The Emperor came in frequently, and encouraged his young wife.  In the interior of the palace, the attention was eager, impassioned, clamorous; and each vied with the other as to who should first have the news of the birth of the child.  At five o’clock in the morning, as the situation of the Empress continued the same, the Emperor ordered every one to retire, and himself withdrew in order to take his bath; for the anxiety he had undergone made a moment of repose very necessary to him in his great agitation.  After fifteen minutes spent in the bath he was hastily summoned, as the condition of the Empress had become both critical and dangerous.  Hastily throwing on his dressing-gown, he returned to the apartment of the Empress, and tenderly encouraged her, holding her hand.  The physician, M. Dubois, informed him that it was improbable both mother and child could be saved; whereupon he cried, “Come, M. Dubois, keep your wits about you!  Save the mother, think only of the mother, I order you.”

As the intense suffering continued, it became necessary to use instruments; and Marie Louise, perceiving this, exclaimed with bitterness, “Is it necessary to sacrifice me because I am an Empress?” The Emperor overcome by his emotions had retired to the dressing-room, pale as death, and almost beside himself.  At last the child came into the world; and the Emperor immediately rushed into the apartment, embracing the Empress with extreme tenderness, without glancing at the child, which was thought to be dead; and in fact, it was seven minutes before he gave any signs of life, though a few drops of brandy were blown into his mouth and many efforts made to revive him.  At last he uttered a cry.

The Emperor rushed from the Empress’s arms to embrace this child, whose birth was for him the last and highest favor of fortune, and seemed almost beside himself with joy, rushing from the son to the mother, from the mother to the son, as if he could not sufficiently feast his eyes on either.  When he entered his room to make his toilet, his face beamed with joy; and, seeing me, he exclaimed, “Well, Constant, we have a big boy!  He is well made to pinch ears for example;” announcing it thus to every one he met.  It was in these effusions of domestic bliss that I could appreciate how deeply this great soul, which was thought impressible only to glory, felt the joys of family life.

From the moment the great bell of Notre Dame and the bells of the different churches of Paris sounded in the middle of the night, until the hour when the cannon announced the happy delivery of the Empress, an extreme agitation was felt throughout Paris.  At break of day the crowd rushed towards the Tuileries, and filled the streets and quays, all awaiting in anxious suspense the first discharge of the cannon.  But this curious sight was not only seen in the Tuileries and neighboring districts, but at half-past nine in streets far removed from the chateau, and in all parts of Paris, people could be seen stopping to count with emotion the discharges of the cannon.