584 PARIS. 
Plenipotentiaries of France, with thofe of Auftria, Ruflia, 
and Prufiia. 
The French legiflature met on the 25th of November, 
when the king, with a heavy heart, communicated to 
them that this important document was ratified, and 
wanted only fome diplomatic formalities to enable him to 
lay before them the extent of the facrifices demanded of 
them. His majefty having taken his feat on the throne, 
with the princes on his right, and the members of the 
two chambers, uncovered, placed in a circular manner; his 
majefty then took off his hat, put it on again, and de¬ 
livered the following fpeech : 
‘•Gentlemen; When laft year I aflembled the two 
chambers, for the firft time, I congratulated myfelf upon 
having, by an honourable treaty, reftored peace to France. 
She began to tafte the fruits of it; all the fources of pub¬ 
lic profperity were re-opening, when a criminal enterprife, 
feconded by the moft inconceivable defeXion, arrefted 
their courfe. The evils which this ephemeral ufurpation 
caufed our country deeply affliXed me. Yet, I ought to 
declare here, that, had it been poffible to aft'edl none but 
myfelf, I ffiould have bleffed Providence. The marks of 
affeXion which my people have given me, in the moft cri¬ 
tical moments, have confoled me in my perfonal fufferings; 
but thofe of my fubjeXs, of my children, weigh upon my 
heart ;and, in order to put a period to this ftate of affairs, 
more burthenfome even than the war itfelf, I have con¬ 
cluded with the powers which, after having deftroyed the 
ufurper, ftill occupy a great part of our territory, a con¬ 
vention which regulates our prefent and future relations 
with them. It will be communicated to you without any 
reftridtion, as foon as it has received its laft formality. 
“ You will know, gentlemen, and all France will know, 
the profound grief I muff have felt; but the very fafety 
of my kingdom rendered this great determination necef- 
fary ; and, when I took it, I felt the duties it impofed 
upon me. I have ordered that there ffiould, this year, 
be paid from the treafury of my civil-lift, into the treafury 
of the ftate, a confiderable portion of my revenue. My 
family were no fooner informed of my refolution, than 
they offered me a proportionate gift. I have ordered 
fimilar diminutions in the falaries and expenfes of all my 
fervants, without exception. I (liall always be ready to 
fliare facrifices which imperious circumftancesimpofe upon 
my people. All the ftatements iliall be fubmitted to you ; 
and you will know the importance of the economy which 
I have commanded in the departments of my minifters, 
and in all parts of the government: happy if thefe tnea- 
fures Iliall fufftce for the burthens of thellate. In all events 
I rely upon the devotednefs of the nation, and the zeal 
of the two chambers. But, gentlemen, other, fweeter, 
and not lefs important, cares, unite you at prefent; it is 
to give more weight to your deliberations, it is to colleX 
more lights myfelf, that I have created new peers, and that 
the number ot the deputies of departments has been in- 
creafed* 
“ I hope I have fucceeded in my choice ; and the eager- 
nefs of the deputies, at this difficult conjunXure, is alfo 
a proof that they are animated by a lincere affection for 
my perfon, and an ardent love for the country. It is, 
then, with fweet fatisfaXion, and full confidence, that I 
have aflembled you about me, certain that you will never 
lofe fight of the fundamental bafts of the happinefs of the 
ftate, a frank and loyal union of the chamber with 
the king, and refpeX for the Conftitutional Charter. That 
Charter, which I weighed before I gave it, to which re¬ 
flexion attaches me more and more dearly, which I have 
fworn to maintain, and to which all of you, beginning 
with my family, are about to fwear obedience, is, without 
doubt, fufceptible, like all human inftitution, of being 
more perfeX; but none of us ought to forget, that the 
danger of innovation is not far remote from the advantage 
of melioration. 
