58] 
anding. was . frankly related. 
«Such, gentlemen (said the Chan- 
cellor ), is thetrue positionin which 
France is now placed. Buona- 
parte, who landed with 1100 
men, makes rapid progress. We 
do not exactly know to what ex- 
tent defections have increased his 
band; but these defections can- 
not be doubted when we find 
Grenoble occupied, and the se- 
cond city of the kingdom ready to 
fall, and probably already in the 
hands of the enemy. Numerous 
emissaries from Buonaparte re- 
pair to our regiments; some of 
them are already in our ranks. 
It is feared that many misled men 
will yield to their perfidious in- 
sinuations, and this fear alone 
enfeebles our means of defence.’” 
The Chancellor then mentioned 
the national guard as the principle 
object of reliance in this emer- 
gency, and referred to a decree 
by which his majesty had put this 
force into requisition through- 
out the kingdom. The command 
of all the troops in Paris and its 
environs was conferred on the 
Dukeof Berri. The only favour- 
able occurrences which had taken 
place were the meeting of a body 
of ten thousand men by Marshal 
Mortier, who were marching from 
Lisle to Paris upon a counterfeit 
order, and whom the Marshal sent 
back to their quarters; and the 
defeat of an attempt by the 
General Lallemand with some 
troops from the garrison of Cam- 
bray, to obtain possession of the 
military dépot at La Fere, in 
Picardy. | 
Buonaparte, who on his first 
entrance into France had an- 
nounced himself lieutenant-ge- 
neral of his son, arrived for the 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1815. 
purpose of correcting abuses in 
the government; now that he 
was in possession of Lyons, and 
was hailed emperor by the sol- 
diers, assumed his former dig- 
nity without disguise, and pre- 
fixed to his public papers “ Na- 
poleon, by the grace of God, and 
the constitutions of the empire, 
emperor of the French.” He 
issued a decree by which he de- 
clared all changes made during 
his absence in the administra- 
tion both civil and military, null 
and void ; the white cockade, and 
the orders of St. Louis, the Holy 
Ghost, and St. Michael, abolish- 
ed; the military establishment of 
the king suppressed; the goods 
and chattels of the Bourbon 
princes sequestrated; the nobis 
lity and feudal titles abolished: 
the emigrants who had -entered 
with the King banished, and the 
chamber of peers and deputies 
dissolved. To supply the place of 
the latter, he ordered the electo- 
ral colleges of the empire to as- 
semble at Paris in the course of 
May ensuing, in an extraordinary 
assembly of the Champ. de Maz, 
for the purpose of correcting and 
modifying the constitution, and 
assisting at the coronation of his 
empress and son. This language 
was evidently a lure thrown out 
for that part of the nation which 
was attached to popular prin- 
ciples of government, and on 
which, next to the army, he most 
relied for support. 
The troops assembled around 
him were still comparatively only 
a handful, and to push on to the 
capital of France with such a 
force might seem an enterprize 
full of hazard ; but Buonaparte 
had already obtained sufficient 
