tions on the subject of promotions. No one could be an inferior (or what we call a non-commissioned) officer, till he was twenty, and had served at least two years in the regular army. No one could be an officer, till he had either served two years as an inferior officer, or had gone with suc cess through the exercises of the military schools. A third of the sublieutenants were to be drawn from the inferior officers. Two-thirds of the places of lieutenant, of captain, of chief of battalion, and of lieutenant colonel, were to be given according to seniority. No officer could rise to the superior rank, till he had been two years in the one immediately inferior. These regulations could be dispensed with, only from necessity in time of war, or in consideration of brilliant exploits noticed in the orders of the day. The plan for embodying the disbanded veterans into legions for internal defence, called forth vehement strictures from both sides of the House. By one it was urged, that these troops, having obtained a free and full discharge, could not justly be called again into active service; that of the 180,000 men disbanded in 1815, there were so many who must then have been, or have since become, unfit for active service, and so many who could not now be traced, that the number would not be sufficient for the object in view. The Ultraroyalists, on the other hand, thundered against this measure, as calling into action a force from which legitimate monarchy had every thing to dread. "What more," exclaimed the Count de Sallaberry, "could be wished for by these daring and ambitious men, who will not yet renounce the idea, that their banners may again float on the capitals of Europe? What other wish could be formed by hundreds of young madmen, trained, to their misfortune, in the precepts of a master whom the allied powers, in the name of humanity, have condemned henceforth to repeat only to the echoes of St Helena those ferocious and impious words, men are made for slaughter, and the sabre is the legitimate sceptre of the world?"" The orator then deplored the wrongs sustained by the most faithful friends of the king. "The enemies," exclaimed he, "of the monarch and of legitimacy, could wish for nothing more than to hear his Majesty's ministers propose, on pretence of economy, to dismiss those faithful soldiers who, from fraternity in arms, from community of danger and glory, had ceased for many ages to be foreigners in France; soldiers who might truly be said to be naturalized by the blood which they had shed for France and for its kings. Nothing but an army was wanting to the genius of evil; and now it is to get one. It thus hopes to re-establish the illegitimate government on the ruins of the charter and of legitimacy, —on the ruins of the throne,—at the foot of which will fall those true servants, whose vain fidelity will then be seen and acknowledged, when it was too late." These observations were answered by M. Bignon, who said, "We must tell those who are frightened by the phantom of the old army, that their prepossessions are unjust, their alarms unfounded; above all, that the dread of imaginary has often given birth to real danger. For such a crisis like that from which we have escaped, for such evils as we have suffered, there is only one remedy-oblivion. Oblivion alone can heal the wounds of a long agitated state. He who will not sacrifice to oblivion, perpares new dangers, new tempests for his country. What Frenchman does not need to forget something, if not for himself, at least for his family,-his bre thren, his children? Error has been in every camp; it has been in the walls and out of the walls; it has marched under every banner. Over whom would the king now reign, if he had not known what it was to forget?" The orator then pointed out the advantage which the army would derive from a mixture of veteran soldiers and experienced officers, while otherwise it must be composed altogether of new levies; that it would be dangerous to leave the old army entirely without, and distinct from the existing army; that these distinctions must be made to disappear, and these shades to melt into each other. The appel, or compulsory levy, was strongly objected to, as renewing all the evils of the conscription; but it was answered, that the mode of voluntary enlistment had been tried and found insufficient; and that there was no other mode of levying an army. The new regulations, besides, were calculated to do away that indiscriminate severity with which the conscription had been enforced. The clauses relative to promotion met with opposition on both sides of the Chamber. One represented it as depriving the king of his just rights in the appointment of officers, while it opened advancement to individuals who had no other qualification for high command but long service. In their view, the higher places in the army ought not, unless in extraordinary cases, to be open to soldiers risen from the ranks; but they ought in general to be confined to those whose situation in life gave them the means of more extended information. An opposite class of reasoners contended, that the proportion of a