conduct he considered himself dignified; he considered the other course vulgar, and he would have none of it. He was convinced, that if he some day deserved a place in the remembrance or gratitude of his country, he should not be deprived of it by his deference to the Crown. Such was his way of understanding the constitutional monarch and the duties of counsellors of the Crown in such a government. These were the remarks which he had considered it necessary to make to the observations of M. Thiers on the foreign and domestic policy of the country. There were two or three other points to which he should deem it necessary to advert, but, in order to do so, he must request permission from the Chamber to take a few minutes' repose. The sitting was then suspended, and on the hon. Minister descending from the tribune, he was immediately surrounded by his friends, congratulating him on his speech. After the lapse of about a quarter of an hour, he again ascended the tribune. He said he should briefly conclude, as he was nearly at the limit of his strength, and probably had worn out the patience of the Chamber. The name of the President of the Council had been incidentally mentioned the day before by M. Thiers. That noble name shared in all the responsibility of the Cabinet, which was but too proud to have the illustrious warrior at its head. As long as the noble marshal should be pleased to lend his name, as long as he lived, the Cabinet would most anxiously endeavour to keep him at their head, convinced that under no greater name could a policy of peace be carried out. He passed to another point mentioned by the hon. gentleman, to what he called the tendency of the Government, and its weakness towards the Legitimist party and the clergy. No doubt the Government had much esteem for the hon. Members of that great party -and these men were numerousand had great consideration for their social position, their sentiments, and their ideas. The Government had shown that it knew how to come to an understanding with M. Thiers to repel the hostility of a party. But it was also the desire of the Government, as well as its policy, to draw round it men of the Legitimist party. He dissembled nothing; he called things by their names, and used no disguise. It had been a great misfortune for the French nobility, that they did not know how to assume that part in the political interests of their country to which they were entitled. They had done nothing but live in the isolation of their estates or the subserviency of courts. The Marquis de Larocheja- quelin. nour! M. Guizot.--Yes, most nobly, and most patriotically! But the intelligence of the policy of the country had always been wanting to them. It was the middle classes that had been obliged to conquer, step by step, all the liberties of the country; it was to them that France owed every thing! The middle classes had given since 1814 noble proofs of courage and intelligence; they had, in 1830, founded for ever the free representative government, but they were well aware that all the benefits, all the honours, all the glories of that Government were not reserved for them alone; that they belonged equally to the old French nobility whenever they wished to join them, and to the people, in proportion as it raised itself, and fulfilled the conditions of its accession to political life. What he desired and hoped most anxiously was to see such French subjects who hitherto had taken no part in political life, either through an unjust disdain, or through ignorance, forming themselves by the proper apprenticeship, and taking their places on the benches of political rights. That was the idea of the Government respecting the Legitimist party-an idea alike honourable to both parties. As to the clergy, the Ministry had not the slightest notion of in any way delivering up to it either the government or the education of youth. He had been the first to declare that the two grand conquests of the Revolution of July were, that the state was laic, and that education was free, and to that principle the Cabinet would firmly adhere. M. Thiers had also touched on the home administration, the army, and the finances. If any foreigner should chance to travel through France, he (M. Guizot) believed that the country would not appear to him so badly administered as the hon. gentleman seemed to intimate. The army had been definitively fixed as to numbers three years back, and M. Thiers was as well aware as any one how usefully it had been employed in the great work of domination in Africa. He (M. Guizot) looked on Algeria as destined to increase immensely the grandeur of France in the world, and he should be most unwilling to weaken in any way the means by which that end was to be effected. As to the finances and public works, the ministers of these departments would answer all objections when their budgets were under discussion. It was true that the finances at present supported a heavy burden, but the Government felt convinced that they would issue with honour from their critical situation. "I have now,' said the Minister, in conclusion, "I believe, replied to all the points alluded to by M. Thiers, and conjointly with the regret which I have felt at so general and sharp an attack against the