The Senatus-Consultum, liberalizing the Constitution of the French Empire was
introduced into the Senate on Monday by M. Rouher. It contains twelve articles, which declare that the "initiative in proposing laws belongs to the Emperor and the Corps Legislatif ;" that "Ministers depend only on the Emperor," but "are responsible ;" that Ministers may sit and speak both in the Chamber and the Senate ; that proceedings in the Senate shall be public, unless five members demand secrecy ; that the Senate may amend or reject laws ; that the Corps Legislatif is free to make its own rules and elect its own officers ; that members may ask questions and move resolutions ; that amendments may be discussed after communication with Government, and passed after reference, for an opinion only, to the Council of State ; that the Budget must be voted by chapters ; that commercial treaties can only be ratified after a law ; and that the Emperor will regu- late the relations of the Senate and Corps Le'gislatif to each other and himself by decree. It is added, in the exposé de motifs which accompanies the draft, that although the Emperor appoints and dismisses Ministers, still their responsibility to the Chamber
follows, as in England, from their position in it, and from "the right of the Chamber to express censure." We have commented on the new Constitution elsewhere, and need only add here that it has been received in Paris with decided approval.
