The time of the rendezvous given me by M. Werner being come, I asked Napoleon for orders. "Fouche," said he to me, "will no doubt have warned Metternich; and it is probable, that his agent will return no more: it is even possible, that measures will be taken, to arrest you.
I think, therefore, you may as well remain here."--"I do not think, sire, that M. de Metternich is capable of such an action. The patriotism and frankness, which I displayed in my conferences with M.
Werner, appear to have pleased the prince; and M. Werner informed me, that he was particularly directed, to express to me the good opinion (permit me to repeat the terms) which he had conceived of my character and merit. Your Majesty would be wrong, I think, not to allow me to make this last attempt. As the point in question was not a conspiracy, but to set on foot a negotiation, it is possible, that M. Werner may return."--"You have my consent very willingly; but I am afraid, they will lay hold of you: be prudent."
I was afraid so too. I set off.
It happened as the Emperor foresaw. M. Werner appeared no more.
Thus ended this negotiation, which might perhaps have realized many hopes, had not M. Fouche occasioned its failure.
At the period when it took place, England, in its celebrated Memoir of the 25th of April, and Austria, in that it published the 9th of May following, had authentically declared, subsequently to my first interview at Bale, that they had not engaged by the treaty of the 29th of March, to restore Louis XVIII. to the throne; and that their intentions in pursuing the war were not, to impose on France any particular government whatever.
These declarations gave great weight to the proposals of M. Werner.
The Emperor thought them sincere; and in one of those moments of openness, which he was not always sufficiently master of himself to suppress, he said at his levee: "Well, gentlemen, they offer me the regency already: it depends only on myself, whether I shall accept it." These inconsiderate words made some impression; and they who remembered them have since a.s.serted, that, if the Emperor had not been enamoured of the crown, he might have placed his son on the throne, and spared France the carnage of Mont St. Jean. The Emperor descending from his throne, to place on it his son, and peace, would have added, no doubt, a n.o.ble page to his history: but, ought he to have accepted the loose proposals of M. Werner, and trusted to the faith of his enemies? I think not. The first question to be decided, before treating of a regency, was this: What is to be done with Napoleon? and it has been seen, that on this point the allies held the profoundest silence.
I am far from thinking, that the Emperor would have consented in any case, to lay aside his crown, which he considered as the price of twenty years toil and victory; I only maintain, that he cannot be blamed on this occasion, for having retained it.
This confidential avowal to his courtiers is not the only indiscretion, of which they laid hold, to charge him with imaginary faults. What will appear surprising is, that, with the character for negation and dissimulation ascribed to him, he was capable of indiscretions.
Napoleon conceived in secret, and conducted to their close in mystery, schemes, that did not call his pa.s.sions into play, because then he never ceased to be master of himself: but it was excessively rare for him, to preserve a continued, and complete dissimulation in affairs, that strongly agitated his soul. The object, on which he was then occupied, a.s.sailed his mind, and heated his imagination: his head, continually at work, abounded in ideas, that diffused themselves in spite of him, and displayed themselves externally by broken words, and demonstrations of joy or anger, that afforded a clew to his designs, and entirely destroyed the mystery, in which he would have enveloped them.
This narration, which I would not interrupt, has made me lose sight of Napoleon. I left him meditating the const.i.tution he had promised the French, and now return to him.
Napoleon had at first announced his intention of amalgamating the ancient const.i.tutions with the charter, and composing from the whole a new const.i.tution, which should be subjected to the free discussion of the delegates of the nation. But he thought, that present circ.u.mstances, and the agitation of men"s minds, would not permit subjects of such high importance, to be debated publicly without danger; and he resolved to confine himself for the moment, to sanction by a particular act, supplementary to the const.i.tutions of the empire, the new guarantees, that he had promised the nation.
Napoleon was swayed also by another consideration. He considered the const.i.tutions of the empire as the t.i.tle-deeds of his crown; and he was afraid, if he annulled them, that he should effect a sort of novation, that would give him the appearance of beginning a new reign.
For Napoleon, such is human weakness, after having devoted to ridicule the pretensions of "_the King of Hartwell_," was inclined to persuade himself, that his own reign had not been interrupted by his residence in the island of Elba.
The Emperor had entrusted to M. Benjamin Constant, and to a committee composed of ministers of state, the double task of preparing the bases of a new const.i.tution. After having seen and amalgamated their labours, he subjected the result to the examination of the council of state, and of the council of ministers. Toward the end of the discussion, Napoleon suggested the idea of not submitting this const.i.tution to public debate, but presenting it only as an additional act to the preceding const.i.tutions. This idea was combated unanimously. M. Benjamin Constant, the Duke Decres, the Duke of Otranto, the Duke of Vicenza, &c. &c., remonstrated with the Emperor, that this was not what he had promised France; that a new const.i.tution was expected from him, purged from the despotic acts of the senate; and that he must fulfil the expectations of the nation, or prepare to lose its confidence for ever.
The Emperor promised to reflect on it: but, after having weighed in his sagacity the observations, that had been submitted to him, he persisted in his scheme; and the next day the additional act appeared in the Moniteur in the following form:
ADDITIONAL ACT.
Paris, April the 24th.
Napoleon, by the grace of G.o.d and the const.i.tutions, Emperor of the French, to all present and to come, health.
