"The sovereignty resides in the people, who are the only legitimate source of power. "In 1789 the nation recovered its rights, which had long been usurped, or misunderstood. "The National Assembly abolished the feudal monarchy, and established a constitutional monarchy, and a representative government. "The resistance of the Bourbons to the wishes of the people occasioned their downfal, and their banishment from the French territories. "Twice the people sanctioned by its votes the new form of government established by its representatives. "In the year 8th, Bonaparte, already crowned by victory, found himself raised to the government by the assent of the nation. A constitution created the consular magistracy. "The senatus consultum of the 16th of Thermidor, year 10, named Bonaparte consul for life. "The senatus consultum of the 28th of Floreal, year 12, conferred on Napoleon the imperial dignity, and made it hereditary in his family. "These three solemn acts were laid for acceptance before the people, who sanctioned them by nearly four millions of votes. "Accordingly, the Bourbons had ceased to reign in France for two and twenty years; they were forgotten there by their contemporaries; strangers to our laws, our institutions, our manners, our glory; and the present generation knew nothing of them. "In 1814 France was invaded by the armies of the enemy, and the capital occupied. The foreigners created a pretended provisional government. They assembled a minority of the senators, and compelled them, in opposition to their delegated powers and to their will, to destroy the existing establishments, to overturn the imperial throne, and to recall the family of the Bourbons. "The senate, which had been instituted solely to maintain the constitution of the empire, acknowledged itself, that it had no power to alter it. It decreed, that the scheme of a constitution, which it had prepared, should be submitted to the people for their acceptance, and that Louis Stanislas Xavier should be proclaimed King of the French, as soon as he had accepted the constitution, and sworn to observe it, and cause it to be observed. "The abdication of the Emperor Napoleon was solely the result of the unfortunate situation, to which France and the Emperor had been reduced by the events of the war, by treason, and by the occupation of the capital. The only object of the abdication was, to avoid a civil war, and the shedding of French blood. Unsanctioned by the will of the people, this act could not annul the solemn contract, that was established between them and the Emperor. And if Napoleon possessed the power of abdicating the throne in his own person, he had none to sacrifice the rights of his son, appointed to reign after him.