s on the Coronation day,
he desired that Raguideau might be sent for, saying that he wished to see
him immediately; and when Raguidesu appeared; he said to him, 'Well, sir!
have I nothing but my cloak and my sword now?'"

Though Bonaparte had related to me almost all the circumstances of his
life, as they occurred to his memory, he never once mentioned this affair
of Raguideau, which he only seemed to have suddenly recollected on his
Coronation day.

The day after the Coronation all the troops in Paris were assembled in
the Champ de Mars the Imperial eagles might be distributed to each
regiment, in lieu of the national flags. I has stayed away from the
Coronation in the church of Notre Dame, but I wished to see the military
fete in the Champ de Mars because I took real pleasure in seeing
Bonaparte amongst his soldiers. A throne was erected in front of the
Military School, which, though now transformed into a barrack, must have
recalled, to Bonaparte's mind some singular recollections of his boyhood.
At a given signal all the columns closed and approached the throne. Then
Bonaparte, rising, gave orders for the distribution of the eagles, and
delivered the following address to the deputations of the different corps
of the army:

"Soldiers, Soldiers! behold your colours. These eagles will always
be your rallying-point! They will always be where your Emperor may
thank them necessary for the defence of his throne and of his
people. Swear to sacrifice your lives to defend them, and by your
courage to keep them constantly in the path of victory.--Swear!"

It would be impossible to describe the acclamations which followed this
address; there is something so seductive in popular enthusiasm that even
indifferent persons cannot help yielding to its influence. And yet the
least reflection would have shown how shamefully Napoleon forswore the
declaration he made to the Senate, when the organic 'Senatus-consulte'
for the foundation of the Empire was presented to him at St: Cloud: On
that occasion he said; "The French people shall never be MY people!"
And yet the day after his Coronation his eagles were to be carried
wherever they might be necessary for the defence of his people.

By a singular coincidence, while on the 2d of December 1804 Bonaparte was
receiving from the head of the Church the Imperial crown of France, Louis
XVIII., who was then at Colmar, prompted as it were by an inexplicable
presentiment, drew