or annul every act referred to them as unconstitu tional by the tribune or the government. The sittings of the senate are not public. At length, the fabric of a new government was completed by the legislative commission, and approved on the 13th of CHAPTER III. treats of the legislative power.December by the consuls and members of the legislative committee. This constitu- No new law shall be promulgated, unless the plan shall have been first proposed by the executive tion was accordingly submitted to the sufgovernment to the legislative body; communicafrages of the citizens of the French republic ted by the legislature to the tribunate; considered at large, and received the express and and discussed by the members of that assembly; avowed assent of upwards of three mil- and finally decreed by the legislative body. The lions of the people, while the votes against its executive government is at liberty, in any stage of discussion, to withdraw the plan or project of acceptance amounted only to fifteen hunany law proposed, and to present it again in a modred and sixty-two. On the 29th of De-dified state. The tribunate is composed of a huncember, 1799 (4th of Nivose, year VIII.), dred members; one-fifth renewable every year; the new constitution was proclaimed at and indefinitely re-eligible while they remain Paris with great solemnity, and the people upon the national list. This assembly, after discussing the plan of every law proposed, shall by their acclamations seemed to cherish vote for its adoption or rejection; and shall send the hope that the institutions arising out of three members, chosen from their body, by whom the revolution of the 18th and 19th Bru- the motives of their decision' shall be stated and maire, would confer upon them the enjoy-supported before the legislative body. The legis lative body shall be composed of three hundred ments of tranquillity, prosperity, and peace. members, to be also renewed annually by fifths. The new constitutional code was com- It shall commence its session every year, (1st. Friprised of ninety-five articles, divided into maire, (Nov. 21), and shall continue sitting at seven chapters, and dated at Paris, the least four months; and it determines by secret 22d Frimaire (Dec. 13), in the 8th year of scrutiny, without discussion, upon the plan of the laws argued upon in its presence. The sitting of the republic. This extraordinary produc- the legislature and tribunate to be public; and tion was in substance as follows:the members of both to possess fixed salariesthe tribunes 15,000 francs (6257.); and the legislators 10,000 francs (4167.) CHAPTER I.-The French republic is one and indivisible; but its European territory is distributed into departments and communes. Every CHAPTER IV. The executive government is man born and resident in France, of the age of intrusted to three consuls, appointed for ten years, twenty-one years, who has had his name inscribed but indefinitely re-eligible. For the present time, in the civil register of his communal district, and General Bonaparte is appointed chief consul; citi afterwards remained a year on the French terri- zen Cambaceres, now minister of police, second tory, is a French citizen. The citizens of every consul; and citizen Le Brun, member of the communal district shall appoint, by their suffrages, committee of ancients, third consul. The first or those whom they think most worthy of conducting chief consul alone has the power of promulgating public affairs. There shall be a list of confidence, laws. He is to name or displace at pleasure the containing a number of names, equal to a tenth of members of the council of state, the ministers, the the number of citizens possessing the rights of ambassadors, the officers of the army by sea and suffrage. From this communal list, the public land, the members of local administration, and the functionaries of districts shall be taken. The citi- commissioners of the government at the tribunals. zens comprised in the communal lists of a depart. He is to appoint all judges, criminal and civil, as ment shall appoint a tenth of their number; and well as justices of the peace, and the judges of from this departmental list the public functionaries cassation, without the power of afterwards superof each department shall be taken. The citizens seding them. Even in the inferior acts of governincluded in the departmental list shall also appointment, the second and third consuls have delibea tenth of their number, who shall be eligible to rative voices only, and the liberty of countersignpublic national functions. Every third year va-ing their opinions; after which the determination cancies are to be filled; and the names of those who may have forfeited the confidence of their constituents to be withdrawn. CHAPTER II.