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On the side of Madras the Rajah Barhar has also taken the field, as if to act in concert with Scindiah; and Gen. Doveton has been obliged to move forward the Madras army to watch his motions. The Bombay and coast armies are also in motion, and Lord Moira was about to take the field in person. We regret to add, that in consequence of the gloomy state of things, specie has become extremely scarce in India, and the Company's bonds are at a very heavy discount.

Dispatches from Colonel Ochterlony have been published in the London Gazette, stating the surrender, on the 4th November last, of the forts of Nalagar and Tarregar, garrisoned by 95 Goorka officers and privates, with a loss on our side of one killed and six wounded; and also a report dated the 25th of November from Major Bradshaw of the successful operations of a division of his troops, under Captain Hay, against Pursaram Thapa, the Nepaulese Subah of the Teraiee. The Subah, who occupied this position with about 400 men, was completely surprised; he himself was killed; one of his chief Sirdars, severely wounded, was found among the slain, which is stated to have amounted to about 51 mountaineer soldiers. A number of the enemy were wounded, and many were drowned in the river Baguntee. Two standards were taken. The total of our loss consisted of 2 killed and 21 wounded, including Lieutenant Boileau, who received a deep sabre-cut in a personal contest with the Subah.

FRANCE.

CEREMONY OF THE CHAMP DE MAI-ACCEPTANCE OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION.

The Paris papers of the 2d June describe the ceremony of the assembly of the Champ de Mai, which met on the preceding day, in buildings prepared in the Champ de Mars. "Never did a festival more national (says one of the Journals) or a spectacle at once so solemn and touching, attract the atten. tion of the French people. Every thing that could interest and elevate the soul the prayers of religion-the compact of a great people with their Sovereign. France represented by the select of her citizens, agriculturists, merchants, magistrates, and warriors, collected around the throne-all excited the most ardent enthusiasm of which the most memorable epoch have left us the recollection." Yet this is about the tenth Constitution which has been presented and accepted in a similar manner. throne of Bonaparte appears to have been erected in the centre of a semi-circular iu

June 1815.

The

closure, two thirds of which formed on the right and left, grand amphitheatres, in which 15,000 persons were seated. The Emperor having taken his seat, mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Tours, Cardinal Bayonne, and four other Bishops. A deputation of 500 members of the Electoral Colleges then advanced to the foot of the throne, and were presented to his Majesty by the Arch Chancellor. M. Duboys D'Angers, (one of the members and repre. sentatives of the department of the Maine and Loire,) then pronounced the following address in the name of the French people:

"SIRE, The French people had decreed the Crown to you; you resigned it without their consent; its suffrages have just impo sed upon you the duty of resuming it.-A new contract is formed between the nation and your Majesty. Collected from all points of the Empire around the tables of the law on which we are about to inscribe the wish of the people-in this wish, which is the only legitimate source of power, it is impossible for us not to utter the voice of France, of which we are the immediate organs, not to say in the presence of Europe, to the august chief of the nation, what it expects from him, and what he is to expect from it. What is the object of the league of allied Kings with that warlike preparation by which they alarm Europe and afflict humanity? By what act, what violation, have we provoked their vengeance, or given cause for their aggression? Have we, since peace was concluded, endeavoured to give them laws? We merely wish to make and to follow those which are adapted to our manners. We will not have the Chief whom our enemies would give us, and we will have him whom they wish us not to have. They dare to proscribe you personally: you, Sire, who, so often master of their capi tals, generously consolidated their tottering thrones. This hatred of our enemies adds to our love of you. Were they to proscribe the most obscure of our citizens, it would be our duty to defend him with the same energy. He would be, like you, under the Ægis of French Law and French Power. They menace us with invasion! And yet contracted within frontiers which nature has not imposed upon us, and which long before your reign victory and even peace had extended, we have not, from respect to treaties which you had not signed, but which you had offered to observe, sought to pass that narrow boundary. Do they ask for guarantees? They have them all in our institutions, and in the will of the French people henceforth united to yours. Do they not dread to remind us of a state of things lately so different, but which may

