s uselessly.

Determined to repair in all haste to Paris, Bonaparte had left Frejus on
the afternoon of the day of our landing. He himself had despatched the
courier to Sens to inform my mother of his intended visit to her; and it
was not until he got to Lyons that he determined to take the Bourbonnais
road. His reason for doing so will presently be seen. All along the
road, at Aix, at Lyons, in every town and village, he was received, as at
Frejus, with the most rapturous demonstrations of joy.

--[From Frejus to, Aix a crowd of men kindly escorted us, carrying
torches alongside the carriage of the General, not so much to show
their enthusiasm as to ensure our safety (Bourrienne) These brigands
became so bad in France that at one time soldiers were placed in the
imperials of all the diligences, receiving from the wits the
curiously anticipative name of "imperial armies".]--

Only those who witnessed his triumphal journey can form any notion of it;
and it required no great discernment to foresee something like the 18th
Brumaire.

The provinces, a prey to anarchy and civil war, were continually
threatened with foreign invasion. Almost all the south presented the
melancholy spectacle of one-vast arena of conflicting factions. The
nation groaned beneath the yoke of tyrannical laws; despotism was
systematically established; the law of hostages struck a blow at personal
liberty, and forced loans menaced every man's property. The generality
of the citizens had declared themselves against a pentarchy devoid of
power, justice, and morality, and which had become the sport of faction
and intrigue. Disorder was general; but in the provinces abuses were
felt more sensibly than elsewhere. In great cities it was found more
easy to elude the hand of despotism and oppression.

A change so earnestly wished for could not fail to be realised, and to be
received with transport. The majority of the French people longed to be
relieved from the situation in which they then stood. There were two
dangers bar to cope with--anarchy and the Bourbons. Every one felt the
urgent and indispensable necessity of concentrating the power of the
Government in a single hand; at the same time maintaining the
institutions which the spirit of the age demanded, and which France,
after having so dearly purchased, was now about to lose. The country
looked for a man who was capable of restoring her to tranquillity; but as
yet no such man had