This imposing ceremony was performed on the 2d of December, 1804, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, in the midst of all that was splendid and illustrious in the Capital of France. With a view to show his power rather than to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Pope, either temporal or spiritual, Napoleon summoned Pius VII. to be in attendance on the day of his inauguration at Paris. In compliance with this, the unresisting Pope left Rome on the 5th of November, and blessed the Emperor and Empress, and also consecrated the diadems. Napoleon, however, placed the crown on his own head, and then on the head of Josephine, who received it kneeling on a cushion at the foot of the altar steps. We are told that “throughout the ceremonial his aspect was thoughtful; it was on a stern and gloomy brow that with his own hands he planted the symbol of successful ambition and uneasy power, and the shouts of the deputies present, sounded faint and hollow amidst the silence of the people.”