“ Many other objeXs of importance require our labours 
to make religion re-flourilh, purify morals, found liberty 
upon refpeX for the laws, render them more and more 
analogous to thefe great views, give liability to credit, 
re-compofe the army, heal the wounds that have but too 
deeply torn the bofom of our country ; in fine, infure 
internal tranquillity, and thereby make France refpeXed 
without: fuch are the objeXs that our efforts ought to 
lead to. I do not flatter myfelf that fo much good can be 
the work of one feflion ; but if, at the clofe of the prefent 
legiflature, it is feen that we are approaching it, we ought 
to be fatisfied with ourfelves. I fliall leave nothing un¬ 
done ; and, in order to arrive at it, I rely, gentlemen, 
upon your moft aXive co-operation.” 
After the fpeech, the Duke of Angouleme, Duke of 
Berri, and the Duke of Orleans, took the oath which 
follows : “ I fwear fidelity to the king," and obedience to 
the conftitutional charter, and the laws of the king¬ 
dom.”'— The names of the peers were afterwards 
called over, who individually took the following oath : 
“ I fwear fidelity to the king, obedience to the con¬ 
ftitutional charter, and the laws of the kingdom; and 
to conduX myfelf in every thing which appertains to my 
fituation as a good and loyal peer of France.” 
In communicating the documents to the chambers, the 
Due de Richelieu explained to them the motives of the 
government in accepting terms, which he acknowledged 
to be the moft difadvantageous ever figned by France. 
The motives afligned by him for their acceptance may be 
fummed up in one word of powerful import; Necefflty. 
“ After long and continued difeuflions, (faid he,) in 
which demands ftill more important had been produced 
againft us, and at length withdrawn, thofe which have 
been communicated to you, were prefented as an ultima¬ 
tum. The moft urgent and imperious confiderations im¬ 
pofed it on us a law to lubfcribe to them ; and it is enough 
to know that they have been propofed to Frenchmen , to 
be juftified in the conclufion, that indifpenfible necefiity 
alone could induce them to fubferibe to them. After 
having exhaufted all the means of difeuffton and refiftance 
which could be fuggefted by reafon, and by that political 
forefight which in good as well as in bad fortune ought to 
be the conftant guide of the conduX of cabinets; ieeing 
on the one part, in the difpofition of the minifters of the 
powers, a determination irrevocably fixed ; feeing, on the 
other hand, that the prefent crifis brought inceffantly into 
aXion, in the whole extent of France, the principle of 
an oppreflion, of an impoverifiiment, of an irritation, and, 
in fliort, a feries of devaftations, which feemed daily to 
increafe and to acquire new ftrength ;—we judged, that, 
if we fuffered this crifis to be indefinitely prolonged, the 
fate of France was at flake, even the fate of thofe who 
have impofed upon us fuch great facrifices, and perhaps 
the deftiny of focial order in Europe. And it was in the 
profpeX of fo many dangers, that facrificing, without he- 
iitation, all our repugnance, we accepted, in the name 
of the king, in the name of the country, the conditions 
which have been laid before you.” The minifter, on 
ending his difeourfe, obferved for the information of the 
chamber, that there were no fecret conditions acceffory 
to thofe which he had juft communicated. 
The fpeech of the duke de Richelieu feems to have been 
received with lefs refignation by the Chamber of Deputies 
than by the other branch of the legiflature. “ It was 
heard,” fays the Gazette de France, “with profound at¬ 
tention, and the filence of grief. The Prefident, with a 
faultering voice, acknowledged the receipt of the com¬ 
munication which the minifter had made to the chamber, 
and ordered the printing of the fpeech, the Treaty, and 
the Conventions which had been read. The chamber 
then formed itfelf into a fecret committee, probably to 
prepare an addrefs of condolence to the king. This pur- 
pofe, however, was not effeXed 3 both chambers refolved, 
that the ufual mode of prefenting addreffes by deputation 
ftiould be deviated from in this inltance, and that the 
prefidents ftiould be charged to prefent the thanks of the 
chambers. On Monday the 27 th, the Prefident of the Depu¬ 
ties 
