"What will posterity think of the madness of the French government and
the exasperation of public feeling in a nation like the French, so
uniformly proud of military glory, when very shortly after the first
arrival of their new monarch, Louis XVIII., an order was issued for
leveling with the dust that proud monument of their victories, the
famous column and statue of Napoleon in the Place Vendôme cast from
those cannon which their frequent victories over the Austrians had
placed at their disposal? The ropes attached to the neck of the colossal
brazen figure of the Emperor, wherewith the pillar was crowned, extended
to the very iron gratings of the Tuillerie gardens; thousands essayed to
move it, but all attempts were vain--the statue singly defied their
malice; upon which a second expedient was resorted to, and the carriage
horses, etc., from the royal stables were impressed into this service,
and affixed to the ropes, thus uniting their powerful force to that of
the _bipeds_: but even this proved abortive; the statue and column
braved the united shocks of man and beast, and both remained
immoveable." The statue was afterwards quietly dislodged from its
station by the regular labors of the experienced artisan. It was not
replaced till after the Revolution in 1830.--_Ireland._