BOOK V. nation the example of confidence, energy, and patriotism; and, like the senate of the great people of antiquity, CHAP. V. resolve to die rather than survive the dishonour and degradation of France. The sacred cause of the country 1815 shall triumph!"

While the address, in reply to the emperor's speech, was under discussion, fresh evidence was given of that laudable watchfulness with which the new parliament had determined to guard themselves from every suspicion of undue deference and adulation towards the constitutional monarch. On the day after the opening of the session a proposal was made by Felix Lepelletier, to decree in the address the title of Saviour of his Country to Napoleon, in imitation of the title of Louis The Desired, given by his senators to the French King. This unpopular proposal, grounded upon so inauspicious a model, was received in all parts of the house with tumultuous cries for the order of the day; and M. Dupin, mounting the tribune, exclaimed, "We are here to counsel, not to flatter, our emperor; would you suffer the poisoned breath of adulation to find its way already within these walls? If we anticipate events, what means will be reserved by which we shall demonstrate our gratitude at the moment when the emperor shall have saved the country?" The president, having put Lepelletier's proposal to the vote, the whole assembly rose to pass to the order of the day.

Four days elapsed before the addresses of the chambers in answer to the speech of the emperor were completely prepared. That of the peers expressed sentiments honourable to the independence of that body; and while they promised not to be depressed by adversity, they

added, that their constitutions guaranteed to all Europe, that the French government could not To this latter sentiment Napoleon replied, in be carried away by the seductions of victory. the very opening of his answer, and sufficiently evinced his feeling of the censure it conveyed on his former conduct, when he said-" The struggle in which we are engaged is serious. The seduction of prosperity is not the danger which menaces us at this moment. It is under the caudine forks that our enemies would now force us to pass."

The address of the deputies was conceived in the same spirit of firmness and moderation; and, at the same time that it expressed their determination to make the establishment of a free constitution their first care, and declared, that the will even of a victorious prince would be impotent in the endeavour to draw the nation beyond the limits necessary for its defence, it declared, that they were ready to co-operate to the utmost with the monarch of their choice, in every effort for maintaining the liberty, the honour, and the dignity of France.

To these declarations Napoleon replied, that he recognized with satisfaction his own sentiments in those expressed by the deputies; and added, "I depart this night to place myself at the head of the army." The expression-"I depart this night," thrilled through the whole assembly. Already the army had marched to the frontier, and the moment now approached when the fate of Europe was to be decided, in a battle more tremendous in its immediate effects, and more important in its ultimate consequences, than any engagement of modern times.

BOOK V. the people, whom the French government, uninstructed by the fatal termination of Generul CHAP. IV. Leclerc's expedition, wished to enslave.* But no sooner had King Henry learned that Louis 1815 XVIII. whose own misfortunes might have inspired him with sentiments of justice and humanity, was fitting out an expedition against the kingdom of Hayti, than he issued an energetic proclamation,† justifying, at the tribunal of nations, the legitimacy of his sable government; and in which, while he promised security and protection to the subjects of those powers who visited the island of St. Domingo for the purposes of commercial intercourse, he declared the determination of his subjects, rather to bury themselves under the ruins of their country, than to behold the destruction of that edifice, which they had cemented with their blood. "The king of a free people," said he, "a soldier by habit, we fear no war, nor dread any enemy. We have already signified our determination not to interfere in any way in the internal government of our neighbours. We wish to enjoy peace and tranquillity among ourselves, and to exert the same prerogatives which other nations enjoy, of making their own laws. If, after the free exposition of our sentiments, and the justice of our cause, any power should, contrary to the laws of nations, place a hostile foot on our territory, then our first duty will be to repel such an act of aggression by every means in our power. solemnly declare, that we will never consent to treaty, or any condition, that shall compromise the honour, the liberty, and the independence, of the Haytian people. Faithful to our oath, we will rather bury ourselves under the ruin of our country, than suffer our political rights to sustain the slightest injury."

A language so decided, and so well timed, had its proper influence upon the councils of France; and the obstacles, both physical and military, in the way of the conquest of St. Domingo, induced the French government to abandon an expedition prepared for that purpose, and preserved the inhabitants of that island from the galling influence of those chains, which French ambition and cupidity had forged for the colonists in the western islands of the Atlantic.

The first session of the restoration parliament of France closed its sittings on the 30th of December; and a review of its proceedings will serve to show, that much valuable time had been spent in the discussion of questions, ⚫ that tended neither to promote the security of the throne, nor to advance the happiness of the

people: such was the question for restricting the liberty of the press, by placing censors over its operations. The salutary regulations introduced into the department of finance, appeared, on the contrary, calculated to retrieve the public credit, by affording facilities for the reduction of the debt already incurred, and by making provision against its future augmentation. In order to regulate the affairs of commerce, and to retrieve its drooping operation, the circle of representation was enlarged, by the creation of a commercial chamber; and the tides of the ocean, which had for years flowed in vain, were again made subservient to the prosperity of France. Whatever might be the feelings of the nation and of the army, the two chambers of legislation manifested their regard for the person and family of the sovereign, by voting a civil list, equal to that with which the crown was endowed under Louis XVI. and by an unanimous resolution to make the nation responsible for the debts incurred by her sovereign, during a long period of exile. Unhappily for the tranquillity of the state, the vital question regarding emigrant property, though frequently before the assembled legislators of France, was brought to no decision; and the indemnity of the clerical body for the confiscation of church property, made during the revolution, involved considerations too delicate to be submitted to the immediate consideration of the chambers.

The state of parties in France, as it appeared at the beginning of the year 1815, was such as to indicate the existence of wide differ ences in opinions and interest among large classes of the community; and although, in a wellestablished government, and among a people of sedate character and temperate feelings, it is found by experience, that such diversities may prevail without materially endangering the public tranquillity; yet under the rule of a dynasty restored, after a long intermission, by foreign troops, to the throne of a nation distinguished for the vehemence and promptitude of its emotions, there was sufficient reason to apprehend, that secret dissensions could not long subsist without bursting into a flame. In the military class in particular, who deeply felt the humiliation of the French arms, hitherto triumphant beyond example, the hostility to the reigning family was no longer disguised. A spirit of military enterprise still strongly predominated in the nation, and a recent ordinance, for the reduction of officers of all ranks, not actually employed, to half pay, combined with the recall of the Swiss guards to Paris, and the exclusion