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The original design, conceived some years ago, was to bring forward a work on the forms of government in all the states of Europe, and progress bad already been made in preparing it, when the sudden great events in France, and the consequent general interest now taken in her affairs, seemed to make it desirable at present to con- fine the execution of the plan to this country solely, and to publish this without delay. The brief space of time allotted to this task, must plead excuse for its defects and its incompleteness as a whole. B. R. Boston, May, 1848. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Pa.::: France under the late Orleans dynasty . . I Guizot and his party, the doctrinaires . . t> Louis Philippe and his policy .... 14 Constitution of Louis xviii. June 4, 1814 . . 23 Charles X. and his ordonnances of July, 1830 . . :;i 1. Concerning the abolishment of the liberty of the periodical press ...... 3-3 2. Concerning the dissolution of the chamber of deputies 31 3. Concerning the election of members of the cham- ber of deputies . . . . . - 31 4. Concerning the uniting of electoral colleges . 39 Historical remarks relating to the revolution in 1830 40 Protest of the deputies against run ordonnances . 41 Proclamation of the deputies to the French people, July 31, 1830 42 Declaration of the chamber of deputies in regard to the vacancy of the French throne, .\ni> to th< alterations in the constitution, August 7, 1830 44 VI 1 \i;l I 01 11 ENACTMENTS 'l'lli: LAW ON PEERAGE OF DECEMBER 2'." L8! I France a republic ....... Remarks relating to the constitutions of Fran< e when a republic ...... The constitution of June 24, 1793 1. Declaration of the rights of man and of citizens 2. The articles of the constitution The constitution of September 23, 1795 1. Historical remarks relating to the same . 2. Declaration of rights and duties of man and o citizens ...... 3. Articles of the constitution Constitution of December, 1799 Historical remarks relating to the same Articles of the constitution P.\OB 47 4'.) 53 53 57 57 62 76 76 78 81 138 138 140 APPENDIX The law of naturalization under the monarch i iVERNMENT OF FRANCE 155 FRANCE, THE LATE ORLEANS DYNASTY. The recent important events in France, the total overthrow of monarchy, and the proclamation of a Republic, have called forth a general inquiry into the causes which effected this political change, and into the probable success of the attempt at the per- manent establishment of a republican form of gov- ernment. The history of the first French revolution in 1789, with its final unhappy result, induces many persons to draw inferences as to the same unhappy result from the present movement. Many there are, who, dazzled by the adroit man- agement of the ex-king Louis Philippe, see in the present overthrow of his throne by the people who called him to this throne, only the restless spirit of the French seeking for change. They suppose that the constitution under which the French lived, gave to the nation all the reasonable liberties which are compatible with social order and prosperity. 1 2 ORLEANS DYNASTY. Sweeping assertions and vague statements, as to the actual condition of things, are frequently made in order t<> support opinions and speculations which arc advanced either on the one side or tie other. It is desirable to have the actual facts in a definite form before us, that we may draw our inferences with more certainty, and base our opinions on some- thing more solid than mere impressions. The letter of the constitution itself is one of these facts which may guide us in our opinions. For this reason we shall give here the constitution of 1814, which Louis XVIII. gave to the French after his restoration. Many will, no doubt, be surprised to find that the second revolution, in 1830, gave to the French no new constitution, but only some alterations and amendments of this octroyee chartc of Louis XVIII. Though it was intended, at the overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty in 1830, to establish permanently the sovereignty of the people, obtained by the three days' bloody struggle, by surrounding the royal throne with republican forms, and the deputy Oerard had received from both chambers the commission to reform the charter on the principle of the sovereignty of the people, it was mainly through the influence and contrivance of Guizot and the Duke of Orleans that this plan was not carried out. Both these men united to hinder the monarchical power from being curtailed or weakened. They succeeded in their designs through the co-operation of the men, called "the right middle," {juste milieu,') also called doc- trinaires. The origin and policy of this party will be alluded to in another place. The alterations then made in the old charter are ORLEANS DYNASTY. 3 here given literally in the proper order. This amended charter was on the 7th of August, 1S30, accepted in the chamber of deputies by 219 votes against 33, and of 114 peers by 89. It will be seen that the principal alterations made were, the abolishment of censorship of the press, and the initiative in legislation being granted to both chambers; the qualification of deputies, in regard to age, being changed from forty years to thirty; and as to property, the direct tax of one thousand francs a year being reduced to five hundred francs; and the qualification of electors, as to age, being changed from thirty years to twenty-five. The property qualification of electors was, by a subsequent law, reduced from three hundred francs direct taxes a year to two hundred francs. In consequence of this reduction of the electoral census, the former number of SO, 000 electors was increased to 200,000 ; and the former number of 8000 eligible persons was increased to 24,000. The number of deputies was fixed at 4)9. The civil list granted to Louis XVIII. was twenty- four million francs a year ; this was reduced to twelve million francs for Louis Philippe. An important feature in the constitution of France was the circumstance that no provision was made for the alteration or amendment of this instrument. This defect was of so much greater importance since the revolution of 1830, when Louis Philippe was called to the throne, on condition that he accept and swear to the charter, as altered and amended by the deputies then in session, because Louis XVIII., in granting the charter, had taken his stand above it. 4 ORLEANS DYNASTY. He declared in the preamble to the same, that he reserved to himself and the throne all the rights and prerogatives belonging to his forefathers, and that he granted this constitution of his own free will and ac- cord, not as a right of the people, but merely to grat- ify the wish of the people. Since 1830, the king, the peers and deputies derived their legal existence from the charter, and all three authorities united would not have had the power to alter the constitution in any feature whatsoever. If, in the course of time, an amendment became desirable, it could only be effected by a revolution, the inherent right of the people to change its form of government. The character of the English constitution exhibits a striking contrast to that of the French in this re- spect. It is a fundamental principle with the Eng- ish lawyers, that " Parliament can do everything, except making a woman a man, or a man a wo- man." The transcendent power of parliament over the ordinary course of laws has been called the om- nipotence of parliament. By these figures of speech is only expressed the principle that this body is not trammelled and hemmed in by any written laws or established rights, but may exercise any absolute power. It can regulate the succession to the crown, alter the established religion of the land, and can change and new-model even the constitution of the kingdom. History shows us that the English parlia- ment has exercised all these powers in more in- stances than one. In France even the perpetuity of succession to the throne was established again in 1830, in favor of the new dynasty, the Orleans family. Whatever the ORLEANS DYNASTY. 5 calamities and the misery may be, which the new revolution may have caused, and may still cause, the responsibility falls on those who virtually betrayed the French people in 1S30, and these men were prin- cipally Guizot and the Duke of Orleans ; for it was through their influence that the constitution was not altered so as to meet any future emergencies and new wants. The constitution of England they held up as their model, but they left the French charter far behind it in most important features. The great literary reputation which Guizot had justly earned, and the active interest which he had taken in the overthrow of the dynasty of the Bour- bons, prepossessed the public mind abroad in his favor, and led to suppose that his policy as a states- man would be in accordance with his acts in 1830, and be dictated by the wisdom which his literary works proclaimed him to possess. A brief review of his life and his principles will render us more able to judge of the political course he has pursued, and of its final failure. While one cannot charge him with dereliction of principle, one cannot but see that an obstinate adherence to one idea, without regard to the change of times and cir- cumstances, must result in the ruin of him who entertains it, and persists in carrying it out. Guizot furnishes another proof of what history teaches us in several examples, that persons who are able to write history, and who are imbued with a superior wis- dom in reasoning on the events of past ages, gene- rally prove to be ill qualified for making history, that is, for originating and developing new events, for affecting the vital progress of the age in which 1* G GUIZ0T. they live. W ith their backs turned to the pr< they only face the past, and forget that time not stand still while they arc engaged in their studies, to finish writing the history up to a given date. The idea of historical development in law and states, which has been the favorite scientific idea of continental jurists and statesmen, who gather their wisdom more from books and treatises, while lucubrating in their studies, than from practical life, may sciwe as a beautiful fancy for scholars to dream about, but so far it has proved to be only a check to all development and progress of public life, and instead of regulating a gradual change, it has pre- pared the sudden outbreaks of revolt and violence. Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot was born on the 4th of October, 17S5, at Nimes, and educated in the Protestant religion. After his father, a lawyer by profession, had been executed during the reign of terror, his mother went with him to Geneva in 1794, where he studied philosophy and modern languages. In 1S05 he returned to Paris and continued his studies under Royer-Collard, whose political prin- ciples and views had the greatest influence upon young Guizot's political creed. In 1812, he obtained permission to hold lectures on modern history. He had already before this, enter- ed upon his literary career, and published several works, as, for instance, The Lives of the Poets of the Age of Louis XIV., and Annals of Education. After the restoration he received an office in the administration, and was soon made secretary gen- eral in the department of the interior, and afterwards GUIZOT. 7 in the department of justice. Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba, he went to Ghent, joining Louis XVIII. After the second restoration he was appointed secretary general, and having of his own accord resigned this post, he was appointed by the king councillor of state. In this position he and his friends obtained great influence in the cabinet. It was at this time that these men received the name of " doctrinaires." This appellation was given to those statesmen who wished to proceed on certain scientific ideas of statesmanship. The leaders of this school were the Duke de Broglio, Royer-Collard, and his pupil Guizot. They soon attained, through talent and literary and scientific attainments, a decided ascen- dency, and endeavored now to put into practice their views and principles, which had been arranged and formed into a complete system. The views and principles which this party enter- tained were based upon the conviction at which they had arrived, both through theoretical study and practical observation, that the numerical increase and elevated condition of the bourgeoisie or third estate in France, were a great civil and human pro- gress, and that they ought to have a more extended scope of influence and action in the state and in social and political life, beyond the narrow limits which the old Bourbon dynasty had assigned to them. It was their opinion that this political exten- sion of influence would reconcile the various con- flicting interests and the tendencies of all parties. Royer-Collard, the principal supporter of these views, and former instructor of Guizot. came in 8 GUIZOT. 1815 into the chamber of deputies, and endeavi to advance and carry out these his ideas, and by his talents ho soon succeeded in gaining a number of followers. While the moderate constitutional party agreed with him, and enlisted under his banner, both his views, and his dispassionate, didactic mode of explaining them, brought upon him the decided displeasure of the ultra-royalists and of the extreme left, who sneeringly called his whole tendency and idea the u doctrine" and all the advocates of these views the " doctrinaires." However, this party gained ground both in number and importance. They soon were in open opposition to the gov- ernment, though they demanded nothing but the charter, but this whole and entire. When in 1820 the violations of the charter and of liberty became more daring and gross, men of all parties who con- considered absolutism and the ruling of the nobility and of priests a public calamity, joined the zealous defenders of of the constitution, the "doctrinaires." In 1S2S Royer-Collard was chosen representative in seven electoral colleges. The king then yielded to the public voice, and confirmed him as president of the chamber. Guizot, in the mean time, exercised his influence in support of this doctrine, through the press and through societies, and chiefly as president of the society " Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera," (Help thyself, and Heaven will help thee.) During this period he was most productive in literary works. His histor- ical lectures delivered from 1821 — 1822, he pub- lished under the title, " Histoire du Gouvernement Representative," and those from 182S- 1S30, under GUIZOT. \) the title "Cours d'llistoire Modernc," in six vol- umes, which contain his " Histoire de la Civiliza- tion en France depuis la chute de 1' Empire Romain jusqu'en, 1789," (5 vols.) to which his "Histoire Generate de la civilization Europecne depuis la chute, etc," is an introduction. Among several other historical works, his " Histoire de la Revolu- tion d'Angleterre," in two volumes, is the most im- portant, though it remains as yet unfinished. In the revolution of 1830 he was one of the most active movers, and drew up the protest against the July ordonnances. On the 30th of July he was appointed minister of puhlic instruction in the pro- visional government, and when Louis Philippe had been chosen king, he was appointed minister of the interior. He now disappointed the liberal party in many respects. It had already been effected through his influence and that of the Duke of Orleans, that the old charter was not altered on a more liberal plan. Before the revolution, he and his party, the doc- trinaires, had zealously labored to uphold the charter of Louis XVIII. to its full extent, with the view of giving to the burgherly aristocracy of wealth equal rank with the privileged aristocracy by birth, imita- ting the English constitution as their model. But after the revolution he essentially changed his posi- tion towards the people. He now opposed the move- ments of the liberal democratic party. He under- took to prove the legitimacy of the king, who had received his crown from the hands of the people at the barricades, in the old sense, that is, that Louis Philippe had a right to the throne by order of 10 QOTZOT. succession ; he strenuously opposed every exten- sion of iIm' electoral franchise, and the abolish- incut of the hereditary peerage. Though all this might be in accordance with his system, but his fanatic persecution <>f the liberal parties, and the means which he employed to suppress the demo- cratic tendencies, were evidently at war with his own former constitutional struggles, and made him a mere political partizan. It was in vain that his old master and teacher, Royer-Collard, rose up against him, when he and his party carried the September laws in 1835, which violated the personal liberty of the citizens. The first of these, relating to courts of assizes, invested the minister of justice, in reference to citi- zens accused of rebelling, with the power of consti- tuting as many courts of assize as the occasion required ; and every attorney-general, with the power of abridging, in case of need, the usual for- malities of prosecutions. It also gave to the presi- dent of the court of assize, the right of removing, by force, any prisoners who should be guilty of dis- turbing the proceedings, and of continuing the trial in their absence. The second, relating to juries, gave them the pow- er of secret voting, and reduced the number of votes necessary to constitute a majority against a prisoner from eight to seven. It also rendered the punish- ment of transportation more severe than before. The third bill, relating to the press, enacted that any one publishing anything offensive to the person of the king, or assailing the principle of the estab- lished government of France, should be liable to GUIZOT. 1 I imprisonment, and to a fine of from 10,000 to 50,000 francs. It forbade citizens, under penalties, less than these, but still exorbitant, to take the name of republican, to mix up the person of the king with discussions upon the acts of the government ; to express a hope or a wish for the destruction of the monarchical or constitutional order of things estab- lished, or for the restoration of the deposed dynasty: to speak of any member of that banished family as having any right or title whatever to the crown ; to publish the names of jurors, before or after a trial, or any report of the deliberations of jurors among themselves, to get up or have any thing to do with subscriptions in favor of journals condemned in any penalties. It further took away from editors of newspapers the privilege of giving blank signatures: it obliged them to make known the authors of articles which should be subjected to prosecution ; it deprived them of the management of their jour- nals while they should be undergoing any imprison- ment under the act. It declared that no drawing; emblematical representation, paint or lithograph, should be published or offered for sale, until it had been first submitted to the censorship ; and on the same condition alone, it declared, might a spectacle be produced, or a dramatic piece be put upon the stage. It declared punishable, with fine and imprison- ment, all attacks upon property, and all remark calculated to lessen respect to the oath taken by cit- izens, and to the laws; it demanded that the amount of security given by each newspaper should be raised from 48,000 francs to 200,000 francs, (100,001) 12 GUIZOT. was tlir sum ultimately adopted by the chamber;) that this amount should be deposited in cash, and thai the editor of no paper should be permitted to enter upon his functions until lie had paid up one third of the sum in his own name. \\ ithout going into further details, we will here only briefly state the principal facts in his political life since 1830. Guizot, together with the other doctrinaires of the ministry, were dismissed in No- vember of the same year, 1830. He then came into the chamber of deputies, as a member from Li- sieux in Calvados; during the ministry of Lafitte, he held himself to the left side, but when in 1831 Casimir Perier was appointed minister, he joined the right middle. At the death of Perier, he came again, on the 11th of October, into the ministry, as minister of public instruction. In this capa- city he did much for the improvement of public in- struction, especially of primary schools, and, through his influence, the king restored the fifth class of the institute, abolished by Napoleon in 1803, viz. the academy of moral and political sciences. He re- mained in the ministry till 22d of February, 1S36. On the 6th of September of the same year, he was again appointed to the ministry together with Mole. When in April, 1S37, this ministry was modified, Guizot and the other doctrinaires left it. He now labored zealously, together with the other two hun- dred and twenty-one deputies, to overthrow Mole. When in January, 1S39, the chambers were dis- solved, he was re-elected by his district. At the commencement of the year 1S40 he was sent as minister to England, where he obtained the consent GUIZOT. 13 of the English government to bring the ashes of Napoleon from St. Helena to Paris. In this same year he published the " Correspondence and Writ- ings of Washington,'' in four volumes, being a French version of Sparks's Life of Washington, and of selected portions of Washington's writings, to- gether with an introduction by Gnizot, which pro- cured him the honor of his portrait being placed in the halls of Congress at Washington. On the 2Sth of October he was again called by the king to form a new ministry, and he now took the department oi foreign affairs. Since then he maintained himself in his position, though he grew ever more unpopular with the nation. He labored strenuously to effect the alliance with England, on which account the people gave him the nickname of "Ministre de l'Etranger." His ministry lasted longer than any since the first revolution in 1789, and of the seventeen cabinets since 1830, his maintained itself for nearly eight years, and ended only with the late overthrow ol the Orleans dynasty. The guiding principles of his policy have been alluded to before. The particular measures he adopted, to maintain his position and to carry out his views, need not be alluded to, since they are too recent, not to be remembered by every one who has taken interest in the contempo- raneous history of the states and nations of Europe. Whatever the mistakes may be which he may have committed in misjudging the age and the circum- stances that had grown out of it, and in adhering to a misconceived idea and doctrine ; it must be ad- mitted, that his character stands high for purity 2 I 1 LOUIS PHILIPPE. and integrity, and that his ability and talent* >tamp him as a man of marked eminence. I laving stated the leading features of Guizot'fl political creed, we have also given those of the king's, Louis Philippe, except as these must necessarily be tinctured and modified by his position as king, and his personal character. As to him, therefore, we shall give only a few statements, which may be convenient to refer to in reading the history of his life and of his reign. He was born on the 6th of October, 1773, being the oldest son of Duke Louis Philippe Joseph of Orleans and of the Princess Louise Marie Adelaide de Penthievre. At his birth he re- ceived the title of Due de Valois, and in 1785 that of Due de Chartres. He joined the national guard in 1790, and also the club of jacobins, following the example of his father. Having taken in 1791 the command of his regiment at Yendome, he became commander of Valenciennes. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted under the command of General Biron, and distinguished himself in April. 1792, by his bravery in the battles by Guievrin and Boussu. Having been appointed on the 9th of May marechal- de-camp, he commanded in the army of Luckncr a cavalry brigade, and rose under Kellermann on the 7th of September to the grade of general-lieutenant, and as such he rendered important services at the cannonade by Valmy. Hcieupon he entered the army of Dumouriez, and won with him the important battle at Jemappes. In consequence of the events of the 10th of August he had renounced all titles, and, like his father, assumed the name of Egalite. LOUIS PHILirPE. 15 When the convention banished all Bourbons, he and his father were excepted. But after the unfortunate battle at Ncerwinden, 18th March, 1793, where Louis Philippe commanded the centre, he was included in the order of arrest issued against his superior officer, General Dumouriez, and went on the 4th of April, 1793, on Austrian territory. Refusing the offers made by Austria, he went to Switzerland in search of his sister Adelaide, whom he had sent to Madame de Genlis, before he left France himself, to place her in safety. At Zurich and other places, the authori- ties did not dare to grant him protection and a place of refuge ; he therefore placed his sister in a cloister at Bremgarten in Aargau, and wandered, accompanied by a faithful servant, for four months about in the mountains. At last he obtained, through the in- fluence of General Montesquiou, also a refugee, the place of teacher of geography and mathematics in a school at Reichenau near Chur. In this situation he remained concealed for eight months under the name of Chabaud-Latour. After receiving the intelligence of the execution of his father, he resigned his office, and went to join Montesquiou at Bremgarten, for whose adjutant he passed under the name of Corby. Here he resolved, after his sister had gone to the Princess Conti in Bavaria, to emigrate to America, and went to Hamburg for this purpose. From want of means he deferred the execution of his plan, and took a journey through Denmark, Sweden and Nor- way. After his return to Hamburg at the beginning of 1796, he lived here for some time in needy cir- cumstances. His mother and two brothers, the Duke de Montpensicr and the Count Beaujolais, had in the 16 LOUIS I'HILIPPE. mean time been set free in France, on condition that the oldest prince should Leave Europe. J le embarked for America on the 24th of September, 1790, and arrived in Philadelphia on the 21st of October. When soon after the Bourbons were again banished from the territory of the French republic, and the estates of the Orleans family were again confiscated, the mother emigrated to Spain, and her two younger sons followed their brother to America, where they arrived in February, 1797. The three princes travel- led through America, and then embarked again for England, where they landed in February I SOU, at Falmouth. The three brothers now lived for seven years in the village of Twickenham near London, supported by the savings of their mother. In 1807 the Duke of Montpcnsier died, and the other brother, Count de Beaujolais, died soon after at Malta, where the Duke of Orleans had brought him. The latter now went to Sicily to King Ferdinand I. at Palermo, where he was well received. Here he contracted an affection for the second daughter of the king, the princess Marie Amelie, born 26th of April, 1782. Before his marriage with her, King Ferdinand sent him with the Prince Leopold to Spain, to uphold the cause of the Bourbons against Joseph Bonaparte. The two landed at Gibraltar, and here at the instiga- tion of England, Leopold was arrested, and the Duke of Orleans brought to London in September, 1S08, where he with difficulty obtained permission to re- turn to Palermo. Before he embarked at Portsmouth, he met again, after a long separation, with his sister, who together with his mother, now banished from Spain, were present at his marriage with the Princess LOUIS PHILIPPE. 