Havre with
the colonies. In the evening, there was a fete prepared by the
merchants, at which the First Consul remained for half an hour; and on
Monday, at five o'clock in the morning, he embarked on a lugger for
Honfleur. At the time of his departure the weather was a little
threatening, and the First Consul was advised not to embark. Madame
Bonaparte, whose ears this rumor reached, ran after her husband, begging
him not to set out; but he embraced her, laughing, calling her a coward,
and entered the vessel which was awaiting him. He had hardly embarked
when the wind suddenly lulled, and the weather became very fine. On his
return to Havre, the First Consul held a review on the Place de la
Citadelle, and visited the artillery barracks, after which he received,
until the evening, a large number of public dignitaries and merchants;
and the next day, at six o'clock in the morning, we set out for Dieppe.

When we arrived at Fecamp, the town presented an extremely singular
spectacle. All the inhabitants of the town, and of the adjoining towns
and villages, followed the clergy, chanting a Te Deum for the anniversary
of the 18th Brumaire; and these countless voices rising to heaven for him
affected the First Consul profoundly. He repeated several times during
breakfast that he had felt more emotion on hearing these chants under the
dome of heaven than he had ever felt while listening to the most
brilliant music.

We arrived at Dieppe at six o'clock in the evening. The First Consul
retired, only after having received all their felicitations, which were
certainly very sincere there, as throughout all France at that time. The
next day, at eight o'clock, the First Consul repaired to the harbor,
where he remained a long while watching the return of the fishermen, and
afterwards visited the faubourg of Pollet, and the work on the docks,
which was then just beginning. He admitted to his table the sub-prefect,
the mayor, and three sailors of Dieppe who had been given boarding-axes
of honor for distinguishing themselves in the combat off Boulogne. He
ordered the construction of a breakwater in the inner port, and the
continuation of a canal for navigation, which was to be extended as far
as Paris, and of which, until this present time, only a few fathoms have
been made. From Dieppe we went to Gisors and to Beauvais; and finally
the First Consul and his wife returned to Saint-Cloud, after an absence
of two weeks, during which workmen