Frenchmen! Each day The present situation cannot last much longer. that passes increases the dangers of the country. sembly, which ought to be the firmest support of order, has become a centre of conspiracies. The patriotism of three hundred of its members was not able to arrest its fatal tendencies. Instead of making laws in the general interest, it forges weapons for civil war; it makes an attack upon the authority that I hold directly from the people; it encourages all the evil passions; it puts in jeopardy the repose of France: I have dissolved it, and I make the whole people judge between it and me. The Constitution, as you know, was made with the purpose of weakening in advance the power that you were about to confer upon me. Six million votes were a striking protest against it, nevertheless I faithfully observed it. Provocations, calumnies, outrages, have found me unmoved. But now that the fundamental compact is no longer respected even by those who incessantly invoke it, and the men who have already destroyed two monarchies wish to bind my hands, in order to overthrow the Republic, it is my duty to defeat their wicked designs and to save the country by invoking the solemn judgment of the only sovereign that I recognize in France, the people. I make, therefore, a loyal appeal to the whole nation, and I say to you: If you wish to continue this state of uneasiness which degrades us and makes uncertain our future, choose another in my place, for I no longer wish an authority which is powerless to do good, makes me responsible for acts I cannot prevent, and chains me to the helm when I see the vessel speeding toward the abyss. If, on the contrary, you still have confidence in me, give me the means to accomplish the great mission that I hold from you. This mission consists in bringing to a close the era of revolutions by satisfying the legitimate wants of the people and by protecting them against subversive passions. It consists, especially, in creating institutions that may survive men and that may be at length foundations upon which something durable can be established. Persuaded that the instability of authority and the preponderance of a single Assembly are permanent causes of trouble and discord, I submit to you the following fundamental bases of a Constitution which the Assemblies will develop later. Ist. A responsible chief selected for ten years; 2d. Ministers dependent upon the executive power alone; 3d. A Council of State composed of the most distinguished men to prepare the laws and to discuss them before the legislative body; 4th. A legislative body to discuss and vote the laws, elected by universal suffrage without scrutin de liste which falsifies the election; 5th. A second assembly, composed of all the illustrious persons of the country, predominant authority, guardian of the fundamental compact and of the public liberties. This system, created by the First Consul at the beginning of the century, has already given to France repose and prosperity; it will guarantee them to her again. Such is my profound conviction. If you share it, declare the fact by your votes. If, on the contrary, you prefer a government without force, monarchical or republican, borrowed from I know not what past or from what chimerical future, reply in the negative. Thus, therefore, for the first time since 1804, you will vote with knowledge of the case, knowing well for whom and for what. If I do not obtain a majority of your votes I shall then bring about the meeting of a new Assembly, and I shall resign to it the mandate that I have received from you. But if you believe that the cause of which my name is the symbol, that is, France regenerated by the revolution of '89 and organized by the Emperor, is always yours, proclaim it by sanctioning the powers that I ask of you. Then France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy, obstacles will be removed, rivalries will have disappeared, for all will respect, in the decision of the people, the decree of Providence. C. Proclamation vergier, Lois, LI, 476. Soldiers! to the Army. December 2, 1851. Du Be proud of your mission, you shall save the fatherland, for I count upon you, not to violate the laws but to make respected the first law of the country, the national sovereignty, of which I am the legitimate representative. For a long time you suffered, as I did, from obstacles that opposed themselves to both the good which I wished to do for you and the demonstrations of your sympathy in my favor. Those obstacles are broken to pieces. The Assembly sought to make an attack upon the authority that I hold from the entire nation: it has ceased to exist. I make a loyal appeal to the people and the army, and I say to them: Either give me the means to assure your prosperity, or choose another in my place. In 1830, as in 1848, you were treated as vanquished. After having flouted your heroic disinterestedness they disdain to consult your sympathies and views, although you are the élite of the nation. To-day, in this solemn moment, I desire that the army should make its voice heard. Vote, then, freely as citizens; but as soldiers, do not forget that passive obedience to the orders of the head of the government is the strict duty of the army, from the general to the soldier. It is for me, responsible for my actions before the people and posterity, to take the measures that seem to me indispensable for the public welfare. As for you, remain steadily within the rules of discipline and honor. By your impressive attitude help the country to express its will with calmness and reflection. Be ready to put down every attempt against the free exercise of the sovereignty of the people. Soldiers, I do not speak to you of the memories that my name recalls. They are graven upon your hearts. We are united by indissoluble ties. Your history is mine. For the past, there is between us community of glory and misfortune; for the future, there will be community of sentiments and resolutions for the repose and grandeur of France. D. First Decree for the Plebiscite. December 2, 1851. Duvergier, Lois, LI, 476-477. The President of the Republic, considering that sovereignty resides in the whole body of citizens, and that no fraction of the people can assume for itself the exercise of it; in view of the laws and regulations which have hitherto regulated the mode of appeal to the people, and especially the decrees of 5 Fructidor, Year III, 24 and 25 Frimaire, Year VIII, the regulation of 20 Floréal, Year X, the senatus-consultum of 28 Floréal, Year XII, decrees: 1. The French people are solemnly summoned in their assemblies for the fourteenth of the present month of December, in order to accept or reject the following plebiscite: "The French people desire the maintenance of the authority of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, and delegate to him the necessary powers in order to make a Constitution upon the bases proposed in his proclamation of December 2." 2. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age and enjoying their civil and political rights are summoned to vote. 3. Upon receipt of the present decree, the mayors of every commune shall open two registers upon free paper, one of acceptance, the other of non-acceptance of the plebiscite. E. Second Decree for the Plebiscite. Duvergier, Lois, LI, 479. December 4, 1851. The President of the Republic, considering that the mode of election promulgated by the decree of the second of December had been adopted under other circumstances as guaranteeing the sincerity of election; but considering that the secret ballot actually carried out appears to better guarantee the independence of the votes; considering that the essential object of the decree of the second of December is to obtain the sincere and free expression of the will of the people, decrees: Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the decree of the second of December are modified as follows: Article 2. The election shall take place by universal suffrage. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age and enjoying their civil and political rights are called upon to vote. Article 4. The ballot shall be open during the days of the twentieth and twenty-first of December, in the head-town of each commune, from eight a. m. to four p. m. The voting shall be by secret ballot, yes or no, by means of a written or printed vote. F. Election Appeal. December 8, 1851. Duvergier, Lois, LI, 479-480. Frenchmen! The disturbances are pacified. Whatever may be the decision of the people, society is saved. The first part of my task is accomplished. I know that the appeal to the nation, in order to terminate the conflict of parties, did not cause any serious risk to the public tranquility. Why should the people rise against me? If I no longer possess your confidence, if your ideas have changed, there is no need to shed precious blood; it suffices to deposit in the urn a contrary vote. I shall always respect the decision of the people. But until the nation shall have spoken, I shall not recoil before any effort nor before any sacrifice in order to defeat the attempts of the factions. This task, moreover, is made easy for me. On the one hand, it has been seen how insensate it is to struggle against an army united by the ties of discipline and animated by the sentiment of military honor and by devotion to the fatherland. On the other hand, the calm attitude of the inhabitants of Paris, the reprobation with which they have stigmatized the riot, have testified decisively enough for whom the capital pronounces : In those populous quarters, where but lately insurrection recruited itself so quickly among the workingmen susceptible to its allurements, anarchy this time was able to encounter only a profound repugnance for those detestable excitements. |