Senator Crétet, on behalf of the special Committee appointed by Napoleon to prepare a statement for the Council, presented his report. The Committee, he said, had decided unanimously to recommend the Cock, the historic national emblem of Ancient Gaul, as the most fitting cognisance for Imperial France. Should that not find favour with the Council, either the Eagle, the Lion, or the Elephant, in the opinion of the Committee, might well be adopted. Individual members of the Committee, added Crétet, had further suggested the Aegis of Minerva, or some flower like the Fleur-de-Lis, an Oak-tree, or an Ear of Corn.
Miot, one of the members of the Council, rose as Crétet sat down, and protested against the re-introduction of the Fleur-de-Lis. That, he said, was imbecility. He proposed a figure of the Emperor seated on his throne as the best possible badge for the French Empire.
He was not seconded, however, and Napoleon interposed abruptly to set aside the Committee’s suggestion of reviving the Gallic Cock. He dismissed that notion with a contemptuous sneer. “Bah,” he exclaimed, “the Cock belongs to the farmyard! It is far too feeble a creature!” (“Le Coq est de basse cour. C’est un animal trop faible!”) Napoleon spoke rapidly and vivaciously. He had not yet, in those early days, acquired the impressive Imperial style that he afterwards affected. “His language at these earlier Council meetings was still impregnated with his original Jacobin style; he spoke frequently, spontaneously, familiarly; monologued at the top of his voice (avec des éclats de voix); apostrophised frequently, appearing at times as though overcome with nervousness, now almost in tears, now breaking out in a frenzy of passion, unrestrainedly emphasising his personal likes and dislikes.”
THE LION—THE ELEPHANT—THE BEE
Count Ségur, Imperial Grand Master of the Ceremonies, suggested the Lion as the most suitable emblem: “parcequ’il vaincra le Léopard,” he explained.
Councillor Laumond proposed the adoption of the Elephant instead; with for a motto “Mole et Mente.” The Elephant had a great vogue at that day among European heraldic authorities as being pre-eminently a royal beast. There was a widely prevalent belief, on the authority of old writers on natural history, that an Elephant could not be made to bow its knees. Further, too, the elephant typified resistless strength as well as magnanimity. And had not Caesar himself once placed the effigy of the Elephant on the Roman coinage? Nobody else at the Council, however, seemed to care for the Elephant.
Councillor Simon objected to Ségur’s proposition, on the score that the Lion was essentially an aggressive beast.
Cambacérès, ex-Consul and Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, suggested a swarm of Bees as the most suitable national emblem. It would represent the actual situation of France, he explained—a republic with a presiding chief.
Councillor Lacuèe supported Cambacérès. The Bee, he added, was the more suitable, in that it possessed a sting as well as being a maker of honey.
Cambacérès remarked that he favoured the idea of the Bee as typifying peaceful industry rather than offensive power.