"Soldiers, Soldiers! behold your colours. These eagles will always
be your rallying-point! They will always be where your Emperor may
thank them necessary for the defence of his throne and of his
people. Swear to sacrifice your lives to defend them, and by your
courage to keep them constantly in the path of victory.--Swear!"

It would be impossible to describe the acclamations which followed this
address; there is something so seductive in popular enthusiasm that even
indifferent persons cannot help yielding to its influence. And yet the
least reflection would have shown how shamefully Napoleon forswore the
declaration he made to the Senate, when the organic 'Senatus-consulte'
for the foundation of the Empire was presented to him at St: Cloud: On
that occasion he said; "The French people shall never be MY people!"
And yet the day after his Coronation his eagles were to, be carried
wherever they might be necessary for the defence of his people.

By a singular coincidence, while on the 2d of December 1804 Bonaparte was
receiving from the head of the Church the Imperial crown of France, Louis
XVIII., who was then at Colmar, prompted as it were by an inexplicable
presentiment, drew up and signed a declaration to the French people, in
which he declared that he then, swore never to break the sacred bond
which united his destiny to theirs, never to renounce the inheritance of
his ancestors, or to relinquish his rights.




CHAPTER XXX.

1805