but in speaking of discipline, and of the necessity of drawing closer its bonds, I never dreamt of causing the law to descend from the height which it occupies. I know that the law is the principle of every society. But the principle of the army is passive obedience, without which there is no discipline. It is by discipline that the soldier is taught devotedness to the laws of his country. If you oppose in the army the respect of the law to the respect of discipline, what will be the consequence? If you develop in the army the spirit of deliberation contrary to that discipline, what will be the consequence? Under arms, the military regulations form the only law. By the side of the duty of obedience, I have placed responsibility. If you suppress all that, you will destroy the army, and will enter on a fatal path. Gentlemen, the army is the army of the country. It is united in devotedness, and in the knowledge of its duties. The President of the Committee has said that there must be no equivocation. I am entirely of his opinion. It is good that the Assembly, rejecting orders of the day motivés, should reject or accept the proposition of the Questors. I repeat it aloud from this tribune, in order that every one may know it. We do not contest the right of the Assembly to demand troops for its defence, but this right must come within the terms of the Constitution, and in order not to destroy discipline and the army, the requisition, which will never be refused, must pass through the regular channels of command."

Several other members afterwards rose to speak, but the noise and interruption were so great that they were hardly able to make

conse

The proposition was quently rejected, and the sitting was brought to a close in the midst of the greatest agitation.

Another measure indicating the suspicions entertained by the Assembly of the conduct of the President, was now brought forward. It was in the shape of a Bill for determining the responsibility of Ministers and the Chief of the State. By the 68th article of the Constitution, it was prescribed that an organic law should be passed deferring the other cases of responsibility of the President and his Ministers, besides those specified in and by the terms of the Constitution itself.

In 1849 the Government of the day had directed the Council of State to prepare such a law, but no interest was felt in the subject; and the progress of the Council was so slow, that it was not until the 9th of October in the present year that they had perfected a measure, which was submitted to the President of the Republic, and to the Legislative Assembly, on the 5th of November. The projet de loi contained thirty-six articles, in eight chapters, under distinctive heads :

--

Chapter I. "Of the Responsibility of the President of the Republic," comprised in Article 1, these three paragraphs, among others, defining the circumstances which warranted impeachment:

"1. If he be guilty of an attack

on or a plot against the safety of the State, of which the object may be to destroy or change the form of government, or to suspend the empire of the Constitution and the laws; 2. If he be guilty of exciting to the violation of article 45 of the Constitution [which forbids the re-election of an existing President]; 3. If he be guilty of violation of the Constitution, by taking in person the command of the armed force."

Chapter II." Of the Responsibility of the Ministers," contained, in Article 5, these paragraphs of impeachment :

"1. If they be guilty as accomplices of the crime of high treason punished by article 68 of the Constitution; 2. If they be guilty as authors or accomplices of one of the crimes foreseen by paragraph 1 of Article 1; 3. If they be guilty of a crime against the internal or external safety of the State, foreseen by the Penal Code; 4. If they be guilty as authors or accomplices of one of the crimes foreseen by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 1; 5. If they make a criminal use of the power confided to them; 6. If they knowingly compromise the interests of the State by the violation or non-execution of the laws."

Chapter III. defined the process of impeaching the President or Ministers, and when these had been impeached, the actual trial of the accused was regulated by Article 16, as follows:

the prosecution before the High Court of Justice. They enter immediately on the exercise of their duties. The accused immediately ceases his functions."

This was the last measure of importance which occupied the attention of the Legislative Assembly of France. Its destruction was already resolved on by the President, who prepared his Coup d'Etat with a skill and courage worthy of a better cause. He saw that his illegal views were suspected, and that the Assembly would never consent to be the instrument of his ambitious endeavours to put himself in nomination for the next Presidency, in violation of the fundamental law of the Constitution. He knew also that, if he descended to the station of a private individual, his influence was gone for ever, and there is too much reason to believe that pecuniary embarrassment would have involved him in extreme difficulty.

He resolved, therefore, to strike a sudden and daring blow. For a long time he had seized every opportunity of ingratiating himself with the army, and by its aid he hoped to be able to subvert the Constitution which he had sworn solemnly to maintain, and to bear down all opposition, if any were offered, by the cannon and the bayonet. It seems that he made privy to his plot M. de Morny, on whose devoted personal attachment he knew that he might rely, and with his aid he caused to be secretly printed, on the night of the 1st of December, a number of decrees, which appeared at daybreak on the walls of Paris, and met the eyes of the astonished inhabitants. They were as follows:

"In the name of the French

paring the laws and maintaining the discussion before the legislative corps.

"4. A legislative corps, discussing and voting the laws, named by universal suffrage, without the serutin de liste which falsifies the elec. tion.

