"The fifth article of the same treaty assigned to me the sovereignty of the estates of Parma, transmissible to my son and his descendants.

"I will not discuss the merits of these treaties in respect of the Emperor Napoleon. They are more or less binding on him, in proportion as he exercised his will more or less freely in signing them. We will simply say, that he had not the power of disposing, after his life, of the crown which his son received as his birthright from the French nation and its constitutional laws.

"If the sovereigns of France, no more than the other principal sovereigns of Europe, have never been able to break through the established rule of succession in their own families, so as to transmit their crown to their second or third son, to the prejudice of their first born, how comes it that the Emperor Napoleon, should be able to deprive the Prince Charles Francis Napoleon of his right of inheritance, in order to transfer it into foreign hands? Can a conspiracy have destroyed by its irregular acts the force and virtue of the laws of the French empire? Can it have destroyed the royalty which the prince, my son, holds of divine as well as national right? The princes whom this conspiracy has put upon the throne of my son, fully admitted these principles themselves, when they refused to acknowledge the acts of the government styled provisional. Ten years of free government, acknowledged by all the powers in Europe, at a time when the name of Buonaparte was not yet inscribed in the annals of war-fifteen years' existence of an empire, the social conventions of which establish the rights of

the Emperor Napoleon, and those of his dynasty, rendered indisputable the legitimacy of his crown.

"When, during my residence at Blois, I exercised the authority of Regent, I appealed to the devotion of Frenchmen, I received the strongest testimonies of their love and zeal for the cause of their legitimate prince. The presence of your armies, and the tendency of your policy, forbade me to respond to the wishes of that faithful nation.

"The fate of nations being submitted to your award, your object will no doubt be to conciliate their rights and wishes with the rights and interests of sovereigns. Circumstances have deprived my son of his sovereignty over the French nation, and both himself and his people are equally injured in their rights by this fatal result of the late course of events. In this state of things, we, in our quality of empress and of mother, and before any authentic resolution be taken by the congress, protest, by the present deed, against all acts of the existing government of France, which has been established to the prejudice of the legitimate heir to the throne. We protest, likewise, in our own name, as well as in that of the Prince Charles Francis Napoleon, presumptive heir to the possessor by right of the French crown, against all resolutions of the high powers assembled at Congress, whether taken collectively or individually, and tending to impair the rights of the prince, my son, to the said French crown.

"The throne of the Prince Charles Francis Napoleon is that raised by the French nation, such as it existed at the time when its choice and election called the Emperor Napoleon to the head of its

government. But if, in the arduous struggle in which it has been engaged, the French empire has been constrained by the force of arms to sign the treaty of Paris, we think it just, inasmuch as respects the territories not forming part of present France, that the conditions thereof be faithfully and for ever observed. To this end we here declare, that the present protest solely applies to the illegal occupation of that territory of France constituting the present monarchy.

Having thus developed her claims, the Empress Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Parma, &c. representing the Prince Charles Francis Napoleon her son, a minor, requests the justice and magnanimity of the allied powers, that the subject of her claims be submitted to the deliberation of Congress; and that an acknowledgment of the present protest be delivered unto her, in order that she may produce it whenever it may please Divine Providence to afford her time and place for that purpose.

"In faith of which, and to give all due authenticity to the present protest, she has affixed to it her seal, and written it in her own hand, at the palace of Schoenbrun, February 19, 1815.

(L. S.) MARIE LOUISE, Imperatrice."

The high powers assembled at the above mentioned Congress, after having deliberated, in their sitting of the 24th of February, on the above reclamation of her Imperial Majesty Maria Louisa, conformably to the opinion of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, of his Imperial and Royal Majesty the Emperor of Austria, the father of

VOL. I.

H

her Imperial and royal Majesty the Empress Maria Louisa; and from, the respect due to the personal character of her Majesty the Empress, resolved that the act emanated from her on the 19th of February, commencing by the words "Marie Louise," and ending by those," written by her hand, &c." shall be inscribed in the Protocole of the Acts of the Congress. The French ministers, having protested against this decision, abstained from signing it.

POSTHUMOUS FAME.

In the year 1802, the general council of the department of the Seine, solicited Buonaparte to sanction the erection of a triumphal arch to his memory, in the Place du Chatelet. He replied, "I view with complaisance the sentiments which possess the magistrates of the city of Paris towards me; the idea of dedicating monuments to men, who render themselves useful to a people, is honourable to the nation which entertains it. I accept the offer of a monument which you wish to raise to me, but leave its construction to future ages; let them ratify the good opinion which you have of me."

THE LEGION OF HONOUR.

NAPOLEON, like Burke, had an eye to "the cheap defence of nations;" after beating down all the republican forms and usages, he infused heroic sentiments into the minds of his soldiers and the youth of France, by means of the milliner and the toy shop -half a yard of scarlet ribbon, and a little badge of gold. These were sent, not to warriors alone, but

to men of letters and men of science, and he himself holding a solemn court at the Tuilleries, in the year 1804, from a golden vase first bestowed these insignia, in the form of crosses, on the commanders of the legion.

The Legion of Honour possessed a palace and considerable revenues. The sons were educated at the expense of the nation, and the daughters were bred up without cost to their parents.

NOTHING TOO GOOD FOR A FRENCH WARRIOR.

WHEN Buonaparte was at Montebello, as generalin-chief of the French army in Italy, a hussar brought him a letter, just as he was mounting his horse to join a hunting party. He opened the packet, and wrote an answer almost instantly. Buonaparte delivered him the answer, and ordered him to carry it with all possible speed. "I would do so," replied the soldier," but my horse is nigh dead, with the haste which I have used in bringing you this letter." "If that is an obstacle, take mine;" said the general. The soldier at first would not accept of it. "Go, my comrade;" rejoined Napoleon," it may be better-it may have richer trappings than yours; but nothing is too magnificent for a French warrior!"

EDUCATION IN FRANCE UNDER NAPOLEON.

THE ancient mode of education was deemed obsolete, but the college of Louis le Grand subsisted with regular degrees under the name of "The Lyceum."