The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-02 00:00:00

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THE FRENCH EMPIRE.

(BY SPECIAL EXPRESS.)

SPEECH OF THE EMPEROR.
PARIS, WEDNESDAY, NINE P.M.

I am enabled to forward, by express, the impor-
tant Speech which has just been delivered at St.
Cloud by the Emperor addressing the great bodies
of the State. He said—

" Gentlemen,—The new reign which you, this
day, inaugurate, derives not its origin—as so many
others recorded in history have done—from vio-
lence, from conquest, or from fraud. It is, you
have just declared it, the legal result of the will of
a whole people, who consolidate in calm that which
they had founded in the midst of agitations."
" I am penetrated with gratitude towards the
nation which, three times in four years, has sus-
tained me by its suffrages, and each time has
only augmented its majority to increase my power.
But the more that power increases in extent
and in vital force, the more does it need en-
lightened men, such as those who every day
surround me independent men, such as those
whom I address—to guide me by their counsel, to
bring back my anthority within just limits, if it
could ever quit them.

" I take, from this day, with the Crown, the
name of Napoleon 111., because the logic of the
people has bestowed it upon me in their acclama-
tions ; because the Senate has legally proposed it ;
and because the whole nation has ratified it.

"Is it then to be inferred that in accepting this
title I fall into the error imputed to the Prince who,
returning from exile, declared null and void all that
had been done in his absence ? Far from me be such
a wild mistake. Not only do I recognise the Govern-
ments which have preceded me, but I inherit in some
manner all that they have accomplished of good and
evil; for Governments which succeed one to another
are, notwithstanding different origin, liable for their
predecessors. But the more completely that I ac-
cept all that, for fifty year, history transmits to us
with her inflexible authority, the less it is permit-
ted to me to pass in silence over the glorious reign
of the head of my family, and the regular, though
ephemeral, title of his son, whom the two Cham-
bers proclaimed in the last burst of vanquished pa-
triotism.

"Thus, then, the title of Napoleon 11., is not
one of those dynastic and superanuated preten-
sions which seem to be an insult to good sense and
to truth. It is the homage of a Government which
was legitimate, and to which we owe the brightest
pages of our modern history. My reign does not
date from 1815—it dates from this very moment
when you have announced to ma the suffrages of
the nation.

" Receive, then, my thanks, Messieurs les Dep-
uMs, for the éclat that you have given to the
manifestation of the national will by rendering it
more evident by your supervision, more imposing
by your declaration.
" I thank you also, Messieurs les Senateurs, for
having been the first to address congratulations to
me, as you were the first to give expression to the
popular wish.

" Aid me, all of you, to set firm in this land, up-
set by so many revolutions, a stable Government,
which shall have for its bases Religion, Probity,
and Love for the suffering classes.
" Receive here my oath, that no sacrifice shall be
wanting on my part to insure the prosperity of my
country ; and that, whilst I maintain peace, I will
yield in nothing which may touch the honour or
the dignity of France."