HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



187 



■** upon my people for no new sa- 

 *' crifice. Itnouklhavebcen highly 

 ** gratifying to me, on so solemn aa 

 *' occasion, to see the blessings of 

 " peace difl'used over the world ; 

 *' but the political principles of our 

 ** enemies, their recent conduct to- 

 *' wards Spain, but too strongly 

 *' speak the difficulties that oppose 

 '' it. I am not anxious to enlarge 

 *' the territory of France, but to 

 " assert its integrity. I feel no am- 

 " bition to exert a wider stretch of 

 *•' influence in Europe, but not to 

 *' descend from that which I have 

 ^' acquired. No state shall be in- 

 " corporafed iciih the einpirc : but I 

 *' shall not sacrifice my rights, or 

 *' the ties which bind me to the 

 *' states that I have created. In 

 *' bestowing the crown upon me, 

 *' tlie people entered into an engage- 

 *' ment to exert every efl'ort which 

 *' circumstances may require, in or- 

 " der to preserve, unsullied, that 

 " sp'endour which is necessary for 

 *' their prosperity, and indispcnsi- 

 " ble for their glory, as well as for 

 " mine. I am full of confidence in 

 *' the energy of the nation, and in 

 ^* the sentiments it entertains for 

 *' me ; its dearest interests are the 

 '^ constant objc6t of my solicitude. 



" Deputies from the departments 

 " to the legislative body, tribunes, 

 *' and members of my council of state. 

 *' Your condutt, gentlemen, during 

 *' the preceding session, the zeal 

 " with which you glow for your 

 *i country, your attachment to my 

 *' person, I hold as pledges of the 

 " assistance for which I call upon 

 " you, and which, I trust, I shall 

 *' receive from you during the 

 " course of the present session." 



On the 3lbt, the annual report, 

 on the stale of the nation, was 

 luade to the l»£islati¥e body. 



This pa{)Pr states that the inter- 

 nal situation of France is what it 

 was in the calmest times — everj 

 where the improvements of pubUc 

 and private property attested the 

 progress of confidence and security 

 — that all classes of the community, 

 both military and civil, had testified 

 their love of order, even during the 

 absence of their immediate chiefs, 

 (adverting to their attendance at the 

 coronation) — that the sovereign 

 pontilf had, from the banks of the 

 Po, to those of the Seine, expe- 

 rienced a religious homage, the ef- 

 fect of attachment to the ancient 

 doftrines, on the part of a people 

 revering a sovereign raised to the 

 throne by his pieti/ arid virtues — that 

 the discovery of a plot, laid by au 

 implacable enemy, had awakened 

 the nation to her true interests, and 

 tailjght her the value of hereditary 

 power. After expatiating on the 

 flourishing state of the empire, both 

 at home and abroad, and constra- 

 ing, agreeably to their wishes, fka 

 dispositions of rarious other poi7- 

 ers, this representation concludes, 

 with observing, that, " whatever 

 " may be the movements of Eng- 

 " land, the dcstin-es of France are 

 " fixed : strung in her union, stronj 

 " in her riches, and in the courage 

 " of her defenders, she will faith- 

 *' fully cultivate the alliance of hor 

 " friends, and will not aft so as either 

 " to deserve enemies, or to fear 

 " them. When England shall be 

 " convinced of the impotence of 

 " her efforts to agitate the conti- 

 " nent — when she shall know that 

 " slie has only to lose by a war 

 " without end or motives — when 

 " she finds that France will never 

 " accept any other conditions than 

 " those of the treaty of Amiens,' 

 <' aud will never consent to leave to 



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