Note 81 — Chapter XXX

"In the army the proposed change went down of itself; this is easily accounted for. The dragoons gave the first impulsion. They sent an address to the first consul, in which they alleged that their efforts would be of no service if wicked men should succeed in taking away his life; that the best way to thwart their designs, and to fix their resolute, was to put the imperial crown on his head, and to fix that dignity in his family. After the dragoons came the cuirassiers, then all the corps of infantry, and then the seamen; and lastly, those of the civil orders who wished for the change, followed the example of the army. The spirit spread in an instant to the smallest parishes; the first consul received carriages full of such addresses. A register for the reception of votes was opened in every parish in France. It was the summary of all these votes, laid before the senate, that formed the basis of the procès-verbal of inauguration of the Buonaparte family to the imperial dignity."—Savary, tom. ii., p. 69.