STATE PAPERS. 



599 



in virtue of the constitution or so- 

 cial compact: 



That Napoleon Buonaparte, dur- 

 ing a certain period of firm and 

 prudent government, afforded to 

 the nation reasons to calculate for 

 the future on acts of wisdom and 

 justice; but that, afterwards, he 

 violated the compact which united 

 him to the French people, particu- 

 larly in levying imposts and estab- 

 lishing taxes otherwise than in vir- 

 tue of the law, against the express 

 tenor of the oath which he had 

 taken on his ascending the throne, 

 conformable to Article 53, of the 

 Act of the Constitutions of the 28th 

 Floreal, year 12 : 



That he committed this attack 

 on the rights of the people, even 

 in adjourning, without necessity, 

 the Legislative Body, and causing 

 to be suppressed, as criminal, a re- 

 port of that Body, thetitleof which, 

 and its share in the national re- 

 presentation, he disputed : 



That he undertook a series of 

 wars in violation of Article 50 of 

 the Act of the Constitution of the 

 22nd Frimaire, year 8, which pur- 

 ports, that declarations of war 

 should be proposed, debated, de- 

 creed, and promulgated in the 

 same manner as laws : 



That he issued, unconstitution- 

 ally, several decrees, inflicting the 

 punishment of death ; particularly 

 the two decrees of the 5th of March 

 last, tending to cause to be consi- 

 dered as national, a war which 

 would not have taken place but for 

 the interests of his boundless am- 

 bition ; 



That he violated the constitu- 

 tional laws by his decrees respect- 

 ing the prisoners of the State : 



That be annulled the responsi- 



bility of the Ministers, confounded 

 all authorities, and destroyed the 

 independence of judicial bodies : 



Considering that the liberty of 

 the press, established and conse- 

 crated as one of the rights of the 

 nation, has been constantly sub- 

 jected to the arbitrary control of 

 the Police, and that at the same 

 time he has always made use of the 

 press to fill France and Europe 

 with misrepresentations, false max- 

 ims, doctrines favourable to despo- 

 tism, and insults on foreign go- 

 vernments : 



That acts and reports heard by 

 the Senate have undergone altera- 

 tions in the publication : 



Considering, that, instead of 

 reigning according to the terms 

 of his oath, with a sole view to the 

 interest, and happiness, and the 

 glory of the French people. Napo- 

 leon completed the misfortunes of 

 his country, by his refusal to treat 

 on conditions which the national 

 interests required him to accept, 

 and which did not compromise the 

 French honour : 



By the abuse which he made of 

 all the means intrusted to him in 

 men and money: 



By the abandonment of the 

 v/ounded without dressings, with- 

 out assistance, and without sub- 

 sistence: 



By various measures, the conse- 

 quences of which were the ruin of 

 the towns, the depopulation of the 

 country, famine, and contagious 

 diseases : 



Considering that, for all these 

 causes, the Imperial Government 

 established by the Senatus Consul- 

 turn of the 28th Foreal, year 12, 

 has ceased to «xist, and that the 

 wish manifested by all Frenchmen 



