y news in every direction; and at two
o'clock in the afternoon replies had already been received from Lyons,
Lille, Brussels, Antwerp, Brest, and many other large towns of the
Empire, which replies, as may well be imagined were in perfect accord
with the sentiments entertained at the capital.

In order to respond to the eagerness of the crowd which pressed
continually around the doors of the palace to learn of the welfare of the
Empress and her august child, it was decided that one of the chamberlains
should stand from morning till evening in the first saloon of the state
apartments, to receive those who came, and inform them of the bulletins
which her Majesty's physicians issued twice a day. At the end of a few
hours, special couriers were sent on all roads leading to foreign courts,
bearing the news of the delivery of the Empress; the Emperor's pages
being charged with this mission to the Senate of Italy, and the municipal
bodies of Milan and Rome. Orders were given in the fortified towns and
ports that the same salutes should be fired as at Paris, and that the
fleets should be decorated. A beautiful evening favored the special
rejoicings at the capital where the houses were voluntarily illuminated.
Those who seek to ascertain by external appearances the real feelings of
a people amid events of this kind, remarked that the topmost stories of
houses in the faubourgs were as well lighted as the most magnificent
hotels and finest houses of the capital. Public buildings, which under
other circumstances are remarkable from the darkness of the surrounding
houses, were scarcely seen amid this profusion of lights with which
public gratitude had lighted every window. The boatmen gave an impromptu
fete which lasted part of the night, and to witness which an immense
crowd covered the shore, testifying the most ardent joy. This people,
who for thirty years had passed through so many different emotions, and
who had celebrated so many victories, showed as much enthusiasm as if it
had been their first fete, or a happy change in their destiny. Verses
were sung or recited at all the theaters; and there was no poetic
formula, from the ode to the fable, which was not made use of to
celebrate the event of the 20th of March, 1811. I learned from a
well-informed person that the sum of one hundred thousand francs from the
private funds of the Emperor was distributed by M. Dequevauvilliers,
secretary of the treasury of the chamber, among the