III. Her dowry is fixed at an annual income of two millions of francs, on the revenue of the state. IV. All the assignments which may be made by the emperor, in favour of the Empress Josephine, on the funds of the Civil List, shall be obligatory on his successors.

V. The present Senatus Consultum shall be transmitted by a message to his Imperial and Royal Majesty.

The two Addresses proposed by the Commission were afterwards put to the vote, and adopted.

CONSERVATIVE SENATE.

Sitting of the 16th Dec. 1809.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, the members of the Senate assembled in full dress, in their palace, in virtue of the Act of Convoca

tion:

His Serene Highness the Prince Arch-Chancellor of the Empire was received with the usual honours, His Majesty the King of Westphalia, his Majesty the King of Naples Grand Admiral, his Imperial Highness the Prince Viceroy of Italy, Arch-Chancellor of State, and their Serene Highnesses the Prince Vice Constable, and the Prince ViceGrand Elector, were present. The sitting was opened by reading the Act of Designation.

The Prince Arch-Chancellor of State had the parole to take the oath of Senator. His Imperial Highness, previous to that ceremony, expressed himself as follows:

"Prince, Senators-From the time when the goodness of his majesty the emperor has called me to sit among you, testimonies of his VOL. LI.

confidence have kept me continually distant from Paris, and I have, this day, for the first time, the pleasure to appear in the midst of you. I am happy in being able to say, that among the benefits which his majesty has incessantly showered upon me, I have been particularly sensible to the honour which was granted me, of forming a part of the first public body in the empire. Accept, Senators, this expression of my feelings, and my assurance of the happiness I experience in pronouncing, in the midst of you, this oath, which is to me that of duty, of love, and of gratitude. I swear obedience to the constitutions of the empire, and fidelity to the emperor."

The Prince Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, President, replied as follows to the speech of the Prince Viceroy:

"Prince-When his majesty the emperor and king conferred on you the high dignity, whereof you have just exercised one of the most essential prerogatives, the Senate applauded this act of justice. They congratulated themselves on counting among their members a prince, whose brilliant qualities excited such just hopes. Now that these hopes are realised by the glory of your' last campaigns, and by the wisdom of your administration, the Senate experiences great satisfaction in seeing you in its bosom, to concur in the important deliberation it is about to enter upon. You shew yourself truly the adoptive son of the hero who governs us; in like: hin silencing private affection, before the interests of nations. Your first steps within these walls could not be more worthily signalized,› than by this great testimony of pa triotism, of devotion, and of fideli

ty. I rejoice in being the organ of the sentiments of the Senate towards your Imperial Highness, and in expressing to you their wishes for your prosperity."

The Orators of the Council of State, Counts Regnault (de St. Jean d'Angely), and Defermont, Ministers of State, Members of the Council of State, being introduced, the Prince Arch-Chancellor, President, spoke as follows:

"Gentlemen--The Projet, which will, in this sitting, be submitted to the deliberation of the Senate, contains an arrangement which embraces our dearest interests. It is dictated by that imperious voice, which apprises Sovereigns and nations, that, to secure the safety of States, we must listen to the counsels of a wise foresight, incessantly recal to mind the past, examine the present, and extend our views to the future. It is under such high considerations, that in these ever memorable circumstances, his majesty the emperor has caused all personal considerations to disappear, and silenced all his private affections. The noble and affecting conduct of her majesty the empress is a glorious testimony of her disinterested affection for the emperor, and secures to her an eternal right to the gratitude of the nation."

Count Regnault St. Jean d'Angely submitted a Projet of a Senatus Consultum, dissolving the marriage between the Emperor Napoleon and and the Empress Josephine. The orator explained the motives of this Projet as follows;

we address to the Senate of France, but would be far below the affecting sounds received from the mouth of these two august consorts, of whom your deliberations will consecrate the generous resolutions? Their hearts have coincided in making the noblest sacrifices to the greatest of interests. They have coincided to make policy and sentiment speak language the most true, the most persuasive, the most adapted to move and to convince. As sovereigns and as consorts, the emperor and empress have done all, have said all. There only remains for us to love, to bless, and to admire them.