"5. A second Assembly formed of all the illustrious persons of the nation; a preponderating power, guardian of the fundamental pact and of public liberty.

"This system, created by the First Consul in the beginning of the present century, has already given to France repose and prosperity. It guarantees them still. Such is my profound conviction. If you partake it, declare so by your suffrages. If, on the contrary, you prefer a Government without force, Monarchical or Republican, borrowed from some chimerical future, reply in the negative. Thus, then, for the first time since 1804, you will vote with complete knowledge of the fact, and knowing for whom and for what you vote.

"If I do not obtain the majority of the votes I shall summon a new Assembly, and lay down before it the mission I have received from you. But if you believe that the cause of which my name is the symbol, that is, France regenerated by the revolution of '89, and organized by the Emperor, is still yours; proclaim it to be so by ratifying the powers I demand of you. Then France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy, obstacles will be removed, rivalries will have disappeared, for all will respect, in the will of the people, the decree of Providence.

"Done at the Palace of the Elysée this 2nd of December,

"LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE."

These were accompanied by a proclamation addressed to the Army.

"Soldiers!-Be proud of your mission; you will save the country. I rely upon you, not to violate the laws, but to command respect for the first law of the country-national sovereignty-of which I am the legitimate representative.

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You long suffered, like me, from the obstacles that prevented my doing you all the good I intended, and opposed the demonstrations of your sympathy in my favour. Those obstacles are removed.. The Assembly sought to impair the authority which I derive from the entire nation; it has ceased to exist.

"I make a loyal appeal to the people and the army, and I tell them-Either give me the means of insuring your prosperity, or choose another in my place.

"In 1830, as well as in 1848, you were treated as a vanquished army. After having branded your heroical disinterestedness, they disdained to consult your sympathies and wishes, and, nevertheless, you are the élite of the nation. To-day, at this solemn moment, I wish the voice of the army to be heard.

"Vote, then, freely as citizens; but, as soldiers, do not forget that passive obedience to the orders of the chief of the Government is the rigorous duty of the army, from the general down to the soldier. It is for me, who am responsible for my actions before the people and posterity, to adopt the measures most conducive to the public welfare.

"As for you, maintain entire the rules of discipline and honour. By your imposing attitude assist the country in manifesting its will with calmness and reflection. Be ready to repress all attempts against

M. Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, the first speaker, said that the question before the House should be solved without the least delay. If adopted, the proposition should be referred to a Committee, and would consequently be attended with interminable delay. To obviate that inconvenience he would propose an ordre du jour motive to the following effect:

The National Assembly, considering the provisions of the 32nd article of the Constitution, and that the decree of the 11th of May, 1818, is still in vigour, directs that it shall be posted up anew in the barracks, and passes to the order of the day."

General de St. Arnaud, Minister of War, then ascended the tribune, and said that the order of the day just read was a mere repetition of the proposition of the Questors. On so grave a question it was necessary that the Assembly should hear the opinion of the Government before the commencement of the discussion. The Government considered it an imperious duty to present that opinion in the most precise and clearest terms. Why did the authors of the proposition choose the moment when the most perfect tranquillity prevailed every where to propose the revival of a measure adopted on the eve of the 15th of May, 1818? The constituent Assembly was invested with sovereign and absolute authority. The right now claimed had been inscribed in its standing rules, but it has since fallen into disuse, and had been de facto abrogated by the Legislative Assembly, which had not re-enacted it. The Constitution was the sole rule. The 52nd Article provided that the Assembly should fix the military force necessary for its defence and

dispose of it, but it said no more. Now the proposition required for the President of the Assembly the absolute and direct right of calling out the troops to its aid, and there is not a single officer of the army who might not be obliged to obey. This was a real encroachment on the rights of the Executive, against which the Cabinet formally protested. Nobody questioned the right of requisition belonging to the President, in virtue of the Constitution, but the Executive Power could not be deprived of rights consecrated by the 19th. 50th, and 64th clauses of the fundamental law, which defined the separation of the powers. The proposition would transfer the whole of the executive power into the hands of the President of the Assembly, and was consequently an infringement on the separation of the powers and the destruction of all military discipline. It would be assigning two different chiefs to the army, and destroying unity in the command, without which no army can exist. It created an unjust distrust in the country, and anxiety and astonishment in the ranks of the army; and, in the name of the salvation of the country, he entreated the Assemt ly not to take the proposition into consideration.

General Leflo, who followed, protested that the proposition he had signed with the other two Questors was a mere reproduction of the article 32 of the Constitution, and the 6th clause of the decree of the 11th of May, 1848, All they proposed was, to sancti n a right inscribed in the standing rules of the Assembly. It was not an act of hostility, but a measure of defence and of existence for the Parliament. If on the