Abdication

“ A king who accepts the terms of a government which are impossible, accepts his own overthrow by anticipation. A well-considered and voluntary abdication is more regal than that daily abdication which is undergone in the degradation of power. A king saves, if not his life, at least his dignity. It is more suitable to majesty royal to descend by its own will, than to be cast down headlong. From the moment when the king is king no longer, the throne becomes the last place in the kingdom. ”

“ I wished to spare my people civil war. If my abdication was indeed the only way to prevent bloodshed, I was willing to renounce the Imperial throne, but not to abdicate as King of Prussia; I would remain, as such, with my troops, since the military leaders had declared that the officers would leave in crowds if I abdicated entirely, and the army would then pour back, without leaders, into the fatherland, damage it, and place it in peril. ”

“ And we desiring on our side to concur towards the glorious end, which is proposed for re-establishing the public tranquillity, and for preventing the fears which the rights of our birth, or all others which might appertain unto us, might occasion, have resolved to make this relinquishment, this abdication, and this renunciation of all our rights, for ourselves, and in the name of all our successors and descendants ”

“ The troops were thunderstruck. No other word can describe the first impression produced by the manifestoes. There was neither sorrow nor rejoicing. There was deep, thoughtful silence. Thus did the regiments of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Divisions take the news of the abdication of their Emperor. Only occasionally on parade did the rifle waver and tears course down the cheeks of old soldiers. ”

“ I thank you for the sentiments you express towards me: I wish, that my abdication may procure the happiness of France; but I have no expectation of it; it leaves the state without a head, without political existence. The time wasted in overturning the monarchy might have been employed in putting France into a condition to crush the enemy. I recommend to the chamber, speedily to reinforce the armies: whoever is desirous of peace ought to prepare for war. Do not leave this great nation at the mercy of foreigners: be on your guard against being deceived by your hopes. There lies the danger. ”

“ You introduced disorder into my palace, you summoned the Royal Guard against my own person. Your father has been your prisoner; my Prime Minister, whom I created and received into my family, was covered with blood, and taken from one prison to another.... I am King by the right of my fathers. My abdication was due to force and violence. ”

“ But it is not necessary for us to rely on any allegation of abdication, applicable as it may be.
It only remains that we should see things as they are, and not seek to substitute theory for fact. On this important question I discard all theory, whether of State suicide, or State forfeiture, or State abdication, on the one side, or of State Rights, immortal and unimpeachable, on the other side. Such discussions are only endless mazes, in which a whole Senate may be lost. ”

“ The whole country is ready for the abdication; nine-tenths of the best men are on our side—and the other tenth will come in; and to give the thing plausibility we are going to have a sort of drama at the ball, in which the King—the sham one, of course—will announce his abdication and appoint his successor—Minna. ”

“ Though this weak, ill-advised, and ill-fated prince, in every sense of the word, with Romans and English, and to all intents and purposes, abdicated, yet can he, in no sense, be called abdicated; unless the people's asserting their rights, and defending themselves against a king, who broke his compact with his subjects, and overturned their government, can be called abdication in them; which no man in his senses can be hardy enough to support upon any principle of reason or the laws of England. ”

“ The man who in the hour of danger speaks of abdication is, for me, a venomous animal. I speak with the bluntness of gravity, madam; this is no hour for mincing. The coward, in a station of authority, is more dangerous than fire. We dwell on a volcano; if this man can have his way, Grünewald before a week will have been deluged with innocent blood. ”

“ Abdication.—What for want of a better word is generally known to foreigners by the term abdication is the retirement of a person 288from the position of head of a family. As women can under the Civil Code become heads of families, it follows that abdication is no prerogative of the male sex.
Japanese scholars who have investigated the subject, notably Professors Hozumi and Shigéno, agree in tracing the origin of the present custom to the abdication of sovereigns, instances of which occur at an early period of Japanese history. ”

“ What suicide is to a man, abdication is to a king! How canst thou dispose of thy son's rights? And what becomes of those rights if thou wilt prefer for him the exile, for thyself the prison, when one effort may restore a throne!"
Henry seemed struck by a tone of argument that suited both his own mind and the reasoning of the age. He gazed a moment on the face of the young man, muttered to himself, and suddenly moving to the table, signed the papers, and restored them to Adam, who mechanically replaced them in their iron hiding-place.
"Now begone, Sir!" ”

“ The news will soon spread through the city, and dispose in our favor both the bourgeois and the troops.”
“The plan is good, and cannot fail,” said the duchess. “It is rather brutal,” said the Duc de Guise; “besides which, the king will refuse to sign the abdication. He is brave, and will rather die.”
“Let him die, then.”
“Not so,” replied the duke, firmly. “I will mount the throne of a prince who abdicates and is despised, but not of an assassinated man who is pitied. ”

“ If there be any who entertain angry or invidious recollections of late events in France, they ought to remark that the ex-monarch has by his abdication renounced the conflict, into which perhaps he was engaged by bad advice, that he can no longer be an object of resentment to the brave, but remains, to all, the most striking example of the instability of human affairs which our unstable times have afforded. ”

“ One fell back on toleration and the other on revolution. But after all there is something more absolute about abdication. Abdication is perhaps the one really absolute action of an absolute monarch. The Indian prince, reared in Oriental luxury and pomp, deliberately went out and lived the life of a beggar. ”

“ Are you a soldier and do you fear? Mount!—mount!—charge on the rebels!—cut them to the earth!—drench the pavement with their blood!—perish, but yield not ignominiously thus!"
"Madame," said M. Thiers, solemnly, "it is too late! There must be an abdication in favor of the Count of Paris, and the appointment of the Duchess of Orléans as Regent, or all is lost!" ”