""Tis henceforth for the French nation to make themselves heard. Their memory is faithful as their heart. They will unite in their grateful thoughts the hope of the future with the remembrance of the past; and never will monarch have received more respect, admiration, gratitude, and love, than Napoleon, immolating the most sacred of his affections to the wants of his subjects; than Josephine immolating her tenderness for the best of husbands, through devotion for the best of kings, through attachment to the best of nations. Accept, gentlemen, in the name of all France, in the sight of astonished Europe, this sacrifice, the greatest ever made on earth, and, full of the profound emotion which you feel, hasten to carry to the foot of the throne, in the tribute of your sentiments, of the sentiments of all Frenchmen, the only price that can be worthy of the fortitude of our sovereigns, the only consolation that can be worthy of their hearts."

The Prince Viceroy (the son of Josephine) spoke as follows:

"Prince,

"Prince Senators-You have heard the Projet of the Senatus Consultum submitted to your deliberation. I feel it my duty, under these circumstances, to manifest the sentiments by which my family are animated.

He

"My mother, my sister, and my self, owe all to the emperor. has truly been to us a father. He will find in us at all times devoted children and obedient subjects.

"It is important to the happiness of France, that the founder of the fourth dynasty should, in his old age, be surrounded by direct de scendants, who may prove a security to all, and a pledge of the gloryý of our country.

"When my mother was crowned, before the whole nation, by the hands of her august consort, she

contracted an obligation to sacrifice all her affections to the interests of France. She has fulfilled, with fortitude, nobleness, and dignity, this first of duties. Her soul has often been moved at beholding exposed to painful struggles, the heart of a man accustomed to conquer fortune, and advance with a firm step to the accomplishment of his great designs. The tears which this resolution has cost the emperor, suffice for the honour (a la gloire) of my mother.

"In the situation she will now fill, she will be no stranger, by her wishes and her feelings, to the new prosperities which await us: with a satisfaction mingled with pride, she will behold the happiness her sacrifices will produce to her country and to her emperor,"

Melville.

GENERAL Melville was de

scended from the Melvilles of Carnbee, in Fife, a branch of the ancient and noble family of his name, of which the chief is the present Earl of Leven and Mel. ville. The original stock of this family was a Norman warrior, one of the followers of William the Conqueror, who, on some disgust he conceived at his treatment in England, withdrew into Scotland, in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, from whom he received lands in Lothian, about 1066; and branches of his family were afterwards esta blished on lands in Angus and Fife.

General Melville's parents dy. ing when he was very young, his guardians placed him at the grammar-school of Leven, where he soon distinguished himself by a quick and lively apprehension, united to a singularly-capacious and retentive memory. From this seminary, his rapid progress in his studies enabled him to be early removed to the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where he continued to apply with the happiest success. His fortune being VOL. LI.

with the counsels of his friends to select one of the learned profes

sions, turned his views to the study

of medicine: but his genius strongly prompting him to follow a military life, and the war then carrying on in Flanders presenting a favourable opportunity for gratify. ing his natural tendencies, young Melville could not resist the tempt ation. Without, therefore, the knowledge of his friends, he privately withdrew to London, where, upon a statement of his motives and determination, he was furnished with the necessary means of car. rying his projects into effect. He accordingly repaired to the Ne. therlands; and, early in 174. he was appointed an ensign in the 25th regiment of foot, then forming a part of the allied army. That campaign he served under Field. marshal Wade, and all the following, up to the peace of Aix-laChapelle, in 1748, under H. R. H. the Duke of Cumberland, partly in the Netherlands, and partly in Britain, whither the regiment had been drawn in 1745, on account of the political troubles in the kingdom. In the end of 1746, the regiment returning to the continent, Ensign Melville, at the battle of A Lafeldt,