STATE PAPERS. 



683 



the course that has been taken had 

 not been adopted, to return to a 

 more concentrated power. 



This it is that has consecrated to 

 eternity the epoch of the 9th of 

 November. It is this, sire, that 

 brings back and attaches to you 

 such of the republicans whose pa- 

 triotism was most fervent and zea- 

 lous. They Mere confirmed in their 

 hatred against the throne by their 

 attachments to the interests of the 

 people, and the ardent desire of the 

 public good. Their ideas have 

 bjcn realised only by your govern- 

 ment ; out of conceit with their 

 chimera, and brought back by you 

 f) the reality, they are well con- 

 iced that it was impossible to 

 ihiiik seriously to establish a repub- 

 lic, properly so called, amongst a 

 people attached to monarchy by 

 tlieir wants, by instinct, and by 

 the force of a habit, which nothing 

 can overcome. Yes, sire, on this 

 ])oint there is but one sentiment — ■ 

 \ it the government of a single per- 

 son is to so vast a country, what the 

 >tatae of Pallas was formerly to 

 tlie Trojans — by being deprived of 

 it, their ruin was accelerated — but 



The unity 

 empire, is, like the bundle 

 of twigs, the aggregate of its pow- 

 er: but like the twigs of the united 

 bundle, the parts would soon be 

 disunited and broken, if the here- 

 ditary succession to the aggregate 

 did not secure the tic. An order of 

 «ucc(yisiou, previously determined, 

 is the firmest support of a monar- 

 chical government. So, by the elec- 

 tion even which made you emperor, 

 the senate and the people have de- 

 |)rived themselves of the right of 

 «li;cling in future, as long as those 

 glorious lives shall subsist, to which 

 they transfer the exclusive right to 



still this is not enough 

 </!' the 



the empire. It is a great deposit of 

 trust, consecrated by the law of 

 nations, the necessity of M'hich has 

 been felt by the nation in order to 

 relieve itself from guarding against 

 any omission or the apprehension 

 of troubles in this delegation of its 

 supreme power. Amongst the hap- 

 py results of the law of succession, 

 such as the French have last adopt- 

 ed, the sagacity of the great peo- 

 ple has distinguished two principal 

 advantages ; first, that a dynasty 

 raised by liberty, will be faithful to 

 its principle; there is no instance of 

 a river flowing back to its source. 

 Besides, a new source of stability 

 for public credit, both internally 

 and externally, is to be expedled 

 from a continued tradition in this 

 paternal and perpetual government. 

 Amongst foreign nations also, upon 

 how much more solid a base will our 

 a[lianc?s be supported? It is a 

 community of inti'rosts, that con- 

 stitutes all the bonds of this world: 

 the friends of France being able to 

 rely on her, she ^an rely on them; 

 and this proud country, reinstated 

 in Europe in the rank, from which 

 weakness had su Hired her to fall, will 

 henceforth have it in its power to 

 exercise a permanent influence on 

 the repose of the nations, and on 

 the peace of the. continent. As to 

 our enemies, if they persist in be- 

 ing so, their despair must redouble 

 in contemplating the service they 

 have done us in spite of them. Wo 

 have been put upon our giiard by 

 their atrocious plots. As a last re- 

 source they have niedit.ated crimes; 

 it was our duty to render them use- 

 less. Thus, then, in whatever vicv 

 our happiness is their work. But, 

 sire, until their eyes shall be open- 

 ed, or our indignant army shall go 

 to punish their perfidy, our happi- 



iiens 



