ror's
answer: the rest considered it as a lecture offensive to the dignity
of the chamber. There are some men, who think they may be allowed to
push remonstrance to insult, yet cannot listen to the most prudent and
temperate advice, without being offended.

The Emperor set out, as he had announced, in the night of the 12th of
May.

The question of deciding, whether he ought to be the first, to give
the signal for hostilities, or not, had frequently recurred to his
reflections.

By attacking the enemy, he had the advantage of engaging before the
arrival of the Russians, and of carrying the war out of the French
territories. If he were victorious, he might raise up Belgium, and
detach from the coalition a part of the old confederation of the
Rhine, and perhaps Austria.

By waiting to be attacked, he retained it in his power to choose his
field of battle, to increase his means of resistance in an infinite
degree, and of carrying the strength and devotion of his army to the
highest pitch. An army of Frenchmen, fighting under the eyes of their
mothers, their wives, and their children, for the preservation of
their well-being, and in defence of the honour and independence of
their country, would have been invincible. It was the latter
alternative, to which Napoleon gave the preference: it agreed with the
hope he involuntarily cherished of coming to an agreement with the
foreign powers, and with his fear of gaining the ill-will of the
chamber, if he commenced the war without previously exhausting all
means of obtaining peace.

But Napoleon felt, that, to render a war national, all the citizens
must be united in heart and will with their chief: and convinced,
that the untoward disposition of the chamber would increase daily, and
introduce division and trouble into the state, he resolved to commence
the war; hoping, that fortune would favour his arms, and that victory
would reconcile him to the deputies, or furnish him with the means of
reducing them to order.

The Emperor entrusted the government during his absence to a council,
composed of the fourteen persons following:

Prince Joseph, president.
Prince Lucien.

_Ministers._
Prince Cambaceres.
The prince of Eckmuhl.
The duke of Vicenza.
The duke of Gaeta.
The duke of Decres.
The duke of Otranto.
Count Mollien.
Count Carnot.

_Ministers of State_[34].
Count Defermon.
Count Regnaud de St. Jean d'Angeli.
Count Boulay de l