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treasury of Paris the sum of $1,000,000 francs, by 19 instalments, the first of which to take place on the 1st of June, 1817, and the last on the 1st of June, 1818. For the liquidation of this sum of 31,000,000, the city of 2. Paris binds itself to pay to the contractors, in the course of 12 years, the sum of 52,176,000l in 48 quarterly payments of 1,087,000l. each, between the 1st of October 1817, and the 1st of July, 1829. The city of Paris engages to make no loan during a year, to employ the sums contributed by the contractors for the purposes mentioned in the ordinance, and to create 33,000 obligations of 1,000 francs each, making

These obligations

will bear an interest of 6 per cent. each, per annum, which interest, in consequence of successive liquidation of capital on the same bills, will amount, in the space

33,000,000

of 19 years, to .... 13,094,770
In addition to this,
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52,176,000

however, some machinations of greater importance appear to have been in agitation; and the following proclamation, by the Comte de Fargues, Mayor of Lyons, evidently points out an intention in certain individuals of exciting a political conspiracy.

MAYORALTY OF LYON.

PROCLAMATION.

Inhabitants of the City of Lyon. -For several days sinister reports, which are but too frequently the forerunner of storms, have awakened the attention of the authorities, and led to the developement of the wicked designs of the disaffected, the gloomy advances of which, notwithstanding the shade of mystery under which they endeavoured to conceal them, could not escape the penetration of the magistrates.

A plot, as extravagant as criminal, was contemplated; and its ramifications extended to the surrounding country, where misguided individuals, seduced by fallafidence to the seditious discourses cious promises, gave ear with conof the vilest instigators.

Their aim was disorder, pillage, 6,081,230 and assassination; it was to these that their wishes and efforts were directed, and they were about to employ the most horrible means for their purposes: but all the details of this odious plot were in the hands of the authorities. Every means was taken to oppose a vigorous and legitimate resistance to the attempts of these scoundrels, whose criminal intentions were carried no farther than in assassinating, in the most shameful manner, the brave officers of the legion of l'Yonne.

DISTURBANCES IN THE PROVINCES. In June it was announced in a Paris paper that the disturbances which had taken place in several parts of France had entirely subsided. They appear to have risen chiefly from the high price of provisions, and the leader of a band who disturbed the markets at Yonne was condemned to twenty years captivity in irons. At Lyons,

Thanks to the wise and prudent arrange

arrangements of the worthy magistrate to whom this department is confided; thanks to the able general who commanded the 19th military division; thanks to the courageous devotion of the national guard, who daily furnish fresh reason for an addition to the praises they so richly deserve; thanks to the faithful and valiant troops which compose the garrison; thanks at last to the zeal of the Lyonnese, who always know how to display that character and that French heart which has so eminently distinguished them— the plot was baffled, tranquillity has been maintained, and a great part of the insurgents have fallen into our hands.

An exemplary punishment, not less prompt than severe and justly merited, will show, that although indulgence is inexhaustible for errors and wanderings, justice can be inflexible in cases of crime, audacity, and revolt.

Inhabitants of the City of Lyon. -Your magistrates know how to appreciate you in case of emergency; they look to you with confidence. You may continue peaceable; you have no occasion for any fears-for any alarms; and you may rest satisfied under their care. You will rally round them; you will give your efforts to theirs to crown the success; and you will sustain the honour of a city always distinguished for its courage, its zeal for the maintenance of good order, and for the love which it bears to its lawful Sovereign.-Vive le Roi!

Done at the Hotel de Ville,

June 9, 1817.

The Mayor of the City of Lyon.
Le Comte de FARGUES.

MAJORATS.

