I. 20. Vaigle éteint, i. e. Napoleon

II. 2 1-22. Que de périls la tribune orageuse offre aux vertus qui Posent affronter! Béranger refers to the expulsion of Manuel (for details regarding whom cf. notes to Le Tombeau de Manuel). In October, 1822, the Sainte-Alliance had decided to intervene in Spain in favour of King Ferdinand, who found himself in a position somewhat similar to that of Louis XVI in 1792. On the 28th of January, 1823, at the opening of the parliamentary session, the King's Speech announced that 100,000 French soldiers were ready to march to preserve the throne of Spain for a descendant of Henri IV, and to protect that fine kingdom from ruin. The discussion on the Address was stormy, but a climax was reached when Villèle introduced with the Budget a bill for a loan of 100 million francs for 1 extraordinary and urgent expenses.' A number of Liberals had spoken against the measure without greatly exciting the anger of the Right when on the 26th of February Manuel ascended the * tribune.' He argued that to intervene in Spain under the pretence of safeguarding Ferdinand's life was perhaps to prepare a catastrophe analogous to that which had been caused in France during the Revolution by the intervention of foreign Powers. ' Ai-je besoin de dire,' he added, ' que le moment où les dangers de la famille royale sont devenus le plus graves, c'est lorsque la France, la France révolutionnaire, sentit qu'elle avait besoin de se défendre par des forces nouvelles, par une énergie toute nouvelle ? . . .' The Right did not allow him to proceed ; he was accused of speaking in defence of the execution of Louis XVI, refused the right to explain his words or justify himself, and expelled from the Chamber by main force on the 4th of March ; nor was he ever allowed to resume his seat.

In the Châtiments Victor Hugo wrote later : —

Vicomte de Foucault, lorsque vous empoignâtes L'éloquent Manuel de vos mains auvergnates, Comme l'océan bout quand tressaille l'Etna Le peuple tout entier s'émut et frissonna. Manuel's expulsion was not forgotten, and contributed not a little to the ultimate overthrow of the Bourbons.

1. 28. Fait signe au Nord. ' Beckons to the Sainte- Alliance,' the promoter of which was the Emperor of Russia.

1. 37. La Grèce expire. Europe had not yet interposed in the conflict between Greece and Turkey.

Le Violon brisé. (Page 77.)

It is difficult to tell with certainty under what impulse or what circumstances this song dealing with the Invasion period was written, but it is extremely probable that it dates, with Le Chant du Cosaque, from the end of 1822. The delegates of the ' Sainte-Alliance ' were sitting in congress at Verona, discussing the proposed intervention in Spain (cf. note to Le Malade, I. 21), and it was commonly reported that the policy of Louis XVIII was to induce the Russians and Prussians to undertake the pacification of that country. This would have involved their passage through France, and it was high time, therefore, to refresh the memory of the people and to keep alive their hatred of the foreigner.

Béranger was dealing with some actual occurrence of the year 1814. In the Revue des Deux-Mondes (1887), Henri Houssaye writes, in an article entitled La France en 18 14, 1 A Crézancy, dans le verger voisin de la mairie, des Cosaques ivres forçaient à coups de knout des femmes à danser avec eux et le ménétrier à leur jouer du violon.' (Quoted by Professor Hartmann.)

I.5. vainqueurs par ruse. Béranger must have known better than to ascribe Napoleon's defeats entirely to cunning and treachery, but he more than once humours the ' amour-propre ' of the French people in this way.

11. 17-18. Aux curés qui Posaient entendre nos danses causaient moins d'effroi. In the early years of the Restoration a number of parish priests, influenced by the missionaries and Jesuits who were ' reviving ' the country, condemned dancing and similar pleasures as sinful, and even contrived to extort from a few 'préfets ' decrees prohibiting them. This was the occasion of Paul Louis Courier's famous pamphlet, Petition à la Chambre des Deputes pour les villageois que l'on empêche de danser (1820).

1. 29. sous l'orme. Cf. Le Vieux MÉNÉTRIER, where the villagers dance under an oak-tree.

Le Chant du Cosaque. (Page 79.)

Probably written, like the preceding song, during the Congress of Verona, in order to influence public opinion against any intervention of the Northern Powers in Spain. The Cossack of Béranger's song, at the rumour of war, gloats over the prospect of a fresh raid on Western Europe.

1. 9. La Paix , qui fuit. The years 1820 to 1823 saw war, insurrection, or civil strife in Greece, Spain, Naples, Sicily,

and Piedmont, and there were serious fears lest a spark from any one of these centres should once again set Europe ablaze.