quite

te as aristocratic as the others, and tending more directly to the perpetuation of hereditary wealth, because it deprived the first heir, in so far, of the right of disposal, was regarded with less abhorrence than the simple provision regarding the preciput in an intestate succession. The discussion was long, and in the Chamber of Deputies, violent. There the debate lasted three days, and was finished on the third only in consequence of several members who had inscribed their names, declining, from the impatience of the Chamber, to exercise their right. The opponents of the project, when they quitted rhe torical and sentimental declamation, had little to say against it, except that it was contrary to the manners and feelings of the people, and that the existing system had not produced, and would not produce, any mischievous subdivision of property. To the argument drawn from the example of England they answered: The English are an emigrating people; they have their East and West Indies, their Australasia, their Canadas; their possessions are scattered all over the globe, and in these they quarter their younger sons. But we have no such resources: our cadets must either starve, or be quartered upon the public; and the church and army, as before the revolution, become the exclusive property of the sons of great families. The speech of M. Villèle contained almost all the sound sense that was spoken on the subject, and his statistical details furnished irrefragable proof of the practical consequences of the system. "We are asked," said he,

for proof of that excessive parcelling out of lands which this project is to remedy? But is

there need of proofs for such a fact? Is it not the Chamber itself which has pointed out its dangers to the attention of government? The deliberations of councils general every year cry out for a prompt remedy for an evil, the progress of which is immense. What proprietor is there who does not see country houses taken down, and lands divided into pieces all about them? In whatever direction you traverse France, the influence of this indefinite division must be remarked, and the traveller must observe it even in the abandonment of the means of transport suitable to the wealth of great proprietors alone. Nevertheless, precise details are looked for:but the minister would not have waited till they were asked for, if, in producing those which he could collect, he was not afraid of committing, in some sort, an act of Charlatanism, unworthy of the good faith of the king's government. In such a matter, however exact may be the returns and the tables of figures, they cannot furnish a proof incapable of being disputed. The documents collected to day cannot give information, unless we could compare them with returns made at a former period. It is, therefore, without the hope of any great advantage, that government has ordered researches to be made ; and it is also without the hope of founding any argument on them, but merely to satisfy the desire of several speakers, that it has produced that information which it was able to procure. The returns have been made from the registers of several departments, presenting altogether an average population of 363,580 individuals. Out of this number the registers

of 1815 present 149,311 taxable of them, 116,433 pay less than 20 francs (16 shillings) impost 9,616 pay from 20 to 30 francs. (16s. to 24s.)-9,243 pay from 30 to 50 francs. (24s. to 40s.) 7,519 pay from 50 to 100 francs (21. to 41.)-5,623 pay from 100 to 500 francs (4l. to 201.)—578 pay from 500 to 1,000 francs (201. to 407.)--and 302 pay 1,000 francs (401) and over.

In 1826, the results are as follow, from the same registers :→→→ 161,739 are taxable, of whom 133,903 pay less than 20 francs8,983 from 20 to 30-7,915 from 30 to 50-6,083 from 50 to 1003,649 from 100 to 300-(this new class has been formed on account of the electoral census, to which the old tables paid no attention)580 from 300 to 500-411 from 500 to 1,000-and 206, 1,000 francs and upwards. It may be true that the registers do not give the exact number of proprietors; but, if it be taken for granted that the comparison of the two returns may give an exact idea of the progressive division of lands, it will be found that, in ten years, the number of persons paying under twenty francs has increased about a ninth-while those who pay above one hundred francs has diminished a third, which is far from offering a satisfactory result.

To appreciate the definite effect of the law of equality of divisions, it may perhaps be sufficient to recollect in what spirit, and in the midst of what circumstances, this law was made; but, if figures be called for, let an example be taken, and it will be seen that in Paris, out of 7,649 successions opened in 1825, 6,568 were opened at intervals. Of the 1,081 remaining, fifty-nine only

contained dispositions advantageous to the children; the others were bequests to strangers. By this it may be judged what has been the operation of equal partition, and whether it is necessary to prevent its effects. England is spoken of-but what other country offers an example of equal industry, co-existing with the greatest accumulation of landed property? The resources which she offers to her cadets are talked of-but is France less fertile in resources of the same kind? has she not even this additional advantage, that all the outlets opened to her industry are her own; that the products of her manufactures are consumed in her own interior, while England is obliged to look for consumers from abroad? France then, in this point of view, has no reason to envy England, and nothing hinders her, after the example of her neighbours, from attempting to introduce within wise limits, a little fixedness in proper ties and families. Of what consequence, it is said, is this fixedness to their fortunes, which decrease and perish, and are replaced by others which spring up and augment without there being any necessity that society should disquiet itself about the change? If fortunes in money are spoken of, the minister agrees that the losses of one are compensated to a certain point by the gains of another; but if fortunes interfere one with another, it is very different with landed properties. Lands may be very easily divided, but, after they have been divided, it is not easy to reunite them. The greatest sacrifices will sometimes be ineffectual to obtain success in such an undertaking. A man becomes naturally attached to the soil which

916,608,734 francs. The report of the committee of the Chamber of Peers on the budget, was By the attentive examination which we have made of the expenditure, we have seen, that, if there are several heads under which a reduction may be justly hoped in future, and some which might receive a more useful application, they are collectively useful and judicious."

