In  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  Left,  Richelieu  allowed  them
three  posts  of  unattached  Ministers,  and  bestowed  them  on
their  most  influential  leaders,  Laine,  Corbiere  and  de  Villele.
This  was  a  compromise,  giving  them  the  honours,  without
affecting  the  power  of  the  Ministry ;   and  yet  it  was  of  no


l]  The  "Parti  PrStre"  29

avail.  The  intractable  Royalists  were  able  to  elect  the
President  of  the  Chamber  by  a  majority  of  over  100,  and
to  claim  the  drafting  of  the  Address.  Conscious  of  their
power,  they  summoned  the  Ministry  to  resign  on  December
29;  and  the  speakers  of  the  Left,  in  order  to  force  their
hands,  refused  to  vote  their  budget.  Another  criminal
attack  upon  the  Royal  Palace,  which  was  made  on  January
27,  1821,  gave  the  Ultras  an  opportunity  of  repeating  last
year's  manoeuvre  which  had  served  them  so  well  against
the  Decazes  Cabinet.  For  the  space  of  two  months  they
kept  on  clamouring  to  the  King  for  a  Ministry'  more  firmly
determined  to  make  the  deputies  of  the  Left,  the  organisers
of  anarchy  and  fosterers  of  assassination,  pay  the  penalty
of  their  crimes  against  public  order  and  the  Monarchy.
