CHAP. VI.

1814.

BOOK XII. under my directions. The confidence reposed in me by his majesty's ministers, and by the com mander-in-chief, the gracious favors conferred on me by his royal highness the prince-regent, and the reliance I had on the support of my gallant friends the general officers, and the bravery of the officers and troops of the armies, encouraged me to carry on the operations in which I was engaged in such a manner as to draw from this house those repeated marks of their approbation, for which I now return them my sincere thanks. Sir, it is impossible for me to express the gratitude which I feel. I can only assure the house, that I shall always be ready to serve my king and country in any capacity in which my service may be considered useful or necessary."

Loud cheers followed this speech, at the conclusion of which the speaker rose, took off his hat, and addressed the Duke of Wellington as follows:

"My Lord,-Since last I had the honor of addressing you from this place, a series of eventful years has elapsed: but none without some mark and note of your rising glory.

"The military triumphs which your valour has achieved upon the banks of the Douro and the Tagus, of the Ebro and the Garonne, have called for the spontaneous shouts of admiring nations. Those triumphs it is needless on this day to recount. Their names have been written by your conquering sword in the annals of Europe, and we shall hand them down with exultation to our children's children.

"It is not, however, the grandeur of military success which has alone fixed our admiration, or commanded our applauses; it has been that generous and lofty spirit which inspired your troops with unbounded confidence, and taught them to know that the day of battle was always a day of victory; that moral courage and enduring fortitude, which in perilous times when gloom and doubt had beset ordinary minds, stood nevertheless unshaken, and that ascendency of character, which uniting the energies of jealous and rival nations, enabled you to wield at will the fate and fortunes of mighty empires.

"For the repeated thanks and grants bestowed upon you by this house, in gratitude for your many and eminent services, you have thought fit this day to offer us your acknowledgements; but this nation well knows that it is still largely your debtor. It owes to you the proud satisfaction that amidst the constellation of illustrious warriors, who have recently visited our country, we could present to them a leader of our own, to whom all, by common acclamation, conceded the pre-eminence; and when the will of heaven, and the com

him.

Lord Castlereagh.-Sir, in commemoration of so grateful a day-a day on which we have had the happiness to witness within these walls the presence of a hero never excelled at any period of the world, in the service of this or any other country-in commemoration of the eloquent manner in which that hero was addressed from the chair, on an occasion which must ever be dear to Englishmen, and which will ever shed lustre on the annals of this house, I move, sir, that your address to field-marshal his grace the Duke of Wellington be printed." The motion was unanimously agreed to.

This was the termination of one of the most impressive and dignified scenes that had been witnessed by modern times in either house of parliament.

On the 30th of July, the prince-regent came in state to the house of lords, and being seated on the throne in full robes, with his great officers ranged on each side, and the peers being present in their places, a message was sent to the house of commons, requiring their attendance. The speaker shortly after arrived, accompanied by several members, and presenting to his royal highness the vote of credit bill for three millions, made an address to him, in which he recapitulated the principal proceedings of the house during the session, and adverted to the great and glorious events which had made so happy a change in the affairs of Europe.

The prince-regent then delivered a speech to the following effect. After lamenting the continuance of his majesty's unfortunate indisposition, he said, that on assuming the powers of government, which that event had placed in his hands, he had determined to adhere to the line of policy which

his majesty had adopted, and in which he found zealous support from parliament, from all classes of his majesty's subjects, and from the valour of his majesty's forces by sea and land. That he That he had the satisfaction of contemplating the full accomplishment of all the objects for which the war was undertaken or continued, and the final deliverance of Europe, by the combined exertions of this nation and its allies, from the most oppressive tyranny under which it had ever laboured. That the restoration of so many of the ancient governments of the continent afforded the best prospect of the permanence of peace, and that his efforts might be relied on at the approaching Congress for completing the settlement of Europe upon principles of justice and impartiality. That he lamented the continuance of hostilities with the United States of America, and, notwithstanding the unprovoked aggression of the govern

ment of that country, was sincerely desirous of BOOK XII. the restoration of peace on conditions honorable to both; but that until this object could be obtain- CHAP. VI. ed, parliament would see the necessity of his employing the means at his disposal for prosecuting the war with increased vigour.

His royal highness then thanked the house of commons for the liberal provision they had made for the services of the year, and adverted to the necessity of maintaining for a time a body of troops in British pay on the continent. He concluded with assuring both houses that full justice was rendered throughout Europe to the manly perseverance displayed by this country amidst the convulsions of the continent, and with expressing his persuasion that they would ascribe the advantages they have possessed, under providence, to that constitution which for a century it has been the object of his family to maintain unimpaired.

1814.

THE French troops having evacuated all the fortresses specified in the convention of Paris, the allied army began to retire from the French territories. On the 2d of June, all the forts occupied by the allied troops within the circumference of Paris being relieved by the national guards, General Sacken, the commandant of Paris, addressed a letter to General Dessolles, chief of the national guards, expressing his satisfaction at the good understanding which had prevailed between those troops and the allied army. Prince Schwartzenberg also issued the following order of the day to his army, before commencing its march to quit France.

