ty-five years of revolution. It comprises all interests, and
particularly that of the national glory, which is not the least among
them.

"Whatever has returned with the foreign armies, whatever has been done
without consulting the nation, is null. The courts of Grenoble and
Lyons, and all the tribunals of the judicial order, which I met with
while the success of events was yet uncertain, have shown me, that
these principles are engraved on the heart of every Frenchman."

The reception of these public bodies being over, there was a grand
audience in the apartments of the palace. The answers of the Emperor,
repeated with embellishments, had produced the most profound
sensation. The words national glory, liberty, country, so long unknown
and proscribed within these walls, resounded on every side. When the
emigrants re-appeared, and the most illustrious servants of the state
were expelled, to make room for men, who had become strangers to our
manners, our institutions, and our triumphs; you would have said, that
France existed no longer, that it had passed under the dominion of
foreigners. When Napoleon returned, our country appeared to have
returned with him: he seemed to have brought it back from exile, and
he might then exclaim with just pride: "I am the nation."

The example set by the magistrates of Paris soon found numerous
imitators in the departments. The public functionaries, the judicial
and administrative authorities, which but a few days before had
offered up prayers to Heaven and to the King for the extermination of
the Corsican, the tyrant, and the usurper, were eager to congratulate
_the Emperor_ on his miraculous return; and to confer on him the
titles of hero, deliverer, and more especially of legitimate
sovereign.

Napoleon's progress had been so rapid, that many addresses to the King
did not reach Paris before the King was gone; and all these were
delivered at the same time with the new addresses voted to his
successor[83]! I remarked this to the Emperor; who answered me with a
smile of pity: "_See what men are_!"

[Footnote 83: I am speaking here only of the
addresses of bodies corporate, and of certain
generals and prefects.]

The favourites of Apollo did not fail to offer up their obsequious
incense to the god of the day. We received from the Countess de G***
some very pretty verses in honour of the violet. Another woman, still
more ce