described the virtues of the ancient magistracy. On the 6th of April, 1816, he spoke in favour of the bill regarding elections, which was proposed by ministers, but which was opposed by most of his colleagues, although it had just passed unanimously in the Chamber of Deputies. "Have you the courage," said he, "to take upon you the responsibility of what may happen in the interval between two sessions, in consequence of your rejecting the bill with regard to elections? If, by an extraordinary fatality, illegal colleges, elected by an illegal ordonnance, should elect deputies dangerous to France, what reproaches would not you cast upon yourselves? Could you bear to hear the cry of distress uttered by your country? Would you not be afraid of the judgment which posterity would form with regard to you? Let us attach ourselves resolutely to our new institutions. Let us seek to supply any deficiency which may exist in them. In order to justify the rigour which we have exhibited in the punishment of criminals, let us be studious to exhibit liberality in our political sentiments. Let us adopt those measures which are favourable to the independence and dignity of man. When it shall be known that our re

ligion is not conjoined with bigotrythat the justice which we demand for the clergy does not imply any secretenmity towards the philosophers→→→ that we do not wish to retard the progress of the human mind-that we only desire the useful conjunction of morality with information, of religion with science, of good manners with the fine arts,-then nothing shall be impossible for us; then we may hope to witness the happiness of France, and the restoration of its ancient glory."

Upon the re-organisation of the Institute, M. de Chateaubriand was appointed a member of the French Academy, on the 21st of March, 1816. In the beginning of September of the same year, he published a work, entitled "De la Monarchie selon la Charte," a few days after the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies. He was forthwith seized by order of the minister of the police, and judiciary proceedings were commenced against the printer by the procureur of the king; but that officer came to the decision that there was no ground of accusation against him. By a royal ordonnance of the 5th of September, however, M. de Chateaubriand was declared to be no longer a minister of

state.

The Baron Stephen-Denis Pasquier, was born on the 22d of April, 1767, and has the honour of being descended from the famous Stephen Pasquier, Advocate-General to the Chamber of Accounts, and one of the most learned men of his time. His father was a counsellor of the Parliament of Paris, and suffered on the revolutionary scaffold in the year 1795. The son followed the same profession with

He

the month of February, 1810. was afterwards made a baron, officer of the Legion of Honour, and, finally, prefect of the police, on the 14th of October, of the same year. M. Pasquier filled the latter office at the time of the conspiracy of General Mallet, who succeeded in having him apprehended along with the Minister of Police Savary, and shut up for a short period in the prison of La Force. He continued to exercise the functions of prefect, until the events of March, 1814, when the king named him as a counsellor of state, He was next appointed to be director-general in the management of bridges and roads, an office which he resigned in 1815, after the invasion of Buonaparte. During the hundred days he held no public office; but when the king once more returned to the helm of government,

he appointed M. Pasquier, ministre secretaire d'etat de la justice, keeper of the seals, grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, and a privy counsellor.

Being elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies by the department of Seine, he was made reporter to the committee of the fourth Bureau, to whose investigation the bill regarding seditious cries was entrusted, voted in the month of January, 1816, for the adoption of the law of amnesty, without amendment; and in the month of September, 1816, was reelected a member of the Chamber of Deputies by the department of the Seine. During this session, he was distinguished as formerly by his zealous defence of the ministerial measures, and was considered one of the firmest supports of the administration.

Armand Duplessi de Richelieu, is the grandson of Marshal Richelieu, and the son of the Duke of Fronsac, He left France in early youth, when he was known as the Duke of Chinon, and went to Russia, where he was received in the most gracious manner by Catherine II. It was in that country, and under the auspices of Suwarrow, that he learned the rudiments of war. He distinguished himself at the siege of Ismailow, in the year 1789, and soon afterwards rose to the rank of lieutenant-general. In 1791, he received from the empress a goldensword, and the cross of Saint George, The year after, he repaired to Vienna and Berlin, in order to find what were the dispositions of these courts regarding the French princes; and he returned to Petersburgh with the most favourable accounts of their friendship to the family of Bourbon. He now

joined the army of the princes, and having gone to England, was appoint ed one of the six officers who recei ved the command of the emigrant corps in the pay of that power.

