ould succeed in taking
possession of supreme power. This feebleness of the Government, as well
as this feebleness of parties, proceeds from the fact that each one
represents only the interests of a single class in society. Some rely
upon the clergy and nobility; others upon the middle-class aristocracy,
and others still upon the lower classes alone.

"'"In this state of things, there is but a single flag which can rally
all parties, because it is the banner of France, and not that of a
faction; it is the eagle of the Empire. Under this banner, which recalls
so many glorious memories, there is no class excluded. It represents the
interests and the rights of all. The Emperor Napoleon held his power
from the French people. Four times his authority received the popular
sanction. In 1814, hereditary right, in the family of the Emperor, was
recognized by four millions of votes. Since then the people have not
been consulted.

"'"As the eldest of the nephews of Napoleon, I can then consider myself
as the representative of popular election; I will not say of the Empire
because in the lapse of twenty years the ideas and wants of France may
have changed. But a principle can not be annulled by facts. It can only
be annulled by another principle. Now the principle of popular election
in 1804 can not be annulled by the twelve hundred thousand foreigners
who entered France in 1815, nor by the chamber of two hundred and
twenty-one deputies in 1830.

"'"The Napoleon system consists in promoting the march of civilization
without disorder and without excess; in giving an impulse to ideas by
developing material interests; in strengthening power by rendering it
respectable; in disciplining the masses according to their intellectual
faculties; in fine, in uniting around the altar of the country the
French of all parties by giving them honor and glory as the motives of
action."

"'"No," exclaimed my brave companions in reply, "you shall not die
alone. We will die with you, or we will conquer together for the cause
of the French people."

"'You see thus, sir, that it is I who have enticed them, in speaking to
them of every thing which could move the hearts of Frenchmen. They
spoke to me of their oaths. But I reminded them that, in 1815, they had
taken the oath to Napoleon II. and his dynasty. "Invasion alone," I said
to them, "released you from that oath. Well, force can re-establish that
which force alone has destroyed."'

"I went eve