general in the army, with the usual cordon and star of
the Legion of Honour. He was accompanied by his
uncle Jerome to the fauteuil. Taking his seat under a
crimson canopy, surmounted by a large golden eagle
with outspread wings, he bade his courtiers, and the
members of the legislative bodies, "be seated." The
Minister of State announced that the President would
proclaim the opening of the Chambers in an address.
The President then read his speech. He declared that
the Dictatorship, entrusted to him by the people, ceased
from that day; that the French nation had, for the first
time, given to the world the imposing spectacle of a
great people voting, "in perfect liberty" the form of its
government; and that he himself, the Chief of the
State, whom they had before them, was truly the expression
of the popular will. He denied the imputation
that he had desired to re-establish the Empire. If such
had been his desire, neither means nor opportunities
had been wanting. He threw out an intimation,
nevertheless, that such a thing might be, if he were driven to
it by necessity. "Whence," he said, "can such a
necessity arise? Solely from the conduct of parties. If
they resign themselves, nothing shall be changed; but
if, by their underhand intrigues, they endeavour to sap
the bases of my government—if, in their blindness, they
contest the legitimacy of the popular election—if, finally,
they endanger, by their incessant attacks, the future
prospects of the country—then, and only then, it may
be reasonable to demand from the people, in the name
of the repose of France, a new title which will
irrevocably fix upon my head the power with which they
invested me. But let us not pre-occupy ourselves
with difficulties, which, no doubt, have no probability.
Let us maintain the Republic. It menaces nobody,
and may reassure everybody. Under its banner I wish
to inaugurate anew an era of oblivion and conciliation;
and I call, without distinction, on all those who wish to
cooperate with me in forwarding the public good.
Providence, which has hitherto so visibly blessed my
exertions, will not leave its work unfinished. It will
animate us with its inspirations, and give us the wisdom
and power necessary to consolidate an order of things
which will insure the happiness of our country and the
repose of Europe." After the President's speech, the
ceremony of calling over the roll and swearing-in was
gone through, first with the Senators, then with the
Deputies. The aged Jerome, dressed in uniform,
slowly rose from his fauteuil at the right hand of the
President, turned towards his nephew, held out his arm,
and repeated slowly and emphatically, "Je jure!"
The public had been surprised only a few days before at
seeing the name of the Archbishop of Paris, Monsignor
Sibour, added to the list of the Senators: his turn was
now awaited with curiosity, owing to his presumed
political tendencies, and his friendly relations with
General Cavaignac; but he rose in answer to his name,
and repeated, in the same low tone as his confrères,
"Je jure!" In the list of the Deputies, when the
names of Carnot, Cavaignac, and Henon, were called,
there was no response, but a breathless and solemn
silence. These deputies, who had been elected by Paris
and Lyons, afterwards sent disclaimers of the functions
committed to them. The scene being finished, the
President departed, and the throng dispersed.

The regular tellings of both Chambers commenced on
the following day. Some of the reporters of the Parisian
and foreign press requested admission, but were
refused. On the 1st instant, the Senate voted the
President a dotation of twelve million of francs a-year;
in addition to which, the Senate have made over to him
the Palaces of the Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleau,
Compiègne, Versailles, Trianon, St. Cloud, Meudon,
the Elysée, and the Palace of Pau, together with the
forests depending upon them, the expense of keeping
them up being defrayed by the State.

The chief judges took the oaths to the Constitution
and the President on Sunday, the 4th. In answer to
some adulatory speeches, the President asserted the
legitimacy of his government, and his imperial
pretensions, as founded on the national will. "Since the
day," he said, "on which the doctrine of the
sovereignty of the people replaced that of divine right, it may
be affirmed with truth that no government has been as
legitimate as mine. In 1804, 4,000,000 of votes, in
proclaiming the power to be hereditary in my family,
designated me as heir to the empire. In 1848, nearly
6.000,000 called me to the head of the Republic. In
1851, nearly 8,000,000 maintained me there.
Consequently, in taking the oath to me, it is not merely to a
man that you swear to be faithful, but to a principle, to
a cause, to the national will itself."

The "Moniteur" has published a decree for regulating
the copper coinage. All the existing coin is to be
withdrawn, and a new coinage issued composed of 95 per
cent. of copper, 4 percent. of tin, and 1 per cent. of zinc.
An elaborate report justifies the depreciation of the coin
below its nominal value.

The French Government has granted 50,000 francs for
a monument to Marshal Ney.

The President has summarily dismissed M. Michelet,
M. Quinet, and M. Mickiewicz, from their professorships
in the University of Paris.

The Minister of Public Instruction has enjoined all
the rectors and professors of schools and colleges to
shave off every portion of their beards and moustaches,
that they might not be confused with agitators and
enemies of society; and has also directed the same
functionaries to enjoin on professors of every grade "the
greatest decorum in manner and decency in dress."

The estates of Neuilly and Monceaux, formerly
belonging to the Orleans family, and confiscated to the
state by the decree of January 22, have been taken
possession of by the agents of the usurpation.

The Civil Tribunal, on the 23rd, gave judgment on the
demand made by the Princes of the Orleans family to
declare illegal the seizure by the Prefect of the Seine,
of the estates of Neuilly and Monceaux, under the
decree of the 22nd of January relative to the property of
the late king Louis Philippe. In answer to this demand,
the Prefect of the Seine, in the name of the government,
called on the tribunal to declare that the decree of 22nd
January was a legislative act, and the seizure of the
property an administrative act, and that consequently
the tribunal had no jurisdiction. The case was pleaded
at great length; and the court pronounced a judgment
declaring itself competent, keeping the case before it,
fixing a day for discussing it on its merits, and condemning
the Prefect in costs.

The imperial projects of the French President have
been the subject of a correspondence between Austria
on the one hand, and Russia and Prussia on the other.
Its substance is this. Prince Schwartzenberg, in a
communication to these powers, expressed his belief that
Prince Louis Napoleon was decided to assume the
imperial throne, and his opinion that, if such a change
could be accomplished in the constitution of France, the
cabinets of Europe would do well not to raise any
obstacle, but, on the contrary, to remove all difficulties
that lie in the way. In their answers, the Russian and
Prussian cabinets concur in saying, that the accomplishment
of the project referred to "would be a violation of
the treaties of 1814 and 1815, inasmuch as those treaties
have excluded for ever the family of Bonaparte from the
government of France. Now, those treaties form the
basis of the whole policy of Europe; and it is the duty
of the powers to demand that they shall be respected by
the President of the Republic himself in all their
provisions, and particularly not to permit any infraction
of them as to the point in question, which has reference
to him personally. Nevertheless, the sovereigns of
Prussia and Russia would not perhaps be disposed to
refuse to recognise Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as
Emperor of the French Republic—if that title were conferred
on him by a new plébiscite—as had been spoken of; but
they should only recognise him as an elective Emperor,
and for life, with consequently a status analogous to
that of the former kings of Poland. If the two cabinets
of St. Petersburg and Berlin consented to such a
recognition, it was the utmost that it was possible to do; but,
most certainly, beyond that point they should never go.
At the same time, the cabinets formally declare, that
they would only recognise the Emperor of the French
Republic on the condition of his election being the result
of the mode already announced (the plébiscite). They
will not admit any other manner of re-establishing in
France an imperial throne, even were it but for life;