first, that the orders given at Ferrol, Cadiz, and Carthagena, should be countermanded, as well for the equipment of ships of war in any of those ports, as for their removal from one of those ports to another. Secondly, that not only the present armaments should be discontinued, but that the establishment of ships of war in the different ports should be replaced on the footing on which they stood at the commencement of hostilities between England and France. Thirdly, that a full disclosure should be made of the existing engagements, and of the future intentious of Spain with respect to France. From the period above-mentioned to the second of November, several official notes passed between his Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires and the Spanish minister, consisting, with little variation in their tenour, of urgent demands of satisfaction on the one side, and of evasive and unsatisfactory replies on the other. After repeated delays and reiterated applications, his Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires received his passports on the seventh of November, and departed from Madrid on the fourteenth of that month. During the whole of this negotiation, no mention was made of the detention of the Spanish treasure ships, nor does it any where appear that an account had been received at Madrid of that transaction. It is evident therefore, notwithstanding the attempt made by the Spanish court to avail itself of that event, in the Manifesto which has been since published, that the state of war must equally have arisen between Great Britain and Spain, had the detention never taken place, and that, is point of fact, the rupture ultimately took place upon grounds distinct from, and totally unconnected with, that measure.The leading circumstances which characterize the reiterated abuse of his Majesty's moderation, were each of them of a nature to have exhausted any less settled system of lenity and forbearance. Succours afforded to his enemies; explanations refused or evaded, after repeated demands; conditions violated, after distinct notice that on them depended the continuance of peace. Such has been the conduct of the Spanish court; and it is, under these circumstances, that his Majesty finds the domineering influence of France exerted, and the Spanish nation in a state of declared and open war. -His Majesty appeals with confidence to all Europe for the acknowledgment of his exemplary moderation in the whole course of these transactions. His Majesty feels with regret the necessity which places him in a state of hostility with Spain; and would with heartfelt satisfaction observe, on the

part of that country, the assumption of a more dignified sense of national importance, and a more independent exercise of sovereign rights. His Majesty would indeed be most happy to discover in the councils of Spain a reviving sense of those ancient feelings and honourable propensities which have at all times been so congenial to the Spanish character, and which, in better times, have marked the conduct of its government. His Majesty will, on his part, eagerly embrace the first opportunity, thus offered, of resuming a state of peace and confidence with a nation which has so many ties of common interest to connect it with Great Britain, and which he has hitherto been ever' disposed to regard with sentiments of the utmost consideration and esteem.

WAR WITH SPAIN. Address of His Excellency the Prince of Peace, Generalissimo of his arbolic Majesty's forces, to the Fleets, Armies, and eople of Spain. Dated, Madrid, the 10th of December, 1804.

The King has condescended to submit to me, as generalissimo of the royal armies, the conduct of the war commenced with Great Britain; and he commands, that all the pricipal officers of his dominions cor. respond privately with me on the subject connected with this event. To comply with the terms of the confidence reposed in me, and to fulfil the honourable duties enjoined me in the supreme authority over his gallant troops with which I am invested, it is expedient that I call into activity my loyal zeal in his cause, and adopt the most effectual means to discharge this high and important office. It is universally known, that when we were in a state of profound peace with England, hostilities were commenced by that country, by the capture of three frigates; one was destroyed in the contest; a regiment of infantry destined for Minorca was made prisoners; many vessels laden with grain were taken; and others, under the burthen of one hundred tons, were de stroyed. When were these robberies, these acts of treachery and assassination, committed? When our Sovereign admitted the ships of that nation to a free and undisturbed commerce, and gave the necessary supplies to their ships of war. What profligacy and degradation in the one; what honour and dignity in the other. On the view of this perfidy, is there a Spaniard whose indignation will not be excited? Is there a soldier who will not grasp the weapon of destruction? Brave seamen, three hundred of your brethren have had their mangled members scattered to the winds; one thousand are de

