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Extractfrom' the'Registers of the Sec
■ jfauBil g; retary of State.
- COUNCIL OF .MINISTERS,
’# v ■' Sitting of Sunday12d ofApril.
‘wPjMr^^Tr-li 00 WOtPDED.) .
“ The treaty" of Fontainbleaiu has
KPtl
• been violated by the allied powers,
and by the house of Bourbon, in what
respects the emperor Napoleon and
his family, and in what respects the in-
tercsts and the rights of the French na
tion,
K 1. The empress Meria Louisa
and her son were to obtain passports,
and an escort to repair tb the empe
ror; but far from performing their
promise, the husband and wife, father
and son, were separated under painful
circumstances^ when the firmest mind
lias-occasion to seek consolation and
Support in family and domestic affec-
’* ■* \ 1 * ..
“2. The security "of Napoleon, of
If his imperial family and their suit, were
♦ guaranteed (art. 14 of the treaty) by
all die powers ;tyet bands of assassins
were Organized in France under the
eyes bC we French government, and
and even by ij;s orders, as will soon be
proved by the solemn proceedings
against Sieur Demonbreuil. for attack*
* Jng the emperor, his brothers, and
their wives. In default of success
hoped for from this first branch of the
plot, an insurrection was prepared at
Orgon, on the emperor’s route, in or
der that an attempt might be made on
jji his life by some brigands. The Sieur
BAilart, an associate of Georges, had
been sent as governor ao Corsica, in
order to be prepared and make sure of
the crime; and, in fact, several de
tached assassins have attempted, in
Isle of Elba, to gain,; by the murder of
the emperor, the. base reward which
Was promised them.
“ 3. The Duchies of Parma and
Placentia were given in full property
to Maria Louisa, for herself, her son,
and their decendantsii - After long re
fusal to put her into possession, the in
justice Was completed by a complete
^poliation. under the illusory pretext
©fan exchange, without valuation, pro
position, or sovereignty, and without
her consent. And the documents in
the office for foreign affairs prove that
it was on the solicitations, and by the
intrigues ofthe prince of Benevento,
that Maria Louisa and her son were
despoiled.
‘‘4. Eugene, the adopted son of
Napoleon, was to have obtained a
'suitable establishment out of France,
but he has had nothing.
“ 5. rThe emperor had , stipulated
f.>r the army, the preservation of their
rewards, given them on Monte Napo
leon.^.; He had-- reserved to himself,
first, to recompense his faithful fol-
lowers." F.very thing has been taken
away, 6nt reserved by the ministers
of the Bourbons. M. Bresson, an
ageivtfrom the arinv, was dispatched
$o-Vienna to assert their claims, but in
waitt. -iKfc'x
“ 6. The. preservation of the pro-
tty; moVeable and immoveable, he
wing to the emperor’s family, was
prjyidedTor, but all was robbed—-in
France cburmissioned brigands, in Ita
ly by the violence of the military
followers, cither to St. Lucie, or St. several, tlie degradation of the 11 sol
Helena, which had been pointed out as
his prison.
“ And when the allied powers, yield
ing to the imprudent wishes, to the
cruel instigations of the house of Bour
bon, condescended to violate the so
lemn contract, on the faith of which
Napoleon liberated the French nation
from its oaths; when he himself and
all the members of his family saw
themselves menaced, attacked in their
persons, in thrilr properties, in their af-
diers, the suppression of their endow- to interfere with her internal affairs* ^
ments, the.depriving themof their pay
or their pensions, the reduction of al
lowances to the legion of honor, the
spoil of their honors, the pre-eminence
ofthe decorations of the,feudal mon
archy, tire contempt for thebitizeiis,
designated of new under the name of
the Tiers Etat, the spoliation prepared
and already commenced of the pur
chasers of national estates, the actual
depreciation of the • value of those
fections, in all the rights stipulated in ' which was brought to the market, the
their favor as princes, in those even reinstatement of feudality into its ti-
secured by the laws to private citizens ties, its privileges, its available rights,
—what was Napoleon to do ? the re-establishment of ultramontane
“ Was he, after enduring so many principles, the abolition of the liberties
offences, supporting so many acts of ofthe Gallican Church, the annihila-
injustice, to consent to the complete tion of the Concordat, the re-establish-
violation of the engagements entered ment of tithes, the reviving intoler-
into with him, and resigning himself ance of an exclusive worship, the do-
personally to the fate preparedfor him mination of a handful of nobles over a
to abandon also his spouse*, his son, people accustomed to equality—this
his family, his faithful servants* W-their is what the Bourbons have done or
frightful destiny ? . V ^ ’ wished to do for France. ’ : *
*« Such a resolution seems .beyond “ It was under such circumstances
the endurance of human nature ; and that the emperor Napoleon quitted the
yet Napoleon would have embraced it, i island of Elba ; such are the motives
if the peace and happines of France had! of the determination taken by him,
been the price of this new sacrifice. 1 — A —* •'»-
He would have devoted himself for
the French people, from whom, as he
will declare in the face of Europe, it is
“ 7. Napolobrl wasL tQ have received
two ihillkms. and hi^fimiUy two mii-
lions five hunurra'Siousaiid franks per
annum. Tlfe^Fretfch government has
constantly refused to^discharge its ciw
gagements^amd Napoleon would have
soon been obliged to disband his
faithful guards for - want of the means
of paying-them, had he not found an
honorable resource in the conduct of
spme bankers and merchants of Genoa
and : Italy; r who advanced twelve mil
lions, which they had offered to him.