stil

still be reproduced! It would not be the first time that we have conquered all Europe armed against us. Because France wishes to be France, must she be degraded, torn, dismembered; and must the fate of Poland be reserved for us? It is in vain to conceal insidious designs under the sole pretence of separating you from us, in order to give us masters with whom we have nothing in common. Their presence destroyed all the illusions attached to their name. They could not believe our oaths, neither could we their promises. Tithes, feudal rights, privileges, every thing that was odious to us, was too evidently the fond object of their thought, when one of them, to console the impatience of the present, assured his confidants that he would answer to them for the future. Every thing shall be attempted, every thing executed, to repel so ignominious a yoke. We declare it to nations may their chiefs hear us! If they accept your offers of peace, the French people will look to your vigorous, liberal, and paternal administration for grounds of consolation, for the sacrifices made to obtain peace; but if we are left no choice but between war and disgrace, the whole country will rise for war. The nation is prepared to relieve you from the too moderate offers you have perhaps made, in order to save Europe from a new convulsion. Every Frenchman is a soldier: Victory will follow your eagles, and our enemies who rely on our divisions will soon regret having provoked us."

At the conclusion of this address the whole Champ de Mars resounded with cries of Vive le Nation! Vive l'Empereur! At this moment the Arch Chancellor proclaim. ed, that the Additional Act to the Constitution of the Empire had been accepted almost unanimously, the number of negative votes being 4,209*. The herald then declared in the name of the Emperor, that the Act was accepted by the French People.-Bonaparte then seating himself on another throne,hich was in the centre and overlooked the assembly, spoke in the following terms:

"Gentlemen, Electors of the Colleges of the Departments and Districts :--Gentlemen, Deputies of the Ariny and Navy, at the Champ de Mai;-Emperor, Consul, Soldier, I derive all from the people. in prosperity, in adversity, on the field of bat. tle, in council, on the throne, and in exile,

The result of the Scrutiny of votes on the Additional Act were: 75 Departments, 1,040,050 ayes; 3612 noes-the Army, 220,000 ayes, 320 noes; Navy 22,000, ayes; 207 noes. Total 1,282,050 ayes, 4209 nacs.

France has been the sole and constant object of my thoughts and actions. Like the King of Athens, I sacrificed myself for my people, in the hope of realizing the promise given to preserve to France her natural integrity, her honours and her rights. Indignation at seeing these sacred rights, acquired by 20 years of victory, disavowed and lost for ever; the cry of French honour tarnished, and the wishes of the nation, have replaced me upon that throne which is dear to me, because it is the palladium of the independence, the honour, and the rights of the people. Frenchmen, in traversing amidst the public joy the different provinces of the empire to reach my capital, I had reason to rely on a lasting peace. Nations are bound by treaties concluded by their Governments, whatever they may be. My thoughts were then all occupied with the means of establishing our liberty by a constitution conformable to the will and interests of the people. I convoked the Champ de Mai. I soon learned that the Princes who have disregarded all principles, who have trampled on the sentiments and dearest interests of so many nations, wish to make war against us. They meditate the increasing the kingdom of the Netherlands, by giving it as barriers all our nor. thern frontier places, and the conciliation of the differences which still exist among them by dividing Lorraine and Alsace. It was necessary to provide for war. But, before personally encountering the hazards of battles, my first care has been to constitute the nation without delay. The people have accepted the Act which I have presented to them. Frenchmen, when we shall have repelled these unjust aggressions, and Europe shall be convinced of what is due to the rights and independence of 28 millions of people, an enactinent, drawn up in the forms required by the Constitutional Act, shall combine together the different disposi tions of our constitutions now dispersed. Frenchmen, you are about to return to your Departments; inform the citizens that circumstances are grand! That with union, energy, and perseverance, we shall return victorious from this contest of a great peo ple against their oppressors; that future generations will severely scrutinize our conduct, and that a nation has lost all when she has lost her independence; tell them that foreign Kings, whom I have raised to the throne, or who owe to me the preservation of their crowns, who all during my prosperity sought my alliance and the protection of the French people, now direct their blows against my person. Did I not perceive that it is the country they wish to injure, I would place at their mercy this

existence

existence against which they shew themselves so much incensed. But tell the citizens, that while the French people preserve towards me the sentiments of love, of which they have given me so many proofs, the rage of our enemies will be powerless. Frenchmen, my wish is that of the people; my rights are theirs; my honour, my glory, my happiness, can be no other than the honour, the glory, and the happiness of France."