prived of the light of heaven, in the dungeons of your enemies. Valiant soldiers, an equal number of your companions in arms are deprived of the swords they knew how to wield, and are carried to a remote island where they will either perish with hunger, or be constrained to unite with the ranks of the detested foe. Remember, then, your sacred obligations. Generous Spaniards, a few innocent and defenceless fishermen are reduced to the lowest step of human misery, and their afflicted wives and deserted offspring implore your pity, and demand your protection. In fine, thousands of families, expecting support from the wisdom of the state, in a season of famine, are brutally deprived of the subsistence provided for them, and exclaim, with the voice of thunder--Vengeance! Vengeance! Let us then, my countrymen, obey; the King expects it, and honour and justice require it at our hands. If the English have forgotten that the blood which circulates in the veins of Spaniards is the same which flowed in the breasts of those who triumphed over the Carthagenian, the 'Roman, the Vandal, and the Saracen, it is time that the recollection should be revived: it is time to convince them that we will preserve the fame of our ancestors unsullied, and shew to them that we will perform our duty to posterity, if it require that our ranks should be thinned to add to the glorious catalogue of Castillian heroism. If these distant islanders have attributed our desire to preserve tranquillity within our borders to lamentable weakness, or to dishonourable fear, let them at least be taught that the latter can never disgrace the bosom of a Spaniard, glowing with all the ardent and liberal impressions peculiar to his country. Quickly will we teach them, that a loyal, virtuous, and brave people, attached to religion, and enamoured of true glory, can never be insulted with impunity, much less can it endure an instance of sanguinary violence directed against its dignity and independence. If the English, unmindful of the principles of humanity respected among civilized nations, abandoning all shame and remorse, have only sought to obtain possession of our treasures, which we should have peaceably delivered to thein, had they been entitled to the property, we will recall to their memory a fact which we trusted had been universally acknowledged that the abuse of power, the violation of public right, and the mad excesses of despotism, have ever been the awful presage of the fall of Empires. Let them hide their di ho oured heads; let them tremble in the contemplation of this ill-gotten wealth; let them shudder before the

bloody victims of their aggression; and let an eternal mark of infamy be impressed, and

universal detestation be excited for these examples of public atrocity. - Valiant Spaniards! the nobleness of your character no longer admits you to be inactive wit nesses of these disgraceful scenes. The love of our King for his people is perfectly known, and leaves no doubt that his numerous vassals will coincide in his wishes, and gratify his expectations. To arms, then, my fellow soldiers and countrymen, and engage in the war in the way most likely to hurl a terrible destruction upon our enemies; but while we spread the terrors of battle, let us not, in imitation of our enemies, desert those general maxims of humanity, which are respected by all regular governments. In order that the Chiefs of the State may proceed in this important business with the energy which the occasion requires, and the King commands, I proclaim, in his royal name, that if the success of any enterprise should not be equal to the wisdom by which it is planned, and the gallantry with which it is executed, they will not be considered responsible for the event: but they will be liable to the consequences, if they do not put in activity the full extent of the resources with which they are entrusted. Nations not provided with the means with which we are supplied, and placed in situations much more critical, have known so well how to economise their li mited powers, as to make that people which dared to trample on their rights, feel the ef fects of their resentment. Fan the public ardour into general conflagration; avail yourselves of the magnanimity of a whole country, and prodigies will lose their character, and become familiar.Under the present circumstances, it becomes the governors of the provinces to spread the generous spirit of enthusiasm amongst the troops under their orders; it behoves the venerable dig. nitaries of the Church, and the Civil Officers in the various political departments, to animate all orders and ranks of men to assert the honour of their King and Country, by the powerful influence of example, and by the attractive charms of eloquence.--In cases out of the ordinary current of events, it will be expedient to recur to means equal to the occasion; and each province of the Empire will, according to its peculiar situation, vary in the efforts it directs to annoy the common enemy. Learn how to blend wisdom with patriotism, and let every com mander, and every district, in obedience to him, present before the Sovereign and Citizens of the State, and before the eyes of all Europe, deeds worthy of the country to

