HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



171 



f* serving equality, liberty, and the 

 *' rights of the people. 4th. That 

 " the present vote should be carried 

 *' to the senate by a deputation of 

 *' six members, who were to explain 

 *' the motives which had induced 

 *' the tribunate to adopt this resolu- 

 <' tion.'' 



Upon the above vote, the follow- 

 ing decree was passed: — 



" The tribunate considering that, 

 *' at the breaking out of the revo- 

 " lution, when the national will had 

 " an opportunity of manifesting it- 

 *' self with the greatest freedom, the 

 " general wish was declared for the 

 *' individual unity of the supreme 

 " power, and for the hereditary 

 *' succession of that power; that 

 *' the family of the Bourbons, hav- 

 " ing, by their conduct, rendered 

 " the hereditary government odious 

 *' to the people, forced them to lose 

 *' sight of its advantages, and drove 

 *' the nation to seek for a happier 

 *' destiny in a deniocratical form of 

 *' government ; that France hav- 

 " ing made a trial of different forms 

 *' of goverment, experienced from 

 " them only the miseries of anar- 

 " chy ; that the state was in the 

 *' present peril when Bonaparte, 

 *' brought back by Providence, sud- 

 *' denly appeared for its salvation ; 

 " that under the government of a 

 '< single individual, France reco- 

 " vered tranquillity at home, and 

 " acquired abroad the highest con- 

 <' sideration and glory ; that the 

 *' plots formed by the house of 

 " Bourbon, in concert with a mi- 

 *' nistry, the implacable enemy of 

 *' France, warned France of the 

 *< danger which threatens her, if 

 *•' losing Buonaparte, she continued 

 " exposed to the agitation insepa- 

 " rablc from an eledtion ; that the 

 '' ctnuulate for life, and the power 



" granted to the first consul, of 

 " appointing his successor, are not 

 " adequate to the preventing in- 

 " trigues at home or abroad, which 

 " could notfail to be formed during 

 " thevacancy of the supreme power; 

 " that, in declaring that magistracy 

 " hereditary, a conformity is at once 

 " observed to the example of all 

 " great states, ancient or modern, 

 " and to the first wish of the na- 

 " tion, expressed in 1789 ; that, 

 " enlightened and supported by this 

 " experience, the nation now re- 

 f turns to this wish more strongly 

 " than ever, and expresses it on 

 " all sides; that, in all political 

 " charges, it has been usual for na- 

 " tions to confer the supreme power 

 " on those to whom they owe their 

 " safety ; that, when France de- 

 " mauds for her security, au here- 

 '» ditary chief, her gratitude and 

 " affedtion call on Bonaparte ; 

 " that France will preserve all the 

 " advantages of a revolution, by 

 " the choice of a new dynasty, as 

 " much interested for her benefit, as 

 " the old one would be for her de- 

 " stru6tion ; that France may ex- 

 " pe6l from the family of Bona- 

 " parte, morethrin from any other, 

 " the maintenance of the rights and 

 " liberties of the people who chose 

 " them, and all those institutions 

 " best calculated to support them. 

 " But there is no title more suited 

 " to the dignity of the supreme 

 " chief of the French nation than 

 " the title of emperor." 



The tribunate, exercising the 

 right given them, by the ^Qth arti- 

 cle of the constitution, have come 

 to the following vote, [reciting the 

 above meutioned vote |. 



The foregoing decree having 

 been put to the vote by the pre- 

 sident uf the tribunate, it was 



carried 



