jurisdictions were endless; that justice was almost openly bought and sold in their barbarous courts; and that, in many cases, their power extended to the taking away of life itself. When we know all this, can we be surprized, that the people of France trembled at the sound of any name connected with the recollection of the Ancient Regime? It is not my design to insinuate, that any blame rests on you for any of the causes to which I ascribe your expulsion. I really do not blame you for any part of them. If there were some things done contrary to your promise, it was evident to me, that you were unable to fulfil your promise. And, if your Government was taking great strides towards the restoration of the Noblesse and the Clergy in the possession of their property, it is very clear, that you had not the power to prevent it; and, indeed (promises out of the question), that you were bound to effect such restoration, or to risk, at least, your crown in the attempt. The right of the Noblesse and of the Clergy to their estates, to their privileges and to all the feudal powers attached to their titles and domains rested upon companions of your exile, or had pleaded the public good for the abandonment of those who had been proscribed along with yourself, they might, and they, doubtless, would, have reminded you of your protest, dated from Coblentz, in 1791, in which you and the other Princes of the Blood DENIED that LOUIS XVI had any RIGHT to accept a Constitution which gave up the rights of the Clergy and the Noblesse; that gave up any of their rights, their tythes, their church-lands, or their feudal titles, privileges, or powers. These two Orders, therefore, might with perfect consistency, have charged you with having violated your pledge to them, even as things stood; and, at any rate, they had a right to demand of you to do every thing in your power to smooth the way for their restoration, your own having been effected. To have done less than you did, must have exposed you to the execration of these Orders and to the contempt of mankind; and yet you did a great deal too much to make your reign bearable to the people of France. Thus, Sir, in the best defence of your conduct, is found the proof that it was impossible for you to reign in France, and also the proof, that your family never can, except for a short time, and that, too, by the aid of a foreign force, reign. in that country. The present French are not only unlike the French of 1787, but they are precisely the opposite. They are of a new character. Their manners, their habits, their minds, all are changed. They never received you back. You were put upon the throne while a foreign force was stationed in the capital; and, the moment they had an opportunity they expelled you. If, however, there could have been any doubts upon this subject before, there can be none now. If there were any persons weak enough to believe, that it was possible for you to return without the Noblesse and the Clergy, that belief must now be at an end; and, therefore, it appears very clear to me, that any war, which shall have your restoration, or that of any part of your family, in view, can produce nothing but misery, a waste of money and a waste of lives. it was before. The principles they have To make war upon France for the purpose of compelling her to change her" those poor famished looking creatures. rulers is, however, what, I imagine, no "who are to be seen in every parish, I nation in Europe will be weak enough" had almost said, on every farm, in openly to avow. And yet, what other" England." All, we are told, bears 'real object can a war against her the marks of morality, plenty, and haphave, if she forbears from new aggressions? piness; and, when he asked what had Napoleon to all other traits of greatness" become of the old miserable peasantry," in his character has now added that he was told that they disappeared with which rarely falls to the lot of man, the fendal rights and the ancient regime. namely, to acknowledge his errors. He, after being long borne on the wings of military glory; after seeing every continental sovereign at his feet, has returned to the dictates of moderation and to the principles of freedom. The men, whom he has now called to his councils are the very men, or the survivors of them, at least, who founded the Republic; who built all government upon the sovereignty of the people; who declared that rulers were made for nations, and not nations for rulers; who insisted; that all taxes were robberies, unless proceeding from the people's consent, and who rejected with indignation the doctrine, that birth without merit constituted a claim to superiority, except for the sake of the public good hereditary succession was thought necessary to the chief of the state. These were the principles of the constitution which your unfortunate brother accepted. And these are the principles upon which Napoleon now reigns. As in1792,be disavows, in the mest explicit manner, all views of foreign conquest, unless first attacked. I would hope, for the sake of my country, that another crusade against Jacobinism is not now about to begin and yet, I just gay, that I fears This state of things, therefore, renders the example of France infinitely more formidable than ever to those, if there be any suck, who are, for whatever reasons, afraid of the effects of that example. I am quite ready to acknowledge this; but, who will attempt to justify a war against France, lest the contagion of her principles; lest the contagion of her freedom and her happiness should extend itself beyond her geographical limits? For years past we are told, by those who had contended for war against þer principles, that now her principles were no longer to be dreaded, seeing that the result of them was carnage and misery. But, no sooner do events cuable us to see for ourselves than we find, that,while she was carrying her victorious arms to every capital on the coutinent, she was flourishing at home amidst the the impréving arts of peace. In these facts, which will daily become more and more notorious, wider and wider spread; there is, I must confess, cause; and very ample cause, for tyrants to hate France, and to wish to urge war against her to avoid a communication with her people. But, for that very reason it is the duty of every friend of freedom to endeavour to prevent such war♪ If it is to be begun, however, the cause I am; &c. &c. W. COBBETT. of the crusaders is far more hopeless than | April, 4th, 1815. |