ly
exposed the principles, on which hereditary monarchies are founded. He
invoked the constitution, the solemn oaths taken in the _Champ de
Mai_, and conjured the peers, the faithful guardians of the fealty
sworn, and of the constituent laws of the monarchy, to reject this
unconstitutional resolution, and proclaim Napoleon II. Emperor of the
French.

M. de Pontecoulant strongly resisted this proposal; declaring, that he
never would consent to acknowledge as sovereign a Prince not in
France, and a captive as regent. "Besides," added he, "by what right
does the Prince of Cannino come to speak within these walls? is he a
Frenchman?"

"If I be not a Frenchman in your eyes," exclaimed Prince Lucien, "I am
in the eyes of the whole nation."

Labedoyere darted rapidly to the tribune. "I have seen," said he,
"round the throne of the prosperous sovereign, men, who now shun it,
because he is in adversity. They are at this moment ready to receive
any prince, that foreigners may think proper to impose on them. But,
if they reject Napoleon II., the Emperor ought to have recourse to his
sword, and to those brave men, who, covered as they are with blood and
scars, still cry 'Long live the Emperor!' It was, in favour of his
son, that he abdicated: his abdication is void, if Napoleon II. be not
acknowledged. Shall French blood have been spilt again, only to make
us pass a second time under a foreign yoke? to bow the head beneath a
degraded government? to see our brave warriors drink the cup of
bitterness and humiliation, and deprived of the rewards due to their
services, their wounds, their glory? There are still here perhaps
generals," turning his eyes toward Marshal Ney, "who meditate new
treasons; but woe to all traitors: may they be devoted to infamy! may
their houses be rased, their families proscribed!" At these words the
most lively expressions of displeasure burst out in the assembly.
Labedoyere, interrupted, impiously exclaimed: "_Great God!_ is it then
decreed, that the voices of baseness alone shall be heard within these
walls?"

This exclamation excited fresh murmurs. "We have already a foreign
war," said M. Boissy d'Anglas: "must we have a civil war also?
Unquestionably the Emperor has made the greatest of sacrifices to our
country, but the proposal, to proclaim Napoleon II. is unseasonable
and impolitic. I move the order of the day."

Messrs. de Segur, de Flahaut, and Roederer, opposed this, and
strenuously maintain