GENERAL HISTORY. 



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enjoy: that the public debts shall be 

 inviolable : that the sale of the na- 

 tional domains shall be irrevoca- 

 ble : that no Frenchman shall be 

 responsible for the public opinions 

 be may have expressed: that li- 

 berty of worship and conscience 

 shall be maintained, as well as li- 

 berty of the press, subject to legal 

 penalties for its abuse. 



At a sitting of the senate on the 

 following daj'^, a decree passed, 

 which, after a preamble asserting, 

 *« that in a constitutional monar- 

 chy the monarch exists only in 

 virtue of the constitution or social 

 compact," proceeded to shew, in a 

 number of articles, in what manner 

 Napoleon Buonaparte had violated 

 his compact with the French peo- 

 ple ; and, as the consequence, de- 

 clared : 1. That Napoleon Buona- 

 parte has forfeited the throne, and 

 the hereditary right established in 

 his family is abolished : 2. That 

 the French people and the army- 

 are released from their oath of 

 fidelity towards Napoleon Buona- 

 parte : 3. That the present decree 

 shall be transmitted by a message 

 to the provisional government of 

 France, conveyed forthwith to all 

 the departments and the armies, 

 and immediately proclaimed in all 

 the quarters of the capital. [See 

 State Papers ] A similar resolu- 

 tion was on the same day adopted 

 by the legislative body. 



During these transactions in the 

 capital. Napoleon moved his army 

 from Troyes by Sens towards Fon- 

 tainbleau. He arrived at Fromont 

 on the 3()th, and would have been 

 in Paris had it not been in the 

 possession of the allies. On learn- 

 ing what had passed, he retired to 

 Corbeil, and thence to F'ontain- 

 bleau, whence, on April 4, he 



sent Marshals Ney and Macdou- 

 ald, and General Caulaincourt, to 

 carry to the senate his proposal of 

 submitting to the decision of that 

 body and of the French people, and 

 to abdicate in favour of his son. 

 This proposition being rejected, he 

 announced an unconditional abdi- 

 cation in the following terras : 

 " The allied powers having pro- 

 claimed that the Emperor Napo- 

 leon was the only obstacle to the 

 re-establishment of the peace of 

 Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, 

 faithful to his oath, declares that 

 he renounces, for himself and 

 heirs, the thrones of France and 

 Italy ; and that there is no per- 

 sonal sacrifice, even that of life, 

 which he is not ready to make to 

 the interests of France." Such 

 was the close of a career of in- 

 satiable ambition, which had for 

 so many years involved Europe in 

 blood, and shaken its firmest 

 thrones. From the character of 

 the man a very different termina- 

 tion had been expected ; and after 

 he had refused conditions of peace 

 which would have left him a po- 

 tent, though a diminished sove- 

 reign, it was supposed that there 

 was nothing desperate to which 

 he would not have resorted, rather 

 than sink to a private fortune, and 

 accept life from his victors. But 

 from an honourable death in battle 

 he was precluded ; for what army 

 would have accompanied him to 

 certain defeat ? and to the other 

 resource, suicide, his mind was not 

 made up. V hether religion, rea- 

 son, or pusillanimity withheld his 

 hand, must be judged of by those 

 who possess means of looking with- 

 in him to which we do not pre- 

 tend ; nor will we venture to pro- 

 nounce what would have been the 