In conclusion, Bonaparte swore upon the Gospels to observe the constitutions of the Empire. The Assembly swore obedience to the Constitutions, and fidelity to the Emperor. The Eagles were next delivered to the National Guards, and to the Regulars, who swore to observe them as rallying signs; and, if necessary, to die in their defence against the enemies of the country and the throne. The troops, about 50,000 men, in. cluding 27,000 national guards, then defiled, the Emperor returned, and the ceremony concluded. Next day amusements-such as rope-dancing, horsemanship, ascension of ballons, &c. were given gratis. Along the avenue of the Champs Elysees 36 fountains flowing with wine, and 12 beaufets for the distribution of pasties, pullets, sausages, &c. were placed.

MEETINGS OF THE NEW LEGISLATURE.

extempore speaking. M. Sibuet was at length obliged to sit down, declaring that extempore speaking was favourable only to Government and practised orders, but disadvantageous to the people at large, represented by the unpractised and unsophisticated country Gentlemen; that three-fourths of his colleagues would be condemned to silence; that the most odious privilege is that which tends to humble the many for the advantage of the few; and that they ought not to acknowledge any other nobility than that of sentiments-any other superiority than that of talents, or any other title than that conferred by their constituents.

Some members wished to know the names of the New House of Peers, that they might not choose a Member who might afterwards prove ineligible. Hereupon the President, pro tempore wrote to Count Carnot, who wrote, in reply, that the Emperor could not send the list of Peers till the Session was regularly opened. On receiving this answer, a Member (Mon. Dupin,) expressed his displeasure, and proposed a Resolution, that the House would not constitute itself until the list was communicated. He was interrupted by murmurs and cries of order! M. Dupin now deigned to rise; he ran up to the President, snatched the Minister's letter from his hand, and pertinently asked, "Are we not all Representatives? Has not each of us the right of stating his opinion? If we are to defend the liberty of our Constituents, let us begin by being free ourselves."

On the 4th instant the newly constituted legislature commenced its sittings. Having settled several matters of form, the House of Representatives proceeded to the choice On the 6th a motion was made by Geneof a President, when M. Lanjuinais was ral Carnot, in the old Republican style, elected. La Fayette, Merlin, and Carnot," that the armies had deserved well of the were candidates.

Previous to the election, some discussion took place, which clearly marked the prevalence of the old republican spirit. It was proposed by M. Sibuet, that the assembly should recognise no superior order, such as Princes, Dukes, Counts, &c. He reminded the assembly of "the famous night" of the 4th August 1789, when their noble predecessors abandoned their titles on the altar of the country. "We ought not to acknowledge," said he, "two orders in the State; nor see on one side Dukes, Counts, Barons, and Chevaliers, and on the other those formerly called the Tiers Etat. We ought to enjoy not only liberty and political equality, as fixed by the laws, but that liberty, that social equality, which produces union and confidence." The Dukes and Counts then in the House did not hear this proposal in silence. They interrupted the speaker by clamours, observing that he had notes of his speech in his hat, contrary to the order of the House, which permits only

country." An observation in opposition to the motion, stating that the armies had as yet done nothing to deserve it, excited great uproar. It was urged in reply, that they had restored the Emperor, and that they were identified with the people. The motion was got rid of by Regnault de St Jean D' Angely, who observed that the Chamber was not yet definitively constituted, and could not pass such a vote. M. Flaugergues, Dupont, La Fayette, and General Grenier, were named Vice-Presidents.

