Walter Scott - Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume III

"At the ceremony of the coronation, the acclamations, at first extremely few, were afterwards reinforced by the multitude of men in office, ( fonctionnaires ,) who were summoned from all parts of France to be present at the coronation. But upon returning to his palace, Napoleon found cold and silent spectators." – Fouché, tom. ii., p. 285.

Montgaillard, tom. vi., p. 142.

Montgaillard, tom. vi., p. 144; Annual Register, vol. xlvi., p. 680; Savary, tom. ii., p. 75.

Annual Register, vol. xlvi., p. 685.

"I ascend the throne, to which the unanimous wishes of the senate, the people, and the army have called me, with a heart penetrated with the great destinies of that people, whom, from the midst of camps, I first saluted with the name of Great. From my youth, my thoughts have been solely fixed upon them, and I must add here, that my pleasures and my pains are derived entirely from the happiness or misery of my people. My descendants shall long preserve this throne; in the camps, they will be the first soldiers of the army, sacrificing their lives in the defence of their country. As magistrates, they will never forget that the contempt of the laws, and the confusion of social order, are only the result of the imbecility and unsteadiness of princes. You, senators, whose councils and support have never failed me in the most difficult circumstances; your spirit will be handed down to your successors. Be ever the props and first counsellors of that throne, so necessary to the welfare of this vast empire."

"If I was not a legitimate sovereign, William the Third was a usurper of the throne of England, as he was brought in chiefly by the aid of foreign bayonets. George the First was placed on the throne by a faction, composed of a few nobles. I was called to that of France by the votes of nearly four millions of Frenchmen." – Napoleon, Voice , &c., vol. ii., p. 113.

Merchant of Venice, act iv., scene 1.

Las Cases, tom. vii., p. 120.

"The Emperor constantly insisted on subjecting the whole nation to the laws of the conscription. 'The conscription,' he said, 'is the root of a nation, its moral purification, the real foundation of its habits. Organized, built up in this way, the French people might have defied the world, and might with justice have renewed the saying of the proud Gauls: 'If the sky should fall, we will keep it up with our lances.'" – Las Cases, tom. vii., p. 98.

"We soon perceived that Napoleon meditated a great diversion. When he mentioned in council his idea of going to be crowned King of Italy, we all told him he would provoke a new continental war. 'I must have battles and triumphs,' replied he. And yet he did not relax his preparations for the invasion of England. One day, upon my objecting to him that he could not make war at the same time, against England and against all Europe, he replied, 'I may fail by sea, but not by land; besides, I shall be able to strike the blow before the old coalition machines are ready. The people of the old school ( têtes à perruques ) understand nothing about it, and the kings have neither activity nor decision of character. I do not fear old Europe." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 285.

Consisting of M. Melzi, vice-president of the Italian republic; M. Mareschalchi, ambassador of that republic; and the representatives of its principal bodies.

See official proceedings relative to the assumption of the crown of Italy by Napoleon, emperor of the French. — Annual Register , vol. xlvii., p. 720.

"I shall keep this crown; but only so long as your interests shall require; and I shall with pleasure see the moment arrive, when I can place it on the head of a younger person, who, animated by my spirit, may continue my work, and be on all occasions ready to sacrifice his person and interests to the security and the happiness of the people over whom Providence, the constitutions of the kingdom, and my wish, shall have called him to reign."

"Napoleon remained three weeks at Turin, and was in that city when the Pope arrived there. His holiness had lodgings provided for him in the royal palace; the Emperor went thither to see him, and set out the next day by Asti for Alexandria; the Pope took the road to Casal on his way back to Rome. At Alexandria the Emperor inspected the immense works which, by his direction, were carrying on there. He held a review on the field of Marengo; he put on that day the same coat and laced hat which he wore in the engagement; the coat was quite moth-eaten." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 80.

See official account of the coronation of the Emperor of the French, as king of Italy, at Milan, 26th May, 1805. – Annual Register, vol. xlvii., p. 723. See also Botta, Storia d'Italia, tom. iv., p. 209; Jomini, Vie Politique, tom. ii., p. 86.

"After the ceremony of the coronation, the Emperor went in procession to the Italian senate, where he invested Prince Eugene with the viceroyalty of Italy." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 80.

"During Napoleon's stay at Milan, he directed his attention towards the embellishment of that city, with the same zeal as if it had been Paris. He had always regretted that none of the governments of that country had undertaken the completion of the cathedral of Milan, the largest edifice of the kind, after St. Peter's at Rome. He ordered the works to be immediately resumed, forbidding them to be interrupted on any pretext whatever, and created a special fund for defraying the expenses. To him the Milanese are indebted for the completion of that noble structure." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 81.

"The Doge and Senate had come to Milan to beg the Emperor to accept them, and to incorporate them with the French empire. I have no doubt that this resolution had been somewhat assisted. Such was the state of this unfortunate republic, that its inhabitants were almost famishing: the English closely blockaded it by sea; the French douanes cooped it up by land: it had no territory, and could not, without difficulty, procure wherewithal to subsist. Add to this, that whenever a quarrel took place in Italy, the first thing was to send it a garrison, which it had not the means of refusing. It had, therefore, all the inconveniences arising from a union with France, without possessing any of the advantages: it determined, therefore, to make application to be incorporated with the empire." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 83. See also Botta, tom. iv., p. 214; Dumas, Précis des Evénemens Militaires; and Jomini, Vie Politique, tom. ii., p. 87.

"In order to show himself to his new subjects, Napoleon traversed his kingdom of Italy. Upon seeing the magnificent city of Genoa and its picturesque environs, he exclaimed – 'This is indeed worth a war.'" – Fouché, tom. i., p. 286.

"All the organisations of Italy were provisional. Napoleon wished to make a single power of that great peninsula; for which reason he reserved the iron crown to himself, in order to keep in his own hands the direction of the different people of Italy. He preferred uniting Genoa, Rome, Tuscany and Piedmont to the empire, rather than to the kingdom of Italy, because the people of those countries preferred it; because the imperial influence would be more powerful; because it was a means of calling a great number of the inhabitants of those countries into France, and of sending a number of French thither in exchange; and because it would bring the conscripts and sailors of those provinces to strengthen the French regiments, and the crews of Toulon." – Napoleon, Montholon , tom. ii., p. 234.