third to be raised from the ranks was too small; and that to draw all the rest from the military schools, was allowing too great an advantage to the aristocratic classes. Against both these opinions, ministers contended that the plan proposed was on the whole best calculated to reward at once merit and long services, and to maintain the army in an efficient state. The question, after all, upon which the Chamber was most strongly divided, was one which arose unexpectedly in the course of the debate. According to the project submitted by the Crown, the amount of the peace establishment of the army was permanently fixed. Several members demanded, that its amount should, as in England, be the subject of an annual vote. M.Chauvelin urged, “The Charter has given to the two Chambers the right of discussing and voting the taxes. Forced levies are a tax in men,-the most burdensome of all to him who pays it. It has reserved to them also to determine the mode of recruiting. Under both these views, the annual vote of the army falls essentially to the two Chambers,-they cannot abdicate this essential right." M. Colard also urged:-" The government, using the right with which the law is about to invest it, might raise the army to 240,000 men. In vain would the Chamber deliberate, if these existed, without it and in spite of it, an unlimited army, not less independent than the civil list. When such an army shall have been placed beyond the reach of the national power,-political rights are out of the question, institutions are a sport,-liberty a dream." The plan of attacking the establishment on the side of expence, appeared to him either ineffective, or tending to anarchy. "What do you gain then, by displacing the difficulty of the annual vote, and transporting it to the moving ground of the budget, except to reproduce it a thousand times more terrible and more dangerous?" On this question, however, ministers had the universal support of the Ultra members. A con what tinental state, they insisted, might as On the 9th February, the law was carried into the Chamber of Peers; and, on the 24th, the Duke of Tarentum brought up the report of the committee. It approved of the law in general, particularly of the principle of compulsory levy. Voluntary enrolment was said to have been so little successful, that it was necessary to dismiss one-fifth of the guard recruited in this manner; and of nine hundred military sentences passed in the course of two years, eight hundred and fifty were upon voluntary recruits. Two amendments only were proposed, one exempting from territorial service married men, and those who had been dismissed by what were called absolute congés. On this point, the Duke could not refrain from some statements that personally concerned himself. "Charged," said he, " at a time which I scarcely dare think of, with an operation perhaps without ex ample in the military history of nations, an operation which, from being necessary, was not the less grievous to me, I gave to my ancient companions in arms the solemn assurance, that the terms of their dissolution should be faithfully fulfilled, and that they might trust, without reserve, to promises made by the Throne. Could I abandon them after having been the witness of their heroic resignation?" The next amendment proposed, that promotion by seniority should cease with the rank of captain. Carried further, it appeared to the committee destructive of all ambition, and exposing higher commands to fall into the hands of officers destitute of the necessary talents. The Marquis Dessolle opposed both these amendments. The former appeared to him to be only creating a reserve in order to destroy it. What was this pretended faith? The soldier, who had received his congé, was liberated indeed from all active service; but the service proposed for the veterans was the duty of all the duty imposed on the national guard, which is itself only the nation orga nized in a military manner. It was a service on their natal soil, the limits of which they were never to pass, a service in their homes, and for their homes. Would these brave men wish a privilege, which should exempt them alone from being called upon in the moment of danger? Promotion by seniority too, should, he thought, be extended to the rank of lieutenantcolonel, the first step, in his opinion, when an officer would have a full opportunity of distinguishing himself, of drawing the attention of his superiors, and of creating a public opinion in his favour. In this debate, attention was chiefly attracted by the speech of Chateaubriand, who attacked, with the utmost severity, the conscription reproduced under the name of appel. He de scribed it as a measure natural at once to despotism and democracy; to the former, because it carries off men by force, violates political and individual liberty, and is obliged to employ the most arbitrary measures in its execution; to the other, because it reckons man only as an individual, and establishes a metaphysical equality, which does not exist in property, in education and manners. The despot is a leveller like the people; thus, the conscription, decreed under