56] ANNUAL REGISTER, 
honour of their country. The 
imperial rank which he had been 
still suffered to preserve, main- 
tained his titular dignity; and 
his position at Elba, separated on- 
ly by a narrow space of sea, kept 
him in constant view, and allow- 
ed a ready intercourse with his 
partizans. 
The year however commenced 
at the French capital with those 
demonstrations of loyalty which 
are always at the service of actual 
authority. The municipal body 
of the good city of Paris presented 
an address to the King, by the 
mouth of its prefect, in which the 
peculiar advantages of legitimate 
peer were dwelt upon, and his 
ajesty was assured, that all his 
subjects would shorten their own 
days, if necessary, to add to his. 
__ An exhibition perhaps not well 
adapted to the present temper of 
the public, was the solemn disin- 
terment of the almost perished 
remains of Louis XVI. and Marie 
Antoinette, on Jan, 18, in the 
church-yard of the Magdalen, for 
their removal to the abbey of St. 
Denis. The ceremonial, civil and 
ecclesiastical, round some moul- 
dering bones of dubious owner- 
ship, was more likely to excite 
the sarcasms than the veneration 
of the Parisians. An official or- 
der for shutting up the theatres 
on the day of re-interment, and 
for the attendance of the civil and 
military authorities; and the in- 
tention of introducing into the 
French liturgy a seryice comme- 
morative of the royal martyr, 
were further displays of the re- 
vived spirit of royalism, which 
would naturally augment the sus- 
picions of a design to restore the 
principles of the ancient mo- 
1815. 
narchy. There was, indeed, no- 
thing in the character of the king 
to justify such an apprehension ; 
but other branches of the royal 
family were supposed to have im- 
bibed- a great portion of the 
maxims of prerogative, and man 
of the emigrant nobility, whe, 
on their return, assumed their 
natural relations with the court, 
were known to have retained all 
the political feelings with which 
they left the country. If on these 
accounts the friends of constitu- 
tional liberty found reasonable 
cause for withholding confidence 
in the existing government, there 
were not wanting others who 
from factious motives aggravated 
the public discontents, by report- 
ing designs probably never seri- 
ously entertained, such as those 
of invalidating the purchases of 
confiscated property, and of re- 
storing tithes and feudal privi- 
leges. By these means a mass of 
secret disaffection was accumu- 
lated in the nation, ready to 
manifest itself when called to 
action by circumstances. 
The sovereign of Elba had for 
some time past given strict or- 
ders against the admission of 
strangers into his island, which 
might in part be attributed to the 
purpose of freeing himself from 
the molestation of visitors, many 
of whom had shewn little delicacy 
in gratifying their curiosity. The 
event however proved that there 
were at this time additional rea- 
sons for his care to keep inspec 
tors at a distance; and it was 
observed that a very active cor- 
respondence was carrying on bee, 
tween. Elba and Naples by the. 
intervention of the sister of Buo- 
naparte, It cannot be doubted, 
