736 Address of French Generals to the Chamber. be made with security nowhere but in Paris. This, our relative position towards your Nation, be pleased, Marshal, not to mistake! "Let me finally observe to you, Marshal, if you mean to negotiate with us, it is matter of surprise that, in defiance of the Law of Nations, you detain our Officers dispatched with Letters and Orders. "In the usual form of conventional civility, I have the honour to be, Whilst thus endeavouring to draw the Allied Generals into negotiation; FOUCHÉ and DAVOUST felt the necessity of carrying out their plans with the greatest caution, and in such a manner as to prevent any unfavourable construction being put upon their motives by the Army. On the evening of the 30th of June, there was an assemblage of General Officers at the Head Quarters in Villette; at which it was proposed to send up an Address to the Chamber of Representatives expressive of the determined spirit of resistance which animated the troops, and of their hostility to the Bourbons. It was adopted by the majority; and DAVOUST, though secretly working with FOUCHÉ for the Restoration of Louis XVIII., did not hesitate to attach to it his signature. It was couched in the following terms : "REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE! "Camp at Villette, 30th June. "We are in presence of our Enemies. We swear before you and the world to defend, to our last breath, the cause of our independence and the national honour. "It is wished to impose the Bourbons upon us, but these Princes are rejected by the immense majority of Frenchmen. If their return could be agreed to, recollect, Representatives, that you would sign the annihilation of the Army; which for twenty years has been the Palladium of French honour. There are in War, especially when it has been long conducted, successes and reverses. In our successes, we have June 30. The French Army against the Bourbons. 737 appeared great and generous. If it is wished to humble us in our reverses, we shall know how to die. "The Bourbons present no guarantee to the Nation. We received them with sentiments of the most generous confidence: we forgot all the calamities they had caused us in their rage to deprive us of our most sacred rights. Well! what return did they make for this confidence? They treated us as rebels and as vanquished. Representatives! these reflections are terrible, because they are true. History will one day relate what the Bourbons have done to replace themselves on the Throne of France; it will also narrate the conduct of the Army; of that Army essentially national; and posterity will judge which best deserved the esteem of the World. "The Marshal Prince of ЕCKMÜHL, Minister at War, (And fifteen other Generals.) The Chambers being thus appealed to, felt it incumbent on them to issue a Proclamation explanatory of the political situation of France; and of their own intentions under all the critical circumstances in which it presented itself to their view. This document, cautiously drawn up by the Constitutionalists who formed the preponderating party in the State, and strongly marked by the policy which was pursued throughout by FOUCHÉ, was framed with great tact. Although it acknowledged the nomination of NAPOLEON'S son to the Empire, it manifested no hostility to the Bourbons: it expressed a desire to secure a Monarchical and Representative Government; but, at the same time, declared that the Head of the Government, whoever he might be, must enter into a solemn Compact and abide by the Constitutional Charter. In short, its general tone was sufficiently independent to secure for it, if not the approbation, at least the acquiescence, of both the Liberals and the Buonapartists; whilst, on the 151. W.L. Siborne. 3 A 738 The Proclamation of the Chambers. July 1. other hand, it significantly indicated the terms upon which a Bourbon might re-ascend the throne, and rally round him the Friends of Constitutional Order and Civil Rights. With but few exceptions it admitted of being reconciled with the Proclamation published on the 28th of June by Louis XVIII. It ran thus: "FRENCHMEN ! "The Foreign Powers proclaimed, in the face of Europe, that they were only armed against NAPOLEON; and that they wished to respect our independence, and the right which belongs to every Nation to choose a Government suitable to its habits and its interests. "NAPOLEON is no longer the Chief of the State. He has renounced the Throne, and his Aldication has been accepted by your Representatives. He is removed from us. His son is called to the Empire by the Constitution of the State. The coalesced Sovereigns are informed of this; and the War ought to be terminated, if the promises of Kings have any foundation in truth. "While Plenipotentiaries have been sent to the Allied Powers to treat for peace in the name of France; the Generals of two of those Powers have refused any Suspension of Arms. Their troops have accelerated their marches under favour of a moment of hesitation and trouble. They are now at the very gates of the capital, and no communication has stated for what object the War is continued. Our Plenipotentiaries will soon declare