* * * * *

THE HUNDRED DAYS.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.

[Concluded.]

The most remarkable event of the “Hundred Days” was the celebrated “Champ de Mai,” where Napoleon met deputies from the Departments, and distributed eagles to representatives of his forces.  He intended it as an assembly of the French people, which should sanction and legalize his second accession to the throne, and pledge itself, by solemn adjuration, to preserve the sovereignty of his family.  It was a day of wholesale swearing, and the deputies uttered any quantity of oaths of eternal fidelity, which they barely kept three weeks.  The distribution of the eagles was the only real and interesting part of the performance, and the deep sympathy between both parties was very evident.  The Emperor stood in the open field, on a raised platform, from which a broad flight of steps descended; and pages of his household were continually running up and down, communicating with the detachments from various branches of the army, which passed in front of him, halting for a moment to receive the eagles and give the oath to defend them.

I was present during the whole of this latter ceremony.  Through the forbearance of a portion of the Imperial Guard, into whose ranks I obtruded myself, I had a very favorable position, and felt that in this part of the day’s work there was no sham.

I would here bear testimony to the character of those veterans known as the “Old Guard.”  I frequently came in contact with individuals of them, and liked so well to talk with them, that I never lost a chance of making their acquaintance.  One, who was partial to me because I was an American, had served in this country with Rochambeau, had fought under the eye of Washington, and was at the surrender of Cornwallis.  He had borne his share in the vicissitudes of the Republic, the Consulate, and the Empire.  He was scarred with wounds, and his breast was decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor, which he considered an ample equivalent for all his services.  My intercourse with these old soldiers confirmed what has been said of them, that they were singularly mild and courteous.  There was a gentleness of manner about them that was remarkable.  They had seen too much service to boast of it, and they left the bragging to younger men.  Terrible as they were on the field of battle, they seemed to have adopted as a rule of conduct, that

  “In peace, there’s nothing so becomes a man
  As modest stillness and humility.”

On this memorable day, I saw Napoleon more distinctly than at any other time.  I was frequently present when he was reviewing troops, but either he or they were in motion, and I had to catch a glimpse of him as opportunities offered.  At this time, as he passed through the Champs Elysees, I stood among my friends, the soldiers, who lined the way, and who suffered me to remain where a man would not have been