o, it is hard to
think that any of the continental Powers would have risked the certain
consequences of having him either shot or ill-treated, and it is
extremely doubtful whether even in France there could have been found
a soldier that would have obeyed an order to shoot his former Emperor,
who had been requisitioned to return from Elba, and who so recently,
with only six hundred soldiers, made war against Louis with his two
hundred thousand and defeated and dethroned him.

Nothing so magnificent has ever been known. This great man had
complete hold of the imagination and devotion of his common people and
soldiers. Even in the hour of defeat their loyalty was amazing.

Various instances are given of this deep-rooted loyalty and affection.
Some of his Imperial Guards who were wounded at Waterloo killed
themselves on hearing that he had lost the battle, and many, who had
been thought to be dead, when brought to consciousness shouted "Vive
l'Empereur." The hospitals were full of dying men who uttered the same
cry. One was having his leg amputated, and as he looked at the blood
streaming from it, said that he would willingly give it all in the
service of Napoleon. Another, who was having a ball extracted from
his left side near the heart, shouted, "Probe an inch deeper and there
you will find the Emperor."

The story of the old woman whom he and Duroc met during the second
campaign in Italy, and while climbing Mont Tarare, is a striking
illustration of how he was regarded by the poorer classes. She hated
the Bourbons and wanted to see the First Consul. Napoleon answered,
"Bah! tyrant for tyrant--they are just the same thing." "No, no!" she
replied; "Louis XVI. was the king of the nobles, Bonaparte is the king
of the people." This idea of the old woman was the universal feeling
of her class right through his reign. No writer has been able to give
proof that it was withdrawn, even when he was overwhelmed with
disaster which drained his empire of vast masses of its population. No
cruel inhuman despot could magnetise with an enduring fascination
multitudes of men and women as he did. It was not his incomparable
genius, nor his matchless military successes in battle. He was loved
because he was lovable, and was trusted because he inspired belief in
his high motives of amelioration of all down-trodden people. He ruled
with a stern but kindly discipline, and put a heavy hand on those who
had despotic tendencies.

The Duches