in solemn procession to the ancient cathedral, where were assembled the magistrates, the bishops, and the titled dignitaries of the realm, and received, in his imperial robes, from the hands of the Pope, the consecrated sceptre and crown of empire, and heard from the lips of the supreme pontiff of Christendom those words which once greeted Charlemagne in the basilica of St. Peter when the Roman clergy proclaimed him Emperor of the West,—­Vivat in oeternum semper Augustus.  The venerable aisles and pillars and arches of the ancient cathedral resounded to the music of five hundred performers in a solemn Te Deum.  The sixty prelates of France saluted the anointed soldier as their monarch, while the inspiring cry from the vast audience of Vive l’Empereur! announced Napoleon’s entrance into the circle of European sovereigns.

But this fresh usurpation, although confirmed by a vote of the French people, was the signal for renewed hostilities.  A coalition of all governments unfriendly to France was formed.  Military preparations assumed a magnitude never seen before in the history of Europe, which now speedily became one vast camp.  Napoleon quit his capital to assume the conduct of armies.  He had threatened England with invasion, which he knew was impossible, for England then had nearly one thousand ships of war, manned by one hundred and twenty thousand men.  But when Napoleon heard of the victories of Nelson, he suddenly and rapidly marched to the Rhine, and precipitated one hundred and eighty thousand troops upon Austria, who was obliged to open her capital.  Then, reinforced by Russia, Austria met the invader at Austerlitz with equal forces; but only to suffer crushing defeat.  Pitt died of a broken heart when he heard of this decisive French victory, followed shortly after by the disastrous overthrow of the Prussians at Jena, and that, again, by the victory of Eylau over the Russians, which secured the peace of Tilsit, 1807,—­making Napoleon supreme on the continent of Europe at the age of thirty-nine.  It was deemed idle to resist further this “man of destiny,” who in twelve years, from the condition of an unemployed officer of artillery, without friends or family or influence, had subdued in turn all the monarchies of Europe, with the exception of England and Russia, and regulated at his pleasure the affairs of distant courts.  To what an eminence had he climbed!  Nothing in history or romance approaches the facts of his amazing career.

And even down to this time—­to the peace of Tilsit—­there are no grave charges against him which history will not extenuate, aside from the egotism of his character.  He claims that he fought for French nationality, in danger from the united hostilities of Europe.  Certainly his own glory was thus far identified with the glory of his country.  He had rescued France by a series of victories more brilliant than had been achieved for centuries.  He had won a fame second to that of no conqueror in the world’s history.