Called upon only in great emergencies, it came to regard itself as the prop of the empire. When its columns were ordered to move to the attack, every soldier knew it was not to execute a manoeuvre, or perform a subordinate part in the battle, but to march where the struggle was deadliest, and the fate of the army was to be decided. He knew, too, that over the dead and dying, over flaming batteries, and through ranks of steel, the steady battalions were to go. The bugle was never to sound a retreat for him and no reserve help him sustain the shock. It was the consciousness of this great responsibility that made it great and irresistible. This idea alone filled the mind, leaving no room for fear of death. The bearskin caps of the grenadiers were never seen advancing to the charge without causing a shout from the whole army. The force it possessed over others was as much moral as physical. Beaten troops rallied at its approach, and despair gave way to confidence, and the cry of terror was changed into the shout of victory. The enemy on the other hand when they saw the deep and massive columns of the Guard approaching, were already half beaten. The prestige of victory that went with its eagles paralyzed their arms, and they struggled against hope. So well known was it when they were ordered up, that the final hour of one or the other army had come, that the contest along the different portions of the line became apparently of no account, and everything waited the result of their shock. So perfect was their discipline, that their treat was unlike that of other regiments, while the consciousness of their power gave a grandeur to their movements, no body of men in ancient or modern times have possessed. Their bivouac at night and their squares in position on the battle-field, were always the great objects of interest, for they enfolded the emperor. Napoleon loved them devotedly, and always called them his children. They never suffered while anything was to be had, and he would listen kindly to the suit of the meanest soldier. And well did they deserve his love. For him, they knew no weariness or pain. His presence amid them compensated for all losses; and at his voice, and for his welfare, they would move steadily and cheerfully on death. The care he took of them, and the pride he felt in them, and the glory with which he covered them, naturally produced a strong and abiding attachment. He was proud of their appearance, and always gave them a prominent place in his great exhibitions at Paris. He allowed liberally for the expenditures of their officers, wishing them to be dressed magnificently, although habited himself in the plainest costume. The dress of the drum-major of the Foot Grenadiers alone cost $6000. So richly worked in gold was it, that in 1809, when the Old Guard made its triumphant entry into Vienna, the ladies said, that the drum-major would make a more profitable prisoner than Napoleon. Even the musicians and surgeons were dressed in this sumptuous uniform. The gorgeous appearance of the chief officers contrasted well with the grave, austere costume of the battalions of the Guard. When in front of their lines, the former appeared like the sparkling foam and crest of the wave that swept darkly after.

Napoleon took an interest in everything pertaining to the officers of his Guard, even their marriages. He was not less solicitous they should be good citizens than good officers. One day, Dorsenne having expressed some astonishment at this paternal solicitude, especially in regard to the approaching marriage of an officer, Napoleon replied, "Are you not all lions? Very well, it is important the race should not perish. France and myself will have need of new claws and new teeth, when yours can no longer serve us." The same interest extended to the children of those who fell in battle. They were provided for and well educated. Speaking once to Davoust, of the reluctance of the soldiers of the Guard, to leave it even for promotion among the troops of the line, he said, "My old soldiers had rather eat a piece of bread near me, than a chicken a hundred leagues from my person. It is true that if they are not able to leave me, it also gives me great pain to part from them." He inquired into the wants of the soldiers, and often playfully asked them, "My grumblers, are you in want of anything?" The uniform answer was "nothing." The discipline was very severe, and the least departure from duty was visited with punishment. It was more rigorous than in the army of the line. Napoleon had said, "If I wished only intrepid men, I could take at hazard the first soldiers in the army I came to, but I deserve more, I want good conduct, morality and obedience, and this I find difficult." These words were often commented on in the Guard, and cases of punishment were rare. Absence when the morning roll was called was punished with two days in the hall of police; absence at the evening roll, four days in the hall of police, and eight days of constant duty; sleeping away from his quarters, fifteen days in the hall of police, and a month of constant duty; drunkenness and insubordination brought the dungeon , and a repetition of the offense, expulsion from the corps. Even when out of their barracks, the hand of discipline was on them. They were forbidden to promenade with suspected women, and haunting bad places and taverns. They were not allowed to walk in the Palais Royal. In the day-time they might cross the garden, if in their route, but in the night, never. Their amusements naturally took a simple and innocent direction, their manners grew polite and affable, so that they became examples of good behavior in the midst of a turbulent population. Even on fête days, when great license was allowed, they were quiet in their deportments, and subdued in their mirth, as though it became them who held so high a trust, and so marked a position, to be reserved and composed. Each man seemed to feel that the honor of the whole corps was entrusted to his keeping. This sentiment and thought pervading every heart imparted that steady valor and unwavering constancy amid the dispirited and flying army, fast perishing in the snows of Russia. It is a singular fact, that for fourteen years, Napoleon did not expel a single officer of any grade from the Guard.

