FALL OF RICHELIEU'S MINISTRY



Belgians, Dutch, Spanish, or inhabitants of the departments
of the Rhine, under the directions of my executors, one hun-
dred thousand francs. To be distributed among those who
suffered amputation or were severely wounded at Liguy or
Waterloo, who may be still living, according to lists drawn
up by my executors. The Guards shall be paid double, those
of the Island of Elba quadruple, two hundred thousand
francs."
   A curious bequest was that of 10,000 francs to Cantillon,
a French subaltern, who was tried and acquitted for the at-
tempted assassination of the Duke of Wellington in Paris
February 11, 1818. Napoleon thus explained this bequest:
   "Cantillon had as much right to assassinate that oli-
garchist as the latter had to send me to perish upon the rock
of St. Helena. Wellington, who proposed this outrage, at-
tempted to justify it by pleading the interest of Great Brit-
ain. Cantillon, if he had really assassinated that lord, would
have pleaded the same excuse, and been justified by the same
motive-the interest of France-to get rid of this general,
who, moreover, by violating the capitulation of Paris, had
rendered himself responsible for the blood of the martyrs
Nev, Labedoyere, etc., and for the crime of having pillaged
the museums, contrary to the text of the treaties."
   This last legacy was not paid until 1855, when Napoleon
III discharged it.
   Late in the year the Ministry of Duc de Richelieu suc-
cuimbed to the machinations of Comte d'Artois, The ex-
plosion of a barrel of gunpowder in the royal palace raised
apprehensions of another painful scene, like that preceding
the fall of the Ministry of Decazes. Richelien resigned, and
Villele took his place. Chateaubriand was sent to London
as Ambassador.
   The 4th of March fell on a Sunday, and Monroe was the
first American President to be inaugurated on the 5th. Mis-
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1821