17 Marie Amelie, which took place on the 25th of November, 1809. Here he remained, living happily in his family circle, till after the fall of Napoleon, when he returned to France, where Louis XVIII. received him with distrust. He was appointed colonel-general of the hussars, on the 15th of May, 1814, and now occupied again, after a long exile, with his family the mansion of his forefathers, the palais royal. Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba, he retired to England to the village of Twicken- ham, where he had already sent his family before him. Upon his return to France in July, 1815, he had difficulty in recovering his estates which had been again confiscated by the government of the Emperor. Louis XVIII. s dislike against him in- creased, because also he had been thought of by the allied powers as king of France, and because he advised the court to moderation. The more his popularity increased, the greater became the dislike and hatred of the court. He withdrew again, of his own accord, to Twickenham on the 23d of October, 1815, where his family still resided, and did not re- turn to France, till after the chambre inlrouvable had been dissolved in April, IS 1(3, and the court adopted greater moderation. Since then he lived quietly at his palace, enjoying his still large property which the revolution had left him, and the society of a large circle of talented and liberally-minded men. He did not take part in the political troubles, preced- ing the revolution of 1S30. When on the 29th of July the dethronement of Charles X. had been pro- claimed, the provisional chamber resolved, at the motion of Lafitte, on the 30th, to offer to the Duke 2* 18 LOUIS PHILIPPE. of Orleans the regency as Lieutenant-general of the kingdom. The duke came hereupon in the night, of 30th and 3tst, to Paris, and accepted th< office, and at the city hall, where the republican party held its session under Lafayette, he agreed to the so-called programme of July, which promised a throne sur- rounded with republican forms and institutions. The regent having called together the chambers for the 3d of August, the deputy Berard received the charge to remodel the charter. But the regent and the doctrinaires, particularly Guizot, succeeded in preventing the charter from being thoroughly altered, except in a few articles, as we have stated before. On the 9th of August Louis Philippe swore to the reformed charter, and took the throne as King of the French. Though he had received his crown at the hands of the nation, he was now of opinion that the succession to the throne belonged to him as of right, he being the head of the younger branch after the overthrow of the older line. Under this form he made known his succession to the throne to foreign powers, and, declaring himself bound by the treaties of 1S14 and 1S15, he was recognised by them. Re- lying upon this legitimacy of succession, and upon the rich class of burghers or bourgeoisie, which con- trolled the chamber of deputies, he endeavored at once to check the democratic movements, and give preponderance to the principles of the right middle, juste milieu. The firm and lasting establishment of his dynasty was the main object of the citizen-king. In accordance with this object he became the apostle, or, as he has been called, the Napoleon of peace abroad, whilst he strove, at all risks, to maintain the LOUIS PHILIPPE. 19 status quo at home, and to have all rule and govern- ment proceed from the royal will alone. The maxim, " the king reigns, but does not govern," had become a dead letter with him. Moreover his solicitude of providing for his family entered largely into his policy. This consisted of eight children, viz. : 1. Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, who died July 13, 1842; he was married to the Princess Helen, of Mecklcnburg-Schwerin, and left two children; 1. the heir apparent, Louis Philippe, Count of Paris, born August 24, 1838; 2. Robert, Duke de Chartres, born November 9, 1840. 2. Louise, born April 3, 1812, who married in 1832 Leopold I., King of Belgium, by whom she has three children ; 1. Leopold, born 1835 ; 2. Philippe, born 1S37; 3. Charlotte, born 1S40. 3. Louis, Duke de Nemours, born October 25, IS 14, who married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha, born 1822, by whom he has three children; 1. Louis, Count d'Eu, born 1S42 ; 2. Ferdinand, Duke d'Alenron, born 1S44 ; 3. Margarethe, born 1846. 4. Clementine, born 1S17, married to Prince August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, born IStS, by whom she has three children ; 1. Philippe, born 1844; 2. August, born 1845 ; 3. Marie, born 1846. 5. Francois, Prince de Joinville, born October 14, 1818, married to Francisca of Brazil, born 1S-JJ, by whom he has two children ; 1. Francisca, born 1844 ; 2. Peter, Duke de Penthievre, born 1845. 6. Henry, Duke d'Aumale, born January 16 t 1822, married to Caroline of Sicily, born 1822, by 20 LOUIS PHILIPPE. whom he has one son, Louis Philippe, Prince de Condo, born IS |.~>. 7. Antoine, Duke dc Montpensicr, born July 31, 1821, married to Louise of Spain, sister to the queen, born 1832. 8. Marie, born 1813, married to Duke Alexander, of Wurtemberg, died 1S39, and left one son, Duke Alexander Philippe, born 1838. The sister of the king was Adelaide, born 1777, she died 1848. From this it appears that he has at present six children living, and fifteen grandchildren. The late Spanish marriage of the Duke de Montpensier has shown the policy of Louis Philippe in a light which needs no comment. Without intending to pass judgment on the course of policy and the government in general of Louis Philippe, or to offer remarks on the immediate causes of the late overthrow of his throne, we would call attention to the one ruling feature of his reign — his basing his main strength and power on the aristocracy of wealth, called bow-geoisie. This word must not be applied to the whole third estate of burghers or commons, in contradistinction to the nobility by birth, but only to the comparatively few burghers or bourgeois who are favored by fortune with wealth. Of the 34,138,726 Frenchmen, only 240,000 individ- uals could enjoy and exercise the full rights of citizens. The law in France distinguished three classes of Frenchmen : 1. The one class only enjoyed civil rights, but had not the right of exercise of them (see art. S, Civil Code;) 2. The second class had the exercise of civil rights, but were no citizens ; LOUIS PHILIPPE. 21 3. The third, finally, had the exercise of civil rights, and the qualification of citizens, (see art. 7, Civil Code.) By referring to the constitution, as amended in 1830, and to the leading principles of the doctrinaires, it will be found, that the above remark is substan- tiated. By examining history it will be found that the first revolution of 17S9 was the struggle of the bourgeoisie against the privileged aristocracy by birth. This object was gained and secured by them. The second revolution was also originated and carried through by this same bourgeoisie, who saw their power and equality with the nobility weakened and undermined. It has been long ago predicted, that the next revolution would be the struggle of the people for equality with the aristocracy of wealth. This period has now arrived. Whatever the special form of the fundamental law of France will be, the ruling feature must be the equality of all before the law, and the abolishment of all privileges either by birth or wealth. Louis Philippe has by many been called the great- est man in Europe, and to his wisdom and govern- ment have been ascribed the thrift and prosperity of France, or rather that of a certain class in France. It would hardly be becoming in these men to apply now an opposite epithet to the ex-king. But there have been others who ascribed the apparent prosperity to other causes than the ability of the king, and saw in the very policy which was extolled by some, the ruin of him who adopted it, and the fearful crisis which* was to follow. A great statesman is he who originates and gives movement to things; he 22 LOUIS PHILIPPE. must fertilize the present and lay the seeds for future development ; he must exalt the spirit of the nation, and elevate its history. If the low mercenary spirit, which of late years manifested itself in France in many examples, even in ministers and persons of high rank and birth, was the fruit of the seed sown by the policy of Louis Philippe, he certainly cannot lay claim to the character of a great and high-minded statesman. But it must be allowed by all, that he possessed adroitness and shrewdness, and what is called king-craft, in an eminent degree. The due appreciation of his many great qualities and his merits and faults, can only be had when the present will have been removed to a greater distance, and the passions of the day against him, as the cause of the present turmoil, or the sympathy with him, as a man who has lived through so many changes and events in the world's history, shall cease to cloud the eye of unbiassed judgment. Since Louis Philippe abdicated, before his flight, in favor of his grandson, and appointed the mother regent, it is yet necessary here to state, that upon the sudden death of the king's oldest son, Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, on the 13th of July, 1S42, the chambers immediately passed a law which bestowed the regency during the minority of the king, upon the next male kindred, provided he were twenty-one years old and did not hold a foreign throne ; but the education and guardianship were reserved to the mother. In accordance with this law the regency belonged to Louis, Duke de Nemours, the king's second son. CONSTITUTION OF 1814. 23 CONSTITUTION OF FOURTH JUNE, 1814, GRANTED BY LOUIS XVIII. POLITICAL RIGHTS OF FRENCHMEN. Art. 1. All Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever their rank and title may be. 2. They contribute, without distinction, towards the expenditures of the state, in proportion to their property. 3. They all, without distinction, can be admitted to all civil and military offices. 4. Their individual liberty is likewise guarantied. No one can be prosecuted or arrested, except in cases prescribed by law, and according to legal forms. 5. Every one exercises his religion with equal freedom, and receives the same protection for the ex- ercise of the same. 6. However, the Roman Catholic religion is the religion of the state. 7. The Ministers of the Roman Catholic religion, and those of other Christian denominations alone, receive their salaries out of the royal treasure. 8. Frenchmen have the right to publish and print their opinions, if they conform, to the laws, which are to prevent the abuses of this liberty. 9. All property, without exception as to what is called national property, is inviolable, since the law makes no distinction between the two. 10. The state may desire the sacrifice of property for a legally proved general interest of state; but only after indemnity having been given. •> 1 CONSTITUTION OF 1814. 11. All investigations as to opinions and votes be- fore the restoration of the present government, are prohibited. This same oblivion is obligatory on tri- bunals and citizens. 12. Conscription is abolished. The mode of re- cruiting for the army and marine shall be estab- lished by law. FORMS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE KINO. 13. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred. His ministers are responsible. The king alone has executive power. 14. The king is the supreme head of the state ; he commands the forces of the army and navy, de- clares war, makes treaties of peace, alliance and commerce ; appoints to all offices of public adminis- tration, and issues all orders and regulations neces- sary for the execution of laws, and for the safety of the state. 15. The legislative power is exercised in common by the king, the chamber of peers, and the chamber of deputies of the departments. 16. The king p?-oposcs laws. 17. The proposition of a law is, at the pleasure of the king, made either in the chamber of peers or in the chamber of deputies, excepting the law re- garding taxes, which must be first brought before the chamber of deputies. 18. Each law requires free discussion, and the as- sent of the majority of both chambers. 19. The chambers have the right to petition the king to propose a law on any subject, and to state what, in their opinion, the laws should contain. CONSTITUTION OF 181 1. 25 20. Such a proposition may be made by either chamber; however, it must be discussed in the secret committee. It cannot be sent to the other chamber before a lapse of ten days. 21. If the proposition be accepted by the other chamber, it will be laid before the king; if rejected, it cannot be brought up again in the same session. 22. The king alone sanctions and promul<:;ites tin laws. 23. The civil list is fixed by the first legislature after the coronation of the king. OF THE CHAMBER OF PEERS. 24. The chamber of peers is an essential part ot the legislature. 25. It is called together by the king at one and the same time with the chamber of deputies of the departments. The sessions of both begin and end at the same time. 26. Every assembly of the chamber of ] i! ris which is held out of the time of the session of the chamber of deputies, or which is not commanded by the king, is not permitted, and is nugatory 27. The nomination of the peers of France he- longs to the king. Their number is unlimited : the king can change their offices at pleasure ; he may appoint them during life, or make than hereditary. 28. The peers have access to the chamber at their twenty-fifth year, but ;i deliberative vote not before the 30th year. 29. The chancellor of France presides over the chamber of peers, and in his absence a peer ap- pointed by the king. 3 26 CONSTITUTION OF 1814. 30. The members of the royal family and the princes of the blood are peers by right of birth ; they have their seats immediately after the president, but cannot vote before the 25th year of age. 31. The princes can take seats in the chamber only upon the express command of the king, ex- pressed in a message for each session, at the penalty of all being null and void that may have been trans- acted in their presence. 32. All the deliberations of the chamber of peers are in secret. 33. The chamber of peers decides on the crimes of high treason and of endangering the safety of the state, in relation to which the laws will give the necessary instructions. 34 No peer can be arrested and prosecuted in criminal matters, except by an order of the cham- ber. OF THE CHAMBEPv OF DEPUTIES. 35. The chamber of deputies consists of the dep- uties chosen by the colleges of electors, the organiza- tion of which shall be established by laws. 36. Each department retains the number of dep- uties it now has. 37. The deputies are chosen for five years, and in such a manner, that the chamber shall be re- newed by a fifth part every year. 38. No deputy can be admitted to the chamber, unless he has attained to the age of forty years, and pays a direct tax of 1000 francs. 39. If there be no fifty persons of the established age in a department, who pay at least 1000 francs, CONSTITUTION OF 1814. 27 the number shall be completed from those who pay the highest taxes under 1000 francs, but they cannot be chosen at the same time with the others. 40. The electors of deputies, who may take part in voting, must pay a tax of at least 300 francs, and have attained to the age of thirty years. 41. The presidents of the electoral colleges are appointed by the king, and they are legally mem- bers of the college. 42. At least one half of the deputies must be chosen from among those that are eligible, having their legal domicile in the department. 43. The president of the chamber of deputies shall be appointed by the king from a list of five proposed by the chamber. 44. The sessions of the chamber are public ; the desire of five members, however, is sufficient to oblige them to form into a secret committee of the whole. 45. The chamber shall be divided into bureaux, for the purpose of considering the propositions of laws made by the king. 46. No alteration can be made in any law, unless it be proposed by the king in a committee, and be sent to the bureaux and be there discussed. 47. The chamber of deputies receives all propo- sitions concerning taxes, and thoy cannot be brought before the chamber of peers until they have been approved by the former. 48. No taxes can be laid and raised, unless they be assented to by both chambers, and sanctioned by the king. 49. The tax on real estate can be granted only for one year. The indirect imposts may be granted for several years. 28 CONSTITUTION OF 1814. 50. The king shall call together both chamlx r> every year; he may prorogue them, and dissolve that of the deputies; hut in the latter case, he must call a new meeting within three months. 51. No member of the chamber can be arrested either during the session, or within the preceding or succeeding six weeks. 52. No member of the chamber can, during the session, be prosecuted or arrested in criminal matters, without a previous permission of the chamber, un- less he be caught in the act. 53. All petitions to either of the chambers must be in writing. The law prohibits presenting them in person and at the bar. OF THE MINISTERS. 54. The ministers may be members of the cham- bers of peers and of deputies. Moreover, they have free access to either chamber, and must be heard when they desire it. 55. The chamber of deputies has the right to impeach the ministers, and to bring them before the chamber of peers, which alone has the right to sit in judgment on them. 56. They can be impeached only on account of treason, or abuse of fidelity. Particular laws will determine on this kind of crimes, and the procedure. OF THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 57. The whole judicial power proceeds from the king ; it is exercised, in his name, by judges whom he nominates and appoints. 58. The judges appointed by the king cannot be removed. CONSTITUTION OF 1814. 29 59. The now existing courts and tribunals are re- tained. They cannot be altered except by a law. 60. The now existing mercantile tribunal is re- tained. 61. The courts of justices of the peace are like- wise retained. The justices of the peace, though appointed by the king, are removable. 62. No one can be withdrawn from his legal judges. 63. No extraordinary commissions and tribunals can, therefore, be established; but under this denom- ination the prevotal courts are not comprehended, in so far as their re-institution may be deemed neces- sary. 64. The procedure in criminal cases is public, un- less it be dangerous to public order and morals ; in which case the tribunal shall declare so by a judicial order. 65. The juries are retained ; changes which ex- perience may suggest in this institution, can be made only by law. 66. The punishment of confiscation of property is abolished, and can never be introduced again. 67. The king has the right of pardoning and com- muting punishments. 6S. The civil code and the present existing laws which are not conflicting with this present document, remain in force, until abolished in a legal manner. SPECIAL RIGHTS GUARANTIED BY THE STATE. 69. The military persons in active service, the officers and soldiers, who have their dismission, the 3* .511 CONSTITUTION OF 1814. pensioned widows, officers and soldiers retain their grades, ranks, and pensions. 70. The public debt is guarantied; every obliga- tion to creditors, assumed by the state, is inviolable 71. The former Mobility resume their titles; the new nobles retain theirs. The king may make nobles at pleasure; but he grants title and rank with- out release from the burdens and duties of society. 72. The legion of honor is retained. The king shall determine their organization and decoration. 73. The colonies shall be governed by special laws and regulations. 74. The king and his successors shall, at their coronation, swear faithfully to observe the present constitution. ARTICLES OF TEMPORARY EFFECT. 75. The deputies of the departments of France, who had a seat in the legislative body at the time of the last prorogation, remain members of the cham- ber of deputies, till their places are filled by others. 76. The first renewal of one fifth of the chamber of deputies will take place at the latest in the year 1816, according to the established order. We command that the present constitution, by virtue of our proclamation of 2d of May. be laid be- fore the senate and the legislative body, and be then immediately communicated to the chambers of peers and deputies. Done at Paris, in the year of grace 1S14, and of our reign the 19th. LOUIS. THE ABBE DE MONTESQUIOU. CHARLES X., 1830. 31 During the reign of Louis XVIII. the ultra-royalists and the faction of priests had full sway. He died in 1824, and was succeeded by his brother, Charles X. Though he gave the assurance, that it was his intention to uphold the constitutional charter, and did abolish the censorship of the press, yet it soon became evident, that it was his plan to annihilate the constitution. After a frequent change of minis- tries, matters came to a crisis under the ministry of Polignac, which began on the 8th of August, 1S29. On the 2d of March, 1S30, the king opened the chambers with a speech, in which he said, " that the charter had placed the public liberties under the protection of the prerogatives of his crown ; and that it was his duty to hand down these rights inviolate to his successors. If any intrigues should throw hindrances in the way of his government, he would know how to overcome them." The chamber of deputies adopted an address in answer to this speech, on the ISth of March, which was passed by 221 members, in which they said, "that the political de- signs of the king's government did not agree with the wishes of the people." The king immediately on the 19th prorogued the chamber to the 1st of September, and on the 10th of May lie dissolved the same, ordered a new election, and called the new chamber together for the 3d of August. But the 221 deputies of the former chamber were re-elected. The ministry now saw that they could not obtain a majority by the old system of election, and therefore induced the king, relying upon the article in the charter : " The king makes the regulations and ordonnances for the execution of 32 ROYAL ORDO.NNANCE. the laws and the safety of tin: State," to sign and issue the fatal ordonnances of the 25th of July, 1830, which arc here given verbatim. ROYAL ORDONNANCE, CONCERNING THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PERIODI- CAL PRESS. St. Cloud, 25th July, 1830. Charles, by the Grace of God, King of France AND NaVARRA. To ALL THOSE TO WHOM THESE PRES- ENTS MAY COME, OUR GREETING. Article 1. The liberty of the periodical press is suspended. Art. 2. The enactments of articles 1, 2. and 9, of the first title of the law of the 21st of October, 1814, are again in force. In consequence hereof, no journal and no periodi- cal or half-periodical writings, no matter whether they already are in existence or may be established, without distinction as to their contents, are permitted to be published, either at Paris or in the depart- ments, except their authors or printers have obtained from us a special permission. This permission must be renewed every three months. It may be recalled. Art. 3. This permission may be temporarily grant- ed and be recalled, in regard to those periodical and half periodical writings which are published in the departments, by the prefects thereof. Art. 4. Journals and writings which are published against Art. 2, are immediately confiscated. Presses and writings which are used in the print- ing of them, are deposited, under seal, in a depot, or are made useless. ROYAL ORDONNANCE. 33 Art. 5. No writing of less than twenty printed sheets can be published without the permission of our minister of the interior in Paris, or that of the prefects in the departments. Every writing of more than twenty sheets, which does not constitute a whole work, requires the same permission for its publication. Writings which are published without authority, will be immediately attached. Presses and manuscripts, used in printing them, are either put under seal, in a depot, or made use- less. Art. 6. Memoirs on legal suits and memorials of learned societies or literary memoirs require, for their publication, a previous permission, in case they treat, in whole or in part, on politics, and in this case the provisions made in Art. 5, are to be applied. Art. 7. Every provision, conflicting with the pres- ent, is without force. Art. 8. The execution of the present ordonnance will take place in conformity with Art. 4, of the ordonnance of 27th of November, 1S16, and that of January 18th, 1S17. Art. 9. Our ministers of state are charged with carrying into effect the foregoing. Given at our castle at St. Cloud, the 25th of July of the year of grace 1830, and of our reign the 6th. CHARLES. 34 ROYAL ORDONNANCE. ROYAL ORDON.S AM I .. CONCERNING THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. St. Cloud, 25th July, 1830. Charles, by the grace of God, king of France and Navarra. To all to whom these presents may come, our greeting. In conformity with Art. 50 of the constitutional charter, and being informed of the intrigues which have taken place in several parts of our kingdom, for the purpose of deluding and confusing the electors during the last elections, we order, upon consultation with our council, 1. The chamber of deputies of the departments is dissolved. 2. Our ministerial secretary of state of the in- terior is charged with the execution of this order. Done at St. Cloud, 25th of July, 1S30. CHARLES. Count de Peyronnet, Secretary of State. ROYAL ORDONNANCE, CONCERNING THE FUTURE ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE CHAM- BER OF DEPUTIES. St. Cloud, 25th July, 1830. Charles, by the grace of God, etc., to all, etc. Being determined to prevent the re-occurrence of intrigues which had an injurious effect upon the last operations of the electoral colleges ; and therefore desirous, according to the principles of the constitu- tional charter, to reform the provisions of the law of election, the inconveniences of which experience has shown, ROYAL ORDONNANCE. 35 We have seen the necessity of making use of our right, to provide, by issuing orders, for the safety of the state, and for the suppression of every attempt against the dignity of our crown, and therefore, after hearing our council, we have ordered and do order : Article 1. In accordance with articles 15, 36 and 50 of the constitutional charter, the chamber of deputies shall be composed only of deputies of the departments. Art. 2. The census of electors and the census of eligibility will exclusively be estimated by the sums, which have been registered in the registers of taxes for real, personal and movable property, for the electors and eligible persons themselves, in the capacity of owners or beneficiaries. Art. 3. Each department shall have the number of deputies, which is assigned to it by Art. 36 of the constitutional charter. Art. 4. The deputies shall be chosen and the chamber shall be renewed according to the form and the space of time, which are established by Art. 37 of the constitutional charter. Art. 5. The electoral colleges are divided into arrondisscments and departements-colleges ; except- ing the electoral colleges of departments, which choose but one deputy. Art. 6. The electoral colleges of the arrondisse- ments are composed of all those electors that have their domicile in the arrondisscment. Art. 7. The present limitation of the electoral col- leges of arrondisscments is retained. Art. 8. Each arrondissement-elcctoral college shall 36 ROYAL OBDONNANCE. choose a number of candidates equal to the number of deputies of the departmi Art. 9. The arrondissement-electoral college shall divide itself into as many sections as there are candi- dates. This division shall he made in proportion to the number of sections and the total number of < lec- tors, with the greatest possible regard to local circum- stances. Art. 10. The sections of the arrondissement-elec- toral colleges may be convened at different plai Art. 11. Each of the arrondissement-electoral col- leges chooses a candidate, and acts by itself alone. Art. 12. The presidents of the arrondissement- electoral colleges are appointed by the prefects from among the electors. Art. 13. The departemcnt-college chooses the depu- ties. One half of the deputies of the department must be chosen from the general list of candidates, proposed by the arrondissement-colleges. If the number of deputies of the department he uneven, the reduction shall be had without infring- ing the reserved right of the departement-college. Art. 14. If, through omissions, or nugatory or double nominations, the list of candidates proposed by the district colleges be incomplete, then, if this list be less than one half of the requisite number, the departement-college may choose another candidate not on the list. If the list be less than one quarter, then the departement-college may choose the whole number of departement-deputies aside from the list. Art. 15. The prefect, under-prefects, and superior officers who command a military division, cannot be chosen in the departments where they exercise their functions. ROYAL ORDONNANCE. 