He wished it to be an example to the rest of the army, and so it was in discipline, obedience, good behavior and heroic courage. It was on this account that a duel among its officers always threw him into a great rage, as indeed a duel among any of his officers. During the campaign in Egypt, Junot, his first aid-de-camp and Lannes, fought a bloody duel, in which the former received a frightful sabre cut, which well nigh sent him to his grave, and the latter had his head nearly opened. When Desgenettes informed Napoleon of it, he was furious. What!" he exclaimed, "do they wish to cut each other's throats. They have been among the reeds of the Nile to dispute with the crocodiles for the palm of ferocity, and to leave them the corpse of him who should be slain? Have they not enough of the Arabs and the plague? They deserve that I should call them before me, and that * * * *." And then after a moment of silence, he added, "No, I do not wish to see them. I do not wish any one even to speak to me of them."

The severe manner in which he vented his displeasure against Filangieri, the godson of his sister, for killing General Franceschetti, was well known, and duels after a while became a rare occurrence among the officers of the Guard. One harmless duel ending in a farce never came to his ears. It has been published as having occurred between two Spanish officers, whereas, the true heroes of it were to captains of the horse grenadiers of the Guard. One of them had spoken in a light, joking manner to the sister of the other. The latter demanded that an apology should be made to her in presence of the assembled family. The former refused, and a challenge was the consequence. They met in the woods of Boulogne, and had already drawn their swords, when a laboring man, till then unnoticed, advanced, and addressing the combatants in a piteous tone said, "Alas! my dear officers, I am a poor joiner without work, and the father of a family." "Eh, my brave fellow," said one of the seconds, "retire, this is no time to ask for alms; do you not see that these gentlemen are about to cut each other's throats?" "It is for that reason, my brave officers, " he replied, "that I have come to ask the preference." "What preference?" they exclaimed. "To make the coffins of these two gentlemen, for I am a poor joiner without work, and the father of a family." At these words, the two antagonists paused, and gazed on each other a moment, then burst into a simultaneous peal of laughter. Their anger was over, and advancing, they shook hands, and then retired to a restaurant to finish their quarrel with forks over a well-covered table.

No matter who was the victor in a duel, Napoleon always punished the challenger. "A duel," he was wont to say, "is no indication of courage--it is the fury of a cannibal."

The same rigor was shown to every departure from duty. Thus more by internal regulations than outward forms, did he gradually perfect the character of the Guard. By visiting with displeasure acts which did not come under the rules of military discipline, he taught them to curb their passions, and show an example of uprightness and integrity as well as bravery to the army. The soldiers of it received extra pay, and especial favors were lavished on them by Napoleon. This he knew would not be borne by the rest of the army, unless deserved not only by superior service but a higher character. Never pillaging a conquered city, or giving way to the license of a common soldier, while quartered in, the latter naturally regarded them as superior--as occupying a rank above them, akin to that of an officer. Napoleon said, he would not be disquieted by the conduct of soldiers attached to his person.

So strict was their integrity and so nice their sense of honor, that in every city occupied by the French troops, they left more or less grateful recollections of themselves among the inhabitants. Their upright deportment and conciliatory behavior were remembered long after; for on Napoleon's final abdication, these veterans distributed themselves over the world, and received kindnesses from the very countries they had swept through as conquerors.

So in garrison, at home, instead of being riotous and quarrelsome, they prevented quarrels among the citizens, and left behind them the esteem and good will of all.

The character of the Old Guard, as delineated above, was the result of education and discipline. It required time to perfect it, but after it was formed it distinguished this renowned corps to the last. I have been thus particular in describing its moral qualities because they are less known--its deeds shall illustrate its military character.

In Bonaparte's first campaign in Italy, he had simply his staff about him. In Egypt, a corps which he named guides, acted as a personal guard, most of whom returned with him to France, at length became incorporated in the Guard. He said that a narrow escape from being once made prisoner in Italy, suggested to him the organization of this corps.

