As every one was eager to take advantage of the slightest effects of chance, and exercised his ingenuity in converting them into prognostics of good fortune for the Emperor, those who had access to him did not fail to call his attention to some remains of a Roman camp which had been discovered at the Tour d’Ordre, where the Emperor’s tent was pitched.  This was considered an evident proof that the French Caesar occupied the camp which the Roman Caesar had formerly constructed to menace Great Britain.  To give additional force to this allusion, the Tour d’Ordre resumed the name of Caesar’s Tower.  Some medals of William the Conqueror, found in another spot, where, perhaps, they had been buried for the purpose of being dug up, could not fail to satisfy the most incredulous that Napoleon must conquer England.

It was not far from Caesar’s Tower that 80,000 men of the camps of Boulogne and Montreuil, under the command of Marshal Soult, were assembled in a vast plain to witness the distribution of the crosses of the Legion of Honour impressed with the Imperial effigy.  This plain, which I saw with Bonaparte in our first journey to the coast, before our departure to Egypt, was circular and hollow; and in the centre was a little hill.  This hill formed the Imperial throne of Bonaparte in the midst of his soldiers.  There he stationed himself with his staff and around this centre of glory the regiments were drawn up in lines and looked like so many diverging rays.  From this throne, which had been erected by the hand of nature, Bonaparte delivered in a loud voice the same form of oath which he had pronounced at the Hotel des Invalides a few days before.  It was the signal for a general burst of enthusiasm, and Rapp, alluding to this ceremony, told me that he never saw the Emperor appear more pleased.  How could he be otherwise?  Fortune then seemed obedient to his wishes.  A storm came on during this brilliant day, and it was apprehended that part of the flotilla would have suffered.

Bonaparte quitted the hill from which he had distributed the crosses and proceeded to the port to direct what measures should be taken, when upon his arrival the storm—­

—­[The following description of the incident when Napoleon nearly occasioned the destruction of the Boulogne flotilla was forwarded to the ‘Revue Politique et Litteraire’ from a private memoir.  The writer, who was an eye-witness, says—­

One morning, when the Emperor was mounting his horse, he announced that he intended to hold a review of his naval forces, and gave the order that the vessels which lay in the harbour should alter their positions, as the review was to be held on the open sea.  He started on his usual ride, giving orders that everything should be arranged on his return, the time of which he indicted.  His wish was communicated to Admiral Bruix, who responded with imperturbable coolness that he was very sorry, but that the review could not take place that day.