Empire, the aspect of Paris had greatly
changed, no less than one hundred and two million of francs having been
spent on the embellishment of the capital. Among the minor details of
these architectural changes may be cited the regulation of the numbering
of the houses in 1805, and in 1808 a serious attempt to provide some
sidewalks in the principal streets. Curiously enough, this latter
measure met with considerable opposition on the grounds of its
impracticability because of the numerous portes cocheres. But it was not
till 1825 that the use of these pavements for foot-passengers became
general.

M. Duruy's summing-up of the reign of Napoleon may be compared with that
he gives of the epoch of Louis XIV: "Victories gained by the superiority
of genius and not by that of numbers, immense works accomplished,
industry awakened, agriculture encouraged by the security given to the
acquirers of the _biens nationaux_, an administration enlightened,
vigilant, and quick to act, the unity of the nation consolidated and its
grandeur surpassing all imaginations,--this is what will plead always
for him before posterity and to the heart of France."

The new Bourbon styled himself "king by the grace of God," without any
mention of the national will or of the foreign enemy to whom he owed his
crown; he replaced the tricolor by the white flag, and dated his
accession from the death of his nephew Louis XVII, the dauphin,
considering 1814 as the nineteenth year of his reign. So far was this
fable pushed that in certain school histories of the Restoration the
victories of the campaign in Italy were stated to have been gained by
"M. de Buonaparte, lieutenant-general of the king." In a recent review
of this reign, however, it is stated that when Blucher was mining the
bridge of Jena, during the occupation of the capital, and refused to be
dissuaded from his purpose of blowing it up, Louis XVIII declared his
intention of stationing himself on the bridge and perishing with it. The
intervention of the Russian Emperor, Alexander, however, had probably
more to do with the preservation of the structure; and a recent
biography of the Duc de Richelieu asserts that the Czar's affection for
this minister, who had been at one time governor of Odessa, brought
about the evacuation of French territory by the allied armies at a date
earlier by two years than that fixed by the treaty of November 20, 1815.

Notwithstanding the liberal provisions of the _Cha