Since we were called, fifteen years ago, by the wishes of France, to the government of the empire, we have sought to bring to perfection, at different periods, the forms of the const.i.tution, according to the wants and desires of the nation, and profiting by the lessons of experience.
Thus the const.i.tution of the empire has been formed by a series of acts, which have been invested with the acceptance of the people. We had then for our object, to organize a grand European federal system, which we had adopted as conformable to the spirit of the age, and favourable to the progress of civilization. To effect its completion, and give it all the extension and stability, of which it is susceptible, we had adjourned the establishment of several domestic inst.i.tutions, more particularly designed to protect the liberty of the citizens. Our object is nothing more henceforward, than to increase the prosperity of France by the confirmation of public liberty; whence results the necessity of several important modifications of the const.i.tution, the decrees of the senate, and other acts, by which this empire is governed.
For these reasons, willing, on the one hand, to retain whatever is good and salutary of the past, and on the other to render the const.i.tution of our empire conformable in every respect to the wishes and wants of the nation, as well as to that state of peace, which we are desirous of maintaining with Europe, we have resolved, to propose to the people a series of arrangements, tending to modify and improve its acts, to surround the rights of citizens with all their guarantees, to give to the representative system its full extent, to invest the intermediate bodies with the respectability and powers that are desirable; in a word, to combine the highest degree of political liberty, and personal security, with the strength and concentration necessary, to render the independence of the French people, and the dignity of our crown, respected by foreigners: in consequence, the following articles, forming an act supplementary to the const.i.tution of the empire, will be submitted to the free and solemn acceptance of all the citizens, throughout the whole extent of France[5].
[Footnote 5: This preamble, which gave the death-blow to the additional act, was, I believe, the work of M.
Benjamin Constant.]
HEAD I.
_General provisions._
ART. 1. The const.i.tution of the empire, consisting of the const.i.tutional act of the 22d of Frimaire, year 8; of the decrees of the senate of the 14th and 16th of Thermidor, year 10; and of that of the 28th of Floreal, year 12; will be modified by the provisions following: all the rest of their provisions are maintained and confirmed.
ART. 2. The legislative power is exercised by the Emperor and by two chambers.
ART. 3. The first chamber, styled the chamber of peers, is hereditary.
ART. 4. The Emperor names its members, who are irremovable, they and their male descendants, from eldest to eldest, in direct descent. The number of peers is unlimited. Adoption does not transmit the dignity of the peerage to the person adopted. The peers take their seats at the age of twenty-one; but have no deliberative voice before the age of twenty-five.
ART. 5. The chamber of peers has for its president the archchancellor of the empire, or, in the case provided for by article 5 of the decree of the senate of the 28th of Floreal, year 12, by one of the members of the chamber appointed by the Emperor.
ART. 6. The members of the imperial family, in hereditary succession, are peers by right. They are seated next to the president. They take their seats at the age of eighteen, but have no deliberative voice before the age of twenty-one.
ART. 7. The second chamber, styled the chamber of representatives, is elected by the people.
ART. 8. The members of this chamber are to the number of six hundred and twenty-nine: they must be twenty-five years of age at least.
ART. 9. The president of the chamber of representatives is appointed by the chamber at the opening of the session. He remains in office, till the chamber is renewed. His appointment is submitted to the approbation of the Emperor.
ART. 10. The chamber of representatives verifies the powers of its members, and decides on the validity of contested elections.
ART. 11. The members of the chamber of representatives receive for travelling expenses, and during the session, the indemnity decreed by the const.i.tuent a.s.sembly.
ART. 12. They are re-eligible without limit.
ART. 13. The chamber of representatives is entirely renewed, of right, every five years.
ART. 14. No member of either chamber can be arrested, except in case of being taken in the fact of committing a crime; or prosecuted for a criminal or correctional cause, during the sessions, except in consequence of a resolution of the chamber to which he belongs.
ART. 15. No one can be arrested or detained for debt, from the time of convening the meeting till forty days after the session.
ART. 16. The peers are to be tried by their own chamber in criminal or correctional cases, according to the forms prescribed by the law.
ART. 17. The quality of peer and of representative is compatible with all public functions, except those that are responsible (_comptables_).
All prefects and subprefects are not eligible by the electoral college of the department or circle (_arrondiss.e.m.e.nt_), for which they are serving.
ART. 18. The Emperor sends to the chambers the ministers of state, and counsellors of state, who sit, and take a part in the discussions, but have no deliberative voice, unless they are members of the chamber, either as peers or being elected by the people.
ART. 19. The ministers, who are members of the chamber of peers, or of that of representatives, or who sit in consequence of being sent by the government, will give the chambers the information deemed necessary, when making it public does not compromise the interests of the state.
ART. 20. The sittings of both chambers are public. Nevertheless, they may resolve themselves into secret committees; the chamber of peers on the demand of ten members, that of deputies on the demand of twenty-five. The government also may demand secret committees for any communications it may have to make. In all cases deliberations and votes can take place only in a public sitting.
ART. 21. The Emperor may prorogue, adjourn, or dissolve, the chamber of representatives. The proclamation, that p.r.o.nounces the dissolution, convokes the electoral colleges for a new election, and indicates the re-a.s.sembling of representatives in six months at the latest.
ART. 22. During the interval between the sessions of the chamber of representatives, or in case of the dissolution of this chamber, the chamber of peers cannot a.s.semble.