not left a single Christian prisoner neral benefit of mankind, in in Algiers. Such was the termination of an enterprise, than which, perhaps, no one more truly honourable to the British navy and nation is recorded in the kingdom's annals. With an exertion of valour scarcely surpassed, it has exhibited an example of the rare moral merit, of national superiority employed for no interested purpose; but purely for the ge putting down with a strong hand a system of rapacity and cruelty. With the generosity characteristic of Great Britain, she has performed this great public service entirely at her own expense; abandoning even the restitutions which her arms compelled to the sufferers; bargaining for no salvage or indemnity, but freely imparting what she gloriously gained. CHAPTER CHAPTER X. Affairs of France.-Position of the Army of Occupation.-State of Things at Nismes.-Law of Amnesty.- Obsequies of Louis XVI. and his Queen.-Insurrectionary Movements at Lyons.-Disturbances at Tarrascon.-Plan of National Education.-Parties in the Legislature. -Declaration of the Majority in the Chamber of Deputies.—Establishment of the Duke of Berri.-Insurrection at Grenoble.—Malcontents at Paris. Tumult at Nismes.-Affair of the Abbe Vinson.-Dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, and Convocation of a new one.— Suppression of Chateaubriand's Work.-Ministerial Influence in the Election.-Anniversary in Memory of Marie Antoinette.-Opening of the Chambers, and King's Speech.-Conclusion of the Year. IN N the beginning of this year, the right wing of the army of occupation in France began to extend its line further than the limits marked out by the treaty of Paris, from Charlemont to Amiens, in which last town an allied garrison was placed. This wing is stated as being composed of 25,000 English troops, 16,000 Russians, 5,000 Hanoverians, and 5,000 Belgians, all on a complete war establishment, with a proportionate reserve of artillery, always ready to march on a summons. These measures were thought to be adopted in concert with the French government, for the maintenance of order and tranquillity; and it could not be doubted, that in many parts of France, the minds of the people were inflamed by distresses and party divisions, threatening to break out into dangerous commotions. A royal ordinance, dated January 10th, gave, however, a favourable report of the state of things at Nismes. In that town, it was said, the ordinance of November 21st had been received with respect and submission, and although the assassin of General Lagarde had not yet been apprehended, he had neither asylum nor protection there. The church of the Protestants was open, and they enjoyed all the security which was guaranteed to them by the laws. After so marked a return to order, the King would no longer postpone the revocation of the rigorous measures which had been drawn from him by necessity; he therefore by the present ordinance enjoined, that the troops in garrison, or quartered on the inhabitants of Nismes,should without delay be withdrawn, and distributed in the barracks, and in such parts of the department of the Gard as the Commander might judge necessary; and that the prefect should declare to the inhabitants of Nismes, that the King is satisfied with the zeal with which they have concurred in the re-establishment of tranquillity and good order. The long debated law of amnesty was at length passed, and was sanctioned by the royal assent on Jan. 12th. Its articles are stated in the following terms, in the Gazette Officielle. Art. 1. A full and an entire Amnesty is accorded to all those who directly or indirectly took part in the rebellion and usurpation of Napoleon Buonaparte, saving the exceptions hereinafter named. 2. The ordinance of the 26th of July will continue to be exe. cuted with respect to the individuals named in the first article of that Ordinance. 3. The King can, in the space of two months from the promulgation of the present law, exile from France such of the individuals comprised in the 2d article of the said ordinance as he shall keep on it, and as shall not have been previously brought before the Tribunals; and in that case such parties shall quit France within the time fixed for them, and shall not return without the express permission of his Majesty, under pain of transportation. The King may, in like manner, deprive them of all property and all pensions granted to them on grounds of favour. 4. The relatives of Napoleon Buonaparte, in ascending and descending line-his uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces; his brothers, their wives, and their issue; his sisters and their husbands, are excluded for ever from the kingdom. All are bound to depart therefrom in the space of one month, under the penalties specified in the 91st article of the Penal Code. They cannot enjoy any civil right in France, nor possess any property whatsoever, any title or pension granted to them of favour; and they shall be bound to sell, within six months, all the property that they hold in France by purchase. 5. The present Amnesty is not applicable to those persons against whom prosecutions have been directed, or against whom judgments have been pronounced, prior to the promulgation of the present law; such prosecutions shall be continued, and such judgments executed conformably to the laws. 6. Are not comprised in the present Amnesty crimes or offences against individuals, at whatever period they may have been committed. The persons charged with such crimes may be always prosecuted according to the laws. 7. Those of the regicides, who, in contempt of a clemency almost boundless, voted for the Additional Act, or accepted offices or employments from the Usurper, and who, by so doing, declared themselves irreconcileable enemies of France, and of the lawful Government, are for ever excluded the realm, and are bound to quit it in the space of one month, under pain of the punishment enacted by the 33d article of the Penal Code. They cannot possess any civil right in France, nor any property, title or pension granted to them of favour. On Jan. 20th, the anniversary service of the