-An assembly shall be formed, under the appellation of the conservatory senate; consisting of sixty members, chosen for life, to be gradually increased to eighty, by an addition of two members for ten successive years, with fixed salaries, amounting to 25,000 francs (10414.) Four persons named in the constitutional act, viz., Sieyes, Ducos, Cambaceres, Le Brun, shall appoint the first thirty-one members, being the majority of the senate, which shall afterwards complete itself. Subsequent vacancies shall be filled up by the senate, who shall make their choice out of three candidates separately presented to them, by the legislative body, the tribunate, and the chief consul. From the national list, transmitted by the different departments, shall be elected by the conservative senate, who shall themselves be ineligible to any other function, the legislature, the tribunes, the consuls, and the judges of cassation. The senate shall also possess the power to confirm VOL. 1 29 of the first consul shall follow. The salary of the first consul is fixed at 500,000 francs (20,820.), and that of the second and third at 75,000 francs (3,123.) each. The executive government is to manage political relations abroad; to conduct negotiations; to declare war; to sign and conclude all treaties of peace, alliance, truce, neutrality, commerce, and other conventions. Such declarations and treaties to be proposed, discussed, and decreed in the same manner as laws; and no act of government can have effect till it is signed by a minister. The minister charged with the administration of the public treasury is not at liberty to make provision for any branch of the public expenditure, except by virtue of a law, and only to the extent of the funds provided by law for that purpose; and the detailed account of every minister, signed and certified by him, are to be made public. CHAPTER V. relates to the judicial authorities.Every communal arrondissement shall have one or more justices of the peace elected immediately by the citizens, for the term of three years, whose office it shall be to endeavour to reconcile the parties applying to them, by arbitrating between them. In civil matters, tribunals shall be established of first instance, and tribunals of appeal; the judges of which shall be taken from the de ences;-a committee of seven, chosen by the senate from the national list, regulates and verifies the accounts of the receipts and expenses of the republic. This consular constitution exhibited, un partmental list. In criminal cases, a first jury doubtedly, indications of political ability admits or rejects the charge, a second jury pro- and wisdom far exceeding any discoverable nounces on the fact, and the judges apply the pun- in the directorial system, and its analysis, ishment. Those crimes which do not amount to as given by Roederer, is deserving of being corporal punishment are tried before the tribunals of correctional police, with an appeal to the cri- preserved. Out of an aggregate of thirtyminal tribunals. There is for the whole republic, three millions and a half, of which the one tribunal of cassation; the judges composing population of France at that time consisted, which are taken from the national list. This tri- he estimates the male inhabitants of age, bunal pronounces on appeals against judgments in and qualified to vote, at five millions; who the last resort. It does not, however, decide upon reduce themselves to five hundred thousand the merits, but merely reverses judgments given on proceedings in which the constitutional forms notables of departments; reduced again to are violated-sending the case back for a rehear- five thousand notables of France; from ing. The judges of all descriptions remain in whom are chosen five hundred legislators office for life, unless condemned to forfeit their of the senate, tribunate, and legislative places, or unless discontinued on the list of eligi- body; one grand consul, and two puisne bles, corresponding with their functions. CHAPTER VI. relates to the responsibility of the public functionaries.-The functions of members, whether of the senate, tribunate, legislative body, or council of state, including ministers of the executive power are all responsible. Personal crimes committed by citizens of any of these descriptions, are prosecuted before the ordinary tribunals, after a deliberation of the body to which the person under accusation belongs has authorized such prosecution. The ministers of state are moreover responsible for every act of government signed by them; and also for any orders contrary to the constitution, laws, and ordinances. The judges, civil and criminal, for crimes relating to their functions, shall be prosecuted before the tribunals to which the tribunal of cassation may send them, after having annulled their acts. CHAPTER VII.-Of general dispositions. The house of every person inhabiting the French territory is an inviolable asylum. It can be entered only in the day, for a special purpose determined by the law, or an order emanating from a public authority. The arrest of a person must first express in form the causes for such arrest, and the law in virtue of which it is ordered 2dly. It must issue from such functionary only as the law has invested with the power. 3dly. It must be notified to the person arrested, and a copy of it left with him. All severities used in arrest, detentions, or executions, other than those commanded by the laws, are crimes. Every man has a right of addressing petitions to every constituted authority;-the public force is necessarily in a state of obedience; no armed body can deliberate; military crimes are subjected to special tribunals, and particular forms of judg ment;-a national institute is charged with receiving discoveries, and perfecting the arts and sci consuls. The senate and tribunate are chosen not by the five thousand notables of France, out of that class. A body of eighty members, first constituted representatives of the nation, either by a competent election or by the acquiescence of the people, under the title of conservators, choose first, all the members called to exercise the legislative power; and secondly, (the consuls) the three chiefs of the executive power, the first of whom afterwards chooses the ministers and the other agents of the go vernment. Accustomed to change, and charmed with novelty, the Parisians received the new constitution with delight, and viewed the pomp and the splendour of the consular government with surprise and self-complacency. They reasoned little, but hoped much. Bonaparte was their idol, and from him alone they expected every thing!