37 Art. 16. The list of electors is made up by the prefect in the prefectural council. It shall be posted up five days before the assembling of the colleges. Art. 17. Reclamations regarding the right of elect- ors, which have not been accepted by the prefect, shall be decided upon by the chamber of deputies at the time, when the same passes on the legality of the operations of colleges. Art. 18. In the department-electoral colleges, the two oldest and the two highest-taxed electors shall officiate to collect the votes. This same arrangement is to be observed in those sections of the district colleges, which consist of more than fifty electors. In the other sections the office of scrutator is exercised by the oldest, and by the highest-taxed electors. The secretary is nominated in the college of sec- tions of colleges, by the president and the scrutators. Art. 19. No one is admitted into the college or sections of the college, who is not registered in the list of electors belonging to it. This list is handed to the president, and remains posted up in the place of session of the college as long as it exercises its functions. Art. 20. All kind of discussion or deliberation whatsoever, is prohibited in the electoral college. Art. 21. The police of the college belongs to the prefect. Without his request, no armed force can be stationed in the place of session. The military com- manders are bound to comply with his requisitions. Art. 22. The election takes place in the colleges and sections of colleges, according to the absolute majority of the votes cast. 4 :; v BOYAL ORDONNAW But if, after a second voting, no choice shrill have been effected, the bureaux shall take a list of those who, al the second voting, had the greatest Dumber of votes. This list must contain double the numb i of names ;\- there arc candidates yet to be chosen At the third voting, votes can be given only to those contained in the list, and the election is decided by a relative majority of votes. Art. 23. The electors shall vote by ticket. Each ticket must contain as many names as there are can- didates to be chosen. Art. 24. The electors shall write their votes at the desk of the bureaux of election, or shall have them written there by one of the scrutators. Art. 25. The name, rank, and place of residence of each elector, who hands in his election ticket, shall be registered by the secretary on a list, for the purpose of proving the number of votes. Art. 26. Every scrutinium shall remain open six hours, and then at the same session be concluded. Art. 27. A record shall be kept of each session, which shall be signed by all the members of the bureaux of election. Art. 28. According to Art. 46 of the constitutional charter, no amendment can be made to a law in the chamber, unless it shall have proceeded from us. and be approved by us. and unless it shall have been referred to the bureaux, and been there dis- cussed. Art. 29. All regulations conflicting with the pres- ent ordonnance, are without force. Art. 30. Our ministerial secretaries of state are charged with carrying into effect this ordonnance. ROYAL OKDONNANCE. 39 Given at the castle of St. Cloud, 25th of July, 1830, and of our reign the sixth. CHARLES. THROUGH THE KING '. Prince de Polignac, President of the Council of Ministers. Ciiantelauze, Keeper of the Seal, Minister of Justice. Baron Haussez, Minister of the Marine and the Colonies. Count Peyronnet, Minister of the Interior. Montdel, Minister and Secretary of State of the Finances. Count Guernon-Ranville, Minister of Church Affairs and Public Instruction. Capelle, Minister of Public Works. ROYAL ORDONNANCE, CONCERNING THE UNITING OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES. St. Cloud, 25th July, 1S30. Charles, etc., to all, etc., Upon considering the ordonnance of this day, in regard to the organization of electoral colleges ; at the motion of our ministerial secretary of state of the department of the interior, We have resolved, and do resolve, as follows : Art. 1. The electoral colleges shall be united; the electoral colleges of the arrondissements on the 6th of September next, and the electoral colleges of the departments of the 13th of the same month. Art. 2. The chambers of peers and deputies of the departments are called together for the 28th of next month, September. Art. 3. Our ministerial secretary of state is charged with carrying into effect this ordonnance. CHARLES. Given at St. Cloud. THROUGH THE KING : Count de Peyronnet, Secretary of State. 40 BOTAL OBDONNANCB. These ordonnances appeared on the morning of the 26th of July, in the official gazette, " Moniteur." On the same day the "Temps" and ".National," came out against this interpretation of the article in the charter, and forty-four literary men signed a protest against the ordonnances. Thereupon the police seized and destroyed the presses of the liberal papers, the proprietors called upon the protection of the law, and the court declared, that the journalists could not be hindered from continuing their papers till judgment had been given against them. The printers, bookbinders, and booksellers now closed their shops and stores, which threw thousands of men out of employ. On the 27th, the deputies present in Paris also signed a protest against the ordonnances, which was drawn up by Guizot, and is here given. On this same day the people began to destroy the royal coat of arms, and to break open the magazines of arms, and their rage rose to the utmost, when the royal guard fired upon them. The troops of the line refused to make use of their weapons. On the 2Sth, the court and ministers, except Po- lignac, fled to the king at St. Cloud; Paris now became the scene of a bloody fight between the cit- izens and the troops. On the 29th, the deputies present sent a committee to Polignac, offering that all hostilities should cease, if the ordonnances were recalled. But this was refused, and the combat was renewed, and the troops were finally defeated. In the course of the day a provisional government had been formed, consisting of Lafayette, the Duke Choiseul, and the General Gerard, who proclaimed PROTEST OF THE DEPUTIES. ] 1 the dethronement of Charles X. The peers and deputies assembled at the house of Lafitte, and resolved to transfer the regency upon the Duke of Orleans, as Lieutenant General of the Kingdom. He came to Paris on the 30th July, and took upon him- self the office, and appointed Gerard, Guizot, Louis, Dupont de l'Eure, Bignon, and Jourdan, as the provisional ministry. PROTEST, OF THE DEPUTIES PRESENT IN PARIS, AGAINST THE ORDONNANCES OF 25TH JULY. Paris. 27th July, 1S30. Undersigned, who have been regularly nominated as deputies by the above named district and depart- ment-colleges, and who are at present in Paris, hold themselves, in honor and duty bound to protest against the measures which the councillors of the crown have within the last few days taken for the overthrow of the legal system of election. The mentioned measures, contained in the ordon- nances of 25th of July, are, in the opinion of the undersigned, directly contrary to the constitutional rights of the chamber of peers, to the political rights of Frenchmen, and to the opinions and de- crees of the courts, and calculated to cause a dis- turbance in the state, which will put in peril both the peace of the present, and the safety of the fu- ture. Undersigned, faithful to their oaths, therefore unanimously protest, not only against the aforemen- tioned measures, but also against all acts which may possibly proceed from them. 4* 42 PROCLAMATION OP THE DEPUTIES. Ami since, on the one hand, the chamber of dep- uties, which had not been organized, could not be legally dissolved; and since 1 , on the Other hand, the ;itt- injii to form a new chamber of deputies, in a new and arbitrary manner, is directly contrary to the constitutional charter and the justly acquired rights of electors ; we, the undersigned, declare that we still hold ourselves legally chosen as deputies hy the district, and the department colleges, whose votes they received, and think that we can be replaced only through elections which take place according to legal principles and forms. If, finally, the undersigned do not in fact exercise the rights, and do not fulfil all the duties which are incumbent on them by virtue of this legal election, it is only because they are hindered from it by physi- cal force. Signed by sixty-three names, among which are those of Guizot, General Lafayette, and Benjamin Constant. PROCLAMATION OF THE DEPUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENTS, ASSEMBLED IN PARIS, TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 31st July, 1S30. Frenchmen : France is free. Absolute power raised its banner ; the heroic population of Paris has thrown it down. Paris, being attacked, made the sacred cause, which had triumphed in vain through the elections, to triumph by force of arms over a power which usurped our rights, and at the same time threatened our freedom and social order. There is no longer any fear for our acquired rights, and no bar between us and the rights which are still wanting. PROCLAMATION OF THE DEPUTIES. 43 A government which guaranties us these boons is now the first want of our country. Frenchmen, those of your deputies who are at present in Paris, have agreed, and in consideration of the regular interven- tion of the chambers, they have invited a French- man who has never drawn his sword but for France, namely, the Duke of Orleans, to take upon himself the functions of a lieutenant-general of the king- dom. This is in their opinion the surest way of crowning by peace the results of a most legal resist- ance. The Duke of Orleans is devoted to the cause of the nation and to the constitution ; he has always defended its interests and proclaimed its principles. He will respect our rights; for he receives his own from us. We shall secure to ourselves, by laws, all necessary safeguards, to make freedom strong and lasting, viz. 1. Restoration of the national guard, and the taking part of the national guardsmen in the election of their officers. 2. The taking part of citizens in forming the de- partmental and municipal administration. 3. A jury for offences against the law of the press. 4. A legally organized responsibility of ministers and of the subordinate agents of the administration. 5. A legally secured position of military persons. G. The re-election of deputies advanced to public offices. We shall finally, together with the chief of the state, give to our institutions the development which they require. Frenchmen ! The Duke of Orleans has himself •11 DECLARATION 01 THE CHAMBER OF DEPOT already spoken, and his language is such as is proper for a free country. "The chambers will meet," ho says to you, " they will think o.f means to secure the country, the laws, and the upholding of the rights of the nation." " The charter will in future be a truth." Signed by ninety-four deputies. DECLARATION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, IN REGARD TO THE VACANCY OF THE FRENCH THRONE, AND TO THE ALTERATIONS IN THE CONSTITUTION OF AUGUST 7tH, 1830. Whereas, the chamber of deputies has taken into consideration the commanding necessity which is called forth by the events of the 26th, 27th and 29th of July, and the days following, and the gen- eral condition in which France sees herself placed by the violation of the constitutional charter; and whereas, it further considers, that in consequence of this violation, and of the heroic resistance of the citi- zens of Paris, his Majesty Charles X., his Royal High- ness Louis Antoine Dauphin, and all members of the older line of the royal family, have at this mo- ment left France ; It declares, that the throne is vacant, in fact and in law, and that it is, therefore, unavoidably necessary to make proper provisions. The chamber of deputies declares, secondly, that, by the wish and interest of the French nation, the preamble of the constitutional charter is annulled, because it offends the national dignity, as it might seem by it, that rights that essentially belong to them, had only been granted to Frenchmen ; and DECLARATION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. 45 that the following articles of the same charter are either to be cancelled, or to be altered in the follow- ing manner : Art. 6. Cancelled. Art. 7. The ministers of the Roman Catholic re- ligion, which the majority of Frenchmen confess, and those of other Christian religions, receive sala- ries from the state treasure. Art. 8. Frenchmen have the right to publish and print their thoughts, if they be conformable to the laws. The censorship of the press can never be again introduced. Art. 14. The king is the supreme head of the state, he commands the forces by land and sea, de- clares war, concludes treaties of peace, alliance and commerce, appoints to all offices of public adminis- tration, and issues the regulations and orders neces- sary for the execution of the laws, without being able ever to suspend the laws, or to dispense from their being executed. Foreign troops can only by a law be admitted into the service of the state. Art. 15. The words " of the Departments" are to be cancelled. Art. 1G & 17. The proposing of laws belongs to the king, the chamber of peers, and the chamber of deputies. Nevertheless, every law regarding taxes must be first voted for by the chamber of deputies. Art. 19, 20 & 21, are to be cancelled, and the fol- lowing is to be substituted : When a bill has been rejected by one of the three powers, it cannot be brought forward again in the same session. 46 DECLARATION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. Art. 26. Any assembly of the chamber of peers, which is held out of the time of the session of the chamber of deputies, is not permitted, and is nuga- tory in law, with this only exception, when they are convened as a court ; but in this case they exercise judicial functions only. Art. 30. The princes of the blood are peers by birth ; they have their seats immediately after the president. Art. 31. Cancelled. Art. 32. The sessions of the chamber of peers are public, like those of the chamber of deputies. Art. 36. Cancelled. Art. 37. The deputies are chosen for five years. Art. 38. No deputy can be admitted into the chamber unless he have attained the age of twenty- five years, and have the other legal qualifica- tions. Art. 39. But if in a department no fifty persons of the required age can be found, who pay the taxes required for being eligible ; the number shall be completed from among those who are taxed the highest, and these can be chosen like the others. Art. 40. No one is elector unless he be twenty- five years of age, and have the other legal qualifi- cations. Art. 41. The presidents of the electoral colleges are appointed by the electors. Art. 43. The president of the chamber of depu- ties is chosen by the same at the opening of each session. Art. 46 & 47. Cancelled (in consequence of the initiative.) DECLARATION OF THE CH AMEER OF DEPUTIES. 47 Art. 56. Cancelled. Art. 63. No extraordinary commissions or tribu- nals can be established, under any title or name whatsoever. Art. 73. The colonies are governed by special laws. Art. 74. The king and his successors swear, upon their entering into office, in the presence of both chambers, to uphold the constitutional charter. Art. 75. The present charter, and all rights which it grants, are intrusted to the love of country and to the courage of the national guards, and to that of all French citizens. Art. 76. France again resumes her colors ; no other than the three-colored cockade shall be worn. Art. 75 & 76. Cancelled. SPECIAL ENACTMENTS. All nominations and new appointments of peers, which have taken place under the reign of Charles X., are declared null and void. Art. 27 of the charter will, in the session of 1831, be submitted to a new examination. The chamber of deputies declares, in the third place, that it is necessary, gradually, by separate laws, which are to be made in the shortest possible time, to make provision for the following subjects : 1. The introduction of the jury for political crimes and transgressions of the press. 2. The responsibility of ministers and other agents of government. 3. The re-election of deputies who are appointed to salaried public offices. 48 DECLARATION OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPTTTIEE. 4. The yearly voting on the contingent of the army. 5. The organizing of the national guard, and the taking part of the national gnardists in the election of their officers. 6. Regulations which secure, in a legal manner, the condition of officers of every grade, both of the land and marine forces. 7. Departmental and municipal organizations foun- ded upon an electoral system. 8. Public instruction and freedom of instruction. 9. Abolishment of double voting, and establish- ment of conditions of qualification for electors and eligibility. 10. The declaration that all laws and ordonnances which are conflicting with the provisions of the re- formed charter, are null and void for the present and future. Together with the adoption of these provisions and propositions, the chamber of deputies finally declares, that the general and urgent interest of the French people calls to the throne His Royal High- ness, Louis Philippe, of Orleans, Duke of Orleans. Lieutenant General of the kingdom, and his heirs for all the future, in the male line, according to the law of primogeniture, with exclusion of the female line and its heirs. In accordance with the foregoing, His Royal High- ness, Louis Philippe, of Orleans, Duke of Orleans, Lieutenant General of the kingdom, will be invited to accept and swear to the foregoing clauses and ob- ligations to the observing of the constitutional char- ter, and the specified modifications, and. after having LAW OF PEERAGE. 49 done this in presence of the assembled chambers, to take the title of King of Frenchmen. Deliberated in the Palace of the Chamber of Deputies, the 7th August, 1830. THE PRESIDENT AND THE SECRETARIES. LAFITTE, Vice President. Jacqueminot, Pavee de Vandeuvre, Cunin-Gridaine, Jars. On the 7th of August, 1830, the rank of King, with the hereditary right to his male heirs, was con- ferred upon Louis Philippe, Lieutenant General of the kingdom, after having acknowledged and ac- cepted the revised constitution, which was read to him by the president of the chamber of deputies. Lafitte. On the same day, this constitutional charter of 1814, as amended by the two chambers on the 7th and 9th of August, was published by Louis Philippe as King of the French, signed by him, and counter- signed by Dupont (de l'Eure), keeper of the great seal and secretary of the department of justice. and by Guizot, secretary of state in the department of the interior. LAW ON PEERAGE, OF DECEMBER 29, 1831. LOUIS PHILIPPE, ETC. The power of appointing members to the chamber of peers, belongs to the king, who may ehoo.se then: from among the following persons of rank : The president of the chamber of deputies, and of other legislative assemblies ; 50 LAW OF PBBBA0E. The deputies who have taken part in three legis- latures, or who have been six years in office; The marshals and admirals of France; The lieutenants-general and vice-admirals of the land and marine forces, after having been two years in possession of their grade; The ministers of the departments; The ambassadors after three years', and the min- isters plenipotentiaries after six years' exercise of their functions; The councillors of state, after ten years' actual service ; The prefects of the departments and the marine, after ten years' stay in office; The members of the general electoral council, after having three times been chosen presidents ; The mayors of cities of 30,000 inhabitants and more, after having at least twice been chosen mem- bers of the municipal body, and five years' service of office as mayor ; The presidents of the courts of cassation and pub- lic auditors; The procurators-general of these courts, after five years' exercise of this office in this quality; The councillors of the court of cassation, and the superior councillors of auditorship, after five years', and the advocates-general, after ten years' exercise of office ; The first presidents of the royal courts, after five years' magistracy in these courts ; The procurators-general of these courts, after ten years' exercise of office ; LAW OF PEERAGE. "1 The presidents of tribunals of commerce of cities of 30,000 inhabitants and more, after having been four times nominated to this office ; The regular members of the four academies of the institute; The citizens to whom, through a law, and in con- sideration of distinguished services, a national re- ward shall be granted; The owners of real estate, the principals of manu- factories, of mercantile and banking houses, who pay 3000 francs direct taxes, if, in consequence of their five years' patents, they have been for six years members of a general council, or of a chamber of commerce ; The owners of real estate, manufacturers, mer- chants or bankers, who pay 3000 francs taxes, and officiate either as deputies or judges in tribunals of commerce, may be appointed peers without any fur- ther condition; Officers, who exercised successively several of the just mentioned functions, may count their services into one, in order to complete the time at an office of which a longer service is required. Those citizens are exempted from the time of ex- ercise of offices required in §§ 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17, who have been appointed to the offices mentioned in these sections, in the year following the 30th of July, 1830; Likewise are, till the 1st of January, 1837, those exempted from the time of service in offices men- tioned in §§ 3, 11, 12, 18, and 21, who have, since the 30th of July, 1830, been appointed, or have been 52 LAW or PEERAGE. admitted to tho functions mentioned in the five par- agraphs : These requisitions for admissibility to peerage, may be modified by law ; The ordonnances of nomination to the peerage shall bo personal ; These ordonnances shall mention the service and titles, on which the nomination is based ; The number of peers is unlimited ; Their rank is granted for life, and is not transfer- able by right of inheritance ; Their ranks among themselves are in the order of their nominations; No salary, no pension, and no donation can, in future, be connected with the rank of peer. The foregoing law having been discussed, debated and adopted by the chambers of peers and deputies, and having been sanctioned by us, will be executed as a law of the state. We, therefore, command, etc. This law was signed by the king, and countersigned by the ministers. PERIER and BARTHE. CONSTITUTIONS FRANCE, WHEN A REPUBLIC The two constitutions of France, when a repub- lic, which are here given in full, may serve as facts, from which inferences may be drawn as to some of the causes which operated to make the former at- tempt at establishing permanently a republic in France to fail entirely. We shall also be enabled, by comparing the new constitution which the people will now adopt, with the old ones, to judge of the probable result and success of this new effort. It will be remembered, that these two constitu- tions were preceded by another one, of September 3, 1791, to which Louis XV r I. gave his sanction. The principal features of it, were the change of the division of the kingdom from thirty-four unequal provinces, into eighty-three departments, each department being again divided into districts, and each district into cantons. The legislative national assembly consisted of only one chamber, and its session was continual. The number of representatives was fixed at 745, ex- 5* 54 CONSTITUTIONS OF PRANCE. elusive of those granted to the colonies; they were distributed on the basis of territory^ population! and direct taxes. Of the 745, 217 were assigned for the territory, each department choosing three men, but Paris only one. To the population 249 representa- tives were given : the whole population of the king- dom being divided into 240 parts, and each depart- ment choosing as many representatives, as it had such parts/)f population. For direct taxation, 249 representatives were chosen ; the main sum of the direct taxes of the kingdom being divided into 249 parts, and each department choosing as many rep- resentatives, as it paid such parts of the whole con- tribution. The representatives were chosen for two years. Primary assemblies chose electors, and these the representatives. The qualifications of a voter were, to be a Frenchman, twenty-five years of age. paying a tax in value of three days' labor, a domicile in the canton for at least one year, being registered on the list of citizens, and not being a servant for wages in a household. An alien might be naturalized after an uninter- rupted domicile of five years in the kingdom, if he besides held real estate, or had married a French woman, or established a trade, and taken the oath of a citizen. The king was the chief executive, and his person sacred and inviolable. The legislative body had the exclusive right to propose laws and establish them ; the king had the right of veto, which merely suspended the law. It was to have full force without the sanction of the CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. king, if afterwards two successive legislatures passed the same law. The court of cassation was also established, which has been retained to the present day ; the nature of which will be seen from the constitutions here given. The events which immediately followed are too well known to be here recited. The new national convention, which convened on 21st September, [17921 declared France to be a republic. After the execution of Louis XVI. (21st January, 1793). Robespierre stood at the head of the republic till his fall (28th July, 1794), and through him and his party the second constitution, of June 24th, 1793. was made. This is here given together with the one which was adopted in 1795, and remained in force till 13th of December, 1799, when the fourth constitution was established, and Napoleon was made consul. It is not within the plan of the present pages, to discuss the merits and demerits of these constitu- tions, but we merely wish to furnish every one with the means to judge for himself. We would, how- ever, call attention to one fatal characteristic in them, which deserves so much the more to be noticed, be- cause there are at present indications in France, which may lead us to fear, that this same feature may be introduced into the new government ami fundamental law now in progress of being estab- lished, to a much greater and more alarming extent. This characteristic and fault, as we deem it to be, is the centralization of power in the general govern- ment. In comparing France with our own country. 