Afterwards having returned to Russia, he suffered not a little from the suspicious and arbitrary temper of Paul, but on the accession of Alexander, he was loaded with kindness by that generous prince. In the year 1801, he went to Paris in order to have his name cancelled from the list of emigrants, and Buonaparte was very willing to comply with his request, but stipulated as a necessary condition, one to which the duke could not be reconciled, that he should quit the service of Russia. After this unsuccessful attempt, he returned to Russia; and in the year 1805, was appointed civil and military governor of Odessa and the adjacent coasts. Catherine

had formerly entrusted with the command of that district Prince Potem. kin, whose authority was more like that of an Asiatic despot than of a subordinate governor. M. de Richelieu being invested with the powers of his predecessors, determined to turn them to the benefit of the district which was entrusted to his care. Accordingly he fixed the seat of his government at Odessa, formerly Kods. chibay, which, from a small village, containing not more than a few thousand inhabitants, prospered to such a degree, that so soon as the year 1805 it contained upwards of 20,000. He had the merit of putting an entire stop to those depredations which had formerly so often occurred. He organized an efficient police, appointed several useful works to be commenced, gave orders that the waste land should be cultivated, entrusted the manage ment of the affairs of the city to a body of respectable citizens, and, in fine, attracted to the place a number of visitors who went thither for the sake of amusement, and the elegant society which it afforded. The buildings, which were formerly of a gloomy and unhealthy construction, gave place to houses of the most elegant and commodious description. There is now an excellent harbour which receives the vessels of every nation.

The knowledge which M. de Richelieu possessed of different languages, and the ease with which he speaks them, was of great advantage to him in the government of colonies, composed of individuals from various nations. But, perhaps, still greater praise is due to him on account of the easy access which he afforded to all, of whatever rank, who desired to converse with him. Moreover, let it be mentioned to his honour, that although he reigned in the most absolute manner over two or three millions of people, there was not a single act

of a tyrannical nature laid to his charge. The truth of these details is confirmed by the according testimony of travellers from England, Germany, and other countries. In the year 1813, the Emperor Alexander expressed a wish to the Governor of Odessa to visit that place, which, from the accounts of the improvements it had experienced, had excited his curiosity.

1

M. de Richelieu, who considered the improvement as in a very unfinished state, entreated the emperor to delay his journey. Accordingly, Alexander did not accomplish his purpose until the year 1818, when he made a stay of three days at Odessa, and so much was he gratified with the appearance of things there, and with the prosperity of the place, that he forthwith dispatched a messenger to M. de Richelieu to inform him of the gratification which he had received from the visit. The courier, along with a letter containing the most flattering compli ments, was charged with presenting him with the insignia of the order of St Andrew. It is not to be wondered that M. de Richelieu felt considerable regret in leaving a place which he might in some sort be said to have created. He returned to his native country in the year 1814, about the month of October. In the month of June preceding, he had been raised by the king to the dignity of a peer of France. On the unfortunate 20th of March, 1815, he retreated with the royal family, and again returned with them to Paris, to resume his functions, as first gentleman of the bed-chamber to the king.

In the month of September, when M. de Talleyrand retired from office, he became president of the council of ministers. The foreign department was entrusted to his care, and in the exercise of his office, he had to conduct the negociation relating to the treaty which was going to be imposed

upon France. After having used every argument, and made every ef fort to evade the step, he was at last compelled to sign the treaty of the 20th November, 1815; and on the 25.h of the same month, communicated to the Chamber of Deputies what had been done in a long speech, which was listened to with respect, but evidently with much grief. The minister informed the deputies that several still more vexatious demands had been made and repeated, but in vain; and that there existed no secret conditions in addition to those that he had communicated to them. 13th of the same month, he presented to the Chamber of Peers an ordinance of his majesty, regulating the form of proceedings which was to be followed in the trial of Marshal Ney, and he terminated the speech which he then delivered in the following manner.

