tain. On the 18th
of May, 1804, Napoleon was declared Emperor of the French, and an
overwhelming majority of the electoral votes of France confirmed him
in his usurpation of the throne of Hugh Capet.

His first step, as emperor, was the creation of eighteen marshals, all
memorable in the annals of military glory--Berthier, Murat, Moncey,
Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier,
Ney, Davoust, Bessieres, Kellermann, Lefebvre, Perignon, and
Serrurier. The individual lives of these military heroes cannot here
be alluded to.

Early in the year 1805, the great powers of England, Austria, and
Russia entered into a coalition to reduce France to its ancient
limits, and humble the despot who had usurped the throne. Enormous
preparations were made by all the belligerent states, and four hundred
thousand men were furnished by the allies for active service; a force
not, however, much larger than Napoleon raised to prosecute his scheme
of universal dominion.

[Sidenote: Meditated Invasion of England.]

Among other designs, he meditated the invasion of England itself, and
assembled for that purpose one of the most splendid armies which had
been collected since the days of the Roman legions. It amounted to one
hundred and fourteen thousand men, four hundred and thirty-two pieces
of cannon, and fourteen thousand six hundred and fifty-four horses.
Ample transports were provided to convey this immense army to the
shores of England. But the English government took corresponding means
of defence, having fathomed the designs of the enemy, who had
succeeded in securing the cooeperation of Spain. This great design of
Napoleon was defeated by the vigilance of the English, and the number
of British ships which defended the coasts--the "wooden walls" which
preserved England from a most imminent and dreaded danger.

[Sidenote: Battle of Austerlitz.]

Frustrated in the attempt to invade Great Britain, Napoleon instantly
conceived the plan of the campaign of Austerlitz, and without delay
gave orders for the march of his different armies to the banks of the
Danube. The army of England on the shores of the Channel, the forces
in Holland, and the troops in Hanover were formed into seven corps,
under the command of as many marshals, comprising altogether one
hundred and ninety thousand men, while the troops of his allies in
Italy and Germany amounted to nearly seventy thousand more. Eighty
thousand new conscripts we