e affixed. By a singular accident it happened to be Berlier's
task to present to the First Consul the separate opinions of the Council.
Out of the twenty-seven Councillors present only seven opposed the
question. Bonaparte received them all most graciously, and told them,
among other things, that he wished for hereditary power only for the
benefit of France; that the citizens would never be his subjects, and
that the French people would never be his people. Such were the
preliminaries to the official proposition of Curee to the Tribunate, and
upon reflection it was decided that, as all opposition would be useless
and perhaps dangerous to the opposing party, the minority should join the
majority. This was accordingly done.

The Tribunate having adopted the proposition of Curee, there was no
longer any motive for concealing the overtures of the Senate. Its
address to the First Consul was therefore published forty days after its
date: the pear was then ripe. This period is so important that I must
not omit putting together the most remarkable facts which either came
within my own observation, or which I have learned since respecting the
foundation of the Empire.

Bonaparte had a long time before spoken to me of the title of Emperor as
being the most appropriate for the new sovereignty which he wished to
found in France. This, he observed, was not restoring the old system
entirely, and he dwelt much on its being the title which Caesar had
borne. He often said, "One may be the Emperor of a republic, but not the
King of a republic, those two terms are incongruous."

In its first address the Senate had taken as a test the documents it had
received from the Government in relation to the intrigues of Drake, who
had been sent from England to Munich. That text afforded the opportunity
for a vague expression of what the Senate termed the necessities of
France. To give greater solemnity to the affair the Senate proceeded in
a body to the Tuileries, and one thing which gave a peculiar character to
the preconcerted advances of the Senate was that Cambaceres, the Second
Consul, fulfilled his functions of President on this occasion, and
delivered the address to the First Consul.

However, the First Consul thought the address of the Senate, which, I
have been informed, was drawn up by Francois de Neufchateau, was not
expressed with sufficient clearness; he therefore, after suffering a
little interval to elapse, sent a message to the S