them were illegible; and it was of till he arrived at Gap, on the 5th of
March, that he found means to have them printed. They were from that
time circulated and read everywhere with the utmost avidity.

The address to the army was considered as being still more masterly and
eloquent, and it was certainly well suited to the taste of French
soldiers, who, as Bourrienne remarks, are wonderfully pleased with
grandiloquence, metaphor, and hyperbole, though they do not always
understand what they mean. Even a French author of some distinction
praises this address as something sublime. "The proclamation to the
army," says he, "is full of energy: it could not fail to make all
military imaginations vibrate. That prophetic phrase, 'The eagle, with
the national colours, will fly from church steeple to church steeple,
till it settles on the towers of Notre Dame,' was happy in the extreme."

These words certainly produced an immense effect on the French soldiery,
who everywhere shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive le petit Caporal!"
"We will die for our old comrade!" with the most genuine enthusiasm.

It was some distance in advance of Grenoble that Labedoyere joined, but
he could not make quite sure of the garrison of that city, which was
commanded by General Marchand, a man resolved to be faithful to his
latest master. The shades of night had fallen when Bonaparte arrived in
front of the fortress of Grenoble, where he stood for some minutes in a
painful state of suspense and indecision.

It was on the 7th of March, at nightfall, that Bonaparte thus stood
before the walls of Grenoble. He found the gates closed, and the
commanding officer refused to open them. The garrison assembled on the
ramparts shouted "Vive l'Empereur!" and shook hands with Napoleon's