“ 8 In fine, it was not without a
cause that it was desirable by every
means to remove from Napoleon the
Ions' of his glory, the unshaken
i of his safety and of his exis-
•teiica Th« island/>f Elba was assign
fA iu ifftiiift* Nnf
^‘Pcdto'him iit pefpctuity, but the reso
lution of rit’.'bing him of it was at the
,T.m of fhe Bourbons, fixed
. T ^ :..e congress.,,;not Pro-
- acne prevented it, ^Europe--would
hftvc sfen aafiattempt make on the per-,
son and lil>erty of Napoleon, left he ' 1
, | aficffL^ mercy of his enemies, and
transported far from fiis friends and
Plk.. ~
*
his glory to hold every thing, whose
good shall be the object of his endea
vours* and to whom alone he will be
answerable for his actions, and devote
his life.
“ It was for France alone, and that
it might avoid the evils of an intestine
war, that he abdicated the crown in
1814. He restored to the French peo
ple the rights which he held from them,
he left them at liberty to seek a new
master, and to found their liberty and
their happiness on institutions for the
protection of both.
“ He hoped for the nation the pre
servation of all that it had acquired in
twenty-five years of combats and glory,
the exercise of its sovereignty in the
choice of a dynasty and in stipulations
of the conditions on which that dy
nasty would be called to reign
“ He expected from the NeW Go
vernment the respect for the glory of
the armies, the rights of the brave, the
guarantee of all the new interests, ol
those interests which have been in ex
istence and supported for half a centu
ry, resulting from all the political and
civil laws, observed and revered dur
ing that time, because they are idem
tified with the manners, the habits, and
the wants of the nation.
“ Far from this, every idea of the
sovereignty of the people was set
aside.
“ The principle on which the whole
political and moral legislation has rest
ed since the revolution, has equally
been set aside.
“ France has been treated by the
Bourbons, as a revoked country, re
conquered by the arms of its ancient
masters, and subjected again to the
feudal domination.
“ Louis Stanislaus Xavier has mis
understood the treaty which alone ren
dered the throne of France vacant, and
the abdication of which alone entitled
him to ascend it.
“He pretended to have reigned
nineteen years; insulting in this man
nerthe government established since
tlifnime, the people who consecrat
ed them by their sufferages, the army
which defended them, and-'even the
sovereigns who acknowledged them in
their numerous treaties
“ A charter drawn up by the senate
imperfect as it was, has been consign
ed to oblivion.
“They imposed on France a pretend
ed constitutional law, as easy to be
eluded as ’ to be revoked, and in the
form of simple Royal Ordinances, with
out consulting the nation, withont ev
en listening to those illegal bodies,
the phantoms of the national represen
tation.
“ And as the Bourbons have issued
ordinances without rights, and pro
mises without any guarantee, they have
eluded them without sincerity* and ex
ecuted them without fideliyty.
| ^The violation of that, pretended
charter-was restrained only byihelini-
idity ofthe government, the extent of
* e abuse of authority was only limit-
l by its weakness,
jp^^e ’di^lpeatic^ dJ
dispersion of ib officers. n&gS
~ • *% i itfW®
and not the consideration of his per
sonal interests, which weighs little
with him compared to the interests of
the nation to whom he has consecrat-
edhis existence. - - -
~ “ He has not carried war into the
bosom of France ; he has on the con
trary, extinguished the war which the
proprietors of national estates, form-
ing four fifths of the French proprie
tors, would have been forced to carry
on with their spoliators; the war
which the citizens oppressed, degrad
ed, and humiliated by the nobles,
would have been forced to declare
against their oppressors ; the war
which the protestants, Jews, and men
of different religious professions would,
have been forced to maintain against
their persecutors.
“ He has come to deliver France,
and as a deliverer he has been every
where received.
“ He arrived almost alone ; he ad
vanced for 220 leagues without ob
stacles, without combats, and ha¥ re
sumed, without resistance in the midst
of the capital and of the acclamations
of the immense majority ofthe citi-
zens, the throne abdicated by the
Bourbons, who in their army, in their
household,, in the national guards, in
the people, could aot arm a single per
son to endeavor to maintain them in
it. • -
“ And now, replaced at the head of
the nation which had thriee already
made choice of him, and which has a
fourth time designated him - by the
reception which it had given him, in
his rapid and triumphant march and
arrival; what does Napoleon wish
from this nation—by which, and from
the interest of which, he wishes to
reign ?
