wonderful, that this feeling should have tainly be no occasion for the presence of lain dormant for so many years? That, 300,000 foreign soldiers upon the soil of while Napoleon and his army were in France, garrisoning all her strong and great Spain, at Vienna, at Berlin, and even at towns and her capital. It will, therefore, Moscow; that when such fair opportuni- be to the world, a pretty good criterion, ties offered, when there was nothing ap- when it is informed of the movements of parently to prevent the people of France these troops and of the period of their defrom expressing their wishes in your favour; parture from France. If it be necessary that, upon none of these occasions, no part for these troops to remain for any length of that populous nation should, amongst of time; if they are to occupy Paris, and, all their love of changes, have thought of in fact, France, until your Majesty be expressing a wish for the return of the seated in the exercise of your authority; if ancient family? If I am reminded of the this be found necessary, it will take a great spies, the police, the gens d'armes of Napo- deal more than the Senate and our newsleon, I answer that all these were still papers have yet said to convince the ratioFrenchmen. They made a part of the nal part of mankind, that the genuine feelFrench people at any rate; and, some how ing in France is what it has recently been or other, it has happened, that this people, described to be. Napoleon is now out of taken all together, have, until now, been the way. He has not only lost his power; quite silent as to any wish for the restora- but, his person is removed. Fear of him, tion of your House. They are now, we therefore, is quite out of the question, are told, lost in their feelings of joy at your Fear of whom, then, can it be, that shall return; but, when was there a nation, the render the presence of such an immense populace of which did not shout for the foreign force necessary? If the presence strongest; did not shout for him who had of this force be found necessary, it will bethe power for the time being? Loud as hove your Majesty well to consider of the the shouts may be, they have not, and will means of gaining the real affections of the not, surpass those which were wont to be people.The Senate, after accusing set up for Napoleon, who, according to Napoleon of violating the liberty of the the accounts we received, was hailed at press by his imprimatur, have themselves Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Vienna, imposed an imprimatur, under pretence of with joy as great as your Majesty is said preventing inflammatory placards and other to have been hailed with at Paris.This dangerous publications. On what could noise, therefore, is no circumstance to this their apprehension be grounded? If judge by of the real sentiments of the na- the people really be of one mind as to your tion; and, if your Majesty has a true restoration; if they have hailed your return friend about you, he will caution you, with sincere joy; if they do thirst for their every hour in the day, not to build any ancient nobility and clergy; if the work of hopes upon that of which these shouts ap- counter-revolution be really their work, pear to be the evidence. He will remind why these fears of the press ?- In short, you, as I have, that the French people every thing tends to prove, that your Manever spoke of you and your family, 'till jesty has much to do to gain the good will the foreign armies got possession of their of the people of France; that your object country; and that, so reluctant were they ought to be to convince them by your to do it at last, that the white cockade did measures, that they will not lose by the not travel so fast as the invaders, until change; that they are not going to return Paris itself was taken, and Napoleon was to that state from which they emerged in unable to afford them any chance of suc- 1789; that they are to enjoy the fruit of cessful resistance.These are facts, their labour and genius; that their coun which a faithful adviser will keep constant-try is still to be great, and, n short, that ly before you, as the strongest of all possi- they are to suffer neither in interest nor in ble reasons for your acting in such a way character by your restoration.-V ou have as shall reconcile the people to your return. the disadvantage of succeeding to the -Either, says common sense, the peo- power of a man, who, notwithstanding ple of France did really wish for your re- all that has been, or can be, said of him, storation, or they did not: either it is true will for ever live in the highest ranks of that they have received you with sincere fame. He carried the French arms farther joy, or it is false: either you are the ob- than any other man; he made France ject of their love and their free choice, or greater than she ever was before; the you are not. If you are, there can cer- splendour of his atchievements endeared him to a people enamoured of military not been gained as the friends of liberty glory; he was a liberal protector of the could have wished; but, if your Majestý arts and the sciences; he invariably showed ascend the throne upon the conditions prethat the glory of France was the object scribed, France, at any rate, will enjoy as constantly in his view: and, it will be much freedom as we, who formerly reborne in mind, that, even at last, if he proached the French nation with being would have consented to a treaty which slaves; and your subjects will have the adwould have rendered France a contemptible vantage of having something like a specific State, he might have been still an Emperor. compact to refer to. The French people Though he became an enemy of freedom, have carried on war for twenty-two feeling that the friends of freedom could years; they have made great sacrifices; not be reconciled to him, he established, they have lost much of their best blood; or, at least, confirmed, a wise code of but, they have given an example to the laws; he caused justice to be duly, impar- world of what people are able to do when tially, and punctually administered; and, the obtaining of freedom is their object, the people of France, if what is called the and they have secured many advantages, New Constitution be accepted by you and any one of which would have been worth preserved, will not fail to recollect, that its a life of war. The principle of represenchief merit is, that it retains what he had tative government they have caused to be established; that it is, in fact, the work of recognized; they have a specific compact his hands; that he made the Senate and with their King, who is called, not in virthe Legislative Body; and that, by what- tue of his right, but of a decree, to supply ever name his code may now be called, it the place of another who had been deposed is, in fact, the Code Napoleon.