whether we must renounce Peace. In the mean time, resistance is not only legitimate, but necessary and humanity, in requiring an account of the blood uselessly shed, will not accuse those brave men who only combat to repel from their houses the scourges of war, murder, and pillage; and to defend with their lives the cause of Liberty, and of that Independence the imprescriptible right of which has been guaranteed to them even by the Manifestoes of their Enemies. Amidst these circumstances, your Representatives cannot forget that they were not chosen to stipulate for the interests of any individual Party, but for the whole Nation. Every act of weakness will dishonour them, and will only tend to endanger the future tranquillity of France. While the Government is employing all the means in its power to obtain a solid Peace; or, should that not be obtained without compromising our honour, to repel the Battalions of Foreigners: what more advantages to the Nation can be done than to collect and establish the fundamental Independence, and Civil and Religious Liberty. 739 rules of a Monarchical and Representative Government, destined to secure to all citizens the free enjoyment of those sacred rights which sacrifices so numerous and so great have purchased; and to rally for ever, under the National Colours, that great body of Frenchmen who have no other interest, and no other wish, than an honourable repose and a just independence. "Meanwhile the Chambers conceive that their duty and their dignity require them to declare that they will never acknowledge, as legitimate Chief of the State, him who, on ascending the Throne, shall refuse to acknowledge the Rights of the Nation, and to consecrate them by a solemn Compact. The Constitutional Charter is drawn up; and if the force of arms should succeed in temporarily imposing upon us a Master-if the destinies of a great Nation are again to be delivered up to the caprice and arbitrary will of a small number of privileged persons -then, in yielding to force, the National Representation will protest in the face of the whole World against the oppression of the French People. "Your Representatives will appeal to the energy of the present and future generations to renew their claim both to National Independence, and the Rights of Civil and Religious Liberty. For these Rights they now appeal to the reason and the justice of all civilized Nations." Notwithstanding the continued endeavours, on the part of the French Commissioners appointed by the Chambers, to induce the Allied Generals to enter upon an Armistice; the military operations were not for a moment interrupted. On the morning of the 1st of July, BÜLOW's Corps d'Armée (the Fourth) moved off to its right, towards Argenteuil. During the movement, however; the Enemy, as if at length aware, or desirous of ascertaining the nature, of BLÜCHER'S operation, attacked the Village of Aubervilliers in front, from the Canal of St Denis, and penetrated as far as the Church situated in the centre of the place. The French were here met by the Prussian Support; and two Battalions from the main position arriving immediately afterwards, they were prevented from making any further progress. Nevertheless, a prolonged tiraillade, as well as a howitzer fire, on the part of the French, were maintained; during 740 British Light Troops take most of Aubervilliers. which the march of BÜLOW's Corps continued in operation, the Fourteenth Brigade being left in support to the Advanced Posts until the arrival of the Anglo-Allied troops. In the afternoon, the Duke of WELLINGTON'S Army reached Le Bourget; and took up the position vacated by Prince BLÜCHER, whose Advanced Posts it immediately relieved. Three Companies of Light Infantry from COLVILLE'S Division were thrown into Aubervilliers. The Prussians who had hitherto been stationed for the purpose of masking as much as possible the general movement of their Army to the right, had kept up a desultory fire from that portion of the Village which was in their possession; abstaining from making any direct attack, since this might have led to the advance of the French in great force at the moment the former were no longer supported by the main Army, and before the Anglo-Allied troops had arrived. The British Light Companies, mentioned as having been thrown into Aubervilliers, were under no restraint of this kind; and Lieutenant Colonel Sir NEIL CAMPBELL, who commanded them, determined to push forward, and possess himself, if possible, of the entire Village. Having first gained two or three of the highest houses, he broke from the top of these into some that were lower; and thence forcing his way through the partition walls of others, without much firing, since the French did not appear disposed to make an obstinate resistance (being by that time probably aware of the Prussian movement to the right, and of the arrival of the Anglo-Allied Army), he succeeded in obtaining possession of one side of a whole street, and of the greater portion of the Village. The French Officer in command then proposed a truce; which was accepted, since the Post he occupied lay between the British and a Battery upon the Canal. The |