ay drawing nearer the
frontiers he withdrew from the Tuileries to the comparatively small and
retired palace of the Elysee, where he escaped these talking-dreamers,
and felt himself again a sovereign: Shut up with Benjamin Constant and a
few other reasonable politicians, he drew up the sketch of a new
constitution, which was neither much better nor much worse than the royal
charter of Louis XVIII. We give an epitome of its main features.

The Emperor was to have executive power, and to exercise legislative
power in concurrence with the two Chambers. The Chamber of Peers was to
be hereditary, and nominated by the Emperor, and its number was
unlimited. The Second Chamber was to be elected by the people, and to
consist of 629 members; none to be under the age of twenty-five. The
President was to be appointed by the members, but approved of by the
Emperor. Members were to be paid at the rate settled by the Constituent
Assembly, which was to be renewed every five years. The Emperor might
prorogue, adjourn, or dissolve the House of Representatives, whose
sittings were to be public. The Electoral Colleges were maintained.
Land tax and direct taxes were to be voted only for a year, indirect
taxes might be imposed for several years. No levy of men for the army
nor any exchange of territory was to be made but by a law. Taxes were to
be proposed by the Chamber of Representatives. Ministers to be
responsible. Judges to be irremovable. Juries to be established. Right
of petition, freedom of worship, inviolability of property, were
recognised. Liberty of the press was given under legal responsibility,
and press offences were to be judged with a jury. No place or part of
the territory could be placed in a state of siege except in case of
foreign invasion or civil troubles. Finally, the French people declared
that in the delegation it thus made of its powers it was not to be taken
as giving the right to propose the re-establishment of the Bourbons, or
of any Prince of that family on the throne, even in case of the
extinction of the imperial dynasty. Any such proposal was formally
interdicted to the Chambers or to the citizens, as well as any of the
following measures, viz. the re-establishment of the former, feudal
nobility, of the feudal and seignorial rights, of tithes, of any
privileged and dominant religion, as well as of the power of making any
attack on the irrevocability of the sale of the national goods.

Shortly after the ret