"It is in order to proceed with you on this patriotic path, that the Chief of the State has called me to the honour of presiding over you. Grant me, my dear colleagues, as much goodwill as I offer you devotion, and, being all united in the holy love of our country, let us give to the world no longer the spectacle of an assembly of impassioned men, continually agitated, but of a veritable Assembly of Legislation, calmly and gravely, as the law itself, enacting statutes upon the great interests which are submitted to us."

But notwithstanding all the smooth phrases about the attachment of the people to the new Constitution, the work of transportation from the soil of France silently went on, and immense numbers of persons were brought be fore the military commissions and summarily sentenced to imprisonment. The arbitrary nature of the punishments inflicted for real or supposed disaffection is shown by the following decree:

"Louis Napoleon, President of the French Republic, on the report of the Minister of General Police, seeing the circular of the 3rd of February last of the Ministers of Justice, Interior, and War-seeing the returns relative to the affairs on which the departmental commissions and the commission of revision for the first military division have definitively decided -considering that the decisions given by those commissions, in virtue of the abovementioned circular, require a general sanctiondecrees:

"Art. 1. The persons placed by the departmental commissions, or by the commission of revision of the first military division, in the category of those who are to be

cited before courts-martial or before correctional tribunals, shall be immediately sent before the competent tribunal.

"Art. 2. The persons comprised in the category of those who are to be transported to French Guiana or into Algeria, shall be placed at the disposal of the Minister of Marine, to be transported to French Guiana, and at the disposal of the Minister of War, to be transported to Algeria.

"Art. 3. The persons comprised in the category of those who are to be expelled or temporarily removed from the territory shall be placed at the disposal of the Minister of General Police, to be conveyed to the frontier.

"Art. 4. Persons comprised in the category of those who are to be compelled to reside in a particular place shall proceed to, and fix their residence in, the place which may be assigned to them by the Minister of General Police. The Minister shall also indicate to the persons placed under his surveillance the places in which they shall be interdicted from residing.

"Art. 5. Any person transported to Algeria who shall, without authorization, quit the place fixed for his residence, may, as an administrative measure, be transported to French Guiana.

"Art. 6. Any person expelled, or temporarily removed from the territory, who shall return to France without authorization, may, as an administrative measure, be transported to Algeria or French Guiana.

"Art. 7. Any person ordered to reside in a particular place who shall quit that place without authorization may, as an administrative measure, be removed from the territory.

"Art. 8. Any person placed under the surveillance of the Ministry of General Police who shall be found in one of the places in which he is forbidden to reside may be sent to a fixed residence, as an administrative measure.

"Art. 9. The Ministers of Justice, War, Marine, and General Police are charged, each in what concerns him, with the execution of the present decree.

"Done at the Palace of the Tuileries, the 5th of March, 1852.

"LOUIS NAPOLEON.

(Countersigned) "DE MAUPAS, Minister of General Police."

And the following extracts from a Report addressed to the President of the Republic, at the latter end of April, by one of the commissioners specially appointed to revise the judgments of the mixed commissions, will show the extent and severity of the measures taken to repress any exhibition of popular feeling adverse to the new Government:" The great services you have rendered to the country are everywhere appreciated. Amongst those services the one perhaps most valued is, the having relieved society from the dangerous elements which threatened to dissolve it. This last feeling is so strong that every report of an amnesty is received with hostility. The circular of the Minister of the Interior, and the restorations to liberty which were the consequences of it, had produced the worst effect. The entire party of anarchists had raised their head. Those of the accused who were still in the hands of justice had interrupted or retracted the confessions they had made to the authorities of the plans and organization of the secret societies. Those unfa

I

vourable symptoms were beginning to be effaced when the announcement of the mission of clemency with which the commissaries extraordinary were charged caused them to revive to such an extent, that, in order to moderate them, I commanded that the detachments of convicts which had been stopped in view of my revision should resume their progress as soon as that revision was terminated. return with the profound conviction that in all the departments which I have passed through, the mixed commissions have been impressed with the successive instructions enjoining them not to strike any but really dangerous men. Their only fault in the departments of the Deux-Sèvres, the Gironde, the Haute-Garonne, and the Aude, has been that of an excess of indulgence. May they not have to repent of allowing perhaps the only opportunity of disorganizing anarchy from escaping! The convictions in those departments bear only on some individuals marked for a long time by public notoriety as inveterate disturbers of the public peace. In the Lot et Garonne, the Pyrenées Orientales, and the Herault, where the insurgents in commencing hostilities had made several arrests, the ramifications of the secret societies have been followed. The number of affiliated members known exceed 30,000 in each of the two former departments, and 60,000 in the last, organised by tens and hundreds, and ready to rise at the first signal. . . Furnished with information either by the gendarmerie, the municipal authorities, or the clergy, I endeavoured to extend my labours as far as possible. Every party assisted me willingly. We took into ac

On the 22nd of March the following decree was promulgated with the view of defining the relations of the Senate and Legislative Chamber to the Council of State, and securing the harmonious action of those three bodies.

"FIRST DIVISION.

"THE COUNCIL OF STATE. "Art. 1. All bills and other labours prepared by the different Ministerial departments are submitted to the President of the Republic, who sends them, through the Minister of State, to the VicePresident of the Council of State.

"Art. 2. The orders of the day of the sittings of the Council of State are sent in advance to the Minister of State, who must be always informed in good time of all that concerns the draughts of bills and other proceedings.

Art. 3. All bills and other papers prepared by the Council of State are, in conformity with Article 50 of the Constitution, presented to the President of the Republic by the Vice-President of the Council of State, with the names of the commissioners to support the discussion of them attached.