56 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. the I Ihited States, we perceive al once a striking con- trast in this particular. In the United States, the administration is so distributed, that the power of the general government of a state is hardly felt The comities and towns seem to be almost as inde- pendent and sovereign as the single States are, in relation to the federal government. Thus the local administration of each section of the country can adapt itself to the peculiar local habits, manners and wants of its citizens. 'To effect a similar harmonious distribution of power, without weakening the general government, would be, in our opinion, the great problem for France to solve at the present day. From present appearances, however, the tendency to centralization seems to be fearfully progressive. The attempted movement of giving to government even the power of regulating and providing labor for the people, gives to government the power of exercising a ty- ranny, which may exceed all other in kind and se- verity. The people of the European states have yet to learn to live independently of the government. Here- tofore the governments have undertaken to regulate all affairs, even to the smallest details in private life. Hence it is that the people, whenever any distress befalls them, look to their government for a remedy. It will be some time before the mass of the people learn, that the sole purpose and duty of the govern- ment is, to protect the citizens in their personal liberty and in their property, and that any thing beyond this, is of evil. The words spoken by a statesman of our own country, at the time when he held the highest CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 57 office of the land, and when expectations of relief by the federal government were entertained by many, in times of commercial distress, " that the govern- ment will take care of itself, and that the people must take care of themselves," were words of true wisdom, if rightly understood. The great idea of a republican democratic govern- ment is, to allow each individual to stand free and independent by himself, without being trammelled or hindered or influenced in any manner, by any power of state. Each citizen expects from govern- ment only one and the same aid, namely, to be pro- tected in the free exercise of his individual exertions for his happiness. CONSTITUTION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF JUNE, 1793. DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF CITIZENS. The French people, convinced that oblivion and contempt of the natural rights of man are the only causes of calamities in the world, has resolved to explain these sacred and inalienable rights in a solemn declaration, that all citizens, by comparing always the acts of the government with the whole social union, may never suffer themselves to be oppressed and dishonored by tyranny ; that the people may always have before its eyes the fundamental pillars of its liberty and welfare, and the authorities the standard of their duties, and the legislator the object of his problem. 58 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. It accordingly makes, in the presence of the High- est Being, the following declaration of the rights of man and of the citizens. 1. The object of society is the general welfare. Government is instituted, to insure to man the free use of his natural and inalicnahle rights. 2. These rights arc equality, liberty, security, property. 3. All men are equal by nature and before the law. 4. Law is the free and solemn proclamation of the general will; it is the same for all, be it protective or penal ; it can command only what is just and bene- ficial to society, and prohibit only what is injurious to the same. 5. All citizens are equally admissible to all public offices. Free nations are in their elections guided by no other considerations than virtues and talents. 6. Freedom is the power, by which man can do what does not interfere with the rights of another ; its basis is nature, its standard is justice; its protec- tion is law; its moral boundary is the maxim : Do not unto others what you do not wish they should do unto you. 7. The right of communicating thoughts and opinions, either through the press, or in any other manner ; the right of assembling peaceably ; the free exercise of religion, cannot be prohibited. The necessity publicly to claim these rights, pre- supposes the autual existence of despotism, or the fresh recollection of the same. 8. Security rests on the protection given by society to each of its members, for the preservation of his person, his rights and his property. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 59 9. Law must protect the general and the individual liberty against the oppression of those who govern. 10. No one can be accused, arrested or kept in close custody, except in the cases specified by law, and according to the prescribed forms ; every citizen who, by virtue of the law, is summoned before court or arrested, must immediately obey ; every refusal shows him to be guilty. 11. Every order against a person, in cases and forms not specified by law, is arbitrary and tyranni- cal ; the person against whom such an order should be executed by force, has the right to resist it by force. 12. Those who cause, aid in, sign, execute or cause to be executed such arbitrary acts, are culpa- ble, and must be punished. 13. Since every man is deemed to be innocent, until he be proved guilty, if his condemnation will necessarily lead to arrest, every severity, not required for the forthcoming of his person, is strictly pro- hibited. 14. Only he who has been first heard or legally summoned, can be condemned and punished, and this only by a law promulgated before the commis- sion of the crime. A law which would punish trans- gressions, committed before its publication, would be tyranny ; and it would be a crime to give retrospec- tive force to law. 15. Law shall order punishments only which are unavoidably necessary ; the punishments shall be suitable to the crime, and beneficial to society. 16. The right of property is that by which every citizen can enjoy his goods and his income, the fruits 1. t')ll CONSTITUTIONS OF FKANCE. of his labor and industry. and dispose of them at pleasure. 17. No kind of occupation, employment and trade can lir prohibited t'> citizens. 18. Every one may dispose of his services and time at pleasure : but he can neither sell himself nor be sold. His person is an inalienable property. The law does not recognise a state of servitude ; an agree- ment only for services rendered and a compensation for them, can exist between him who labors and him who employs him. 19. Without his consent, no one can be deprived of the least part of his property, unless it be required by a general and legally specified necessity, and then only on condition of a just and previously fixed in- demnity. 20. No tax can be laid except for the common welfare. All citizens have the right to have a voice in the laying of taxes, to watch over the application of them, and to have an account rendered thereof. 21. The public support of the poor is a sacred obligation. Society takes upon itself the support of needy citizens, either by giving work to them, or by giving subsistence to those who are unable to work. 22. Instruction is a want for all. Society shall further with all its power the progress of the public welfare, and regulate instruction according to the wants of all citizens. 23. Social guarantee rests on the activity of all to secure to each one the enjoyment and the preserva- tion of his rights. This guarantee rests on the sove- reignty of the people. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 61 24. It cannot exist, if the boundaries of public ad- ministration be not definitely specified by law, and unless the responsibility of all public oflicers be ^ secured. 25. Sovereignty belongs to the people. It is one and indivisible, imprescriptible and inalienable. 26. No single part of the people can exercise tin power of the whole people ; but every assembled section of the sovereign people enjoys the right to express its will with perfect freedom. 27. Every individual who would assume the sovereignty shall be at once condemned to death by the free men. 28. The people have the right to revise, amend ne more than one hall of the qualified voters are present. OF THE ELECTORAL ASSEMBLIES. 37. The citizens, united in primary assemblies, nominate in proportion of 200 citizens, (they may be present or not,) one elector; two, for from 301 to 400; three, for from 501 to 600. 38. The holding of election meetings, and the manner of election, are the same as in the primary meetings. OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. 39. The legislative body is one, indivisible and continual. 40. Its session lasts one year. 41. It assembles on the 1st of July. 42. The national assembly cannot be organized, unless at least one more than one half of the deputies are present. 43. The deputies can, at no time, be held answer- able, accused or condemned on account of opinions uttered within the legislative body. 44. In criminal cases, they may be arrested if caught in the act ; but the warrant of arrest and the warrant of committal can be issued only by the leg- islative body. MODE OF PROCEDURE OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. 45. The sessions of the national assembly are public. 46. The debates in their sessions shall be printed. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 67 47. It cannot deliberate, unless it consist of 200 members. 48. It cannot refuse to members the floor, in the order in which they demand the same. 49. It decides by a majority of those present. 50. Fifty members have the right to demand a call by names. 51. It has the right of censorship on the conduct of the members in their midst. 52. It exercises the power of police at the place of their sessions, and within the whole extent of its environs. OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. 53. The legislative body proposes laws, and issues decrees. 54. By the general name of law, are understood the provisions of the legislative body which concern : the civil and penal legislation ; the general administration of revenues and of the ordinary expenditures of the republic; the national domains; the inscription, alloy, stamp and names of coins; declaration of war ; every new general division of the French terri- tory ; public instruction; public demonstrations of honor to the memory of great men. 55. By the particular name of decrees are under- stood those enactments of the legislative body, which concern : 08 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. the annual establishment of 'the land and marine forces ; the permission or refusal of the marching of foreign troops through the French territory; the admission of foreign vessels of war into the ports of the republic ; the measures for the common peace and safety ; the distribution of the annual and momentary relief and of public business ; the orders for the stamping of coins of every description ; the unforeseen and extraordinary expenses ; the local and particular orders for an adminis- tration, a commune, and any kind of public business ; the defence of the territory ; the ratification of treaties ; the nomination and removal of the commander- in-chief of the army ; the carrying into effect the responsibility of members of the executive council, and of public officers ; the accusation of discovered conspiracies against the common safety of the republic ; every alteration in the division of the French territory ; the national rewards. OF THE MAKING OF LAWS. 56. A notice must precede the introduction of a bill. 57. Not till after a fortnight from the giving of CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 69 notice can the debate begin, and the law be tempora- rily accepted. 58. The proposed law is printed and sent to all the communes of the republic, under the address of, Proposed law. 59. If, forty days after the sending in of the pro- posed law, of the absolute majority of departments, one tenth of all the primary meetings, legally as- sembled by the departments, have not protested, the bill is accepted and becomes a law. GO. If protest be made, the legislative body calls together the primary meetings. ON THE SUPERSCRIPTION OF LAWS AND DECREES. 61. The laws, decrees, sentences, and all public transactions are superscribed : In the name of the French people, in the year of the French Republic. OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER. 62. There shall bean executive council, consisting of twenty-four members. 63. The electoral assembly of each department nominates a candidate. The legislative body chooses from this general list the members of the executive council. 64. It shall be renewed each half session of every legislature, in the last months of its ses- sion. 65. The executive council has the management and supervision of the general administration. Its 70 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. activity is limited to the execution of laws and de- crees of the legislative body. 66. It appoints, but not out of its midst, the highest agents of the general administration of the republic. 67. The legislative body establishes the number , of these agents, and their business. 68. These agents form no council. They are separated one from the other, and have no relation among themselves. They exercise no personal power. 69. The executive council chooses, but not from its midst, the foreign agents of the republic. 70. It negotiates treaties. 71. The members of the executive council, are, in case of violation of duties, acccused by the legisla- tive body. 72. The executive council is responsible for the non-execution of the laws and decrees, and the abuses, of which it does not give notice. 73. It recalls and substitutes the agents at pleas- ure. 74. It is obliged, if possible, to inform the judicial authorities regarding them. OF THE MUTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL AND THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. 75. The executive council shall have its seat near the legislative body. It shall have admittance to, and a special seat at, the place of session. 76. It shall every time be heard, when it shall have to give account. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 71 77. The legislative body shall call it into its midst, in whole or in part, when it is thought necessary. OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITIES AND THE MUNICI- PALITIES. 78. There shall be a municipal authority in each commune of the republic ; and in each district an intermediate administration; and in each department a central administration. 79. The municipal officers are chosen by the as- semblies of the commune. 80. The administrators are chosen by the electoral assemblies of the departments and of the district. 81. The municipalities and the administrative au- thorities are annually renewed one half. 82. The administrative authorities and municipal officers have not a representative character. They can, in no case, limit the resolves of the legislative body, nor the execution of them. 83. The legislative body assigns the business of the municipal officers and of the administrative au- thorities, the rules regarding their subordination, and the punishments to which they may become liable. 84. The sessions of the municipalities and of the administrative authorities are held in public. OF CIVIL JUSTICE. 85. The civil and penal code is the same for the whole republic. 86. No encroachment can be made upon the right of citizens, to have their matters in dispute decided on by arbitrators of their own choice. 72 CONSTITUTIONS OF li:.W< I.. 87. The decision of these arbitrators is final, unit ss the citizens have reserved the right of protesting. 88. There shall be justices of the peace, chosen by the citizens of the districts, appointed by law. 89. They shall conciliate and hold court without fees. 90. Their number and extent of power shall be established by the legislative body. 91. There shall be public judges of arbitration, who are chosen by electoral assemblies. 92. Their number and districts are fixed by the legislative body. 93. They shall decide on matters in controversy which have not been brought to a final decision by private arbitrators or by the justices of the peace. 94. They shall deliberate publicly. They shall vote with loud voice. They decide in the last resort on oral pleadings. or on a simple petition, without legal forms and without cost. They shall assign the reasons of their decisions. 95. The justices of the peace and the public arbi- trators are chosen annually. OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 96. In criminal cases, no citizen can be put on trial, except a true bill of complaint be found by a jury, or by the legislative body. The accused shall have advocates, either chosen by themselves, or appointed officially. The proceedings are in public. The state of facts and the intention are passed upon by a jury. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 73 The punishment is executed by a criminal au- thority. 97. The criminal judges are chosen annually by the electoral assemblies. OF THE COURT OF CASSATION. 98. There is a court of cassation for the whole republic. 99. This court takes no cognizance of the state of facts. It decides on the violation of matters of form, and on transgressions expressed by law. 100. The members of this court are appointed an- nually through the electoral assemblies. OF THE GENERAL TAXES. 101. No citizen is excluded from the honorable obligation to contribute towards the public expenses. OF THE NATIONAL TREASURY. 102. The national treasury is the central point of the revenues and expenses of the republic. 103. It is managed by public accountants, whom the legislative body shall elect. 104. It is managed by officers of account, whom the legislative body shall elect, but who cannot be taken from their own body : they are responsible for abuses of which they do not give legal notice to the courts. OF THE RENDITION OF ACCOUNTS. 105. The accounts of the agents of the national ', 1 CONSTITUTIONS OF 11: W B. treasury, and those of the administrators of public moneys arc taken annually, by responsible commis- sioners appointed by the executive council. 106. Those persons appointed to revise the ac- counts arc under the supervision of commissioners, who arc elected by the legislative body not out "t their own number; and they are responsible for the frauds and mistakes of accounts, of which they do not give notice. The legislative body preserves the accounts. OF THE MILITARY FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC. 107. The general military power of the republic consists of the whole people. 108. The republic supports, also, in times of peace, a paid land and marine force. 109. All Frenchmen are soldiers ; all shall be ex- ercised in the use of arms. 110. There is no generalissimo. 111. The distinction of grade, the military marks of distinction and subordination, exist only in service and in time of its duration. 112. The general military force is used for the preservation of order and peace in the interior : it acts only on a written requisition of the constituted authorities. 113. The general military force against foreign enemies is under the command of the executive council. 114. No armed body can deliberate. OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. 115. If of the absolute majority of departments, CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 75 the tenth part of their regularly formed primary assemblies demand a revision of the constitution, or an alteration of some of its articles ; the legislative body is obliged to call together all primary assem- blies of the republic, in order to ascertain whether a national convention shall be called. 116. The national convention is formed in like manner as the legislatures, and unites in itself the highest power. 117. It is occupied, as regards the constitution, only with those subjects which caused its being called together. OF THE RELATIONS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC TOWARDS FOREIGN NATIONS. 118. The French nation is the friend and natural ally of free nations. 119. It does not interfere with the affairs of gov- ernment of other nations. It suffers no interference of other nations with its own. 120. It serves as a place of refuge for all who, on account of liberty, are banished from their native country. These it refuses to deliver up to tyrants. 121. It concludes no peace with an enemy that holds possession of its territory. OF THE GUARANTY OF RIGHTS. 122. The constitution guarantees to all Frenchmen equality, liberty, security, property, the public debt, free exercise of religion, general instruction, public assistance, absolute liberty of the press, the right of 76 CONSTITUTIONS OF I'KA.V, K. petition, the right to hold popular assemblies, and the enjoyment of all rights of man. 123. The French republic respects loyalty, cour- age, age, filial love, misfortune. It places the consti- tution under the guaranty of all virtues. 121. The declaration of the rights of man and the constitution shall be engraven on tables, to be placed in the midst of the legislative body, and in public places. (Signed) COLLOT D'HERBOIS, President. Durand-Maillane, Ducos, Meaulle, Charles de la Croix, Gossuin, P. A. Laloy , Secretaries. CONSTITUTION OF 1795. This constitution was again suspended on the 13th of August following, until the independence of the republic should have been recognised by the powers with which France was then at war, and a revo- lutionary government was instituted, which was to last till peace should have been restored. The power which the national convention had exercised, was transferred upon the committee of public welfare, in which Robespierre and his faction ruled with ab- solute power, until he himself was executed, on the 28th of July, 1794. The dissensions of factions, however, continued to disturb the interior of the country; civil war raged in the Vendee, and the war with foreign powers had CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 76 not been terminated. Some states, of whom Prussia was one, concluded a treaty of peace with the re- public in 1795. A new constitution, adapted to a republican form of government, was now demanded. A commission of eleven was appointed to draft and present a plan. This was laid before the national convention on the 23d of June, 1795. by Boissy- d'Anglas. The report, which was read by him, ex- pressed distinctly his views regarding a representa- tive form of government in a republic, as France. "If the citizens themselves cannot exercise the sovereignty which belongs to them ; if they can gov- ern only by their delegates ; if, even when less numer- ous, they cannot, without great difficulty, fulfil the duty of making laws ; if a representative form of government is all that even the most ardent love of liberty can ask for a nation of twenty-five millions of people ; it follows, that this form of government will be the more perfect, the oftener the elections by the people are the immediate work of the same. Since they are compelled to put in the place of their immediate will a supposed will, expressed by their representatives, these must in part be those whom they wish to elect. The mode of election, adopted by the constitution of 1791, had the objectionable feature, that the election by an assembly nominated by the people, was substituted for a direct election by the people. We thought that we must adopt a different mode ; we must leave to the people the right, to nominate directly their legislators and mag- istrates. The assemblies of electors arc in danger of being surprised; they are too often governed by the enthusiasm which an orator may produce, and by 7* 78 CONSTITUTIONS OF PRANCE. the influence of a great name, and by every impulse which craftiness knows how to give. The objections are removed, if the primary assemblies alone nomi- nate." These were the views of the majority of the com- mittee, which submitted a plan of a constitution in accordance with them. Durand-Maillane, one of the commission, proposed another one of his own, which was, however, not adopted, but the one pro- posed by the majority of the commission was agreed to by the assembly, after making a few alterations. It is this constitution which we give here in detail. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE TWENTY-THIRD OF SEPTEMBER, 1795. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MAN AND OF CITIZENS. The French people, in the presence of the Highest Being, proclaims the following declaration of the rights and duties of man and of citizens. RIGHTS. Art. 1. The rights of man in society are — freedom ; equality; security; property. 2. Liberty consists in being allowed to do what does not injure the rights of another. 3. Equality consists in the laws being the same for all, be they either protective or penal. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 79 4. Security flows from the co-operation of all to secure to each his rights. 5. Properly is the right to enjoy and to dispose of one's goods, income, fruit of labor, and industry. 6. Law is the general will expressed by the ma- jority cither of citizens or of their representatives. 7. What is not prohibited by law, cannot be for- bidden. No one can be compelled to do what the law docs not command. 8. No man can be summoned before court, accused, arrested or imprisoned, except in cases specified by law and according to the prescribed forms. 9. Those who demand, issue, sign, execute, or cause to be executed, arbitrary acts, are criminals, and to be punished as such. 10. All severity which is not necessary to secure the person of one accused, shall be absolutely prevent- ed by law. 11. No man can be judged until he be heard or legally summoned. 12. The law ought to acknowledge only punish- ments which are strictly necessary and appropriate to the crime. 13. Every treatment which increases the punish- ment specified by law, is a crime. 14. No law, be it penal or civil, can have retro- spective force. 15. Every man may dispose of his time and ser- vices ; but he can neither sell himself, nor be sold ; his person is not alienable property. 16. Every tax is laid for the general benefit; it must be distributed among the taxable persons, in proportion to their property. SO coNSTiTunowa as francs. 17. Sovereignty abides with the collective mass of all citizens. 18. No individual and no separate union of citizens can claim sovereignty. 19. No man can, without a legal transfer, exercise any power or hold any public office. 20. Every citizen has the same right, directly or indirectly, to co-operate in making laws and appoint- ing public officers. 21. The public offices cannot become the property of those who fill them. 22. There can be no security of society, unless the distribution of powers be established and their limits be defined, and the responsibility of public officers be secured. DUTIES. Art. 1. The declaration of rights contains the obli- gations of legislators ; the preservation of society re- quires that those who constitute the same, in like manner know and fulfil their duties. 