the members, but approved of by the Emperor. Members to be paid at the rate settled by the Constituent Assembly. It is to be renewed every five years. The Emperor may prorogue, adjourn, or dissolve the House of Representatives. Sittings to be public. The Electoral Colleges are maintained. Land tax and direct taxes to be voted only for a year; indirect may be for several years. No levy of men for the army, nor any exchange of territory, but by a law. Taxes to be proposed by the Chamber of Representatives. Ministers to be responsible. Judges to be irremovable. Juries to be established. Right of petition is established-freedom of worship-inviolability of property. The last article says, that "the French people declare that they do not mean to delegate the power of restoring the Bourbons, or any prince of that family, even in case of the exclusion of the imperial dynasty." In its essential particulars, this skeleton of a constitution not only differed widely from the imperial code, to which it was a supplement, but moreover closely resembled, in every essential particular, the charter of Louis XVIII., for which it was substituted, and afforded a proof to all reflecting men, that the object attained, or to be attained by France in this revolution, was no increase of national liberty, but only the exchange of a pacific king for an ambitious conqueror, under all the additional chances of encroachment on their freedom, and the absolute certainty of a dreadful foreign war. It was equally evident, that the royal charter, subsisting as a separate and entire national document, could not be innovated upon under any pretence; whereas the Additional Act, leaving Buonaparte's former mass of contradictory laws unrepealed, and even in some measure confirming them, was liable to be explained, limited, and controuled by the old imperial decrees, which were, both in tone and spirit, so inconsistent with national liberty. These objections were made by the constitutionalists. The more determined republicans, besides their particular objections to an upper house, which the emperor could fill with his own minions, so as effectually to controul the representatives of the people, found the proposed constitution utterly devoid of the salt which should savour it. There was no acknowledgment of abstract principles; no dissertation concerning the rights of government and the governed; no metaphysical discussions on the origin of laws; and they were as much mortified and disappointed as the zealot who hears a discourse on practical morality, when he expected a sermon on the abstract points of theology. The unfortunate Additional Act became the subject of attack and raillery on all sides; and was esteemed to possess in so slight a degree the principle of durability, that a bookseller being asked for a copy by a customer, replied, He did not deal in periodical publications. It was necessary, however, that Buonaparte should proceed with the assembly of the Champ de Mai. It was true, that the two objects proposed as the reason of this worshipful convocation, were now both out of the question; for there was no chance of the deputed electors receiving the empress and her son, and the second point, of chusing a constitution, had already been managed by the emperor without their assistance. But they might accept this constitution, and wear fealty to it; a limitation of the privileges of the Champ de Mai, which would cut short all chance of disagreeable discussion, and at the same time assign them some ostensible purpose of assembling, and thus secure to the busy-bodies of Paris an imposing spectacle. The electoral bodies were, therefore, appointed to convene, and each Frenchman of mature age was invited to inscribe his vote for or against acceptance of the Additional Act. As these registers were entirely under the management of trusty persons; as there was no assurance whatever could be had against the same vote being repeatedly given, or the same person inscribing a dozen of different names, the whole of this ceremony was considered by the French as a mere farce, such as had been played off when Buonaparte had in somewhat the same manner collected the sense of the nation on his being made Consul for life and Emperor. It was remembered, that the maire of a commune had on one of these occasions thus reported the votes: "There are in the com mune 260 voters. On the day appointed for examining the register, it was found no one had enrolled his name. Their silence must be held as an acquiescence, on their part, in the proposition, that Buonaparte shall be Emperor. For myself, I vote in the negative; and thus the votes will be 259 affirmative to one negative." Yet though the collecting votes on the Additional Act was thus ridiculed, many royalists took the opportunity to insert their dissent from the measure. Mons. de Kergolay had the hardihood to publish his solemn protest against the article disinheriting the Bourbons, not only as an attack upon the liberty of the French, but because he considered the restoration of that dynasty as the only mode of restoring happiness to the nation. Such instances of boldness were overlooked, because they gave an air of fairness to the mode of voting; but care was taken to overpower them by a majority, however obtained, and for that purpose to collect, by beat of drum, the votes even of the lowest labourers, of do * * The following jeu d'esprit was circulated on the same occasion. Vote, with Reasons assigned, inscribed at the Prefectureship of the Seine, on May 1, 1815. (From a Paper, printed and secretly distributed at Paris.) "I, the undersigned, in virtue of the part of the Sovereignty which was promised to me in 1792, of which I was swindled in 1800, and solemnly robbed by an or ganic Senatus Consultum in 1814, which was restored to me by a proclamation of the 1st of March 1815, which was again taken from me by an additional