A hundred cannon fired from the Esplanade of the Invalides ushered in the day of the “Champ de Mai.” Again, at ten o’clock, the artillery thundered forth as Napoleon quitted the Tuileries in State to take his way to the Field of Mars, “amid prodigious crowds of spectators applauding enthusiastically,” along the Champs Elysées and across the Pont d’Jéna.
NINE MARSHALS TAKE PART
Nine of the marshals who had cast in their lot with the returned Emperor rode on either side of Napoleon’s coach: Davout, Minister of War, who had not yet sworn allegiance to the Bourbons; Soult, the newly appointed Chief of the Staff of the Army; Serrurier, Governor of the Invalides; Brune and Jourdan; Moncey and Mortier; Suchet and Grouchy. Ney was absent; Napoleon had refused to see him. Ney’s widely reported speech to Louis XVIII., that he would “bring the bandit to Paris in an iron cage,” had not been forgiven. Murat was in disgrace for his recent blundering move in Northern Italy, which had vitally affected Napoleon’s plans. His desertion during the closing campaign, when Napoleon was at bay after Leipsic, moreover, was beyond condonation. Of others who had been at Napoleon’s side on the Field of Mars ten years before, Lefebvre and Masséna professed to be too old and infirm for service in the field, although Masséna was still nominally on the Active List, and had been in command for King Louis at Toulon. He was due in Paris to meet Napoleon, but his fidelity was more than doubtful: “gorged with wealth, Masséna thought only of preserving it.” Augereau kept in the background, Napoleon refusing to have more to do with him. Berthier, on that very morning, was lying dead at Bamberg in Bavaria; whether victim of an accident or suicide has never been made clear. Lannes and Bessières were in their graves, fallen on the field of battle. Bernadotte, King of Sweden, was actively on the side of the enemy. Marmont, Oudinot, Macdonald, and Victor, marshals of later creation, had left France in company with the Bourbon princes. Old Kellerman and Perignon, “Honorary Marshals” of 1804, had not come forward again, remaining in seclusion; nor had St. Cyr, “the man of ice,” another marshal since the Field of Mars, who was staying at home with studied indifference, “occupying himself on his estate with his hay crops and playing the fiddle.”
THE “MAN OF SEDAN” WAS THERE
Napoleon was accompanied in the State coach by three of his brothers—Lucien, Joseph, and Jerome. This time there was of course no Empress present. Josephine was dead: Marie Louise was holding back elsewhere. None of the Bonaparte princesses appeared in the procession. The only one attending the “Champ de Mai” came as a spectator: Hortense Beauharnais, the daughter of Josephine and wife of Louis Bonaparte. She had gone on in advance to the Military School and was seated among the exalted personages awaiting Napoleon there; accompanied by her two boys (one the future Third Napoleon, the “Man of Sedan”). She seemed most interested, as we are told, in the sketch-book she brought with her to draw a picture of the scene.
Napoleon alighted in the First Court of the Military School, being acclaimed on all sides as he made his appearance with vociferous shouts of “Vive l’Empereur!” Preceded by palace grandees and Court officials, who had alighted from their carriages in advance and formed up to receive him, he entered the building and passed on through to take his seat on the throne. “He had the air of being in pain and anxious,” describes an onlooker. “He descended slowly from his carriage while a hundred drums beat ‘Au Champ.’ Then, advancing quickly, returning the salutes of the assemblage at either side with bows, he proceeded to the throne, and sat down, gazing round at the people in their dense masses as he did so. Jerome and Joseph seated themselves on the right; Lucien on the left; all three clad in white satin with black velvet hats with white plumes. Napoleon himself had on his Imperial mantle of ermine and purple velvet embroidered with golden bees.”
For a time the thundering cannon salutes and acclamations of the people that hailed Napoleon’s appearance on the daïs were deafening. Bowing repeatedly on every side, he took his seat on the throne, while all present stood and remained uncovered. The guns then ceased, the music of the bands and the drummings and trumpetings of the battalions died away into silence. On that the ceremony of the day opened with the celebration of High Mass by the Archbishop of Tours.
The religious portion of the pageant, we are told, “seemed to arouse no interest in Napoleon. His opera-glass wandered all the time over the immense multitude before him.” His attention was not recalled until the Mass was over, when the delegates from the Electoral College, marshalled by the Master of the Ceremonies, ascended the platform, and ranged themselves before the throne. A Deputy stepped forward, and after deep obeisance, in a loud resonant voice read an address teeming with sentiments of patriotic attachment and expressing inviolable fidelity towards the Emperor personally. Napoleon seemed to listen with interest, “marking his approbation with nods and smiles.” The Deputy ceased speaking amidst rapturous applause, and then Arch-Chancellor Cambacérès, resplendent in a gorgeous orange-yellow robe, stood forward in front of Napoleon to notify officially the popular acceptance of the new national Constitution. He declared the total of the votes given in the Plébiscite to show a clear million in favour of the restoration of the Empire. There was a flourish of trumpets, and forthwith the chief herald proclaimed that the “Additional Act to the Constitution of the Empire” had been agreed to by the French people.
NAPOLEON SIGNS THE ACT
Again from all round thundered out an artillery salute, and the whole assembly rose to their feet and cheered. A small gilded table was brought forward and placed before Napoleon, who, the Arch-Chancellor holding the parchment open, and Joseph Bonaparte presenting the pen, publicly ratified the Act with his formal signature. The air resounded once more with the cannon firing and noisy acclamations on all sides.