with events). I have always made peu de cas of the opinion of individuals, of that of the public a great deal; of what use, then, would crime have been to me? I am too much a fatalist, and have always despised mankind too much, to have had recourse to crime to frustrate their attempts. J'ai marché toujours avec l'opinion de cinq ou six millions d'hommes, (I have always marched with the opinion of five or six millions of men); of what use, then, would crime have been to me? In spite of all the libels,' continued he,' I have no fear whatever about my fame. Posterity will do me justice. The truth will be known, and the good which I have done, with the faults which I have committed, will be compared. I am not uneasy for the result. Had I succeeded, I should have died with the reputation of the greatest man that ever existed. As it is, although I have failed, I shall be considered as an extraordinary man: my elevation was unparalleled, because unaccompanied by crime. I have fought fifty pitched battles, almost all of which I have gained. I have framed and carried into effect a code of laws that will bear my name to the most distant posterity. From nothing I raised myself to be the most powerful monarch in the world. Europe was at my feet.'"

NAPOLEON'S COUNCIL OF state.

In one of his walks at St. Helena, the emperor conversed a great deal with Count Las Cases on the subject of the senate, the legislative body, and particularly the council of state. "The latter," he

observed, was generally composed of well informed, skilful, and honest men. Fermont and Boulay, for example, were certainly of this class. Notwithstanding the immense lawsuits which they conducted, and the vast emoluments they enjoyed, I should not be surprised to learn that they are not now in very flourishing circumstances." The emperor employed the counsellors of state individually, in every case, and with advantage. As a whole, they were his real council-his mind in deliberation, as the ministers were his mind in execution. At the council of state were prepared the laws which the emperor presented to the legislative body, a circumstance which rendered it altogether one of the elements of the legislative power. In the council, the emperor's decrees and his rules of public administration were drawn up; and there the plans of his ministers were examined, discussed, and corrected.

The council of state received appeals and pronounced finally on all administrative judgments; and incidentally on those of all other tribunals, even those of the court of Cassation. There, were examined complaints against the ministers, and appeals to the emperor. Thus the council of state, at which the emperor uniformly presided, being frequently in direct opposition to the ministers, or occupied in reforming their acts and errors, naturally became the point of refuge for persons or interests aggrieved by any authority whatsoever. All who were ever present at the meetings of the council, must know with what zeal the cause of the citizens were there defended. A committee of the council of state received all the petitions of the empire, and

laid before the sovereign those which deserved his

attention.

The laws which were prepared in the council of state were presented by commissaries chosen from that council to a committee of the legislative body appointed to receive them; they were there amicably discussed, and were often quietly referred back to the council of state to receive some modifications. When the two deputations could not come to an understanding, they proceeded to hold regular conferences, under the presidency of the arch-chancellor, or arch-treasurer; so that before these laws reached the legislative body, they had already received the assent of the two opposite parties. If any difference existed, it was discussed by the two committees, in the presence of the whole of the legislative body, performing the functions of a jury; which, as soon as its members had become sufficiently acquainted with the facts, pronounced its decision by a secret scrutiny. Thus every individual had an opportunity of freely giving his opinion, as it was impossible to know whether he had put in a red or a white ball. "No plan," said the emperor, "could have been better calculated to correct our national effervescence and our inexperience in matters of political liberty."

"The emperor asked me," continues Count Las Cases," whether I thought the discussions perfectly free in the council of state, or whether his presence did not impose a restraint on the deliberations? I reminded him of a very long debate, during which he had remained, throughout, singular in his opinion, and had at last been obliged to yield. He immediately recollected the circumstance. "Oh, yes,"

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said he," that must have been in the case of a woman of Amsterdam, who had been tried for her life and acquitted three several times by the imperial courts, but against whom a fresh trial was demanded in the court of Cassation."-The emperor hoped that this happy concurrence of the law might have exhausted its severity in favour of the prisoner; that this lucky fatality of circumstances might have turned to her advantage. It was urged in reply, that he possessed the beneficent power of bestowing pardon; but that the law was inflexible, and must take its course. The debate was a very long one: M. Muraire spoke a great deal, and very much to the point; he persuaded every one except the emperor, who still remained singular in his opinion, and at length yielded, with these remarkable words:"Gentlemen, the decision goes by the majority here, I remain single, and must yield; but I declare, in my conscience, that I yield only to forms. You have reduced me to silence, but by no means convinced me."

So little was the nature of the council of state understood by people in general, that it was believed no one dared utter a word in that assembly in opposition to the emperor's opinion. Thus, I very much surprised many persons, when I related the fact, that one day, during a very animated debate, the emperor, having been interrupted three times in giving his opinion, turned towards the individual who had rather rudely cut him short, and said in a sharp tone:-" I have not yet done; I beg you will allow me to continue. I believe every one here has a right to deliver his opinion." The smartness of this reply, notwithstanding the solemnity of

the occasion, excited a general laugh, in which the emperor himself joined.

"I do not mind being contradicted," said he, “1 seek to be informed. Speak boldly," he would repeat; whenever the speaker expressed himself equivocally, or the subject was a delicate one; "tell me all that you think; we are alone here; we are all en famille.”

Nothing could equal the interest which the presence of the emperor excited in the council of state. He presided there regularly twice a week when he was in town, and then none of the members would have been absent for the whole world.

THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO.

THE foundation of the freest and most virtuous of known political combinations-the republic of San Marino, is ascribed to a simple, honest stone-mason of Dalmatia, of the name of Marino; who, in the fourth century, having undergone some persecution at home, came, an adventuring artisan, to Rimini. In the course of his recreative wanderings in its neighbourhood, Marino was struck by the solitary altitude of Monte Titano, where he found retirement from future persecution, and abundant materials for pursuing his ancient occupation. Marino hewed for himself out of these savage rocks a house and garden; and his skill and hermit virtues attracted the notice of the Bishop Gaudentius, of Rimini, who employed him in pious missions, and through whom he became proprietor of the rude and unfertile mountain which finally took his name. The rock of Marino soon became frequented by the devout and the peaceable; who followed the