So then he appeared in
Italy, like as though he had stuck his head through the window. One
glance was enough. The Austrians were swallowed up at Marengo like so
many gudgeons by a whale! Ouf! The French eagles sang their paeans so
loud that all the world heard them--and it sufficed! 'We won't play that
game any more,' said the German. 'Enough, enough!' said all the rest. To
sum up: Europe backed down, England knocked under. General peace; and
the kings and the peoples made believe kiss each other. That's the time
when the Emperor invented the Legion of Honour--and a fine thing, too.
'In France'--this is what he said at Boulogne before the whole
army--'every man is brave. So the citizen who does a fine action shall
be sister to the soldier, and the soldier shall be his brother, and the
two shall be one under the flag of honour.'
"We, who were down in Egypt, now came home. All was changed! He left us
general, and hey! in a twinkling we found him EMPEROR. France gave
herself to him, like a fine girl to a lancer. When it was done--to the
satisfaction of all, as you may say--a sacred ceremony took place, the
like of which was never seen under the canopy of the skies. The Pope and
the cardinals, in their red and gold vestments, crossed the Alps
expressly to crown him before the army and the people, who clapped
their hands. There is one thing that I should do very wrong not to tell
you.
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