Government, I avow that I feel a profound sentiment of satisfaction, and for this reason,-that at present, when all is calm and tranquil around us, when prosperity prevails at home and security abroad, we may, without the slightest inconvenience, subject all the acts of the Government to the most rigid scrutiny. M. Thiers and myself have not always met in our encounters under so serene, so calm a heaven; we have often, in our combats, had far greater difficulties to contend with, and burdens of a very different weight hanging over our heads. I feel confident that the policy followed since 1840 has much to do with this serenity, and that the Government has contributed to bring about this happy state of things. For my part, I congratulate myself that, notwithstanding the violent attacks which have been directed against the Government, we are at present in such a position as to be able to hear without inconvenience everything that may be alleged in this tribune." When the amendment was put to the vote, there appearedAgainst the amendment 220 In its favour 147 On the 16th of April a desperate attempt on the King's life was made by a villain named Lecomte. His Majesty was returning to the palace at Fontainebleau in a char-à-banc, in which were the Queen, the Princess Adelaide, the Prince and Princess of Salerno, the Duchess of Nemours and M. de Montalivet; and the carriage, after emerging from the park of Avon, had entered the private park called the Pheasants' Preserve, when it approached the spot where the assassin was posted behind a wall. He stood upon a heap of faggots and rested a double-barrelled gun upon the top of the wall. What follows is taken from the Journal des Debats: "The royal equipage approached, but in place of finding himself on a level with the King's head, as Lecomte had expected, he met that of Count Montalivet, whom he perfectly well knew. He was then obliged to make a rapid but incomplete movement, and to change the direction of the gun. The trigger was drawn-the shot was fired, at about twelve yards' distance, and the charge, composed of balls of musket size, cut the fringe of the char-à-banc above the head of His Majesty. The wadding of the gun fell on the Queen's knees. . . . A second shot was fired in the same direction. The King exclaimed, It is nothing-it is the conclusion of the shooting party!' and added, to the postillions, Well, go on to the château.' The carriages then continued their course. One of the King's grooms named Millet immediately rushed to the wall, sprang over it, and pursued the assassin, who fled. Millet came up with him and a severe struggle ensued; but by this time some hussars had galloped round, and Lecomte was secured. He proved to be a person who had formerly been a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Guard, and afterwards held the situation of Garde Général at Fontainebleau. He was of a morose and brutal temper, and in a moment of disgust had thrown up his appointment, although, as a matter of favour, a retiring pension was notwithstanding allowed him. He addressed many letters of a threatening character to the Conservator of the Crown Forests, and made also applications to the King to be reinstated in the place which he had forfeited by his misconduct, even if he had not resigned it. As these letters were not attended to, he conceived the deadly design of taking away the King's life, and proceeded to execute it in the manner narrated. That Louis Philippe should have escaped is most wonderful, for Lecomte had the reputation of being one of the best marksmen in France. It is another remarkable instance of the Providence that has watched over the King's life. Lecomte was tried before the Chamber of Peers, found guilty, and executed on the 8th of June. Another miscreant this year added his name to the miserable list of regicides in France, although there is much doubt whether he really designed to kill Louis Philippe, or courted only a disgraceful notoriety. On the 29th of July the King and the Royal Family were standing on the balcony of the Tuileries, while the populace were celebrating in the gardens the anniversary of the Revolution of July, when suddenly two pistol shots were fired from amidst the crowd in the direction of Louis Philippe. The person who discharged them was instantly seized, and he proved to be a Parisian tradesman of ruined fortune, named Joseph Henri. He did not pretend to have any political motive for the act, and denied that he felt any personal animosity against the King, assigning the desperate state of his circumstances as the only reason for his attempt. He said that he wished to die, but had not courage to commit suicide. No marks of any bullets were found, though carefully searched for; and it is very probable that the pistols contained only powder. Henri was tried by the Chamber of Peers, and being found guilty, was sentenced to hard labour at the hulks for life. He seems to have been somewhat unsettled in intellect, although we by no means think that he had ceased to be responsible for his actions, and had he been executed on the scaffold he would have met with the fate which he deserved. Perhaps, however, the sentence passed upon him was the one most likely to deter others from similar attempts, for