Resumen de Le Parlement de Waterloo: la Chambre des Représentants (mai-juillet 1815)
In this article, Maria Sofia Corciulo looks at the evidence on the proceedings of the Chamber of Deputies elected during the return of Napoléon Bonaparte as emperor in 1815. This took place under the terms of the Acte Additionnel drafted by Benjamin Constant, following Napoléon's expressed decision to reign as a constitutional monarch. Constant introduced a number of significant liberal modifications to the old Napoleonic constitution, and elections for the new Chamber were held in May 1815, though using the electoral bodies established under the 1802 constitutional arrangements. The article suggests that the outcome of these elections, from the very low participation levels in the voting to the character of the men elected, suggests an abscence of confidence in the likely stability of the restored Empire, and this tentative attitude held through the brief opening proceedings of the new legislature in the days immediately before Napoléon left to join the army. After the return to Paris from Waterloo, Napoléon rejected the advice of those who urged him to dissolve the obviously disloyal Chamber, and in view of its attitude was left with no option but abdication. In conclusion the article affirms that this outcome resulted not from the intrigues of Fouché, nor from the ambitions of Napoléon's family, but because the Chambers required it, though their expressed hopes of then being able to lay down conditions for the eventual sovereign chosen for France were thwarted by the will of the victorious allied powers.
