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, by a civil element which deserves our attention. Men met with the fixed intention of noisily proclaiming their adherence, and exciting others to support the Empire, paralysing by their interference the citizens' goodwill. It was soon seen what manner of men they were; on every hand excesses were committed by them, pillage and revolt and arson, which recalled the worst days of the Revolution; the country felt itself about to fall again under the horrible yoke of the Septembriseurs. The Prefects were uneasy. The Prefect of the Côtes du Nord wrote: "If we do not take care, we shall see again the bloody days of '93." The same opinion was held by the sub-Prefect of Lunéville and others, and M. de Salvandy declared, in a Memoir addressed to the Emperor: "At any moment we may see a return of '93." This was the virus of the Terror. It is not with impunity that a nation learns such a lesson of blood and crime as that of '93. The virus must work in her for long after, ready to burst out at any time of disturbance.

But all the same, a great change had passed over France; and Napoleon, stupefied with astonishment, complained that he could "no