e; and as this title displeased and alarmed them,
they persisted in blackening and condemning the work on the score of
its name, according to the vulgar proverb, _Give a dog a bad name, and
hang him_.

Napoleon, far from foreseeing this fatal result, had persuaded
himself, on the contrary, that he should receive credit for having so
promptly and generously accomplished the hopes of the nation; and he
had prepared a long proclamation to the French people in his own hand,
in which he sincerely congratulated himself and them on the happiness,
that France was about to enjoy under the sway of his new laws.

This proclamation, as may easily be guessed, came to nothing[9]. In
its place came a decree for convoking the electoral colleges, in which
Napoleon, informed of the public rumours, excused himself, on the
ground of the pressure of circumstances, for having abridged the forms
he had promised to follow in composing the constitutional act; and
announced, that this act, containing in itself the principles of every
improvement, might be modified in conformity to the wishes of the
nation. By the terms of this decree, the electoral colleges were
called on to choose the members of the approaching assembly of
representatives; and Napoleon excused himself afresh, for being
compelled by the state of affairs, to require them to proceed to the
election of deputies previous to the acceptance of the constitution.

[Footnote 9: The Emperor had ordered this proclamation
to be burned; but I found it so excellent, that I
thought it my duty to preserve it. At the moment when
Napoleon set out for the army, I was not in Paris; and
one of the principal clerks of the cabinet, M. Rathery,
having found it among my papers, had the courage to
throw it into the fire.]

It was at the _Champ de Mai_, that the electors of all the departments
were to assemble, and proceed to the collection of votes for its
rejection or adoption.

The idea of renewing the ancient assemblies of the nation, as it was
first formed by the Emperor, was no doubt a grand and generous
conception, and singularly calculated to restore to patriotism its
energy and lustre; but at the same time, it must be confessed, it bore
the stamp of imprudent daring, and might have given Napoleon an
irreparable stroke. Was it not to be feared, that, in the equivocal
situation in which he was pl