tually and promptly at the first requisition of the public authority;-to defeat all plots against the constitution and the Emperor;—and to lend one another mutual assistance and protection according to events." Secret emissaries were sent into the suburbs of Paris, and particularly into those of St. Antoine, and St. Marceau, the inhabitants of which had performed so prominent a part in all the atrocities of the revolution, and had since been distinguished for their devotedness to Napoleon, to induce them to enter into similar confederations, and thus to set a patriotic example to the other cities of the empire.

To

The scheme succeeded. Fifteen thousand men enrolled themselves and demanded arms. give the affair greater eclât a day was appointed in which they were to be reviewed in the court of the Thuilleries.

On the 14th of May these "lean and unwashed artificers,” in a thousand different and disgusting garbs, marched into the courts of the palace. When the Emperor appeared in front of the line, an orator deputed from their body addressed him in an harangue of which the following is an extract.

"Sire!

"We received the Bourbons with indifference and apathy because we love not kings imposed upon us by the enemy. We received you with enthusiasm because you are the man of the nation,

the defender of the country, and because we expect from you a glorious independence and judicious freedom. We come to make a tender of our arms, our courage and our blood for the safety of the capital.

"The most part of us have combatted under your orders. We are almost all old defenders of our country. Our country may with confidence place arms in the hands of those who have shed their blood in her cause. Give to us, Sire! arms in her name. We swear, in your presence, to fight only in our country's cause and in yours. We are not the tools of any party, nor the agents of any faction. We desire only to preserve the national honour, and to render the entrance of the enemy into this capital impracticable, in the event of its being threatened with a new insult. Conquerors by our own courage and your genius, we shall resume our toils with joy and alacrity; and we shall be better able to appreciate the blessings of peace when we shall obtain, as the price of twenty-five years of sacrifices, a constitution, liberty, and the monarch of our choice.

"Sire! you will triumph. We rejoice by anticipation at a victory so legitimate, and at the glorious and permanent tranquillity which will be the fruits of it. Yes, Sire! we have an assurance that when our enemies shall announce the chimerical hope of prescribing laws to us, you will love peace as you love glory. We shall be indebted

to you for liberty and happiness; and all France now ready to fight if necessary, will love you as a good king, after admiring you as the greatest of warriors."

The Emperor listened to them with the greatest courtesy, and thus replied.

"Soldiers and Federates! I returned to France alone because I reckoned on the affection of the peasants through the whole of France, and the artisans of the principal cities. My expectations have not been deceived.

"Confederated soldiers! I see yon around me with pleasure. You have robust arms and brave hearts. I accept your offers. I will give you arms. You shall form the light troops of the Parisian national guard, to which in conjunction with you I commit the defence of my capital.

Tranquil as to the result of the contest, I shall proceed to the frontiers to manoeuvre the army, and to defend our territory if the kings shall dare to attack it. The honour of the French, the rights of the people, and my throne, are under your keeping, and under that of the people of the country and the villages. We will cause the national sovereignty and independence to be respected."

When he concluded, the air was rent with acclamations, and the federates dispersed proud of the honour which they had received, and burning to prove their zeal in the Emperor's cause.

This scene had not the effect which Napoleon

wished. It was a burlesque on the confederations of the provinces; and the rational friends of liberty omened ill when her cause was committed to such defenders. It was this very nob, or of the same description and from the same quarter, which on the 20th of June, and the 10th of August, had attacked this very palace, had attempted to murder the unfortunate Lewis, and had caused the streets of Paris to flow with human blood. The throne of Napoleon must be tottering to its very foundation, if it could only be supported by stirring up the dregs of the people, and at the hazard of all the mischief which the effervescence of the passions of the same mob had produced twenty years before.

The soldiers blushed for their chief, and did not hesitate loudly to express their astonishment and indignation. "Behold," said some of them, "the masters of our master! What disgraceful humiliation! Where is the great Napoleon? We no longer recognize the conqueror of Europethe Emperor whose court was composed of the kings of Spain and Naples, of Saxony and Bavaria, of Wurtemberg and Westphalia. We see only the Emperor of the canaille."

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CHAPTER X.

The Champ de Mai.-Character of the Chambers.— Opening of the Sessions.-Strange Circumstance which then occurred.-Address of the Deputies.Reply of Napoleon.

THE deputations from the electoral colleges arrived very slowly, and the lists of votes from several departments had not yet been received; but the impatience of the public displaying itself in open murmurs, and Napoleon being anxious to depart for the army, the assembly of the Champ de Mai was appointed to be held on the first of June.

A throne was erected for the Emperor in the Champ de Mars in front of the Military School. Opposite the throne was a vast semicircular area or rotunda with seats for fifteen or eighteen thousand electors. An altar was raised in the middle; and beyond it at a distance of two hundred yards was another throne in the open air, which commanded the whole Champ de Mars. Eighty-seven banners decorated the rotunda, bearing the names of the eighty-seven departments. The national colours mingled with these banners, and every