“ Passions were being roused that blinded the eyes to beauty and dulled the mind to charm. She was still a queen, but her subjects were sullen and inattentive. What could she do to help him, now that he was so hard pressed? The thought of abdication was odious to her, as to every woman. Must she remain directing the ceremonies of the Court after the brilliancy had died out, while enemies were working night and day to overturn all that she was attached to? ”

“ The crisis admits of no third [Pg 385] alternative. The king must abdicate, or the monarchy is lost."
The Duke de Montpensier, fully comprehending the peril of the hour, earnestly entreated his father to sign the abdication. But, on the other hand, there were those who entreated the king, with equal fervor, not to sign it. M. Piscatory and Marshal Bugeaud urged that abdication would inflict a Republic upon France, with no end to anarchy and civil war; that the only way to meet the insurrection was to crush it by military power. ”

“ Miserable men that we are! feebleness and error are our mottoes. But all this can be set right. Let the Prince de la Paix be exiled from Spain, and I will offer him a refuge in France. As to the abdication of Charles IV., it took place at a moment when my armies covered Spain, and in the eyes of Europe and of posterity I should appear to have despatched so many troops only to precipitate from the throne my ally and friend. As a neighboring sovereign it is permitted me to wish to become fully acquainted with this abdication before recognizing it. ”

“ Moreover, although abdication usually implies the abandonment of the business, or profession, of the person who abdicates, this does not necessarily follow, abdication being in no way incompatible with the continuation of the active pursuits in which the person-in question is engaged. ”

“ But, seeing as I now do, the dissatisfaction inspired by the measures of the new Government, I can explain to my Guard the reasons which induced me to revoke my abdication. It is true that the number of troops on which I can count will scarcely exceed 30,000 men, but it will be easy for me to increase their numbers to 130,000. Know, then, that I can also, without injuring my honour, say to my Guard, that having nothing but the repose and happiness of the country at heart, I renounce all my rights, and exhort my troops to follow my example, and yield to the wish of the nation. ”

“ Napoleon's abdication.
The day before the entry of the Comte d'Artois, Napoleon, after some useless negociations with Alexander through the intermediary of M. de Caulaincourt, had published his act of abdication:
"The Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, true to his oath, declares that he renounces for himself and his heirs the throne of France and Italy, because there is no personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not ready to make to the interests of the French." ”

“ Napoleon, surrounded by his brothers, the State dignitaries, the marshals, the civil and judicial bodies, proclaimed the sovereignty of the people in which he did not believe. The citizens had imagined that they themselves would frame a Constitution on that solemn day, the peaceful middle class expected that then would be declared Napoleon's abdication in favour of his son, an abdication concocted at Bâle between the agents of Fouché and of Prince Metternich: and there was nothing but a ridiculous political trap! ”

“ The most distinguished Chiefs ventured to advise the abdication, and declared it to be indispensable. Some even went so far as to hint to the Emperor that they could not answer for the consequences of the dissatisfaction and indignation which the soldiers manifested towards him; while, on the contrary, as Napoleon himself said, “such was the attachment of the troops, and the devotedness of the officers, that, if I had made known the machinations that were plotting, I certainly should have endangered those who were guilty of such misrepresentation. ”

“ M. Girardin, pitiless as evidence, pressing as time, would not even admit of discussion. 'Sire!' said he, 'the abdication of the king, or the abdication of the monarchy—there is the alternative. Circumstances will not admit even of a minute to find a third issue from the straits in which we are placed.' While he thus spoke, M. Girardin placed before the King the draft of a proclamation which he had prepared and he wished to have printed. That proclamation, concise as a fact, consisted only of four lines, calculated to attract the eyes of the people. ”

“ That in many cases the reason for abdication lies in the wish to escape from the tyrannical calls of family life, rather than in mere desire for idleness and ease, is shown by the fact that just as in past times the abdication of an Emperor, a Regent, or a state dignitary, was often the signal for renewed activity on his part, so in modern Japanese life the period of a person's greatest activity not infrequently dates from the time of his withdrawal from the headship of his family. ”

“ The two generals learned, however, on the 25th, the Emperor’s abdication, which had taken place on the 22d, the insurrection of the Chambers, the discouragement occasioned by these circumstances in the army, and the hopes excited among our internal enemies. From that moment, they thought only of marching upon the capital, under the walls of which they arrived at the latter end of June, with fewer than 90,000 men; an enterprise that would have proved fatal to them, and drawn on their total ruin, had they hazarded it in the presence of Napoleon: but that Prince had abdicated!!! ”

“ A copy of the original deed of abdication was preserved among the papers of Cardinal Granvelle, at Besançon, and is incorporated in the valuable collection of documents published by order of the French government under the direction of the learned Weiss, Papiers d'Etat du Cardinal de Granvelle, d'après les Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de Besançon, (Paris, 1843,) tom. IV. p. 486.
[5] It is strange that the precise date of an event of such notoriety as the abdication of Charles the Fifth should be a matter of discrepancy among historians. ”

“ A sudden abdication would let loose the insurrection over the whole country: to obviate this, it was needful that Maximilian should feign a merely temporary absence, which would permit him to institute a regency which might lead the country on gently to another form of government. An abdication dated from Europe would be the only thing to prevent a great shock and to insure the safety of our army. This was the plan to which the marshal sought to incite Maximilian. At seven o'clock in the evening the prince was impatiently waiting in his palace the reply from head-quarters. ”