* *This disposition to aggrandize the chief consul was well satirized by a hand-bill, of which the following is a copy, and with which the streets of Paris were placarded on the night of his elevation to the consular dignity : "POLITICAL SUBTRACTION. and there remain 3 Consuls: and there remains 1 BONAPARTE!" CHAPTER XV. Situation of Europe at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century-Bonaparte's Letter to the King of England-Lord Grenville's official Reply-Corespondence-Debates and Decision of the British Parliament thereon-Proposal for an Inquiry into the Expedition to Holland-Supplies-Ways and Means-Subsidy to the Emperor-Renewed Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act-Affairs of India -Renewal of the Bank Charter-Meeting of the Irish Parliament-Discussions on the Union-Duel between Mr. Grattan and the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer-Assent to the Union-The Act of Union finally passed-Ratified by the Irish Parliament-Investigation into the Means of Remedy. ing the Evils of the existing Scarcety-Prorogation of Parliament-Escape of his Majesty from the Attempt of a Maniac Assassin. THE eighteenth century, the latter part of which had been rendered so memorable by the revolution of states and empires, had now closed in blood.* Not a glimpse of peace presented itself to cheer the mind after so long and so sanguinary a contest: on the contrary, every thing seemed to forbode a prolongation of public calamity, and a renewal of individual misfortune. The coalition against France, although weakened in consequence of those jealousies which have generally rendered combinations of this kind of little avail, had certainly achieved great events. The republic had beheld her armies moulder away, and her best generals beaten in succession, during the preceding campaign. The house of Austria, justly proud of her late acquisitions, had covered Italy with troops; the adjoining seas and straits swarmed with British cruisers; the fleets of France and Spain were rendered useless, by being shut up in their own ports; and the army of Egypt was not only cut off from all intercourse with Europe, but also deprived of its boasted leader. Such was the situation of France, when it was the fortune of one of her generals to overturn the constitution of the commonwealth, at the same time that he rescued her allies from ruin, and her armies from ignominy and disgrace. Bonaparte, having in a great measure united in his own person all the authorities both civil and military, determined on entering into negotiations for peace. How ever slender his hopes of success, he resolved if possible to throw all the odium arising from the further prosecution of the war on the enemies of France, and accordingly commenced his career by professing his horror of the calamities to which Europe had been so long exposed. Having addressed himself without success to the court of Vienna, he next determined to sound the intentions of the King of Great Britain. Talleyrand, formerly Bishop of Antun, and now secretary of state for foreign affairs, accordingly transmitted a despatch This is erroneous; the 18th century did not elose until the last minute of the last day of December, 1800.-W. G. THE PEOPLE-LIBERTY-EQUALITY. the King of Great Britain and Ireland. BONAPARTE, First Consul of the Republic, to 64 Paris,5th Nivose, 8th year, Dec. 25, 1799. Called by the wishes of the French nation to occupy the first magistracy of the republic, 1 think it proper on entering into office to make a direct communication of it to your majesty. the four quarters of the world, must it be eternal? "The war which for eight years has ravaged Are there no means of coming to an understanding? How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, powerful and strong beyond what their safety and independence require, sacrifice to ideas of vain grandeur, commerce, prosperity, and peace? How is it that they do not feel that peace is of the first importance, as well as the highest glory? These sentiments cannot be foreign to the heart of your majesty, who reigns over a free nation with the sole view of rendering it happy. Your majesty will see in this overture my sincere wish to contribute efficaciously, for the second time, to a general pacification, by a step speedy, entirely of confidence, and disengaged from those forms which, perhaps necessary to disguise the dependence of weak states, prove, in those that are strong, only the desire of deceiving each other "France and England, by the abuse of their strength, may still for a long time, for the misfor tune of all nations, retard the period of their being exhausted; but I will venture to say it, the fate of all civilized nations is attached to the termination of a war, which involves the whole world. Your majesty's, &c." BONAPARTE." 