the people, and the army, with my heart full of feeling of the great
destinies of this people whom, from the midst of camps, I first saluted
with the name of great. Since my youth all my thoughts have been devoted
to it, and I must say here, my pleasures and my pains now are nothing but
the pleasures and the pains of my people. My descendants will long fill
this throne. They will never forget that contempt of laws and the
overthrow of the social order are only the results of the weakness and
indecision of rulers."

The hour of disaster was approaching, but it had not yet struck; the
morrow was to be radiant. Salvos of artillery were fixed every hour from
six in the evening till midnight; at each salvo, the towers, spires, and
public buildings were illuminated for a few minutes by Bengal lights.
Imperial insignia, among others the sword of Charlemagne, were already in
the Church of Notre Dame. General de Segur, then a captain under the
command of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, was charged to watch that
precious relic during the night. He records one thing about it which
clearly shows the bellicose spirit of the men of the time. One of the
officers guarding the Imperial sword conceived the mad idea of using it
against one of his comrades, who defended himself with his own sabre, and
consoled himself for his defeat and for a slight wound with the thought
that he was beaten by so glorious a weapon.

That same night, the one before the coronation, Josephine's wishes were
granted. Her union with Napoleon was blessed by the church. An altar was
mysteriously raised in the Tuileries, and there, in the presence of M. de
Talleyrand and the Marshal Berthier, who were the only witnesses, Cardinal
Fesch celebrated, in the profoundest secrecy, the religious marriage of
the Emperor and Empress. The scruples of Pius VII. were thus allayed.
Josephine could be crowned the next day.