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THE WEEKLY MESSENGER
Boston, Friday, July 1, 1814
ORDER OF THE DAY
"Fontainebleau, April 4 — The Emperor thanks the army for the attachment it has shown to him, and, above all, because it acknowledges that France resides in him, and not in the people in the capital. The soldier follows the fortune of his General, his honor and conscience. The Duke of Ragusa has not inspired is brothers in arms with those feelings; he has gone over to the allies. The Emperor cannot approve the conditions on which he has taken this step; he cannot accept his life and liberty as a boon from a subject. The Senate has allowed itself to dispose of the Government of France; it has forgotten that it is indebted for the power which it now abuses to the Emperor alone; that he saved a part of its members out of the storms of the revolution, raised another part from nothing to greatness, and protected them against the hatred of the nation. The Senate appeals to the articles of the constitution in order to overthrow it. It does not blush to make reproaches to the Emperor, without reflecting, that the Senate itself, as the first body in the state, has had a share in every event. It has gone so far as to dare to reproach the Emperor with having falsified the official documents in the publication; the whole world knows he had no occasion for such artifice, a hint from him was a command for the Senate, which always did more than was required of it. The Emperor has ever been ready to attend to the well founded advice of his ministers, and be expected from them under present circumstances, the fullest approbation and support of his measures. If, out of zeal, exaggeration has slipped into the public addresses and speeches, the Emperor may certainly have been deceived; but ought not those who have held such language to him, reproach themselves for the consequences of their own flattery? The Senate is not ashamed to speak of libels against foreign powers, and forgets that they were composed in its own bosom. As long as fortune remained faithful to their sovereigns, these people never let a syllable of complaint about the abuse of power escape their lips. If the Emperor had despised mankind as he is upbraided with having done, the world must now acknowledge that he had some reason to despise them. He has received his dignity from God and the nation; they alone can take it from him. He has always considered this dignity as a burden, and when he took it upon himself, it was from the conviction that he alone was able to support it in a becoming manner. His fortune seemed to be his destiny. Now that fortune has declared against him, nothing but the express will of the nation could prevail upon him to remain any longer on the throne. If he must consider himself as the only obstacle to peace, he most willingly makes to France this last sacrifice. He has accordingly sent the Prince of Moscow, and the Dukes of Vicenza and Tarentum, to Paris, to open a negotiation. The army may be assured that its honor and the happiness of France shall never be opposed to each other."
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-Napoleon Bonaparte
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