seats, to the right, were the councillors of state, and to the left, the tribunes; on the remaining seats of the Amphitheatre sat the members of the legislative body, in the centre of whom, and in the front of the throne, was the president, on a particular seat; on his side were the questors, and behind him two ushers. All the persons present being seated and covered, Prince Joseph, the grand elector, quitted the right of the Emperor, advanced towards the ballustrade, and asked of his Majesty permission to administer the oath to the members of the legislative body. A questor then called the legislators, who successively pronounced aloud, standing: "I swear obedience to the constitutions of "the Empire, and fidelity to the Emperor." The appeal terminated, the Emperor rose, the legislators uncovered themselves, and his Majesty delivered the following

IMPERIAL SPEECH.

Deputies from the departments to the legislative body, tribunes, and members of my Council of state: I am come, gentlemen, to preside at the opening of your session. My anxious desire is, to impress a more imposing and august character on your proceedings; yes, princes, magistrates, soldiers, citizens, we have all of us, in the career we have to run, but one object-the interest of the country. If this throne, to which Providence and the will of the nation have raised me, be dear in my eyes, it is because that throne can alone defend and maintain the most sacred interests of the French people. Unsupported by a vigorous and paternal government, France would have still to fear the return of those calamities by which she has been afflicted. The weakness of the supreme power is the deepest misfortune of nations. As a soldier or First Consul, I entertained but one thought; as Emperor, I am influenced by no other-and that is, every thing that contributes to the prosperity of France. I have had the good fortune to illustrate France by victories, to consolidate her by treaties, to rescue her from civil broils, and revive among her inhabitants the influence of morals, of social order, and of religion, Should death not surprise me in the midst of my labours, I fondly hope I may transmit to posterity a durable impression, that must serve as an example or reproach to my successors. The minister of the interior will submit to you a statement of the situation of the Empire The deputation from my council of state will present to you the different objects that are to occupy the legis lature. I have given instructions that there be laid before you the accounts which my

ministers have given me of their respective departments. I am fully satisfied with the prosperous state of our finances: whatever may be the expenditure, it is covered by the revenue. How extensive soever have been the preparations imposed upon us by the exigencies of the war in which we are engaged, I call upon my people for no new sacrifice.It would have been highly gratifying to me, on so solemn an occasion, to see the blessings of peace diffused over the world; but the political principles of our enemies, their recent conduct towards Spain, but too strongly speak the difficulties that oppose it. I am not anxious to enlarge the territory of France, but to assert its integrity. I feel no ambition to exert a wider stretch of influence in Europe; but not to descend from that which I have acquired. No state shall be incorporated with the Empire; but I shall not sacrifice my rights, or the ties that bind me to the states that I have created.In bestowing the crown upon me, my people entered into an engagement to exert every effort which circumstances may require, in order to preserve unsullied that splendour which is necessary for their prosperity, and indispensible for their glory, as well as for mine. I am full of confidence in the energy of the nation, and in the sentiments it enter tains for me. Its dearest interests are the constant object of my solicitude.-Deputies from the departments of the legislative body, tribunes, and members of my council of state: your conduct, gentlemen, during the preceding session, the zeal with which you glow for your country, your attachment to my person, I hold as pledges of the assistance for which I call upon you, and which, I trust, I shall receive from you during the course of the present session.

In the sitting of the 31st of December, the President read the following Message.

At the Palace of the Tuilleries, 10th Nivôse, year 13.-Napoleon Emperor of the French. We have nominated and do nominate, Messrs. Champagny, Minister of the Interior; Regnaud and Lacuée, Councillors of State, to repair to the Legislative Body this day, 10th Nivôse, and there make the statement of the situation of the Empire. By the Emperor, (Signed)-NAPOLEON.The Secretary of State, (Signed) —— H. B. MARET.

EXPOSÉ.

