Page:Historyoffranc00yong.djvu/223

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X.] THE CHANGES SINCE THE REVOLUTION. 199 desertion inexcusable, was tried and sentenced to be shot, his death causing great pity and indignation. The secona occupation of Paris by the alUes pressed more heavily than the tirst ; the Prussians were allowed to revenge their past sufferings. Lewis XVI 1 1, restored the treasures of art which had been stolen to adorn the Louvre, and every attempt was made to impress on the French the differ - ence between lawful war and mere aggre s sion. To secure peace, an allied army was quartered on them for three years. The country was greatly exhausted, and the strength and stature of her people is said never to have recovered the effects of the losses between 1789 and 1815. CHAPTER X. THE CHANGES SINCE THE REVOLUTION. I. The Restoration, 1815. — France has donelittle since the Great Revolution but rest for a few years and then heave and struggle again. Lewis XVI IL was, like Charles II. of England, resolved not to go on his travels again. He had Talleyrand, Blacas, and Decazes for his advisers ; he paid careful heed to the temper of the nation, and reigned with tolerable quietness. By the charter there was a House of hereditary /"t'^rx named by the king and a Chamber of Deputies. The mode of their election was changed several times, but the franchise was confined to so small a part of the nation that the Chamber of Peers was generally the more liberal body of the two, and often threw out reactionary measures which had been passed by the Chamber of Deputies. But of the king's brother the Count of Artois and his family it was said, " The Bourbons have forgotten nothing and have learned nothing ;" for iMonsieur, as according to the old custom the count was called, was known to wish to bring back all that was possible of the former royal power. Both brothers had taeen dissipated in their youth, but while Lewis had lapsed into easy indifferent free-thinking, Charles had become devout. He was under the guidance of the Jesuits, who had been restored by Pius VII., and were striving to bring