his arrival in Paris, the execrated government was overturned.
Napoleon, Sieyes, and Ducos were appointed consuls, and twenty-five
members were appointed from each of the councils to unite with the
consuls in forming a new Constitution. One unanimous voice of approval
rose from all parts of France in view of this change. No political
movement could take place more strongly confirmed by the popular will.
Napoleon hastened from the scenes of peril and agitation through which
he had passed in the accomplishment of this change, that he might be the
first to announce to Josephine the political victory he had achieved.

During the perilous day, when, in the midst of outcries, daggers, and
drawn swords, he had been contending with the Council of the Five
Hundred, he could find not even one moment to dispatch a note from St.
Cloud to his wife. The previous day he had kept her constantly informed
of the progress of events. Josephine remained throughout the whole of
the 19th of November, from morning until evening, without sight or
tidings of her husband. She knew that, in the fierce strife of parties
in France, there was no safety for life; and when the darkness of night
settled down around her, and still no word from her Napoleon, her
anxiety amounted almost to distraction. The rumbling of every carriage
upon the pavement--every noise in the streets aroused her hopes or her
fears. Worn out with anxiety, at midnight she threw herself upon her
bed, but not to sleep. Several weary hours of suspense lingered slowly
along, when, at four o'clock in the morning, she heard the well-known
footsteps of her husband upon the stairs.

She sprang to meet him. He fondly clasped her in his arms, and assured
her that he had not spoken to a single individual since he had taken the
oaths of office, that the voice of his Josephine might be the first to
congratulate him upon his virtual accession to the empire of France. An
animated conversation ensued, and then Napoleon, throwing himself upon
his couch for a few moments' repose, gayly said, "Good night, my
Josephine! to-morrow we sleep in the Luxembourg."

The next day the three consuls met in Paris. His colleagues, however,
immediately perceived that the towering ambition of Napoleon would brook
no rival. He showed them the absurdity of their plans, and compelled
them to assent to the superior wisdom of his own. The untiring vigor of
his mind, the boldness and energy of his thoughts, and his int