"Art. 4. A decree from the President of the Republic orders the presentation of bills to the Representative Body, or of senatus consulta to the Senate, and names the Councillors of State charged to support the discussion of them.

"Art. 5. A copy of such decree is sent by the Minister of State to the Legislative body or Council of State.

"CHAPTER II.-BILLS.

"Art. 8. The bills adopted by the Legislative Body, and which, according to Art. 25 of the Constitution, are to be transmitted by the Minister of State to the President of the Senate, are to be read aloud by him to that body.

"Art. 9. The Senate decides at once, by assis et levé, if the Bill shall be sent to a committee, or discussed at once.

"Art. 10. The Senate having to decide only on the question of promulgation, cannot vote any amendment.

"Art. 11. On the day appointed for the general deliberation, the Senate decides whether there is reason to oppose a promulgation.

"Art. 12. The vote is not secret; it is taken by the absolute majority of a number of voters greater than one-half of the Senate; otherwise it is null and void, and must be re-commenced.

"Art. 13. The result of each vote is ascertained by the Secretary and two Sub-secretaries, elected for each session.

"Art. 14. The President of the Senate proclaims the result by saying, The Senate opposes, or, "The Senate does not oppose the promulgation.'

"Art. 15. The result of such deliberation is transmitted to the Minister of State by the President of the Senate.

"CHAPTER III.-OF THE SE

NATUS CONSUlta.

"Art. 16. The senatus consulta, regulating the objects enumerated in Art. 27 of the Constitution, will be deliberated on, either on the proposition of the President of the Republic or on that of one or more Senators.

"Art. 17. The project of the senatus consulta proposed by the President of the Republic shall be delivered and read to the Senate by the Councillors of State, to be discussed in the bureaux and examined by a committee who will report on it to a general sitting. Those proceeding from the initiative of Senators will not be read at a general sitting, unless three out of five of the bureaux shall have authorised its being taken into consideration. In this case, the text of it will be immediately transmitted by the President of the Senate to the Minister of State, and a committee will be appointed, as mentioned in the preceding Articles.

"Art. 18. The amendments proposed on the project of senatus consulta will, before the opening of the deliberation in a general sitting, be referred by the President of the Senate to the committee, which will express its opinion on it. The amendments brought forward during the deliberation in a general meeting shall not be read and developed unless they shall have been supported by five members. The text of it shall always be communicated beforehand to the commissioners of the Government. The com

mittee has the right of demanding that before the vote the amendment shall be again referred to it.

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'Art. 19. The vote, either on the Articles of the project of senatus consulta, or on its ensemble, takes place conformably to Arts. 12 and 13 of the present decree. The President proclaims the result of it in these terms' The Senate has adopted,' or, The Senate has not adopted.'

"Art. 20. The result of the deliberation will be made known to the President of the Republic by the President of the Senate, or by two Vice-Presidents delegated by him.

"CHAPTER IV.-ACTS DENOUNCED TO THE SENATE AS UNCONSTITU

TIONAL.

"Art 21. When an Act is referred as unconstitutional by the Government to the Senate, the decree which lays it before the Senate, and which names the Councillors of State who are to take part in the discussion, is transmitted by the Minister of State to the President of the Senate. The bureaux will examine this demand, and name a committee, on the report of which a vote will be come to conformably to Arts. 12 and 13 of the present decree. The President will proclaim the result in these terms 'The Senate maintains' or 'annuls.'

"Art. 22. If the unconstitutionality is denounced by a petition, the proceeding shall be the same. On all occasions the petition is to be read at a general sitting; the previous question may then be proposed, and if it is voted the President pronounces that there is no occasion to proceed any further with it. If the previous question is not voted, the

President of the Senate informs the Minister of State of the fact, the petition is referred to the bureaux, and the proceedings take place as in the preceding Article. "Art. 23. The decision of the Senate is to be transmitted by the President to the Minister of State.

"CHAPTER V. REPORTS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC ON THE BASES OF BILLS OF GREAT NATIONAL INTEREST.

"Art. 24. Every Senator may propose the presentation of a report to the President of the Republic on the bases of any Bill of great national interest. The proposition in writing is to be transmitted to the President of the Senate, printed, distributed,

and sent to the bureaux.

"Art. 25. If three bureaux, at least, approve of its being taken into consideration, the President of the Senate informs the Minister of State. A committee being named in the bureaux draws up the report to be sent to the President of the Republic.

"Art. 26. This report being printed and distributed, is discussed in a general sitting, and may be amended, in the forms of Art. 18 of the present decree.

Art. 27. The vote having taken place, in the forms already

stated in Arts. 12 and 13 in the

present decree, the President of the Senate declares the result by saying The report is adopted,' or The report is not adopted.'

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Art. 28. If there be adoption, the report is forwarded to the Minister of State.

modify the Constitution, authorised by Art. 31 of the Constitution,

can be presented unless signed by ten senators at least. When a proposition has been so presented, it is to be proceeded on according to Arts. 17, 18, and 19 of the present decree. The result of the discussion is sent by the President of the Senate to the President of the Republic, who decides on the matter according to Art. 31 of the Constitution.

"CHAPTER VII.-PETITIONS.

Art. 30. Petitions sent to the

Senate are examined by committees named each month in the bureaux. The list of such petitions is communicated in advance to the Minister of State. A report on each is presented in public sitting, and a decision come to as to whether the Order of the Day is to be voted, the petition sent to the bureau des renseignemens, or the petition to be referred to the competent Minister. If the last, the petition, and an account of the discussion, to be sent to the Minister of State.

"Art. 32. Decrees that in all deliberations of the Senate, the Government has the right of being represented by Councillors of State, appointed by a special decree. The Orders of the Day