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Emperor then putting on his hat spoke as follows:

"Messieurs of the Chamber of Peers, and Messieurs of the Chamber of Representatives-For the last three months, existing circumstances and the confidence of the nation have invested me with unlimited authority. The present day will behold the wish dearest to my heart. I now commence a Constitutional Monarchy. Mortals are too weak to insure future events; it is solely the legal Institutions which determine the destinies of nations. Monarchy - is necessary to France, to guarantee the liberty, the independence, and the rights of the people. Our Constitution and Laws are scattered; one of our most important occupations will be, to collect them into a solid body, and to bring the whole within the reach of every mind. This work will recommend the present age to the gratitude of future generations. It is my wish that France should enjoy all possible liberty. I say possible, because anarchy always resolves itself into absolute Government.-A formidable coali. tion of Kings threatens our independence; their armies are approaching our frontiers.The frigate La Melpomene has been attacked and captured in the Mediterranean, after a sanguinary action with an English ship of 74 guns. Blood has been shed in time of peace!Our enemies reckon on our internal divisions. They excite and foment a civil war. Assemblages have been form ed, and communications are carried on with Ghent, in the same manner as with Coblentz in 1792. Legislative measures are, therefore, indispensibly necessary; and I place my confidence, in your patriotism, your wisdom, and your attachment to my person. The liberty of the Press is inhe rent in our present Constitution; nor can any change be made in it, without altering our whole political system; but it must be subject to legal restrictions, more espe cially in the present state of the nation. I therefore recommend this important matter to your serious consideration. My Ministers will inform you of the situation of affairs.-The finances would be in a satisfactory state, except from the increase of expence which the present circumstances renders necessary; yet we might face every thing, if the receipts contained in the budget were all realizable within the year. It is to the means of arriving at this result that my Minister of Finances will direct your attention.It is possible that the first duty of a Prince may soon call me to the head of the sons of the nation, to fight for the country.-the army and myself will do our duty.You, Peers and Representatives, give to the nation an example of confidence,

energy, and patriotism; and, like the Senate of the great people of antiquity, swear to die rather then survive the dishonour and degradation of France. The sacred cause of the country shall triumph!"

This discourse was followed by loud ac clamations and cries of Vive l'Empereur ! -Vive la Patrie !-Vive la Nation!"

In the session of the 8th, a motion was made by M. Lapelletier, that as Louis 18th had taken the title of Le Desiree, Bonaparte should be called "the Saviour of the Country." This motion, however, was received with cries from all quarters for the order of the day, and Mr Dupin, after observing that they had met to assist their legitimate Emperor, asked if they would suffer the poisoned breath of flattery to find its way within their walls.

On the 13th inst. the expose of the minister of the interior was made to the two chambers, which occupied nearly two hours in reading. It commences by noticing the Emperor's departure from Elba, and his progress in France. It states, that he sincerely desires peace, but will not hear of propositions humiliating to the honour of France. The royalists party had not known how to defend their princes, and the republicans, recovered from their errors, would see in the Emperor the protector of liberal ideas. The Emperor counts on the intelligence of the assemblies to bring the constitution to perfection. The national character, which repels the idea of conquest, is a sufficient guarantee to Europe. The am

bitious views of the allies, and their refusal to treat, resemble the time of 1792, when the Duke of Brunswick published his proclamations. The demands are great, but the resources are sufficient. It then goes into various details under the different heads, to prove the mal-administration of Louis XVII. respecting public works, mines, manufactures, hospitals, instruction, public worship, jurisprudence, &c. but particularly in the neglect of the war departiment. The army was reduced to 175,000, but since the 20th of March, the Emperor had raised it to 375,000 of all arms, and before August it would amount to 500,000 men, exclusive of national guards. The imperial guard is described as the surest bulwark of the throne in war, and one of its finest ornaments in peace. Its amount is already 40,000 men. The dilapidations in the artillery department are said to be retrieved. It is affirmed, that after arming the regulars and national guards, there will remain 600,000 muskets in reserve. The war expenditure, it is said, is to be pro. vided for without the imposition of any new taxes.

