bunals, establish the principle that, as regards the press and electoral organization, the laws, or in other words, the king, and the two chambers, collectively, are the sole source of power.

"Legality has now, therefore, been violated by the government. We attempt to publish our papers without requiring the authorization imposed on us. We shall endeavor, that for this day, at least, they shall find their way to all parts of the kingdom.

"Such is the duty imposed on us as citizens, and we perform it.

"We have not pointed out its duties to the Chamber illegally dissolved. But we may beseech it, in the name of France, to maintain itself on its evident right, and to resist to the utmost, the violation of the laws. This right

is as certain, as that on which we rely. The 50th article of the charter declares, that the king may dissolve the Chamber of Deputies; but to that effect it must have been assembled and constituted as a Chamber, and have assumed the form which made it liable to dissolution. But before the meeting and constitution of the Chamber, the elections were all that had been accomplished. It is nowhere said in the charter that the king may annul the elections. The dissolution is, therefore, illegal, since it is not warranted by the charter.

"The deputies elected and convoked for the 3d of August are well and duly elected, and convoked. Their duty is the same to-day, that it was yesterday. That duty France beseeches them not to forget. All that they can do, they ought to do, to give effect to their right.

"The government has this day lost the character of legality which commands obedience. We resist it in so far as we are concerned; it is for France to judge how far the resistance should be extended."

The publication of this protest, signed by the most respectable editors of the constitutional journals, was sensibly felt throughout the capital. It satisfied the lovers of a well regulated freedom, that they would be supported and sustained in their efforts by the united influence of a class of men, whose existence depended on a repeal of the ordinances, or a resistance of the power that attempted to enforce them. Some of these journalists had millions of property invested in the business of printing, which was to be virtually swept from existence by the obduracy and caprice of a few bigoted and priest-ridden ministers. All of them would be deprived of the means of obtaining a comfortable subsistance. Besides, they had by the force of their writings, drawn the liberties of the country into danger; and they could not, consistently with their own honor, set down in silence at a crisis so eventful and alarming. Many of them, too, were young men, who had entered into the editorial profession with the spirited determination of perpetuating the liberties of the nation, or of perishing beneath its ruins.

Although the monied interest were backward in giving their personal assistance, yet they were not wholly callous to the consequences of the unconstitutional proceedings of the administration. At an early hour, those who were interested in the public funds, were seen moving in haste towards the Boulevard des Italiens, for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the public securities. As soon as the hour of business arrived, the Merchant's Exchangeroom was filled with a dense crowd. In every face there was either stupefaction or alarm. All inquired with eagerness-what is to be done? What course can be pursued to avert immediate ruin? Commercial confidence was entirely destroyed-the business of making loans was at an end-the bankers had closed their shops-and the greatest manufacturer in France had already dismissed his

workmen, with a payment in advance, as a remuneration for losses they were to suffer by being deprived of their means of livelihood without any previous notice.

During the day, the gens d' armerie became objects of popular dislike, which was chiefly manifested by loading them with the most opprobrious epithets. As the evening advanced, young men, principally the sons of tradesmen, paraded the streets with walking sticks containing small swords, which they frequently drew forth and flourished in the air, at the same time uttering loud cries of "Vive la Charte !"-Long live the Charter! In one section of the city, a large crowd having assembled for the purpose of expressing their feelings of disapprobation of the conduct of the ministry, the police deemed it a favorable opportunity for commencing the chastisement in reserve for the disobedient. A party of gens d'armes were ordered to enter sword in hand into the place where the crowd were assembled; but instead of dispersing, as the Parisian populace generally did, on the appearance of the soldiery, they deliberately waited until they were all driven out at the point of the sword. At the Champs Elysees, where, on a summer evening, so many joyous groups gather around the bands of itinerant musicians, all was gloom and dismay. The multitude were there as usual-but they were occupied in talking about the all-absorbing topics of the day-the violation of the Charter-the suppression of the liberty of the press--the annulling of the elections, and the alteration. of the electoral law. At length it was intimated, that Polignac, on his return from the royal residence, must pass through the Champs Elysses, to proceed to his hotel. It was forthwith determined that he should be seized on his passage, and made to answer for his treason on the spot. While the crowd were making their arrangements, a carriage arrived which was mistaken for that of the minister. The horses were seized-but while those within were giv

ing an account of themselves, the carriage of Polignac passed rapidly by; and before those on the pursuit could overtake it, the frightened minister had entered the yard adjoining his hotel. The gates were immediately closed upon the crowd, who indemnified themselves for the disappointment they had received, by breaking the windows and cursing the man, who had been the author of the national calamities.

This last act terminated for the most part the proceedings of the night. The people and their oppressors retired to await the events of the following day.

CHAPTER IV.

JULY TWENTRY SEVENTH.

Meeting of the Deputies-Their protest against the proceedings of the Govern ment--Assemblage of the citizens, and the attack upon them by the armed police --Disregard of the ordinances by the National and Temps-Attacks on those presses-Conduct of the people-The case of the Editors of the Courier Francais against their printer, submitted to the Tribunnal of Commerce--Decision of the Court-Movement of the citizens-Meetings of the citizens--Character of the French people at the close of the last century--Their character in 1830- Royal Guard kill some of the citizens-Anonymous address to the people-Its effectUnpaving of the streets-Marseilles Hymn.

Of the whole number of Deputies elected to the new chamber, only thirty-two had arrived in Paris on the 25th of July. The great majority of the Deputies were at their homes, or on their way to the Capitol, to enter upon their duties at the commencement of the Session on the 3d of August. In some of the departments, the elections had just been completed, and at the time of the publication of the ordinances, the result had only been communicated by means of the telegraphs. Those who had reached the city, were called together on the evening of the 26th of July, at the house of M. Cassimir Perrier, for the purpose of

taking into consideration the course they should pursue in relation to the arbitrary measures of the government. After a short deliberation, they resolved to appoint a committee, to draft a protest against the suspension of the liberty of the press, and against the right of the king and ministry, to dissolve a Chamber of Deputies, which had not been regularly organized according to the provisions of the Charter. At a meeting on the next morning, this Committee made the following report, which was accepted, and signed by all the Deputies present.

"The undersigned, regularly elected to the office of deputy conformably to the constitutional charter, and to the laws relative to elections, and who are now at Paris, consider themselves as absolutely obliged by their duties and their honour, to protest against the measures which the advisers of the Crown have lately caused to be proclaimed for the overthrow of the legal system of elections, and the ruin of the liberty of the press.

"The measures contained in the ordinances of the 25th of July are, in the opinion of the undersigned, directly contrary to the constitutional rights of the Chamber of Peers, to the public rights of Frenchmen, to the attributes and to the decrees of the tribunals, and are calculated to throw the state into a confusion, which equally endangers the peace of the present moment and the security of the future.

"In consequence, the undersigned, inviolably faithful to their oath, protest in concert, not only against the said measures, but against all the acts which may result from them.

"And considering, on the one hand, that the Chamber of Deputies, not having been constituted, could not be legally dissolved; on the other, that the attempt to form a new Chamber of Deputies in a novel and arbitrary manner, is directly opposed to the constitutional charter and