act of the 22d, and which I shall take back, as soon as I am the strongest, if I think it worth the trouble "I reject the additional act to the constitutions, the said constitutions and all that has followed them down to this additional act, and also all that shall follow it. "Imprimis, Because Napoleon himself acknowledges that he has no title to govern, except that of a dictatorship imposed by force, and that the right of a conqueror is not that of a legislator. Item, Because Buonaparte's liberty is a pleasantry for which I have no relish. Item, Because Buonaparte's equality is that of helots and galley slaves. Item, Because the peerage of Buonaparte is a saturnal assemblage at which the heart revolts. Item, Because the hereditary succession of Buonaparte's peerage is a gratuitous insult to other nations. Item, Because permission to exercise the right of thinking, speaking and writing, under Buonaparte, can only be a snare. Item, Because the vote of the people would be illusory. Item, Because the vote of the public gendarmerie will be ridiculous. Item, Because the vote of the army will be contra mestic servants, and of children. The signature of functionaries of all kinds was demanded, on pain of losing their place. Above all, the votes of the army and navy were collected, who have never been considered as entitled to a deliberative voice in matters of civil discussion. There was, therefore, no lack of votes, however ill qualified those who gave them might be to decide upon the nature, of a constitution. Each electoral assembly was directed to send up a deputation to the Champ, where an assembly also of the Chambers of Peers and Representatives was appointed, for the purpose of determining the grand result of the votes. This was of course fully anticipated; for never did a government have recourse to an appeal to the nation individually, without having the influence to ensure a favourable return. Yet, after all means had been used, the number of votes, out of a population of about ten millions of qualified persons, did not much exceed one million two hundred thousand; a fact which renders it strongly probable, that had it been possible to collect the real sense of the nation in this manner, the result would unquestionably have been unfavourable to Napoleon and his Additional Act. Preparations were in readiness for the approaching solemnity. Joseph Buonaparte, Jerome, and other members of Napoleon's family, had now united themselves to him once more. Louis, modest and unambitious, refused to quit his retire ment; and although Murat was just arrived at Cannes, his present plight of a defeated fugitive would have rendered him an eye-sore to the solemn festival. The only accession of real value, was Lucien Buonaparte, a man of acknowledged talents, which even the publication of his epic poem has not been able to bring into absolute discredit. This person had been long estranged from his brother, preferring the enjoyment of literary ease, and of the wealth arising from millions unaccounted for during his administration under the republic, to the ruling a subordinate kingdom, or perhaps playing the part of Joseph in Spain. "Charlemagne," however, was now finished, and given to an ungrateful public; and ambition seems once more to have had charms for Lucien, the rather that Fouché, Carnot, and other old republican friends, now enjoyed a place in his brother's cabinet. He made some stay on the frontiers of Switzerland, and was supposed there to have awaited the execution of the plot which was to secure for Napoleon the person of his Upon its discovery, he hastened son. to Paris. With these auspices, the Champ de Mai opened; and that it might be incongruous in all respects, it was held on the 1st of June. It was partly intended to give that excitation to the mind of the people, which had been produced by similar exhibitions in the earlier part of the revolution, when such stage-tricks were animating novelties, and partly to give confidence dictory to all moral ideas, and hostile to the constituent principles of nations. Item, Because the important restriction contained in the 67th article is a disgustingly awk. ward precaution resorted to by a suspicious tyranny, and can be adhered to only by the accomplices of that tyranny. Always recognising, however, that the martial disposi tion of the nation and the alternately heroic and laughable part it has performed during those 25 years on the theatre of Europe, requires it to have a monarch who sits well on his horse-I propose FRANCONI and his DYNASTY."-Franconi is the conductor of a circus, where they exhibit pantomimes, tumbling, and feats of horsemanship. by the imposing display of an immense armed force, devoted to victory or death, under the emperor's commands. For this latter purpose, the solemn delivery of the eagles to the various regiments, an augury of instant war, was substituted for the promised presence and inauguration of the empress, a pledge of twenty years' peace. The scene of this spectacle, for into such the Champ de Mai had degenerated, was a large amphitheatre in the exercising ground, in front of the Hotel des Invalids, erected of temporary materials. The electors, real or supposed, were distributed in benches set apart for each department of the kingdom. But into these seats, to make up the show, were introduced all spectators of decent appearance, and it was supposed that scarce one half of the persons occupying them were really deputies. This range of elevated benches surrounded a sort of stage, and a throne, where menials and courtiers, in antique Spanish dresses, with feathered bonnets and fantastic mantles, for a time occupied the eye, till the appearance of the grand actor and the members of his family. These august personages wore the Roman tunic, and were involved in the folds of long mantles, Napoleon's being purple, and those of his brothers white. This