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ADDRESS OF BOTH CHAMBERS TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE -- 1815
"Frenchmen, -- The Foreign Powers
proclaimed in the face of Europe that they were only armed
against Napoleon; that they wished to respect our independence,
and the right which belongs toevery nation to choose the
government suitable to its manners and its interests.
Napoleon is no longer the Chief of State; he had renounced the
throne, and his abdication has been accepted by your
Representatives. He is removed from us. His son is called to the
empire by the constitutions of the State. The coalesced
sovereigns know that. The war ought then to be terminated, if the
promises of kings be not vain.
However, while plenipotentiaries have been sent to the allied
powers to treat for peace in the name of France, the Generals of
two of those powers have refused any suspension of arms. They are
at the gates of the capital, without any communication having
informed us for what object the war is continued.
Our Plenipotentiaries will soon declare whether we must renounce
peace. In the meantime, resistance is as necessary, as legitimate,
and humanity, in requiring an account of the blood uselessly shed,
will not accuse those brave men who only combat to repel from
their homes the scourges of war, murder and pillage -- to defend
with their lives the cause of liberty, and of that independence,
the imprescriptible right of which has been guaranteed to them
even by the manifestoes of their enemies.
Amidst these grave circumstances, your representatives cannot
forget that they were not chosen to stipulate for the interests
of any party whatever, but for the whole nation. Every act of
weakness, while dishonouring them, would only serve to compromise,
during a long period, the future tranquillity of France. In the
meantime, then, that the Government is employing all the means
for obtaining a solid peace, what more advantageous to the nation
can be done, than to collect and establish the fundamental rules
of a monarchical and representative government, destined to
secure to all citizens the free enjoyment of those sacred rights,
which sacrifices so numerous and so great have purchased -- and
to rally for ever under the national colours that great body of
Frenchmen, who have no other interest, and no other wish, than to
enjoy an honourable repose and a just independence.
Meanwhile, the chambers conceive that their duty dignity require
them to declare that they will never acknowledge as legitimate
chief of the state, he who, on ascending the throne, shall refuse
to acknowledge the rights of the nation, and to consecrate them
by a solemn compact. The constitutional chart is drawn up, and if
the force of arms should succeed in temporarily imposing upon us
a master -- if the destinies of a great nation are again to be
delivered up to the caprice and the arbitrary will of a small
number of privileged persons, then, in yielding to force, the
national representation will protest, in the face of the whole
world, in support of the oppressed French people.
Your representatives will appeal to the energy of the present and
future generations to renew their claim both to national
independence and the rights of civil liberty. For these rights,
they now appeal to the justice and reason of all civilized
nations."
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-Napoleon Bonaparte
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