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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 87.: FRENCH NEWS [16] EXAMINER, 20 FEB., 1831, PP. 121-2 - The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I

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Subject Area: Political Theory
Collection: The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill

87.: FRENCH NEWS [16] EXAMINER, 20 FEB., 1831, PP. 121-2 - John Stuart Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I [1822]

Edition used:

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I, ed. Ann P. Robson and John M. Robson, Introduction by Ann P. Robson and John M. Robson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986).

Part of: Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, in 33 vols.

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87.

FRENCH NEWS [16]

EXAMINER, 20 FEB., 1831, PP. 121-2

This item is headed “London, February 20.” For the entry in Mill’s bibliography, see No. 55. The item is listed as “Article on France” and enclosed in square brackets in the Somerville College set.

there has been a slight disturbance at paris, in consequence of an attempt of some old royalists to celebrate mass for the soul of the Duc de Berri on the anniversary of his assassination; on the occasion of which celebration royal honours were paid, or believed to be paid to the bust of the Duke of Bordeaux.1 This so incensed the people, that they broke into the church, where they destroyed most of the matériel of the celebration, sparing, however, the painted windows and the pictures, and afterwards proceeded to the house of the Archbishop of Paris, which they completely gutted, throwing the furniture into the Seine.2 Tranquillity seems afterwards to have been completely restored. Several of the royalist leaders have been arrested. Some say, that their absurd demonstrations were connected with ulterior designs. They are sufficiently stupid to have meditated such, but they are also sufficiently stupid to have acted as they have done for mere bravado, without any serious designs.

The discussion on the municipal law still continues.

The Budget for the year has been presented.3 It exhibits some retrenchments on the ordinary expenses, and a considerable amount of extraordinary ones, rendered necessary by placing the army on the war establishment.4 These are to be provided for by the sale of a small part of the enormous extent of forests belonging to the state.5

We learn from M. Laffitte’s statement, a most satisfactory fact, that, notwithstanding the late and present commercial embarrassments, and the temporary privations which they must have caused to the middle and working classes, the produce of the taxes on consumption exhibits a decided increase; and this although, or perhaps because, the duties on wine, which compose a large part of the whole amount, have been considerably reduced.6

The ministry have lately afforded a poor earnest of their disposition towards a relaxation of the restrictive system, by which France partially renounces the use of the natural productiveness of her land and capital. They have re-established the Board of Trade, under the presidence of M. de Saint-Cricq, the Vansittart of France.7

[1 ]Charles Ferdinand de Bourbon, duc de Berry (1778-1820), second son of Charles X, was assassinated on 13 Feb., 1820. His wife, Marie Caroline Ferdinande Louise de Bourbon (1798-1870), to everyone’s surprise and to the delight of the legitimists, proved to be pregnant and subsequently produced Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné, comte de Chambord, duc de Bordeaux (1820-83), in whose favour Charles X abdicated during the July Revolution.

[2 ]Hyacinthe Louis de Quélen (1778-1839), Archbishop of Paris since 1821. For accounts of the disturbances, see “Service du duc de Berry,” Constitutionnel, 15 Feb., p. 2, and “Bulletin de la journée,” ibid., 16 Feb., p. 2.

[3 ]Introduced on 11 Feb. by Laffitte, the budget was finally enacted as Bull. 46, No. 115 (16 Oct., 1831).

[4 ]For the Act, see No. 68, n2.

[5 ]On 11 Feb., the ministry had introduced a Bill to that effect that became Bull. 28, No. 95 (25 Mar., 1831).

[6 ]Moniteur, 1831, pp. 295-8.

[7 ]Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley (1766-1851), Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1812 to 1822, had a reputation for complicated financial borrowings.