STATE PAPERS. 



659 



generality of their attacks, have 

 placed coasts, isles, ports, neutrals, 

 general commerce in a state of in- 

 terdidtion; in fine, they have just 

 proclaimed the prostitution of the 

 most sacred and most indispensible 

 ministry, to the repose of the world. 

 His majesty thinks it his dutyto ex- 

 cite the attention of all govern- 

 ments, and to warn them, that with- 

 out new measures, adopted under 

 the conviction of the present dan- 

 ger, all the ancient maxims upon 

 which the honour and independence 

 of states rest, will be immediately 

 annihilated. 



(Signed) Ch. Mau. Talleyrand. 



Decree passed by the Tribunate on 

 the 3d of Mai/, 1804, and car- 

 ried up to the Conservative Se- 

 nate on the 4th of May. 



The tribunate considering, that 

 at the breaking out of the revolu- 

 tion, when the national will had an 

 opportunity of manifesting itself 

 with the greatest freedom, the gene- 

 ral wish was declared for the indi- 

 vidual unity of the supreme power, 

 and for the hereditary succession of 

 that power ; — That the family of the 

 Bourbons having by their conduft 

 rendered the hereditary government 

 odious to Ihe people, forced them 

 to lose sight of its advantages, and 

 drove the nation to seek for a hap- 

 pier destiny in a democratical form 

 of government; — That France hav- 

 ing made a trial of different forms 

 of government, experienced from 

 these trials only the miseries of 

 anarchy; — That the state was in the 

 greatest peril, when Buonaparte, 

 brought back by Providence, sud- 

 denly appeared for its salvation ; — 

 That under the goveram«;at of a sin. 



gle individual, France recovered 

 tranquillity at home, and acquired 

 abroad the highest degree of consi- 

 deration and glory ; — That the plots 

 formed by the House of Bourbon, in 

 concert with a ministry, the impla- 

 cable enemy of France, warned 

 France of the danger which threa- 

 tens it, if losing Buonaparte she 

 continued exposed to the agitatioa 

 inseparable from an election. — 

 That the consulship for life, and the 

 power granted to the jirst consul of 

 appointing his successor, are not 

 adequate to the prevention of in- 

 trigues at home or abroad, which 

 could not fail to be formed during 

 the vacancy of the supreme power: 

 — That in declaring that magistracy 

 hereditary, conformity is observed 

 at once to the example of all great 

 states, ancient or modern, and to 

 the first wish of the nation expres- 

 sed in 1789 ; — That, enlightened 

 and supported by this experience, 

 the nation now returns to this wish 

 more strongly than ever, and ex- 

 presses it on all sides ; — That in all 

 political changes it has been usual 

 for nations to confer the supreme 

 power on those to whom they owe 

 their safety; — That when France 

 demands for her security a heredi- 

 tary chief, her gratitude and affec- 

 tion call on Buonaparte; — That 

 France will preserve all the advan- 

 tages of the revolution by the choice 

 of a new dynasty, as much interest- 

 ed for their safety, as the old one 

 would be for their destruction ; — 

 That France may cxpedt from the 

 family of Buonaparte, more than 

 from any other, the maintenance of 

 the rights and liberty of the people 

 which chose them, and all those in- 

 stitutions best calculated to support 

 them ; — That there is no title more 

 suitable to the glory of Buonaparte, 

 U u 2 an4 ' 



