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EVENTS UNFOLDING IN THE CHAMBER OF PEERS AND HOUSE OF
REPRESENTIVES -- JUNE 21, 1815
Important Foreign News
>From French Papers by the Aboellino, from Marseilles
CHAMBER OF PEERS
Wednesday, June 21.
The Minister of the Interior announced the arrival of the Emperor;
and that the Army of the North, after a victory, fell into
disorders which His Majesty could not prevent; but it was
rallying under the walls of Avesnes and Phillipeville; and H. M.
had returned to consult with Ministers on the means of replacing
the material of the army. (Immediately after this the Peers
concurred in La Fayette's Resolutions and ordered them to be
communicated to the Emperor).
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, June 21, 1815
A Committee was appointed to provide for
the National Guards of Paris. It was moved to appoint a Commander
of these Guards. (The command was held by the Emperor.) Motion
negatived almost unanimously.
The Representatives, June 21, on motion of M. de la Fayette,
declared "The independence of the Nation threatened -- that
the sitting of the Legislature be permanent, and whoever
endeavored to prevent it, should be considered guilty of treason
-- that the troops who had fought and still fought, deserved well
of their country -- and that the Ministers attend the sitting.
These Resolutions were agreed to by the Peers.
June 22, 1815
After long discussion and several different motions, the Chamber
decrees:
"Considering that the first interest of the French people is
the maintenance of the laws which secure the organization of all
the Powers, pass to the Order of the Day on the propositions
which have been made as to forming it into a National Assembly,
or a Constituent Assembly.
That the President with his Bureau shall repair to Napoleon, for
the purpose of expressing to him, in the name of the Nation,
their acknowledgments, and the respect with which it accepts the
noble sacrifice which he has made to the independence and the
happiness of the French Nation.
That there shall be named without delay a Commission of five
Members of which three shall be chosen from the Chamber of
Representatives, and two from the Chamber of Peers, for the
purpose of exercising provisionally the functions of Government,
and that the Ministers shall continue their respective functions
under the authority of the Commission."
M. Le General Solignac -- You have decreed the nomination of an
Executive Council, and I propose that Commissioners be sent to
the head quarters of Lord Wellington, for the purpose of making
known to him the new situation of France.
M. Le President -- I beg leave to recall to your minds the
necessity of voting the acceptance of the Abdication of the
Emperor. The Assembly votes unanimously this acceptance, which
shall be sent in a Message to the Emperor by the Members forming
the Bureau.
The sitting is suspended til 1 o'clock.
At four, the President stated that the mission to the Emperor had
been fulfilled.
M. Dubert -- The Chamber has recognized the abdication of
Napoleon. The Son of Napoleon is a minor. Let it be voted to have
a Council of Regency.
Violent agitation. -- This is not the time. -- Order of the Day.
M. Leyrand -- We have reflected upon the
nature and result of events which have torn my heart. Let us
inquire the intentions of the allied powers. If we reckon their
forces, the imagination is frightened. (Indignation on the
right and elevated aisle of the hall. A bus! A bus! To order! It
is not true.) The orator wished to speak again, but could not
be heard; and was obliged to leave the tribune.
M. Morgucs -- This day is a day of action. Let us lose no time in
vain discourses. The enemy advances. He then moved that Marshal
Macdonald be appointed Generalissimo of the troops of the line;
and M. de la Fayette Generalissimo of the National Guards. (Some
called for the order of the day.)
M. Garot read the 67th article of the Constitution. This article
interdicts to the Assembly the right of deliberating on the
recall of the Bourbons. (Some members applau ded.)
The President -- The article is well known.
Many Voices. No matter. Let it be read again.
Garot read it once more.
A decree was read, proposed by the Minister
at War, relative to the military and to the national guards, who
delayed to rejoin their colours. The decree directed that they
should be noted as infamous, and pursued according to the rigour
of the law.
M. Felix Desportes declared that the national guard wanted arms,
and demanded that they may be given to them.
M. Manuel wished that they might be given indiscriminately to all
Frenchmen.
Referred to the Executive Power.
Gen. Mouton supported the proposition. You have already 4-5ths of
the population under arms -- I have arrived from Lyons. I have
there passed in review 10,000 men of the National Guards. The
center is good. Those of Marseilles, united under the tri-colour,
have told me, "We are French -- we wish always to be French."
M. Gourlay demanded that there be a call made on the brave men.
This call will suffice without penal dispositions.
The Minister at War read despatches he had received that instant.
These despatches announced that we have 73,000 to cover our
frontier, and that Marshal Grouchy is at Namur.
Gen. Mouton -- The 19th, at midnight, I left Lyons. It is in a
perfect state of defence. We had news from the Army of the Alps.
Suchet pushed his success in the Maurienne and in the Tarentaise.
No Austrians had yet appeared on the summit of these mountains.
They cannot take Lyons but after a regular siege. I give you my
word for it.
The decree for the Provisional Government
was moved by St. Jean d'Angely. But he complained of the
revolutionary spirit, "What! (said he,) shall we always
annihilate for the pleasure of recreating? Shall we always
scatter wrecks for the purpose of recollecting them? Our
constitutions, are they not sufficient? (Murmurs).
I speak as a Citizen -- I am no more a Minister. And the truths
that I proclaim in this tribune, I have made to be heard in the
cabinet of the Prince. Suffer not yourselves to be depressed by
unworthy terrors -- You have the national Guard; you have armies
who need to be rallied, but who will yet present an imposing
force.
It is your duty to thank the Emperor for his sacrifice. The most
intimate of his counsellors, I proposed to him his abdication. If
my particular duty attached me to him, I owed a superior
obligation to the nation as one of its Representatives. I,
therefore, expressed the wish that could alone operate its safety."
While the Minister at War was mentioning some news from the army, a member sneeringly called them old communications, upon which there was a cry of "Order! Censure! a l'Abbaye!"
The Journal de Paris, the 22nd, contains an Order of the Day, issued to the National Guards, by Count Durosnel, in which he announces that the exigency of affairs renders the most active service necessary. He, above all, exhorts them to comply with the measures which are necessary to ensure calmness to the deliberations of the Chambers. The posts of the National Guard are to be every where doubled, and the service to continue 24 hours. Night paroles are announced, and he requests the Guard not to put off their uniform, even in transacting their private affairs.
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-Napoleon Bonaparte
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