Accordingly a _senatus consultum_ of May 18th, 1804, formally decreed
to him the title of Emperor of the French. As for his former
colleagues, Cambaceres and Lebrun, they were stultified with the
titles of Arch-chancellor and Arch-treasurer of the Empire: his
brother Joseph received the title of Grand Elector, borrowed from the
Holy Roman Empire, and oddly applied to an hereditary empire where the
chief _had_ been appointed: Louis was dubbed Constable: two other
grand dignities, those of Arch-chancellor of State and High Admiral,
were not as yet filled, but were reserved for Napoleon's relatives by
marriage, Eugene Beauharnais and Murat. These six grand dignitaries of
the new Empire were to be irresponsible and irremovable, and, along
with the Emperor, they formed the Grand Council of the Empire.

On lesser individuals the rays of the imperial diadem cast a fainter
glow. Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, became Grand Almoner;
Berthier, Grand Master of the Hounds; Talleyrand, Grand Chamberlain;
Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace; and Caulaincourt, Master of the
Horse, the acceptance of which title seemed to the world to convict
him of full complicity in the schemes for the murder of the Duc
d'Enghien. For the rest, the Emperor's mother was to be styled _Madame
Mere_; his sisters became Imperial Highnesses, with their several
establishments of ladies-in-waiting; and Paris fluttered with excitement
at each successive step upwards of expectant nobles, regicides,
generals, and stockjobbers towards the central galaxy of the Corsican
family, which, ten years before, had subsisted on the alms of the
Republic one and indivisible.

It remained to gain over the army. The means used were profuse, in
proportion as the task was arduous. The following generals were
distinguished as Marshals of the Empire (May 19th): Berthier, Murat,
Massena, Augereau, Lannes, Jourdan, Ney, Soult, Brune, Davoust,
Bessieres, Moncey, Mortier, and Bernadotte; two marshal's batons were
held in reserve as a reward for future service, and four aged
generals, Lefebvre, Serrurier, Perignon, and Kellerman (the hero of
Valmy), received the title of honorary marshals. In one of his
conversations with Roederer, the Emperor frankly avowed his reasons
for showering these honours on his military chiefs; it was in order to
assure the imperial dignity to himself; for how could they object to
this, when they themselves received honours so lofty?[308] The
confession a