LIFE

OF

NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.

CHAPTER XXX.

Napoleon meditates a change of title from Chief Consul to Emperor.-A Motion to this purpose brought forward in the Tribunate-Opposed by Carnot—Adopted by the Tribunate and Senate.-Outline of the New System.— Coldly received by the People.-Napoleon visits Boulogne, Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Frontiers of Germany, where he is received with respect.-The Coronation.-Pius VII. is summoned from Rome to perform the Ceremony at Paris.—Details.—Reflections.- Changes that took place in Italy.-Napoleon appointed Sovereign of Italy, and Crowned at Milan.- Genoa annexed to France.

THE time seemed now propitious for Buonaparte to make the last remaining movement in the great game, which he had hitherto played with equal skill, boldness, and success. The opposing factions of the state lay in a great measure prostrate before him. The death of the Duke d'Enghien and of Pichegru had intimidated the Royalists, while the exile of Moreau had left the Republicans without a leader.

These events, while they greatly injured Buonaparte's character as a man, extended, in a like proportion, the idea of his power, and of his determination to employ it to the utmost extremity against whoever might oppose him. This moment, therefore, of general submission and intimidation was the fittest to be used for transmuting the military baton of the First Consul into a sceptre, resembling those of the ancient and established sovereignties of Europe; and it only remained, for one who could now dispose of France as he listed, to dictate the form and fashion of the new emblem of his sway.

The title of King most obviously presented itself; but it was connected with the claims of the Bourbons, which it was not Buonaparte's policy to recall to remembrance. That of Emperor implied a yet higher power of sovereignty, and there existed no competitor who could challenge a claim to it. It was a novelty also, and flattered the French love of change; and though, in fact, the establishment of an empire was inconsistent with the various oaths taken against royalty, it was not, in terms, so directly contradictory to them. As the re-establishment of a kingdom, so far it was agreeable to those who might seek, not indeed how to keep their vows, but how to elude, in words at least, the charge of having broken them. Το Napoleon's own ear, the word King might sound as if it restricted his power within the limits of the ancient kingdom; while that of Emperor might comprise dominions equal to the wide sweep of ancient Rome herself, and the bounds of the