ssent; but so
moderately, and with so little of partisan spirit, as to call forth a
eulogium on their honorable conduct from Napoleon himself.

The mighty change, which was to undo all the long and arduous struggles
for liberty which took years in their accomplishments, was effected
in one burst of national enthusiasm. Surrounded by nations on whose
friendship they dared not reckon,--at war with their most powerful
enemy, England,--France saw herself dependent on the genius of one great
man; and beheld, too, the formidable conspiracy for his assassination,
coupled with the schemes against her own independence. He became thus
indissolubly linked with her fortunes; self-interest and gratitude
pointed both in the same direction to secure his services; and the
Imperial Crowa was indeed less the reward of the past than the price
of the future. Even they who loved him least, felt that in his guidance
there was safety, and that without him the prospect was dark and dreary
and threatening.

Another element which greatly contributed to the same effect, was the
social ruin caused by the Revolution; the destruction of all commerce,
the forfeiture of property, had thrown every class into the service of
the Government. Men gladly advocated a change by which the ancient
forms of a Monarchy might be restored; and with them the long train of
patronage and appointments, their inevitable attendants. Even the old
families of the kingdom hailed the return of an order of things which
might include them in the favors of the Crown; and the question now was,
what rank or class should be foremost in tendering their allegiance to
the new sovereign. We should hesitate ere we condemn the sudden impulse
by which many were driven at this period. Confiscation and exile had
done much to break the spirit of even the hardiest; and the very return
to the institutions in which all their ancient prejudices were involved
seemed a pledge against the tyranny of the mass.

As for Napoleon himself, each step in his proud career seemed to evoke
the spirit necessary to direct it; the resources of his mighty intellect
appeared, with every new drain on them, only the more inexhaustible.
Animated through his whole life by the one great principle,--the
aggrandizement of France,--his vast intelligence gathering strength with
his own increase of power, enabled him to cultivate every element of
national greatness, and mould their energies to his will; till at length