South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1835-02-21

ri pui tuient Vi upper a~oHct anut h NC
clining the appointment, took occasion
TO present a review Of his preceding
life, and pledge of his perseverance in
the principles which he had previously
sustained. ear" said he, "from The
scene of public affairs, and devoting
myself at last TO the repose of private
life, my ardent wishes, are, that exter.
| nal peace should soon prove the frui.
Of those miracles Of glory which are e.
ven now surprising the prodigies ofths
preceding campaigns, and that internal
peace should be consolidated upon the
essential and invariable foundations Of
true liberty. Happy that twen,y-,hree
years of yicissitudes in my fortune,
and Of cons,aucy TO my principles, au-
thorize me to repeat, that il Nation,
to recover its rights, needs only the
will they can only be preserved by in
flexible fidelity TO its obligations"
When the First Consulate for FIVE
years was invented as one of the steps
ofthe ladder OF Nspoleon's ambition,
he suffered Sieyes, the member Of the
Directory whom he had used as an in
strument for casting of that worse than
worthless institution, TO prepare anoth-
err Constitution, of which he took as
much as suited his purpose, and con.
signed the rest to oblivion. One of.he
wheels Of this new political engine was
conservative Senate, forming the Pee
rage to sustain the Executive Head
This bedy i, was the interest end the
policy of Napoleon to conciliate, and he
filled it with men who, through all the
previous stages ofthe Revolution, had
acquired and maintained the highest
respectability Of character. Lafayette
was urged with great earnestness, by
Napoleon himself. to take seat in this
Senate /; but, after several conferences
| with the First Consul, in which he as
'cer,ained the extent of his designs, he
peremptorily declined. His answer to
the Minister of War tempered his refu-
sal with a generous and delicate com.
pliment, alludipg at the same to the
position which the consistency Of his
character made it his duty 10 occupy.
TIE the First Consul himself, in terms
equally candid and explicit, he said
"lhat from the direction which public
affairs were taking, what he already
saw, and what it was easy to foresee, j,
did not seem suitable to his character
to enter into an order of things contra
ry to his principles, and in which he
would have to contend without success,
as without public utility, against a man
to whom he was indebted for great OBJ
legations"
| Not long afterwards, when all re-
publican principle was SO utterly pros
trated that he was summoned TO vote
on the question whether the citizen
Napoleon Bonaparte should be Consul
for life, Lafayette added to his vote the
following comment: 81 cannot vote for
such Magis,racy until the public Lbs
erty shall have been sufficiently qua
rantied /: and in that event vote for
Napoleon Bonaparte."
He wrote at the same time TO the
First Consul letter explanatory of his
vote, which no Republican will now
read withsu, recognizing the image Of
inordinata and triumphant ambition
covering under the rebuke OF disinter.
ested virtue.
| "The 18th of Brumaire said this
letter7 saved France, and felt myself
recalled by the liberal professions to
which you had attached your honof,-
Since then, we have seen in the Con-
sular power that preparatory dictatorship
which, under the auspices Of your ge-
MUS, has achieved SO much ; yet not so
much as wiH be the restoration Of tb>
ertv. 1t is impossible that you, Gen.
eral, the first Of that order of men who,
to compare and seat themselves, take
10 the compass of all ages, that you
should wish such revolution-so ma
| ny victories, so much blood, so many
caIami.ies and prodigies, should have
for the world and for you no other re.
suit than an arbitrary Government
The French people have too well
known their rights ultimately to forget
them, but perhaps they are now better
prepared, than in the time OF their ef-
fervescence, to recover them usefully
and you, by the force of your charac.
; ter, and Of the public confidence, by
the superiority Of your talents, Of your
position, OF your fortune, may, by the
re.establishment OF liberty, surmounl
every danger and relieve every anxiety
:, l have, then, no other than patriotic
and personal motives for wishing YOU
! this last addition 10 your glory-a per