FKANCE. 



279 



regulations; the members of both Chambers 

 have the right to address interpellations to 

 the Government. No amendment to a law is 

 to be adopted unless it has been previously 

 referred to a committee, charged with the duty 

 of examining the project and of communicating 

 it to the Government ; if the latter does not 

 accept it, the Council of State will advise the 

 Corps, which will then pronounce definitely 

 on the subject. The budget is to be submitted 

 by chapters and articles. Modifications of the 

 tariff and postal service by international trea- 

 ties are to be made obligatory only by laws 

 enacted for that purpose. 



As the regular session of the Legislative 

 Body was not convoked by the Government 

 within the six months following the dissolu- 

 tion (which time expired on the 26th of Octo- 

 ber), the idea was thrown out, and violently 

 applauded by the radical population of the 

 capital, that the deputies of the opposition 

 should, on the 26th of October, proceed to the 

 chamber of the Legislative Body, for the pur- 

 pose of opening the session themselves. The 

 deputies of the left regarded, however, such 

 a course as injudicious, and at a meeting held 

 on the 18th of October, at the residence of 

 Jules Favre, agreed upon issuing the folloVing 

 manifesto : 



To our Fellow- Citizens : We are asked from various 

 quarters if we intend to repair to the Chamber on 

 October 26th. We will not do so, and for the following 

 reasons : In proceeding there we should of necessity 

 provoke a manifestation of which no one could, in 

 present circumstances, regulate the march and the 

 extent. But we have no right to deliver up to chance 

 the fate of liberty, now reviving. When a great.revo- 

 lution one eminently pacific has been commenced, 

 when day by day its inevitable denouement is more 

 clearly perceived, there would be a great want of tact 

 in furnishing to the Government any pretext what- 

 ever to regain strength from a riot. If the authorities 

 trample under foot the constitutional rules which it 

 has itself traced out, the Democracy has for the mo- 

 ment only one thing to do to take note of such con- 

 duct. That constitution, which the Government 

 thinks fit to undo with its own hands, we have been 

 obliged to submit to, and we ought not to attempt to 

 restore it by taking up its defence. In this situation 

 we have resolved to wait for the actual opening of 

 the next session. Then we shall call the Executive 

 to account for this new insult to the nation ; then we 

 shall show, "by the very experiment which has been 

 made during the last three months, that the personal 

 power, while pretending to give way in presence of 

 the public reprobation, has never ceased to act and 

 speaK in the character of a master. Then we shall 

 pursue on the ground of universal suffrage and nation- 

 al sovereignty the only one that can henceforth sub- 

 sist the work of democratic and radical reform, the 

 flag of which has been placed by the people in our 

 hands. 



The imperial decree, making, in execution of 

 the senatus consultum, certain modifications 

 in the relations between the Government and 

 the Senate and the Legislative Body, was pub- 

 lished on the 8th of November, and is as fol- 

 lows : 



ARTICLE 1. The bills (senatus consulta) and regula- 

 tions of public administration, prepared by the differ- 

 ent ministerial departments, are submitted to the 



Emperor, who delivers them, or has them forwarded 

 by the minister whom they concern, to the minister 

 presiding over the Council of State. 



ART. 2. The orders of the day for the sittings of 

 the Council of State are sent beforehand to the 

 different ministers, and the minister presiding over 

 the Council of State sees that the head of each depart- 

 ment is always informed in good time of every thing 

 relating to the examination or discussions of bills, 

 senatus consulta, or regulations of public adminis- 

 tration, sent for the consideration of the council. 



ART. 3. l"he bills, or senatus consulta, after being 

 examined by the Council of State, in conformity with 

 article fifty of the constitution, are delivered to the 

 Emperor by the minister presiding over that body, 

 and who joins the names of the Government Commis- 

 sioners, whom he proposes to support them, in the 

 discussion before the Legislative body and Senate. 



ART. 4. A decree of the Emperor orders the pre- 

 sentation of the bill to the Legislative Body, of the 

 senatus consultum to the Senate, and appoints the 

 Councillors of State or Government Commissioners 

 charged to defend them conjointly with the ministers, 

 and the vice-presidents and presidents of section in 

 the Council ot State. 



ART. 5. This decree is countersigned by the minis- 

 ter presiding over the Council of State, and the min- 

 ister to whose department the measure refers. A copy 

 of the decree is transmitted by that minister, with 

 the bill, or senatus consultum, to the Legislative Body 

 or Senate. 



ART. 6. In all deliberations of the Senate or Legis- 

 lative Body, the Government is represented by the 

 ministers, the vice-president or presidents of section 

 in the Council of State, or by Councillors of State and 

 Government Commissioners delegated by special 

 decrees. 



RELATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH THE SENATE. 



ART. 7. The bills adopted by the Legislative body 

 are, with the decrees which name the Councillors of 

 State and the Government Commissioners charged to 

 support them in the discussion, transmitted to the 

 president of the Senate by the minister whose de- 

 partment the measure concerns. 



ART. 8. The result of the deliberations in the Senate 

 is transmitted by the president of that body to the 

 minister to whose attributions the law belongs. 



ART. 9. The senatus consulta proposed by the Gov- 

 ernment are carried to the Senate by the minister 

 appointed for the purpose by the Emperor. 



ART. 10. Senatus consulta created by the initiative of 

 the Senate, as well as proposals for modifications of 

 the constitution made in conformity with article 

 thirty of the fundamental law, are, immediately after 

 being deposited ? transmitted by the president of the 

 Senate to the Minister of Justice. 



ART. 11. The result of the deliberations on senatus 

 consulta and proposed modifications of the constitution 

 is communicated to the Emperor by the president of 

 the Senate. 



ART. 12. Any proposal of a Senator, with the object, 

 within the terms of article thirty of the constitution, 

 of presenting to the Emperor a report laying down 

 the bases of a bill, is transmitted by the president of 

 the Senate to the competent minister. The draft of 

 the report by the committee, and subsequently the 

 report itself, if adopted, are also sent to him by the 

 president of the Senate. 



ART. 13. When an act is deferred by the Govern- 

 ment to the Senate as unconstitutional, the decree 

 which submits the question to that body, and which 

 appoints the Councillors of State to take part in the 

 discussion, is transmitted by the Minister of Justice 

 to the president of the Senate. 



ART. 14. If the unconstitutional nature of the act 

 is denounced by a petition, the president of the Senate 

 informs the minister whose department it concerns. 

 In all cases the decision of the Senate is transmitted 

 by the president to that minister, as well as to the 

 Minister of Justice. 



