The day after the Coronation all the troops in Paris were assembled in the Champ de Mars the Imperial eagles might be distributed to each regiment, in lieu of the national flags.  I has stayed away from the Coronation in the church of Notre Dame, but I wished to see the military fete in the Champ de Mars because I took real pleasure in seeing Bonaparte amongst his soldiers.  A throne was erected in front of the Military School, which, though now transformed into a barrack, must have recalled, to Bonaparte’s mind some singular recollections of his boyhood.  At a given signal all the columns closed and approached the throne.  Then Bonaparte, rising, gave orders for the distribution of the eagles, and delivered the following address to the deputations of the different corps of the army: 

“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

My appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary at Hamburg—­My interview with Bonaparte at Malmaison—­Bonaparte’s designs respecting Italy—­ His wish to revisit Brienne—­Instructions for my residence in Hamburg—­Regeneration of European society—­Bonaparte’s plan of making himself the oldest sovereign in Europe—­Amedee Jaubert’s mission—­Commission from the Emperor to the Empress—­My conversation with Madame Bonaparte.

I must now mention an event which concerns myself personally, namely, my appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary, to the Dukes of Brunswick and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and to the Hanse towns.