STATE PAPERS. 



685 



kni either from his own country 

 nen, or from foreigners. In the 



xisting state of societies, the want 

 >f being governed is felt, as for- 

 Berly, but the means of governing 

 ire become more difficult, because 

 :heir object is more cstendcd and 

 jomplicated. The conservative se- 



ate and the French people assure 

 rou, sire, through my voice, that 



hey are proud of their emperor. 



[f they have offered you the crown, 

 if they have made it hereditary in 

 j^our descendants, and in those of 

 jrour two brothers, it is because 



here exists not on earth a man more 

 worthy to bear the sceptre of 

 France, nor a family more beloved 

 by the French. Governed by Na- 

 poleon, or by his sons or his ne- 

 phews, animated by his ^spirit, form- 

 ed by his example, in a word, bound 

 by his »ath, we, sire, and our chil- 

 drens' children, shall defend with 

 our lives, this tutelary government, 

 object of our pride as of our love, 

 because ia it we shall defend our 

 chief, our properties, our families, 

 and our houour. You have cho- 

 sen, sire, as the inscription on our 

 coins, those words, which you jus- 

 tify — " God protects France." — 

 Oil ! yes ; God does protect France, 

 $ince he has created you for her. 

 Father of thy country, in the name 

 r of that protecting God, bestow a 

 blessing on thy children, and rely- 

 i.14 on their lidi-lify, be assured that 

 nothing can either efface from their 



I minds, or root out of their hearts, 

 the engagements resulting from the 

 mutual contract tliat has just been 

 I ntered into between the French na- 

 tion and the imperial family. In 

 the absence of the throne, all the 



I I great characters give themselves up 

 to faction. A people is so much 

 the more to be pitied the greater the 



number of its distinguished chil- 

 dren ; all that might constitute the 

 pride of nations, becomes then the 

 scourge of one. From the moment 

 that the throne is worthily filled, 

 eminent virtues have a reward; viz. 

 to approach nearer to it; and the 

 distinction is so much the more flati 

 tering, as more real dignities bear 

 more imposing names. 



The title of emperor has ever con- 

 veyed the law, not of that royalty 

 before which subjects humble and 

 prostrate themselves, but the great 

 and liberal idea of a tirst magistrate, 

 governing in the name of the law 

 which citizens feci houour in obey- 

 ing. 



The title of senate indicates also 

 an assembly of chosen magistrates, 

 proved by long labour and venera- 

 ble for age. The greater the empe- 

 ror is, the more august ought the se- 

 nate to be. 



His majesty replied in the follow- 

 ing terms : — 



I ascend the throne to which the 

 unanimous wishes of the senate, the 

 people and the army have called 

 me, with a heart penetrated with 

 the great destinies of that people, 

 whom, from the midst of camps, I 

 firstsaluted with the name of Great. 

 From my youth, my thoughts have 

 been solely fixed upon them, and I 

 must add here, that my pleasures 

 and my pains are derived entirely 

 from the happiness or misery of my 

 pi'ople. My descendants shall long 

 preserve this throne; in the camps 

 they will be the lirst soldiers af the 

 army, sacrificing their lives in the 

 defence of their country. As ma- 

 gistrates, tiiey will never forget that 

 contempt of the laws and the confu- 

 sion of social order are only the re- 

 sult of the imbecility and unsteadi- 

 ness of princes. Vou, senalors, 



whose 



