234 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



regent of the kingdom, should, 

 till her arrival be vested in the 

 council of ministers,* 



Lewis, on the same day on 

 which he abdicated his throne, 

 wrote a farewell address to the 

 legislative body. He stated the 

 circumstances under which he was 

 compelled to sign a treaty dictated 

 by France. " I have the cruelly 

 grievous satisfaction, yet now the 

 only one I can have, that I have 

 fulfilled my obhgations to the end. 

 That I have (if I am permitted to 

 speak) sacrificed to the existence 

 and welfare of the country all that 

 was possible : but, after the resig- 

 nation and submission of the first 

 of April, (the date of the treaty) 

 1810, I should be much to blame 

 if I consented to retain the title 

 of king, being no longer any other 

 than an instrument — no longer 

 commanding in my own capital, 

 and perhaps soon not even in my 

 palace. 1 should nevertheless be 

 a witness of every thing that 

 might be going on, without being 

 able to do any thing for my peo- 

 ple ; responsible for all occurren- 

 ces, without the power to prevent 

 them, or their influence. I should 

 have exposed myself to the com- 

 plaints of both sides, and perhaps 

 have occasioned great misfor- 

 tunes ; by doing which 1 should 

 have betrayed my conscience, 

 my people, and my duty. My 

 brother, so violently irritated 

 against me, is not so against my 

 children. Perhaps I am the only 

 obstacle to the reconciliation of 

 this country with France. And 

 should that be so, I might find 



some consolation in dragging out 

 the remainder of a wandering and 

 languishing life at a distance from 

 the first objects of my ixhole of- 

 Jection, this good people, and my 

 son. These are my principal mo- 

 tives. There are others equally 

 powerful, with respect to which 

 I must be silent, but they will 

 easily be divined.\ The emperor, 

 my brother, though strongly pre- 

 judiced against me must feel that 

 I could not act otherwise. He is 

 great, and he ought to be just. 

 As to you, gentlemen, I should be 

 much more unhappy even than I 

 am, if possible, could 1 imagine 

 that you would not do justice to 

 my intentions. May the end of 

 my career prove to the nation and 

 to you that I have never deceived 

 you ; that I have had but one aim, 

 the true interest of the country ; 

 that the faults I may have com- 

 mitted are to be ascribed solely 

 to my zeal, which induced me to 

 employ not always the best but 

 the most practical means of over- 

 coming the difficulty of circum- 

 stances. I cannot, gentlemen, con- 

 clude without recommending to 

 you, in the name of the interest, 

 and the existence of so many 

 families, whose property and lives 

 would be infallibly compromised, 

 to receive the French with the at- 

 tention, cordiality, and kindness 

 due to the brave people of the first 

 nation in the universe. In what- 

 ever place I may terminate my 

 days, the name of Holland, and 

 the most lively prayers for its 

 happiness, will be my last words 

 and my last thoughts." 



* State Papers, p. 512. 



t There were not a few critics who combined these words with those marked by 

 italics two lines belore 



