Bonaparte had a long time before spoken to me of the title of Emperor as being the most appropriate for the new sovereignty which he wished to found in France.  This, he observed, was not restoring the old system entirely, and he dwelt much on its being the title which Caesar had borne.  He often said, “One may be the Emperor of a republic, but not the King of a republic, those two terms are incongruous.”

In its first address the Senate had taken as a test the documents it had received from the Government in relation to the intrigues of Drake, who had been sent from England to Munich.  That text afforded the opportunity for a vague expression of what the Senate termed the necessities of France.  To give greater solemnity to the affair the Senate proceeded in a body to the Tuileries, and one thing which gave a peculiar character to the preconcerted advances of the Senate was that Cambaceres, the Second Consul, fulfilled his functions of President on this occasion, and delivered the address to the First Consul.

However, the First Consul thought the address of the Senate, which, I have been informed, was drawn up by Francois de Neufchateau, was not expressed with sufficient clearness; he therefore, after suffering a little interval to elapse, sent a message to the Senate signed by himself, in which he said, “Your address has been the object of my earnest consideration.”  And though the address contained no mention of hereditary succession, he added, “You consider the hereditary succession of the supreme magistracy necessary to defend the French people against the plots of our enemies and the agitation arising from rival ambition.  At the same time several of our institutions appear to you to require improvement so as to ensure the triumph of equality and public liberty, and to offer to the nation and the Government the double guarantee they require.”  From the subsequent passages of the message it will be sufficient to extract the following:  “We have been constantly guided by this great truth:  that the sovereignty dwells with the French people, and that it is for their interest, happiness, and glory that the Supreme Magistracy, the Senate, the Council of State, the Legislative Body, the Electoral Colleges, and the different branches of the Government, are and must be instituted.”  The omission of the Tribunate in this enumeration is somewhat remarkable.  It announced a promise which was speedily realised.

The will of Bonaparte being thus expressed in his message to the—­Senate, that body, which was created to preserve the institutions consecrated by the Constitution of the year VIII., had no alternative but to submit to the intentions manifested by the First Consul.  The reply to the message was, therefore, merely a counterpart of the message itself.  It positively declared that hereditary government was essential to the happiness, the glory, and the prosperity of France, and that that government could be confided