2. All duties of man and citizens are derived from the two following principles, engraven by nature in all hearts : Do not unto others what you do not wish they should do unto you. Do always unto others all the good which you wish they should do unto you. 3. The obligations of every man towards society consist, in defending and serving the same, in living obedient to its laws, and in respecting those who are its functionaries. 4. No one is a good citizen, unless he be a good CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 81 son, a good father, a good brother, a good friend, and a good husband. 5. No one is an honest man, unless he observes the laws sincerely and conscientiously. 6. He who openly violates the laws, declares him- self to be at war with society. 7. He who, without openly violating the laws, circumvents them by cunning or subtlety, violates the interests of all ; he renders himself unworthy of their good will and respect. 8. On the 'preservation of property depend agri- culture, all products, all sources of labor, and the whole social order. 9. Every citizen owes his services to the country, and the preservation of liberty, equality and prop- erty, whenever the law calls upon him to defend them. CONSTITUTION. Art. 1. The French Republic is one and indi- visible. 2. The collective number of all French citizens is the sovereignty. TITLE I. DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY. 3. France is divided into departments. These are . [here follow the names.] 4. The boundaries of the departments may be altered or rectified by the legislative body ; but the 82 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. measurement of a department can in no case be more than 100 square myriamcters (100 square miles of middle size, or 2666 toises). 5. Each department is divided into cantons, and each canton into communes. 6. The French colonies are parts of the republic, and subject to the same constitution. 7. They are divided into departments, viz. [here follow the names.] TITLE II. POLITICAL CONDITION OF CITIZENS. 8. Every person born and residing in France, that has attained to the age of twenty-one years, and has his name recorded in the register of citizens of his canton, and who has hereupon lived in the territory of the republic one year, and who pays a direct tax, either on personal or real property, is a French citizen. 9. Those Frenchmen who have fought in one or more campaigns for the establishment of the repub- lic, are citizens without regard being had to taxes. 10. An alien becomes a French citizen, if, after being twenty-one years old, he has declared his in- tention to establish himself in France, and has re- sided there for seven years without interruption, and if he pays a direct tax, and be, moreover, possessed of real estate, or carry on agriculture or a trade, or if he has married a French woman. 11. French citizens only can vote in the primary assemblies, and be appointed to the offices establish- ed by the constitution. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 83 12. The right of the exercise of the rights of citi- zen is lost : 1. by naturalization in a foreign country ; 2. by admission into any foreign corporation which requires distinction by birth, or religi- ous vows ; 3. by accepting offices or pensions from foreign governments ; 4. by being condemned to corporal or dishonora- ble punishments, till being restored to the former condition. 13. The exercise of the rights of citizens is sus- pended : 1. by a judicial decree on account of insanity or idiocy; when a person is bankrupt, or takes of his own free will, as immediate heir, the whole or a part of an insolvent estate of a deceased per- son ; 2. by being a servant for wages in the employ- ment of a person or a household ; 3. by being indicted for an offence ; 4. by a judicial condemnation in contumaciam, so long as the judgment is not retracted. 14. The exercise of the rights of a citizen is lost or suspended in no other cases but those enumerated in the two preceding articles. 15. Every citizen who for seven years, without intermission, has resided out of the territory of the republic without a mission or authorization in the name of the republic, is considered as an alien ; he cannot become again a citizen without complying with the requisitions prescribed in Art. 10. 84 CONSTITUTIONS OP FKAM K. 16. Young men cannot be inserted in the register of citizens, if they cannot prove that they can read and write, and understand a mechanical trade. The works of agriculture are comprehended under the mechanical trades. This article shall be enforced only from the twelfth year of the republic. TITLE III. PRIMARY ASSEMBLIES. 17. The primary assemblies consist of the citizens residing in one canton. The qualification for voting in these assemblies is acquired by one year's residence, and lost by one year's absence. 18. No one can be represented by another in these primary assemblies, or vote on the same subject in more than one of these assemblies. 19. There is at least one primary assembly in each canton. If there are several, each one shall consist of at least 450, and no more than 900 citizens. This number includes both absent and present citi- zens, entitled to vote. 20. The primary assemblies are, for the present, formed under the presidency of the oldest person : and the youngest shall, for the present, perform the duties of secretary. 21. They are permanently organized, when a president, a secretary and a collector of votes have been chosen by a vote. 22. If doubts arise in regard to the qualifications requisite for voting, the assembly shall decide for CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. the time, with a reserve for an appeal to the civil court of the department. 23.' In no case shall the legislative body alone de- cide on the legality of the proceedings of the priman assembly. 24. No one shall appear armed in the primarv assemblies. 25. They have their own police. 26. The primary assemblies convene : 1. for the purpose of accepting or rejecting alter- ations in the constitution, proposed in the re- visionary assemblies ; 2. for the purpose of holding those elections which belong to them by the constitution. 27. They convene regularly on the 1st of Germi- nal (21st March to 19th April) of every year, and hold the election, as the case may be, 1. of the members of the electoral assemblies : 2. of the justice of the peace and his assessors : 3. of the president of the municipal administra- tion of the canton, or of the municipal officers in communes of over 5000 inhabitants. 28. Immediately after these elections, in communes of under 5000 inhabitants, commune-assemblies are held, for the purpose of electing the agents of each commune and their assistants 29. All that is transacted in the primary or com- mune assemblies, beyond the subjects for which they are convened, and against the forms established by the constitution, is null and void. 30. Both the primary and commune assemblies shall hold no other elections than those specified by the constitution. 8 86 CONSTITUTIONS OF r RANGE. 31. At all elections the voting is done secretly. \\l. livery citizen who has heen legally convicted of having sold or nought a vote, is excluded from all the primary and commune assemblies for twenty years, and in case of a second transgression, for ever. TITLE IV. ELECTORAL ASSEMBLIES. 33. Each primary assembly nominates, for every 200 present or absent citizens, who have a right to to vote in such assembly, one elector. Up to 300 citizens, (inclusively.) but one elector is chosen ; for from 301 to 500, two electors are chosen; three for 501 to 700 ; four for 701 to 900. 34. The members of the electoral assemblies are chosen annually, and they cannot be re-elected but after an interval of two years. 35. No one can be chosen elector, unless he has attained to his twenty-fifth year, and unless he unites with the qualifications requisite for the exercise of the rights of a French citizen, one of the following conditions : In communes of over 6000 inhabitants, that he is the proprietor or beneficiary of an estate of a value equal to 100 days' labor, or of a piece of land, equal in value to 100 days' labor ; In communes of under 6000 inhabitants, that he is the proprietor or beneficiary of an estate equal in value to 150 days' labor, or the tenant of a tenement, the income of which is equal to 100 days' labor, or of a piece of land CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 87 equal in value to the wages for 100 days' labor ; And in the country, that he is the owner or ben- eficiary of an estate, the income of which is equal in value to the wages for 150 days' labor, or that he is the tenant or farmer of estates, the income of which is equal in value to the wages for 200 days' labor. In regard to those who are in part proprietors or bene- ficiaries, and in part tenants or farmers, their estates are estimated together, in their differ- ent characters, to the amount requisite for their eligibility. 36. The electoral assembly of each department convenes annually on the 20th of Germinal, (the month from March 21, to April 19,) and finishes, in one session of ten days, at the longest, without the power of adjourning, all the elections which are to be made ; whereupon it shall be dissolved. 37. The electoral assemblies cannot be occupied with any subject foreign to the elections with which they are charged ; they can neither accept nor make any petition or address, nor admit or send any depu- ties. 38. The electoral assemblies cannot hold corres- pondence with each other. 39. No citizen, who has been a member of an electoral assembly, can bear the title of elector, nor, in this quality, combine with those who were mem- bers with him of the same assembly. The transgression of this article is an infringement of the general safety. 40. The articles 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31. 88 CONSTITUTIONS OF HUNCH. and 32, of the preceding title, on primary assemblies, are likewise applicable to electoral assemblies. 11. The electoral assemblies choose, as the case may be: 1. The members of the legislative body, viz : — the members of the council of the ancients, and the members of the council of the fiv» hundred ; 2. the members of the court of cassation ; 3. the grand jurymen ; 4. the departmental administrators; 5. the presidents, public attorneys, and clerks of the criminal courts ; G. the judges of the civil courts. 12. When a citizen is chosen by the electoral as- semblies in place of an officer who is either deceased, or has resigned, or is removed, he is chosen only for the time yet left of the term of the past officer. 43. The commissary of the executive directory of each departmental administration is bound, under the penalty of being removed, to inform the directory of the opening and closing of the electoral assemblies. This commissary can neither detain nor suspend their transactions, nor be present at their sessions ; but he has the right to demand the communication of the record of each session, within the next twenty- four hours, and he is bound to give information to the directory of the violations which may have been committed against the constitution. In all cases the legislative body alone shall decide on the validity of the transactions of the electora assemblies. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 89 TITLE V. THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 44. The legislative body is composed of a council of the ancients and a council of the five hun- dred. 45. The legislative body can in no case transfer upon one or several of its members, nor to any body else, any of the functions which are by the present constitution assigned to the same. 46. It can, neither through itself nor through dele- gates, exercise either the executive poiver, or the judicial power. 47. The quality of a member of the legislative body is irreconcilable with the holding of another public office, except that of an archivary of the re- public. 48. The law provides for the permanent or tempo- rary substitution of public officers who are elected to the legislative body. 49. Each department nominates, only in propor- tion to its population, members of the council of the ancients, and members of the council of the five hundred. 50. Every ten years, the legislative body, by the lists of population sent in, decides on the number of members of both councils, which each department has to elect. 51. During the interval no alteration can take place in this distribution. 8* 90 ( 0N81 ii 0TION8 of h:: 52. The members of the legislative body arc Dot representatives of the department which lia.s nomina- ted them, tin/ of the collective nation, and no special instruction can be given them. 53. Both councils arc every year renewed by one third. 5 I. Members whose term of three years has ex- pired, may immediately be chosen again for three years following; hereupon an interval of two years is required to be chosen again. 55. No one can, in any case, be a member of the legislative body for more than six successive years. 5G. If, by extraordinary circumstances, the num- ber of members of one of the two councils should be reduced to less than two thirds, it shall immediately give notice thereof to the executive directory, which shall, without delay, call together the primary as- semblies of those departments which have to fill the places of members of the legislative body. The primary assemblies shall immediately choose electors who shall proceed forthwith to fill the vacancies. 57. The newly chosen members of both councils convene on the first Prairial of every year, in the commune which has been fixed upon by the preced- ing legislative body, or in the same commune where it has held its last session, if no other has been ap- pointed. 58. Both councils have their sessions in one and the same commune. 59. The legislative body is continual ; but it may adjourn for certain periods of time, as it shall deter- mine. GO. Both councils can, m no case, assemble in the same room. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 91 61. The functions of the president and the secretary- can, neither in the council of the ancients, nor in the council of the five hundred, exceed the term of one month. 62. Both councils have, each for itself, the right of police, in the places of their session and the adja- cent places which they shall specify. 63. They have, each, the right of police over their members; but they can award no greater punish- ment than a reproof, or arrest for eight days, or im- prisonment for three days. 6 1. The sessions of both councils are public ; the audience cannot exceed in number one half of the members of each council. The records of the sessions are printed. 65. Each voting is done by keeping seat and ris- ing ; in doubtful cases the names are called; but then the votes are kept secret. 66. At the request of one hundred of its members, each council can resolve itself into a general or a secret committee, but merely for the purpose of de- liberating, and not of transacting any business. 67. Neither of the councils can establish a perma- nent committee in its midst. But each council has the right, if a subject seems to require a preliminary examination, to nominate from among its members a special committee which is confined to the subject given to them. This committee is discharged, as soon as the council has decided on the subject which was given to the same. 68. The members of the legislative body receive a yearly compensation; it is fixed for either council at <)2 I ONSTITUTtONl OF I BAN4 B. the value of 3000 myriagrammes of wheat (613 hundred weigh I and ">2 Lbs.) 69. The executive directory cannot order any body of troops to march through or to encamp, at a dis- tance of six myriamcters (twelve miles of middle length) from the commune where the legislative body holds its sessions, except it be at the desire or with the consent of the latter. 70. The legislative body has a guard of citizens about it, which is taken from the inactive national guard of all departments, and is chosen by their comrades in arms. This guard cannot consist of less than 1500 men in actual service. 71. The legislative body determines on the manner of their service and its duration. 72. The legislative body shall attend no public ceremony, nor shall it send a deputation to it. THE COUNCIL OF THE FIVE HUNDRED. 73. The council of the five hundred is unalter- ably fixed at this number. 74. In order to be eligible to the council of the five hundred, a person must be thirty years old, and have resided on the territory of the republic for ten years immediately preceding his election. The condition of the age of thirty years is not re- quired before the seventh year of the republic ; till this period the age of twenty-five years will be suffi- cient. 75. The council of the five hundred cannot transact business, unless at least 200 members are present. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 93 76. The proposing of laws belongs exclusively to the council of the five hundred. 77. No proposition can be acted or decided upon in the council of the five hundred, except the follow- ing forms are observed : Three readings of the proposition must be had ; the interval between two of these readings can- not be less than ten days ; The discussion on it is opened after each reading ; but the council of the five hundred may declare, after the first or second reading, that it shall be adjourned, or that no discussion shall take place ; Every proposition must be printed and distributed two days before the second reading; After the third reading, the council of the five hundred decides, whether a postponement shall take place or not. 78. Every proposition which has been acted on and rejected after the third reading, cannot be brought forward again before the lapse of a year. 70. The propositions adopted by the council of the five hundred are called resolutions. 80. The preamble of each resolution expresses : 1st, the days of the sessions on which the three readings of the proposition took place; 2d, the act by which it was after the third read- ing declared, that a postponement should not take place. 81. From the formalities prescribed in Art. 77, are excepted those propositions which are declared by the council of the five hundred to be urgent. This declaration must state the reasons of the 94 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. urgent necessity, and mention of it must be made in the preamble of the resolution. THE COUNCIL OF THE ANCIENTS. 82. The council of the ancients consists of 250 members. 83. No one can be chosen a member of the council of the ancients till he has attained to the age of forty years, and unless he is, moreover, married, or a widower, and unless he has resided in the territory of the republic for fifteen years immediately preced- ing his election. 84. The domicile required by the preceding article, as well as that prescribed in article 74, is not applied to citizens who have left the territory of the republic on a mission from the government. 85. The council of the ancients cannot transact business unless at least 126 members are present. 86. It belongs exclusively to the council of the ancients, to adopt or reject the resolutions of the council of the five hundred. 87. Whenever a resolution of the council of the five hundred has been sent to the council of the ancients, the president orders the preamble to be read. 88. The council of the ancients rejects acceptance to those resolutions of the council of the five hundred, which have not been passed according to the forms prescribed by the constitution. 89. If the proposition has been declared by the council of the five hundred as urgent, the council of the ancients passes on the acceptance or rejection of the act of urgent necessity. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 'J.~> 90. If the council of the ancients rejects the act of urgent necessity, it does not pass on the main subject of the resolution. 91. If no act of urgent necessity precedes the reso- lution, three readings must be had of the same ; the interval between two of these readings cannot be less than five days. The discussion is opened after each reading. Every resolution is printed and distributed at least two days before the second reading. 92. The resolutions of the council of the five hundred, accepted by the council of the ancients, are called laws. 93. The preamble of the laws states the dates of the sessions of the council of the ancients, in which the three readings were had. 94. The decree, by which the council of the ancients acknowledges the urgent necessity of a law, is with its reasons stated in the preamble of the law. 95. The proposition of a law made by the council of the five hundred, embraces all the articles of the same bill ; the council of the ancients must either accept or reject them all to their whole extent. 96. The acceptance of the council of the ancients is expressed, with each bill, by the formula, signed by the president and the secretaries : The council of the ancients approves. 97. The refusal of acceptance, on account of non- observance of the formalities prescribed in the 77th article of the present title, is expressed by the formula, signed by the president and secretaries: The consti- tution declares it null and void. 98. The refusal of acceptance of the burden of the 96 TITUTIONS OP IK • proposed law is expressed by the formula, signed by the presidenl and commissaries: The council of (he ancients cannot accept if. 99. In this case, the proposition of the rejected law cannot be brought forward again by the council of the five hundred before the lapse of a year. 100. However, the council of the five hundred may propose a bill, containing articles, which constitute a part of the rejected law. 101. The council of the ancients sends the laws, which it has accepted, on the same day to the council of the five hundred and to the executive directory. 102. The council of the ancients may change the place of meeting of the legislative body; in this case, it appoints a new place, and the time when the two councils have to repair to the same. The decree of the council of the ancients on this point is irrevocable. 103. Yet on the same day of this decree neither of the councils can any longer transact business in the place where they heretofore held their sessions. The members who should continue business there, make themselves guilty of an infringement of the safety of the republic. 104. Those members of the executive directory who should delay or refuse the sealing, publication and reading of the decree regarding the violation of the legislative body, are guilty of the same crime. 105. If after the lapse of twenty days from the day which the council of the ancients has appointed, the majority of both councils shall not have made known to the republic their arrival at the newly designated place, the administrators of the departments, or in CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 97 case they omit so to do, the civil courts of the depart- ments shall call together the primary assemblies for the purpose of choosing electors, who shall imme- diately proceed to elect 250 deputies for the council of the ancients and 500 for the other council. 106. The administrators of departments who. in case of the preceding article, shall delay to call to- gether the primary assemblies, are guilty of high treason and of infringement of the safety of the re- public. 107. Of the like crime are guilty all citizens who. in case of the 106th article, shall hinder the calling together of the primary and electoral assemblies. 108. The members of the new legislative body assemble at the place to which the council of the ancients had transferred the sessions. If they cannot assemble at this place, the legisla- tive body is considered to be at such a place where the majority of its members arc. 109. No bill can be originated in the council of th< ancients, except in the cases mentioned in the 102d article. OF THE GUARANTY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. 110. Citizens who are or were members of tin legislative body, can at no time be prosecuted, ac- cused, or judged on account of what they have said or written in the exercise of their duty. 111. Members of the legislative body can, from the moment of their nomination till the 30th day after the expiration of their official duties, in no other 9 98 C0N81 ii [JTIONfl 01 ikam B. way be broughl before court, than in the manner prescribed in tin; following articles. 112. They may, <>n account of criminal actions. be arrested, when caught in the very act; but imme- diate information must be given thereof to the legisla- tive body; and the prosecution cannot be proceeded in till the council of the five hundred shall have pro- posed the trial, and the council of the ancients shall have ordered the same. 113. Excepting the case of being caught in the act, the members of the legislative body cannot be brought before a magistrate of police, nor be arrested, before the council of the five hundred shall have proposed the trial, and the council of the ancients shall have ordered the same. 114. In the cases specified in the preceding articles, a member of the legislative body can be brought before no other court than that of the high court of justice. 115. Before this same court they are brought on account of treason, squandering of public moneys, plans for the overthrow of the constitution, and in- fringements of the internal safety of the republic. 116. No information against a member of the legis- lative body can cause any prosecution, unless it be in writing, and be signed and delivered to the council of the five hundred. 117. When the council of the five hundred, after having acted upon the information according to the forms prescribed in the 77th article, shall accept it, it declares this in the following words : The information against , on account of , dated , signed by . is accepted. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. ( .<0 118. The person accused is then summoned ; he has a respite of full three days ; and when he appears, he is heard in the hall of the place where the council of the five hundred holds its sessions. 119. No matter whether the accused has appeared or not, the council of the five hundred declares, after this respite, whether an examination into his conduct shall be had, or not. 120. If the council of the five hundred shall declare, that an examination shall be had, the accused is summoned by the council of the ancients. He has a respite of full two days for his appearance, and when he appears, he is heard in the interior part of the place where the council of the ancients holds its sessions. 121. The accused may appear or not ; the council of the ancients, after the lapse of this respite, and after having deliberated according to the forms pre- scribed in the 91st article, pronounces the accusation. if it shall be decided upon, and sends the accused before the high court of justice, which is bound to take without delay, the necessary steps for the prose- cution. 122. Every transaction in both councils, in regard to the complaint or accusation against a member of the legislative body, is had in the general council. Every deliberation on these subjects is had by raiting' the names and by secret voting. 123. The accusation, pronounced against a mem- ber of the legislative body, draws suspension after it. If the member be acquitted by the high court of justice, he resumes his place. KM) CONSTITUTIONS OK FRANCE. RELATIONS OF THE TWO COUNCILS BETWEEN ONE ANOTHER. 124. When the two councils arc completely or- ganized, each gives to the other notice thereof by a messenger of state. 125. Each council appoints four messengers of state for its service. 