obsequies of Louis XVI. and his consort was celebrated at the Abbey church of St. Denis in great solemnity, the princes of the blood attending, with deputations of the two chambers, and of other public bodies. The same solemnization was also observed in the capital at the metropolitan and the other churches, and the temples of the Protestants; and it is affirmed, that on the whole day, the most impressive tokens were given of the public sorrow. with much suspicion since the restoration of the Bourbons, and many of them have been arrested. At Tarascon on the Rhone, disturbances broke out in the early part of February, which are affirmed to have had no connection with any plan of revolt, but to have originated in popular effervescence. They were, however, of sufficient consequence to oc Feb. 22d. In this it is declared, that the laws have been violated at Tarascon; seditious persons have rendered necessary the infliction of a legal punishment by the magistrates: prisoners legally apprehended have been wrested from the hands of justice the national guard, when called upon to preserve order, have stood motionless; and the sub-prefect himself was obliged to withdraw, in order to escape the violence with which he was threatened. By way of punishment for these criminal disorders, the ordinance decrees, that the seat of the sub-prefecture and tribunal of Tarascon be transferred to the city of Arles, and the prisoners, forcibly released on the 13th, be conducted to the prisons of Arles, to be proceeded against according to the laws; and that proceedings be immediately instituted against the authors of the outrages committed at Tarascon. These vigorous measures appear to have entirely suppressed the commotions in that quarter. About this time, however, in- casion a royal ordinance, dated surrectionary movements were taking place at and near Lyons. The following details appeared in the Paris papers. The commandant-general of the department sent to the police for examination on Jan. 20th, a subaltern officer, who made several discoveries; in consequence of which, three suspected persons were arrested at Lyons, and one of their adherents at Roanne. On the night between the 23d and 24th, fifty of the national guard mounted were conducted to Condrieux, whence they brought 140 muskets. Lyons remained afterwards in a state of tranquillity, though arrests frequently occurred. With respect to the cause and origin of this commotion, it is affirmed, that a party hostile to the existing government arose at the time of Buonaparte's landing from Elba, of which the professed object was the preservation of the country from the incursions of a foreign enemy. For this purpose, five thousand of the citizens of Lyons met in the hall of St. Clare, and entered into certain resolutions for bringing it to effect. Their association was termed La Federation; and all the persons composing it have been regarded In the beginning of March a royal ordinance was published on the important subject of national education. The plan adopted was the the establishment of cantonal schools under the superintendence of local gratuitous committees, and subject to the visitation of the superior clergy and magistrates. The children of the poor are to be taught gratuitously. The system of instruction is to proceed in gradation from the first elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, to those attainments which may be useful in ordinary life, such as mensuration, surveying, &c. Masters are to be employed at salaries proportioned to their abilities in three distinct classes. Moral and religious principles are particularly to be attended to; and provision is made for the instruction of Protestant children, under the superintendence of their own clergy, or conjointly with those in the general schools where there are no separate establishments for them. Besides the public funds destined to the support of this system, private donations and be quests are encouraged. This plan, if duly carried into effect, seems well calculated to remedy that ignorance which has long been the reproach of the lower orders of people in France. Of the party differences prevailing in the French legislature, some notice was taken in the history of the last year. They were such as might with certainty be expected from the political state of the country, and the rapid and extraordinary changes it had undergone in the system of public authority; and independently of peculiar circumstances, they might in great part be referred to those diversities of opinion, which are always found in constitutions the basis of which is partly monarchical, partly popular. As the Whigs and Tories of England have always divided on the principle of regal authority, one deriving its origin from national choice, the other from indefeasible hereditary right, so, after the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, there was a party in France which chose to regard Louis XVIII. as reigning by the authorization of the people, and on conditions settled by a national constitution; and another, which considered him as the heir of legitimacy, as the term is applied, and regarded as null every claim which was the product of the revolution. The latter were accordingly eminently monarchical in their principles, and were invidiously branded with the title of ultra-royalists; whilst the former, under the name of constitutionalists, were charged with a leaning to republicanism. A zealous attachment to the established religion, as in other countries, was a feature of the votaries of monarchy; while the greater part of those who embraced revolution politics, were supposed to be more than indifferent to the interests of religion. The contests of these opposite parties afford a leading topic for the domestic history of France in the present year. An important document connected with it, appeared in an English paper, with the title of " Declaration of the principles of the majority of the Chamber of Deputies, Jan. 20th, 1816." Considering it as a real exposition of the views and principles avowed by the royalist party, we shall give it without abridgment. "We, |