On the

"The accusation which we lay before you against Marshal Ney is that of high treason, and of acting to the detriment of the state. We make bold to say, that it is becoming for the Chamber of Peers to make some reparation to the world for what has happened; it is fit that they should adopt some prompt measure to satisfy the desire of vengeance, which is now so universally and so justly excited. Will you allow the guilty to escape unpunished, and see other scourges arise, encouraged by their impunity scourges perhaps of a severer kind than those which we now wish to put down? The king's ministers cannot refrain from telling you, that the decision of the court martial is a triumph to the factious. We entreat you, therefore, and in the name of the king we require you, to proceed immediately to the trial of Marshal Ney." On the 8th day of December following, he presented to the Chamber of Deputies, on the part of the king, a bill with regard to an amnesty, and the

following observations were made by him on that occasion. "While," said he, " some consider this ordonnance as not comprehensive enough, others regard it as harsh and severe. We have to answer, that after the most serious deliberation, a milder course could not be followed with safety. It was necessary that examples should be made, and yet it was neither just nor political to punish all who had been implicated in the rebellion. It was necessarry to impose limits upon the numbers of the guilty who should be the objects of punishment, and the popular cry had marked out the persons whose names appeared in the ordonnance. Perhaps there may be others equally culpable, but when punishment is to be inflicted upon a great number, the objects of it ought to resign themselves to their fate, and so perhaps render themselves in time worthy of becoming the objects of the royal clemency."

Upon the 9th of January, M. de Richelieu brought forward the samebill in the Chamber of Peers, with the two amendments proposed by the Deputies, and a new clause, expelling for ever from the territory of France those regicides who had performed public functions during the hundred days.

On the 21st of March, 1816, he was appointed a member of the French Academy by the ordonnance of the king which re-organized that learned body; and on the 30th day of the same month, the king confirmed his appointment in the academy of the Fine Arts which he had received in room of M. de Vaudreuil; and on the 24th of April he presided when the four academies, of which the Institute is composed, were installed by the minister of the interior. In the midst of his various important functions, M. de Richelieu took every opportunity of benefitting the countries which he visited. During his residence in Ger

many, he had visited the botanic garden of Simferopol, and when he re turned to France, he sent books and scientific instruments for the benefit of that establishment; and at a later

period, in the year 1816, he dispatched a person at his own expence to the same place with 120 slips of the best fruit trees, and 500 kinds of seeds from the king's garden.

This nobleman was born in the year 1756, and after receiving his education at the military school entered the army. In the year 1789 he was nominated secretary of the Noblesse of the balliage of Melun, and in 1791 he received the appointment of deputy to the Legislative Assembly for the department of the Seine and Marne, and he quickly became one of the most distinguished supporters of the royalist party. On one occasion, when the Assembly was thrown into a violent agitation by the motion for refusing to allow the king to use the chair of state on the day when he was to open the second session, he combatted the proposal, and had the motion delayed. On the 16th of November, 1791, he exerted himself in opposition to the unwarrantable powers assumed by the municipal governments, and in particular attacked the measure they had adopted of publishing a list of emigrant officers, which was in effect a list for proscription. Upon the 18th he was made secretary. On the 26th he spoke in behalf of the priests who had not taken the oaths; and on the 14th of November he was made president. At the sitting of the 3d December, he severely reprehended a speech delivered by the Abbé Fauchet against M. de Lessart, and declared then, as he afterwards did, upon the 20th of February, that unless

the authorities were supported, it was in vain to look for a steady government. On the 31st December, he demanded of the Diplomatic Committee to present a report touching the necessity of driving the French princes from the frontiers. On the 9th February 1792, he opposed the motion of M. Bazire to confiscate the property of all emigrants, making no exception in favour of women and children. His speech was heard with much tumult, and not without menaces. On the 10th of March he again ventured to defend the minister Lessart, but was interrupted. He was, however, more fortunate in his defence of M.de Bertrand Molleville, whom he saved from being brought to trial. The Assembly having, without deliberation, carried a decree against the Marquis de Noailles, he succeeded in having it suspended, and finally in having it revoked. Upon the 18th, he supported the proposed punishment of the excesses which had just been committed, and oppo. sed the amnesty in favour of Jourdan and others who were implicated in the massacres of the time. His efforts, however, were fruitless, and the system of indulgence, supported by the Girondins, was followed, and tended to throw a veil over the disasters of that unfortunate country. “What,” cried he," will you allow assassins to escape without punishment? I see the