equently these princes had
no place in the succession, except by virtue of the _senatus
consultant_ of May 18th, which gave them a legal right, it is true,
but without the added sanction of the popular vote. More than three
and a half million votes were cast for the new arrangement, a number
which exceeded those given for the Consulate and the Consulate for
Life. As usual, France accepted accomplished facts.

Matters legal and ceremonial were now approaching completion for the
coronation. Negotiations had been proceeding between the Tuileries and
the Vatican, Napoleon begging and indeed requiring the presence of the
Pope on that occasion. Pius VII. was troubled at the thought of
crowning the murderer of the Duc d'Enghien; but he was scarcely his
own master, and the dextrous hints of Napoleon that religion would
benefit if he were present at Notre Dame seem to have overcome his
first scruples, besides quickening the hope of recovering the north of
his States. He was to be disappointed in more ways than one. Religion
was to benefit only from the enhanced prestige given to her rites in
the coming ceremony, not in the practical way that the Pope desired.
And yet it was of the first importance for Napoleon to receive the
holy oil and the papal blessing, for only so could he hope to wean the
affections of royalists from their uncrowned and exiled king.
Doubtless this was one of the chief reasons for the restoration of
religion by the Concordat, as was shrewdly seen at the time by
Lafayette, who laughingly exclaimed: "Confess, general, that your
chief wish is for the little phial."[314] The sally drew from the
First Consul an obscene disclaimer worthy of a drunken ostler.
Nevertheless, the little phial was now on its way.

In order to divest the meeting of Pope and Emperor of any awkward
ceremony, Napoleon arranged that it should take place on the road
between Fontainebleau and Nemours, as a chance incident in the middle
of a day's hunting. The benevolent old pontiff was reclining in his
carriage, weary with the long journey through the cold of an early
winter, when he was startled to see the retinue of his host. The
contrast in every way was striking. The figure of the Emperor had now
attained the fullness which betokens abounding health and strength: his
face was slightly flushed with the hunt and the consciousness that he
was master of the situation, and his form on horseback gained a dignity
from which the shortness of h