oman alone appears to have brought with her good fortune, and
lives, more than the rest, in the memory of the people; and this
woman, the wife of General Bonaparte, was not of royal blood. We
must admit this much, however. In 1810 the marriage of Napoleon I.
with Marie Louise was a great event. It was a bond for the future,
and a real gratification to the national pride.... But when, in
the face of ancient Europe, one is carried by the force of a new
principle to the level of the old dynasties, it is not by affecting
an ancient descent and endeavoring at any price to enter the family
of kings, that one compels recognition. It is rather by remembering
one's origin; it is by preserving one's own character, and assuming
frankly towards Europe the position of a _parvenu_,--a glorious title
when one rises by the suffrages of a great people. Thus impelled, as
I have been, to part from the precedents that have been hitherto
followed, my marriage is only a private matter. It remained for me
to choose my wife. She who has become the object of my choice is
of lofty birth, French in heart and education and by the memory of
the blood shed by her father in the cause of the Empire. She has,
as a Spaniard, the advantage of not having a family in France to
whom it would be necessary to give honors and dignities. Gifted with
every quality of the heart, she will be the ornament of the throne,
as in the hour of danger she would be one of its most courageous
defenders. A pious Catholic, she will address one prayer with me
to Heaven for the happiness of France. Kindly and good, she will
show in the same position, I firmly believe, the virtues of the
Empress Josephine."

The State coaches of the First Empire were regilded for the occasion,
the crown diamonds were drawn from the hiding-place where they
had lain since Louis Philippe's time, and were reset for the lady
who was to wear them, while her apartments at the Tuileries were
rapidly prepared.

The emperor was radiant. He had followed his inclination, and now
that his choice was made, it seemed to receive universal approval.
The London "Times" said: "Mademoiselle de Montijo knows better the
character of France than any princess who could have been fetched
from a German principality. She combines by her birth the energy
of the Scottish and Spanish races, and if the opinion we hold of
her be correct, she is, as Napoleon says, made not only to adorn
the throne, but to defend it in the ho