44 OFFICIAL NOTE. London, Jan. 4, 1800. ation abroad. Such an event would at once re ed enjoyment of its ancient territory, and give to means. But it is not to this mode that his majesty limits the possibility of solid pacification. He makes no claim to prescribe to France, what shall be the form of her government, or in whose hands she shall vest the authority necessary for conducting the affairs of a great and powerful nation. "His majesty only looks to the security of his own dominions, of his allies, and of Europe. Whenever he shall judge it can be in any manner attained, he will eagerly embrace the opportunity to concert with his allies the means of an immedi ate and general peace. "The king has given frequent proofs of his sincere desire of re-establishing tranquillity in Europe. He neither is nor has been engaged in any contest for vain glory. He has had no other view than that of maintaining against all aggression the rights and and happiness of his subjects. For these, he has contended against an unprovoked attack, and for the same objects is still obliged to contend. Nor can he hope that the necessity could be removed by entering at the present moment into negotiation with those whom a fresh revolution has so recently placed in the exercise of power in France; since no real advantage can arise from such negotiations to the desirable object of general peace, till those causes have ceased to operate which originally produced the war, by which it has been since protracted, and in more "Unhappily, at present no such security exists; than one instance renewed. The same system no sufficient evidence of the principles by which to which France justly ascribes all her present the new government will be directed; no reasonmiseries, has also involved Europe in a destructive able grounds of its stability appear. In this situawarfare, of a nature long unknown to the practice tion, therefore, it remains for his majesty to pursue, of civilized nations. For the extension of this sys-in conjunction with other powers, those exertions tem, and the extermination of all established governments, the resources of France have been lavished and exhausted. To this indiscriminate spirit of destruction, the Netherlands, the United Provinces, and the Swiss Cantons, have successively been sacrificed. Germany has been ravaged-Italy has been the scene of unbounded rapine and anarchy. His majesty himself has been compelled to maintain an arduous contest for the independence and existence of his kingdom. "Nor have these calamities been confined to Europe alone: they have been extended to the most distant quarters of the world, and even to countries so remote, both in situation and interest, from the present contest, that the very existence of such a war was probably unknown to those who suddenly found themselves involved in its horrors. of a just and defensive war, which a regard to the happiness of his subjects will never permit him to continue beyond the necessity in which they originated, or to terminate on any other foundation than such as would contribute to the secure enjoyment of their tranquillity, their constitution, and their independence. (Signed) "GRENVILLE." This repelling reply, which afterwards subjected the ministers to severe animadversions, provoked an animated rejoinder. Talleyrand, on the 14th of January, intimated in an official note, written by direc tion of the consuls, that so far from France having been the aggressor in the present war, she had from the first moment of the revolution solemnly proclaimed her love of peace, and her respect for the independence of all governments. Incessantly occupied in the melioration of her internal affairs, she would have avoided all interference in the concerns of other states, had not nearly the whole of Europe leagued against her. The provocation had existence before it became public; the nation was outraged in the person of her agents, and England in particular had set this example by the dis "Whilst such a system therefore prevails, and whilst the blood and treasures of a powerful nation can be lavished in its support, experience has shown that no defence but that of open and steady hostility can be availing. The most solemn treaties have only prepared the way to fresh aggression, and it is to determined resistance alone, that whatever remains in Europe of stability, for property, for personal safety, for social order, or the exercise of religion, can be preserved. For the security, therefore, of these essential objects, his majesty cannot place reliance on the mere renew al of general professions for pacific dispositions. Such professions have been repeatedly held out by all who have successively directed the resour-missal of the minister residing at her court. ces of France, to the destruction of Europe, and whom the present rulers have declared all to have been incapable of maintaining the relations of amity. Greatly will his majesty rejoice, whenever it shall appear that the danger to which his own dominions and those of his allies have been so long exposed, has really ceased; whenever he shall be satisfied that the necessity of resistance shall be at an end; that after so many years of crimes and miseries, better principles have prevailed, and the gigantic projects of ambition, endangering the very existence of civil society, have at length been relinquished. But the conviction of such a change can result only from the evidence" the views of the King of England accord of facts. "The best pledge of its reality and permanence would be the restoration of that line of princes which, for so many centuries, maintained the French nation in prosperity at home and consider The evils which France had suffered, as well as those which afflicted Europe, are in this document attributed entirely to the projects of subjugation entered into against France: assailed on all sides, the republic had on all sides exerted herself