That scene decided the whole course of events.  A little later, a young noble, Labedoyere, leads over his regiment; at Grenoble the garrison stands looking on and cheering while the Bonapartists batter in the gates; and the hero is borne in amidst a whirlwind of cheers.  At Lyons, the Comte d’Artois and Macdonald seek safety in flight; and soldiers and workmen welcome their chief with wild acclaim; but amidst the wonted cries are heard threats of “The Bourbons to the guillotine,” “Down with the priests!”

The shouts were ominous:  they showed that the Jacobins meant to use Napoleon merely as a tool for the overthrow of the Bourbons.  The “have-nots” cheered him, but the “haves” shivered at his coming, for every thinking man knew that it implied war with Europe.[465] Napoleon saw the danger of relying merely on malcontents and sought to arouse a truly national feeling.  He therefore on March 13th issued a series of popular decrees, that declared the rule of the Bourbons at an end, dissolved the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and summoned the “electoral colleges” of the Empire to a great assembly, or Champ de Mai, at Paris.  He further proscribed the white flag, ordered the wearing of the tri-colour cockade, disbanded the hated “Maison du Roi,” abolished feudal titles, and sequestered the domains of the Bourbon princes.  In brief, he acted as the Bonaparte of 1799.  He then set forth for Paris, at the head of 14,000 men.

Ney was at the same time marching with 6,000 men from Besancon.  He had lately assured Louis XVIII. that Napoleon deserved to be brought to Paris in an iron cage.  But now his soldiers kept a sullen silence.  At Bourg the leading regiment deserted; and while beset by difficulties, the Marshal received from Napoleon the assurance that he would be received as he was on the day after the Moskwa (Borodino).  This was enough.  He drew his troops around him, and, to their lively joy, declared for the Emperor (March 14th).  Napoleon was as good as his word.  Never prone to petty malice, he now received with equal graciousness those officers who flung themselves at his feet, and those who staunchly served the King to the very last.  Before this sunny magnanimity the last hopes of the Bourbons melted away.  Greeted on all sides by soldiers and peasants, the enchanter advances on Paris, whence the King and Court beat a hasty retreat towards Lille.

Crowds of peasants line and almost block the road from Fontainebleau to catch a glimpse of the gray coat; and, to expedite matters, he drives on in a cabriolet with his faithful Caulaincourt.  Escorted by a cavalcade of officers he enters Paris after nightfall; but there the tone of the public is cool and questioning, until the front of the Tuileries facing the river is reached.[466] Then a mighty shout arises from the throng of jubilant half-pay officers as the well-known figure alights:  he passes in, and is half carried up the grand staircase, “his eyes half closed,”