INTRODUCTION

February 9 in the year 1800 was a gala day in Paris. Napoleon had
decreed a triumphal procession, and on that day a splendid military
ceremony was performed in the Champ de Mars, and the trophies of the
Egyptian expedition were exultingly displayed. There were, however,
two features in all this pomp and show which seemed strangely out
of keeping with the glittering pageant and the sounds of victorious
rejoicing. The standards and flags of the army were hung with crape,
and after the grand parade the dignitaries of the land proceeded
solemnly to the Temple of Mars, and heard the eloquent M. de Fontanes
deliver an "Eloge Funèbre."[1]

[Footnote 1: A report recently discovered shows that more even was
intended than was actually done.

The following is a translation of the paper, the original of which
is Nos. 172 and 173 of volume 51 of the manuscript series known as
_Etats-Unis_, 1799, 1800 (years 7 and 8 of the French republic):--

"_Report of Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the
occasion of the death of George Washington_.

"A nation which some day will he a great nation, and which today
is the wisest and happiest on the face of the earth, weeps at the
bier of a man whose courage and genius contributed the most to
free it from bondage, and elevate it to the rank of an independent
and sovereign power. The regrets caused by the death of this
great man, the memories aroused by these regrets, and a proper
veneration for all that is held dear and sacred by mankind, impel