ment. They assembled a minority of the senators, and compelled
them, in opposition to their delegated powers and to their will, to
destroy the existing establishments, to overturn the imperial throne,
and to recall the family of the Bourbons.

"The senate, which had been instituted solely to maintain the
constitution of the empire, acknowledged itself, that it had no power
to alter it. It decreed, that the scheme of a constitution, which it
had prepared, should be submitted to the people for their acceptance,
and that Louis Stanislas Xavier should be proclaimed King of the
French, as soon as he had accepted the constitution, and sworn to
observe it, and cause it to be observed.

"The abdication of the Emperor Napoleon was solely the result of the
unfortunate situation, to which France and the Emperor had been
reduced by the events of the war, by treason, and by the occupation of
the capital. The only object of the abdication was, to avoid a civil
war, and the shedding of French blood. Unsanctioned by the will of the
people, this act could not annul the solemn contract, that was
established between them and the Emperor. And if Napoleon possessed
the power of abdicating the throne in his own person, he had none to
sacrifice the rights of his son, appointed to reign after him.

"The Emperor, therefore, by re-ascending the throne, to which the
people had elevated him, restored the people to their most sacred
rights: he only called into execution the decrees of the
Representative Assemblies, sanctioned by the nation: he returns to
reign on the only legitimate principle, that France acknowledges and
has acknowledged for five and twenty years, and to which all the
authorities bound themselves by oaths, that they can be released from
by the will of the people alone.

"The Emperor is called upon, to guaranty anew, by institutions, as he
has engaged to do in his proclamations to the nation and the army, all
the principles of liberty: personal freedom, and equality of rights;
the freedom of the press, and abolition of the censorship; freedom of
religious worship; the voting of laws and contributions by the
representatives of the nation lawfully chosen; national property, from
whatever source arising; the independence and stability of our
tribunals; the responsibility of ministers, and of all the agents of
authority.

"The more perfectly to sanction the rights and obligations of the
people and the monarch, the national inst