HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



1^7 



scribe, as specimens of those compo- 

 sitions. The first was the address 



of the camp near Ostend, dated the 

 29th April, 1804. 



" General First Consul, a crj 

 *' has been heard in the armies — 

 " that cry is re-echoed in every 

 '* heart. The soldiers of the first 

 " division of the camp at Bruges, 

 *' sensible of the dangers which you 

 " have encountered alone in the 

 *' common cause, more sensible still 

 " of the benefits which they have 

 *' derived from you, are eager to 

 " decree to you a title august and 

 " worthy of you. You are already 

 " their chief, and their father ; but 

 *' these titles are not sufficient to 

 " express either their enthusiasm 

 " or their love. Let, then, that of 

 " emperor teach the world, that 

 " France has known how to cx- 

 " press her gratitude for all that 

 " you have done for her ! Yet a 

 ^' painful recollection mingles itself 

 " with our hopes — already have the 

 " poignards of your enemies more 

 " than once threatened your des- 

 •' tiny, to which that of so many 

 *' others is attached. France was 

 " on the point of being annihilated 

 *' in your person ! let her survive in 

 "your illustrious family! and let 

 " posterity know what your great 

 " a('tious have been, and what has 

 " been our gratitude. As the organ 

 *' of part of your troops, I am hap- 

 *' py in having it in my power to 

 " express to you their sentiments. — 

 '• Deign to accept, general first 

 " cousul, the testimonies of love 

 *' and respc6l of the first division, 

 •' and of mine." 



(Signed) The General of Divisi^a, 



Ou*^not, 



Followed by several rcher signa- 

 tures. 



The next was that of the municl- 

 pal body of Paris, dated 30th April, 

 1S04. 



" To-day, citizen first consul, all 

 France expresses the same wishes 

 we expressed two years ago. To- 

 day, all France, happy under 

 3'our government, conjures you 

 " to eternize the benefits of it. Let 

 '' not this escape your memory, 

 '' citizen first consul. In 1789, 

 " France, without doubt, demand- 

 " ed a revolution — but she dcmand- 

 " ed it agreeably to the maxims of 

 " her government, and not in the 

 " unity which constituted her es- 

 *' sence. 



*' The French, then free in the 

 " choice of their deputies to the 

 " states general, free in the delivery 

 " of their sentiments and wishes, 

 " expressly dem.anded that all the 

 " citizens, equal in rights, should 

 " be admissible, without distinction 

 " of rank or birth, to all the public 

 *' functions. They demanded, that 

 " the power of exercising arbitrary 

 " a(5ls. should no longer reside any 

 " where, and that no citizen should 

 " be condemned without trial. — 

 " They demanded liberty of consci- 

 " ence, or, rather, the free exercise 

 " of all forms of divine worship. — 

 " They demanded that the repre- 

 " sentatives of the nation should be 

 " called to delibfrate upon the pub- 

 *' lie burdens They, in fine, de- 

 " mauded. as a guarantee of all the 

 " rights of which they invoked the 

 t- res^'itution, thai the executive 

 " power should be confided to the 

 <' hands of a single person, and that 

 " this power should be hereditary. 

 " What the French demanded iu 

 " 1789, thoy again demand to-day. 

 " They earnestly demand it. A 

 " long experience has too fully 

 " convinced them, that whatsoever 

 -M 4 " has 



