hearts,
you must astonish their eyes. If Napoleon, instead of traversing Paris
in the evening, and without being announced or expected, had put it
off till the next day, and allowed the disquietudes inseparable from
such a crisis time to be allayed; if he had given his entrance the
pomp and splendour it ought to have had; if he had caused the troops
and half-pay officers, who had hastened to his call, to march before
him; if he had presented himself at the head of his grenadiers of the
island of Elba, with all their decorations; if he had been surrounded
by Generals Bertrand, Drouot, Cambronne, and the faithful companions
of his exile; this grand and affecting train would have produced the
most lively sensation, and the whole population of Paris would have
applauded the return and the triumph of Napoleon. Instead of those
unanimous transports, he received only the applauses of the populous
part of the capital, that he had occasion to traverse; and his
detractors did not fail, to compare this reception with that of Louis
XVIII., and to publish, that he was obliged to enter Paris by night,
in order to escape the maledictions and vengeance of the public.
Napoleon, who had just travelled two hundred and fifty leagues amid
the acclamations of two millions of Frenchmen, could not be agitated
by any such fears; but it is well known with what confidence, what
intoxication, he was inspired by the anniversary of a victory or happy
event; and as the 20th of March was the birthday of his son, he
determined at all events to enter the capital under such fortunate
auspices.

The very evening of his arrival, Napoleon had a long conversation with
the Duke of Otranto, and the other dignitaries of the state, on the
situation of France. They all appeared intoxicated with happiness and
hope. The Emperor himself could not disguise his rapture: never did
I see him so madly gay, or so prodigal of boxes on the ear.[70] His
conversation savoured of the agitation of his heart: the same words
incessantly recurred to his tongue; and, it must be confessed, they
were not very flattering to the crowd of courtiers and great
personages, who already besieged him: he was continually saying: "It
was the disinterested persons, who brought me back to Paris; the
sub-lieutenants and soldiers did every thing; I owe all to the people
and the army."

[Footnote 70: This was Napoleon's favourite
compliment. The fonder he was