On August 25th, two royal ordinances were published in the Moniteur relative to the establishment of majorats for the Hereditary Peerage which is to compose the first order of the French Chambers. No person is in future to be called to the House of Peers, ecclesiastics excepted, who has not previously obtained the royal authority to form a majorat. Of the majorats there are to be three classes; those attached to the title of duke, consisting of property producing not less than 30,000 francs annually; those to the titles of marquis and count producing not less than 20 000 francs annually; and those to the titles of viscounts and barons, producing not less than 10,000 francs annually. The second ordinance directs the manner in which the patents of peerage are to be made out, the precedency of peers, the titles of their eldest sons, &c.

ELECTION OF THE CHAMBER

OF DEPUTIES.

The election of the Chamber of Deputies took place in the month of September, conformably to the rule laid down by his Majesty in the September of the preceding year, which fixed the number to be returned by the 86 departments of the kingdom at 258, and limited the age prescribed for the deputies to such as had passed their fortieth year. The speech delivered by the King to both Chambers was to the following purpose.

Gentlemen,-At the opening of the last session I spoke to you of the hopes inspired by the marriage of the Duke de Berry. Though

Providence

Providence has too suddenly with drawn the gift it bestowed, yet we cannot fail to behold in it assurances of the future accomplishment of our wishes.

The treaty with the Holy See, which I announced last year, has since been concluded. I have commanded my ministers, in communicating it to you, to propose the project of a law, necessary to give the legislative sanction to such of its provisions as may be susceptible of it, and to place them in unison with the charter, the laws of the kingdom, and those privileges of the Gallican church, the precious inheritance of our fathers, of which St. Louis and all his successors were no less jealous than of the happiness of their subjects.

The harvest of 1816, by its bad quality, frustrated in a great degree, my hopes. The sufferings of my people have afflicted my heart. I have, however, beheld with emotion, that almost every where they have endured them with a touching resignation; and if, in some places, they have broken out into seditious acts, order was soon re-established. In order to mitigate the misfortunes of that period, I have found it necessary to make great efforts, and to draw upon the treasury for extraordinary sacrifices. The details will be laid before you, and the zeal with which you are animated for the public good will not permit me to doubt that these unforeseen expenses will have your sanction. The harvest of this year is more satisfactory over the greatest part of the kingdom; but, on the other hand, some local calamities, and the blights

which have fallen upon the vineyards, excite my paternal solicitude for privations which, without your co-operation, I cannot relieve.

I have ordered the budget of the charges of the financial year on which we are about to enter to be laid before you. If the expenses resulting from treaties, and from the deplorable war they have terminated, will not permit any immediate diminution of the taxes voted in preceding sessions, I have at least the satisfaction of thinking, that the economy I have prescribed will preclude the necessity of requiring any augmentation, and a vote of credit inferior to that of the last budget will suffice for all the wants of the year.

The conventions which I signed in 1815, in presenting results which could not then be foreseen, have rendered a new negotiation necessary. Every thing leads me to hope that its issue will be favourable, and that conditions far above our means will be replaced by others more conformable to equity, to moderation, and to the possibility of sacrifices, which my people support with a constancy that can add nothing to my love for them, but which give them new claims to my gratitude, and to the esteem of all nations.

Thus, as I had the happiness of announcing to you in the course of last session, the expenses resulting from the army of occupation are diminished a fifth, and the period is not far distant when we may be permitted to hopethanks to the wisdom and energy of my government, to the love and confidence of my people, and to the friendship of my allies-that

those

those expenses will entirely cease; and that our country will resume among nations the rank and renown due to the valour of Frenchmen, and their noble attitude in adversity.

To attain this end, I shall more than ever stand in need of unanimity between the people and the throne; of that vigour, without which authority is powerless. In proportion as that authority is strong, will the necessity be diminished of displaying itself in acts of severity. The manner in which the depositaries of my power have used what the laws intrusted to them have justified my confidence. However, I feel great satisfaction in announcing to you, that I do not consider it requisite to continue the Prevotal Courts beyond the term fixed for their existence by the law which established them.