-There- by a decree. They have made conditions fore, it will require, on your part, no com- with their new Sovereign; they have im'mon degree of prudence and firmness to posed an oath on him to observe the comsatisfy a people, who have lived under such pact; and they have made such a compact à ruler. The old regime will not suit such as will give them, at least, as much freea people. They have been spoiled for the dom as the English, amongst whom they old regime. Those who are still attached formerly passed for contemptible slaves. to that regime are about to quit life. TheTaxes are to be levied impartially; scene is filled with new actors with feelings equality of proportion in taxes is of right, and minds fitted only to a new and more and no tax is to be imposed without the free and active state of things.- -The pic-free consent of the Legislative Body. No ture of France, previous to the revolution,* taxes are to be laid for more than one year, as given us by Mr. Young, the Secretary except the land-tax- These are most to our Board of Agriculture, who travelled important points. It is all that the repuball over France, who made the most mi- licans ever wished for upon this head; and nute inquiries, who observed accurately, thus, by the new compact, which I trust and who, in writing, always cited his au- your Majesty will faithfully observe, all thorities; this picture was such, that the those odious and detestabe drains upon the man who did not wish to see a total change people, under names of Corvees, gabelles, in the government, mut have been a fiend tailles, and feudal imposts, are for ever in human shape. There were, however, done away. The partiality in the impo such men, and in England too; but, their sition, so strongly dwelt upon by Mr. wishes were defeated; they had the mor- Young, is provided against; the odious tification to see the French people become and intolerable exemptions are abolished by free; and they are now endeavouring to your own consent; men are to contribute stimulate your Majesty again to make them according to their means, and not accordslaves. Their hatred is partly to France ing to the caprice of any subaltern ruler; and partly to freedom; but, the latter pre-and thus, in this respect, the people of dominates in their mind. This class of France have gained and secured all that men, and this class alone, would recommend an attempt to restore the ancient regime. They are crucified at the thought of the revolution having ended with a gain to the cause of freedom. So much has ever the republicans ever had in contemplation.- -The independence of the judicial power is guaranteed." That is to say, it is to remain as Napoleon left it. There is to be one and the same system and set of principles for deciding as to the * I subjoin it to this address, the republication property and crimes of all men, without baying been so often called for, any exception.- Thus are swept away revive the tithes; to bring back a claimant to a share in every man's crop, and that, too, after the lapse of twenty-two years; to give a fifth, or, perhaps, a fourth, of the annual worth of every man's land to another, when, in many cases, the land has been purchased being free from any such charge, would Lo all the saleable justice, of which Mr. Young This matter of titles may be looked upon so loudly complains; all those persecuting as the touch-stone of the counter-revolu tribunals the seigneurial courts; all the par- tion. It is a land-mark for a great part liaments, in which, as he tells us, the judges of the world to go by; and, there will be themselves were often parties; alf these nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every divans of death and devastation, such as thousand in England, who will say, that, that of Toulouse, by whom Calas was sent in this one thing, the French people are to the rack under the influence of re- amply paid for all their sacrifices.morseless bigotry and superstition.To Here it is that your Majesty will stand in have got rid of this terrible curse alone, need of all your firmness and resolution. would have been worth a century of war. The priests will assail you with the artillery A civil war, raging through a whole coun- of their terrors and all the mining-tools of try, is less horrible to contemplate than their endless and ever-varying intrigue. the existence of the tribunals described by To rob the Church of her patrimony will Mr. Young; and, indeed, he was merely be laid before you as the wort of crimes; the translator, in this respect, of the com- to do justice to her will be represented as plaints of the French people themselves. necessary at the risk of losing a crown The sale of the national domains is and life; and, as for oaths, they will be irrevocable."-These include the real pro- termed trash, when in opposition to the perty of the Church, which went to the interests of all that is valuable in the world support of some hundreds of thousands of to come.Nevertheless, you must repersons, who, under the pretext of devot-sist, if you wish to reign in peace; for, to ing their times and persons solely to God, wallowed in wealth, luxury, and pleasure, and insulted the people by whose labours they lived. Their property paid little or no share of the imposts; they enjoyed all the benefits and performed none of the duties, of civil society They were not, in general, amenable to the laws; they committed crimes with impunity; and the exciting commotions leading towards, if only way in which they exerted their ta- not to, another revolution.lents, was in keeping alive that accursed jesty will not want for advisers, though the superstition, which served to preserve their press, in this country, urge you to adopt own power at the expense of public hap- this odious measure. There are men here, piness. The freedom of worship and who, caring nothing about you or your faconscience is guaranteed; and, the minis-mily, are filled with dread at the idea of ters of worship are treated and protected the people of France being free and happy. alike."