Having passed through the town be halted on a little height some way beyond it, where he breakfasted.  He was soon surrounded by the whole population of the place; and he heard the same sentiments and the same prayers as before he quitted France.  A multitude of petitions had already been drawn up, and were presented to him, just as though he had come from Paris and was making a tour through the departments.  One complained that his pension had not been paid, another that his cross of the Legion of Honour had been taken from him.  Some of the more discontented secretly informed Napoleon that the authorities of the town were very hostile to him, but that the mass of the people were devoted to him, and only waited till his back was turned to rid themselves of the miscreants.  He replied, “Be not too hasty.  Let them have the mortification of seeing our triumph without having anything to reproach us with.”  The Emperor advanced with all the rapidity in his power.  “Victory,” he said, “depended on my speed.  To me France was in Grenoble.  That place was a hundred miles distant, but I and my companions reached it in five days; and with what weather and what roads!  I entered the city just as the Comte d’Artois, warned by the telegraph, was quitting the Tuileries.”

Napoleon himself was so perfectly convinced of the state of affairs that he knew his success in no way depended on the force he might bring with him.  A ‘piquet’ of ‘gens d’armes’, he said, was all that was necessary.  Everything turned out as he foresaw.  At first he owned he was not without some degree of uncertainty and apprehension.  As he advanced, however, the whole population declared themselves enthusiastically in his favour:  but he saw no soldiers.  It was not till he arrived between Mure and Vizille, within five or six leagues from Grenoble, and on the fifth day after his landing, that he met a battalion.  The commanding officer refused to hold even a parley.  The Emperor, without hesitation, advanced alone, and 100 grenadiers marched at some distance behind him, with their arms reversed.  The sight of Napoleon, his well-known costume, and his gray military greatcoat, had a magical effect on the soldiers, and they stood motionless.  Napoleon went straight up to them and baring his breast said, “Let him that has the heart kill his Emperor!” The soldiers threw down their arms, their eyes moistened with tears, and cries of “Vive l’Empereur!” resounded on every side.  Napoleon ordered the battalion to wheel round to the right, and all marched on together.

At a short distance from Grenoble Colonel Labedoyere, who had been sent at the head of the 7th regiment to oppose his passage, came to join the Emperor.  The impulse thus given in a manner decided the question.  Labedoyere’s superior officer in vain interfered to restrain his enthusiasm and that of his men.  The tri-coloured cockades, which had been concealed in the hollow of a drum, were eagerly distributed by