The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England. volume 5 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 5Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
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The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England. volume 5 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 5
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848
"The Deputies of France at this moment assembled in Paris have
expressed to me the desire that I should repair to this capital to
exercise the functions of Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom.
"I have not hesitated to come and share your dangers, to place
myself in the midst of your heroic population, and to exert all
my efforts to preserve you from the calamities of civil war and
anarchy.
"On returning to the City of Paris, I wear with pride those
glorious colours which you have resumed and which I myself long
wore.
"The Chambers are going to assemble; they will consider of the
means of securing the reign of the laws and the maintenance of the
rights of the nation.
"The Charter will henceforward be a reality.
"LOUIS-PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS."
"Frenchmen!
"France is free. Absolute power raised its standard: the heroic
population of Paris has overthrown it. Paris, attacked, has made
the sacred cause triumph, by means which had triumphed in vain in
the elections. A power which usurped our rights and disturbed our
repose threatened at once both liberty and order. We return to the
possession of order and liberty. There is no more fear for acquired
rights, no further barrier between us and the rights which we still
require. A government which may, without delay, secure to us these
advantages is now the first want of our country. Frenchmen, those
of your Deputies who are already in Paris have assembled and, till
the Chambers can regularly intervene, they have invited a Frenchman
who has never fought but for France--the Duc d'Orléans--to exercise
the functions of Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom. This is, in
their opinion, the surest means promptly to accomplish, by peace,
the success of the most legitimate defense.
"The Duc d'Orléans is devoted to the national and constitutional
cause. He has always defended its interests and professed its
principles. He will respect our rights, for he will derive his own
from us. We shall secure to ourselves, by laws, all the guarantees
necessary to strong and durable liberty:
"The re-establishment of the National Guard, with the intervention
of the National Guards in the choice of their officers;
"The intervention of the citizens in the formation of the
departmental and municipal administrations;
"The jury for the transgressions of the press; the legally
organized responsibility of the ministers and of the secondary
agents of the administration;
"The situation and rank of the military legally secured; and
"The re-election of deputies in the place of those appointed
to public offices. Such guarantees will, at length, give to
our institutions, in concert with the head of the state, the
developments of which they have need.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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