in France such reprobates seem to glory in a public execution. On the 25th of May Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte made his escape from the fortress of Ham, where he had been confined a prisoner for six years-ever since his ridiculous attempt upon Boulogne with a handful of followers and a tame eagle, of which exploit we gave an account in a preceding volume *. He effected his exit from the castle by assuming the disguise of a workman, and thus deceiving the vigilance of the guards. He immediately crossed the frontier into Belgium, and then took refuge in England. * See vol. lxxxii. pp. 173, 174. The Session was closed by a Royal Ordinance on the 3rd of July, and by another ordinance, issued on the 6th of that month, the Chambers were dissolved. The position of the Guizot Ministry at this time was strong, and the efforts of the Opposition during the preceding Session had been so feeble and unavailing as almost to imply the consciousness of a hopeless cause. It seemed unable to discover any salient points of attack; and the elaborate orations of M. Thiers, on the few occasions on which he spoke, were rather the complaints of a disappointed rival, than the manifestoes of the leader of a party which expected to be able to displace the Government, and assume the reins of power. The general election took place on Sunday, the 2nd of August, and the result was extremely favourable to the Ministry. All the members of the Cabinet were reelected, and it received a greater accession of strength than was anticipated. It is difficult to estimate the exact amount of gain; but it was calculated that Government acquired by the elections upwards of thirty votes, in addition to those which it possessed in the former Chamber. The new Session was opened by the King, on the 17th of August, when he delivered the following Speech: "Gentlemen Peers and Depu ties "I experience a lively satisfaction at seeing you assembling round me with so much engerness. At the usual period of your labour I shall communicate with you respecting the internal and external affairs of the State. At present, in convoking immediately the two Chambers, in compliance with the Charter, in summoning the Peers appointed since last Session, and the Deputies whom France has just honoured with her suffrages, to take the oath before me, I am anxious that you should receive at the same time the assurance of my active and unchangeable devotedness to our country, and of my confidence in your sentiments towards me and my family. "I learned from my earliest youth to love and serve France. Called to the Throne by her wish, for the salvation of her liberty, I devoted my existence to the regular maintenance of her institutions, and to the peaceable development of her prosperity and greatness. There is no trial that I am not prepared to submit to, and that I shall not endure, in order to attain an object so dear to my heart. Providence, I hope, will permit me, with the co-operation of the Chambers and the national assent, to insure the success of that patriotic labour. My children and yours will reap its fruits; and if France, free and happy, retain an affectionate recollection of our common efforts, it shall be, gentlemen, our brightest and noblest reward." The first business transacted in the Chamber of Deputies was the election of a President, when M. Sauzet was again elevated to that office. The votes for the different candidates, at the conclusion of the ballot, were as follows: 223 98 9 4 2 In the month of October, owing to incessant rains, wide-spread and destructive floods occurred in France. These took place chiefly in the southern provinces, where the rivers Rhine, Huveame, and Durance overflowed their banks, and laid the surrounding country under water. The Loire also rose to a greater height than had ever been known, and swept away the bridge that was thrown across it at Orleans, as well as the viaduct connecting the Orleans and Vierzon railway. Upwards of two hundred houses at Roanne were destroyed, and immense districts of country were converted into one vast lake. For some time all communication between Paris and the great towns in the south, Lyons, Avignon, and Marseilles, was cut off by the inundation, and the greatest misery and distress prevailed. This was increased by the high price of provisions, owing to a scarcity of grain, and in many places the starving populace engaged in alarming riots. The King and Royal Family contributed 120,000f. to the relief of the sufferers; and some idea of the ravages occasioned by the floods may be formed from the fact, that a Royal Ordinance was published, authorizing the Minister of Commerce to open an extraordinary credit of 200,000f. for the purpose of reorganizing the service of the mails which had been interrupted by the overflow of the rivers Allier and Loire, and of indemnifying the postmasters for the losses they had sustained; and it was estimated by the Minister of Public Works that no less a sum than 65,000,000ƒ. would be required for rebuilding the bridges and repairing the roads and canals which had been destroyed, and constructing the works necessary for preventing the recurrence of a similar catastrophe. The marriage of the Duc de Montpensier, the youngest son of |