poleon for nearly seven hundred miles,
through the heart of France, alone and unaided invading a kingdom of
thirty millions of inhabitants, vanquishing all the armies of the
Bourbons, and regaining the throne without drawing a sword or firing
a musket, presents one of the most remarkable instances on record of
the power of one mighty mind over human hearts. Boundless enthusiasm,
from citizens and soldiers, greeted him every step of his way. A more
emphatic vote in favor of the Empire could not have been given. A
more legitimate title to the throne no monarch ever enjoyed. And yet
the Allies, in renewing the war against him, had the unblushing
effrontery to proclaim that they were contending for the _liberties
of the people against the tyranny of an usurper!_ In view of such
achievements of Napoleon, we do not wonder that Lamartine, his
unrelenting political foe, should say that, as a man, "Napoleon was
the greatest of the creations of God."

"The emperor, notwithstanding the Bourbons had set a price upon his
head, issued special orders that they should not be molested; that
they should be permitted to retire without injury or insult. He
could, with perfect ease, have taken them prisoners, and then, in
possession of their persons, could have compelled the Allies to
reasonable terms. But his extraordinary magnanimity prevented him
from pursuing such a course. Louis XVIII., accompanied by a funeral
procession of carriages containing members of his family, his
ministers, and returned emigrants, trembling and in dismay, retired
to Lille, on the northern frontiers of France. The inhabitants
of the departments through which he passed gazed silently and
compassionately upon the infirm old man, and uttered no word of
reproach; but as soon as the cortege had passed, the tri-colored
banner was run up on steeple and turret, and the air resounded with
shouts of _Vive l'Empereur_."[Q]

[Footnote Q: Abbott's Life of Napoleon, vol. ii., p. 465.]

[Illustration: NAPOLEON ENTERING THE TUILERIES.]

Immediately Napoleon dispatched by telegraph the following order
throughout France: "The emperor having entered Paris at the head of
the very troops that were sent to oppose him, the civil and military
authorities are hereby cautioned against obeying any other than the
imperial orders, and are enjoined, under the last penalty of military
law, to hoist the tri-colored flag upon the receipt of this
intelligence."

Regardless of this order,