Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/377

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 335 him a strange power over the fate of a nation, chap. XIV When the Church perceived that the swearer of 1_ the oath and all his associates were ready, she be- gan her service. Having robes whereon all down the back there was embroidered the figure of a cross, and being, it would seem, without fear, the bishops aud priests went up to the high altar, and scattered rich incense, and knelt and rose, aud knelt and rose again. Then, in the hearing of thousands, there pealed through the aisles that hymn of praise which purports to waft into heaven the thanksgivings of a whole people for some new and signal mercy vouchsafed to them by Almighty God. It was because of what had been done to France within the last thirty days that the Hosan- nas arose in Notre Dame. Moreover, the priests lifted their voices, and cried aloud, chanting and saying to the Most High, 'Domine, salvum fac ' Ludovicum Xapoleonem.' — Lord! save Louis Napoleon. What is good, and what is evil ? and who is he that deserves the prayers of a nation? If any man, being scrupulous and devout, was moved by the events of December to ask these questions of his Church, he was answered that day in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris. XXII. In the next December, the form of the state TiicPrwi- deut be- svstem was accommodated to the reality, and the comes Em. ^ peror ot the President of the Republic became what men call French.