absurd and theatrical costume could scarce be hung around more awkward and plebeian figures, than were exhibited by the members of the blood-royal of Ajaccio; and thus the parade lost even the momentary effect which might have been produced by the handsome person of Murat. It was not only ridiculous in itself, but became laughable by its contrast with the appearance of those whom this mummery disguised. These are trifles, but we are writing of Paris and of a public fete, and they gain some importance in such circumstances. The general feeling was, that the show was ill imagined, long, unanimated, and wearisome; and in the Parisian phrase, une piece tombée. The report of votes collected on this occasion announced that the constitution was accepted by a majority of 1,288,357 affirmative, to 4,207 negative. No one wondered at the number of the majority, but some surprise was excited that upwards of four thousand Frenchmen had ventured to give a negative voice. It was remarked, that the number of dissentients in Paris bore a smaller proportion than elsewhere to the affirmative votes. The royalists of the capital were numerous, but being more immediately under Buonaparte's power, they cared not to exercise the privilege of free-will, with which they were indulged. Several departments sent no representatives whatsoever. In others, the votes bore no proportion to the population. And as upon a grand average the number of the votes inscribed did not bear the proportion of one to ten, when compared with the number of Frenchmen of mature age, the whole was justly regarded as a solemn imposition on the public. This report of the votes was followed by the usual display of empty ceremony. The drums rolled, the cannon thundered, while the emperor and his brothers, and his courtiers and his functionaries, and the mass of electors, real or pretended, swore oaths as unmeaning as the sounds of the drum, and as empty and delusive as the smoke of the artillery. In one part of the scene only, Buonaparte seemed to rush into his part with the eagerness of real feeling; it was when he distributed the eagles to the soldiers, in whom, and not in these pitiful ceremonies, lay his real heart and hope. He leaped from his throne, and hastily advanced to meet the standards,-emblems of past, and, as he might hope, auguries of future victories. He was lost in the blaze of uniforms, eagles, and banners, until he again assumed the throne, "which seemed a glittering pyramid of standards, and arms, and military habits, crowned by his own white plumes, while bayonets, cuirasses, and helmets, flashing as far as the eye could reach, the flags of the lancers fluttering, and the music bursting from the plain, announced that the scene began to move!" It was soon shifted, and, except the magnificence of the coup d'oeuil, to describe which we have borrowed the language of an eye-witness,* had nothing in it either to interest or to elevate. The acclamations, few and far from enthusiastic, shewed that the spectators, and even the actors, took little share in a scene which had been so often repeated under different auspices and on different principles, and was now only remarkable from being prolonged till it became tedious. In short, the Champ de Mai was a wearisome farce, which was soon succeeded by a bloody tragedy. The constitution, however, was accepted, in semblance sufficient to prejudge that important question, and exclude, as Buonaparte hoped, any tampering with it on the part of the jacobins. The next point was to assemble the chambers. No part of Buonaparte's conduct gave so much displeasure as the component materials of the House of Peers, whom he now put into nomination according to the power which he had taken care to reserve to himself by the Additional Act, or new form of constitution. These new dignitaries were considerably upwards of a hundred in number, of whom more than one half were military men; most of the The others were selected from the old creatures of Buonaparte's former reign, or from men of letters supposed to be devoted to his cause. residuum consisted of some few republicans (Count Carnot, and the good old Abbé Sieyes, at their head,) who had bartered for coronets and titles their red caps and the emphatic qualification of citizen; Lucien, late the republican, the insignificant Joseph, and the paltry Jerome Buonaparte, Cardinal Fesch, &c. took rank as princes of the blood-royal of the illustrious house of Ajaccio. The punsters of Paris selected Labedoyere, Drouot, Ney, and L'Allemand as the quatre pair fides (perfides), while Vandamme and others were termed the Pairs siflés. In the Chamber of Representatives, all the exertion and art of Buonaparte's instruments had not prevented the jacobins from attaining a decided preponderance. They understood elections; and as most of the voters who acted, (for the royalists stood aloof,) were either constitutionalists or actual jacobins, their pretence of zeal for liberty, and the well-known turbulence of their tempers, gave to these self-entitled friends of freedom a decided superiority. Old La Fayette emerged as if from under ground. Barrere, Gallien, Merlin, Cambon, Drouet, Thibaudeau, with almost all the regicides who had survived the various hazards of the revolution, were to be found in this venerable assembly. Here also we read the names of those old idolizers of the revolution, La Rochefoucault-Liancour, and Latour-Maubourg, and others, who had waited upon all its phases with the same unwearied devotion, though The author of two volumes, containing the Substance of Letters written from Paris during the last Reign of Napoleon,-a curious work, in which the writer's facts, which he details fairly, and his reasoning on particular points, are singularly at variance with his conclusions. Some inconsistence may be pardoned, however, to a man who is at once a devotee to freedom and to Buonaparte! 1 |