The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-10 00:00:00

THE FRENCH SENATE,

The following is the text of the Address of the
Senate, in answer to the Speech from the

Throne:—

46 Sire,—In presence of a new Legislature, and of
the grave questions which are agitating Europe,
France impatiently awaited the solemn moment
when your Majesty yearly puts yourself in com-
munication with the country. Your voice, Sire,
enlightens, appeases, and strengthens public opinion.
It prevents it from straying in a policy of conjec-
tures and false interpretations which disturbs the
public mind and injures the public interests. Your
Majesty has spoken, and the country now knows
that in entering on a period which leads it to the
eleventh year of the Emperor's reign it will find in
it, as in preceding years, stability, progress, and the
loftiest ideas of concord and civilisation.
" It is not that France has to fear the want of
stability arising from street tumult. Our popula
lations are quiet, and applied to their labours ; they
move only to throng around your Majesty, and
accompany you with their acclamations.
"Neither have we reason to fear anything from
instability—always so pernicious—of political in-
stitutions. The' understanding (accord) between
the great bodies of the state has never been more
complete, and France has responded to your ex-
pectations by elections which have shown the
force of the dynastic feelings of the country.
Happy results of a constitution so well adapted
as that of 1852 to the interests of our nation, and
which by a wise system of conciliation has organised
a power etreng-withoutAxeesses.nanthincsl_with real
liberty, and devoid of license. It is your Majesty's
will that that constitution be faithfully protected.
The Senate will the less forget it that it is convinced
without that constitution France would behold
the days of prosperity, which it owes to it for the
last eleven years, grow darker and darker. No
doubt, Sire, that constitution is perfectible—your
government, Sire, has shown it by proofs precious
to the liberal spirit of our epoch. Bat that consti-
tution is not an ephemeral convention which can be
altered by transformations antagonistic to its prin-
ciples. The people has willed it ; it has voted its
bases, and a people that knows the value of its word
makes no stipulations for a day; its compacts are
made to last—they extend afar into the perspective
of its future. The history of your dynasty, Sire, is
a proof of this. Notwithstanding reverses, in spite
of exile, in.spite of death and revolutions, the suf-

frages given to the First Consul might be traced
after the lapse of half a century, in the suffrages
given to his nephew. The reason of this is that,
whatever may be said to the contrary, the French
nation is not fickle in its affections or beliefs, and
when it restored the Empire in 1852, it measured
no less the depth of its resolution than when it
That compact
is not on trial
_t ssy
in which
stem,
first created it 50 years before. Let us, therefore,
gather round the popular work—round that consti-
tutional compact which is the true manifestation of
the
Ole political
are to be found on the one hand the programme of
your accession to the throne, and on the other the
in Imperial
itself
ah
assent of eight millions of votes. We should be
inexcusable if, more versatile than that immense
mass which is the people itself, and which is often
taxed with inconsistency, we give it, after the lapse
of eleven years, the example of mobility in a matter
where every day records its perseverance.
" But what shall always be well received by the
Senate are the ameliorations claimed by public
wants—also the liberal reforms, whenever they
leave unimpaired within your hands the power in-
dispensable for the tranquillity and prosperity of
the country. Progress has penetrated everywhere
since 1852, both as regards our institutions and our
moral and material interests, and nothing has been
able to arrest its advance, not even the sufferings
occasioned by the events in America, in important
manufacturing districts—sufferings, which, unfor-
tunately, have not entirely ceased, but which may
always rely on the constantly beneficial efforts of
Government and private charity. Progress, there-
fore, will pursue its career
" As regards the financial situation it would have
been still more satisfactory if the two expeditions of
Cochin-China and Mexico hod not brought about
extraordinary charges caused by unforeseen compli-
cations, unavoidable delays, and imperative neces-
sities. The force of circumstances often imposes
sacrifices on a nation which wishes her name to be
respected, and keep up her rank in the world.
France hopes, however, to be reimbursed her ad-
vances by the war indemnity which your
Majesty
requires from Mexico. Generosity does not stand
in the way of right and justiee.
"Moreover, everything in the documents before
us contradicts the hypothesis that the expedition
was undertaken with a view to create a Mexican
empire under the sceptre of a foreign prince.
What is but a possible end must not be mistaken
for a cause—to protect our countrymen, to de-
fend our honour and our interests, to strike a deci-
sive blow in a distant country, whither commerce
invites, and where an inhospitable government
' has so often deceived us, such has been the
Emperor's fundamental and patriotic object. France
is a democracy, ardent in its labours, and which
would consume herself in sterile activity if, for want
of a vast outlet, she was compelled to fall back upon
herself. It is to favour her immense labour that
your Majesty has taken steps to extend her commer-
cial relations by means of treaties. It is also watch-
ing over, to create for her beyond the seas secure
communications, open new markets, and show her
speculations and industry protected by the powerful
hand of France. What your Majesty and the
country now desire is that the undertaking glori-
ously commenced should, as soon as possible, receive
a solution worthy of the Emperor and of French
interests., Then our heroic soldiers and sailors,
proud of the task they have fulfilled, will return,
like their brothers of the Crimean and Italian
armies, and receive at the hands of the country the
tribute of admiration and gratitude which their
exploits have deserved.
" Allow us now, Sire, to arrive at the great idea
of your Majesty's speech.
"In the course of last session the affairs of Poland
assumed unforeseen gravity, and the Senate, in an
order of the day, the sense of which was entire
confidence in your Majesty's policy, associated itself
with your lively sympathy for the misfortunes of
that country, for every blow that strikes it
awakens a powerful echo in France. Your
Majesty, on entering upon a collective diplomatic
action with England and Austria, was justified in
hoping that Russia, yielding to friendly counsels,
and to the voice of humanity, would grant favour-
able terms to an oppressed people. But Russit'
not come to an understanding with the three Poive.r_ft
It was then that your Majesty conceived the .w""
to exhaust all means of conciliation, and that, giving
sed
a wider scope to your pacific views, yo
u addres
to the Courts of Europe the propose of a Congress
egate of those
embracing in its arbitration the egg period like
questions which are leading a disturbed
and desires of
ours through difficult transitions
re-
novation. Sire, France, who has followed your
thl battlefields of the
arms with enthusiasm On
•
Crimea and Italy—France, who always and every-
where will be looking on—
will accompany you with
ague invited to regenerate
happiness to that areop
act by the spirit of mo lern times.
the European comp
At the commencement of this century the Congress
of Vienna was more disturbed (se preoccupait) by
the then recent dangers of French revolution than
by the q •
uiet, but formidable transformations the
leisure of peace was about to introduce into the
ideas and interests of nations. Now time has
ruined cr undermined these combinations, so that
the equilibrium of 1814 and 1815 is everywhere
compromised. It is not France that can com-
plain of the downfall (decadence) of the
painful treaties of that period--but neither
is it she who can rejoice at beholding Europe Pu"