The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-09 00:00:00

FRANCE.

The Aloniteur gives, in an Extraordinary Supple-
ment, the minutes of the proceedings of tb® Senate of
the 4th, 6th, and 7th of Novemb3r, the senatus eon-
sultum presented on Sunday at St. Cloud, with the
decrees convoking the people and the Senate.
The procas verbal, or minutes of the sitting held by
the Senate on the 4th, records the opening speech of
Prince Jerome, the Message of the Prince President,
the, proposition of the ten members for a modification
d the constitution, and the answer of the Minister of
State, that the Government was not opposed to the
taking of the proposition into consideration.
The Message of the Prince President is the same
as that which has already been published. The
Speech of Prince Jerome is in some respects an echo
iof the Message, yet the following portion is re-
markable :

" That which the French people did in 1804 it does
again in 1852, thus showing how constant it is in grati-
tude and just in judgmeLt. How can we fail to r( co, n z
the finger of Providence, which, in our worst days, has
not ceased to watch, over France, in this phenomenon of
events almost idcsntical reproducing themselves at 50
years' distarea? Popular instinct, which acclaimed Na-
poleon 1., revr,als itself anew today in acclaiming Napo-
leon 111., thf4 Prince who for four years has governed
Prance witli so much wisdom and ability.

The fallowing are the names of the ten who signed
the proposition for a modification of the constitution:
Mesnard, Troplong, General Baraguay, •
d'Hirliers, Cardinal Du Pont, General d'llautpoul,
Bar.on Lacrosse, Marshal Vaillant, General St. Jean
d'Angely, Count Simeon, and General d'Ornano.
At the sitting of the 6th the report was read.
It begins by recalling the resolutions and addresses
for the Empire. It then reminds the Senate of the
services performed by the Prince. "To him (says
the report) is attached the vast future of industry
and pacific civilization. This future ought not to be
abandoned to the hazards of event 3 or the surprises
of factions. Wherefore it is France that demands
the Monarchy of the Emperor, which means order in
the revolution and rule in the democracy." The re-
port then goes cn to show that the Republic had
never, and could never, take root in France, owing
to the attachment of the people to Monarchical
ideas. Other Monarchical regimes had, however,
'placed the Throne too far from the people, while
the Republic, notwithstanding its boasted popular
origin, entrenches itself against the people. But
the Empire was more truly democratic than the
Republic, and bad been the farm of Govern-
ment most ardently sustained and most deeply
regretted by the people. On the one side, it was the
only Government which acted on the old principle
that the people had a right to choose their king, while
on the other it never had had any quarrel with the
nation, for its fall in 1814 was not caused by a rising
of the people against its government, but was owing
to the hazards of an unequal war ; and the people bad
never ceased to see in the Empire its own emanation
and work. The report then goes into an historical
disquisition on the subject of Monarchy and the Re-
'public, for the purpose of showing that the latter form
had never taken root in grand states, but only in small
communities, the example of the United States not
serving to upset the rule, on account of the peculiari-
ties of its position. rance, nevertbeless, idolizes
equality, such as the empire secures for the country—
admits without jealousy those providential greatnesses
legitimised by reasons of state, beneath which all
becomes level. The report neat proceeds to attack
popular assemblies, in which personal responsibility
becomes lost in the multitude, while the Monarchy
le, on the other hand, loaded with a personal respon-
sibility from which it cannot escape. After the
preface, the report enters on the senatus consultum.
In conformity with the substance of the report (of
'which it is unnecessary to enter upon a further detail),
the following senatus consultum was then read and
adopted :
' Art. 1. The Imperial dignity is re-established. Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte is Emperor under the name of
Napoleon 111.
Art. 2. The Imperial dignity is hereditary in the
direct and legitimate descendants of Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte, from male to male, by order of primogeniture
to the perpetual exclusion of females and their do.
83.ndants. _

" Art 3. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, if he has no
male child, may adopt the legitimate children and
descendants in the male line of the brothers of the Em-
peror Napoleon I. The forms of adoption aro regulated
by a senatus consultum. If after this adoption, male
children should be born to Louis Napoleon, his adoptive
children cannot bo called on to succeed him until after
his legitimate descendants. The adoption is interdicted
to the successors of Louis Napoleon and to their de-
scendants.

