"for
its honour and its liberty."

The Emperor gave orders to have his proclamations printed in the
course of the night, and despatched emissaries in every direction to
announce his having entered Grenoble; that Austria was for him; that
the king of Naples was following him with eighty thousand men; ...
and, in short, to discourage, intimidate, and curb, by false alarms
and false confidences, the partisans and agents of the regal
government.

The proclamations, posted up in abundance, produced the most lively
sensation, as at Gap. In fact, never had the national pride,
patriotism, and the noblest passions of the mind, been addressed with
more fascination, strength, and eloquence. The soldiers and citizens
were never tired of reading and admiring them. Every person was
desirous of having them. Travellers, and the inhabitants of the
neighbouring country, received an immense quantity, which they took
upon themselves to spread abroad on their road, and to send to all
parts.

The next day, the 8th, the clergy, the staff-officers, the imperial
court, the tribunals, and the civil and military authorities, came to
acknowledge Napoleon, and to offer him their congratulations. He
conversed familiarly with the judges on the administration of justice;
with the clergy on what was necessary to public worship; with the
soldiery on the armies; with the municipal officers on the sufferings
of the people, the towns, and the country places; and delighted them
all by the variety of his knowledge, and the benevolence of his
intentions. He then said to them: "I knew that France was unhappy; I
heard its groans and its reproaches; I am come with the faithful
companions of my exile, to deliver her from the yoke of the Bourbons
... their throne is illegitimate ... my rights were conferred on me by
the nation, by the unanimous will of the French people: they are no
other rights than theirs.... I am come to resume them; not to reign,
the throne is nothing to me: not to revenge myself, for I shall forget
every thing that has been said, done, or written, since the
capitulation of Paris; but to restore to you the rights, which the
Bourbons have taken from you, and to emancipate you from the
subscription to the glebe, the vassalage, and the feudal system, with
which you are threatened by them.... I have been too fond of war; I
will make war no more: I will leave my neighbours at rest: we must
forget, that we have been masters of the world.... I