"The bravery and exertions of the allied armies have put an end to the war. Peace, the important object for which they have been fighting, is accomplished, and each corps of the combined army is about to return to its country. "When the allied sovereigns condescended to confide in me the chief command of the finest and the bravest army in Europe, I accepted it, in the confident hope that the noble spirit of these troops, their courage, their loyalty to their sovereigns, their devotion to their country, and, finally, their conviction of the necessity of conquering or dying in that contest, could alone justify my acceptance of it. The battles of Culm, Leipsic,

On the 4th of June, the King of France went in state to the palace of the legislative body, in which were assembled the senators, peers, and representatives of the nation. His majesty opened the meeting with the following speech, which he delivered in a firm and audible tone :

"Gentlemen,-When, for the first time, I come to this assembly, surrounded by the great bodies of the state, the representatives of a nation,

BOOK XII. ing proofs of its love, I congratulate myself in having become the dispenser of the benefits CHAP. VII. which divine providence deigns to grant to my people.

1814.

"I have concluded with Austria, Russia, England, and Prussia, a peace, in which their allies are comprised, that is to say, all the princes of the Christian world. The war was universal, the reconciliation is universal.

“The rank which France has always occupied amongst nations has not been, transferred to another, and remains to her undivided. Every thing which other states acquire of security equally increases her own, and consequently adds to her real power. What she does not preserve of her conquests, ought not to be considered as any retrenchment of her real strength.

"The glory of the French arms has received no stain: the monuments of their valour subsist, and the master-works of art belong to us by rights more steady and sacred than the rights of victory.

"The paths of commerce, so long shut, are about to be free: the market of France will be no longer open only to the productions of her own soil and industry. Those which habit has made a want, or which are necessary to the arts she exercises, will be furnished to her by the possessions she recovers. She will be no longer reduced to the want of them, or to the procuring them on ruinous conditions. Our manufactures will re-flourish, our maritime-towns revive, and every thing promises us that a long calm without, and durable felicity within, will be the happy fruits of peace.

"One painful recollection, however, disturbs my joy. I was born, I had hoped, to have remained my whole life the most faithful subject of the best of kings-yet, to-day I occupy his place! At least, however, he is not all dead-be lives again in that will which he destined for the instruction of the august and unhappy infant whom I have succeeded! It is with my eyes fixed upon that immortal work, penetrated with the sentiments that dictated it-guided by the experience, and seconded by the counsels of several among you, that I have drawn up the constitutional charter which you will hear read, and which fixes upon solid bases the prosperity of the state."

The ball resounded with universal applause. After the speech, the chancellor, having on his knees taken the commands of the king, explained, by a series of reasoning full of force, the motives of the constitution, which consists of the following articles:

PUBLIC RIGHTS OF THE FRENCH.

Arts. 1, 2, 3, declare all Frenchmen, of whatever rank or title, equal in the eye of the law, equal admission to civil and military employments,

and contributing without distinction, in proportion to their property, to the burthens of the state. Art. 4. Guarantees personal liberty, so that no one be prosecuted or arrested but according to law. Arts. 5 and 6, declare the Catholic religion the religion of the state; but that every one shall profess his faith with equal freedom, and be protected in its exercise. By Art. 7, the ministers of the Catholic and other Christian modes of worship alone receive their stipends from the royal treasury. Art. 8. The French are entitled to publish and print their opinions, while conforming to the laws which will repress abuses of this liberty. Art. 9, declares all property inviolable, that called national not excepted. Art. 11, probibits all enquiry into opinions or votes delivered before the restoration. By Art. 12, the conscription is abolished.

FORMS OF THe king's government.

Art. 13, the person of the king is sacred and inviolable. His ministers are responsible. Art. 14, he is supreme head of the State; commands the sea and land-forces: makes treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce; appoints to all public employments. Art. 15, the legislative power is exercised collectively by the king, the chamber of peers, and the chamber of deputies of departments. By Arts. 16 and 17, the king proposes laws, either to the peers or deputies; but tax-bills must first be proposed to the deputies. Every law to be discussed freely and decided by vote. By Arts. 19 and 20, the chambers are entitled to request the king to propose a law on any subject whatever, and to suggest what it should contain. This request must have been discussed in secret committee, and is not to be sent from the one chamber to the other, but after an interval of ten days. Art. 21, if the proposition is adopted by the other chamber, it shall be transmitted to the king; if rejected, it cannot be re-introduced in the same session. Art. 22, the king alone sanctions and promulgates laws. Art. 23, the civil list to be fixed for the reign, by the first legislature assembled after the accession of the king.

OF THE CHAMBER OF PEERS.

Arts, 24 and 25, declare this chamber an essential part of the legislature, to be convoked and closed at the same time as that of the deputies. Art. 27, the king nominates the peers; their number is unlimited; they may be nominated for life, or rendered hereditary, as the king pleases. Art. 28, peers enter the chamber at the age of twenty-five, and have a deliberative voice at that of thirty. By Arts. 29 and 30, the chancellor presides in the senate, and the princes of the blood are always peers by right of birth. Art. 32, all the deliberations of the chamber of peers are secret, Art. 33, the chamber of peers takes cog