STATE

STATE OF THE CIVIL WAR IN FRANCE.

According to the Paris papers, the civil war, which bad assumed a formidable aspect in the department of La Vendee, and other parts on the French coast, is almost extinguished; but not before many serious actions had taken place between the royalists aid the regular troops. They' boast of having captured the greater part of 10,000 stand of arms, which had been landed in aid of the Vendeans by some British ships of war. It appears certain that the Marquis La Roche Jacquelin, a nobleman of distinguished gallantry and attachment to the Royal cause, and who accompanied the expedition from Britain, has been killed. According to the Paris papers, he was cut off from the coast, and his corps being at tacked by some regular troops, his body was recognised among the slain after the battle. The French journals state, that after this misfortune in the loss of their chief, the greatest part of the royalists had submitted to the existing government.

DEPARTURE OF BONAPARTE FROM PARIS, COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES, AND OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH ARMY.

Bonaparte set out from Paris on the morning of the 12th to head his army of the north, having previously received addresses of fidelity from the Legislature, and appointed a council of Regency, composed of his own family and several of his ministers of state, to administer the internal affairs of France in his absence, and also a committee of public safety, at the head of which is Davoust, minister of war.

On the 14th Bonaparte having concentrated his armies, attacked, at two in the morning of the 15th, the Prussian posts on the Sambre. They appear to have been surprised, and after some severe fighting, retreated to Charleroi. At this place they were again attacked about eight in the morning, by the main body of the French army, under the command of Bonaparte; the action seems to have been severe, and to have ended in the retreat of the Prussians from Charleroi, which in the course of the action is said to have been taken and retaken three times. The Prussians being joined by other German corps, under the command of the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of Orange, retired towards Fleu rus, and the French advanced on the same day to Gosselies.

On the 16th, the Duke of Wellington being apprised of these movements of the encmy, dispatched General Picton's division, consisting of the Royals, the 4th, 32d, 42d,

44th, 79th, and 95th regiments, to the assistance of the Prussians. A most desperate engagement now took place, in which 'both parties are said to have suffered im. mense loss. The 42d appears to have dis played their usual gallantry, and we lament to say, have suffered in proportion, as have also the 44th and 95th. By the assistance of this division, the allies sustained the incessant attacks of the French until night.

Such were the state of matters on the 16th. On the 17th, the Duke of Wellingcording to the private accounts, he attacked ton joined with reinforcements, when, acthe French army between Nivelle and Genappe (not Gemappe,) and drove it back three times. Marshal Blucher was not in the action, being at Namur on the 17th; and it appears to have been Bonaparte's intention to have penetrated the line of the allies, and to have interposed between the force under Lord Wellington and that under Marshal Blucher. For the purpose of frustrating this manœuvre, the Prussian and British armies drew nearer each other, and Lord Wellington took up a position at Wa terloo. The French head-quarters were at the same time at Charleroi.

Such were the positions of the hostile armies on the evening of the 17th; but it was on the 18th that the great and decisive battle took place, and it appears to have been fought with an obstinacy in every respect proportioned to the vast interests at stake. As carly as ten in the morning, the French commenced the attack on the British positions, and continued to attack and be repulsed during the whole day, till towards seven in the evening, "when, (says Marshal Wellington) the enemy made a desperate effort with the cavalry and infantry, supported by the fire of the artillery, to force our left centre near the farm of La Haye Sainte, which, after a severe contest, was defeated, and having observed that the troops retired from this attack in great confusion, and that the attack of General Bulow's corps by Euschermont, upon Planchenorte and La Belle Alliance, had begun to take effect, and as I could perceive the fire of his cannon, and as Marshal Prince Blucher had joined in person, with a corps of his army to the left of our line by Ohaim, I determined to attack the enemy, and immediately advanced the whole line of infantry, supported by cavalry and artillery.

The attack succeeded in every point; the enemy was forced from his position on the heights, and fled in the utmost confusion, leaving behind him, as far as I could judge, 150 pieces of cannon, with their ammunition, which fell into our hands. I continued the pursuit till long after dark,

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