126. They carry to each council and to the execu- tive directory the laws and acts of the legislative body; for this purpose they have admission to the place of session of the executive directory. Two huissiers (ushers) precede them. 127. Neither of the two councils can be adjourned for more than five days, without consent by the other. PUBLICATION OF LAWS. 12S. The executive directory causes the laws and other acts of the legislative body to be sealed and published within two days after they have been re- ceived. 129. Those laws and acts of the legislative body, which are preceded by a decree of urgent necessity, must be sealed and published on the same day. 130. The publication of the laws and acts of the legislative body is made in the following form : " In the name of the French Republic, (the law or act of the legislative body.) The directory orders, that the aforegoing law (or act) be published, exe- cuted, and the seal of the republic be affixed to the same." 131. Those laws, the preambles of wiiich do not CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. ]ll| bear test of the forms' prescribed in articles 77 and 91, cannot be published by the executive directory, and its responsibility in this respect extends to six years. Those laws for which the act of urgent necessity has been passed by the council of ancients are excepted. TITLE VI. EXECUTIVE POWER. 132. The executive power is given to a directory of five members, who are nominated by the legisla- tive body which has then, in the name of the nation, the character of an electoral assembly. 133. The council of the five hundred makes out, by secret voting, a list of ten times the number of individuals as are to be appointed members of the directory, and lays the same before the council of the ancients, which, also by secret voting, selects from this list. 134. The members of the directory must be at least forty years old. 135. They can be taken only from citizens who have been members of the legislative body, or minis- ters. The provisions of the present article will not be observed till the 9th year of the republic. 136. From the first day of the fifth year of the re- public, members of the legislative body cannot be appointed members of the directory or ministers, either during the term of office as legislators, or during the first year after the expiration of the same. 9* 102 riTumoNfi of francs. 137. The directory is in pari renewed, by the elec- tion of one new member every year. During the firsl lour years, the easting of lots shall decide on the leaving of those who have been chosen the first time. 138. None of the retiring members can be chosen again before an interval of five years. 130. Relations by blood in direct ascending or descending line, brothers, uncle and nephew, cousins in the first degree, and relations by marriage in their different degrees, cannot be members of the directory at one and the same time, nor succeed one another, except after an interval of five years. 140. In the case of death, abdication, or other re- tirement of a member of the directory, his successor is chosen by the legislative body within ten days at latest. The council of the five hundred is bound to make the proposition for the new election within the first five days, and the council of the ancients must com- plete the election within the five last days. The new member is chosen only for the time left unexpired by him whom he succeeds. However, if this time be not more than six months, the person elected shall remain in office to the end of the following fifth year. 141. Each member of the directory presides, in succession, only for three months. The president has to sign and keep the seal. The laws and acts of the legislative body are directed to the directory, in the person of its presi- dent. 142. The executive directory cannot act unless three members are present. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 103 143. It chooses out of its own number, a secretary who countersigns the documents, and enters the transactions on a record, in which each member has the right to have his opinion, together with his rea- sons, written. The directory may, if it choose, transact business without the presence of the secretary; in this case, the transactions are recorded by one of its members in a special book of record. 144. The directory has the care according to the laws, of the external and internal safety of the republic. It may issue proclamations, according to the laws and for the execution of the same. It has the disposal of the military forces ; however, neither the whole directory nor any of its members can command them, either during the term of office or within the two next following years. 145. When the directory is informed that a con- spiracy exists against the internal or external safety of the state, it may issue warrants of arrest and summons against those who are suspected as authors or participators of the same ; it may examine them, but it is bound, under penalty of those punishments awarded against arbitrary arrest, to send them, with- in two days, before the magistrates of police, to be dealt with according to law. 146. The directory appoints the generals-in-chief of the armies ; but it cannot choose them from among the relations by blood or marriage of its members, within the degrees specified in article 189. 147. It observes and secures the execution of the 104 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. laws in the administrations and courts, through com missioncrs of its election. 1 18. It appoints, bnt not from its own members, the ministers, and recalls them at pleasure. It can- not choose them under the age of 30 years, nor from among the relations by blood or marriage, within the degrees specified in article 139, of its own members. 149. The ministers correspond directly with their subordinate authorities. 150. The legislative body establishes the duties and the number of ministers.* This number will be at least six, and no more than eight. 151. The ministers form no council. 152. The ministers are responsible, each for him- self, as well for the non-execution of the laws, as for the non-execution of the orders of the directory. 153. The directory appoints the receiver of the direct taxes in each department. 154. It appoints the superior heads in the adminis- tration of indirect taxes, and in the administration of national domains. * The number of ministers was established on the 17th of September, 1795. They were six in number: 1. Of Justice. 2. Of the Interior. 3. Of Finances. 4. Of War. 5. Of Marine. 6. Of Foreign affairs. The salary of each was one half of what the members of the executive directory had. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 105 155. All public officers in the French colonies, ex- cepting the Isle of France and De la Reunion, are, till peace, appointed by the directory. 156. The legislative body may give power to the directory, to send one or more special agents, accord- ing to circumstances, into all French colonies, who must be appointed for a certain specified period. The special agents exercise the same functions as the directory, and are subordinate to the latter. 157. No member of the directory is allowed to go out of the territory of the republic before the lapse of two years after the expiration of his office. 15S. Each member is bound, during this interval, to give to the legislative body proofs of his residence. The article 112 and following to art. 123 inclusively, which relate to the security of the legislative body, are also applied to the members of the directory. 159. In case more than two members of the direc- tory are in a state of accusation, the legislative body will, according to the usual forms, temporarily supply their places, during the prosecution. 160. Except in cases, mentioned in art. 119 and 120, the directory or one of its members, cannot be summoned either by the council of the five hundred, or by the council of the ancients. 161. The accounts and explanations which either council may desire, are communicated to them in writing. 162. The directory is bound to lay every year, in writing, before the councils, a general review of the expenditures, the state of finances, a specification of all actual pensions, as well as a proposition of those which it is thought advisable to raise. 100 CONSTITUTIONS or I KANCE. Ft must give information of the abuses which have come to its knowledge. 163. The directory" can at all times, in writing, call upon the council of the live hundred, to examine and deliberate on a subject ; it may propose measures, but not lay before it propositions drawn up in form of laws. 104. No member of the directory can be absent more than five days, nor remove over four myriame- ters (eight miles of middle size) from the place of residence of the directory, without a permission of the legislative body. 105. The members of the directory can, when en- gaged in functions of office, appear, neither abroad nor in their dwellings, other than in the costumes proper to them. 100. The directory has a guard, paid by the republic, which shall consist of 120 men infantry, and 120 men cavalry. 107. The directory, at public solemnities and pro- cessions, in which it occupies the first place, is ac- companied by its guard. 108. Each member of the directory is accompanied by two guardsmen, when going from home. 109. Every military body must show to the directory and to each of its members, the highest military honors. 170. The directory has four messengers of state, whom it can appoint and again dismiss. These convey to the legislative body the writings and memorials of the directory ; they have, for this purpose, admittance to the places of session of the legislative councils. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 107 Two huissiers go before them. 171. The directory has its seat in the same com- mune with that of the legislative body.* 172. The members of the directory have their dwell • ing at the expense of the republic, and all occupy the same building. 173. The salary of each of them for one year is fixed at the value of 50,000 myriagrammes of wheat (10,222 hundred weight.) TITLE VII. ADMINISTRATIVE AND MUNICIPAL CORPS. 174. In each department there is a central admin- istration, and in each canton at least one municipal administration. 175. Every member of a departmental or munici- pal administration must be at least twenty- five years old. 176. Relations by blood in direct ascending and descending line, brothers, uncle and nephew, and connections by marriage in the same degrees, cannot be members of the same administration at the same time, nor succeed one another, except after an inter- val of two years. 177. Each departmental administration consists of five members ; it is renewed every year by one fifth. 178. Every commune, the population of which * The council of the ancients held its sessions in the palace of the Tuilleries ; the council of the five hundred in the palace Bourbon ; the members of the executive directory lived in the palace Luxembourg. 108 CONSTITUTIONS OP PRANCE. amounts to from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants, has a municipal administration of its own. 179. In every commune, the population of which is less than 5000 inhabitants, there is a municipal agent and an assistant. 180. The whole body of municipal agents of each commune forms the municipality of the canton. 181. Moreover, there is in the municipal adminis- tration a president who is chosen by the whole can- ton. 182. In the communes, the population of which amounts to from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants, there are five municipal officers ; seven from 10.000 to 50,000; nine from 50,000 to 100,000. 183. In communes, the population of which amounts to over 100,000 inhabitants, there are at least three municipal administrations.* In these communes, the distribution of the munici- palities is made so that the population in the district of each is not above 50,000 individuals, and not less than 30,000. The municipality of each district consists of seven members. 184. In the communes, divided into several mu- nicipalities, there is a central bureau for matters which the legislative body considers indivisible. This bureau consists of three members, nominated by the departmental administrations, and confirmed by the executive power. 185. The members of each municipal administra- tion are appointed for two years, and every year one * The city of Paris was divided into twelve municipalities. CONSTITUTIONS OF FHA! [09 half of them, or the number nearest to one half, and this alternately now the greater and now the smaller fractional number, shall be renewed. 186. The departmental administrators, and the members of the municipal administrations, may b< re-elected without any interval only once. 1S7. Every citizen, who has been chosen twice in succession a departmental administrator or member of a municipal administration, and has neglected the duties of office, as such, in the one or the otber ca- pacity, cannot be chosen anew except after an inter- val of two years. 188. In case when a departmental or municipal administration should lose one or more of its members by death, resignation or otherwise, the remaining magistrates may elect temporary magis- trates, in order to complete their number ; who shall remain in office in such quality till the next election. 189. The departmental and municipal administra- tions cannot modify the acts of the legislative body, or of the executive directory, nor delay the execu- tion of them. They cannot interfere in judicial matters. 190. The administrators are essentially charged with the distribution of the direct taxes, and with the superintendence of the moneys belonging to the public revenues of their district. The legislative body establishes the rules and the mode of their functions, both in regard to these sub- jects, and the other parts of interior administration. 191. The executive directory appoints in each de- 10 Ill) CONSTITUTIONS 01 FRANCE. partmenta] and municipal administration a commis- sioner, whom it may recall at pleasure. This commissioner watches over and sees to the execution of the laws. 192. The commissioner in eacli local administra- tion must he taken from among the citizens, domi- ciled for at least one year in the department in which the administration is located. lie must he at least twenty-five years old. 193. The municipal administrations are subordi- nate to the departmental administrations, and these to the ministers. Consequently the ministers, each in his depart- ment, may annul the acts of the departmental ad- ministrations, and these the acts of the municipal administrations, if they be contrary to the laws or regulations of higher powers. 194. The ministers may suspend the departmen- tal administrators who have acted contrary to the laws and regulations of higher powers ; and the de- partmental administrations have the same right in regard to the members of the municipal administra- tions. 195. No suspension or removal has permanent validity without the formal confirmation of the ex- ecutive directory. 196. The directory may annul directly the acts of the departmental or municipal administrations. It may, if it deem it necessary, suspend or remove the magistrates both of the departments and can- tons, and bring them, if there be cause, before the departmental courts. 197. Every decree, which orders the cancelling of CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. Ill acts, suspension or removal of magistrates, must assign the reasons thereof. 198. If the five members of a departmental ad- ministration be removed, the executive directory undertakes the filling of the offices till the next election ; but it can choose the temporary represen- tatives only from among former magistrates of the same department. 199. The administrations both of departments and cantons may correspond together only on business which the law refers to them, and by no means on the general affairs of the republic. 200. Every administration must give an annual account of the same. The accounts rendered by the departmental administrations are printed. 201. All acts of the administrative authorities are made public by depositing the record in which they have been written, which record is open to the in- spection of all citizens. This record is closed every six months, and is de- posited for keeping from the day when it is closed. The legislative body may, according to circumstances, extend the period specified for the deposition. TITLE VIII. JUDICIAL POWER. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 202. The judicial functions cannot be exercised, either by the legislatice body or by the executive power. 203. The judges cannot interfere with the exercise 112 CONSTITUTIONS OP IHANCK. of the legislative power, <>r make enactments. They can neither delay nor hinder the execution of any law whatsoever, nor summon before them the ad- ministrators, in regard to their functions of oilice. 204. No one can be withdrawn from those judges, whom the law assigns for them, by any commission, or in any other way which is not pointed out by a previous law. 205. Justice is awarded without pay. 206. The judges can be removed only on account of crimes of which they have been legally found guilty, and can be suspended only by virtue of an accepted accusation. 207. Relations by blood, in direct ascending and descending lines, brothers, uncle and nephew, first cousins, and relatives by marriage in all these de- grees, cannot be members of the same court at one and the same time. 20S. The sessio?is of the courts are pitulic ; the judges deliberate in secret; judgments are pronounced with a loud voice ; they contain the grounds, and ex- press the proper words of the law applied. 209. No citizen that is not thirty years old, can be chosen judge of a departmental court, or justice of the peace, or assessor to a justice of the peace, or judge of a commercial court, or member of the court of cassation, or juryman, or commissioner of the executive directory in the courts. OF CIVIL JUDICATURE. 210. The right to have matters of controversy passed upon by arbitrators, chosen by the parties, cannot be taken away. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 113 211. The judgment of these arbitrators does not admit of any further appeal and recourse to the court of cassation, unless the parties have expressly- reserved this right. 212. In each district specified by law there are a justice of the peace and assessors ; they are all chosen for two years, and may be re-elected immediately and without limitation. 213. The law specifies the subjects on which jus- tices of the peace and their assessors decide without appeal. It assigns to them other subjects on which they may pass with the right of appeal. 211. There are special courts for commerce on land and sea; the law will appoint the places where it is proper to establish them. Their power to give judgment without appeal, can- not extend beyond the value of 500 myriagrammes of wheat, (about 102 hundred weight.) 215. Matters which do not belong cither before the justices of the peace or before the commercial courts, are brought directly before the justices of the peace and their assessors, to be compromised amicably. If the justice of the peace cannot settle them, he sends the parties to the civil court. 216. In each department there is a civil court; each civil court consists of at least twenty judges, of a commissioner, and a substitute whom the execu- tive directory appoints and recalls, and of a clerk. Every five years all the members of the court are elected. The judges may always be re-elected. 217. At the election of the judges there arc chosen five substitutes, three of whom must betaken from the citizens of the commune where the court holds its session. *^ Ill CONST] rUTIONS 01 218. The civil court renders judgment without appeal in the cases specified by law, where appeal has been taken from the justices of the peace and from arbitrators. 219. An appeal from the decisions of the civil court goes to the civil court of one of the three nearest departments, as regulated by law. 220. The civil court is divided into sections A section cannot give judgment, if less than five judges be present. 221. The aggregate judges in each court nominate from among them, by secret voting, a president of each section. OF CRIMINAL AND PENAL JUDICATURE. 222. No person can be legally arrested, except for the purpose of being brought before a magistrate of police; and no person can be arrested, except by a warrant of a magistrate of police, or of the executive council as provided in art. 145, or by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by a court, or the director of the sworn court of accusation, or by virtue of a decree of accusation by the legislative body in those cases in which it is allowed them to issue the same, or by virtue of a sentence of imprisonment or cor- rectional detention. 223. That the warrant which orders arrest may be executed, it is required : 1. That the same state the ground of arrest, and the law by virtue of which it is ordered : 2. that it be made known to the person whom it concerns, -and that a copy thereof be left with him. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 115 221. Every person that lias been arrested and brought before a magistrate of police must forthwith, or at least the same day, be examined. 225. If it appear from the examination that there is do ground of accusation against the same, he is to be set at liberty forthwith ; or, if there be reason to send him to prison, he must be brought there with- in as short a time as possible, which, in no case, must exceed three days. 220. No person arrested can be detained, if he give sufficient bail, in all cases where bail is allowed by law. 227. No person, in case his detention is ordered by law, can be brought any where, or held in custody, except in places, legally and properly assigned as places of arrest or justice, or as prisons. 228. No jailor can detain or receive any person, unless it be by virtue of a warrant of arrest, accord- ing to the forms prescribed in articles 222 and 223, in regard to a detention of a person, a decree of accusation or sentence of imprisonment or correc- tional custody, of which he must make a minute in his record. 229. Every jailor is bound, and no order whatso- ever can release him from this duty, to bring the arrested person before the civil officer, who has the police of the jail under his control, whenever this officer shall demand it. 230. Access to the arrested person cannot be denied to his relations and friends, if they produce an order of the civil officer, who is at all times bound to give the same, unless the jailor produce an order of the judge, entered on his book of record, to keep the person in separate custody. 1 10 CONS1 n rnovs OF PRANCB. 231. If any person, of whatever place or office, in whom the law docs not assign the right to arrest, shall issue, sign, execute, or cause to be executed, a warrant of arrest; or if any person, even in case of a legal arrest, shall bring, or receive or keep any person at a place of detention, which is not properly and publicly assigned as such ; and all jailors who shall act contrary to the three preceding articles, render themselves guilty of the crime of arbitrary arrest. 232. All severity applied in arrests, custodies, or executions, which is not prescribed by law, is a crime. 233. In each department there are at least three, and no more than six correctional courts, to sit in judgment on those offences on which there is neither a corporal nor infamous punishment. These courts can award no greater punishment than two years' imprisonment. The passing sentence on offences, the punishment of which does not exceed the value of three days' labor, or imprisonment for three days, belongs to the justices of the peace, who pass on them in the last resort. 234. Every correctional court consists of a presi- dent, two justices of the peace, or assessors to the justices of the peace of the commune, in which the same is established, a commissioner of the executive power, whom the executive directory appoints and recalls, and a clerk. 235. The president of each correctional court is taken every six months, in succession, from the members of the sections of the civil court of the department, excepting the presidents. • CONSTITUTION'S OF FRANCE. 117 236. From the judgments of the correctional courts, an appeal lies to the criminal court of the department. 237. In regard to crimes which draw after them corporal or dishonorable punishments, no person can be prosecuted, except by virtue of an accusation preferred by a jury, or passed by the legislative body in cases where the latter has the right to pass the same. 23S. A jury first declares whether an accusation be accepted or rejected; a second jury passes on all matters of fact; and the punishment, fixed by law, is awarded by the penal courts. 239. The jurymen vote by secret voting. 240. In each department there are as many grand juries, as there are correctional courts. The presidents of the correctional courts, each in his district, are their directors. In communes over 50,000 souls there may by law be appointed, beside the president of the correc- tional court, as many directors of the grand juries, as business may require. 211. The functions of the commissioner of the executive power, and of the clerk to the director of the grand jury, are performed by the commis- sioner and clerk of the correctional court. 212. Every director of the grand jury has the immediate superintendence overall the police officers of his district. 243. The director of the grand jury prosecutes, as magistrate of the police, according to the informa- tion which the public prosecutor gives, as well ear- 1 IS CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. officio as according to the commands of the executive directory, 1. Infringements of the personal liberty or se- curity of citizens ; 2. thosa which are committed against the laws of nations ; 3. revolt against the execution both of judicial orders and executive acts, which issue from the constitutional powers ; 4. disturbances and violences committed in order to hinder the raising of taxes, the free circulation of provisions, and other subjects of trade. 244. In each department there is a criminal court. 245. The criminal court consists of a president, a public prosecutor, four judges taken from the civil court, the commissioner of the executive power of this same court, or his substitute, and a clerk. At the criminal court of the department of the Seine, there is a vice-president and a substitute of the public prosecutor. This court is divided into two sections ; eight members of the civil court act as judges. 246. The presidents of the sections of the civil court cannot fill the offices of judges in the criminal court. 247. The other judges fulfil the duties of their office, each in his turn during six months, in the order of their nomination, and during this time they can exercise no functions in the civil court. 248. The duty of the public prosecutor is : 1. to prosecute the crimes according to the accusations found as true by the first juries ; CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 119 2. to deliver to the magistrates of police the in- formations directly made to him ; 3. to watch over the officers of police of the department, and in case of negligence or greater crimes, to proceed against them ac- cording to law. 249. The duty of the commissioner of the execu- tive power shall be : 1. During the course of the prosecution to re- quire the due observation of forms, and, before the sentence, the due application of law ; 2. to see to the execution of the sentences passed by the court. 250. The judges cannot lay before the juries com- plicated questions. 251. The traverse jury consists of twelve jury- men; the accused has the right, without assigning reasons, to reject such a number of them as the law- shall determine. 