Original printed decree from the Department of Saone-et-Loire, in French, one page, 17 x 21.5, April 22, 1815. The document is the new Constitution of the French Empire during the Cent Jours, written by Benjamin Constant for Napoleon, at the Palace of Elysee, in part (translated): "Since we were called, fifteen years ago, by the vow of France, to the government of the State, we have sought to perfect, at various times, the constitutional forms, according to the needs and desires of the nation. And taking advantage of the lessons of the experience, the constitutions of the empire were thus formed of a series of acts which were clothed with the acceptance of the people. Our aim was then to organize a great European federal system, which we had adopted in accordance with the spirit of the century, and favorable to the progress of civilization. In order to complete it and to give it all the scope and all the stability which it was capable of, we had postponed the establishment of several interior institutions, more especially designed to protect the liberty of the citizens. Our goal now is only to increase the prosperity of France by strengthening public liberty. From this results the necessity of several important modifications in the constitutions, senatus-consultes, and other acts which govern this Empire. To these causes, willing on one side, to preserve from the past what is good and salutary, and, on the other hand, to render the constitutions of our Empire in conformity with national wishes and needs, as well as In the state of peace which we wish to maintain with Europe, we have resolved to propose to the people a series of provisions tending to modify and perfect their Constitutional acts, to surround the rights of citizens with all their guarantees, to give the representative system its full extension, to invest the intermediate bodies in the consideration and desirable power; in a word, to combine the highest point of political liberty and individual independence with the strength and centralization necessary to enforce the independence of the French people and the dignity of our crown. Consequently, the Siuvan articles, forming an additional act to the constitutions of the Empire, will be subject to the free and solemn acceptance of all the citizens, throughout the whole of France." The four titles are listed as follows: "General Dispositions," "Electoral Colleges and the Method of Election," "From the Tax Law," and "Ministers and Responsibility." In very good to fine condition, with light staining and intersecting folds.
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