STATE PAPERS. 



681 



euffrage. Thus, then, the senate 

 and people of France unanimous- 

 ly agree that the blood of Buo- 

 naparte shall henceforth be the 

 imperial blood of Prance; and that 

 the new throne raised for Napo- 

 leon, and rendered illustrious by 

 him, shall never cease to be pos- 

 sessed either by the descendants of 

 your majesty, or by those of the 

 princes, your brothers. — This last 

 testimony of the confidence of the 

 people, and of their just gratitude, ■ 

 ought to be llattering to your im- 

 perial majesty's heart. It is glori- 

 ous for a man, who has devoted 

 himself, as you have done, to the 

 welfare of his peers, to learn that 

 his name alone is sufficient to unite 

 such a vast number of men. In this 

 instance, sire, the voice of the peo- 

 ple is the voice of God. No go- 

 vernment can be founded on a more 

 indisputable title. The senate, the 

 depository of this title, has passed a 

 resolution to present itself in a body 

 before your imperial majesty. It 

 comes to display the joy with which 

 it is penetrated, to offer you the un- 

 feigned tribute of its felicitations, of 

 its respcdt, of its love, and to ap- 

 plaud itself for the object of this 

 proceeding, inasmuch as that con- 

 summates what it expected from your 

 foresight, to tranquillize the unea- 

 siness of ail good Frenchmen, and 

 to conduct into port the bark of the 

 republic. Yes, sire, of the repub- 

 lic! 'Jills Mord might wound the 

 ears of an ordinary monarch. Here 

 the word is in its proper place be- 

 fore him, whose geniHS*has enabled 

 us to enjoy the thing in the sense in 

 which it can exist amongst a great 

 people ; you have done more than 

 futending the limits of the republic, 

 for you have established it on a so- 

 lid base. Thanks to the emperor 



of the French, the conservative 

 principles of the interest of all, 

 have been introduced into the go- 

 vernment of one, and the strength 

 of a monarchy founded in a republic. 

 For forty centuries past, the question, 

 which form of government is best, 

 has been agitated ; for forty centuries 

 past the monarchical form of govern- 

 ment has been considered as the 

 chef d'ceiivre of political wisdom, 

 and the sole secure harbour of the 

 human race. But there was one 

 thing wanted, to unite, without 

 risque, the elements of liberty to 

 its unity of power, and the cer- 

 tainty of its succession. This im- 

 provement in the aft of governing, 

 is an advance which Napoleon at 

 this moment produces in the social 

 science. lie has laid the founda- 

 tion of representative states ; he has 

 not confined his views to their pre- 

 sent existence; he has implanted in 

 them the seeds of their future per- 

 fection. Whatever is wanted to 

 their completion at first, will grow 

 out of their own progress. It is 

 the honour of the present age; the 

 hope and the model of future ages. 

 Sire, the first rank amongst the 

 greatest men that have done honour 

 to the earthy is reserved for the 

 founders of empires. Those, wha 

 have ruined them, have enjoyed but 

 a fatal glory; those who have suf- 

 fered them to fall to ruin, are every 

 where objects of reproach. Ho- 

 nour to those who raise themt 

 They are not only the creators of 

 nations, but they secure their con- 

 tinuance by laws which become the 

 inheritance of futurity. We owe 

 this treasure to your imperial ma- 

 jesty; and France proportions the 

 measure of those thanks, which the 

 conservative senate now presents to 

 you in its name, to the magnitude 



of 



