the other in the archives of the public authority whence the act originated. 140. The promulgation is in the following terms: "N. (the surname of the emperor), by the grace of God and the constitutions of the republic, emperor of the French, to all present and absent, greeting: the senate, after hearing the orators of the council of state, has decreed and ordered as follows:-(or provided it be a new law) the legislative body on the (the date) have issued the following decree, conformably to the proposition made in the name of the emperor, and after having heard the orators of the council of state and the sections of the tribunate: we hereby command that the present, sealed with the seal of the state, and inserted in the bulletins of the laws, be addressed to the courts, tribunals, and administrative authorities, to be inscribed in their registers, and duly observed and executed. The grand judge, minister of justice, shall watch over the execution of the same. Title XVI. and Last. 151. The following proposition shall be presented for the acceptance of the people, according to the forms determined by the decree of the 20th Floreal (year 10), "The people wills the imperial dignity to be hereditary in the direct, natural, legitimate, and adopted descent of Napoleon Buonaparte, and in the direct, natural, and legitimate descent of Joseph and of Louis Buonaparte, as regulated by the organic senatus consultum of the 28th Floreal, year 12. (Signed) Cambacéres, Secretaries. Note, addressed by M. Bacher, French Chargé-d'Affaires at the Diet of Ratisbon, to the Diet, dated the 28th of May, 1804, a particular Note, of the same Tenor, having been addressed to each Court of the German Em, pire. The undersigned, the French chargé-d'affaires, has the honour to transmit to the general diet of the Germanic empire, the annexed copy of the decree of the senate, which determines henceforth the style, the forms, and the transmis, sal of the supreme power in France, the only things which, in the orga nization of the republican govern. ment, did not bear a due proportion to the greatness and to the calls of the state. He hastens, in these circumstances, to notify, conformably to the orders of his govern. ment, that his imperial majesty Na poleon, emperor of the French, is invested by the laws of the state Xx3 with with the imperial dignity, and that this title and this dignity are to be transmitted to his descendants in the male line direct; and in default of such issue, to the male line direct of their imperial highnesses Princes Joseph and Louis Buonaparte, brothers to the emperor. In making this notification, the undersigned thinks it necessary to remark, that all official communications are to be suspended until the former titles shall be replaced by those of the imperial protocol, as well in the credentials of the ministers accredited to France, as in those of his imperial majesty the emperor of the French accredited to foreign courts. The confidential communications necessary for the commencement and progress of business, may still be made in the usual manner. The undersigned is, in the mean time, instructed to declare, that the important law which has completed the organization of the state in a manner suitable to the dignity of the French people, will produce no change in its political relations. France, in placing them under the protection of a government invested with greater splendour, and surrounded with a dignity more analagous to the nature of circumstances, confers greater force and consistency to the reciprocal advantages that friendly nations have a right to expect from her; and, at the same time, she gives more consideration to the respect that all governments shall receive from her, and which they, in their turn, are bound to manifest towards her. Letter from his Eminence the Cardinal de Caprara, Legate à la tere, addressed on the 9th of June, 1804, to the French Bishops. My Lord, Napoleon Buonaparte having been appointed emperor of the French, you are for the future to make use of the following form of prayer: O Lord, preserve our emperor Napoleon,' instead of that which was ordained by the 8th article of the concordat, passed between the holy apostolic chair and the government of France. After this form, the following prayer may be recited, as it has been already used in the imperial chapel: O God, the protector of all kingdoms, and especially of the French empire, grant unto thy servant Napoleon, our emperor, that he may know and further the wonders of thy power, to the end that he whom thou hast appointed our sovereign, may be always powerful, through thy grace.' Which I accordingly notify to your greatness, declaring myself, at the same time, your greatness's true servant, T. B. Card. Caprara. Circular Note of General Brune, Ambassador at Constantinople, addressed to Baron Bielfield, Prussian Envoy at the same Place.Dated Constantinople, June 18, 1804. The undersigned ambassador from his majesty Napoleon, empe ror of the French, does himself the honour to notify hereby to baron Bielfield, that a senatus consultum has definitively settled the organi zation of France, and firmly estab lished for the future, the denomina. tions, forms, and exercises of the sovereign teem. (Signed) Bielfield. Answer of the Ottoman Porte to the Circular Note of General Brune, dated Constantinople, August 9, 1804. sovereign power in France. These the assurance of his very special esobjects were hitherto the only ones in the organization of France, which were found not fully commensurate with the greatness and necessities of the state. His majesty Napoleon, the emperor of the French, is therefore by the laws of the state invested with the imperial dignity in such a manner, that this title and dignity shall descend to his posterity in the direct male line, or failing that, in the direct male line of their imperial highnesses the princes Joseph and Louis, the brothers of the emperor. From the well-known sentiments of the Prussian court, the undersigned cannot doubt of the sentiments of the baron Bielfield, in this important and happy event; and therefore only avails himself of the present opportunity again to assure him of his high esteem. (Signed) Brune. The Answer of Baron Bielfield. The undersigned envoy from his Prussian majesty considers himself as greatly honoured by the communication of the note of the 29th of Prairial, by which the French ambassador has notified to him what has been determined in France relative to the form and investment of the supreme dignity. Much flattered by the above communication, he makes no delay to thank his excellency for the important communication, and entreats him to confide in his well known sentiments, and to be convinced that he shall always take a true and sincere participation in every thing which may promote the welfare of the French nation and its government. The undersigned avails himself of the present opportunity to renew to the ambassador The sublime porte has received a note presented by its friend, the French ambassador, and understands its contents-it says: Napoleon Buonaparte, the first consul, is elected an emperor of the French; this dignity shall continue hereditary with his children and descendants, or, in default of such issue, then it shall descend to the legitimate children of Joseph and Louis Buonaparte.