e, appointed by the laws the guardian of the sovereign during a
minority, may not claim his rights, and become the arbiter of the fate
of France.

[Footnote 68: That of forcing Napoleon to abdicate.]

"I move, therefore, the order of the day, for the following reasons:
1st, that Napoleon II. is become Emperor of the French, by the fact of
the abdication of Napoleon I., and by virtue of the constitution of
the empire.

"2dly, That the two chambers have willed and intended, by naming a
committee of government, to secure to the nation the guarantees it
requires, under the extraordinary circumstances, in which it is
placed, to preserve its liberty and tranquillity."

This specious proposal seduced the assembly. It was adopted amid the
most vociferous acclamations, and shouts of "Long live Napoleon II." a
thousand times repeated; without its suspecting, that this order of
the day, which appeared to it so decisive, signified nothing, except
that it proclaimed Napoleon II. because the constitution required it;
but that it declared, at the same time, that it was merely a matter of
form, and that it would be ready to give it up, when the provisional
government should deem it necessary.

This was the second time of the chamber's being the dupe of its
eagerness: yet it reckoned among its members men of great judgment and
talents; but the greater number, and it is the majority always that
gives the law, never having had a seat in our assemblies, allowed
themselves to be subjugated by the illusions of eloquence, and with so
much the more facility, because there existed in the assembly no fixed
notion, no paramount will, that might serve it as a beacon and guide.

The provisional government, influenced by M. Fouche, soon evinced,
that it had caught the true sense of M. Manuel's proposal. Two days
after, its acts were issued in the name of the French people. This
insult to the sincerity of the chamber, and to the sovereign it had
acknowledged, excited its astonishment, and its complaints. The
capital and the patriots murmured. The president of the government was
summoned, to explain and justify this strange proceeding. He answered:
"That it had never been the intention of the committee, to disavow
Napoleon II.; but this prince not having been yet acknowledged as
sovereign of France by any of the foreign powers, they could not treat
with them in his name; and the committee had thought it its duty, to
act provisiona