Mr. Champagny.-" Gentlemen, In con sequence of the nomination of which infor mation has just been given to you, I am going to have the honour of stating to you the situation of the French Empire.--The

interior situation of France is at this day what it was in the calmest times; no movement which can alarm the public tranquillity; no crime which belongs to the remembrance of the revolution; every where useful undertakings, every where the improvement of public and private property attest the progress of confidence and of security.The leaven of opinion no longer sharpens the spirits; the sentiments of the general interest, the principles of social order, better known and more refined, have attached all hearts to the common prosperity. This is what all the administrations proclaim; this is what the Emperor has witnessed in all the departments he has travelled through; this is what has just been demonstrated in the most striking manner. All the armies have seen themselves at once separated from their generals, all the military corps from their chiefs; the superior tribunals, deprived of their first magistrates; the public ministry, of its first organs; the churches of their principal pastors; the towns, the countries, simultaneously quitted by every one who has power and influence over men's minds; the people every where abandoned to their genius; and the people have every where shown themselves desirous of order and of the laws.--At the same moment the Sovereign Pontiff travelled through France. From the banks of the Po to the borders of the Seine, he has every where been the object of a religious homage rendered him by that immense majority, who, faithful to the ancient doctrine, see a common father and the centre of the common belief in him whom all Europe reveres as a sovereign, raised to the throne by his piety and his virtues.--A plot laid by an implacable Government, was going to replunge France into the abyss of civil wars and of anarchy At the discovery of that horrible plot, all France was moved; inquietudes ill laid asleep, were again awakened, and io every mind was at once found anew, principles which have been those of all wise men, and which were constantly ours before error and weakness had alienated men's minds, and guilty intrigues had misled their opinions.The nation had experienced that power divided was without accord and without strength; it had been made sensible that intrusted for a time, it was only precarious, and permitted neither long labours nor long thoughts; that intrusted for the life of a single man, it grew weak with him, and left atter him only chances of discord and of anarchy; it was convinced in fine that there were safety, for great nations, only in hereditary power; that it alone secured their political life, and em

us.

braced in its duration generations and ages. -The senate was, as it should be, the organ of the common inquietude. Soon burst forth that wish to see the power hereditary which dwelt in all hearts truly French; it was proclaimed by the electoral colleges, by the armies, the council of state, magistrates, the most enlightened men were consulted, and their answer was unanimous.-The necessity of hereditary power in a state so vast as France, had been long since perceived by the First Consul. In vain had he resisted the force of principles, in vain Irad he tried to establish a system of election which might perpetuate public authority, and transmit it without danger and without troubles.--Public inquietudes, the hopes of our enemies, accused his work. His death was to be the ruin of his labours. It was till this term that foreign jealousy, and the spirit of discord and anarchy waited for Reason, sentiment, experience dictated equally to all Frenchmen that there was no certain transmission of power but that which was effected without interval, that there was no tranquil succession but that which was regulated by the laws of nature. When such motives supported such pressing wishes, the determination of the First Consul could not be doubtful. He resolved then to accept for himself and for two of his brothers after him, the load which was imposed on hin by the necessity of circumstances.--From his meditations ripened by conferences with the members of the senate, by discussions in the councils, by the observations of the wisest men, was formed a series of dispositions which fixes the inheritance of the imperial throne; which assigns to the princes their rights and their duties;-which promises to the heir of the empire an education regulated by the laws, and such that he will be worthy of his high destinies ;- which designates those who, in case of minority, will be called to the regency, and marks the limits of their power; which places between the throne and the citizens, dignities and offices accessible to all, encouragements and recompences of the public virtues ;-which give to men honoured with great distinctions, or invested with great authority, judges sufficiently great to bend neither before their authority, nor before their distinctions ;which gives to crimes against the public safety and the interest of the empire, judges essentially attached to the safety of the em pire and to its interests;-which places more lustre and more weight in the fenc tions of the legislator, more development and more extent in the public discussion of the laws; which recals the tribunels and