154. 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



loudly proclaimed on all occasions. 

 The minister of the interior con- 

 fluded his speech to the legislative 

 body, on the opening of their ses- 

 sion of the present year, in the fol- 

 lowing terms : 



" The French people, proud of 

 *' their government, confident in 

 " their resources, and happy in 

 " their institutions, express but one 

 " sentiment — love for the august 

 " head of the state — free from fear, 

 " from agitation, from disquietude, 

 " they repose in him the care of 

 " their destinies." 



The flourishing state of France 

 was pourtrayed in the most cap- 

 tivating colours, in the official report 

 laid bei'ore the legislative body*. — 

 It is there represented, that although 

 the republic had been forced to 

 change her attitude, her situation was 

 in no respcdl deteriorated, and that 

 the consciousness of her strength 

 was a sure pledge of her prosperity 

 ■ — that the internal tranquillity of the 

 country had not been disturbed 

 since the torch of war had been re- 

 kindled by a jealous enemy — that 

 tho public indignation against that 

 enemy Mas as much increased as the 

 devotion to the first consul— that 

 all danger of internal divisions was 

 at an end, in despite of every effort 

 made by the P^nglish to promote 

 them. In short, that the war had 

 wot even interrupted the plans 

 formed for a time of peace, such as 

 the construction of roads, canals, 

 bridges, and harbours, and objects 

 of a similar nature; and that the go- 

 vernment had pursi'ed, with con- 

 stancy, every measure that tended 

 to establish the constitution, in con- 

 iormity to the genius and wishes of 

 tlie citizens, so as to attach all inte- 



rests and all hopes to its duration—, 

 that the finances were in a most 

 thriving condition, and the revenues 

 colle6ted with the greatest facility — 

 that public credit had maintained 

 itself in the midst of shocks of war, 

 and that the sinking fund fulfilled, 

 with constancy and fidelity, its de- 

 stination — that out of two hundred 

 millions (of livres,) which might 

 have been captured by the enemy, 

 more than two-thirds had been 

 saved — that the Hanoverian army, 

 to the amount of twenty- five thou- 

 sand men, had laid down their arms 

 to them, and that their cavalry had 

 been remounted at the expence of a 

 possession dear to the king of Eng- 

 land, and which will be a security 

 in their hands of the justice which 

 he w ill hereafter be obliged to ren- 

 der them — that France will never 

 acknowledge less advantageous con- 

 ditions than those of the treaty of 

 Amiens — and, finally, that the most 

 perfect harmony subsisted between 

 France and the United States, Hel- 

 vetia, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, 

 and that the tranquillity given to the 

 continent, by the treaty of Lune- 

 ville, was secured by the last pro- 

 ceedings of the diet of Ratisbon. 



Such is the substance of the re- 

 port made by the government, and 

 well calculated it was (allowing, its 

 truth to remain undisputed) to tran- 

 quillize the minds of the French 

 people, and inspire them with a firm 

 reliance on their ruler. But, admit- 

 ting the general truth of this state., 

 ment, and forgetting for a moment, 

 that, in all similar publications, every 

 unfavourable circumstance is sup- 

 pressed, we may venture to presume, 

 that the source of so much national 

 prosperity, like the overflow of a 



* Vide " State Papera," p. (508. 



mountain 