I have digested, conformably to the charter, a law for recruiting. I wish that there should be no room left for invoking privileges; that the spirit and dispositions of that charter, our true compass, which calls all Frenchmen indiscriminately to offices and employments, should not be illusory; and that the soldier should find no other limits to his honourable career, than those of his talents and of his services. If the execution of this salutary law should demand an augmentation in the budget of the war minister, you, as the interpreters of the sentiments of my people, will not hesitate to sanction arrangements which secure to France that independence and that dignity, without which there can be neither king nor nation.

I have detailed to you our difficulties, and the measures which they require: in conclusion, I shall direct your attention to ohjects of a more pleasing description. Thanks to the peace restored to the church of France, religion, that eternal basis of all felicity even on earth, will, I doubt not, flourish amongst us; tranquillity and confidence begin to re-appear; public credit is consolidating; agriculture, commerce, and industry, resume their activity; new master-pieces of art excite admiration. One of my children is traversing, at this moment, a part of the kingdom; and in return for sentiments so deeply engraven on his heart, and manifested by his conduct, he is every where greeted with benedictions ; while I, who have but one feeling-the happiness of my people; who am desirous, for their good alone, of that authority which I shall defend from all attacks, of whatever kind-know that I am beloved by them, and find in my heart the assurance that this consolation will never fail me.

PROJECT OF A LAW FOR
THE PRESS.

On Nov. 17th, Baron Pasquier, keeper of the seals, made a speech relative to the liberty of the press, introductory to the project of a law on the subject proposed by the King to the Chamber of Deputies, and contained in the following articles.

Louis, by the grace of God, &c.

We have ordained that the project of a law of the following tendency shall be presented in our name to the Chamber of Depu

ties, by our Keeper of the Seals, Minister Secretary of State for the Department of Justice, by our Minister of General Police, and by the Sieurs Ravez and Simeon, Counsellors of State.

Article 1. The author, known and residing in France, of a printed work, is alone responsible for its contents.

2. The author, known and residing in France, of a printed translation of a work, is respon=sible for it.

3. The editor of a work of which the author has died before publication, or is not known, or is not resident in France, is responsible for it.

not

4. The printer is not responsible except when the author, the translator, or editor, are known, or do not reside in France; or where the author or translator has not consented to the printing of the work.

5. If the author, the translator, the editor, or the printer of a work be not known, or do not reside in France, the bookseller, and all others who vend or distribute the said work, are responsible for it.

6. Nevertheless, the authors, translators, editors, and printers of a work, which would directly incite to crimes, and the booksellers, and all others, who sell or distribute it, are all equally responsible, and may be prosecuted at the same time for the said work. 7. A prosecution may be instituted for every work given to be printed in the two following cases:

1st. If the declaration prescribed by the law of the 4th of October, 1814, be not made.

2d. If the work, although the declaration be made, contains a direct incitement to crime

8. Excepting these two cases, there can be no prosecution for a printed work, until a publication shall have taken place, and the distribution of the whole or of part of the work, or the deposit made in pursuance of the 14th article of the law of the 21st October, 1814, are considered a publication.

9. When a printed work shall have been seized by virtue of the 15th article of the 2d title of the law of the 21st October, 1814, the order of seizure, and the proces verbal, shall, under pain of nullity, be notified within 24 hours to the party on whom the seizure shall be made and transmitted, within the same time by the King's attorney to the Judge of Instruction.

10. If in three days from the notification of the proces verbal, and in case the distribution of all, or part of the work seized, may not have been made, the responsible accused person declares that he renounces the publication of it : and if he consents that all the copies of it shall be destroyed, the suppression of the work, and the destruction of the copies seized, and of all those which may be subsequently produced, shall be ordered by the tribunal, and the prosecution shall be no further continued, unless the printed work shall have directly provoked or excited to crimes.

11. The Judge of Instruction is bound, within eight days from the reception of the proces verbal of seizure, to make his report to the Chamber of the Council.

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