NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

The ceremony of distributing the eagles and standards
to the French army took place on the 10th, with most
imposing splendour, in the Champ de Mars. In front of
the Ecole Militaire tribunes were erected for the
President, his family and court, the great bodies of the state,
and their families, the diplomatic corps, and persons of
mark having no public function. The President's
tribune was a magnificent pavilion, whose floor, on a level
with the first story of the Ecole, formed an arched
portico, fifty feet in height, and the same number of feet
wide. In the tribunes a great many English gazers
were mingled. Among the foreigners, were several
Russian and Austrian princes, Prussian noblemen,
Polish and Hungarian exiles of note, and some American
officers and civilians. Between the Bridge of Jena and
the Ecole Militaire, and about one-third of the distance
from the Ecole, was erected a chapel, seventy-five feet from
base to summit; and on a platform, twenty-three feet
high, was raised an altar. From the summit of every
dome, roof, and mound, floated tricolor flags; and,
parallel with the rising ground on both sides, and
within it, extended a long array of lofty poles, seventy
or eighty feet in height, with gilded tops, and dressed
with streamers. Every place fronting the river was
alive with human beings; who, however, all moved
about without confusion or the slightest disorder. The
Seine itself, in the direction of the Invalides and Bridge
of Jena, was covered with boats conveying passengers,
male and female, to the south bank; while countless
booths established in every alley of the Champs Elysées
afforded refreshments for the weary. The troops began
to arrive at half-past ten. They were formed in two
lines down the length of the Champ de Mars; the
infantry on the right entering by the Pont de Jena, and
the cavalry on the left; the first of these lines being
composed of bodies of infantry drawn up in close
battalion, and the other of bodies of cavalry in dense
squadrons. The number of troops present are variously
stated at from 60,000 to 80,000. There were forty-eight
battalions of the line, fifty-six squadrons of cavalry and
sixty guns. This mass, however, does not include the
Gendarmerie, mounted or on foot, the Republican
Guard, the Chasseurs de Vincennes, the deputations
from the general army, the Invalides, &c. The whole
mass of people is computed to have been probably not
far short of half a million. The ecclesiastics advanced
to the chapel and altar, with the Archishop of Paris in
their midst. A long line of white surplices led the way,
accompanied at intervals by soldiers, constabulary, a
guard of honour; next came the higher clergy, the
vicars, canons, &c.; and lastly, to close the long
ecclesiastical cortège, appeared the black soutanes of the
pupils of the religious ceremonies. The whole was
preceded by drums and military music, as if to intimate that
even in the religious part of the proceedings the
ceremony of the day was strictly military. President
Bonaparte reached the Pont de Jena punctually at noon.
His entrance into the Champ de Mars was announced
by a salute of twenty-one guns, and by acclamations
which were drowned in the peal of the artillery.
First, he galloped down between the lines; acknowledging,
by repeatedly taking off his cocked hat, the chorus
of acclamations uttered by the troops. On passing the
altar the President and his suite uncovered. When he
reached the front of the Ecole Militaire, he wheeled to
the left, and galloped back along the front of the cavalry
regiments. He then crossed before the artillery, and passed
a second time down the front of the infantry. When he
reached the foot of the staircase leading up to his tribune,
he dismounted, and ascending saluted, by taking off his
cocked hat, the ministers and high dignitaries, who came
forward to meet him down to the first landing-place.
He then took his seat in the arm-chair set for him. On
his right stood the ex-King Jerome, in the uniform of
Marshal of France. On either side and behind were
ranged the ministers, the marshals, and admirals, the
French ambassadors present in Paris, and the military
household of the prince. The standard-bearers advanced,
each in his turn, and received a standard from the President.
When the distribution was completed, the
President delivered this address—

"Soldiers! the history of nations is, in a great measure, the
history of armies: on their success or reverse depends the fate
of civilisation and of the country. If conquered, the result is
invasion or anarchy: if victorious, it is glory and order. Thus
nations, like armies, entertain a religious veneration for those
emblems of military honour which sum up in themselves a past
history of struggles and of trials.

"The Roman eagle, adopted by the emperor Napoleon at the
commencement of this century, was the most striking signification
of the regeneration and of the grandeur of France. It
disappeared in our misfortunes; it ought to return when France,
recovered from her defeats and mistress of herself, seems not
any longer to repudiate her own glory.

"Soldiers! resume then these eagles, not as a menace against
foreign powers, but as the symbol of our independence, as the
souvenir of an heroic epoch, and as a sign of the nobleness of
each regiment. Take again these eagles which have so often
led our fathers to victory; and swear to die, if necessary, in
their defence."

The standard-bearers then marched to the chapel and
altar to have their insignia blessed. Arrived there, the
commencement of the religious ceremony was signalled
by the boom of artillery. The archbishop commenced
the mass. At the moment of the elevation, another
salute was fired; the drums beat to arms; the trumpets
sounded the advance; sixty thousand men presented
arms, the whole of the infantry kneeling, and the officers
not in command bent on one knee to the earth, with
head uncovered. The multitude on the mounds took
off their hats. When mass was over, the archbishop,
surrounded by the officiating clergy, proceeded to where
the eagles were arrayed round the altar. He raised his
voice to chant the prayer, "Adjutorium nostrum in
nomine Domini," and the clergy responded "Amen!"
After the "Oremus, Omnipotens sempiternus Deus,"
the prelate sprinkled the flags with holy water, and
blessed them; and then took his seat on a throne, and
assumed the mitre. The standard-bearers advanced
separately; knelt on the ground, each with the eagle in his
hand; and the archbishop spoke the following prayer—

"Accipite vexilla cœlesti benedictione sanctifioata, sintque
inimicis populi Christiani terribilia; et det vobis Dominus
gratiam, ut, ad ipsius nomen et honorem, cum illo hostium
cuneos potenter penetretis incolumes et securi."

The archbishop pronounced a short address to the
standard-bearers, justifying the ceremony of blessing the
insignia of war. He gave for the whole army the kiss of
peace, with the words "Pax tibi." The foremost
standard-bearer, rising from the ground, pressed to his
lips the Pontifical ring, and then all resumed their
places. The musical mass followed, performed by a
body of more than 1500 musicians. After the mass, the
archbishop stood erect, arrayed in mitre and cope, and
holding the crosier, raised his hand aloft, and gave a
universal blessing to the army and the people. A salute
of a hundred guns from the cannon of the Bridge of
Jena then announced that the religious ceremony was
complete. The colonels, to whom the standards were
delivered by the archbishop, descended, and defiled
round the chapel. They then proceeded to their respective
regiments, delivered the eagles to the ensigns, and
had them recognised by the corps in the usual manner.
At this moment cries of "Vive l'Empéreur!" and
"Vive Napoléon!" were uttered; the former with
much enthusiasm by the cavalry. At two o'clock, the
President descended from his pavilion, mounted his
horse, and took up his position in front. The filing-
off commenced, and cries of "Vive l'Empéreur!"
"Vive Napoléon! " were again heard.

The military deputations, when leaving the Champ
de Mars after the défilé, returned to the Ecole Militaire
through the cavalry gate. They deposited their respective
colours in a hall prepared for that purpose; whence
they are immediately to be despatched to their regiments.
A salute of twenty-one guns was fired as Louis
Napoleon quitted the Champ de Mars. The clergy,
who were, including the ecclesiastical seminaries,
upwards of eight hundred in number, remained on the
ground to the last. A guard of honour of the Gendarmerie