"The present declaration, inserted in the register of the congress assembled at Vienna, in the sitting of the 13th of March, 1815, shall be made public.
"Done and certified as true by the plenipotentiaries of the eight powers, who signed the Treaty of Paris, at Vienna, the 13th of March, 1815.
Here follow the signatures in the alphabetical order of the courts.
"Austria { The Prince de METTERNICH, { The Baron de WESSEMBERG.
{ The Prince de TALLEYRAND, France { The Duke D'ALBERG, { LATOUR DUPIN, { The Count ALEXIS DE NOAILLES.
{ WELLINGTON, { CLANCARTY, Great Britain { CATHCART, { STEWART.
{ The Count PALMELA, Portugal { SALDANHA, { LOBO.
{ The Prince de HARDENBERG, Prussia { The Baron de HUMBOLDT.
{ The Count de RASOUMOWSKI, Russia { The Count de STAKELBERG, { The Count de NESSELRODE.
This declaration, which no doubt will hereafter excite the astonishment of posterity, was commented upon and victoriously refuted by the Emperor himself. Count Boulay, to whom the following report is ascribed, had no farther share in it, than condensing it a little, and softening some of its expressions.
Report of the committee of presidents of the council of state.
"In consequence of the reference made to it, the committee, composed of the presidents of the sections of the council of state, has examined the declaration of the 13th of March, the report of the minister of the general police, and the papers added to them.
"The declaration is in an unusual form, composed in such strange terms, and expresses such anti-social ideas, that the committee was led to consider it as one of those supposititious productions, by means of which despicable men endeavour to impose upon people's minds, and mislead the public opinion.
"But the verification of the examinations taken at Metz, and of the interrogatories of the couriers, admit no doubt, that the declaration was sent by members of the French legation at Vienna; and consequently it must be considered as adopted and signed by them.
"It is under this last point of view, that the committee imagines it ought first to examine this production, which has no precedent in the annals of diplomacy, and in which Frenchmen, men invested with the most respectable of public characters, begin with a sort of outlawry, with a provocation to assassinate the Emperor Napoleon.