- This is again a mere confirma-They dread to see the people of France tion of the laws and regulations of Napoleon. But, the word traitement has a meaning of grea importance, which is not contained in the translation. The word, in French, means salary, or pay: and, the compact with your Majesty is, that the ministers of all religions, shall be paid in the same manner, or, from similar sources. Thus, ther, the tithes are not to be revived. This is a most important point; not only as it affecs property, but as it affects the power an influence of the Romish Church. In fact, f this article of the compact be adhered o, there will be no established church in France; and, I think, that your Majesty during your long exile, must have seen enugh to convince you, that a pre-tenth part of every man's produce. What dominat hierarchy has its inconveniences. To puidown an established Church, is a very dferent thing from refraining to raise up on that has already been put down, -Your Ma gain any benefits at all. They would, -This a change! What a contrast with the government of Napoleon! It would rouse every pitch-fork in your kingdom. And yet, if done at all it must be done at once. It is not a work that can be effected by they reviled the Catholic religion and the time, or by partial acts; for, to seize the Catholic priest. They represented your tenth of a man's crop cannot be done im- predecessors as tyrants; your clergy as perceptibly; the people cannot be deprived subtle and cruel knaves; and the people of of this, as they sometimes are of their po- France as superstitions and degraded litical rights, by slow and imperceptible slaves. But, the revolution having alarmed degrees. It is not like a tax, which, at them, your family became a race of paterworst, is only for a time, and is paid in nal sovereigns, and, as to the Catholic money. It is a seizure upon the real pro- priests, they were the most pious and perty itself. The act is visible, and touches most virtuous set of men in existence. The every man in the tenderest part. -Your repeal of the edict of Nantes was no longer Majesty may have perceived, that, amongst thought of; the judicial murders of Lanour great agriculturists, including some of guedoc and Provence at the dictation of the most violent enemies of the French re-bloody bigotry, might have been necessary volution, there are persons who are very to prevent disorganization;" the Pope, eager for the abolition of the tithes even from being called Anti-Christ, became "a here. They speak of them as a monstrous venerable old man," and, even the inquinational evil; they have no scruple of at-sition with its cells and its flames, tended, tributing every scarcity to them, though at least, to preserve " social order." Your they forget that they now and then com- Majesty must have been amused with all plain, that corn is too cheap; though this this. The shyness of the world gave you cause of scarcity is existing all the while. time to observe and reflect; and I dare These worthy gentlemen are deceived; but, say, that you concluded these people to be the error is general; and, one of our no- the very basest of all mankind.- -From 'blemen, not long ago, cited the happiness, the same motive that hugged the Capuchins of our neighbours in being freed from tithes. to their bosom, and that their wives and -But, to impose tithes is very different daughters decorated themselves with rosaries from preserving them, especially when, and crosses, they would stimulate you to in the former case, the land has been pur- extirpate, or, at least, degrade, all the Prochased tithe free. This is the case pre-testants in France; namely, because liberty stined to your Majesty, whose advisers of conscience there, perfect equality as to must be your worst foes, if they counsel religious matters, would be an acquistion you to depart one jot from this condition to the cause of freedom.- The remaining of your restoration. Yet, here again it condition, relating to religion, is of great must be confessed, that the French people consequence too; that is, "that all will have been gainers by the revolution. Frenchmen are equally admissible to all This their gain will excite envy in their civil and military employments." This is neighbours, and will tend, it may be hoped a very wise and just provision, or, rather, to strengthen, rather than weaken, the retention of what Napoleon had established. cause of freedom. -The liberty of con- You, like him, will act wisely in availing science and of public worship which is yourself of all the talents you can reach, provided for, or, rather, retained, will give without regard to the reigious opinions of great satisfaction to the friends of freedom, the possessor. The belief or disbelief in the especially to those who have read of the doctrine of transubstantiation has nothing horrid persecutions of the Protestants, under to do with the making of a treaty, or the the ancient regime. But, it is said, that, pointing of a cannon, or the deciding of a in this country, there are Protestants who question in law or equity. France, under protest against this condition of your recall! your sway, if you adhere impartially to They wish you to re-establish the Catholic this condition, will set a brigh example to hierarchy in all its plenitude. The truth the European nations. You wil call down is, that they care nothing about your in- on your head the curses of superstition and terests or the interests of religion. They priest-craft, of corruption, and of every hate freedom; they look upon an exclusive oligarchy on earth; but, you vll be faith church-establishment as the means of fully served, and France will always be able holding men in abject subjection; and, to chastise any envious aggressor. Your therefore, whether Catholic or Protestant, only real enemies are those, whi will enthey wish for an establishment.--Your deavour to stimulate you to acts despotMajesty will hardly have failed to be amus-ism and revenge. I perceive wh great ed with observing the conduct of those satisfaction, that the republican generals persons. Before the revolution in France, are likely to be the commander under 47 for, as to putting them back into the state you. You have seen, that there was no |