252. The proceedings before the traverse jury are public, and the accused cannot be denied the assist- ance of counsel, whom they themselves may choose, or who is appointed for them by court. 253. He who has been acquitted by a legal ver- dict of the jury, cannot again be put on trial or ac- cused for the same cause. OF THE COURT OF CASSATION. 251. There is a court of cassation for the whole republic. It passes, 1. On applications for cassation of judgments passed by courts, in the last resort : 120 I ON I i I i i IONS OF M:a\' B. 2. on applications for removal of cases from one court to another, by reason of Legal suspicion or of the public peace; 3. on orders of judges, or on complaints against a whole court. 2.")."). The court of cassation can, in no case, exam- ine the main subject of the lawsuit ; but it annuls the judgments which have been passed according to proceedings, in which the forms have been violated, or which contain an express transgression of the law. and it refers the main subject to a court which has jurisdiction over it. 256. If, after one cassation, the second judgment in regard to the main subject, after the same legal proceedings as were had at first, is objected to, the question can no more be acted on by the court of cassation, without laying it first before the legisla- tive body, which shall pass a law, by which the court of cassation is to be governed. 257. The court of cassation is bound to send every year, to each of the two divisions of the legisla- tive body, a deputation which shall lay before the latter a list of the judgments pronounced, with the necessary annotations, and the titles of the laws, on which the judgments are founded. 25S. The number of judges of the court of cassa- tion can never exceed three fourths of the number of departments. 259. This court is every year renewed by one fifth. The electoral assemblies of the departments nomi- nate alternately the judges, who are to take the places of those that leave the court of cassation. The judges of this court may always be re-elected. CONSTITUTIONS OF FIIAV 1 I I 260. Each judge of the court of cassation lias a substitute, whom the same electoral assembly nomi- nates. 261. In every court of cassation there is a com- missioner and a substitute, whom the executive di- rectory nominates and recalls. 262. The executive directory informs, through its commissioner, the court of cassation of the acts by which the judges have overstepped their power : but this shall not injuriously affect the parties interested. 263. The court annuls these acts, and if a crime of office be found to have been committed, the mat- ter is laid before the legislative body, which issues the decree of accusation, after having first heard or summoned the accused. 264. The legislative body cannot annul the judg- ments of the court of cassation, but it may prosecute the judges in person, who have been guilty of ;i crime of office. THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. 265. There is a high court of justice to sit in judg- ment on the complaints preferred by tin' legislative body, both against their own members and against those of the executive directory . 266. The high court of justice consists of five judges and two national prosecutors, who air taken from the court of cassation, and of the grand jury- men who are chosen by the electoral assemblies of the departments. 267. The high court of justice is established by a proclamation of the legislative body, which the coun- cil of the five hundred draws up and publishes. 11 \ll CONSTITUTIONS OF I KANCE. 268. It is formed and holds its sessions at the place which is designated in the proclamation of the five hundred. This place must be at least twelve myriameters (il middle miles) distant from the place where the legislative hody has its seat. 269. When the legislative body has proclaimed the establishment of a high court of justice, the court of cassation chooses fifteen of its members in a public session, by lot. It nominates, hereupon, in the same session, by secret voting, five of these fif- teen ; the five judges thus nominated, are the judges of the high court of justice : they choose their presi- dent among themselves. 270. The court of cassation, at the same session, nominates, by secret balloting and absolute majority, two of its members, to take the place of public pro- secutors in the high court of justice. 271. The acts of accusation are drawn up by the council of the five hundred. 272. The electoral assemblies of each department nominate, every year, a juryman for the high court of justice. 273. The executive directory causes, one month after the time of the elections, the list of the jury- men chosen for the high court of justice, to be printed and published. TITLE IX. OF THE ARMED FORCES. 274. The armed force is established, to protect the state against foreign enemies, and to secure in the CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 1 23 interior the preservation of peace and the execution of the laws. 275. The public force must be essentially obcdb nt . no armed body can deliberate. 270. It is divided into the inactive national guard and the active national a;uard. OF THE INACTIVE NATIONAL GUARD. 277. The inactive national guard consists of all citizens, and sons of citizens, who are able to bear arms. 278. Their organization and discipline are the same throughout the republic ; they are specified by law. 279. No Frenchman can exercise the rights of a citizen, unless he is registered in the list of the in- active national guard. 280. Order of rank and subordination take place only in regard to the service, and during the same. 281. The officers of the inactive national guard are chosen by the citizens, of whom it consists, only for a given time, and they can be re-elected only after a certain interval. 282. The command of the national guard of a whole department, cannot be given to one citizen permanently. 283. When it is considered necessary to assemble the whole national guard of a department, the exec- utive directory may appoint a temporary commander. 284. The command of the inactive national guard, in a city of 100,000 inhabitants and more, cannot be permanently intrusted to one citizen. 124 co.Nsrni rioNS op pbance. OF THE NATIONAL GUARD IN ACTIVE SERVICE. 285. The republic supports, even in time of peace, an army by land and sea, under the name of na- tional guard in active service. 286. The army is made up of volunteers, and, if required, in such a manner as the law shall establish. 287. No alien, who has not acquired the rights of a French citizen, can be received into the French army, except he has fought through one or more campaigns for the establishment of the republic. 288. The commanders, or highest officers on land and sea, are appointed only in case of war; they re- ceive their commissions from the executive directory, which may be recalled at pleasure. The duration of these commissions is limited to one campaign, but they may be prolonged. 289. The general command of the armies of the republic cannot be intrusted to one single person. 290. The land and sea forces are subject to special laws, as regards discipline, form of sentences, and nature of punishments. 291. No part of the inactive, and also of the active national guard, can do any thing as regards the inte- rior service of the republic, except by a written summons of the civic power, according to the forms prescribed by law. 292. The public force can be called upon by the civic powers only in the extent of their territory; it cannot go from one canton into another, without the authorization of the departmental government, nor from one department into another, without an order from the executive directory. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 125 293. The legislative body, however, establishes the means to secure, through the public power, the exe- cution of sentences, and the prosecution of the ac- cused, throughout the whole French territory. 294. In case of an imminent threatening danger, the municipal administration of a canton may call upon the national guard of the neighboring cantons. Tn this case, both the administration which has summoned, and the commanders of the national guard, that have been summoned, are bound to give immediate notice thereof to the departmental admin- istration. 295. No foreign corps of troops can be brought into the French territory, without the previous as- sent of the legislative body. TITLE X- PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 296. There shall be in the republic, primary schools, in which the pupils shall learn to read and write, and the elements of arithmetic and morals: tho republic provides for the expense of dwelling- houses of teachers who preside over these schools. 297. There shall be, in the different parts of the republic, higher schools than these primary ones, in such a manner that there is at least one for every two departments. 298. There shall be, for the whole republic, a na- tional institute, the duty of which it shall be, to col- lect discoveries, and to perfect the arts and sciences. 299. The different institutions for public instruc- 11* 126 CONSTITUTIONS OP FB \M."i:. tion have among one another no relation of subor- dinancy or uniformity of administration. 300. The citizens have a right to establish special institutions for education and instruction, as veil as free societies for the purpose of promoting the pro- gress of sciences and arts. 301. National festivals shall be arranged for the purpose of preserving among the citizens the feeling of brotherhood, and of making them attached to the constitution, the country, and the laws. TITLE XI. FINANCES. TAXES. 302. The public taxes are every year considered and established by the legislative body. It belongs alone to the same, to lay taxes; they cannot exist longer than a year, unless they are expressly renewed by the same. 303. The legislative body may introduce any kind of taxes, which it may deem necessary ; but it must lay every year a tax on real and personal estate. 304. Every individual who is not included in arti- cles 12 and 13 of the constitution, and in the register of direct taxes, has the right to appear before the municipal administration of his commune, and have himself enrolled for a personal tax, equal to the local value of three days' manual labor. 305. The registering, mentioned in the preceding article can be done only in the month Messidor of every year (from the 19th of June to ISth of July.) 30ti. The taxes of every description are distributed CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 127 among all taxable persons in proportion to their property. 307. The executive directory guides and watches over the raising and payment of taxes, and issues all necessary orders accordingly. 308. The detailed accounts regarding the expendi- tures of the ministers, are signed and testified to by them, and published at the commencement of every year. The same rule applies to the accounts of the income of the different taxes and of all public revenr.es. 309. The accounts of these expenditures and re- ceipts are stated separately according to their nature; they contain the sums received and expended every year in each department of the general administration. 310. In like manner there shall be published the accounts of the special expenditures of the depart- ments, and those which relate to the courts, the ad- ministrations, the progress of science, and to all the public works and institutions. 311. The departmental administrations and muni- cipalities can make no change regarding the sums determined upon by the legislative body, nor, with- out being empowered by the latter, negotiate or allow a local loan on the citizens of the departments, of the communes or of the cantons. 312. The legislative body alone has the right to order the making and circulating of all kinds of coins, and to establish their value, weight and stamp. 313. The directory has the supcrinti'iidriice of the making of coins, and appoints the officers, who have the immediate exercise of this superintendence. 128 CONSTITUTION! OF PRANCE. 314. The legislative body establishes the taxes of the colonics, and their mercantile relations to the mother state. THE NATIONAL TREASURY AND ACCOUNTS. 315. There shall be five commissioners of the national treasury, who are appointed by the council of the ancients from a threefold list prepared by the council of the five hundred. 316. Their term of office is five years ; one of them ir removed every year, and may always be chosen again without any interval. 317. The duties of the commissioners of the national treasury are, to have the superintendence over the receipts of all national moneys ; to regulate the application of the moneys and the payment of all public expenses, of which the legislative body shall have approved ; to keep an open account of dis- bursements and income with the different adminis- trations of the national revenues, and with the pay- masters in the departments ; to carry on the neces- sary correspondence with the said collectors and paymasters, and with the administrations, in order to insure the accurate and regular paying over of the moneys. 318 They can, without rendering themselves guilty of a crime of office, allow no payment to be made, except by virtue of, 1. a decree of the legislative body, and to the amount of the sum specified by the same for every object; 2. a decree of the directory ; CONSTITUTION* OF FRANCE. 129 3. the signature of the minister who proposes the expense. 319. Nor can they, without rendering themselves guilty of an official crime, approve of any payment, unless the order signed by the minister to whose de- partment the expenditure belongs, bear the date both of the decree of the executive directory, and of the resolves of the legislative body, which allow the pay- ment. 320. The collectors of the direct taxes in each department, the different national administrations, and paymasters in the departments, deliver over their accounts to the national treasury, which shall examine and approve of them. 321. There shall be Jive commissioners of the national accounts, who are chosen by the legislative body at the same time, and in the same manner and on the same conditions, as the commissioners of the treasury. 322. The general accounts of receipts and disburse- ments of the republic, supported by the special accounts and vouchers, are by the commissioners of the treasury laid before the commissioners of ac- counts, who examine the same and certify to them. 323. The commissioners of accounts must give to the legislative body, information of the abuses, defal- cations, and all cases of responsibility which they discover in the course of their business ; they propose, on their part, measures advantageous to the republic. 324. The results of the accounts, approved of by the commissioners of accounts, are printed and pub- lished. 325. The commissioners, both of the national 130 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. treasury and of accounts, can be suspended or n moved only by the legislative body. But during tbe adjournment of the legislative body, tbe executive directory may suspend and tem- porarily replace the commissioners of the national treasury ; however, only two in number at most, and on condition that it report thereon to the two councils of the legislative body, as soon as they resume their session. TITLE XII. FOREIGN RELATIONS. 326. War cannot be declared except by a decree of the legislative body, at the formal and urgent proposal of the executive directory. 327. The two legislative councils issue together, in the usual forms, the decree by which war is de- clared. 328. In case of anticipated or commenced hostili- ties, threats or preparations of war against the French republic, the executive directory is bound to apply, for the defence of the state, the means in its power, under the responsibility of informing the legislative body thereof without delay. It may, in this case, point out the increase of forces, and the new regulations to be made by the le- gislative power, which circumstances might require. 329. The directory alone can maintain foreign political relations, carry on negotiations, distribute the forces on land and sea, as it may seem proper, and, in case of war, determine their movements. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 131 330. It is authorized to conclude preliminary agreements, as short armistices, declarations of neu- trality ; it may also enter into secret compacts. 331. The executive directory concludes and signs, or causes to be signed, all treaties of peace, alliance and of long armistices, all compacts of neutrality, commerce, and of a different nature, which it may deem necessary for the welfare of the state, with foreign powers. These treaties and compacts are negotiated in the name of tb.e French republic, through diplomatic agents whom the executive appoints and instructs. 332. In case that a treaty contain secret arti- cles, the provisions of these articles cannot cancel the public articles, nor contain any curtailment of the territory of the republic. 333. The treaties are not valid, until they have been examined and approved of by the legislative body; however, they may obtain temporary force at the same moment when they have beeu agreed upon by the directory. 334. Neither of the legislative councils shall de- bate on war or peace, except in a committee of the whole. 335. Foreigners, whether they be domiciled in France or not, inherit the estates of their relations, whether they be foreigners or Frenchmen ; they may enter into contracts, buy and take estates situ- ate in France, and dispose of them like French citi- zens, in any manner allowed by law. 132 CON.- P1TDTI0XS 01 ! ■ i: \NCE. TITLE XIII. REVISION OF Till: CONSTITUTION. 336. If experience should show objections to some articles of this constitution, the council of the an- cients shall propose a revision of them. 337. The proposal of the council of the ancients is, in this case, subjected to the concurrence of the council of the five hundred. 338. If, in the space of nine years, the proposal of the council of the ancients, confirmed by the council of the five hundred, have been made at three different periods, each being at an interval of three years at least, an assembly of revision shall be called together. 339. This assembly is formed of two members from each department, who are chosen in the same manner as the members of the legislative body, and must conform with the same conditions which are required for the council of the ancients. 340. The council of the ancients appoints, for the meeting of the revisionary assembly, a place which must be at least twenty myriameters removed from the one where the legislative body has its seat. 341. The revisionary assembly has the right to change its place of meeting, if it observes the dis- tance prescribed in the preceding article. 342. The revisionary assembly does not exercise any legislative or administrative functions, but con- fines itself exclusively to the revision of the articles of the constitution, specified by the legislative body. CONSTITUTIONS OK FRANCE. 133 343. All articles of the constitution, without ex- ception, retain their force as long as the changes pro- posed by the revisionary assembly have not been adopted by the people. 344. The members of the revisionary assembly consult together. 345. Citizens who, at the time of the revisionary assembly being called together, are members of the legislative body, cannot be chosen members of the former. 346. The revisionary assembly sends the draught of the changes, resolved upon by the same, immedi ately to the primary assemblies. It is dissolved as soon as the draught has been sent to the latter. 347. In no case can the duration of the revisionary assembly extend beyond the period of three months. 348. The members of the revisionary assembly can at no time be made responsible, accused or judged, in regard to what they have said or written in the discharge of official duties. During the time of their official functions they cannot be brought before court, except by a decree of the members of the revisionary assembly. 349. The revisionary assembly shall not attend any public ceremony ; its members receive the same remuneration as the members of the legislative body. 350. The revisionary assembly has the right, in the commune where it has its session, to exercise or have exercised police regulations. 12 l.'M CONSTITUTIONS UK FRANCE. TITLE XIV. OENKKAI. PROVISIONS. 351. There is among citizens no other kind of su- periors than the public officers, and these are only so in regard to the exercise of their offices. 352. The law recognizes no religions voids, nor any other obligation conflicting with the natural rights of man. 353. No one can be hindered from speaking, writing, printing and publishing his thoughts. Writings cannot be subjected, before publication, to any censorship whatever. No one can be made responsible for what he has written or published, except in cases specified by law. 354. No one can be hindered from exercising that religion which he may choose, if he conducts ac- cording to law. No one can be forced to contribute towards the support of any religious service. The republic pays nothing towards it. 355. There are neither privileges, nor master- ships, nor guilds nor corporations of mechanics, nor restrictions of the liberty of the press, of commerce, and of the exercise of trade and arts of all kinds. Every prohibitory law of this kind, if circum- stances make it necessary, is to be regarded as temporary, and has force only for one year at the longest, unless it be formally renewed. 356. The law watches especially over the trades CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 135 which relate to public morals and the security and health of the citizens; but the admittance to the ex- ercise of such trades cannot depend on any payment of money. 357. The law must take care for the rewarding of inventors, or for the preservation of the exclusive property of their inventions or productions. 358. The constitution guarantees the inviolability of all property, or a reasonable compensation foi that, the sacrifice of which is required by public ne- cessity legally approved of. 359. The house of every citizen is an inviolable place of refuge. During night no person has the right to enter it, except in case of fire, inundation, or a call proceeding from the interior of the house. At day the orders of the legitimate authorities may be executed in it. No house search can be had, except by virtue of law, and only in regard to the person or the subject, which is expressly designated in the warrant order- ing the search. 360. No corporation or association can be estab- lished, which is opposed to public order. 361. No assembly of citizens can regard itself a society of the people. 362. No special society which is occupied with po- litical subjects, can correspond with any other, nor officiate with the same, nor hold public sessions which consist of members and attendants, different from one another, nor establish conditions of ad- mittance and eligibility, nor arrogate the right of exclusivencss, nor allow its members to wear any external mark of their association. 138 CONSTITUTIONS 09 PBAMCB. 363. The citizens can exercise their political rights only in the primary <>r communal assemblies. 364. All citizens hare the right of presenting pe- titions to the public authorities, but they must be made only by single individuals; and no leagued as- sociation can prefer them in their general name col- lectively, except the existing authorities, and these also only on subjects which relate to them as such. The petitioners must never forget the respect due to the existing authorities. 365. Every armed assembly is an attack upon the constitution ; it must immediately be dispersed through the armed force. 366. Every unarmed congregation of people must likewise be dispersed, first by verbal order, and, if required, by resorting to armed force. 367. Several constituted boards of authority can never unite, for the purpose of acting together ; no act which has proceeded from such a union can be executed. 368. No person is allowed to wear badges of dis- tinction, which remind of past offices or services performed. 369. The members of the legislative body, and all public officers, when exercising the functions of office, must wear the costume or marks of power with which they are invested ; the law specifies the form. 370. No citizen can wholly or in part refuse com- pensation or a salary which is assigned to him by law, by virtue of his office. 371. In the republic there shall be only one kind of measures and weights. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. Iw7 372. The French time of counting commences with the 21st of September, 1792, the day of the foundation of the republic. 373. The French nation declares that it will in no way suffer the recall of those Frenchmen who have left their country since the 15th of July, 1789, and who are not included under the exceptions winch are contained in the laws against emigrants ; it for- bids the legislative body to make new exceptions in this respect. The estates of the emigrants are irrevocably con- fiscated for the benefit of the republic. 374. The French nation declares likewise, as a guarantee of public credit, that, after a legal appro- priation of national property, whatever its origin may have been, the legal owner shall never be dis- possessed of the same ; provided, however, that any claimant, in case his claims be well founded, shall be indemnified from the national treasury. 375. None of the powers established by the con- stitution has the right to change them either in the whole or in any of their parts, excepting the altera- tions which may be made by revision, and the pro- visions of the 13th article. 376. Citizens must ever bear in mind, that the duration, preservation and flourishing condition of the republic, will principally depend upon the wis- dom of the elections in the primary and the electoral assemblies. 