690 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



the members of the senate, by dis- 

 cussions in the councils, by the ob- 

 servations of the wisest men, was 

 formed a series of dispositions which 

 fixes the inheritance of the imperial 

 throne ;— which assigns to the princes 



their rights and their duties ; 



which promises to the fieir of the 

 empire an education regulated by 

 the laws, and such that he Avill be 



worthy of his high destinies ; ■ 



which designates tiiose who, in case 

 of minprity, will be called to the 

 regency, and marks the limits of 

 their power;— which places betvf'een 

 the throne and the citizens, dig- 

 nities and oiTiccs accessible to all, 

 encouragements and recompences of 

 the public virtues : — which give to 

 men honoured with great distinc- 

 tions, or invested with great autho- 

 rity, judges sufficiently great to 

 bend neither before their authority, 



nor before their distinctions ; 



which gives to crimes against the 

 public safety and the interest of the 

 empire, judjj;es essentially attached 

 to the safety of the empire and to 

 its interests; — which places more 

 lustre and more weight in tlie func- 

 tions of the legislator, more devc- 

 lopement and more extent in the 



public discussion of the laws ; 



which recalg the tribunals and their 

 judgments to those ancient denomi- 

 nations which had obtained the re- 

 spect of ages ; — which guarantees 

 in tine the rights of the prince and 

 of the peojile, by oaths, the eternal 



guardians of all interest. These 



dispositions were decreed by the 

 senatus consultum of the 28th of 

 Floreai last : the French people 

 have manifested their free and inde- 

 pendent will ; tiioy have expressed 

 their wish that the imperial ,dignity 

 should be hereditary in the direct, 

 legitimate, and adoptive desccndauti 



1 



of Napoleon Buonaparte, in the di- 

 rect and legitimate descendants of 

 Joseph Buonaparte, in the dire(5l 

 and legitimate descendants of Louis 

 Buonaparte. — At that moment, Na- 

 poleon was, by the most just of 

 titles, emperor of the French ; no 

 other aft was necessary to ascertain 

 his rights and consecrate his autho- 

 rity. — But he M'ished to restore to 

 France her ancient forms, to rccal 

 among us those institutions which 

 the Divinity seems to have inspired, 

 and to impress upon the beginning 

 of his reign the seal of religion itself. 

 To give to the French a striking 

 proof of his jiatcrnal tenderness, the 

 chief of the church has been willing 

 to lend his ministry to this august 

 ceremony. — What a deep and last- 

 ing impression it has left in the mind 

 of the emperor and in the remem- 

 brance of the nation ! What cen- 

 versations for future races ! and 

 what a subject of admiration for 

 Europe. Napoleon prostrate at the 

 foot of the altars which he has just 

 raised ; the sovereign pontiff im- 

 ploring upon France and upon him 

 the celestial bcnediciions, and in his 

 wishes for the felicity of one nation, 

 embracing the felicity of all nations ! 

 — Pastors and priests, lately divided, 

 uniting Avith his supplications their 

 gratitude and their voice I — The se- 

 nators, the legislators, the tribunes, 

 magistrates, warriors, the admini- 

 strators of the people and those who 

 preside over their assemblies, con- 

 founding together their opinions, 

 their hopes and their wishes ; sove- 

 reigns, princes, ambassadors, struck 

 with the grand spectacle of France 

 again seated upon her ancient foun- 

 dations; and, by her repose, se- 

 curing the repose of their country ! 

 — In the midst of this pomp, and 

 under the look of the Eternal, Na- 

 poleon 



