Talleyrand also took the most unscrupulous care that the affair of the Presidency should be judiciously settled.

On December 31st, 1801, he writes to Bonaparte from Lyons: "The opinion of the Cisalpines seems not at all decided as to the choice to be made: they will gladly receive the man whom you nominate: a President in France and a Vice-President at Milan would suit a large number of them." Four days later he confidently assures the First Consul: "They will do what you want without your needing even to show your desire.

What they think you desire will immediately become law."[192] The ground having been thus thoroughly worked, Bonaparte and Josephine, accompanied by a brilliant suite, arrived at Lyons on January 11th, and met with an enthusiastic reception.

Despite the intense cold, followed by a sudden thaw, a brilliant series of fetes, parades, and receptions took place; and several battalions of the French Army of Egypt, which had recently been conveyed home on English ships, now passed in review before their chief.

The impressionable Italians could not mistake the aim of these demonstrations; and, after general matters had been arranged by the notables, the final measures were relegated to a committee of thirty.