the republic, passed as a natural inheritance to the empire under Buonaparte. This orator, however, took a very different view from the other Ul tra-royalists, of the character and services of the old army. "I have always thought," said he," that the French soldiery is the first in the world; irresistible in success; patient, whatever may be said to the contrary, in misfortune; full of intelligence, of generosity, of honour; a single mark of esteem is enough to carry it to the end of the world. What should we be today, gentlemen, without the courage of our army? It has thrown the veil of its glory over the hideous picture of the Revolution; it has wrapped the wounds of the country in the folds of its triumphant ensigns; it shared not in the death of the most virtuous of kings; it refused to turn its arms against the emigrants and the English prisoners. It could not indeed prevent all our enormities; but at least, it threw its valiant sword on one side of the balance, to serve as a counterpoise to the revolutionary axe." Notwithstanding this panegyric, the orator could not shut his eyes to the dangers arising from the simultaneous existence of two armies, having separate characters and interests; he reproached ministry with their distrust of the Vendeans; "those heroic labourers, who turned up with their plough the bones of their fathers, who died for the King; pea sant warriors, who in the morning cut down the field, where in the evening they were themselves to be cut down." The principle on which they were rejected, ought to have concluded equally against the force now proposed. The most generous sentiments have their illusions and their chimeras; even the love of country may lead men astray. As for the article relative to promotion, he would not mention one of its provisions. The very principle appeared to him a direct attack on the royal authority. What sort of army would it be, which should owe its promotion to a law; an army reasoning on its rights, approving or criticising the law, deliberating in its barracks? Had they forgotten St Cloud, and the grenadiers expelling the representatives of the people? Democratically as the army was composed, it did not the less turn to the door the Council of Five Hundred. "The Gauls, gentlemen, adored their swords, and we have not lost this superstition of our forefathers." M. Chateaubriand concluded with lamenting the general tone of sentiment which prevailed around him. "Every thing becomes worse; the fatal spirit, which produced our misfortunes, is rekindled on every side; vain questions are recalled; the errors and language of anarchy are called up afresh; the words, with which they plundered and slaughtered the nobles, and led Louis XIV. to the scaffold, are heard anew. We are turning our steps backwards, we are descending again into the abyss." The Marquis de Lalli Tollendal defended the law in all its provisions. Amid the artizans of trouble, and the prophets of evil, they were advancing from year to year towards the completion of the great work undertaken by the wisdom and benevolence of the sovereign. He, a royalist, who might well boast of being as proved and tried as any, must own himself Twenty orators were heard on the project; and sixteen more were ready to speak, when the Chamber determined to close the discussion. So eagerly was it carried on, both with respect to the general law, and to each particular provision, that the issue was considered as extremely doubtful. On putting the vote, however, the majority was found to be decisive. 170 Peers present, 96 voted for the law, and 74 against it, leaving a majority in its favour of 22. Of The next subject of consideration to the Chambers, was the budget, which excited in France itself a much deeper and more serious interest than any other. This interest was not unmingled with fear, considering the burdens of all kinds which the nation had to support, and the immense sums which were to be paid to the foreign troops occupying her territory. The result was on the whole more favourable than these circumstances gave ground to expect. The following statement of the expenditure, and of the ways and means, was submitted to the Chamber, by the Minister of Finance: Ordinary Expences. Interest of the old and new Sinking Fund, Pensions of every kind, Clergy, (besides pensions), Chamber of Deputies, General services, (ministeres), Departmental expences, . These statements of the minister were referred to a committee, which seems to have proceeded with a very considerable degree of zeal and diligence. They spent four months in 140,782,000 investigating all the details of the finances, in examining all the docu65,908,000 ments, and in consulting the Francs. 40,000,000 34,000,000 22,000,000 2,000,000 680,000 292,913,000 persons most skilled on the subject. The report was presented on the 21st and 22d March, by MM. Roy and Beugnot, the former of whom treated of 31,976,000 the wants of the state, and the lat17,916,600 ter of the means of supplying them. 18,000,000 They approved, on the whole, of the 3,000,000 proposition, recommending, however, some not inconsiderable reductions; 680,975,600 |