" Art. 4. Louis Napoleon regulates by an organic de-
cree, addressed to the Senate, and deposited in his
archives the order of succession to the throne in the
Bonaparte family, in case he should leave no direct,
or adoptive heir.
" Art. 6. In default of a legitimate or adoptive heir
of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and of the successors in a
collateral line which shall derive their right in the above
mentioned organic decree, a senates consultum, proposed
to the Senate by the Ministers formed into a Council of
Government, united to the president of the Senate, of
the Legislative Body, and of the Council of State, and
submitted to the acceptance of the people, names the
Emperor, and regulates in his family the hereditary order
from male to male, to the perpetual exclusion of females
and their descendants. Until the moment when the
election of the new Emperor is consummated, the
affairs of State are governed by the Ministers in office,
'who shall form themselves into a Council of Govern-
ment, and deliberate by a majority of votes. "
Art. 6. The members of the family of Louis Napo-
leon Bonaparte called eventually to the heredacy, and
their descendants of both sexes, form part of the Im-
perial family. A senates consultum regulates their po-
sition. They cannot marry without the authorization
of the Emperor. Their marriage without such autho-
risation entails privation of all hereditary right, both fur
him who contracts it as for its descendents.
" Art. 7. The constitution of 15th January, 1852, is
Maintained in all its provisions, which are not contrary
to the present senates consultum, there cannot be any
modification made in it except in the forms and by the
Means therein prescribed.
" Art. 8. The following proposition shall be presented
to the acceptance of the French people in the forms
determined by the decrees of the 2d and 4th December,
1851:—' The people wish for the re-establishment of the
Imperial dignity in the person of Louis:Napoleon Bona-
parte with heredacy in his direct del;cendants, either
legitimate or adoptive, and gives him the right to regu-
late the order of succession to the throne in the Bona-
parte family as provided for by the senates consultum of
November, 1852."'
M. Mesnard, First Vice-President of the Senate,
on presenting the above senates consultum to the
Prince President, addressed him as follows :
"Monseigneur,—When a great country like France
makes its voice heard, the first duty of the political body
to which she addresses herself is to listen and to reply.
Such were the ideas of your Highness in calling for the
meditations of the Senate on this vast movement of pub-
lic opinion which has manifested itself with so much
ensemble and energy. The Senate has understood that
this striking manitestation is justified at the same time
by the immense services which you have rendered by the
acme which you bear, and by the guarantees which are
given to the future by the greatness of your character
and the wisdom and firmness of your mind. It has un-
derstood that after so many revolutions France feels the
Want of putting her destinies under the shelter of a
powerful and national Government, which, only holding
the past by the souvenirs of her glory and the legit;

Macy Of her origin, now again finds In popular sanc—tion
the elements of its force and of its duration. The Senate
glories, Monseigneur, in being the faithful interpreters of
the wishes and sentiments of the country in placing in
Your hands the senates consultunt which calls you to the
Empire."

The Prince replied :
" Messieurs the Senators' —I thank the Senate for
the eagerness with which it ha
responded to the wishes
of the country, in deliberating on the re-establishment
of the Empire, and in drawing up the senatus consultum
when,
is to be submitted to the i acceptance of the people.
when, forty-eight years since, n this same palace, in
this same room, and under analogous circumstances,
nc:_ m
s, they
.
senate came to oiler the crown to the chief
family, the Emperor replied by these memorable words
My spirit will no longer be with my posterity from
the day when it shall cease to merit the love and the
confidence of this great nation'—what now most affects
1,3151 heart is the thought that the spirit of the Emperor
18 with me—that his ideas guide me—that his shade
Protects me—since by a solemn proceeding you come
le the name of the French people to prove to me that I
"4're merited the confidence of the country. It is not
necessary for me to tell you that my constant pre-
15ceepation will be to labour with you to promote the
grandeur and prosperity of France.'
itenewed cries of " Vive l'Empereur" here burst
forth. The Prince afterwards approached the sena-
tors, and entered into conversation with each of them,
der which they left and returned to the Luxem-
ltrg.
The Moniteur publishes decrees convoking the
Electoral Colleges, to adopt or reject the plebiscite,
t2ll the 21st or 22d inst., and the Legislative Body for
:Ile 25th inst., in order to examine the regularity of
in(' Votes, and to declare the result.
In the new organization of the Government the
presidency of the Senate will belong to the Emperor
himself. This circumstance had determined Prince
Jerome to resign his functions as President of the
senate into the hands of Prince Louis Napoleon.
The Senate went on Sunday in a body to the
palace of St. Cloud, to present the Prince President
tae_ senatus consultum relative to the re-establish-
ment of the Empire. The Senate left the Palace
of
r. the Luxembourg at half-past one, and ar-
rived at St. Cloud at three o'clock. The car-
Pges were preceded and followed by a strong
detachment of the Republican Guard, commanded by
Captain. The members of the Senate were imme-
diately admitted to the presence of the Prince, when
zi de Mesnard, the Vice President, read the senatus
CO
kstatum adopted by the Senate. The Prince Prod-