distinct from each other.  Among these patronised men were many who had been the first patrons of Bonaparte and had favoured his accession to Consular power.  This class was composed of his old friends and former companions-in-arms.  The others, who may be called the children of the Empire, did not carry back their thoughts to a period which they had not seen.  They had never known anything but Napoleon and the Empire, beyond which the sphere of their ideas did not extend, while among Napoleon’s old brothers-in-arms it was still remembered that there was once a country, a France, before they had helped to give it a master.  To this class of men France was not confined to the narrow circle of the Imperial headquarters, but extended to the Rhine, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the two oceans.

On the other hand, numbers of ardent and adventurous young men, full of enthusiasm for Bonaparte, had passed from the school to the camp.  They were entirely opposed to Napoleon’s downfall, because with his power would vanish those dreams of glory and fortune which had captivated their imaginations.  These young men, who belonged to the class which I have denominated children of the Empire, were prepared to risk and commit everything to prolong the political life of their Emperor.

The distinction I have drawn between what may be called the men of France and the men of the Empire was not confined to the army, but was equally marked among the high civil functionaries of the State.  The old Republicans could not possibly regard Napoleon with the same eyes as those whose elevation dated only from Napoleon; and the members of assemblies anterior to the 18th Brumaire could not entertain the same ideas as those whose notions of national franchises and public rights were derived from their seats as auditors in the Council of State.  I know not whether this distinction between the men of two different periods has been before pointed out, but it serves to explain the conduct of many persons of elevated rank during the events of 1814.  With regard to myself, convinced as I was of the certainty of Napoleon’s fall, I conceived that the first duty of every citizen was claimed by his country; and although I may incur censure, I candidly avow that Napoleon’s treatment of me during the last four years of his power was not without some influence on my prompt submission to the Government which succeeded his.  I, however, declare that this consideration was not the sole nor the most powerful motive of my conduct.  Only those who were in Paris at the period of the capitulation can form an idea of the violence of party feeling which prevailed there both for and against Napoleon, but without the name of the Bourbons ever being pronounced.  They were almost unknown to the new generation, forgotten by many of the old, and feared by the conventionalists; at that time they possessed only the frail support of the coteries of the Faubourg St. Germain, and some remains of the emigration.  But as it is certain that the emigrants could offer only vain demonstrations and wishes in support of the old family of our Kings, they did little to assist the restoration of the Bourbons.  Another thing equally certain is, that they alone, by their follies and absurd pretensions, brought about the return of Bonaparte and the second exile of Louis XVIII. in the following year.