377. The French nation intrusts the safe keeping of the present constitution to the fidelity of the le- gislative body of the executive directory; of the ad- ministrators and judges, to the watchfulness of fathers 12* 138 CONSTITUTIONS Of Ml". N of families, to the wives and mothers, to the love of the young citizens, and to the courage of all French- men. Revised by the representatives of the people, who have the supervision of the records. (Signed) Leiiault, Enjubault. Compared with the original by us, the president and the secretaries of the national convention. Paris, the 5th Fructidor, in the third year of the French republic, (August 22, 1795.) (Signed) M. J. CHENIER, President. Derasey, Soulignac, Bernier, Laurencot, Dentzel, Quirot, Secretaries. CONSTITUTION OF 1799. In consequence of the defeats which the French armies suffered, in the year 1799, under General Scherer in Italy, and under General Jourdan in Ger- many, the dissatisfaction of the French people against the executive directory increased, and the elections of the 20th of May, 1799, brought a large majority of the opposition into the two councils. Rewbell was obliged to withdraw from the directory, and Sieyes, who was opposed to the constitution of the year III., took his place. The directory and both the councils, on the 16th of June, declared them- selves to be permanent. Bonaparte, then in Egypt, being resolved to take part in the present catastro- phe, returned from there, and landed in France on CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 139 the 9th of October, 1799. He, acting in concert with Sieyes, overturned, on the 9th of November follow- ing, the constitution and the directory through mili- tary force, and the remainder of the councils ap- pointed a provisional government, consisting of three consuls, and Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger Ducos were nominated. A committee of the councils was charged with framing a new constitution, and Bona- parte, who attended their sessions, knew how to pre- vent the plan of Sieyes from being adopted, and to have his own ideas and plans embodied in the new fundamental law. This new constitution of the 8th year of the republic went into operation on the 27th of December, and was declared as adopted by the people, on the 7th of February, 18(H). The character of this instrument will speak for itself. Though France was still called a republic, it was so only in name, and it lost even this a few years after. The essentially new feature in this constitution, was the conservative senate and its func- tions. It was this same senate which declared the dethronement of Napoleon in 1814. Although this body, in lb04, when Napoleon was declared empe- ror, lost the right of nominating consuls, and in 1807, the right of nominating tribunes, it still re- tained the right of nominating the members of the legislative body, the judges of the court of cassation, and the commissioners of public accounts. Two other new features deserve to be mentioned, and these are, that the initiative in legislation was exclusively conferred upon the government, and that the principal officers of state were made irresponsi- ble. In the judicial department courts of appeal 140 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. were introduced. Also, the provisions regarding military persons and 1 1 i«i r families deserve special notice, in so far as they show the spirit in which Napoleon acted, and the policy which he pursued to make himself the idol of his armies. This fourth constitution, which we give here, was again essentially changed in the course of a few years, namely, in 1802, when Napoleon was declared consul for life, and in 1804, when he was declared emperor. As it is our present plan only to give the constitutions of France when a republic, we shall not give here the documents which contained the alterations, and are known by the name of decrees of the senate. CONSTITUTION OF DECEMBER, 179 9. TITLE I. OF THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHTS OF FRENCH CITIZENS. Art. 1. The French republic is one and indivisi- ble. Its territory in Europe is divided into depart- ments and communes. 2. Every man, born and living in France, who is twenty-one years old, has his name inscribed on the register of citizens of his communal district, and has resided on the territory of the republic for one year, is a French citizen. 3. An alien becomes a French citizen when he has attained the age of twenty-one years, and when, upon a declaration of his intention to establish his CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 141 domicile in France, he has lived there for ten years without intermission. 4. The rights of a French citizen is lost, by being naturalized in a foreign country ; by accepting offices and salaries which arc granted by a foreign government; by joining a foreign corporation whir 1 1 presup- poses a distinction of birth ; by being condemned to corporal and dishonora- ble punishments. 5. The exercise of the rights of French citizen- ship is temporarily suspended if a person becomes bankrupt, or the direct successor to the estate of an insolvent ; by being a servant for wages, being in the service of a single person or a household ; by a judi- cial interdict ; by being indicted before a court, or failing to appear before the same. 6. In order to be able to exercise the right of citi- zenship in a communal district, a person must have acquired the right of domicile by residing in the same for one year, and must not have lost it by an absence of one year. 7. The citizens of a communal district select, by election, from among themselves those whom they deem most qualified for public administration. Of these a list of citizens is made, who have public con- fidence, which list must be ccpial to one tenth of the number of all those who have a right to vote. Prom this first communal list the public officers of the district must be chosen. 8. The citizens named in the communal Lists of a department, also select one tenth of their number. In this manner a second list of confidence, the d< 142 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. partmcntal list is made, from which the public offi- cers of the department must be taken. !». The citizens named in the departmental list, likewise select one tenth of their number; hereby a third list of citizens of the department, who are eligible for public national offices, is formed. 10. The citizens who have the right to co-operate in forming one of the lists mentioned in the three preceding articles, are called together every three years, to fill the places of persons deceased, or of those members who are absent for other causes than on account of holding a public office. 11. They may at the same time strike out from the list the names of those, whom they deem it not proper to retain, and supply their places by others, who enjoy more their confidence. 12. No one can be stricken out from a list, except by an absolute majority of votes of those citizens who have a right to co-operate in forming it. 13. A person is not considered stricken out entirely from a list of eligible citizens, by being rejected from another list of a higher or lower grade. 14. The registration in a list of eligible citizens is only requisite in regard to those public offices, for which this condition is expressly established by the constitution or the law. The lists of eligible persons are for the first time made in the ninth year of the republic. The citizens who are nominated at the first estab- lishment of public powers, constitute a necessary part of the first list of eligible citizens. CONSTITUTIONS OF FiiANCE. 143 TITLE II. CONSERVATIVE SENATE. 15. The conservative senate shall consist of eighty members, who are not removable, and are appointed for life ; they must be at least forty years old. In order to form this senate, 60 members arc 6rsl nominated; it is increased in the eighth year to 62, in the ninth to 64, and thus by adding two members in each of the ten succeeding years, till the Dumber of 80 is complete. 16. The nomination to the office of senator is made by the senate, who chooses among three eligi- ble candidates, of whom one is proposed by the leg- islature, the second by the tribunate, the third by the first consul. It chooses only between two candidates, if one is proposed by two of the nominating powers. It is bound to accept one, who is proposed by all those powers at the same time. 17. The first consul, when he vacates his place, either by resignation or expiration of the term of office, becomes senator with full and absolute powers. The other two consuls may, during the first month after the expiration of their term of office, take a seat in the senate; however, they arc not bound to make use of this right. They have no claim to this right, if they resign their consular office of their own free will ami accord. Ill CONSTITUTIONS 01 FRANCS. 18. A senator can at no time be elected to any other public office. 19. All registers, made in the departments by vir- tue of the 9th article, must be sent to the senate; the national register is formed of them. 20. It chooses from this register the legislators, the tribunes, the consuls, judges of cassation, and commissaries of accounts. 21. It confirms or annuls all transactions which are by the tribunate or by the government pointed out as unconstitutional ; the registers of eligible persons are included among these transactions. 22. For the support and the expenditures of the senate, a definite income from the national domains is appropriated; the annual salary of each member is paid out of this income, and is equal to the twen- tieth part of the salary of the first consul, (25,000 francs.) 23. The sessions of the senate are not public. 24. The citizens Sieyes and Roger Ducos, who are now withdrawing from the consulate, are appointed members of the senate; they are to unite with the second and third consuls, whom this present constitu- tion shall appoint, and these four citizens nominate the majority of the senate, which in future shall com- plete itself and make the elections intrusted to the same. TITLE III. OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 25. No new laws shall in future be promulgated, except they have been proposed by the government, CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. ] I" communicated to the tribunate, and decreed by the legislative body. 26. The propositions made by the governm«'iir. shall be drawn up in articles. The same may, at all times, retract these propositions, and bring them for- ward again with alterations. 27. The tribunate consists of 100 members, who must be at least 25 years old. One fifth of them is renewed every year, and they may be re-elected as long as they are on the national register. 28. The tribunate deliberates on the proposed laws ; it votes on the adoption and rejection of the same It selects from amongst its members three speak- ers, by whom the motives of its declared wish re- garding each of the propositions, are laid before the legislative body and defended. It informs the senate only of unconstitutional pro- ceedings regarding the registers of eligible persons, and transactions in the legislatures and the govern- ment, in the form of a complaint. 29. It may present its wishes regarding laws, al- ready made or yet to be made, abuses to be reme- died, and regarding improvements in all parts of tin- administration, but never regarding civil or criminal cases, pending in the courts of law. Its wishes, made known according to the presenl article, have no necessary effect, and bind no public power to deliberate on them. 30. When the tribunate adjourns, it may nominate a committee of ten or fifteen of its members, whose duty it shall be to call the body together in cases of necessity. 13 146 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 31. The legislative body consists of 300 members, who must have attained to the age of thirty years. Om I'll lli of I In in is renewed every year. There must be in the same at least one citizen from each department of the republic. 32. A member leaving the legislative body cannot join it again till after a lapse of one year. He may, however, be immediately chosen to any other public office, including that of a tribune, provided he be eligible. 33. The sessions of the legislative body begin every year on the 1st Frimaire (21st November), and last only four months. During the remaining eight months it may be called together by the gov- ernment for an extra session. 34. The legislative body makes the laws by de- ciding, through secret voting, and without the least debate on the part of its own members, on the pro- posed laws, which have been discussed before the same by the speakers of the tribunate and of the government. 35. The sessions of the tribunate and of the legisla- tive body are public ; the number of persons present must, in neither body, exceed 200. 36. The yearly salary of a tribune shall be 15,000, and that of a legislator 10,000 francs. 37. Every decree of the legislative body shall be promulgated by the first consul, provided no appeal has, during this time, been made to the senate on the ground of its being unconstitutional. This appeal cannot be taken against laws that have already been promulgated. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRAN'( E. 1 J? 38. The first renewal of the legislative body and of the tribunate shall not take place till in the course of the tenth year. TITLE IV. OF THE GOVERNMENT. 39. The government is intrusted to three consuls. who are chosen for ten years, and may, without ex- ception, be re-elected. Each of them is chosen singly, with the distinguish- ing quality of the first, the second or the third. The constitution appoints the citizen Bonaparte. former provisional consul, to the office of first consul • to the office of the second consul, the citizen Cam baceres, former minister of justice ; and to the office of third consul, the citizen Lebrun, former member of the commission of the council of the ancients. — For this time, the third consul is appointed for fivi years. 40. The first consul has special duties and rights in which he may, if required, be at once supplied by one of his colleagues. 41. The first consul promulgates the laws; li< nominates and removes, at pleasure, the members of the council of state, the ministers, the ambassador. and other high foreign official agents (agens en chef the officers of the land and sea forces, the members of the local administrations, and the governmental commissaries in the courts of justice. 42. In the other duties of the government the second and third consuls have a deliberating voice 148 CONSTITUTIONS OP FRANCE. they sign the records of these transactions, to prove their presence, and may, if they choose, state therein their opinions, whereupon the decision of the first consul is sufficient. 43. The salary of the first consul is for the eighth year fixed at 500,000 francs. The salary of each of the two other consuls shall be three tenths of the salary of the first. 44. The government proposes the laws, and makes the necessary arrangements to secure their execution. 45. The government regulates the revenues and expenditures of ike state, according to the provision of the law which establishes every year the amount of both ; it superintends the stamping of coins, which may be circulated only according to a law which establishes the names, weight and stamp of them. 46. If the government shall have been informed that a conspiracy against the state has been formed, it may issue summons and orders of arrest against the persons who are suspected of being authors of or accessories to the same. But if they be not set free, or delivered over to the proper judicial tribunal, within ten days after their arrest, the minister who has signed the order of arrest shall be guilty of the crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 47. The government takes care of the internal safety and external defence of the state; it distrib- utes the land and marine forces, and conducts their movements. 48. The active national guard is subject to the orders of the public administration ; the inactive na- tional guard is subject only to the law. 49. The government regulates the foreign political CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 1 19 relations, conducts the negotiations, makes prelimi- nary compacts, signs and causes to be signed, and concludes all treaties of peace, alliances, armistices, compacts of neutrality and commerce, and of a dif- ferent nature. 50. Declarations of war, treaties of peace, alliance and commerce, are, like laws, proposed, discussed, decreed, and promulgated. 51. The secret articles of a treaty must not be op- posed to the public ones. 52. The council of slate is occupied, under the di- rection of the consuls, with the drawing up of /im- positions of lavs, and decrees of the public adminis- tration, and with the solution of difficulties, which arise in the administrative department. 53. From the members of the council of state are always taken the speakers, who, in the name of the government, debate before the legislative body. Only three such speakers are sent to defend one and the same proposition of law. 54. The ministers take care of the execution of the laws, and of the decrees of the public administration. 55. No act of the government has any legal force, unless it be signed by a minister. 56. One of the ministers is specially charg< d with the administration of the public treasure ; he secun s the revenues, and regulates the raising of money and the payments approved of by law. He can order no payment, except by virtue of, 1. a law, and to the amount specified for tin- particular kind of expenditure; 2. a decree of the government ; 3. an order of payment, signed by a minister. 13* L50 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 57. The specified accounts of the expenditures of each minister, signed and certified to by bim, are published. 58. The government may nominate and retain, as councillors of state and ministers, only such citizens whose names are contained in the national register. 59. The local administrations, which are estab- lished for each commune, and for extensive parts of the territory of state, are subordinate to the ministers. No one can become or remain a member of these administrations, unless his name is inscribed and re- tained in one of the registers mentioned in articles 7 and 8. TITLE V. OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE. 60. Each communal district has one or more jus- tices of the peace, who are directly chosen by the citizens for three years. Their principal duty consists in conciliating the parties, whom they shall advise, if conciliation be not effected, to have their matters in dispute decided upon by arbitrators. 61. Courts of the first resort and courts of appeal are established for all civil suits. Their internal arrangement, their rights and districts of jurisdic- tion are established by law. Articles 62, 63 and 64, provide that all crimes are passed upon by a grand jury, who find a bill of complaint, and by a traverse jury who pass upon CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 151 the facts, and that a criminal court of judges shall award the sentences. Crimes that are not punish- able by corporal or dishonorable punishments arc passed upon by a police court, from which an appeal lies to the criminal court. Articles 65 and 66, establish a court of cassation, Avith the same powers which it had under former constitutions. Articles 67 and 68, provide that the judges, who form the courts of first resort, are taken from the communal and departmental lists; the judges of the courts of appeal are taken from the departmental list, and the judges of the court of cassation from the national list. The judges, excepl the justices of the peace, are chosen for life, except they be found guilty of improper conduct, or be not retained on the lists of eligible citizens. TITLE VI. OF THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICERS. Art. 69. The offices of the members of the senate, of the legislative hody, of the consuls and councillors of state, do not include responsibility. 70. Crimes, liable to corporal or dishonorable pun- ishments, which are committed by a membei i if the senate, tribunate, legislative body or council of state, are prosecuted before the ordinary courts of justice, after the prosecution shall have hern first allowed by the body to which the accused belongs. 71. Those ministers who are accused of a private 152 CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. crime, liable to a corporal or dishonorable punish- ment, are considered as members of tbe council. 72. Tbc ministers are responsible . 1. for an act of government, signed by them, wbich the senate declares to be unconstitu- tional : 2. for the non-execution of laws and of general administrative decrees; 3. for the special orders, issued by them, if they be contrary to the constitution, the laws and decrees. 73. In cases, mentioned in the preceding article, the tribunate sets forth the complaint against the minister in a special writing, on which the legisla- tive body deliberates in the usual forms, and after summoning and hearing the accused. The minister who is delivered over to the administration of justice, is judged by a high court of justice, without right of appeal or application for cassation. The high court of justice is composed of judges and a jury. The judges are nominated by the court of cassation from its own members ; the jurymen are taken from the national list ; and all this shall be done according to forms established by law. 74. The civil and criminal judges are, on account of crimes committed by them in relation to their official duties, prosecuted before those courts, to which the court of cassation shall send them, after having cancelled their acts. 75. The official agents of the government, except- ing the ministers, may be prosecuted for acts relat- ing to their official duties, only upon a decree of the council of state; and this before the ordinary tribu- nals. CONSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. 153 TITLE VII. GENERAL PROVISIONS. Articles 76-84, provide, that every person's house is his castle and inviolable; that no person shall be arrested or imprisoned except by a warrant, legally issued, and that magistrates and jailors guilty of a breach of duty in this respect, are liable to punish- ment for wilful arrest; that the right of petition is granted to every individual; and that no armed force can deliberate. 85. Crimes committed by military persons, arc to be tried by special courts according to special legal forms. 86. The French nation declares that all military persons, wounded whilst engaged in the defence of their country, and all widows and children of those who have died on the field of battle, or in consequence of wounds there received, shall receive a yearly pension. 87. Rewards shall be given, in the name of the nation, lo those soldiers, who shall have ji. t formed distinguished services in battles, for the republic. 88. A national institute is charged with collecting all discoveries, and with perfecting the arts and sciences. 89. A commission of national accounts regulates and corrects the accounts of the revenues ami ex- penditures of the republic. This commission shall consist of seven members, chosen by the senate from the national list. L5 I i oNsi'i n i [0X8 '»!' i KANCE. Articles 90-94, provide, that two thirds of any legal body shall constitute a quorum: that the French colonies are governed by special laws; that in caseof an armed rebellion, the constitution may be suspended by the legislative body, and during its n- cess, by the government itself: that the French emigrants since the 14th of July, 1789. are forbidden to return, and their estates are confiscated : that the sale of all national estates is guaranteed to the pur- chasers. 95. This present constitution shall immediately be laid before the French nation for its adoption. Done at Paris, the 22d Frimaire of the eighth year of the one and indivisible French republic. (13th December, 1799.) (Signed) REGNIER, President of the Committee of the Council of the Ancient*. JACQUEMINOT, President of the Committee of the Five Hundred. ROUSSEAU, VERNIER, Secretaries of the Committee of the Council of the Ancients. ALEXANDER VILLETARD, FREGEVILI.E, Secretaries of the Committee of the Council of the Five Hundred. Roger Ducos, Sieves, Bonaparte, Consuls. APPENDIX. THE LAW OF NATURALIZATION IN FRANCE UNDER THE LATE MONARCHY. The laws of naturalization varying in each of the republican constitutions of France, it may be of interest to know, what the laws were, in this respect, under the monarchical government. We therefore add these here. The law in France distinguishes three classes of Frenchmen. The one class only enjoy civil rights, but have not the exercise of them (art. 8). The other have the exercise of civil rights, but are not citizens. The third, finally, have the exercise of civil rights, and more- over the qualification of citizens (art. 7). Every Frenchman enjoys civil rights. This qualification is acquired either by birth or operation of law. Frenchmen by right of birth are, 1. Every child born in France, or in a foreign country by French parents that have not lost this character (art. 10). 2. Those born in France by unknown parents. 3. Those who are born either in France or a foreign country of a French mother and an unknown father. Frenchmen by operation of law are, 1. The foreign woman who marries a Frenchman (art. 12). 2. The citizens of a country legally annexed to France. 3. Finally, all those who have complied with the conditions and the following formalities for the purpose of becoming naturalized. 1. A person being twenty-one years of age must have de- clared to the magistrate (mairie) of his town (commune) that it is his intention to establish himself in France. 2. He must have obtained the royal consent to hi.s residing there, and must have actually resided there daring ten y<:irs in succession, to be counted from the lime he made his declaration to the " mairie." 3. Finally, the naturalization must have been decreed by the king ; for this purpose, the intention of being naturalized, and the other required certificates, are sent by the magistrate (mairie) to the prefect, who transmits all the papers, together with his own opinion, to the minister of justice, upon whose reporl the king decrees. A person who has complied with all these formalities, is not only a Frenchman, but also a French citizen ; nevertheless, in order to hold a seat as member of t he chamber of peers, 01 of 15G APPENDIX. the chamber of deputies, the letters of naturalization must be verified by the two chambers. (Ordonnance da 4 Jain, 1814.) The government also is authorized to cofifer upon strangers, who have done important service to the state, the qualification and rights of a French citizen after one year's residence in the country. The code points out two other modes of becoming a French- man. The first is in relation to a child born in France of an alien. The law grants him the favor of acquiring the qualifi- cation of a Frenchman, without having recourse to the formali- ties of naturalization (art. !l). The second relates to a child born in a foreign land of a Frenchman who had lost his rights ; this child can at any time recover the rights of a Frenchman. (Art. 10.) Art. 9 of the code is as follows : Every individual born in France of a stranger, shall be able in the year following his coming of age, to claim the rights of a Frenchman, provided that in case he resides in France, he declares his intention to establish there his domicile, and in case he resides in a foreign country, he shall give in his ititention of establishing his domicile in France, and that he shall actually establish himself there within a year from his application. Art. 10. Every child born of a Frenchman in a foreign land, is French. Every child born of a Frenchman that may have lost the qualification of a Frenchman, shall always be able to recover this qualification by complying with the formalities pre- scribed in Art. 9. The 11th Art. of the code enacts, that an alien shall enjoy in France the same civil rights which shall have been accorded to Frenchmen by treaties with the nation to which the alien may belong. Before this enactment, an alien who resided in France without a royal consent, enjoyed the right to do, in the proper legal forms, all the acts which are derived from the laws of nations, such as those of commerce, buying and selling, &c, but he was deprived of all capacity in regard to those which are derived from civil law, such as to receive in France a gift inter vivos or by testament, to enter upon an estate intestate left by his parents, French or alien, or to take the benefit of the act -of insolvency, etc. The system of reciprocity, adopted by the 11th article of the code, has principally for its object the abolishment of the droit d'aubaine. L'aubain (alibi natus) is a person born in a foreign land. Droit d'aubaine is called the right of the sovereign to succeed, to the exclusion of all other persons, to the property of aliens not naturalized, who die intestate in his dominions. \\f\ e - wP* UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. •JAN oW9» 1ff*QX&M MAY 2 198? •Rl OWON JUL 0^ "89 LDIURL 1 OiURt OCT 05 89 su/tic &#># fe &b 4W MM 8 Z0UU 'WWJUM ^ 35ro-8,'71 (P6347s4)-C-120 .- >=n • --* ' !IFORj< ^ k s \. III !j=y A c III 31 158 00999 3816 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY II II | | I III || |||| || AA 001 269 456 m ce I v ^^~-