A national and imperial Guard have been common to all monarchial and despotic governments. France had the former during the revolution. It was on this Bonaparte thundered with his cannon, when he quelled the sections. He was then at the head of the Guard of the Convention, a corps formed to protect that body from the violence of the mob. It was composed of four companies, united in a single battalion, with sappers, drummers, and a band of musicians; and numbered at first, officers and all, but five hundred men. In it; however, were the young Murat, Lefebvre, Guisard, Monnet, and many others who afterwards attained high rank and renown. Robespierre, Couthon, St. Just, and others, had their creatures in the ranks, and it was a miserable, inefficient corps. After the death of the former, the Convention purged it thoroughly of its bad members, and added to it men of a different stamp, so that when Bonaparte put himself at its head to quell the revolt of the sections, he found it, especially the grenadiers, a warlike and well-disciplined body of soldiers.

After the overthrow of the Convention, and the establishment of the Directory, the Guard of the Convention became the Guard of the Executive Directory. An order was issued fixing its number at a hundred and twenty foot soldiers, and a hundred and twenty cavalry. The Directory also continued the work of purgation, and incorporated into the corps, the veterans of the Rhine, Sambre-et-Meuse, Pyrenees and Italy. A severe discipline was introduced, and soon, under the instructions of men, who had learned the art of war on the field of battle, became one of the finest regiments of the army.

When Bonaparte plotted the overthrow of the Directory, he introduced emissaries into the Guard, who soon worked the soldiers over to the interests of their future master, so that when Moulin, one of the Directors, endeavored to rouse them in defence of the government, they quietly remained in their barracks. One the 20th Brumaire, when Bonaparte was saluted First Consul by the people, he went to the Place de Carrousel, at the head of a magnificent staff, to review the regiments that formed the garrison of Paris. The Guard of the Directory formed the right of the line of battle, and as Bonaparte halted in front of it, he announced that, in future it was to be called the "Guard of the Consuls." Long live General Bonaparte, rent the air along the whole line, and the Imperial Guard was born.

This was the nucleus of the Consular Guard, which in the end, became the famed Imperial Guard, whose name sent terror over Europe. The change that immediately passed over this corps, was indicative of the future plans of its chief. From two companies, comprising 270 men, it was raised to 2089 men, divided into one company of light infantry; two battalions of foot grenadiers; one company of horse chasseurs; two squadrons of cavalry; one company of light artillery, of which a third was mounted.

It may be of interest to some to see the first organization of this famed guard:

Staff Officers of the Commander - 71 ............... Inferior Officers of Infantry - 17

2 Battalions of Grenadiers - 1,188 ..................... 1 Company of Chasseurs - 99

Superior Officers of Cavalry - 19 ...................... 2 Squadrons of Grenadiers - 468

Company of Horse Chasseurs - 117 ................ 10 D. of Artillery - 110

Total, 2,089

This is the number as fixed by the decree of the Consuls. Only a small portion of these, however, was given to Consul Bonaparte as General of the army.

When he took the bold resolution to make the Tuileries his palace, the first thing he did in the morning, was to review the Consular Guard, and the half brigades, which were still in barracks in Paris. Passing through their ranks, he addressed flattering words to the chief officers of the corps, and then placing himself before the pavilion of the clock, with Murat on his right and Lannes on his left, and behind him a numerous staff of young warriors, bronzed by the sun of Italy and Egypt, he saw the troops defile before him. As the standards of the 96th, 43d and 30th demi-brigades saluted him, presenting nothing but shreds of banners riddled with balls and blackened with powder, he raised his chapeau, and bowed in token of respect. The shout that followed rocked the old palace to its foundations. The troops having passed, he mounted with a bold step the stairs of the Tuileries, that none but a king ever before dared to occupy. It was a hazardous move on the part of the young chief of the republic, thus to foreshadow his future designs. He felt it to be such, and to offset this assumption of regal splendor, a few days after he issued the following decree to the Consular Guard, "Washington is dead! This great man has fought against tyranny, and consolidated the liberty of his country. His memory will always be dear to the French people, as to all free men in both hemispheres, and especially to the French soldiers, who, equally with the American soldiers, fight for liberty and equality. The First Consul, therefore, decrees that for ten days black crape shall be hung on the standards and colors of the Consular Guard."

The distribution of "arms of honor," in reward for great deeds, was also very popular, and prepared the way for the future creation of the "Legion of Honor."