What the French people wishes
■—the independence of France, inter
nal peace, peace with all nations, the
execution of the treaty of Paris of the
30th of May, 1814.
“ What is tlie change, then, which
has taken place in the state of Europe,
and in the hope of repose which was
promised to it ? What voice is raised
to demand assistance, which, accord
ing to the declaration, ought only to
be given when called for ?
Nothing has been changed ; if the
they do not wish to inipo&laws on her
(
to assign a form of government to heri
to give masters to her, to satisfy the t
pleasure or passions of her neigh- -. 4
bors* ■
“Nothing has been changed; if *
when France is occupied with prepar- -;
ing the new social pact which shall
guarantee the liberty of her citizens, > £
the triumph of; the ’generous ideas
which prevail in Europe, and which
cah no longer be suppressed, they do
rioi force her to withdraw herself for
hostilities from those pacific thoughts
and means of internal prosperity, to -
which the people and the chief wislk
to consecrate themselves in a happier
accordance.'
“ Nothing has been changed ; if
when the French nation only demands
to remain at peace with all Europe, an
unjust coalition does not force it to
defend, as it did in 1792, its will anA'^
its rights, and its independence* and
the sovereign of its choice. - - -
“ The Minister of State, Preside:
of the Section of the Finances,"
The Count Befekmojt.
“ The Minister of State, President
of the Section ofthe Interior, The
C. Regnaud de St. Jean de’Angely.
“ The President of the Section of
Legation, • ■■ •.? • k ntijmjjt,;
The Count Boulaev ^
“ The President of die Section of
War. The Count Airnaipssvr. T>
(Certified) : r • j g,
** The Minister Secretary of Spate"*’
The Duke de Bassano.'*’
. ‘ \*
they will do, to just and moderate sen
timents ; if they acknowledge that the
existence of France in a respectable
and independent state, as far from con-
quering as from being conquered,
from dominating as from being subju
gated, is necessary to the balance of
great kingdoms, aud to the guarantee
of small states.-
“ Nothing has been changed: if re
specting the rights of a great nation
which wishes to respect the rights of
all others which, high-minded and
generous, has been lowered, but never
degraded, they allow it to retake a
monarch, and give itself a constitution
and laws suitable to its manners, its
interests, its habits, and its new wants.
“ Nothing has been changed; if
they do not endeavor to constrain
France to submit again to a dynasty
which she dislikes, to the feudal chains
which she has thrown off, tb the seign
- -r ^Eiystad,
- . April 22,1815: •.
Napoleon, by the grace of God and
the constitutions, emperor of ihtr
French. ■ *
We have decreed, arid do decree as..^
follows : • •* ; ■ -f"..', •' •'
Art; 1. For the execution of tlie
33d article, of the supplementary act
to tlie constitutions, relative to the re^fW
presentation of the commercial and'
manufacturing industry and property,
France shall be divided into thirteen
districts, conformibly to the schedule -
here annexed, No, 2. v- w
2. For every district, S23 deputies
shall be named ; chosen " first front
among the merchants, importers oy
bankers; and second, from among
the manufacturers or artisans, accord
ing to the divisions designated in .the
same schedule., v ..' g
3. The duputies shall be named io#i
the first place by the electors of the
department, pointed out in the first
column of the same statement.
4. The deputies shall always > be&
chosen from a list ofeligiblecandidai
made out by the joint members of
chamber of commerce- arm chambers *
of commercial consultation ofthe whole
commercial circle, who shall choose,'
by a majority, a president, vice-presi- .
dent and secretaiy. "'•I*' . <■»
5. The assembly dunged
forming that list, shall insert M it the
merchants who have d^tingiiished.
themselves the most by their probity 7
and talents, and who gty the greatest
portion of the contributions, whostf
tirade is the most considerable in »
France or into foreign countries, oiv
who employ the most workmen ; and
distinguishing thenv by tiie nature of
*
the commercial operations to which
they are devoted. « ^ " «
6* This list shall contain tiO per-
r -l, j* x
allied powers return, as it is -expected sons for each commercial district,_aijd
120 for the district of Paris ; - upon
each list there shall be at least one-
third of manufacturers and one-third
merchants. .. ., ~ r i
7. It shall be renewed entirely every
fifth year, at the end of each legisla-,
ture, or in case of the dissolution cm
the house of representatives. *-
3. The present act shall be annex^
ed to the additional act tv the constitu
tion, bearing this date*
Bv the emperor, Napoleon.
The minister secretary of state.
The Dvkb of Basseho.
SCHEDULE, MO. 21.
Division of France into 13 circles fqr
the election of deputies to represent
commercial and manufacturing in-
4
•» 1
tdr
orial or ecclesiastical prostration from p:
-hich.she has deliberated herself;'if Si
■ *. .4
Lille (Nord, Aisne, Pas-de-Calai)
1 merchant, importer or banker—
1 manufacturer or artisan.
Rouen, (circle of, contains the dc-lft^
partments of (Lower Seine, Eure,
Somme, Calvados^ Omc5 Manchcj ij
I
■wrm
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