"The institution of the legion of honour;
"The recompenses due to the officers and soldiers;
"The succour due to their widows and children;
"The institution of a jury; the indefeasibleness of the office of judge;
"The payment of the public debt;
"Would not ensure the tranquillity of France and of Europe.
"If the fundamental principles, announced in this declaration, should be disregarded or violated, the representatives of the French people, acquitting themselves this day of a sacred duty, enter their protest beforehand, in the face of the whole world, against violence and usurpation. They entrust they maintenance of the arrangements, which they now proclaim, to all good Frenchmen, to all generous hearts, to all enlightened minds, to all men jealous of liberty, and, in fine, to future generations."
This sublime protest was considered by the assembly as a funeral monument, erected to patriotism and fidelity. All the members arose, and adopted it spontaneously, with shouts a thousand times repeated of "Long live the nation! Liberty for ever!" It was resolved, that it should be sent immediately to the chamber of peers: "It must be made known," said M. Dupin, "that the whole of the national representation shares the noble sentiments expressed in this declaration. It must be made known to all worthy and reasonable men, the friends of judicious liberty, that their wishes have found interpreters here, and that force itself cannot prevent us from uttering them."
At the same moment M. Bedoch announced, that our plenipotentiaries were returned; and that one of them, M. Pontécoulant, had affirmed, that "the foreign powers, and particularly the Emperor Alexander, had shown favourable dispositions he had frequently heard it said and repeated, that it was not the intention of the allied sovereigns, to put any constraint on France in the choice of a government; and that the Emperor Alexander would be at Nancy in a few days[90]."
General Sébastiani confirmed these explanations. The chamber, feeling its hopes revive, immediately ordered, that its declaration should be carried to the foreign monarchs by a deputation of its members. "They will understand our language," said M. Dupont de l'Eure, with a noble feeling: "it is worthy of them, and of the great nation we represent."