GENERAL 
powers renewed their engage- 
ment to defend the restored or- 
der of affairs in Europe, and spe- 
cifically to maintain the condi- 
tions ef the treaty of Paris in 
May 1814, and those of the con- 
gress of Vienna, against every 
attack, and especially against 
the projects of Napoleon Buona- 
parte. For this purpose they 
bound themselves each to have 
constantly in the field 150,000 
‘men complete; and not to lay 
down their arms but in concur- 
rence with each other, nor until 
the object of the war be attained 
and Buonaparte be deprived of 
the power of exciting disturb- 
ances, and of renewing his 
attempts to obtain the chief 
power in France. To this 
treaty the contracting powers 
agreed to invite the accession of 
all the- powers in Europe, and 
especially of his most Christain 
Majesty.—(See State Papers.) 
Louis XVIII., on his retreat 
to Lille, issued two ordinancies, the 
first forbidding all his subjects to 
pay taxes of any kind to the so- 
titled imperial government, and 
all public functionaries and re- 
ceivers to pay into its chests the 
sums in their hand, and also 
suspending the sales of timber 
and domains in the departments 
‘invaded by Buonaparte : the se- 
cond forbidding obedience to the 
Jaw of conscription, or any other 
Tecruiting order emanating from 
him. Louisafterwards removed his 
tesidence to Ghent, where he had 
with him three of his ministers, 
the Duke of Feltre (Clarke), and 
_ the Counts Blacas and Jaucourt ; 
‘to these he added in his council 
-Count Lally Tolendal, and M. 
“de Chateaubriand. - The marshals 
HISTORY. (63 
Duke of Ragusa (Marmont), and 
Duke of Belluno (Victor), were 
also at Ghent. Part of the house- 
hold troops, under the Duke of 
Berri, were quartered at Alost. 
On April 23d Buonaparte pub- 
lished from the Elysée palace, to 
which he had removed, what he 
entitled “An act additional to 
the constitutions of the Empire,” 
which he describedin the preamble 
as a series of arrangements tend- 
ing to modify and improve the 
constitutional acts which had for- 
metly passed under his govern- 
ment, to strengthen the rights of 
citizens by every guaranty, to 
give the representative system its 
whole extension, and in fine, to 
combine the highest degree of 
political liberty with the force ne- 
cessary for causing the indepen- 
dence of the French to be re- 
spected by foreigners, and for sup- 
porting the dignity of the crowa. 
‘This act was to be submitted to 
the free acceptance of all citizens 
throughout France.. In fact, it 
contained, under the. several 
heads, all the provisions for esta- 
blishing a free representative go- 
vernment, similar to that. of Eng- 
land, which it obviously had in 
view ; and though it never took 
place, the ‘record of it is so far 
valuable as affording a view of 
what was thought necessary to sa- 
tisfy the expectations of the party 
which then possessed the princi- 
pal political influence, and to 
whose wishes Buonaparte would 
probably have been obliged. to 
conform, had he been unable to 
re-establish a military despotism. 
It included a legislative body, of 
which one chamber was here- 
ditary, the other elective, taxation 
only by-law, judges for life, and 
