Virginia Argus

EXPOSE

Of the situation of the French Empire--

1806 & 1807

Gentlemen deputies from the departments to the legislative body; the year which has elapsed since the close of your session, will not occupy a less important place in history than the glorious and memorable year that preceded it, & France, accustomed in some measure to admiration as much as to gratitude, will have seen that under such a chief as he who directs her high destinies, this double sentiment may be renewed every day.

When, fifteen months ago, you separated in order to return to your homes after having, during the course of your sessions fulfilled with as much eagerness as concert, the duties imposed upon you by the confidence of the nation and that of the Sovereign, the emperor appeared to be at length ready to taste the sweetest fruits of his glorious labors; he saw the time at hand, not of his own repose, but of the repose of France. A new continental war had been terminated in three months; the inhabitants of Germany were all become either the friends or allies of France; Prussia was still among this number; Russia appeared to wish for the end of an enmity, without either aim or object, by dint of triumphs and moderation, the emperor seemed to have at length acquired to France the right of enjoying in peace all that he had done for her. He was restored to the country ; his people received with transports of hilarity and love, bringing back new laurels and new blessings; numerous deputations came from the extremities of the empire to offer him the tribute of the public homage: the army were preparing to come, in order to enjoy in the heart of their country the fetes ordered by their chief and prepared by the whole nation.

The emperor rejoiced at the sight of a calmer futurity, and his thoughts, fixed upon the internal administration, seemed to have become still more active He caused a minute account to be given to him of every part of the administration, and sought in each of them what good there still remained to be done. He prepared a plan to secure to the princes of the imperial family such an education as should render them worthy of him who founded it; he established a system of great rewards for great services, the true manner of making high titles serve as a support to the state and a decoration to the throne : a new organization given to the council of state instituted a slow and solemn discussion for the decision of contentious affairs : a series of protecting and rigorous forms afforded to the complainant every facility for the production of his defence and his titles, and created for the depositories of the public authority a new tribunal, the censure of which is to be exerted against acts and abuses which are out of the reach of the positive laws. A commission placed in the very palace of the emperor, and consisting of those whom he calls to discuss with him, the greatest affairs of the state, opened to the throne a free access to all kinds of complaints or demands, charged to carry to the ears of the sovereign the voice of all his subjects, and especially of his subjects in poverty and misfortune; an affecting institution which announces once that he whose indefatigable vigilance takes such good care of the great interests of the state, is not less jealous, in his paternal solicitude, to provide against the least wants and the slightest grievances of all those over whom his eye extends

But the treaty of Presburg, which had restored peace to the continent, had not restored it to the sea ; and England, constant in seeking her own safety in the misfortune of Europe, strove to make Russia continue the war, and to bring Russia to determine upon hostile steps. These plots were defeated; the treaty of Vienna and the continent was no longer to be troubled : Russia herself had felt the want of it, and her plenipotentiary, invested with her full powers had just arrived at Paris.

England, carried away by the force of these circumstances. showed herself disposed to make peace, or rather, as her public discussions have since revealed, a truce, which would hardly have suspended for a moment, the effects of the hatred and jealousy with which she is actuated against us. At the same time that she opened negotiations, she prepared new intrigues, fully resolved to break them off, if she could contrive to rekindle the flame of continental war: she saw her guilty hopes triumphant; the peace made with Russia was not ratified. Prussia was agitated anew; a madness without either motive or aim excited by the enemies of her repose, t of the better of the combinations of the cabinet : hostile cries were heard, and war was declared against the opinion of the ministers, and perhaps against the will, of the king himself. A fatal example of the weakness of princes ! Still more fatal influence of a ministry who keeps intriguers and libellers in pay ; who sow terror and calumny; who excite all the passions the whirlwind of which may be of use to them, and who, in the midst of all these plots, only calculate the advantages which may result, for their interests from the dangers, nay, the very ruin of those whom they call their friends:

The emperor set off The English plenipotentiary, who several times, had announced his departure, did not delay the effect it; and the incendiary rockets, let off by his fellow-countrymen, were every where a few houses in Boulogne, when that minister made his entrance into the town with a French escort, which watched over his safety, and paid the last homage to the character of ambassador.
Rapture with which he had been so uselessly invested. France was, during upwards of ten months, afflicted by the absence of the prince to whom all her affections, as well as all her destinies, are attached; but the emperor remained present to her in mind, & his genius watched over her; his thoughts, from the borders of the Spree and of the Vistula, of the Pregel and of the Niemen, never ceased to embrace all the internal wants of the empire; his thoughts animated everything, maintained everywhere order and regularity, which are his work, and we only perceived his absence by the noise of his exploits, and by the regrets which he left in the hearts of us all. Whilst he visited the soldier's tent, raised on the snows of Lithuania, his look watched in France over the poor man's cottage, over the manufacturer's workshop. During this long interval, government was not afflicted with any troubles, it had not even the slightest disturbance to dread: France, at the period of a war undertaken for the purpose of overwhelming her, preserved at home the most profound calm; her territory was not violated for a single instant, the din of arms never reached her. Under the safeguard of victory, she saw passing far from her frontier the storm which envy and hatred had directed against her; she saw this storm burst even on the countries where it had been gathering.

(To be continued.)