-Farther, that the representatives of the French empire in foreign countries have orders, until they obtain their new creden. tials, to abstain from all official communication, with the exception of those which require an immediate discussion for the continuance of the friendship subsisting between them and France. The sublime porte, according to its usual frankness, has rejoiced in the advancement to dignity, honour, and glory, of this, as well as of every other friendly power. The sublime porte, declares, therefore, to its friend the French ambassador, that it has heard with real pleasure a measure which makes faster those ties which unite it with France, and which are nearly connected with the internal security and tranquillity of the French empire. With regard to the communication,] that this note is not to be regarded as official, until its sentiments are known; and the necessary changes which have taken place are approv X x 4 ed ed of; the above answers this observation. With satisfaction the sublime porte shall always regard every measure, which confirms its so fortunately subsisting friendship with France. Protest of Louis XVIII. King of France, dated Warsaw, June 6, 1801, against the Usurpation of Buonaparte.-From the Moniteur. In assuming the title of emperor, and attempting to render it hereditary in his family, Buonaparte has put the seal to his usurpation. This new act of revolution, where every thing from its origin has been null and void, cannot weaken my rights; but being accountable for my conduct to all sovereigns, whose rights are not less injured than mine, and whose thrones are shaken by the dangerous principles which the senate of Paris has dared to publish. Accountable to France, to my family, and to my own honour, I should consider myself as betraying the common cause, were I to keep silence upon this occasion. I declare then, after having renewed my protestations against all the illegal acts, which, from the opening of the states general of France, have led to the alarming crisis in which France and Europe are now involv. ed. I declare, in the presence of all the sovereigns, that far from acknowledging the imperial title that Buonaparte has received from a body which has not a legitimate existence, I protest as well against that title, as to all the subsequent acts to which it may give birth. on the Coronation of Bonaparte, as Emperor of the French.Paris, December 1, 1804. The senate, in pursuance of a re. solution passed in its sitting of the 26th of November, presented itself in a body at eleven o'clock this morning at the palace of the Thuilleries. Having been introduced into the chamber of state, they were presented to his imperial majesty by his imperial highness prince Joseph, grand elector. His excellency M. Francois (de Neufchateau), the president, addressed his majesty in the following terms :- Sire, The first attribute of the sovereign power of a people is the right of suffrage specially applied to fundamental laws. It is this that constitutes real citizens. Never has this right been more free, more independent, more certain, nor more legally exercised by any people, than it has been amongst us since the happy 9th of November (18 Brumaire). One plebiscitum placed the reins of government in your hands for ten years; a second entrusted them to you for life. The French people has now again, for the third time, expressed its will. Three millions five hundred thousand men, dispersed over the surface of an immense territory, have simultaneously voted the empire hereditary in your majesty's august family. Their acts of suffrage are contained in 60,000 registers, which have been verified and scrupulously examined. There is not a shadow of doubt either respecting the state, or the number of those who have put forth their voice, neither as to the right of each to give his vote, Oficial Account of the Proceedings nor as to the result of this universal suffrage. suffrage. Thus, then, the senate and people of France unanimous ly agree that the blood of Buonaparte shall henceforth be the imperial blood of France; and that the new throne raised for Napoleon, and rendered illustrious by him, shall never cease to be possessed either by the descendants of your majesty, or by those of the princes, your brothers.-This last testimony of the confidence of the people, and of their just gratitude, ought to be flattering to your im perial majesty's heart. It is glorious for a man, who has devoted himself, as you have done, to the welfare of his peers, to learn that his name alone is sufficient to unite such a vast number of men. In this instance, sire, the voice of the people is the voice of God. No government can be founded on a more indisputable title. The senate, the depository of this title, has passed a resolution to present itself in a body before your imperial majesty. It comes to display the joy with which it is penetrated, to offer you the unfeigned tribute of its felicitations, of its respect, of its love, and to applaud itself for the object of this proceeding, inasmuch as that consummates what it expected from your foresight, to tranquillize the uneasiness of all good Frenchmen, and to conduct into port the bark of the republic. Yes, sire, of the repub. lic! This word might wound the ears of an ordinary monarch. Here the word is in its proper place before him, whose genius has enabled us to enjoy the thing in the sense in which it can exist amongst a great people; you have done more than extending the limits of the republic, for you have established it on a solid base, Thanks to the emperor of the French, the conservative principles of the interest of all, have been introduced into the government of one, and the strength of a monarchy founded in a republic. Forforty centuries past, the question, which form of government is best, has been agitated; for forty centuries past the monarchical form of government has been considered as the chef d'œuvre of political wisdom, and the sole secure harbour of the human race. thing wanted, to unite, without risque, the elements of liberty to its unity of power, and the certainty of its succession. This improvement in the act of governing, is an advance which Napoleon at this moment produces in the social science. He has laid the foundation of representative states; he has not confined his views to their present existence; he has implanted in them the seeds of their future perfection. Whatever is wanted to their completion at first, will grow out of their own progress. It is the honour of the present age; the hope and the model of future ages. Sire, the first rank amongst the greatest men that have done honour to the earth, is reserved for the founders of empires. Those, who have ruined them, have enjoyed but a fatal glory; those who have suffered them to fall to ruin, are every where objects of reproach. Honour to those who raise them! They are not only the creators of nations, but they secure their con tinuance by laws which become the inheritance of futurity. We owe this treasure to your imperial majesty; and France proportions the measure of those thanks, which the conservative senate now presents to you in its name, to the magnitude But there was one of |