. This Imperial Guard
was a choice corps created by Napoleon III. at the outset of the
Crimean War. It was a force numbering nominally twenty thousand
infantry and three thousand cavalry. It was a very popular corps,
and the war with Germany was popular; consequently the march from
its barracks to the railroad station was one continued triumph.
At every halt the Parisians pressed into the ranks with gifts of
money, wine, and cigars. "Vive l'armee!" shouted the multitude.
"A Berlin!" responded the troops; and now and then, as the bands
struck up the "Marseillaise," the population and the troops burst
out in chorus with the solemn, spirit-stirring words.

At the head of this brilliant host rode Marshal Le Boeuf, who was
minister of war and military tutor to the Prince Imperial. After
the departure of the main body of the corps, large detachments
of cavalry and artillery which belonged to it were expected to
follow; but they remained behind in the provinces, because Lyons,
Marseilles, and Algeria, all centres of the revolutionary spirit,
could not, it was found, be left without armed protection. Therefore
only a portion of the crack corps of the French army went forward to
the frontier,--a fact never suspected by the public until events,
a few weeks later, made it known.

Paris was jubilant. The theatres especially became centres of patriotic
demonstrations. At the Grand Opera House, Auber's "Massaniello"
(called in France the "Muette de Portici") was announced. For many
years its performance had been interdicted under the Second Empire,
the story being one of heroic revolt. The time had come, however,
when its ardent patriotism entitled it to resuscitation. Faure,
the most remarkable baritone singer of the period, suddenly, at the
beginning of the second act, which opens with a chorus of fishermen
inciting each other to resist oppression, appeared upon the stage
bearing the French flag. The chorus ranged themselves to right
and left as he strode forward and waved the tricolor above the
footlights. The house broke into wild uproar, cheer after cheer
rose for the flag, for the singer, for France.

"The violence of the applause," says one who was present, "continued
until all were breathless; then a sudden silence preceded the great
event of the evening. In clear, firm tones, Faure launched forth the
first notes of the 'Marseillaise;' and as the first verse ended,
he bounded forward, and unfurling the flag to its full le