Page:Coubertin - France since 1814, 1900.djvu/101

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THE GREAT JUGGLING OF 1830
85

rise of the Polignac Ministry changed his determination. The desired horizon was open to him. Only a little way, however. Up to the 29th of July he was sceptical as to the change of dynasty, in spite of Ordinances and revolt.

It was on the 26th of July that the famous Ordinances, signed the day before, appeared in the Moniteur, causing a fall on the Bourse of from three to four francs. To tell the truth, they hardly constituted a Coup d'État ; no state of siege was proclaimed, nobody was arrested, and no troops were called out to support the evil designs of the Government. The first of the Ordinances suppressed the liberty of the Press, and to that measure, pernicious as it was, people were more or less accustomed. It was the same with the dissolution of the Chamber, proclaimed by the second Ordinance, which at the same time convoked the electors for the month of September, thus implying that at any rate there was no idea of dispensing with their support. The third Ordinance was more serious, for it completely modified the electoral law ; still it is to be noted that it restored most of the regulations of 1814 relating to the composition of the Chamber, regulations