A third incident helped to increase the popular enthusiasm for Napoleon, and to attach the Guard still more strongly to him. A sergeant of grenadiers, who was noted for the remarkable feats in arms he had performed, received one of these "arms of honor," a fine sabre. Immediately on its reception, he wrote the following naive letter to the First Consul, in which, it will be observed, he forgets to thank his benefactor for the gift, and simply enumerates his own deeds and asks a favor. It commences:

"Leon Aune, Sergeant of Grenadiers, in the 32d demi-brigade, to citizen Bonaparte, First Consul at Paris.

CITIZEN FIRST CONSUL: Your arrival upon the territory of the Republic has consoled all pure souls, chiefly mine. Having no hope but in you, I come to you as my guardian deity, to pray to you to give a place in your good memory to Leon, whom you have so often loaded with favors on the field of battle.

Not having been able to embark with you for Egypt, there to reap new laurels under your command, I find myself at the depot of the 32d demi-brigade, in the quality of a sergeant. Having been told by my comrades, that you often spoke of me in Egypt, I pray you not to abandon me, while you make me know that you remember me. It is useless to remind you of affairs, where I have shown myself a true republican, and where I have merited the esteem of my superiors. Nevertheless, you will not forget that at Montenotte, I saved the life of General Rampon, and the Chief of the Brigade, Masse, as they will certify. At Diego, I took a stand of colors from the Chief Engineer of the Army of the enemy; at Lodi, I was the first to mount to the assault, and I opened the gates to our brethren in arms; at Borghetto, I was among the first who passed the bridges--the bridge giving way, I was cast among the enemy, and took the commandant of the post prisoner. A little after, being made prisoner myself, I slew the hostile commanding officer, and by this action, rescued four hundred more prisoners, like myself, and enabled them to re-join their respective corps. Moreover, I have five wounds upon my body. I dare then to hope, and am well persuaded, that you will always have regard for those who have so well served their country.

Health and respect,

LEON AUNE."

This letter, more distinguished, we must confess for its simplicity and honesty, than for its modesty, furnished Bonaparte, an admirable opportunity for producing an effect upon his Guard, and indeed the whole army. He intended his answer should be made public, although apparently written as a private note. He wrote--

"I have received your letter, my brave comrade. You did not need to refresh my memory; you are the bravest grenadier, since the death of Benezete; you have had one of the sabres that I have distributed to the army. All your comrades, with one accord, pronounce you worthy of it above all others. I desire much to see you; the Minister of War, sends an order for you to come to Paris.

But Bonaparte's chief favors were lavished on his Guard. Already he seemed to forecast the future, and see the terrible corps with which he was to surround his person. This attention to his guard soon produced feelings of envy and rivalry in other regiments of the army, which at length broke out into quarrels and serious conflicts. One day a trumpeter of the mounted chasseurs of the Guard was conversing at the entrance to the barracks with some under-officers like himself, when several masters of arms in the army of the line approached and demanded to see their colleagues--the masters of arms of the chasseurs, intending it as an insult to the trumpeter and his friends. "They rest in Egypt," was the reply. "But, trumpeter," said one, as he gave his moustache a contemptuous twist, "you ought to have some one of them remaining." The trumpeter replying in the negative, the masters showed so clearly that they were bent on a quarrel, that the former became impatient and exclaimed, "Oh, well, gentlemen, enter the barracks, shut your eyes, and the first man you put your hands on will prove to you that, if the masters and provosts of the regiment rest in Egypt, their good swords yet remain." This was sufficient; each chose his champion, and, in a few minutes, four masters of arms were put hors du combat. Eugene Beauharnais, who was then but chief of a squadron of chasseurs, hearing of it, called the trumpeter to him and reproached him bitterly. The latter defended himself on the ground that he was provoked into a quarrel. "I detest bullies," broke in Eugene, with a tone that did not admit a reply. "Let me hear no more of such scandalous conduct. As to you, if it happens again, I will put a blade of wood in your scabbard." "My commander," said the trumpeter, smiling, "there will still be means to brush the clothes of those who would throw dirt upon ours."

A few days after, new provocations were given to the chasseurs of the Guard, when a quarrel ensued which finally drew fifty men into a deliberate fight. Murderous work would have followed had not Lefebvre, who had been apprised of it, charged on them with a squadron of horse grenadiers.

These quarrels, however, were soon forgotten in more serious events, and the Consular Guard was to place itself beyond the reach of envy and be looked up to as a model, and not frowned upon as a rival. The peace was over, and Bonaparte directed his vast energies, which had been employed in developing the resources of the nation, to the war which threatened him on every side. The campaign of Marengo was at hand.