In the Chamber of Deputies great diversity of opinion prevailed regarding the purpose to which the excess of revenue over the expenditure should be applied. Some members proposed that the duty on strong beer, others that the duty on cider, should be reduced, and others that, in the rural communes, houses of only one story, and the rent of which did not exceed fifty francs, should be exempted from the door and window tax. All these propositions were rejected in favour of the motion of the minister of finance to employ the surplus in reducing the land-tax. Twenty-five millions were voted for the civil list, and seven millions for the Royal family. On the vote for the expenses of the minister of justice being proposed, M. de Labourdonnaye accused that department of protecting and rewarding criminals, and declared that he would never consent to vote the public money to a minis ter "in whose hand the sword of justice was wielded for the protection of assassination." This charge excited much confusion in the Chamber, till the member explained himself by saying, that he had documents in his possession which proved, that, in Corsica, several assassins, under sentence of death, and others against whom proceedings were commenced, had

been set at liberty by the order of the minister of justice, with an injunction to pass into a foreign country. The minister admitted the fact, and justified it on the ground that from the effervescent nature of Corsican passions, it was impossible to maintain absolute order in the island, and it was necessary to countenance the expatriation of some persons condemned for homieide committed from revenge. But surely it is a new doctrine both in politics and morals, that in proportion to the aptitude of dangerous passions to break forth, the means intended to weaken them should be diminished, and that punishments ought to be more mild and rare, precisely where crimes are most frequent and atrocious. The Papal government has sometimes bribed bandits from their calling by pensioning them off; and they have thus, at least, one motive to good conduct, and the means of living without rapine; but it is very doubtful whether even such a system has ever prevented a robbery or a murder. Relegation from Corsica can scarcely be an evil, and supplies no motive for controlling the angry passions whose indulgence have produced it.

To improve and maintain the internal communications of the country, 422,000 francs were voted, in addition to 28,000 francs for new works, and certainly, considering that thus only about 17,000l. were to be expended upon all the roads in France, it is easy to believe in the justice of the complaints, made by some of the members, of the state in which the roads were kept. The annual expenditure, however, upon canals, and other public works, had been gradually increasing.

The minister of the interior stated in a report (made to the king), that this expenditure amounted in 1823 to something under four millions; in 1824 it was nearly ten millions; in 1825, nearly fifteen millions; and the estimate for 1826, exceeded twenty millions. But these canals and roads, instead of being the fruits of a spirit of private enterprise, were the undertakings of a public board; and private individuals, instead of sharing in them, impeded them. The minister complained that, although the compensation proffered to the proprietors of lands through which a road or canal was to pass, uniformly exceeded the market value of the ground or buildings which it was necessary to purchase, the board, with all its precautions, was met by perpetual delays, disputes, law-suits, and losses; and, instead of the assistance which it might reasonably expect from individuals, it was often hampered by vexatious opposition, however clear might be the advantage to be reaped from the proposed measure.

In the British parliament, the opposition had endeavoured to force a reduction of the army: in the French Chamber of Deputies, the opposition to the army and navy estimates was, that they were too low. Ministers were accused of acting so as to reduce France to the rank of only a third-rate naval power, and of adopting a false and pernicious economy. General Sebastiani reproached them more especially with having paid no attention to the construction of steamboats, which were rapidly bringing about a maritime revolution; and he assured the chamber that all the money now expended in building ships of war was wasted, for the vessels would be useless when

The

ever the steam-boat system was adopted, as adopted it must be. The military establishments were still more roundly taxed with inefficiency. The two royal manufactories of muskets, made about two hundred thousand annually, but made them so badly, that it was necessary to subject them to an additional, and expensive process, to render them fit for use. army, instead of being 240,000 men, which was the peace establishment, consisted of only 231,000; and, for the last ten years, instead of sixteen millions being annually devoted to the repair of the fortresses, the sum so bestowed, it was admitted by ministers, was only four millions. The situation of the frontier, since the restoration, had rather rendered increase imperious, than justified reduction : Swiss neutrality had vanished ; Landau belonged to Bavaria, Prussia, a first-rate military power, was on the banks of the Mozelle, and could manoeuvre her troops within twenty leagues of Paris; Belgium was no longer simply an Austrian province, with a distant government, but had become a kingdom united to Holland, armed with a triple line of fortresses, and these fortresses commanded and inspected by Wellington. collect, gentlemen," exclaimed M. Casimir Perrier, in that theatrical style of rhetoric which characterizes French eloquence, and amid shouts of " Order," and violent and tumultuous interruptions from the mortified national pride of the Chamber, "Recollect the tears of despair which we shed on seeing the Prussians, the laurels of vic tors in their caps, guarding your barriers, and parading your squares! Do you wish to see the matches again lighted, ready to blow up

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