for the maintenance of her independence; but no sooner had her enemies renounced their schemes of invasion, than she in her turn manifested a sincere desire for peace." If, however," continues the French minister, with those of France in respect to the re-establishment of tranquility, why not attempt to terminate the war, instead of attempting its apology?" "The first consul of the French republic," said M. Talleyrand, | it? They recapitulated the proceedings "cannot doubt that his Britannic majesty of Bonaparte at Milan, Modena, Genoa, recognises the right of nations to choose Venice, Malta, and Egypt, and recurred to the form of their government, since it is them as so many unanswerable arguments from the exercise of this right that he him- against any confidential reliance on the adself holds his crown. But the first consul vances now made by that general. has been unable to comprehend, how, to this fundamental principle, upon which rests the existence of political societies, the ministers of his majesty could annex insinuations which tend to an interference in the internal affairs of the republic; and which are no less injurious to the French nation and to its government, than it would be to England, and to his majesty, if an invitation were held out in favour of that republican government of which England adopted the forms in the middle of the last century; or an exhortation to recall to the throne that family which had been placed there by birth, and made to descend from it in consequence of a revolution." It was asked, if at other times his majesty had been eager to propose conferences for peace, why he should now refuse to renew the negotiations? And in order to put an end to the calamities of war, it was proposed to agree to a suspension of arms, and immediately to nominate plenipotentiaries, who might repair to Dunkirk, or any other place calculated for the celerity of communication. In a despatch from Lord Grenville, dated the 20th January, this proposal was declined on the part of the English government; and while that of France was accused of having entered into a systematic defence of the unprovoked aggressions that had taken place on her part, an attempt was made to wipe away the insinuation respecting the restoration of the Bourbons, by protesting once more, that the King of Great Britain had no desire whatever to prescribe to any foreign nation the form of its constitution. Mr. Pitt, with his accustomed eloquence, declaimed against the injustice and rapacity of republican France: "You cannot," said this statesman, "look at the map of Europe, and lay your hand upon that country against which France has not either declared an open and aggressive war, or violated some positive treaty, or broken some recognized principle of the law of nations. The all-searching eye of the French revolution looks to every part of Europe, and to every quarter of the world, in which can be found any object of acquisition or plunder. Nothing is too great for the temerity of its ambition; nothing too small for the grasp of its rapacity. This is the spirit which animated its birth, and this is the spirit which will not desert it till the moment of its dissolution. This system arose out of the nature of the revolution, and has been invariably pursued, under Brissot, and under Robespierre, by Sieyes, as well as Barras. At present, a supreme power is placed at the head of this nominal republic, with a more open avowal of military despotism than at any former period. The different institutions, republican in form and appearance, are now annihilated. They have given way to the absolute power of one man, concentrating in himself all the authorities of the state, and differing from other monarchs only in this, that he wields a sword instead of a sceptre." —“ Under these circumstances," said Mr. Pitt, at the close of an elaborate speech, "I see no possibility of such a peace as will be attended with established tranqillity; and as I cannot be content with its nominal attainment; I will not grasp at the shadow, when the reality is beyond my reach." In the session of 1799-1800, parliament assembled at the early period of the 24th of September, and after having passed a Lord Grenville maintained that Bonabill through all its stages, for engrafting a parte, had two objects in his late proposilarge proportion of the militia into the regu- tion: the one, to slacken the efforts of the lar army, the two houses adjourned to the British nation; the other, to sow jealous21st of January, 1800. After the adjourn-ies among the allies of England. "This ment, the first subject of importance that same individual now so desirous of peace,' engaged the attention of parliament, was added the foreign secretary, "was formerthe correspondence which had recently ly eager to conclude the treaty of Campo taken place between the British and the Formio, for the express purpose of employFrench governments. ing all the forces of France against England. It was he who, contemplating our ruin as the last exploit of his military career, sent his two confidential agents, Berthier and Monge, to the directory, and charged the latter to declare, that the French republic and the government of Eng land were incompatible with each other." Ministers inquired what possible advantage could result from a negotiation with France at this moment? They asked whether the consular government presented a greater certainty of a favourable termination of a treaty, than any of the revolutionary governments which had preceded VOL. I. U 2 29 |