i86 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. titles of monarchy. He caused the senate to petition him to rule, as a hereditary prince, with the title oi Emperor. Carnot alone was steady enough to his old principles to speak against their utter overthrow. Nobody seconded him. Some were terrified, some were spell-bound by what they called Buonaparte's glory, many more felt that his strong hand gave a sense of safety after all the horrors and miseries they had passed through. One of the few who honestly objected was his own brother Lucian,who retired into Italy, and never accepted any favour from him. The crown was entailed on his other brothers, Joseph, Loia's, and Jeiome, in case of his continuing childless. The other two consuls were given nominal dignities, and his chief officers were made marshals of the empire and received titles. Buonaparte's profession was to restore, not the old kingdom of France, but the Western Empire of Charles the Great, according to the usual confusion which looks on Charles as a French prince. He at one time thought of calling himself Emperor of the Gauls, like Civilis, but the style on which he finally settled was Etnpe- ror of the French. He insisted that the pope should come to Paris at his coronation on the 2nd of December, not to crown him, for he placed the golden laurel wreath, his impe- rial crown, on his own head, and then crowned Josephine, while heralds proclaimed them Emperor and Empress of the French. As France was changed into an Empire, so the Cisalpine (now called Italian) Republic was changed into a kingdom of Italy. On the 26th of May, 1805. Buonaparte crowned himself at Milan with the iron crown of Lombardy, making his step-son, Eugene Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy. About the same time the Ligurian Republic was annexed to France. 23. Overthrow of the French Naval Power. — In 1805, Charles the Fourth of Spain entered into alliance with France, and the Spanish fleet, consisting of the most splendid ships in Europe, was joined with those which Buonaparte had built since the battle of the Nile. He was more than ever bent on invading England ; he had his forces ready at Boulogne, and flat-bottomed boats with which they were to cross, if only the English fleet could be lured from its watch. French ships were sent to threaten the West Indian Isles, in hope that enough English ships would follow them to give the French a few days' superiority before Boulogne. Nelson did follow the French to the West Indies ; but returned with such
