M. Pasquier took his seat in the upper chamber, at that time a powerful institution possessed of hereditary rank, property, and the _majorats_. The prospects of the young peerage were very great, and evidence was soon afforded of what they were capable of doing, by their constant opposition to the faults and ill-judged proceedings of the restoration. M. Pasquier, placing himself on the same benches as the statesmen of the Richelieu party, made a point of speaking upon every subject that came before the house, and the judgment and deep thought which characterised his discourses, caused them to exercise great influence over the chamber. He spoke against the rights of primogeniture, the creation of the three per cents, and the law of sacrilege; and his speeches were often the means of deciding the question by their influence on the majority obtained. He placed himself in constant and direct opposition to the Villèle cabinet, which occasioned a strange advance in revolutionary ideas, by the constant injury it inflicted upon the interests and affections of modern France. There was not quite the same vehemence of debate in the chamber of peers as in that of the deputies, but it attained to more certain results. There was a degree of quiet, and at the same time great political judgment, in the discussions, not allowing themselves to be carried away by the spirit of party, but continuing so steadily to advance towards the downfall of M. de Villèle's ministry, that we may safely assert, the retirement of the royalist cabinet of the restoration was owing to their efforts. It must be confessed, this opposition was rather against the order of things; an aristocratic power which opposed the elements of an aristocratic constitution, was not in good keeping; but the fault lay with the party of the restoration, which interfered too hastily with the new ideas and prejudices prevalent in France.