Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert PeelAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert Peel
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
On the 2nd of May, two days only before Buonaparte entered his little
capital of Elba, Louis made his public entry into Paris amid quite
a gay and joyous-seeming crowd; for the Parisians are always ready
for a parade and a sensation; and none are said to have worn gloomy
looks on the occasion except the Imperial Guard, now, as they deemed
themselves, degraded into the Royal Guard--from the service of the most
brilliant of conquerors to that of the most pacific and unsoldierlike
of monarchs, who was too unwieldy even to mount a horse. For a time all
appeared agreeable enough; but there were too many hostile interests
at work for it to remain long so. In the new constitution, by which
the Senate had acknowledged Louis, they had declared him recalled on
the condition that he accepted the constitution framed for him; and
at the same time they declared the Senate hereditary, and possessed
of the rank, honours, and emoluments which Buonaparte had conferred
on the members. Louis refused to acknowledge the right of the Senate
to dictate a constitution to him. He assumed the throne as by his own
proper hereditary descent; and he then gave of his free will a free
constitution. This was the first cause of difference between the king
and the people. The Royalists condemned the new constitution as making
too much concession, and the Republicans resented his giving a charter
of freedom, because it made them the slaves of his will. The Royalists
soon began to monopolise offices and honours, and to clamour for the
recovery of their estates, now in the hands of the people, and these
were naturally jealous of their prevailing on the king and his family
to favour such reclamations. The clergy, who, like the Noblesse, had
been stripped of their property, and had now to subsist on annuities
of five hundred livres, or about twenty-six pounds sixteen shillings
and eightpence a-year, looked with resentment on those who were in
possession of the spoil; and the well-known disposition of the king
and his family to restore the status and the substance of the Catholic
Church, made those who had this property, and those--the greater part
of the nation--who had no religion whatever, readily believe that ere
long they would attempt to recall what the Revolution had distributed.
These suspicions were greatly augmented by the folly and bigotry
of the clergy. They refused to bury with the rites of the Church a
Mademoiselle Raucour, simply because she was an actress. Great tumults
arose on the occasion, and the Government was compelled to interfere
and ensure the burial in due form. The more regular observance of
the Sabbath was treated as bringing back the ancient superstitions;
and the taking up of the remains of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette
and conveying them to the royal place of sepulture in the Abbey of
St. Denis was regarded as a direct censure of the Revolution. It was
quite natural that Louis XVIII. should do this, and equally so that
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